Featured Author Interview – In a lively talk with Vipin Gaur

Vipin joined Ghumakkar in Januray 2012 with his story on “Deoria Tal“. Very nicely told, with no exaggeration or un-necessary build-up. I tremendously enjoyed the easy trek and later, I could see this pattern in his comments and other logs. I knew that he has been traveling for a long time and is on the road most of the time but I also knew that not too far back, he met with a severe accident which has made him spent a lot of time at home, grounded. While I was making mental notes of how he would have handled this, I also prepared some questions. Mostly I do not plan a lot of questions and the conversation usually develops, organically. This was all the pre-work I did. When I finally could speak to Vipin, after I missed calling him at the scheduled time the previous night, it seemed to me as if we have been speaking for a while already. Our conversation was as fluid and easy as naukuchiatal lake, where I was when I called him. I knew that lakes fascinate Vipin and may be it was a destined coincidence. Over next 30 minutes, we talked about his travels to various places, the funny incidents which happen all the time, about his accident and the re-hab. I could almost see the glitter in his eyes when he spoke about his ‘Spiti by Pedal-Bike’ plan. We talked about his meeting with a lot of Ghumakkars over last few months and how being positive and encouraging is key to our collective success. More and many more with a live and free flowing conversation with Vipin Gaur, ‘Ghumakkar Featured Author for May 2013‘.

Ghum: Congratulations Vipin.
Vipin: Thank you Nandan Bhai. I am very happy for this. Please extend my wishes to other Editors.

Ghum: Sure Vipin. I hope through this interview, we get to know more about you. You would have already guessed that all of our community members are eagerly waiting for it.
Vipin: Yes, I know. hehe. I have been sharing few details about myself through my logs and I would be more than happy to answer any questions.

Ghum: Thanks. Let me begin with a different question this time. Usually I ask that how did they reach Ghumakkar. Lets park that question for a while. How old are you? and where are your roots?. If at all, there are any roots for a traveler like you. hehe
Vipin: I am 28 years old. I am the eldest brother in my family. I have two siblings, my sister and my brother and we are a small family. My mother is an all-rounder she works in MTNL and also works at home taking care of all our needs.

Ghum: Tell us more about your Mom ?
Vipin: Actually, life has been a seesaw ride with many ups and downs. After my father succumbed to his injuries at an early age in a dramatic accident when I was around 9 years old, my mother shouldered the responsibility of running the family. Since my sister was too little and there was nobody to take care of her, she was sent to my mausi’s place and she spent early part of her childhood at my mausi’s place. Interestingly though she has been living with us since many years now, but she still calls my mother as mausi as my mausi’s kids would call my mother. My mother somehow fought with the dire circumstances and brought us up as good as she could.

Ghum: Being the eldest of the three siblings, did this mean a lot of hardship during the growing-up days ? And how that time changed you as a person, if at all ?
Vipin: We were pretty average with studies, sometimes failed too, but somehow somebody somewhere was helping us fight through this difficult time. Since my mother was a working woman, childhood was pretty spoilt and rebellion sort of an incident, wandering aimlessly with local gully friends or doing mischievous things at times was all part of spending times into those narrow, dark lanes. With the time and these childhood impressions, I became quieter and a kind of shyness prevailed and a part of it still remains. It still takes me time to befriend someone, it rather depends more on other fellow to understand me and make friends with me and few do it very well, I am bad at it though.   

Ghum: Salute to your Mom. Tomorrow is ‘Mother’s Day’. Please wish her well. You come from hills ? right ?
Vipin: I come from a small village (Dankot) in garhwal which is nearly 80 km from Kedarnath between Rudraprayag and Gaurikund. Though I was born in village, but I was not lucky enough to spend my childhood among these fascinating mountains. Even before I came to my senses, my father got a job in a post office in Delhi and we shifted here. Even though my physical body shifted here, but my heart and my soul still lies there in the mountains and I have got to go to meet my soul there quite often to survive on this earth. As my profile says I love jungles, I feel home when I am in the woods.  Interestingly my name literally means a jungle, so my wi-fi connects better when I am into the woods.

Ghum: Hehe. Yes, these days one need to remain connected. I could not speak to you yesterday and today I had to run out of Delhi for some work. I am glad that my phone works pretty well and we could speak.

Ghum: How did you find Ghumakkar ? And what kept you along?
Vipin: Like most of the ghumakkars, internet used to be (and still is) one of the most loyal friend for me when it comes to searching about any particular destination and planning trips. I came across ghumakkar.com quite a number of time while browsing through web, but it was through the motivation of Sandeep (Jatdevta) bhai that I started writing on ghumakkar.com. I faintly remembers that I came searching here for Sri Khand Mahadev yatra that I undertook with Sandeep bhai later in 2011.

Ghum: Great. Sandip has been kind enough to spread the word to quite a few travellers. He is not active these days here. I would remind him to read this interview though. What next ?
Vipin: After motivation from Sandeep bhai for sharing travel experiences, I started jotting down my faint memories and those unforgettable moments spent in the lap of mother nature. The response here was pretty encouraging from the very first post that was about a walk from Deoria Taal to Chandrashila. It was the love and affection of the fellow ghumakkars that kept me going, though I write very little but coming to ghumakkar.com became a sort of daily routine like doing any other daily chores to check out these inspiring tales.

Ghum: Right. And not only stories, even comments.
Vipin: Yes, absolutely. Not only the stories, but at times the comments from the readers are so interesting and full of information that I would come here to read comments only after having read the story. And then, there are some regular readers and commentators like Tridev Ji, Ashok Ji and Sandip (Stone) Ji, whose presence make ghumakkar special and they keep motivating us through their valuable comments.  

Ghum: What was your first travel, outside the ones which we do with parents/relatives. Sort of debut one.
Vipin: It is a very interesting story. I attribute my first, kind of outside the family, was to ‘Vaishno Devi’. This was in 2002, so almost more than 10 years back. In the afternoon I met a friend, more of a neighbourhood guy, and he offered me this trip. I came to know that one of their folks is not joining them so they are looking for 1 person. Train tickets and other logistics are all taken care. Interestingly, I got a affirmative nod from my family and I was on the trip. It was truly a case of , ‘Mata Calling you’. Thats what people say. I clearly remember that it was on 31st night we did the trek to the temple.

Ghum: Interesting. I had a similar experience in 1998-1999 time. One of the office colleagues was going and he offered and I joined . Is your family also a pack of Ghumakkars ?
Vipin: They like travelling, but not as much as I do. I have done a couple of family trips (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Tungnath, Shirdi etc), but that does not give you much freedom in terms of experimentation with what pleases you. With family, you have a lot of restrictions or limitations, I remember I was very much annoyed when we went to Tungnath a couple of years back and my mother did not let me go upto Chandrashila which was pretty near.   

Ghum: Yes, I guess mothers would always worry about our safety. But now you are going anywhere and everywhere. Not too long back, you did ‘Mani Mahesh’ visit.
Vipin: Yes and God willing, I am planning to do ‘Kinner Kailash’ during this summers.

Ghum: Insha Allah. Amen. You have been on Ghumakkar since much recently. How has the journey been so far?
Vipin: Journey with ghumakkar has been tremendous. It has been very encouraging and a great learning experience too. I have known and made friends with some true wanderers and may be many more to come as we progress. 
 
Ghum: Yes, and I guess you have travelled with a lot of Ghumakkars. Some of them, we know. Tell us more about it ?
Vipin: Not with many, but yes I am lucky that way to have travelled with some amazing fellow ghumakkars like Sandeep (Jatdevta) bhai, Manu (Prakash Tyagi) bhai, Neeraj (Jaat) bhai, Harish (Bhatt) bhai, Inam bhai, Nirdesh bhai, Giriraj (Shekhawat) bhai etc. Each one of them has not only a flair for fabulous writing in their own way, but they do have their unique styles of ghumakkari as well and I personally enjoyed wandering with all of them. Each trip that I did with these ghumakkars is an experience that can never be forgotten and was full of adventure.

Ghum: Whoo. That is a long list. I think Mukesh and Vishal (both of them have met quite a few Ghumakkars) are taking note of this. Tell us about your trip with all the diverse group of Ghumakkars.
Vipin: I think a lot has already been shared but I would mention a few. I think exploring two Kailash peaks (Srikhand Kailash – https://www.ghumakkar.com/2012/03/19/srikhand-mahadev-%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%A3%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A1-%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B5-%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%EF%BF%BD/)  and Mani Mahesh Kailash) with Sandeep bhai and other fellow ghumakkars was once in a life time experience where we explored some amazing lakes, some beautiful trails and cherished some beautiful memories in our hearts.

Ghum: Yes, and it was a long trip. We did read about it in the past and all regular Ghumakkar probably are aware. I was not aware about others.
Vipin: Yes you are right. And thanks to Ghumakkar for introducing me to so many travellers with whom I have met, connected and spent quality time.

A participation in Annual Animal Census at Ranthambore national park is surely an event to give you goose bumps and it’s full of excitement and this is what I felt while reading through Harish bhai’s story and then Inam bhai’s subsequent story on the same program…do check them out for an heart throbbing and adventurous experience. The day Harish bhai’s story was published, I was so thrilled that I left a comment on the log and was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Harish bhai informing me that he managed to get me on the census that was scheduled just the next month. I had never thought that just leaving a comment will fulfill my dream of being in the middle of a jungle on a machan witnessing the full moon all alone enjoying screams of the wild creatures in utter fear and excitement, formidable experience that was for sure.

Ghum: Oh and for some reason, I thought that ‘Animal Census’ an annual process.
Vipin: Even I never expected myself to be there. It was an out of the world experience.

Ghum: So you guys were on a Machan all night, how it is like ?
Vipin: Well the Machan is not really a Machan. It is like balancing the household wooden ladder on two branches and then using ropes n all, make a contraption which can stay intact for a night. It is indeed a very special setup. One can see a lot of professional photographers with all the expensive equipment waiting for that masterpiece shot.

Ghum: Any funny memories ?
Vipin: Many. hehe. There was a gentleman who was talk of the town. It seems that a Tigress landed at the base of the tree where he was stationed. In his excitement to get the best shot, the guy fell over along with his lenses. Tigress was taken aback more and moved away quickly. Hehe. So yes, it is indeed a big adventure.

Ghum: Wow. That sounds scary. Who else have you spent time, traveling along ?
Vipin: Same way, we all have been enjoying Nirdesh bhai’s wonderful t-logs exhibiting his amazing talent of introducing us with some beautiful monuments that are around us, but we miss to amaze at their beauty. Through his skillful writing and amazing captures, Nirdesh bhai re-ingnited the spirit of exploring these invaluable treasures from the past. It was pretty rewarding exploring the treasure trove Mehrauli Archeological Park with him on a Sunday morning few days back. Though his love for historical monuments is crystal clear in his posts, but it spills all around while conversing with him and when he is at work. He should definitely have been a historian as he wishes to be in his profile. He not only enjoys being around the monuments, but he also cares for them too much. He really belongs to these places.

Then comes Giriraj bhai, I was smitten by his scholarly and informative writing style that conveys his knowledge about the places that he explores. Recently after a chit-chat, I got an opportunity to wander with this amazing wanderer through some lesser known treasures of Aravalis. He is a fountainhead of knowledge when it comes to lesser known places in Rajasthan especially the less explored architectural marvels, his fondness to these structures is just wow!…He is a gem of a wanderer be it any sort of condition…one of his featured story on Kota gorge (https://www.ghumakkar.com/2012/03/04/chambal-ki-ghati-kota-gorge-through-the-hadoti-belt/) conveys his prowess…I have some other trips scheduled with Giri bhai in near future.   

Ghum: It is such a warm thing, just to listen to. I guess it must be a very special feeling.
Vipin: It is so encouraging to see that ghumakkars are meeting and travelling together. A very recent example of this is Sushant Ji’s trip to Indore and meeting with Bhalse family, similarly the well documented meeting of 2 famous ghumakkar families Rathore’s and Bhalse’s, then Panwar’s (Sandeep bhai & family), Gupta’s (Ritesh bhai & family) and Bhalse’s (Mukesh bhai & family) and many more like wise. All praise and thanks to ghumakkar for giving us this platform to share our tales and views and to make such wonderful travel companions and friends.

And there are many more with whom we have not travelled yet, but the plans are on…like Vishal bhai, Amitava da etc. I think if not on long trips, at least the ghumakkars in the same city can frequently meet and explore together like I have plans with Professor Nirdesh who changes the way you perceive a particular monument, he just makes the structures alive through his skillful writing. We have an in-house historian in our family and we don’t make use of it…haha…  

Ghum: InshaAllah. I am out of resources to plan one but If someone can plan a small meet, I can help with sending invites, making connections, sharing the event details in our monthly digest, even calling them.
Vipin: That would be real nice.    

Ghum: So what’s on your list now? The places you wish to cover in the next one year?
Vipin: Wandering for me is like an addiction. The thoughts of travelling always keep floating in my mind and whenever I feel the itch and find a little gap I just set out without much preparation. I usually don’t plan much, it just happens, sometimes with friends and sometimes solo. I have an ambitious trip this June or maybe early July that is a cycling expedition in Spiti Valley, this might be a solo expedition if I don’t find a travel companion, let’s see. Then we have plans of visiting third Kailash this year with Sandeep bhai and that is Kinnar Kailash. Later this month, I am again participating in Animal Census at Ranthambore courtesy Harish bhai followed by an exploration of less explored tribal Jhalawar with Giri bhai. Apart from this some sudden Himalayan wanderings or a trip to Madhya Pradesh this monsoon or may be Gujarat or maybe Rajasthan may make their way depending on mood and time. But most of the time, if anybody comes with a travel plan, I am always ready unless there is any particular unavoidable reason.

From this year onward, some of my wanderings will also be about cycling trips, I have already completed a solo one to Sultanpur National Park, thanks to Amitava da for his guidance. These trips will be on the lines of RRG’s Motorcycle Diaries, though not on that level as there is no comparison between a Motorbike and a Pedalbike, but somewhat like that.

Ghum: Insha Allah. I wish each of your trip become a reality. A very common questions all us Ghumakkars come across – Where do you work and how do you manage to travel so much along with the regular course of earning a living?
Vipin: I work with a US based travel organization which caters to travel arrangements for north Americans across the globe. For some, this might sound and seem a very good profession as far as travelling is concerned. Some would think that it’s because of my job that I get to wander so much. I had the same impression before jumping into this profession. But trust me It’s like grass is always greener on the other side of the fence…Yes, some people do get to travel being a part of the industry and I did too, but it is very limited. Our programs in India run to destinations like Agra, Jaipur, Khajuraho, Varanasi, Ranthamore, Kota, Udaipur, Mumbai, Goa and that’s it. You would not like to visit these destinations again and again unless you are in love with these places for any particular reason.

Ghum: But, I guess you do go to places where there may not be an overlap between your work’s needs and your personal preferences.
Vipin: Yes, exactly. My wanderings have nothing to do with my job, primarily the kind of places that I wander around are rarely explored by foreigners, or at least not by guests who travel with our organization. Working in Inbound (foreigners traveling to India) travel industry gives you enough time to fulfill your travel itch as this is mainly a seasonal business which operates in winters (September to April or mid May). After May, the heat in the northern and southern tourist areas (except hills) is almost unbearable for foreigners, so the tourist flow is very less. Since I love hills, it is also the best time to explore hills. During the season (September till April), most of my travel plans are carried out on hectic weekends (Friday night till Monday morning) or sometimes occasional Friday or Monday leaves which are easy to get as we are only 2 people in office and manage it some way or the other. 

Ghum: Vipin, I would take a micro mini break and want to talk about some of your recent experiences. I heard that you had a severe accident. If you would want to share some bit of it.
Vipin: Yeah, sure. So I was in Pushkar and decided to head towards Kota. You are familiar with the road since I read that you went to Bundi. So I was on the same road. And I was sitting along with a co-passenger in the driver’s cabin. Three of us going on and looking at vast expanses of Rajasthan. At Devli, which is before Bundi, my co-passenger left (call it destiny) and we moved ahead. After that, there was some head-on thud and I have no memories beyond that.

Ghum: When was it ?
Vipin: September 2012. When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital. There were multiple fractures and I am thankful to God that I survived. It was a very bad accident.

Ghum: Wishes. And I believe the rehab was long and arduous.
Vipin: Hehe. Yes, very much. I was ground for about 6 months. I was on bed for 2 months, could hardly move. It was quite a tough thing. Then gradually I started with short exercises and then I started to move and very recently, I was able to pedal to Sultanpur.

Ghum: And I wish that I see your pics on Ghumakkar, biking all through Spiti. hehe.
Vipin: Yes, I need all the wishes. Thank you Nandan.

Ghum: If you were to recommend one journey to someone who had time for one week for travel, and no other constraints – what would it be?
Vipin: Since I am in complete love with mountains and hilly lakes, I would certainly recommend a trip to the majestic mountains looking at the kind of heat we are facing in the cities. If one is a bit adventurous and likes hiking, I would surely recommend Dodital Lake (or upto Darwa Pass) which is known to be the birthplace of Lord Ganesha. This area is a paradise for bird and nature lovers. I could saw so many varieties of birds here that one generally would not even get to see in a bird sanctuary as well. It was here that I first saw the state bird (Monal) of Uttaranchal (sorry, but it feels a bit painful to call it Uttrakhand) and many other amazing birds with very contrast colours. This is easily accessible from Uttarkashi, a major town in Garhwal and home to NIM (Nehru Institute of Mountaineering). One can club a visit to Dodital and Uttarkashi for a week. Then one can also explore some beautiful lakes near Mandi like Rewalsar, Kalasar, Kuntbhyog, Kamrunag and Prashar. I have written a story about Rewalsar (Kalasar and Kuntbhyog are near Rewalsar) and Kamrunag and my next story here will be about Prashar Lake.

Ghum: What is your ideal holiday? And who are your constant/ideal travel buddies?
Vipin: My inclination most of the time is to explore lesser known destinations away from crowd, be it in hills or somewhere else, but preferably with a pinch of adventure, serendipity and near to nature. These trips are generally very low budgeted as we prefer to use local transport (whichever available) and basic accommodation (especially temples, dharamshalas, dormitory etc).

Ghum: Any recent ones like above ?
Vipin: Recently wandering with Giri bhai, we used many local modes of transports (like local buses, Jeeps, Truck, bike etc) and spent overnight in a temple premises under open sky, a 2 day trip to Aravalis costed Giri bhai less than 500 rupees from Jaipur and for me it was somewhere around 800 rupees from Delhi. My ideal holiday will of course be somewhere in the mountains with lakes and plenty of flaura and fauna around.

Ghum: If not mountains then what ?
Vipin: Apart from mountains, I also like architecturally built temples, museums, forts & palaces etc. I have a couple of friends who share the same views about mother nature and like exploring places with me, but they are very few. As while I am in mountains, I like to make long walks and sometime people think it’s crazy especially when you have other ways of transport available with you, but walking has it’s own flavor and I believe that now most of the ghumakkars will be realizing it through Praveen (Wadhva) Ji’s wonderful t-logs covering long walks.

Ghum: But then walking may not be everyone’s cup of tea ? What about co-travellers ?
Vipin: Yes, that is right. Actually one more habit that makes some co-travellers annoyed is that when I am at a place or walking through I crazily take pictures and spend proper time patiently until I get satisfied, even sometimes I forget that someone else too is travelling with me.

Ghum: So, walking, taking pics, what else ?
Vipin: And I always follow a magical mantra during my wanderings and that is getting up early in the morning and using your time to the fullest. The early morning time is surely the best time to enjoy mother nature in pristine tranquility with a lot of birdlife around especially in the hills. You do make the best use of your time by rising early, this too sounds a bit annoying to some co-travelers who do not want to compromise with their sleep. But then when I rise early, I go to bed early to take rest and get refreshed for the coming day. And I am grateful to ghumakkar that this plateform has introduced me to some wonderful travel buddies with whom I get along well while travelling and they honour and support your likings and dislikings and I do it the same way.          

Ghum: Thank you Vipin. The platform is just a means, the real juice is in the traveling experiences we all build together.
Vipin: And I thing that can be best cherished if we support, encourage each other. Nandan Bhai, I read so many forums and trust me that at Ghumakkar, the level of encouragement, support and love people get, it is not at all common. I think when someone writes a story, we must encourage him and if we have any feedback, we should give it in a positive way.

And we would wind up this great, engaging, rich and valuable conversation on this note. Very well said and what a Joy, talking and conversing with you. I wish that you cycle all over Himalayas and may you travel together with 100 more Ghumakkars. Insha Allah, take care and shabba chair.