02 Feb

Road Journeys – Mount Abu: “An oasis in the Desert”

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Evening is extremely lively in Mt. Abu, unlike other hills, the Mall road here remains crowded till late in the evening, say upto 10 – 11 pm at least. One of the safest hill station, less colder due to lower altitude and superb law and order, I was always pleased to see the care free atmosphere there. Diwali being just passed, the decorative lightings of the shops and hotels were still shimmering, adding extra charm to the already charming place. The vibrant stalls, mostly laden with Gujrati & Rajasthani stuffs are bound to lure your better half. Rows of ice-cream shops, pastries, cookies and crushed ice-balls (Golas) in different flavor are the trade mark of Mt. Abu.

Activities around Nakki Lake are however, stalled at 8 pm for security reasons. The surrounding is expanding with growing popularity and increasing inflow since I have last visited the place in 1998 and again in 2008.

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Road Journeys – Turbulent Pingleshwar Beach & Chowpati of Mandvi

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Our most awaited destination was Naliya, where we filled the tank and a routine air check, after almost 600 km. With lifted confidence, we roared on the four lane upto Kothara from where a single road on the right leads towards the less visited but very natural and unexploited Pingleshwar. Passing by a few villages on a narrow bumpy road for 15-20 km, we reached at the dead end. Rows of giant wind mills were standing erect with the large blades performing in tune of the wind. An ancient temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva is situated here. The shrine is brightly colorful and very well maintained but I understand very few tourists other than locals visit the temple often.

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सपनों का शहर शिमला

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उम्मीद है इस श्रंखला की पिछली पोस्ट आप की उम्मीदों पर खरी उतरी होगी. चलिये अब आगे बढते हैं……. जब हम लोग इस टूर…

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घुमक्कड़ की दिल्ली : गुरुद्वारा श्री बंगला साहिब

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भवन के बाहर आकर पंक्ति में हलुवा का प्रशादा लिया. प्रांगण में कुछ देर शांतचित्त होकर बैठे रहने के बाद प्रशादा ग्रहण किया. गुरुद्वारों में मिलने वाले प्रशाद रूपी हलुवे की विशेषता है कि यह शुद्ध देशी घी से बना होता है और पूरी तरह से घी में तर होता है. हाथ में प्रशादा लेकर खाने के बाद हाथों में देशी घी की सुगंध और चिकनाहट बानी रहती है और स्वाद की तो बात ही क्या ‘गुरु-प्रसाद’ जो है. बच्चों ने भी प्रशादा ग्रहण किया और मेरी बड़ी बेटी भूमिका को इतना पसंद आया कि प्रशादा की लिए दोबारा से लाइन में लग गयी. प्रशादा वितरण करने वाले भगतजी ने सर पर रुमाला न होने की कारण थोड़ा डांटते हुए प्रशादा देने से मना कर दिया और हम दूर से दृश्य देखते रहे.

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Exploring AP – Nagarjun – Suryalanka – Vijaywada

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My favorite, never take the route back which you take to reach a destination, thus maximizing the opportunity to explore and know more. There are so many places in AP to Visit, so it was a week long plan to make a trip. I had 3 days in spare and almost 700-800km or budget based on my car’s milage. We were longing for Suryalanka beach from long, its the nearest beach from Hyderabad, not much advised in summer but still a beach is my attraction. We listed down, bora caves, bellum caves, warrangal, vijaywada, srisailam, nagarjun sagar, suryalanka, vishakhapatnam and many more. Finally, friday afternoon I decided for Srisailam, a piligrimage with just 200 odd km away from my home in Hyderabad. So, I texted my wife and my brother in law (he was on a short visit to our place) that pack your bags we are going to “Suryalanka”… that was an inadvertent mistake. Which I did not realize until I reached home from office. I was surprised to know that my family was apparently happy to know that we are going ot Suryalanka. I spoiled their excitement admitting the mistake.

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Go Goa Gone !

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Places to eat:
Viva Panjim: The best Goan food ever. Period
Brittos: Amazing desserts.
Nick’s Place: Baga
Curlies: Anjuna: Sea food wood fired pizza, Hookah’s and Grilled Fish.
Suaza Loboz: Calangute: Good sea and Goan food.
Infantaria: Baga: For breakfast. Sandwitches and Pan cakes are worth the money spent.
A small desi joint just before Baga beach: For breakfast of stuffed paratha’s, masala omellete and tea/coffee.
Food court near calangute: For 24*7 Multicuisine food. Not bad, not good.

Places to Visit/Things to do:
Beaches:
Baga for a touristy feel, and watersports. Watersports are quite affordable here, and you can get a package deal of Parasailing, Jet ski, bumper, banana rides for rougly Rs 12-1500 per person.
Mandrem: For calm, quite and relaxation.
Curlies: Tip, go post lunch as by evening theres a lot of rush which everyone might not like.
Arambol/Ashwem: For a firang goan feel.

Places:
Old Goa: Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old portuguese colonies.
Chapora/Dil Chahta hai Fort.
Any of the casinos in Panjim.
LPK @Candolim or Club Cubana @Arpora for discs.
Manchester United Cafe @Baga if you are into sports and follow the team.

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घुमक्कड़ की दिल्ली : तीन मूर्ति भवन

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तारामंडल के बीचो-बीच एक विशेष प्रकार के प्रोजेक्टर ने धीरे-धीरे क्रियाशील होकर गोलाकार छत रुपी परदे को अपने प्रकाश से ढक दिया. आकाशगंगा, तारामंडल, ग्रह-नक्षत्र आदि ब्रह्मांडीय आकृतियों ने प्रकट होकर तारामंडल की छत को वास्तविक आकाश के रूप में परिवर्तित कर दिया. ब्रह्मांडीय खगोल की क्रियाओं जैसे ब्रह्माण्ड की उत्पत्ति, तारों के बनने नष्ट होने की प्रक्रिया, आकाशगंगा का बनना, ग्रह नक्षत्र, सौर परिवार के ग्रहों के आपसी सम्बन्ध और उनकी गति, भ्रमण, परिक्रमा आदि अनेक जानकारियों को बिखेरता हुआ तारामंडल का शो प्रगति पर था. ब्रह्माण्ड के नक्षत्र, आकाशगंगा, सौर परिवार और ग्रहों आदि को अच्छी प्रकार से समझने हेतु तारामंडल विशेष उपयोगी है.

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Try Chivla Beach this summer – a weekend getaway from Goa

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There are plenty of fish & sea-food options with prices same as what I mentioned earlier. To give you an idea of prices, we had a Surmayee [King-Fish] Thali for 250/- (medium size rawa fried piece of Kingfish, Kingfish Curry with Chapati and Rice], a ‘Kalwa Thali’ at 280/- (One portion of Kalwa Masala, one small rawa fried Crab, Kalwa Curry with Chapati and Rice].

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Days Out in Brahmaputra Valley-Nameri & Tezpur

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I have seen elephants so many times, fed them bananas, saw Mahout riding them and heard their trumpeting, but that sound was not like trumpeting. It was more like roaring of tigers or lions that I heard in zoo. So I was not at all convinced with the judgement of Jainul Abedin. I thought it’s better to keep my eyes open and brain in action for own safety, especially because we were accompanying by a forest guard with a very little on field experience. But he was at the helm and we needed to follow him. A single man with a 3not3 rifle, GOD knows, if loaded or not, the ratio was 5 of us to him. He suggested Kamal and Prakash to move ahead of him and me, Chandra & KKD to follow. We were moving cautiously and quietly. It was a serious situation, no animal was visible yet, only the heart shaking rumbling sounds. We all were trying to escape somehow and were following each other’s steps. Jainul was looking confident to handle the situation, he pointed towards the bush to spot some wild elephants hiding there. I immediately made up my mind of running zig zag in case of an attack. They were growling loudly and we all were maintaining absolute silence yet moving forward. . How could I not click a snap of them? I looked through the lens, not sure of how much could I zoom in. But before I could click Jainul pulled me and virtually taken away from there. He cautioned, “Are you carzy? Elephants will not spare, if caught.” He forced me to go fast to catch my friends who were far ahead by now. I did in the end catch up with them and we did escape safely. It was perhaps Jainul’s quality training that enabled him to be alert on time, identify the noise correctly and handle the situation brilliantly.

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प्रताप गढ़ फार्म , झज्झर

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आप का तो निश्चित है कि सुबह वाली गलती नही दोहराएंगे, मगर बच्चे तो अपने मन की मर्जी के मालिक ठहरे, अत: उन्होंने उस मेन्यु को चुना जो उत्तर भारतीय शादियो में बहु-प्रचलित भी है और हिट भी | चाऊमिन के भारतीय संस्करण से लेकर दाल मक्खनी और शाही पनीर तक, मगर अपने राम ने तो निश्चित किया है, हम तो आज जीमेंगे उस खाने पर, जिसका स्वाद हम शहरी जिन्दगी की इस अंधी भागदौड़ में कहीं पीछे छोड़ चुके हैं, और यदि चाहें भी तो हमारी आज की डिज़ाइनर रसोइयाँ में न तो देसी चूल्हे के लिये कहीं कोई प्रावधान हो
सकता है और न ही हमारी आज की शरीके-हयात उन्हें बना सकती हैं| सो, चूल्हे की हल्की आँच पर सिकी मकई और बाजरे की देसी घी में तरबतर रोटी, साथ में लहसुन की चटनी और बनाने वाली हमारे गाँव देहात की ही कोई ग्रहणी, न कि कोई व्यवसायिक कारीगर, जैसा कि आप आजकल की शादियों में या फ़ूड फेस्टिवल में पाते हैं | वहाँ आप ऐसा खाना पा तो सकते हैं पर वो होता रस विहीन ही है, ये हमारा व्यक्तिगत अनुभव है कि जब तक खाने में अन्नपूर्णा के हाथ न लगें हों आपको तृप्ति नही हो सकती | जी भर इसके रसावादन के बाद मीठे के शौकीनों के लिये बाजरे की खिचड़ी बूरा उकेर कर और साथ में गर्म गर्म ढूध जलेबी | ऐसा खाना वास्तव में आपके केवल पेट को नही वरन आत्मा तक को भी तृप्त कर देता है | भले ही इस जगह के आस-पास की महिलायें चार पैसे कमाने और अपने परिवार को कुछ आर्थिक सहयोग प्रदान करने के लिये इस फार्म में रोज़गार पा लेती हैं मगर इसका सबसे बड़ा सकारात्मक पक्ष ये है कि यूँ लगता है कोई आपकी परिचित ही आपको प्रेम से बैठा कर खिला रही है, आपके किसी भी गुण का उपयोग कहीं भी हो आखिर काम तो काम है और हमारे जैसे और भी जो इस देशी खाने के शौक़ीन हैं, पूरी मोहब्बत और खलूस के साथ खा रहे हैं | आप को सबसे अच्छा यह देख कर लगता है कि नौजवान पीढ़ी के जो लडके-लडकियाँ भी यहाँ आये वो इन महिलायों को पूरे सम्मान के साथ आँटी-आँटी कह कर बुलाते रहे और थैन्कू थैन्कू कर जाने से पहले फोटो खिंचवाना न भूलते…. आखिरकार परम्पराएँ भी कोई चीज़ हैं…. That is why I love my India!!!

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Wagah border beating retreat ceremony

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Not sure if there’re any celebrations when the flags are hoisted in the morning. As we came out, a bunch of people had blocked the road and were protesting against something.

It was a memorable event to witness. A better seating and proper visitor management would have made it even great. To quote an example, world trade centre memorial in New York has an online pass system. Only specific number of people are let in every day at designated timing.

To conclude: Evening ceremony at Wagah is a must visit experience if you’re going to Punjab. If possible, get a  VIP pass. If that doesn’t work out, give the camera to women in your team- they will have better visibility and can take better pics. Water and refreshments are available inside, but when the ceremony is in progress you may not be able to walk out and buy something. Post ceremony you can refresh yourself. Photos, DVDs, souvenirs are all available for sale. Mobiles will NOT work in the border. So if your loved ones are separated from you because of gender or crowd, you need to have a meeting place pre-decided- like in front of the washroom or near the car etc, to avoid confusion and panic.

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Bhopal – Nagpur- Raipur – Road Trip Review

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We were on the Ring road, Nagpur at around 12.30 pm and after that we continued towards the NH 6/AH46. We decided to continue without taking hold due to traffic in the city. We just stopped to exchange of driver seat at the outer ring at the start of AH46 where the road sign shows that Raipur is now 275 kms ahead. So now I have the pilot seat in my hands. We continue towards the Raipur on the Nagpur- Durg- Raipur express way. The complete AH 46 is a 4 lane road, but with some traffic. After driving about 70 kms we reached Bhandara at about 2 pm and here we decided to take a halt and have lunch. We found a restaurant just on the highway and also a petrol pump besides it. So this is the best place to have a halt. After having a good lunch at Bhandara and having a tank full of my car, I continue ahead towards the Raipur. The road is excellent with lots of toll plaza in between we paid around Rs. 250 as a total toll from Weinganga Toll plaza to Raipur Toll plaza.

The road from Bhilai is with lots of traffic and from here I found the name expressway and paying toll as an injustice to the travelers.  But still after a lot of hustle and bustle we reached Pandri Raipur same day and we notice the time is 6.25 while entering the Raipur from Tatibandh Square and covered the distance from Tatibandh Square Raipur to Pandri Raipur (9.7 kms) takes 45 minutes and finally reached our hotel in pandri Raipur at 7.10 pm. Thanks to the congested and traffic with no traffic sense peoples of Raipur. Now I have to complete the official and the important tasks for which we have travelled Raipur.

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