10 Oct

Road Journeys – Jamnagar to Bhuj: Tankara, Birthplace of the Ascetic “Swami Dayanand Saraswati”

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Maharshi Dayānand Saraswati was born on 12 February 1824 at Tankara, Gujrat. He was an important Hindu religious leader of his time. He is well known as the founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement of the Vedic tradition. He was a profound scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language. He was the first to give the call for Swarajya as “India for Indians” in 1876, later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak.

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Days Out in Brahmaputra Valley- Learning Bihu

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People gathered here in huge number and many had already occupied the chairs kept under sheds circling the field. Others, like us, who reached here late, were trying hard to get a convenient place to watch the jubilant youthful passionate Bihu dance. I found my place in the middle of crowds. But some tall youths, who were blessed by the GOD with such a sterling heights, suddenly came and stood in front of me. They were standing like a monument and my visibility to the field came to an end.

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Motorbiking from Gurgaon to Gaya (Bihar)

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The first step is always the hardest step. Thankfully one of my flatmate Vikas agreed to come with me (on his Avenger !! ) upto Agra to see the Taj and then he would return back to Gurgaon .
We didn’t pick the Yamuna expressway since if you are planning to go Agra from Gurgaon, taking AH1/NH2 through the Sohna Road is always a better option. It prevents you from passing through Delhi traffic, plus no tolls to pay like that on Yamuna Expressway ( and no more tyre bursts !!). The road is pretty good upto Palwal, 50km from Gurgaon, from there AH1 meets NH2 which directly takes you to Agra. Although it was mid April, somehow it started raining around 7 AM and weather became very pleasant, what else a rider could ask for !!

We stopped for chai sutta on two occasions and reached Agra by 10 AM. After entering the Agra city , it took us around 1.5 hrs to reach the Taj because of small roads and heavy traffic although it was only 13 kms from the highway. Anyways seeing the magnificent Taj and Agra fort was quite refreshing. Now my roomy Vikas had to go back to Gurgaon and I had to cover the rest part of my journey alone. I was up for it.

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Amazing trip to snow covered Shimla

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Next morning when we woke up, the view outside our hotel room was awesome. We had our tea and a small walk on balcony of our room just to have a view of Shimla at that time. The only thing which I can say now is White White White everywhere. Now the next problem which we never thought of was that the water in pipes freezed. So we asked hotel manager to have plan B executed in such situation. He told me that he is going to serve warm water in a bucket for each person. That was a good news for us. After getting ready, we checked out of our Hotel and moved till Ridge. It was bright sunny day. When the sun light was reflecting on snow, it was very hard to see anything because it was shining very brightly. After 20 mins of walk we reached Ridge. Good crowed over there as everyone was busy in capturing the moments in their own camera and having fun in snow. We took some pictures out there also as never wanted to miss any single moment.

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Road Journeys – Dwarka to Jamnagar: Narara Marine National Park & Sanctuary

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Finally we reached at a point with a gate with board of No-Entry. The forest office on the left with a guard welcomed us. Mr. Thakkar’s references again worked and we were greeted with a cup of tea and snacks. The Delhi Plate car was a surprise to all and was more astonished to know that we were driving all the way from Delhi. He informed that the marine park is a restricted area and only allowed with a guide. Surprised! Please don’t, because there wasn’t any official guide, locals in company with the forest guards, engage in guiding the seldom visitors for Rs. 100/- only. They are generally students and natives of nearby villages. The forest guard asked us to pay Rs. 100/- each as entry fee the vehicle can be parked only just after entering the No Entry gate. We paid the same with official receipt, the guide may be paid in cash.

The entire area is a protected place and well guarded by CISF, posted on watch towers with sophisticated weapons because of its proximity to the international borders and the port. We were asked to wear shorts and slippers because of the mangrove and swamp ahead. After abiding by, we started our very exciting journey towards the sea. After traversing the bushes we reached the infinitive vastness of the shores with mangroves spotting here and there. During low tide the sea water recedes to as far as five km and gradually creeps back inundating the entire vast emptiness and the mangroves by noon.

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Road trip to Rajasthan: Chittorgarh-Mount Abu-Haldighati-Udaipur (Part 2)

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Guru Shikhar is the highest point in Mount Abu and Rajasthan and is about 18 km from Mount Abu town. Mount Abu is on the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat and from Guru Shikhar one can view both Rajasthan and Gujarat. After the 18 km drive, there are steps to the top (something like Vaishno Devi) with shops on both the sides. There was a 360 degree view from the top and a small temple.

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Outstanding Orchha

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Orchha is breathtakingly beautiful. Regal on appearance and serene in ambiance. Apart from Jehangir Mahal, the Raja Mahal, Rani Ki Mahal, Rai Praveen Mahal and Sheesh Mahal adorn the dusty hill tops of Orchha. The last named has been converted into a heritage hotel by M.P. tourism with limited accommodation and unlimited scope for improvement in maintenance. There is an interesting anecdote about the Rai Praveen Mahal. Rai Praveen was a courtesan and an accomplished poetess in the Orchha kingdom. For her legendary beauty, she was once sent to the “Harem” of Emperor Akbar against her wishes, as she was deeply in love with Raja Indramani of Orchha. On a face to face meeting with the great Emperor in the Mughal court, she recited one of her poem telling that only “a crow and a dog eat off the used plate of another”. Akbar was too smart and generous to understand the subtle hint and immediately ordered Rai Praveen’s return to Orchha in full honour. All other palaces have their attendant history as well.

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Road trip to Rajasthan: Delhi – Chittorgarh (Part 1)

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Somewhere around Ajmer our GPS asked us to take a left turn on an elevated road and we dismissed it to continue ahead. We stopped about 25 km ahead from that point for petrol and enquired about directions to Chittorgarh. To our dismay, we had missed the turn and this mistake could cost us over an hour.

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How I got the real flavour of Switzerland

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On top of all this it had started drizzling, I still remember the walk. With my phone serving as the music player and torch and the hood of my rucksack as a pseudo rain coat, I walked across the dark pathways hearing distant bell tinging which was coming from nearby farmland. I walked across “cows” and saw “PRIVAT” sign board, and heaved a sigh of relief after meeting the hosts.

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Kids’ day out to Mahabaleshwar

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We started from Pune on Christmas morning at 7AM and it took me about an hour’s time to touch the Mumbai Bangalore highway. Mahabaleshwar is all of 110km from Pune. I am fairly new to car driving so I was at my cautious best all through the drive. It was a smooth ride on the Bangalore highway, but the trip from Shirwal, where you take a right turn from beneath the flyover up to M’was was quite chaotic, since it was a narrow village road.

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Road journeys – Porbandar to mythological Dwarka:

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Contrarily once we reached near the shrine premise, we were glad to see that despite of innumerable devotees there was no chaos and seemed that excellent care has been taken to maintain the sanctity in a well managed way. Far from the entry, cloak rooms with numbered bags are kept in trolleys which can be used to keep off the shoes of the entire group together and deposit it in queue by any one person and obtain a token for free. The valuables like mobiles, cameras etc can also be deposited in another such cloak room adjacent to the shoe stand. It is better to keep the cameras, mobiles & other valuables back in your hotel to avoid delays at depositories.

A team of well mannered security staffs are always ready to guide you amicably for entering into the shrine. Different check points for ladies and gents are equipped with metal detectors and scanners in ‘working condition’ besides physical checking but without hassle. In no time we entered through the giant gate inside the premise and were soon lucky to catch the Shayan Arti at 8.30 pm. The divinity and magnificence of the deity left us in awe and nostalgic. The glittering glossy idol, laden with gold and gems and ornamented with a tilted crown touched the heart immensely and deep immersed the soul in an ocean of sanctum satisfaction with fulfillment. It is perhaps because Lord Krishna is worshiped here as the emperor of Dwarka. The Shayan Arti is performed for 5 minutes only but the rhythmic devotional vibrations lasted till long after. Similarly the divine darshan of the lord continued captured back on memory in persistence of vision.

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