Next day 6 th Feb,early morning,we were off to Fatehpursikri,Agra,Mathura.. .Good drive.. though it was quite sunny that day.. . Making money from tourists by cheating them is not good, we found a dhabawala who was trying to put a toppi on us.. but that toppi failed to be the correct size 4 us :). It was good to listen to radio stations.. AIR FM Rainbow.. India .. all the way while travelling.. some songs repeating.. at last we found old classic CDz .. off with them 4 rest of the journey.. .I hardly listen to them. I had not expected but I liked Fatehpursikri, felt it was a nice place.. perhaps it was good to hear the story from the guide there.. .I wish these tours were organised when we were taught History in school days.. we would have had fun while learning instead of banging our heads ;) . Agra was good,masterpiece of love, magnificient and no wonder its one among the wonders of the world.. . In Mathura we visited the temple and we were off back to Delhi.. .
My luck we were to go to a Hotel where my friend was staying :) for dinner. Infact,the whole tour plan was started by her.. somehow it so happened after a lot of differences in the itinery due to various reasons we had to change our plans but we made sure we would meet and spend sometime 2gether. It was so planned that we would meet in Manali and it was special 'coz she was to spend her B'day there.. :) . I was happy I could meet her well before.. so sad I disturbed her.. it was late.. and she had already headed to bed after a day long tiring trip.. . We were also pretty tired after having covered those beautiful places.
7 feb, we started a bit late than normal schedule as yesterday we had ended the day pretty late. We headed towards Haridwar, I was worried about the rush there 'coz of the Kumbh Mela.. but thank God it was all fine.. manageable.. . I had tough time taking holy dip in Ganges not once,twice.. thrice I had to do .. :( it was ice cold .. the water.. and the river had great force driving further ahead.. . Manasa Devi temple was good.. good in the sense I liked it 'coz the to and fro was a long rope-way .. ofcourse my first encounter with ropeway happened long back when I had gone to Vizag for an industrial visit from the College during my Engineering. The temple premisis was crowded and all so commercialized you hardly feel peace of mind there. We visited Rishikesh.. jhoolaz and were back in Haridwar for stay.
8 Feb, Started off to Manali.. whole day - journey.. had not expected it would be so long.. around 228 km ghat section.. my God .. the road never seemed to end.. My friend had called me up few days back when she had left for Delhi from Vizag.. had told I'm travelling .. travelling.. from long.. still I haven't reached.. its so far off.. I had thought how can u reach so soon you know the train is gonna reach sometime next day whatever.. but now I realized she meant this long long journey so tiring.. . She was now in Manali Njoying the snowfall .. the roads had to be cleared to make way for people to commute.
My bad luck, a huge glacier was struck in between on the way and there was no chance we could reach Manali that day. We had to change our plans stay back in Kullu for that night. Next day I just hoped somehow the road would be cleared and we would get back on track.. but alas.. we had terrible time .. were stuck.. they were still clearing that.. couple of blocks.. took the whole day.. I had nothing until we reached our resort that day.. :( We were so tensed.. narrow path.. full of traffic steep valleys.. it was difficult to move forward or backward.. fear of skidding on the roads.. it was getting late,dark, hard to predict the situation .. was horrible.. later it even started to snow.. I thanked God for our resort was located first before you could even actually enter Manali.. Last 5 Km was really scary was like what the hell are we doin here.. .
Finally reached the resort, I and my cousin got down to check-in @ the resort.. till Knee we were into snow :) My parents were in the vehicle it was hard to get that into the parking of the Resort too.. snow snow all around.. :( . We got freshed up and had good dinner :) atlast .. . I was happy that I could meet my friend on her B'day :) then spent some time playing.. were afraid of power cut as the resort was being operated on generators from past 2 days.. and finally tired .. we slept very late .. . Next day, it was sunny and all were out on roads in manali walking in snow.. evn my mom n dad :).. . It was slippery some of us had pretty good and bad fall on the ground .. . We were supposed to leave Manali 2day but we had 2 delay 'coz the road was blocked due to a big land slide.. A big rock and tree .. and they tough time blasting the rock and cutting down the tree.. . It was ON till next day afternoon .. . We started off back to Delhi @ 3 and just hoped we wouldn't get stuck anywhere else. Non-stop journey hardly any break till we reached Delhi @ around 3 AM.
We were left with Jaipur,Ajmer.. . We had to get along with another driver for the next couple of days left.. the earlier one was off .. tired.. . Streched journey. We changed the plan a little visited Ajmer Dargah halted and the next day covered Jaipur and were back in Delhi for stay.
Last day .. 14 Feb ..way back 2 B'lore by flight .. gonna b my first take off.. I had nvr travelled by flight b'fore there was no such need I had felt.. the longest journey max I had done was 12 hrs either B'lore - Hyd or Hyd - B'lore and that would be overnight by train .. pretty comfortable .. with no issues at all. This flight journey sucks I felt as U need to spend lotta time in the Airport with security,baggage ;).. may be @times more than the actual travel time. I sat by the window to have a beautiful view .. but all I could see was clouds just as heaps of cotton .. not evn hill peaks.. anything visible was just clouds.. . I Njoyed the take off and landing though .. take off- smooth.... landing- tipsy topsy.. U could feel both of them quite well .. . I was observing the wings of the plane while takeoff and landing as it was close by, just beside in fact .. so keen.. that I faced the music of it in my dream that afternoon.. similar structures.. different places.. with same mechanism extending out and enclosing.. God ! I woke up.. . I had so planned that I would be back in B'lore soon,rest a while and could just meet my other close dear friend on her B'day. It worked out well as she was busy the whole day, had her own plans and we spent some time 2gether in the evening.
Then on.. back 2 work and routine life.. but.. time just doesn't stop.. movin on.. much awaited very soon is a short trip 2Hyd month end.. :) and lot more ahead.. but nothing concrete :) Don't wanna let loose the mystery of life :)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Febz First :)
I wanted to pen it down all I went through.. had not thought it would take so long to post this one.. but Alas.. Time is running and we have tough time to get along with it. Good to have few of them who keep interest in checking out what you are upto and wait for the next one eagerly.. Some curious to know the details, some afraid that I'll forget little beautiful things.. true indeed.. that is one of the reason you note them..
I wonder how much I'll be able to recollect.. these days my memory is acting crazy.. I've never been like this before.. surprised by myself offlate.. lost somewhere.. . Lot of things in your mind.. your daily schedule.. reminders.. lotta whole other stuff.. YOU seem to be nowhere.. . I had taken 6 days off from my work and planned for 10 days tour.. .Its been more than a week now that I am back to routine and found it hard to get some free time for myself..
Finally I hope I'll complete it this time.. past attempt on saturday stopped with just two lines.. had thought would complete it in the weekend but my weekend was off with other things.. weekends 4 me dez days juz pass by like seconds.. ;) this time,four lines .... off.. you are on the phone.. but I'm gonna complete it..perhaps with a dinner break in between.. :) else I can't say .. I know :) . I believe I'll be done very soon with this for sure before this month ends. Feb, though the shortest month in the year .. I have a long story.. lotta insights in2 various things indeed.
Tour Special :)
Bengaluru->Delhi by Rajdhani Express was nyc xperience.. I had never travelled so long by train.. 34 hours at a strech.. Ofcourse had carried all I wanted mobile,music,speed,playing cards,last but not the least books.. let me correct.. I just took one book .. I knew I'm not gonna read much while out to visit new places.. . I was excited about the long tour.. but then you always have somethings disturbing.. luggage and the seats turned out to be a small issue .. luggage-lotta luggage to be placed compared to space available.. seats-lower berths were preferred considering their health conditions.. . The train was full with both the North and South Indian families.. there are few differences in various aspects but then on the whole we all belong to the same family class - Humans :) and humanity drives us all 2gether. India is Great to have that Unity in this Diversity.. She has proved herself all along.
It was good to travel from Karnataka passing through many states along. Took those famous nagpur oranges.. so ripe had them all along.. :). Food was served all the way in train with short breaks I can say.. as U have nothing much to do than to Njoy all they serve.. Tea to Dinner including snacks.. good it was.. but not more than a day.. . We almost had tough time with those paratha,roti,paneer,puri-bhaji during the tour as we are used to have rice items.. . For me even rice sucks.. I always like stuff which is not so good 4 health.. and my mom is always worried how I'll keep up with my health.. but then I love fruits .. Thank God there are somethings which shez happy about :)
Finally reached Delhi early morning 6'o Clock.. . It Was a bit cold not much though.. . Good we had booked a private vehicle for the tour itinery planned and the vehical was @ our disposal. I hardly took much notice of things around.. all I observed was there was one comesum cafe not sure if I got the spelling right.. :) standing tall by the station , if not tall.. atleast the lights were glittering enough which made me have a look @ it.. My liking for caffeine is secondary ;). Soon we got into Innova which was waiting 4 us to drive us to the hotel -- Blue Sapphire.
Delhi.. was good.. I had not expected it to be that neat .. was taken aback.. . It was nice .. the street names different.. Karol Bagh, singh road etc.. .I didn't have time to check out the metro rails there. :(Traffic in the city was ok.. it had broad roads.. but traffic in the outskirts is horrible twice we were stuck in heavy traffic(only lorries all along) during the tour .. though its late night or rather can say early morning 1 A.M it was buzzing with wedding functions which added to the jam.. .
First day 5th Feb was gone in local sightseeing, 2 start with Birla Temple, India Gate was one in my much awaited list.. then Rashtrapathi Bhavan,Parliament house. Lotus temple was good.. Qutub Minar, Raj Ghat.. memorials.. then Akshardham temple to end with. Done 4 d day :)
I wonder how much I'll be able to recollect.. these days my memory is acting crazy.. I've never been like this before.. surprised by myself offlate.. lost somewhere.. . Lot of things in your mind.. your daily schedule.. reminders.. lotta whole other stuff.. YOU seem to be nowhere.. . I had taken 6 days off from my work and planned for 10 days tour.. .Its been more than a week now that I am back to routine and found it hard to get some free time for myself..
Finally I hope I'll complete it this time.. past attempt on saturday stopped with just two lines.. had thought would complete it in the weekend but my weekend was off with other things.. weekends 4 me dez days juz pass by like seconds.. ;) this time,four lines .... off.. you are on the phone.. but I'm gonna complete it..perhaps with a dinner break in between.. :) else I can't say .. I know :) . I believe I'll be done very soon with this for sure before this month ends. Feb, though the shortest month in the year .. I have a long story.. lotta insights in2 various things indeed.
Tour Special :)
Bengaluru->Delhi by Rajdhani Express was nyc xperience.. I had never travelled so long by train.. 34 hours at a strech.. Ofcourse had carried all I wanted mobile,music,speed,playing cards,last but not the least books.. let me correct.. I just took one book .. I knew I'm not gonna read much while out to visit new places.. . I was excited about the long tour.. but then you always have somethings disturbing.. luggage and the seats turned out to be a small issue .. luggage-lotta luggage to be placed compared to space available.. seats-lower berths were preferred considering their health conditions.. . The train was full with both the North and South Indian families.. there are few differences in various aspects but then on the whole we all belong to the same family class - Humans :) and humanity drives us all 2gether. India is Great to have that Unity in this Diversity.. She has proved herself all along.
It was good to travel from Karnataka passing through many states along. Took those famous nagpur oranges.. so ripe had them all along.. :). Food was served all the way in train with short breaks I can say.. as U have nothing much to do than to Njoy all they serve.. Tea to Dinner including snacks.. good it was.. but not more than a day.. . We almost had tough time with those paratha,roti,paneer,puri-bhaji during the tour as we are used to have rice items.. . For me even rice sucks.. I always like stuff which is not so good 4 health.. and my mom is always worried how I'll keep up with my health.. but then I love fruits .. Thank God there are somethings which shez happy about :)
Finally reached Delhi early morning 6'o Clock.. . It Was a bit cold not much though.. . Good we had booked a private vehicle for the tour itinery planned and the vehical was @ our disposal. I hardly took much notice of things around.. all I observed was there was one comesum cafe not sure if I got the spelling right.. :) standing tall by the station , if not tall.. atleast the lights were glittering enough which made me have a look @ it.. My liking for caffeine is secondary ;). Soon we got into Innova which was waiting 4 us to drive us to the hotel -- Blue Sapphire.
Delhi.. was good.. I had not expected it to be that neat .. was taken aback.. . It was nice .. the street names different.. Karol Bagh, singh road etc.. .I didn't have time to check out the metro rails there. :(Traffic in the city was ok.. it had broad roads.. but traffic in the outskirts is horrible twice we were stuck in heavy traffic(only lorries all along) during the tour .. though its late night or rather can say early morning 1 A.M it was buzzing with wedding functions which added to the jam.. .
First day 5th Feb was gone in local sightseeing, 2 start with Birla Temple, India Gate was one in my much awaited list.. then Rashtrapathi Bhavan,Parliament house. Lotus temple was good.. Qutub Minar, Raj Ghat.. memorials.. then Akshardham temple to end with. Done 4 d day :)
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