Trip to Himachal - June 2008

Mahesh wanted to take time off from his work for a week or so. We were thinking which place to visit in the month of June (beginning of Monsoon). We like ‘soft’ adventure activities so we searched on the internet and found Paragliding and Rafting in Manali and best time to visit for such activities was between May – June. So we started planning our vacation at Himachal Pradesh. We found Chandigarh to be the nearest connecting city to Manali. Since Shimla is a crowded city we decided to visit Kasauli instead which is 65kms from Chandigarh. It took 3hrs from Chandigarh to Kasauli by road. Kasauli is a quite hill town, with not much tourist and tourist spots. There is this “Manki Point” (that’s how locals call it) which is in a Air force Base,( High security, no cameras or Bags allowed) There is this Hanuman Temple on top. From the Air force Gate to the temple should be 1km walk …last 500mts there is a steep climb to the top, with the mist and the sounds of temple bells on the way were a motivating factor to reach on top. Legend has it Lord Hanuman’s feet brushed on this hill on his way to get Sanjeevani Herb for Lord Laxman. Apart from this there is nothing much to see… we went exploring this town by foot … It was getting foggy and sunny every 2mins so it was fun walking, gazing at some of the colonial houses. We stayed here for 2 days. 3rd day we had a long 7hrs journey by road to Manali. We took a less used route till Gagash, (not a short cut) to reach Manali.
We took SH9 instead of NH21 from Dharampur > Kunihal > Arki > Bilaspur (before entering the town take right) > Gagash on NH88 > Mandi Dist on NH 21 (we had our lunch at Hotel Raja) > Sundarnagar (bypass) > Pandho Dam > 3kms tunnel > Autt > Kullu > Manali. We reached Manali in the evening and we were tired after a long journey.
Day 1 We started early for sightseeing tour of Manali at around 8.30am which is early in this part of the world, which gave us a good head start or else it gets crowded by around 10AM on words. We 1st went to Hidimba Temple. The temple is surrounded by a cedar forest. Temple has intricately carved wooden doors. It has three square roofs covered with timber tiles and a fourth brass cone-shaped roof at the top. In the same premise there is Ghatothkach Temple. Ghatothkach is the son of Hidimba and Bhima (one of the Pandavas). Then we went to Vashist Kund, which has Hot springs just 10 steps from the Temple. Then we went to Tibetan Gompa and Van Vihar, which is a mini forest of deodar trees, River Beas flows through it. River Beas flows through the center of Manali – Kullu. It starts from Rohtang Pass. Since it was lunch hour Van Vihar was not that crowded. We had our lunch at Original Sher-e-punjab dhaba on Mall road, which was recommended by someone else in the World Wide Web. It was good recommendation we enjoyed our lunch. There are 2-3 Sher-e-punjab dhaba’s on mall road, we did not try the rest. After lunch we proceeded to Manu Rishi Temple. This is 3kms from Manali. This temple is dedicated to Rishi Manu from whom human race is said to have started. This land was known as 'Land of Manu' and was later renamed Manali after him. Legend has it that when Manu Rishi came to this village he requested for a glass of milk, the lady of the house could not provide him milk as her cow had gone out to graze. Therefore Manu Rishi told her to milk the calf. To her surprise the calf was able to provide milk then he told the villagers to dig the cow shed and to their surprise they found idols of God… these idols are kept in Manu Rishi Temple to this day. There is a co-operative house where they sell shawls beside Manu Rishi Temple where we got a shawl for factory price.
Day 2 we had kept for Rohtang Pass which is 51kms from Manali. Our driver had advised us to start as early as 4am as roads leading to Rohtang pass is narrow and most of the time there are trucks stuck. As per his advice we left at 4.30am our hotel had given us packed breakfast. We were asked to hire jump suite as it will be very cold on top. It took us 4hrs to reach Rohtang pass as the road was blocked for some time coz of trucks. On our way we could see snow capped Himalaya. It is majestic. 'Rohtang' in Tibetan language means a house of corpses. Perhaps this name has been given to the pass due to the chain of accidental deaths that occurred here from time to time. The weather is unpredictable and fast wind blows in the afternoon. The pass remains open from June – December. This time Boarder Road Organization had cleared the road in the month of April itself. Even in the month of June there were portion of mountains covered in snow. We enjoyed sliding and falling on snow as it was our first time seeing snow. We were at Zero Point at altitude of 13050 feet above sea level. The same road leads to Leh which is in Ladhak, which has the highest motor-able road in the world. On our way back we saw Rahala Falls and we did para-gliding at Rohtang… They charge much more than Salong valley but scenery is beautiful at Rohtang than at Salong valley. They charge around 600/- but can reduce if bargained harder. Rohtang Pass takes almost entire day and it’s a hectic journey to the top and return.
Day 3 We wanted to do white water rafting today as weather was not permissible we decided to visit Naggar Castle and Art Gallery. The house and art work of Nicholas Roerish is in a pictures location, we enjoyed this trip. Castle too is beautifully carved in wood in typical Himachal architecture. Castle is now restored and converted into Hotel and Restaurant by Himachal Tourism Department. We had our lunch in the same castle which has amazing view of the hills.
Day 4 We left Manali and returned to Chandigarh (9hrs by road). Back to Mumbai.

My Recomendation:
Place to stay: Kasauli - Hotel Kasauli Regency, Kasauli Castle, Kasauli Resort.
Manali - Snow Valley Resort.
Place to Eat : Kasauli - Gyani Da Dhaba (Dharampur), Hotel Hemkunt Kasauli
Mandi - Highway Hotel: Hotel Raja.
Manali - Mall road Original Sher-e-punjabi. Snow Valley Resort
Log Hut area.

Anshi Nature Camp - Dec 2007

We came to know about Anshi Camp from a friend of us, who had been there. So we planned our trip from Mumbai to Goa and Holiday in Goa at Majorda Beach for 3 Nights, then we had arranged for a 4 Wheeler from Goa to Anshi (NH17). our driver did not know the route to Anshi, so we did our research on Google and with help of Google earth we found out that before Karwar , we have to take left at Sadashivgad a small village, then on we were waiting for sign post which we never saw , we were looking for Kadra, we were not sure if we were in the right track...road is bad...we found Kadra and saw a signpost which read Kadra dam. That's good now next stop is Anshi town. we saw a shop and stoped to ask him he said this is Anshi with 1 shop, a house, and Forest Range office... Shopkeeper said we need to take next right to reach Anshi Nature Camp. At last we reached. Since we had not got our confirmation letter regarding our reservation, we were asked to go back to Range office and confirm on that, and they said they would keep our lunch ready. Anshi town has one phone (solar phone) so range office confirmed our reservation at Dandeli office and all done and we were hungry and got hot hot lunch, relished it and relaxed on the hammock. and hour latter, care taker cum trekking guide told us he is free to take us for a trek. We went for a 5kms trek and was nice nature walk. Don't expect any local animals to visit you. Anshi is the only forest in India where Black Panthers are found, later came to know there are only 7 in number, so they are no where to be seen... View from the summit was breath taking. We realized there is nothing other than trekking at Anshi, so next day we decided to go to Dandeli, Kulgi Camp (where we had been in 2006) and went for a mid day Kali River rafting for the second time, It was refreshing... since it was our second time on the same controlled rapids we did not have that much thrill as we had when we did for the first time... anyway was a day well spent. then back at Anshi and relishing dinner and next day after breakfast we decided to go to some beach near Karwar. By the time we came near Karwar it was lunch time and decided no point going to beach so late as we may get stuck in traffic in Goa in the evening ( that's what our driver suggested) so we had our lunch Karnataka - Goa border a expected Udupi Hotel. On the way we purchased Goa souvenirs, cashew, Wine and reached Narayan Kaka's house where we staid as our train was booked next day morning.

Drive from Darjeeling to Gangtok. – 28Oct1998

Start of our journey it was as usual hilly drive, but after a while may be at around 4PM we stopped at Teesta River for break, God! What a place. We have to travel more 7hrs, around 47kms to Gangtok. Teesta is 24kms from Darjeeling. In the dark when moon was in its full the River looked beautiful. Teesta is the best river in India for rafting. I saw many rafts but nobody using them.
The ghat section with winding roads and cool breeze hitting on me was something I can never forget. Theesta and the Moon were traveling with us all through our journey they were shining on us. When we were near to Gangtok I found people there relaxed and willing wave back to us as we went though village after village.
In Gangtok we went to many places our car driver was very friendly person he gave us lot of information about his home town(Gangtok) TOK means top of the hill, So Gangtok. Every place in Gangtok is a View point. It’s the place to be. Seeing all these places I don’t know what is so great about Bangalore that I keep bragging about.

College Trip to Delhi, Nepal, Darjeeling, Gangtok and Calcutta - 27Oct1998

We had to take train from Bangalore to Delhi which would take 2 days to travel. We made train our home for 2 days. We reached Delhi in the noon hours, we had the evening free for ourselves and what better girls can do “shopping”. I wit my room mates went ourselves exploring Delhi’s markets, it was a Diwali during that time. So every where were glittering, we naturally had a nice time.
Next day in Delhi we went to site seeing, we went to parliament house and Rashtrapati bhavan and I stood in the victory walk road which I always wanted to go through NCC RD parade. We went to Nehru’s residence where photos were arranged on the walls. We could also see India Gate. Delhi before I thought it’s a dirty place, but after coming to New Delhi is really beautiful with clean, big roads, it is really capital city, I am proud of the great buildings in Delhi, mostly built by British. Oh ya we went to Kutubminar. I had seen this on TV now really through my eyes, it’s great. This is about Delhi that I saw in almost 2days stay. Now we have to go to Inira Gandhi International Airport to Katmandu – Nepal. As it was diwali time, by plain I could see all stars down on the earth. It’s great to fly during Diwali.
Katmandu is a City in a valley, where ever you go in Nepal, you will be surrounded by mountains. Narrow streets welcomes us, it was difficult to take our Bus to the Hotel we were put up. All cities are alike even Katmandu is also cosmopolitan city we were left to ourselves to explore. I really like the rickshaws or cycle rickshaw whatever. Its fun. We went to Monastery and we went to pashupatinath also. It is said all Hindus should and must visit this place once in their life, I got Nepal cap from hear, leaving Katmandu we went to Pokra while in the route I don’t know what river is that but I saw people rafting all the way, at that time I felt I thought I must come again for rafting at least to Nepal. Nepal really good for people who are into adventure sports, they have many clubs around.
In Pokra we went to one monastery, lake… from pokra we came to Mirak which is a cool place, we did boating in a lake, we did some shopping from Mirak we came to my favorite place Darjeeling, the road to Darjeeling so foggy, It was difficult to drive our way but we some how made it. We went for shopping in Darjeeling, I really loved it, and I got jacket and short. I was really crazy of jackets and I just had to get it. Morning we went to watch Sunrise, It was beautiful, Nature is in its best in Darjeeling. I told all my friends that I am going to settle in future hear in Darjeeling. It’s a place for me. Lot of adventure activities. This I felt when I did rock climbing organized by HMI, while going for sightseeing. I LOVED IT. Actually I am seriously thinking about It., let’s see how much will be successful. People in Darjeeling are so friendly, this place really impressed me. We went to zoo :( and all those tea estates etc… (All this was written in the hotel where we had stayed viewing beautiful mountains in front of me, it really is beautiful. I don’t want to go to any place. I can be here for ever.)
Tomorrow we will be leaving to Gangtok. Another hilly Reagan, one more thing in Darjeeling guys are really handsome and cool that also impressed me I think. Hmmm Sun is setting, in Darjeeling night comes very early, temparatures here vary all the time from fogy climate to warm and hot and then chill we can’t predict anything here. I better retire.
Leaving Gangtok by bus we had to come to Siligury to take a Bus to Calcutta which is a 14hr Bus ride.
As we entered Calcutta it started raining to our bad luck. We had to wade through knee deep water to reach our Hotel, and had made a human chain to pass on our luggages.
We did not have great experience In Calcutta for many reasons, 1st we stayed in a dirty locality of the city (hawra) and it unexpectedly rained. This made me feel like never to visit this city ever again, nothing impressed me. We were in a wrong place at a wrong time.
We left Calcutta with a nice ending, our agent had lost all the money in Nepal Airport and had never told us all this while, he left us at Gangtok and had not paid our hotel in Calcutta and so we could not pay our hotel bill (our college arranged some how) So due to all the delay we missed our Reserved train and now we had to travel in unreserved compartment, must tell you it was one experience. 4th Nov 6.45Am Reached Bangalore.

NCC Camp - 03May1998

I thought it would be nice to keep a online record of things I have written in the past which are on hard copy, will be keeping them, coz they have a taste and smell of the days I wrote them, and the style of my thoughts during those days. Will start with the oldest. About NCC camp I attended, here I go...

This essay is about the life in NCC camp, the good and bad aspects of NCC, how a cadet looks at NCC, hear I describe my first NCC camp which was anall India camp held in Surat - Gujarat, The camp was ALC ( Advance Leadership Camp). Before attending this camp I had thought NCC is all about drills and uniforms and hectic schedules and such other things, yes they are all that and much more. What is that, you will find out.
I was first selected to attend Ooty Trekking Camp coz of political issues it was cancelled and was put in ALC. At that time I did not know what this abbreviation stood for, we had briefing at our main office near MCC College, and Major Sir told the place we were going and the time to catch the train at Bangalore Station. I made few friends from other college and luckily I had one of my college friend coming too. Only 10 girls were selected from Bangalore and other 10 from rest of Karnataka, So all in all 20 Cadets to represent Karnataka and Goa NCC.
We all assembled at the Railway station and their I found out a RD girl is coming too (who is much experienced in camps) which is good. We left Bangalore on 28th June 1997, we reached Bombay 24hrs later By Kurla Express, this would be my 1st visit to Bombay, it was a long and dirty journey, but we were NCC cadets nothing can make us tired. We spent out time playing antakshari with other passengers made friends. So after reaching Bombay (kurla Station) we had to go to Bombay Central to take train to Surat, for that we had to take local trains which are one messy experience, as they stop for just 1mnt, 10 of us with our Luggage and AMO and her Luggage, we all girls could get in but our AMO and to come by next train, anyway we managed and reached Bombay station and we had 6hrs to catch next train to Surat, so we washed and ate some junk. We too late night Surat Express and reached Surat early morning at 2AM. Imagine in a new city, we did not know where to go, so we decided to stay in Rest room and slept and morning we were woken up by mallu girls who had come for camp they were washing their hair and had made our room mess. Anyway since they had a PA they found out that we were to Camp at MTB Arts College. Surat is very humid place we were sweating a lot, we cleaned our room and arranged our luggage. As we were the 1st to arrive we had to clean few other rooms as well and we did that. Then all started coming from different state's. Evening briefing we were told the days activities and 1st 3 days we did not have any drills don’t know for what anyway we slept during that time. 3rd day on I came to know what NCC camp is all about that is to say we had to get up early for PT for half an hour, then jog, few games, then have breakfast and change to kaki uniform and get to theory classes.
We were divided into different group with different states mixed alpha, bravo, charley... I was in Bravo group and we were in RP duty (road policing) to guard the camp area and salute senior officers. I did not know how to salute NCC way (as it’s different from Scout and Guides which I was part of) One of our officer thought me how to. Then I was comfortable as they put a senior girl with me. But problem came when I was asked to give water to our CO (commanding Office), I did not know when to salute, some how I managed and he asked me my name and the state I come from I replied boldly which I think he liked.
Evening Lineup they asked if we wanted any change in the Menu many hands came up and surly all were fed up of Sukharoti, our girls asked for butter milk which they agreed. Then they told us to practice for Cultural, Group Dance, Song, solo song, solo dance etc... Then we dispersed had dinner and got a chance to relax and mingle with other cadets from other states. I came to know NCC is just not about drills and punishments but it is sharing of different cultures and our talents, As all had to dress in there best we took some photos then decided to call it a day.
4th Day: Like other days we had PT, Breakfast, khaki Uniform and signal and medical classes, we learnt today 15 Line magneto Exchange which was used in Wars and in Medical Class we learnt to makr Bed quickly, you may think what’s the use of all this, well when in war, many solders get injured and bed has to becbe quickly, so some quick tips to arrange bed.
Today too I with my State mates went to different rooms (states) to make friends and met few lively Bengali friends and Tamil friends. I am learning a bit Bengali like “Ami tomako Bolam bhash" which means I love you and teaching my language too.
5th Day: Today as other days we had PT, we played dog and the bone our team scored the highest and I gave 2 points to my team felt good. Then we had breakfast and wore our kaki uniform and "nikalpade class Ke liye". The we were learning about Bandages in the middle of the lecture they said we will be getting a lecture and demonstration of firefighting the lecture was boring but the demonstration was fun. In the middle of it all, rain interfered. and we all ran for shelter at the auditorium were our DDG Rangit Singh came and welcomed all of us, asked us if the arrangements made by them. Then he also said the lecture was boring, today we had nimbu Pani Coz he had come. Today we had a lecture by our Camp CO about opportunities in Defense. It was interesting, we had sweets for dinner today for a change.
6th Day: Today was different from other days as we did not have PT for some reason and we had puri's for breakfast which was tasty. As we were getting adjusted to the camp life we were no longer with our normal circle of friends, we were moving with different state girls which was a nice experience, what I felt at this point was we may have language barriers but we all joined and laughed together and we were one in this camp. We exchanged our ideas, our cultures, we learnt more of the places they come from, which we may not find in those travel books. So this way from one perspective of world to a broader and much real perspective on others. We may have many problems in the camp, but one thing that I felt , in our homes we have to just adjust with 2-3 people, but in a camp like this we have to adjust with many people by this way we will know different personalities in the society where you are also one among them.
By attending this camp I learnt more about things that I would have not learnt in my class room. Like Surat which is a place where people were trying to forget what had happned there few years back (plague). When I was telling my college friends before I came here that I would be going to a Camp in Surat all of them asked me why am I going to such a dirty place... They don’t know as they have not seen it, just heard. I found it cleaner than any city in India, may be they had realized the importance of cleanliness, one day Surat NCC arranged for shopping for us and they took us to the famous Surat Sari complex. Got a saree for my Mom :)
We may have culture exchange programs like songs, dance etc. but to know their way of life, their style of dressing their accent, we need to go to that place and experience it in person. coz on stage we get to see the best , grand, festive etc, but visiting to a place we can see their normal ways of dress, eat their kind of food, try to communicate the way they do, Like it is said Be a Roman when in Roam. If you want to know more of a particular place you need to be like them, with them. So that is what I learnt from this camp that there are many more great places, with richer and greater culture and people to see and explore.
While coming to Bangalore I felt it so much that there is no barrier between people in a group like a camp or a train we all are just human beings.