Hills

ऋषिकेश में रिवर राफ्टिंग

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‘जय गंगा मैया’ की ध्वनि के साथ हम लोग राफ्ट लेकर चल पड़े | राफ्टिंग में सर्वाधिक आनंद पर्वतों के बीच से बहती तेज नदी के बीच एक छोटे से राफ्ट से बड़े बड़े हरे-हरे पर्वतों को देख कर होता है | ऐसा लगता है मानो मनुष्य न जाने क्यों गर्व करता है प्रकृति के सामने उसकी कोई सत्ता नहीं है | बड़े बड़े खड़े पर्वत किसी साधना में लीन साधु की तरह लग रहे थे | उनके ऊपर उगे पेड़ झाड़ियाँ उनके बढ़ी हुई दाढ़ी की तरह और चोटियाँ सर के चोटी की तरह प्रतीत हो रही थी | यही शांत, सुखमय वातावरण मानसिक और आतंरिक रूप से संतुष्टि प्रदान करता है | अक्सर चारों ओर देखने में, मैं एक दो पल के लिए भूल भी जाता था; की राफ्टिंग कर रहा हूँ | होश तब आता जब हमारे कमांडर आगे आने वाले रैपिड के लिए आगाह करते | शिवपुरी से राम झुला तक लगभग 16km की राफ्टिंग में कुल नौ रैपिड आते हैं जिन्हें एक से लेकर 5 डिग्री तक चिन्हित किया गया है | आगे आने वाले रैपिड का नाम रोलर कोस्टर था जो 5 डिग्री का था इसमे राफ्ट बाहर से घूमकर अन्दर की ओर तेजी से आती है | हम सभी लोग तेज से चिल्लाये | उत्साह दिखाने के लिए सबके अपने अपने चिल्लाने के तरीके होते हैं | वैसे कमांडर ने रैपिड के बीच में शोर से मना किया था ताकि उसके द्वारा दिए गये कमांड को हम लोग सुन सके |

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Khushwant Singh Kasauli LitFest – Himalayan Hamlet

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The litfest opened at 2 pm with a welcome by Khushwant Singh’s son Rahul Singh.
The event kick started under the October sun with tributes and anecdotes pouring in for the Always Khush sardar by his son Rahul Singh, nephew Pammi Singh, colleague Bachi Karkaria and friends Farooq Abdullah and Bishan Singh Bedi.

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ब्रह्माकुमारी आश्रम की यात्रा व आध्यात्मिक ज्ञान के पल….!

ब्रह्माकुमारी आश्रम की यात्रा व आध्यात्मिक ज्ञान के पल….!

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अब मैं मध्य बर्थ पर था और पत्नी लोअर बर्थ पर. वह महिला जिससे बर्थ एक्सचेंज की थी वह ट्रेन चलते ही ऐसी निंद्रा में लीं हुई कि सवेरे चाय- नाश्ता की आवाजों के कोलाहल और चलकदमी से ही जागी. जैसी मुझे चिंता रहती है मिडिल या अपर बर्थ की ऐसी कोई दिक्कत तो नहीं हुई क्यूंकि एक बार सोने के लिए बेड पर जाने के बाद फिर तो मैं सवेरे ही उठता हूँ चाहे नींद न भी आये. बस बर्थ में शरीर को घुसाना और फिर स्वयं को समेटना– इन दो क्रियाओं के खतरों के कारण मैं लोअर बर्थ को बेहतर मानता हूं। यदि पत्नी के सहमति नहीं होती तो मैं उन महिला को उपकृत करने वाला नहीं थ. लगभग एक महीना पहले बुकिंग कराओ, लोअर सीट के लिए, और एक क्षण में एक आग्रह पर वह बर्थ आप किसी और को सौंप दें, यह तो कोई बात नहीं हुई. हालांकि पत्नी का सोचना इसके विपरीत है, चूँकि वह भी समय-समय पर अपनी यात्रा में लोअर बर्थ को हथियाने में निपुण है, तो उसके लॉजिक के अनुसार उस बर्थ पर किसी महिला को सोने देने में कुछ भी असहजता नहीं है. और यह कि लोअर बर्थ पर महिलाओं का पहला अधिकार नैसर्गिक रूप से बनता है (रेलवे के नियम चाहे जो कुछ हों).

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Chail- a virginal suburb of Himachal Pradesh

Chail- a virginal suburb of Himachal Pradesh

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The hills were dead silent with occasional laughter and cries of ancestors of the HOMO SAPIENS. These brave hearts have made tall and fragile pine and deodar trees their play grounds. They dare to walk on high tension electric wires and water pipes at a height good enough to claim your life, if you lose your balance. They generally reside in abandoned homes, towering trees and earn their living by robbing from homes and climbing tall trees eating seeds and fruits. They were the sole owners of these lands encroached by humans. Their voices might be a welcome to us and an agreement to live peacefully with them or they might be planning a revolution against us or maybe they have an attitude that they don’t care. Hills grow quieter as you glide down the day. Sky turns darker as sun takes your leave. You keep filling your lungs with the fresh air just to make sure that serene natural air reaches even to the last ruptured alveoli of your smoke and pollution damaged lungs. The mist is the best treat that you can give to your eyes next to actually snowing.

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Nainital – The Last Leaf

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Sitting in a restaurant on the Mall Road, you feel happy. The early December air is nippy, fresh and clear. There are few tourists this time of the year. Sun rays reflect off the dark green water of the lake creating silvery ripples. Wisps of clouds float in the incredibly blue sky. Such blue skies are seen over Delhi for maybe two days a year. You have chosen to sit in the open sided area. The sun is soothing. You are almost in a trance. It seems life has receded leaving you in a glowing fuzzy ball of warmth. And then you see the tree.

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Leh – Pangong – Srinagar

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The unbelievable part of this road trip was to be driving at 120kmph at 16000 feet above sea level at More plains. You just could see the road laid in front till the eyes could see. After this there’s a steep climb to Tanglang-La at 17,500 feet where I started feeling dizzy again. Susheel said lets take 30 mins rest here at the Pass and I had to tell him like a crazy panicking person that we need to rush down to feel better. Also it’s here I discovered Susheel wasn’t driving in the wrong lane due to bad driving habit learnt in the cities but deliberately to avoid the (view of the) steep fall on the valleys side, I was splitting my sides laughing and offered to drive but he wouldn’t let me, saying I was a crazy driver to be driving on that side and he didn’t want to die. Hahaha, still makes me go when I remember how we met unsuspecting drivers from the other direction in their rightful lanes honking at us. But we did have a taxi following us in the wrong lane and driving equally slow refusing to overtake. If you saw the views from Tanglang-La  you could perhaps be forgiven to be driving like that. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any good pictures as he didn’t want to stop and catch an accidental glimpse of the abyss.

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Misty Mukteshwar – From a 12 year olds’s view

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The third day, we went to see a river and waterfall. We went there by trekking, starting early in the morning. It was a very lengthy journey. I kept on asking my guide that when we will reach the river. All the time his reply was that it is just a few kilometers far. The area was full of pine and oak trees. I collected many pine flowers (pine cone).We heard birdsongs of many types. One particular bird with long tail was very attractive. The guide told that the bird’s name may be ‘paradise bird’ but he was not sure. After coming to the guest house I searched in the internet and identified that it was a ‘red billed blue magpie’. It was an extremely beautiful bird which glided smoothly down the valley. I slipped on the fallen pine leaves and fell down many times on the way but it was all fun! After walking for about four hours we heard the sound of water rushing through the rocks. I started running in the direction of the sound and found a very fresh and clear stream, crashing through the rocks. This place was not visited by many tourists and hence very clean. Usually people throw things in the water. The sound of water falling from the high mountain was very loud. I missed my brother because with him I would have enjoyed more. The water was cold and green. Whenever I see water I can’t control myself and I started swimming.

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Sand Dunes of Nubra and Diskit Monastery

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Usually deserts occur in low altitude, such as the great Indian Thar Desert. But there is also one high altitude cold desert in India which occurs in the Hunder village of Nubra Valley…………..We arrived there. It was beyond our imaginations and dreams to see such a vast bed of silver sands with brown mountains at the backdrop…………The sand dune offers to its visitors the great Central Asian double-humped camel safari. While other visitors were busy in getting their turn first for the safari, I went close to the camels. They look the same normal camels except those two humps. For the first time I saw those camels.

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Road to Nubra Valley over Khardung La

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We were told that weather is very unpredictable and highly unstable and can change surprisingly fast at Khardung La.  It may leave travelers trapped for hours or even days, but nothing like that happened to us, except heavy downpour on our way back on the following day.

We started descending from Khardung La. By now ‘Rahman’, the driver of our car became familiar with me. As I pointed the camera, he stopped the car. I came out to click. A small lake surrounded by the mountains just below the Khardung La looked so beautiful.

We set off again. Soon we passed the village Khardung. It is a tiny green village surrounded by barren mountains.  A drive of another 40 minutes or so and we met the river Shyok, a tributary of river Indus. The water of river Shyok looked muddy. Our journey continued by the bank of river Shyok.

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Naukuchiatal – a comfortable weekend getaway with family

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While waiting for lunch, I walked around observing the tourists and what they were doing. While watching them, I was reminded of an old saying; When someone used to get sick or feeling “not well’, they used to be advised that “In ko Pahard per lay jao – AAB-O-HAWA badli karao” (Take them to the hills and give them a change of “Water & Air”)!

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