महेश्वर किला – पत्थर की दीवारों में कैद यादें………..भाग 3 (समापन किश्त)
इस श्रंखला के पिछले भाग में मैंने आपको जानकारी दी थी की किस तरह से हम महेश्वर में अहिल्या घाट पर कुछ देर रूककर…
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A memorable trip on bike to rediscover myself in the foothills of Himalayas – Part II
By evening, I used to come again at Har-ki-Pauri for the evening ritual (Sandhya Aarti) performed by the priests on the banks of river Ganga. This is a highly enchanting and divine experience. Devotees light ‘Pradip’ or Diyas and let them flow in the river Ganga… The beautiful diyas float on the water and it is a wonderful sight to experience. A splendid aura of lights and chants fills the atmosphere in the evenings. I used to sit there hours after hours, doing nothing, but never felt bored even for a second…it attracts me always. I knew that I would be visiting this place again & again during this trip and forever in my life. I would have loved to go there any time, can sit there hours after hours, fully aware of the fact that my mind is trying to figure out the reason.
After spending three days in Haridwar, I thought to go to Rishikesh, which is ~ 25 km from Haridwar. The plan was to go there in the morning and come back by afternoon, as I was staying in Bharat Seva Shram Sangha. The drive to Rishikesh from Haridwar is wonderful and is a joy to your eyes. You need to pass through Rajaji National Park, few small streams, railway line (Delhi to Dehradun). Landscape changes as you are getting closer to Rishikesh and all of a sudden the mountain is just in front of you. Amazing! I reached there around 8:30 in the morning.
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My trip to Odisha – Dhauli, Pipli and Konark
We passed through an old toll booth. Papa held a competition that who will spot the Konark Temple first? We all eagerly started to look outside. Papa was looking straight with confidence that only he will win. I thought that probably he knew where the Sun Temple would come. I was proved right as after sometime papa was the first person to spot the Sun Temple’s mastaka. It was brightly shining, rising above the tree canopy.
By then it was evening so we decided to go to the Konark beach first and get a glance of the temple in the night. It was a nice warm day and towards the evening it turned a little cool. I wore my swimming costume and had fun on the beach. Nikki Mama and I played with a disk. When Mama went to play with his friends who had also come from Delhi, I strolled on the beach going near to the ocean so that I could get my feet wet. The water was chillingly cold. I wanted to go further deep but papa had cautioned me not to do so as Konark Beaches are unsafe and dangerous. It was a beautiful evening with finally the sun diving and disappearing in the ocean.
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महेश्वर – नर्मदा का हर कंकर है शंकर. नमामि देवी नर्मदे – भाग 2
साथियों, महेश्वर यात्रा की यह दूसरी कड़ी प्रस्तुत कर रही हूँ. पिछली कड़ी में मैंने बताया था की किस तरह हम अगस्त के एक…
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जिम कॉर्बेट पार्क – गर्जिया देवी का मंदिर और कॉर्बेट जल प्रपात
गर्जिया देवी का मंदिर रामनगर से रानीखेत जाने वाली सड़क पर रामनगर से 15 किलोमीटर दूर है.यह मंदिर कोसी नदी के किनारे एक पहाड़ी के शीर्ष पर बना हुआ है. यह नैनीताल जिले का एक मुख्य मंदिर है जहाँ हर वर्ष कार्तिक पूर्णिमा पर हजारो श्रदालु माता के दर्शनों के लिए आते है. वसंत पंचमी पर भी यहाँ भक्तों की भीड़ जुटती है. यह मंदिर माता पार्वती को समर्पित है.
मंदिर की दूरी सिर्फ 15 किमी ही थी परन्तु पहाड़ी रास्तों पर इन 15 किमी की दूरी तय करने में अच्छा खासा समय लग जाता है. हमे भी पहुँचते पहुँचते अँधेरा हो गया था. मंदिर के रास्ते में पड़ने वाली दुकाने भी बंद होने लगी थी. हमने एक दुकानदार से पूछा कि क्या मंदिर खुला होगा उसने सकारात्मक उत्तर दिया. मंदिर तक पहुँचने के लिए कोसी नदी पर बने एक पुल पर से गुजरना होता है. शाम हो चुकी थी इसलिए मंदिर का रास्ता भी सुनसान सा ही था. मंदिर एक पहाड़ के शिखर पर स्थित है. जहाँ सीढ़ियों पर चढ़कर जाना होता है. मंदिर काफी उंचाई पर है. मंदिर पहुँच कर प्रसाद चढ़ाया और माता का आशीर्वाद लिया. मंदिर से वापस होटल पहुंचे. जहाँ रात्रि भोजन कर कल की सफारी की कल्पनायों में खो गए.
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A Trip to Bolivia – Part 2
We drove across the mountains, visited many Lagos, saw an active volcano, saw flamingos and other animals such as ostriches, lizards, emu’s etc. If you are not a big fan of dry lands, then maybe you could skip this tour because it’s a lot of travel by road. Especially on the mountains, you can hardly call them roads!! We had a roller coaster ride!
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महेश्वर – एक दिन देवी अहिल्या की नगरी में : भाग 1
ये तो था एक संक्षिप्त परिचय महेश्वर से और अब हम चलते हैं अपने यात्रा वर्णन की ओर. बारिश का मौसम, सुबह सुबह का समय, अपना वाहन और इस सबसे बढ़कर सुहावना मौसम सब कुछ बड़ा ही अच्छा लग रहा था. रास्ते में बाहर जहाँ जहाँ तक निगाह जा रही थी सब दूर हरियाली ही हरियाली दिखाई दे रही थी. हम सभी को बारिश का मौसम बहुत ज्यादा पसंद है, खासकर मुकेश को. जैसे ही मानसून आता है, एक दो बार बारिश होती है बस इनका मन घुमने जाने के लिए मचल उठता है, और हमारे ज्यादातर टूर बारिश के मौसम में ही प्लान किये जाते हैं.
मन में बहुत सारा उत्साह बहुत सारी उमंगें लिए हम बढे जा रहे थे अपनी मंजिल की ओर की तभी ऊपर आसमान में बादलों का मिजाज़ बिगड़ने लगा काले काले बादल घिर आये थे और बिजली की कडकडाहट के साथ तेज बारिश शुरू हो गई. मौसम की सुन्दरता एवं बारिश का आनंद हम कर में बैठ कर तो भरपूर उठा रहे थे लेकिन अब हमें चिंता होने लगी थी की यदि बारिश बंद नहीं हुई तो हम महेश्वर में घुमक्कड़ी तथा फोटोग्राफी का आनंद नहीं उठा पायेंगे और मन ही मन भगवान् से प्रार्थना करने लगे की हमें महेश्वर में बारिश न मिले. ईश्वर ने हमारी प्रार्थना स्वीकार कर ली थी और कुछ ही देर में मौसम खुल गया और पहले से और ज्यादा खुशगवार हो गया. सड़क के दोनों ओर कुछ देर के अंतराल पर भुट्टे सेंकनेवालों की छोटी छोटी दुकाने मिल रही थी, एक जगह से हमने भी भुट्टे ख़रीदे जो की बड़े ही स्वादिष्ट थे.
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A trip to Bolivia – Part 1
Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. We left our hotel early morning around 7.30am since it as a long way to Lake Titicaca. We went by road for about an hour and then by boat for half an hour. We traveled again by road to the small island of Copacabana.
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Wanderings in South Goa.
You are really spoilt for choice when it comes to restaurants in Goa. Besides the beach shacks, where you can sit on the sands and gaze out at the sea, sipping on a drink, while waiting an hour or two for your meal to arrive, there are many restaurants inland which also serve excellent food at very reasonable rates. There is a fusion of East and West, Portugese and Indian, meat and vegetables, which makes Goan cuisine unique. Coconut is used liberally, along with other Indian spices in the cooking. ‘Fish curry rice’ is the most common food and available virtually in every restaurant. The different types of seafood on offer in Goa includes pomfret, kingfish, ladyfish, mackerel, tuna, shark, crab, prawn, lobster, squid and mussels. Chicken, pork, mutton and beef dishes are also on offer at all the restaurants, cooked in the popular Goan flavours such as vindaloo, balchao, recheado, xhacuti and caldin.
We had already planned that we would include at least one meal out at a shack or restaurant in our daily sight-seeing itinerary. One precaution we always took was to carry our own drinking water if we did not want to order a drink, or pay for a bottle of branded mineral water.
Self-Drive trip across Thailand (7 days, 2000 kms) : Part 6 – Chiang Mai
We also spend some time in a fantastic session called ‘Chat with Monks’. This particular wat, which is also a training facility for the young monks, offers tourists an opportunity to interact informally with the monks. There is a common area where the tourist group is met by one of the waiting monks. You can sit with him and discuss anything related to Monks/ Buddhism/ Thailand or any other topic of interest. Well, to answer the ‘why’ of it – such interactions enable the monks to practise spoken English as also widening their knowledge base and the tourists, of course gather valuable insight.
A good & handy source of drinking water is the vending machines placed at common areas. Though bottled water is available across Thailand costing B15 – B30 or more depending on when and where you buy them; these vending machines (working on coin system) offer you potable water @ B1 (one bhat) for a litre.
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A memorable trip on bike to rediscover myself in the foothills of Himalayas – Part I
Life is full of joy and sorrow, happiness and disappointments, ups and down and Life can also throw unexpected surprises – I was taught in my school and I am also explaining the meaning to my son now. But, at that point of time those are only “THE WORDS” for me and nothing else. Remember ‘3 Idiots’ – “Jab dost fail ho to dukh hota hai, lekin jab dost top kare to aur bhi dukh hota hai”
What else would you do in my place, when the requester is the CEO of your Company? Do you have any other option? I know some who might still have some other options, but fortunately or unfortunately, I am not so impulsive in nature and the other option to fly – was an unthinkable proposition for me that time.
I have a great respect for Mr. Ram S. Ramasundar, the then CEO of Electrolux India, who is like a God Father for me, I had no other option but to say “Yes Sir, I will”.
It was already 11 in the morning and I had an i-ticket. I asked permission to go to the counter to cancel the ticket, to get 50% refund for the cancellation. Who says money doesn’t matter.
“Do one thing, prepare a voucher – it will be reimbursed fully from accounts, I will approve the same.” So, one of my worry had been taken care of…but what about the disappointments.
From a very beautiful morning, all of a sudden it became one of the worst day for me. With a heavy heart, I called up home to inform that I won’t be able to come. Durga Puja was over by the time I hang up the phone for me, as well as for them, even before the first sound of Dhak.
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Pune to South Goa Road Trip
At 12.30 pm we crossed over into Karnataka, and paid another toll. Immediately we could sense that we were in a different state. The traffic was much less in Karnataka as compared to the heavy traffic right upto Kolhapur in Maharashtra. The scenery was better, with undulating hills in the distance. There were flowering bushes in the road divider which made the drive more pleasant, and lay-byes with public utilities at regular intervals along the highway.
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