Ride to Rajasthan (Pune to Mt Abu) – Return trip, Reaching Vadodra

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After some discussion we decided to start and see where we are by 5 pm.

Hats off to Brzzz and the Biker community – A Biker is a fighter – We conquered against all odds

After 5 days 1400 kms, 40 degrees, we were all ready to fight. Ayush was not feeling very well waiting at the mechanic shop so he started moving, and he was feeling better so it was better that he starts covering as much ground as possible.

We decided that I will definitely move and reach as much as I can even till late night so that I could reach Pune by next day evening. Prateek agreed to come with me.

So now we had split in 3 groups … Ayush was riding alone, I was riding at High Speeds of 110-120 kmph with Prateek and all the others were riding together.

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Ghumakkar Interview with Soulful Sushant Singhal

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Even before I could earn a driving license, and even before the elders could know of my newly acquired driving skills, I had once taken away a car (Landmaster -perhaps older version of Hindustan Motor’s Ambassador) of my father’s friend filling it to the capacity with small children of our neighbourhood (nearly 12 of them). The old car was entrusted to my father for finding some good customer for it who would be willing to pay Rs.10,000/- for it.  With all those children in it, I stationed myself at the driver’s seat and had a circular trip upto Kuthal Gate (between Rajpur and Mussoorie).  When the parents of all those ‘missing’ children came to my father to enquire if he had any clue as to where all the children could had gone, my father, discovered to his great horror that not only I was also missing but the Landmaster car also was not where it was supposed to be.

Today I can visualize how he must have been going through in those moments. When after an unbearably long wait of an hour, he finally saw the black Landmaster coming in the lane like a fat, pregnant buffalow, and then 12 children jumping out of it one after the other, giggling and laughing, he was red hot with rage. I had already seen him standing in front of his clinic in the lane and if I had any option, I would never have come out of that car but as I stood before him trembling with fear, he gave me good thrashing. As revealed by my father later, he was most perturbed because I had taken 12 children of different families of our lane.

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A trip to Mewar – Chittorgarh

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Though I had visited the city a long time ago, I had only fade memories of the massive fort considered once upon a  time to be impregnable.Chittor seemed to me as not so clean town and unplanned in a haphazard way, quite contrast to Udaipur. After entering the town I had to ask the way to the fort from passerbys quite a few time. At last we reached the fort , entered the complex and stopped my car at ticket counter. My first enquiry was whether we can roam about in the fort in car or we had to go on foot. The answer relieved me Yeah it was in car.hahahaha……First monument that we came face to face inside the complex was that of Kumbha’s palace.

This was the place of erstwhile Maharanas of Mewar before Udaipur was founded due to paucity of water in this area, it is said. The palace consisted of underground cellars where Rani Padmini is said to have performed Jauhar Pratha. Roaming in this massive monument gave me a nostalgic feel and I  also thought about the flimsiness of life

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Firozabad – Fifth City of Delhi

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Nothing beats the romance and magic of visiting a monument in Delhi on a wintry Sunday afternoon. The light December breeze has cleared the smog. The air seems almost crisp. Kotla Firoz Shah is an oasis in the middle of the city. It is hard to imagine that exactly 614 years ago on an equally beautiful December day this fortress was being plundered. Soak in the atmosphere sprawled on the green grass under the flitting sun. You can see Delhi’s first skyscraper Vikas Minar in the south, the IG Stadium in the east, floodlights of Firoz Shah Kotla Stadium just yards away, and for company you have crows, mynahs, eagles, dogs and even cats. Chat up the security guard for nuggets of information.

Apparently, this is the only place in Delhi supposed to be the abode of Djinns or spirits. Believers come and light up diyas and incense sticks. Some people even leave written requests. The steady stream of believers assures that wishes are being granted by the Djinns. Thursday is the day when most people come with their petitions and leave offerings. It is believed that the Djinns love Delhi so much that they cannot bear to see it deserted. The day beliefs die, city dies and you die.

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Valparai Series – Part 4

Valparai Series – Part 4

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To reach the Nalla Mudi view point, one has to walk through where else but the Nalla Mudi tea estate. A rather stern looking Forest guard stopped us with a Sorry, No Entry, Elephant problem. He was not however as fierce as he looked and easily succumbed to our pleading that we had come so far from the distant planet of Bombay, so how could we go home without seeing this place?

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Himachal Yatra – स्वर्ग से वापसी, स्वर्ग की ओर

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तो मित्रो आपने पढ़ा कि अपनी हिमाचल यात्रा हमने नैना देवी, ज्वालाजी, कांगड़ा, पालमपुर बैजनाथ होते हुए रिवालसर में समाप्त की। अब समय आ गया था इस खूबसूरत जगह को छोड़ने का व अपनी वापसी यात्रा शुरु करने का. ऩाश्ता करने के बाद हमने होटल का बिल चुकाया और एक बार फिर रिवालसर के नयनाभिराम दृष्यों को जी भर कर देखा…. और अपनी वापसी य़ात्रा शुरु की.

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A trip to Mewar – Nathdwara and Ekling Ji

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But I could not take this decision till we reached the main entrance point of the temple. There was no queue at all. Worst fear of temple being closed down for that day was coming true and  I  just told that boy to take the money and arrange for the Darshan. His answer was money afterwards , firstly Darshan of the Lord . He ordered us( yeah, order) to deposit our camera and mobiles at the counter  quickly. I deposited the belongings quickly and he just took us along with him  to a sideways entrance leading to the Garbha Griha( exact location of installation of beautiful statue of Lord Shrinath Ji. Oh God, now we were in front of the Lord and just as we paid our respect, purohit of that place put down the curtains and closed that door also. What shall you say now? sheer luck, convincing power of the boy or my gut feeling. Can,t say? But overall feeling as that we were extremely lucky as we had planned to go to Udaipur and not stay there overnight. The boy asked then the amount for parshad. I thought and said O.K bring the parshad for Rs. 21. His answer surprised me that the minimum amount to be spent on parshad was Rs. 101 . Well fine , the option before us was to have the big famous Ladoo for parshad or big Rotis. We wanted him to bring Ladoo finally.It was single Ladoo and prepared from different raw material than normal Ladoos are prepared.

Now we were in the Bazaar bustling with activity. Another feature that we noted was the selling of Bhog laga hua parshad in form of fruit pieces for Rs. 10/ paper plate. We took that also and

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Sarchhu to Leh, Pangong Lake, and Back via Kashmir

Sarchhu to Leh, Pangong Lake, and Back via Kashmir

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First town where some civilization could be seen was Upshi which is basically a check post where we did not stop. Next stop at about 30 km was Karu which basically a military establishment just before Leh. We stopped a Karu for a late lunch and some tea and then soon proceeded to Leh which took about 1-1.5 hours. On the way to Leh one can see gorgeous mountain views with Indus flowing along the road.

Next, day we went to places around Leh such as Patthar Singh Sahab Gurudwara (पत्थर सिंह साहिब गुरुद्वारा), so called Magnetic Hill, Confluence of Janskar and Indus rivers, a Kali temple and a Buddhist temple, and one of the oldest monastery near Leh. The landscape near Leh is also dry, barren but mesmerizingly beautiful. Buddhist temple have special wheels called Maney ( माने) carrying the holy mantra “Om Many Padme hum” or “ओम माणी पद्मे हूं”  which the devotees rotate.

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Lammasingi, Andhra’s Kashmir

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Lammasingi (लम्मसिंगी) or Lambasingi (लम्बसिंगी) as the tribals call it, is a tiny hamlet nestling on a ridge at an altitude of 2600 above sea level in the Eastern Ghats, a little over a 100 kilometres to the west of Vizag. It was an unknown, remote tribal settlement till a discovery was made which stripped the place of its anonymity and earned it the sobriquet of “Andhra Kashmir”. A few years ago, weathermen found that it was the coldest place in Andhra, with night temperatures occasionally dipping to sub-zero levels. This news was broadcast by TV channels and overnight, it became a popular tourist.

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A trip to Mewar – Haldighati

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How one could forget  the deep loyalty of Chetak towards its master when in todays time loyalty is missing amongst the human beings. We were also thrilled to find so many peacocks in that area. It was just beautiful. I had never dreamt of visiting the famous Haldi Ghati battlefield site that also along with my closest kith and kin and that also driving my own car. After a few minutes we were on highway and from there Nathdwara town was about 4 km towards left. The beautiful evening was soon on the verge of merging with the queen of night as it was winters though the time was just about 5.20 p.m. Mausam khushgawar tha,door ghar baar tha , main apni car mein sawar tha aur kuchh hi doori par Srinath ji ka dwar tha. And the song playing in my mind at that time was yaara sili sili birha ki raat ka jalna from the movie Lekin. Lekin kyu….. pata nahin.

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Road to Leh Part 2 : Manali-Keylong-Sarchu

Road to Leh Part 2 : Manali-Keylong-Sarchu

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The entry to Sarchu was amazing. After crossing the curvy path of mountains and snow, one suddenly comes across a vast plain between the high mountains but with little snow cover. There are gorges on one side where a thin stream of Yunam river flows. These gorges have very strange formations which look like pointed erections, possibly caused by wind erosion. The place is bone dry with cracks appearing in the soil with little precipitation even in severe winter when temperatures plummet below -30 degC. However, the place is very windy with wind velocities possibly approaching 40-50 Km/hr making the temperatures feel subzero despite actual temperature being about 5-10 degC. Here, no one lives permanently except a few Army settlements. Reception of cell phone is nonexistent and one really need to live like nomads. We found a camping site where we stayed in the camps. These camps serve you food and bedding and some of them also provide toilets which is indeed a luxury at this place (exposing your bum to morning frost is no fun :) ).

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