11 Nov

हिमाचल डायरी : दो पल के जीवन से… (Sirmour सिरमौर – भाग 2)

By Avtar Singh

शाम के छह साढ़े छह बजे का समय चाय का नियत है, कुछ मेहमानों के पास अपनी निजी, और कुछ कैम्प वालों के पास, कुल मिलकर इतनी छतरियां है कि सभी एक एक करके हाल में पहुँचते है | इस तरह के आयोजन का सबसे बड़ा लाभ यह है कि आप केवल अपने खोल में ही सिमटे नही रहते बल्कि अजनबी लोगो से मुलाकात होती है, कुछ नए दोस्त बनते है मोबाइल नम्बर भी लिए दिए जाते है और फिर एक दुसरे के सम्पर्क में रहने के वादे इरादे भी! यूँ तो ज्यादातर लोग गुडगाँव और दिल्ली के ही है, शायद इन्ही जगहों पर सबसे अधिक रोजगार के साधनों का सृजन भी हुआ है जिसकी वजह से देश विदेश से हजारो लोग अपने परिवेश को छोड़ कर इन शहरों में आये है, जिसकी वजह से एक नवधनाढ्य मध्यम वर्ग का उदय हुआ है, जो 1990 से पहले की भारतीय अर्थव्यवस्था में अनुपस्थित था | और, फिर ऐसे छुट्टी के अवसर पर दो चार दिन अपने PG में पड़े रहने से, या माल में घूमने से बेहतर है कि इस तरह का पर्यटन ही कर लिया जाये | एक बड़ा सा ग्रुप ऐसे ही लडके लडकियों का है, मगर वो अपनी ही दुनया में मगन है, उन सब की काटेज आस पास ही है, सो उनका अड्डा वहीं जमा रहता है | अपने ही म्यूजिक सिस्टम पर वो गाने लगा लेते है और नाचते रहते है | अपनी गिटार भी है, कभी कभी उस पर भी खुद ही गुनगुनाते रहते हैं, लडके हों या लडकियाँ, सिगरेट और शराब के शौक़ीन है और कैम्प के सहयोग से उनकी अनवरत सप्लाई उनके लिए चालू है | एक दूसरा ग्रुप दस लोगों का, दिल्ली से है, जो एक ही स्कूल से सन नब्बे के पास आउट है, और अब सभी अलग अलग कार्य क्षेत्रों में सलिंप्त है | मगर उल्लेखनीय बात है कि वो आज भी एक दूसरे के सम्पर्क में है | और, कभी कभी उन साथ बिताये गये अपने उन गुजरे लम्हों को याद करने के लिए, अपने परिवारों से अलग ऐसे प्रोग्राम बनाते रहते है | दिल्ली से हैं, और अधिकतर पंजाबी हैं, सो शुरूआती संकोच के बाद जब खुलते हैं तो फिर इतना खुल जाते हैं कि आप उनकी शाम की महफ़िल में ही अपने आप को जाम उठाये पाते है |

Sheer drive to Rajasthan: Jodhpur,Udaipur & Jaisalmer in 4 days

By Ramta Jogi

Still we had enough time so gave a thought for Udaipur now in evening. Everyone suggested for planning during food intake. Ultimately this was saving some time for us.
we wasted 20-25 mins in search of a good restaurant in city than decided that we will have food on the way .Just 10 mins later found a restaurant luckily. We were having our lunch cum dinner @ 6:30 PM. We hadn’t booked our hotel anywhere in the trip so tried to book hotel in Udaipur. Another 5-6hrs journey was still pending & it was a big risk to search hotel in midnight with family. When inquired in 5-6 hotels none of a single room was available. Local contacts tried but all went in vain.
Oh God….left the luck behind!! was everyone celebrating independence day in Udaipur or everyone was utilizing this weekend with another holiday of 15th Aug. By the way it was 8 ‘o clock & we were still in Jodhpur.

Avoiding risk of late night journey & no hotel availability in Udaipur we decided to stay in Jodhpur & depart for Udaipur in early morning. It was a hotel’s restaurant, got 2 rooms easily .We had enough spare time now, so utilized for our party.

A trip to Amritsar

By Anjan

We crossed the short stretch of paved no-man’s land, dividing 140 million Pakistanis from more than one billion Indians . We enjoyed every bit and tried to capture our emotions: – A proud Indian. Citizens of both the countries were just walking in and crossing the borders (of course after thorough security check). It had an amazing experience for us, though we missed the main ceremony. But never mind what we had experienced few minutes back was just beyond our dreams as we saw something which otherwise was not possible for us a common man/visitors. That day we felt, power gives priority. After greeting and giving vote of thanks to our Major Saab, we headed back towards the Golden Temple .

A very busy and rush Sunday, we saw a big queue for entry to main Hari Mandir Sahib Ji. Our other accompanied denied to stand in a queue and ready to back, because it would take more time. But we said we came here and without bow down our head, we will not back. So, we stand in a queue. A Sardar Ji came and advised us that Deepti, my wife and child can seat there until I reached near the entrance of the Sahib ji.

An Ode to Radhanagar Beach

By Naman

I had just arrived and a mere look at the beach is what made me fall with it! Let me describe what Radhanagar beach was like. The place was super clean and had a handful of tourists. Radhanagar beach was guarded by police officials who were also responsible for the safety of the tourists. Next to the beach was a famous hotel chain which provided accommodation in beautiful huts made of bamboos and natural products. The place was serene and calm.

The view of the blue sees was amazing and I had never seen such a beautiful shade of water. The sand was perfect and was near to white. Radhanagar beach also had tourist huts made completely of bamboos. Radhanagar beach is not for the ones who are looking for some action. The beach doesn’t have any facilities for snorkelling, scuba diving or boating.

Hello Havelock!

By Naman

The Phoenix Bay Jetty is situated in the city and is home to all merchant vessels which are responsible for trade and commerce. The Jetty is the boarding point for the ones who want to visit Neil or Havelock Islands. We had our tickets in hand which were booked prior by Mr. Ravi (Tour Manager, Contact: 09434261219). The tickets for Havelock Islands are sold out within minutes. It is advisable to ask your agent/tour manger to get the same booked as soon as you land up in the city. There are private as well as government ship operators which provide connections to Neil and Havelock. Being the off season (August) the private operator (called as Makcruzz) was closed down and the only available option a government run ship.

The tag ‘Government’ automatically lowers the standards and gives me a bad impression of what so ever even before I see it. Anyways, the ship that we had to board was called ‘M.V Jollybuoy’. We were booked in the only available option of seating lounge. One needs to spot his vessel and then proceed for boarding. As we stepped inside the ship, we were greeted by the Chief Officer of the ship who also checked our tickets. He later on transferred us to the seating hall. The so called seating hall had three rows and seats faced opposite to each other. It also had a television set which was cleverly hidden in one of the compartments. The hall seemed more like my seamanship class room with lots of safety boards and demonstrative visuals. Good enough! The ship departed right on time at 06³⁰ and that is when I got to know that we can go on the bridge.

हिमाचल डायरी : दो पल के जीवन से… (Sirmour सिरमौर – भाग 1)

By Avtar Singh

कांगो जोहड़ी में ही मुख्य सड़क से लगभग चार किमी नीचे की उतराई पर कैंप रोंक्स हमारी मंजिल है | हमे रास्ता दिखाने रिसोर्ट की तरफ से अपनी इनोवा गाड़ी लेकर सौरभ ( इस कैम्प के मालिक का बेटा} आया है और अब हमे इस कच्ची और पथरीली सडक पर बिना किसी सुरक्षा व वाले रास्ते पर जाना है | इस सडक पर गाड़ी बढ़ाते ही लैंसडाउन के हिल व्यू शांति राज रिसोर्ट की याद ताजा हो आई | बिलकुल वैसी ही सड़क मगर रास्ता उससे भी एक किमी और ज्यादा लम्बा, ऊपर से बारिश और गाड़ियों की लगातार आवाजाही के कारण बीच बीच में पानी के पोखर से बन गए हैं जिनमे से गुजरते डर लगता है कहीं आप की गाड़ी का पहिया न फँस जाये, मगर इसके सिवा कोई और चारा भी तो नही | नास्तिक पता नही कैसे इन लम्हों से पार पाते होंगे, मगर हम तो राम राम और वाहेगुरु वाहेगुरु करते और फिर से एक बार ये सोचते हुये कि इस बार तो यहाँ आ गए अगली बार किसी ऐसी जगह नही आना, पिछले कुछ सालों से इसी तरह से अपने डर पर काबू पाते आ रहें है | रिसोर्ट की इनोवा आगे आगे चल रही है और पीछे पीछे हम मगर अभी तक तो रिसोर्ट का नामो निशाँ ही नही | मगर फिर दूर नीचे घाटी में पानी की कुछ टँकियां नजर आती है तो मन में आशा की एक नई लहर का संचार होता है जब इतना पहुँच गए तो वहाँ भी पहुँच ही जायेंगे और फिर हमसे आगे तो इनोवा है | हालांकि प्रकृति वही है और प्रकृति के नजारे भी, मगर अब जल्दी पहुँचने की हसरत में इसे भोगने का कोई इरादा नही, अन्यथा आप कहीं भी अपनी गाड़ी रोक कर यहाँ घंटो गुजार सकते हैं | परन्तु चाहत अब यही है कि बस अब ये रास्ता किसी तरह जल्दी से कट जाये |

Sonar Kella - The Golden Fortess of Jaisalmer

Reaching Jaisalmer – A road review

By Amitava Chatterjee

Childhood memories coming back… in those early days like every other child, I used to love crime fiction and there is a great tradition of detective fiction in Bengal…those month long Summer and Puja breaks were spent mostly reading Tenida, Ghanada, Kakababu, Bomkesh, Pandob Goenda, Feluda Series*. These stories were written mostly for kids and we enjoyed reading them a lot. Sometimes our wait for the next issue to come, would have been a month or even a year. Would we mind? No, not at all. Those were the perfect gifts for kids to inculcate reading habit.

Baratang: A Tribal Treat

By Naman

Long back, a group of tourists shot a video of the Jarawas and uploaded the same on the web. According to the United States, this act was not justified and it was classified as hindrance to the tribal life of the Jarawas. The issue was raised out loud and was finally brought up to the Indian Government. After all sought of discussions and panel meetings, the government decided to offer protection to the community. The jungle was then handed over to the police and CCTV cameras were also installed amidst the wild. A convoy system was setup wherein a convoy of vehicles at specific time will be accompanied by the Police officials to cross the jungle from Jirkatang to Baratang and vice versa. The government also banned the use of mobiles and cameras in between the journey. The first convoy had to depart at 06⁰⁰ hours and we were to go in the same.

Golden Trip to Sri Harmandir Sahab, Amritsar

By Mala Raman

The entire ambience is soothing and spiritual with kirtans being sung by the gurus sitting inside the temple. Even though the entire journey from the start of the line till one enters the actual temple where the Guru Granth sahib is kept and Gurbani is recited takes about three hours, thousands of people from all castes, creeds and ethnicities throng the Golden temple every day. The temple is open all through the day and night except from 12am to 3pm when the routine cleaning takes place. Awaiting their turns to enter the holy chamber the “Ekonkar” mantra is chanted by all the devotees. The environment is extremely divine. Despite of the rush, a true believer in God can easily connect with the creator here. The actual darshan is even more mystical. One feels as if one has attained the ultimate peace.

Making our way out of the chamber, we looked into the sarovar which is house to a multitude of orange and black fishes. We managed to make our way out and sat for a long time in the premises of the temple overlooking the sarovar.

Setting Sail to the Three Islands

By Naman

Always remember to carry your ID Card along with you as it is need at almost every tourist spot in the Andamans. The ferries depart every hour and we were to go by the 09³⁰ one. We were not offered any lifejackets and the ferry setup made me worry. Safety was on compromise but yet again one doesn’t have any another option. Recently, a ferry sailing from North Bay to Ross Island sunk and as many as 21 people died. Why can’t we follow safety guidelines rather than waiting for accidents to take place? As soon as the boarding began, I was the first one to step in and occupy the seat ahead of the wheel room.

Visiting Kaluk in West Sikkim

By Sharmistha Dan

If you are an aficionado of history, then Rabdentse is a place not to be missed if you are on a trip to West Sikkim. Located on a ridge near Upper Pelling, Rabdentse was the ancient capital of the kingdom of Sikkim from 1670 to 1814. It was destroyed by the Gurkha invasion and now only the ruins of the palace remain. The remains of the palace have been declared as of national importance by the Archaeological Survey of India. The ruins offer panoramic views of Mt. Kanchendzonga.

Vikram dropped us at the point from where we were to trek about 1.5 km through forest to reach the ruins. A huge decorated gate leads to the trekking path. We started our journey through a stone-cobbled path through the forest. The path was narrow and dark. The forest was deep. There was not a person to be seen anywhere. It was super-thrilling!!

Welcome to Andamans!

By Naman

The pilot announced “Crew, Ready for takeoff!” The flight from Chennai took off sharp at 05⁰⁰ hours. It is advisable to opt for a windows seat as on the approach towards the beautiful Islands, one gets a visual treat offered by Andamans.

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