11 Nov

महेश्वर – नर्मदा का हर कंकर है शंकर. नमामि देवी नर्मदे – भाग 2

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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

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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

A Trip to Bolivia – Part 2

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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

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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

A trip to Bolivia – Part 1

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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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Trek to Shikari Devi, The Hunter Goddess

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Disoriented, with mixed feelings and helpless (as my mobile had no network and there was no sign of any human beings around), it took me some time to gather my senses and to think about getting out of this. Though I had experienced this earlier as well on my solo trip to McLeodganj where I was lost while wandering in the jungles near Dharamkot, I somehow managed to get out of this and felt delighted to see a way out. I am now able to relate myself sometime with some similar experiences especially when I watch the program ‘I shouldn’t be alive’ on Discovery Channel which shows the survival stories of the people. I am sure many others who would have experienced this ever will be able to better relate to this.

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Wanderings in South Goa.

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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.

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Self-Drive trip across Thailand (7 days, 2000 kms) : Part 6 – Chiang Mai

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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

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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

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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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वाटरटन नेशनल पार्क और यु.एस. बोर्डर (भाग २)

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पार्क की सुबह बहुत खूबसूरत थी. हिरण जैसे दो प्राणी घूम रहे थे. सुबह उठ कर एक चक्कर गांव का लगाता हूँ. एक दुकान खुली देख कर अंदर काफी लेने जाता हूँ, साथ ही खाने के लिए एक पेस्ट्री ले लेता हूँ. यह दुकान वाला बहुत सामान बेच रहा था. काफी, ब्रेड चोकलेट, और बहुत सा सामान. पेट्रोल पम्प भी इस दुकान वाले का ही था. साथ में साइकल भी किराये पर दे रहा था. एक साइकल का एक घंटे का किराया १० डॉलर, और हेल्मट के १० डॉलर अलग से. साथ में मोटर बाइक भी किराये के लिए थे.

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A visit to Jallianwala Bagh, Golden Temple & Wagha Border

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Today India is a vibrant Nation. However, we tend to take many things for granted. In our normal day to day, routine life we hardly remember them who sacrificed their life to free our motherland. On our 66th years of Independence, let’s make a resolution to make India beautiful and fight against terrorism, anti-social elements, corruptions…each one of us can make a difference.

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