Haryana

Carved from the state of Punjab in 1966, Haryana shares its capital with Punjab in Chandigarh. The state also embraces the National Capital Delhi on three sides and many parts of it come under the National Capital Region or NCR. Proximity to Delhi have made these places (like Gurgaon) develop into satellite towns to absorb the expanding population and cater to demands of more residential, commercial as well as official areas.
Haryana is part of the fertile Northern plains and is a rich agrarian economy. Haryanvi and Hindi are the major languages spoken here. This land has many historical and legendary events associated with it. The most prominent being the preaching of Bhagwat Gita, the battle of Kurukshetra and the three battles of Panipat. Kurukshetra, Jyotisar, Thanesar, Panchkula and Pehowa are places of pilgrimage. Haryana provides opportunities for adventure tourism, bird watching and camping (Jungle Fowl Camp, Dhanchiri Camp). A walk through history could be experienced at Yadavindra Gardens that is a Heritage resort set amidst 17th century Mughal Gardens, Bhima Devi Temple (Pinjore) and Ballabgarh Fort. A unique Cactus Garden in Panchkula and the annual Suraj Kund Crafts Mela are visit worthy places.
The state has an excellent network of National and State highways and is well connected by railways too. Business Tourism is also being promoted in Haryana by providing conference halls and rooms for corporate get-togethers, at resorts and hotels on the many highways passing through the state. The climate gets very hot in summers and very cold in winters with an average monsoon.

My first solo drive on NH-2 (Del-Kol-Del)

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It was towards dusk, when I reached Chauparan and I was desperate to reach at least Dhanbad, which is approximately 150 km from there. Twenty hours since I started my journey – my eyes started paining and at times, it was difficult to keep my eyes open. I realized the situation and slowed down, till I reached a safer place. One truck driver offered help and asked to follow him. After reaching Dhanbad, we exchanged Diwali Greetings and offered him some sweets. He was coming from Jallandhar and learnt that he has to cross this stretch (NH-2) at least twice in a month. It was 10:30 at night and 24 hours since I started driving. I didn’t want to spend another day on road, since my home is around 200 km from Dhanbad – ‘I have to reach home today’.

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Summer Vacation – a wonderful run through NH-2 from the Ghats of Varanasi to Home – Part II

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I went to check whether they washed the car or not, as promised yesterday. The outer body of the car looks like we just finished, sorry ‘Won’ the cross-country rally…several layers of dust all around the body and required a considerable amount of time and efforts to bring it back to its’ original colour. The security guard was of immense help and cleaned the car within next half an hour.

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Sultanpur National Park

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The park is developed around the natural lake. For the years Sultanpur lake has been attracting birds. Peter Jackson of International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources wrote to Prime minister Indira Gandhi about the need to declare the Sultanpur lake to a bird Sanctuary, In 1971 the Lake was declared as Bird Sanctuary later in 1991 the Bird sanctuary was notified as National Park.

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Sultanpur National Park: Pathos for a Sitting Duck

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The marshland appeared more like grassland with bushes blocking the way everywhere. There were more grazing cattle inside than birds – I mean the birds which were supposed to be there according to the article. The ambience inside the park was more allusive to the Eliot’s Wasteland than the Wordsworth Tintern Abbey. You must be thinking I am totally nuts…talking like this :-) Well the thing is that I am writing this line on a few miles away from Sultanpur National Park, on revisiting the banks of “not quite” marshlands of the park and 15 months had passed since my last visit to this one time birder’s paradise.

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KINGDOM OF DREAMS – Gurgaon (NCR)

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Kingdom of Dreams is India’s first live entertainment, theatre and leisure destination, and is located in Sector 29, Gurgaon , near the Leisure Valley Park.
Culture Gully is an air-conditioned boulevard spread across 90,000 sq. feet was opened in July 2010. the entrance to the indoor boulevard is through a 20ft gateway, made with Golden lotus petals sparkling with tiny mirrors. Here you can see the blend of all cultures under one roof. There are theme restaurants from 14 states of India (Assam , Sikkim, West Bengal, ,Kerala, Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chennai, Goa, Mumbai, Lucknow, Kashmir and Rajasthan & Karnataka). Apart from the Local Cuisine one can enjoy the traditional Handicrafts & street performance by Artists.

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The Nomads “initiation” Bike Ride

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Our company had a riding group called “AMEXPLORERS”. However, when the two people who started it, left the organization, the group withered away. Recently, I got the opportunity to revive the group and restart the whole tradition of exploring the world 1km at a time on two wheels.

To the outside world, a group by the name of “The Nomads” was created. With the revival came the initiation ride and to begin with, a crew of like-minded people was formed who would help organizing the ride

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