01 Jan

Bull’s Retreat – OUTTA THIS WORLD!

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Driving through Rishikesh in darkness, we could not see much except the twinkling diyas after Arti on the banks of Ganga. Though it was pitch dark, it was impossible to miss well lit billboard of the Bull’s Retreat ahead of Shivpuri village and we were warmly greeted by courteous Mohinder and staff of Retreat who shifted quickly our baggage to two rooms alloted to us.

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Amkhoi Fossil Park

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The angiosperm wood fossils which are displayed here were collected during pond digging from Amkhoi village of Illambazar Forest, Birbhum District. These specimens are definite proof of the presence of a vast dry deciduous forest with a few evergreen elements in this area, which prevailed 15 to 20 million years before present (Late Miocene). Wood fossils can also be found in different places of Birbhum, Bardhaman, Bankura and Medinipur Districts of West Bengal as well as in Mayurbhanj District in Orissa.

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Sukharia – the land of the Mitra Mustafis

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The village of Sukharia is associated with the Mitra Mustafi family whose other settlements were in the villages of Ula Birnagar and Sripur. The Mitra Mustafi family is sometimes called the family of Dewans as most of the family members served in different positions in the revenue departments during the rule of the monarchy.

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Bienvenue à Jaipur: Ville Rose

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It was Wednesday evening when Sourabh came & asked to go out of Delhi on Weekend. Immediately everybody started looking at him & responded yes in a very strange way. This reaction was not due to the short notice for outing but everybody was surprised that he is not going home on the weekend. Without giving any thought to this idea, everybody said Yes & then asked where you want to go? Ultimately Jaipur was selected & we planned to leave early morning of Saturday.

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Beautiful Beaches of Harihareshwar & Divegar

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Harihreshwar and Divegar are two very beautiful beaches in the south of Raigad district. Instead of Alibaug why not visit them next time which is 41/2 – 5 hours drive from Mumbai. For the extended weekend in the month of February we wanted to cover a part of western coast. Between Ganpatipule and Harihreshwar we finalized the latter. Our itinerary included 2 nights in Harihreshwar and one night in Divegar. The way the western coast stretches to the south of Alibaug  is Divegar, Srivardhan, Harihreshwar and little ahead is Velas. People do the first three as triangle but we included Velas instead of Srivardhan which I will clarify in the latter part.

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औरंगाबाद: अतीत के आईने में

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हम वहां के अत्यंत शांतिपूर्ण माहौल में पहुंचकर तथा औरंगजेब की कब्र के सामने खड़े होकर स्तब्ध तथा आश्चर्यचकित होकर आँखे फाड़ फाड़ कर देख रहे थे और सोच रहे थे……एक समय हिन्दुस्तान पर राज़  करने वाले बादशाह की कब्र…….इतनी साधारण…….इतनी सादगी लिए……….ऊपर छत भी नही……….हमारी इस जिज्ञासा को शांत किया वहीँ पर खड़े एक मौलाना रूपी गाइड ने.

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On The Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka

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The high point of our yatra was the visit to Sigiriya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sigiriya or Simha Giriya ( Lion Rock ) is a gigantic rock formation ( 660 ft high ) on top of which a complex capital city was built by one king Kashyap and which was said to have been later usurped by Ravana. Still later, it was used by Buddhists to promote their religion. The rock and its surroundings presents a unique concentration of urban planning, architecture, gardening, engineering, hydraulic technology and art.

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Chail – Nature’s true walk

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The resort was in middle of the Jungle area and surrounded by hills from 2 sides. Luckily our rooms are balcony one’s and it opens to the hills. What else anyone want a good resort with a hill facing balcony. We checked in to resort a little early and thanks to the manager who allowed us to check in before half an hour from scheduled time. We all were very tired after 11 hours long journey.

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Maharashtra Jyotirlings – Aundha Nagnath, Baijnath and Grhrineshwar

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धर्मशाला में रूम का पता किया तो कोई 700 कोई 500 मांग रहा था, हालांकि वहां मन्दिर ट्रस्ट का धर्मशाला भी है वो मन्दिर के पीछे की और है और किसी पण्डित ने बताया की वहां सिर्फ 100 रुपए ही रुकने का किराया है, उन्ही पण्डित जी से हमने अभिषेक करवाने के लिए बात की तो वो भी हमारे साथ हो लिए की चलिए पहले आपको रूम की व्यवस्था करवाता हूँ फिर आराम से अभिषेक और पूजा के लिए चलना क्योंकि सोमवार होने की वजह से बाबा का पूजा अभिषेक 7 बजे तक करने की इजाजत मन्दिर प्रबन्धन देता है,

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Delhi to Ramnagar : Jim Corbett National Park

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We started our journey from Delhi to Ramnagar for a two days weekend trip to visit Jim Corbett National Park.
Ramnagar is a small town located near famous Corbett National Park in Nainital districts of Uttarakhand. The city is said to be dream destination for wildlife traveler as this is the sole park in India where richest concentrations of wildlife occur.

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Jeddah: Discovering a mega-city

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Jeddah has cityscapes on a large scale. Not for this city the narrow crowded bylanes of Mumbai; here, every street is built on a grand scale. Most streets (barring streets in old Jeddah and inside residential areas) are at least 8-10 lanes in width, with broad footpaths. There are bridges and under-passes, service roads on the side, and so on, in addition to the main thoroughfare. During most visits, in spite of using Google Maps and Navigation, I ended up getting on to the wrong ramp, or driving past a turn or missing a U-turn and having to drive an extra 5-10 kms to get back to where I wished to go.

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A Journey as Magical as its Destinations

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They left every thing on me- planning entire route, night halts, bookings,
sight seeing, servicing of the Neerja’s diesel SUV up to the extent searching out 4
dumped sleeping bags from old cupboards for emergency. The final tight itenary
schedule was got finalised after endless mobile talks, smsing and emails, kind
courtesy Maj Gen Nawnit Kumar, SM Commandant, High Altitude Warfare
School(HAWS) ,Gulmarg and Lt Gen Bobby Mathews ,AVSM**, VSM ,the Colonel
of the Regiment (COR).

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