Road Trip – Delhi to Hyderabad – A journey log

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We breezed through to Gwalior and the Road to Jhansi is in very bad condition. In fact, there is no road but a mud path and some small stretches of intermittent roads. We avoided the bypass to Lalitpur in Jhansi and we found it wise. We came out of Jhansi and once we are on Lalitpur Road we had our so called lunch and proceeded further to Lalitpur. The Road to Lalitpur is a good single road upto 60 km and later it a smooth 4 lane road to Sagar. One has to be on constant alert for sleeping cows on Lalitpur- Sagar ghat section. It’s a pleasure to drive on this highway.    It was 5.00 pm by the time we reached Sagar. As we were advised by Hotel personnel at Nasimhapur that the Sagar – Narsimhapur is a 4 lane road except for a few patches of diversions, we decided to move further to Narsimhapur and stay there overnight.

This we found to be good in a way and bad in another way. Good in the way because, had it rained, it could have been totally impossible to go forward as we found it later. Just before Sagar there is a signage for diversion to Narsimhapur on the Highway. When we took the road and after going some distance, I had an inconvenient feeling that we are heading a wrong direction, so we stopped and asked a villager who is going on a bike, whether that road goes to Narsimhapur. He told us as that we are heading a wrong direction, and the Highway is closed as for construction of a bridge, we should go into Sagar town and at Makronia Chowk we should take left turn to go to Nasimhapur. We entered Sagar and the people are very helpful in giving proper directions and putting us on the right road to Narsimhapur. It was just getting dark as we headed towards Nasimhapur and our Nightmarish Journey started.  From Sagar outskirts to Narasimhapur Highway, t

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My visit to Dwarka and Somnath

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You need to take a engine boat which will take you across the sea.Bet dwarka is most important religious place and as belived that shri krishna meet his friend sudama here.After visited bet dwarka we just left for nageshwar jyotirling.

We came back from bet dwarka and nageshwar at 3 and then we took a nap for some time. And then set out on foot for sight scene near the city I forgot the name of the temple situated near dwarka city but you can get information about temples and sight scene from the hotels and local citizens and Autorikshwalas.

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Rewalsar Lake – चोरी-चोरी जब…..

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I had fallen in love with Rewalsar Lake when I saw Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s film “KAREEB”. I had travelled on Manali route many times, but no one ever told me about this lake. After seeing Kareed, in 2004 I alongwith Laxman while coming back from
Jwalaji visited this beautiful lake and missed our families then.

Rewalsar lake is initially connected to Lomash Rishi, who had been searching for a place for his tapasya, and who was told by Lord Shiva about Rewalsar, which is abode of gods and various gods reside there as flowers, trees, fishes and water bodies. Rishi Lomash came to Rewalsar and did his penance. There is an ancient temple of Lomash Rishi on the bank of the lake, and perahps the first ever temple here.

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Ghumakkar Editorial Monthly Digest – January 2013

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Every New Year is a harbinger of new hopes, dreams and expectations. With each new year we should forget the past, dream of a brighter future and sail through the year, with occasional ups and downs. The year 2012 ended well, with no Dooms day :) Do you thank God for it or are you disappointed? Heehee.. I am an eternal optimist and hence have no regrets for what dint happen ! It only gave more time for us to explore more places, don’t you think?

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ESSEL WORLD – Island of fun…

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There were many adults ride also, but our main focus was on children so we didn’t enjoy any adult rides except Hoola-loop which was sort of Roller coaster. Me and my brother has taken this ride and closed our eyes at the start of the ride only. It was a real thrilling adventurous rides, but very scary for people like us.

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Come walk on me

Walking The Royal Mile

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Each floor had a different theme of illusions. I liked the floor with 3D illusions the best. There were a lot of interactive illusions as well. And the best part? They encouraged you to touch everything! The Mirror Maze was also fun. My mom kept walking into the mirrors, and I finally had to go in and help her get out.

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The Spell of Bundi, Rajasthan : Reaching Bundi

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Hence, our first stop was at at ‘Salim Paper’ at Sanganer. From what we had learnt, this would be a cottage industry like place where one could see paper making and block printing. So we reached after going circles in the village, and ultimately realising that the place was right at the beginning. If you tell them that you are from ‘Arya Niwas’, they take you through a guided tour of ‘Paper Making’. This was our first visit to a ‘Paper Making’ factory and it was an extremely educative experience. The place was large, expansive and had sections where different jobs took place. The lady took us through the entire process with a lot of patience. The first step is to make the pulp by mashing waste cloth-cuttings that they procure from all the factories around. So essentially the raw material was waste organics being recycled and that was heartening to know. The cloth is shredded to very tiny pieces that are kept submerged in water for a few days. After that the whole cloth-water solution is rolled over and over again to form a thick pulp. This pulp is then further rolled to form a smoother paste. Color and condiments like rose/marigold petals, leaves are added now. Then the paste is spread on metal sheets and left to dry in the sun. Each sheet individually! Hence the paper is born. The dried paper sheet is taken off the metal based and pressed through machines. And thereafter, different actions are taken to make use of this paper. So we saw techniques of cutting, printing, pasting and finishing.

To give the viewers an experience to take home, and of course as a model for this tour fee, they also have a small shop/display counter. The only way we could have reciprocated the gesture was to buy some stuff so we bought quite a lot. Most of that was exciting and relatable as we were purchasing exactly what we saw being made right then. All of it was for European and American markets and were indeed of supreme quality. So we made a good collection of fancy paper bags, craft kits, various kinds of papers etc. that my daughter is waiting to rob off her mother for her school projects.

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A Trip to Mewar – Udaipur Sightseeing

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JAGDISH TEMPLE: The temple was an historical one in grey stone.  Lord Krishna, we bow to you. Had a  PRIKRAMA  around the main garbha griha. clicked some photographs for yaadein and came downstairs. We had planned to walk through this market to our car parked on the other side of the palace. The bazaar was known as Bhatiyani chohatta. It was full of shops selling handicraft items, Rajasthani clothes and souvenirs. It seemed paradise to Bhakti and Savita, my wife. So t one shop after hard bargaining a dress for Pavani was bought. And at one corner shops some souvenirs were bought to gift to dear and near ones. After that we reached at the parking place. and there it was our trusted maruti. Our next stop was fatehsagar lake and shilpagram.

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Valparai Series – Part 2

Valparai Series – Part 2

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The estates brought prosperity for the new settlers but ‘development’ also meant massive deforestation of once pristine forests with the attendant depletion of indigenous fauna and flora. In those days
of abundant natural wealth, this was not a matter of concern.

In recent times, the Nature Conservation Foundation – an NGO, has engaged the estates in a successful conservation programme to maintain wildlife corridors and regenerate the forest. Consequently, you never quite know who you might meet in and around those Valparai tea gardens!

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Himachal Yatra – बैजनाथ

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The village named after the temple – Baijnath is a small, sleepy town with shops on the sides of the main Pathankot-Mandi high way. We asked a person about the temple and were guided towards it. Turning left we entered a huge parking area, parked our car and looked towards the temple complex…. It was magnificent, artistic, ancient and beautiful. The temple has been taken over by ASI and result was clearly visible.

The temple complex, unlike most of our other temples was very clean with no Parshad shops nearby, and without any chaos of visitors. It has beautifully cut hedges, gardens and pathways all around.

Baijnath temple was re-built on the ruins of ancient Shiva temple by two Himachali businessmen in 1200 AD.

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A Trip to Mewar – Jalandhar to Jaipur to Udaipur

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When I touched the Ajmer road on my way to Udaipur, I was just mesmerized by the highway. I had read a lot about this highway that this one is one of the best in India , on 31st of December I became witness to that. Till Udaipur I got four toll barriers on the way but it was worth. Normally I am slow traveler rarely peaking at 100 km/hour. but this highway tempted me. About 30 km before Ajmer there was a diversion towards left and I just took that following my gut feeling and I was on national highway 76 . I must mention here that on this way Chittorgarh and Bhilwara comes but remain on side so not quite a hurdle to travelers who want to reach Udaipur directly.

Kids were happy on this travel as we had experimented a long drive. Just before Chittorgarh felt hungry and stopped at a roadside dhaba offering garmagaram khana. A lot of trucks had been halting there bearing number plate mostly of Gujarat and Rajasthan. We had ordered saadi chapatis (tawe wali) and Karhi. The food was just delicious, to say. I had found in this trip that chapatis are brown in color not like Punjab where dhabas normally offer white chapatis indicating the use of maida instead of atta. After filling our tummies we proceeded further on our dream destination and it was at about 2.30 P. M we encountered a hoarding welcoming us to the city of lakes.

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