Gulmarg: Snow Madness

Pahalgham: A river runs through it

Pahalgham - Some Green, Some Ice

Pahalgham - Awe

Kashmir - Beauty amid the guns

We headed to kashmire rag tired and ravaged by the heat and exhaustion after our Vaishno Devi trip. Its amazing, Jammu was sweltering at 45 degrees and there was news trickling of srinagar being a cool 20 degrees and this when Srinagar is just a 30 minute plane ride away.

There are two ways to get to Srinagar - By plane or through the mountains on the National Highway. The highlight of the journey by road is the Jawaharlal Tunnel apparently the longest tunnel in India. But we went to Srinagar by Plane and I think its the best way to reach Srinagar. And if you get the Window seat on that plane ride, you have a magnificent siht to behold. Tiers and tiers of Snowclad mountains. Its amazing and heady and then you see a land of great beauty green and rustic nestled like precious jewel hidden among treacherous mountains. It reminded me of Shangri-la.

Srinagar probabbly the most awe inspiring, when you alight from the plane, what you see is the himalayas towering over you. Tis a great pity you can take pictures at an Indian airport. One immediately comes to terms with Srinagar's uneasy situation. There's army everywhere. The streets are lined with Jawans with Battle tanks at ever interval and no they don't take kindly to phot-ops so don't even try to take a photo with them

In kashmir we visited the Shamilar Gardens, Dal Lake, Pehalgam & Gulmarg. Kashmr is undoubtedly beautiful. There's no expression to describe the green scenary beside the flowing river amid the mountains. Its picture perfect if you can remove the snipers and Jawans and army trucks from this picture. On our way from Pehalgam we were following an Army convoy and it stopped suddenly, when we asked around we were told that further ahead the convoy, a bus was blown up by a terrorist organisation. We even went past the charred remains of the bus in which 18 soldiers died, but life returned to eerie normal in 45 minutes and nobody batted an eye lid at the incident. These people have been deeply traumatised.

After the bomb blast we were all a little freaked and more so considering the blast blew out the powerlines and we had to sleep through the night in darkness and ofcourse gun shots (Encounter was supposedly underway) and flares (to look for terrorists). Gulmarg cheered us up a whole lot. We freaked out in the snow and threw snowballs and it was great fun. We were quite relieved when it was time to head back home and it was our last day in Srinagar. Oneshould reach the Srinagar airport 3 hours prior departure and you have 7 security checks and frisked 3 times and please, no iPods, they'll not believe you till you play music.

Vaishno Devi: Spirituality and a Latte, to go Please

There's only one possible way you could get to Jammu from manali. that one is by road, through a forebodingly eerie mountainous terrain. any other route, involves getting back to delhi and probably flying to jammu. As luck would have it, we got on to a bus with exceedingly appalling suspension, a window that chattered as it vibrated and a certified loony for a driver. You have to see the terrain to believe it. Huge towering mountains on either side, and the Beas down below, now of a distinctly muddy hue. It seemed like a river in a midlife crisis. The bus careened across the bends, and all the while the horrors of a watery grave flashed before my eyes. The route from Manali passed through Dalhousie, dharamshala and then finally on to the plains of jammu. Before we reached Dharamshala, at about 2 in the morning,a bus which had passed us while we had stopped for dinner, apparently had fallen in to the gorge. I can still remember the horror of tragedy in the voice that said "Bus gir ghayi hain, Bachao". After that none of us could sleep and anna and I kept talking about things well into dawn.

Jammu is in the plains. its Kasmir thats in a valley, so if you venture to jammu in summer, don't be shocked if the mercury reads 46 degrees and yes you're completely screwed when it reads that. Vaishno devi is located ypon a mountain in a place called Khattra, which is about 30 km from jammu. In summer the climb from Khattra to vaishno devi is undertaken only after dusk, no amount of steroids or spirituality will ever get you up there if the sun is reigning down on you.
we started he climb at around 11 in the night. There are soo many pilgrims who are also climbing with you that a certain form of spirituality also grips. I'm not a believer, but the power of faith is soo strong, that you can only wonder. the climb is roughly 14 km to the top, you could hire ponies, but we preferred to climb. the pathway has all kinds of shops selling religion paraphernali, dry fruits and also cricket bats,(???). Then you'll meet drummers, sadhus and other weirdos who fill the perfect hindu stereotype. but its fascinating if you're an urban Indian. at about 4 km into the climb, i encountered one of the bizarrest things ever, a cafe coffee day outlet!. cold coffee and jai mata di anyone? surely theres place enough fore everybody.

Till 6km into the climb, its a crowd. you're getting runover by ponies, palaquin wallahs, maalish wallahs, and the the way diverges one to himkoti and the other leading to ardh kunwari. the road to himkoti is the one least taken and there are no stalls, hawkers, ponies in the way. just mountain air and an arduous road to the destination. We took that and I'd advise people to take that, because thats when the din subsides, and an inner equilibrium takes over. You know why you're huffing and puffing all the way to the top, despite being a non believer, you have faith, you know theres a force stronger than you, its a force that brings the scent of the honey suckle and makes you sencient. You're going up there because you're in awe of the world around you.

Reaching Vaishno Devi makes you exult at your own achievement and then you see the serpentine queue and then you go, oh bother!. but fear not its a queue that clears up pretty quick and while you're in the queue you appreciate the jiffy service being offered at the other end, till you get to the other end i.e., when you go into the shrine all you see is a huge bunch of secirity guards, and then theres a priest shoving you forward into thecave, and another one shoving you down out of the cave. I barely caught a glimpse of the deities. 3 seconds is all you get.

The climb down was even more arduous, i think that kills you more than anything. we started climbing down at 6:30 in the morning and took 4 hours to descend. then we went back to the hotel and slept all day.

Rohtang : an icy peek

Rohtang : birth of the Beas

Rohtang: white wilderness

Manali: Picture Postcard

Manali : clouding judgement

Manali : Behold! the Beas

Manali : Hotel room with a view

Manali : Hidimba temple

Manali : Living the Beas

From this part of the trip i became noticeably happy, mainly due to the abatement in heat. we flew from delhi to chandigarh, and from there we hired a taxi to Manali. from this point onwards began our tryst with judas taxiwallahs. beware of them. they'll charge you the moon, you need to haggle with them about the price per km. we finally agreed to rs. 6 per km with this hip young taxi wallah with streaked hair, what he didn't tell us was that all charges are from "garage to garage" i.e., charges are according to round trip and the fair essentially is about 12 per km. we didn't know that, we got ripped off

but the journey itself is a fantastic repast to the eyes. it meanders through the green rice fields of punjab with rivulets from the irrigation canals glistening from amidst them, then snakes through the himachal valley with the Beas river for accompany all along the way. The beas is always with you through out the journey to manali, and as you get closer, the river loses its sedate calm and becomes more torpid and turbulent. i liked the latter better, it fills one with such a euphoric feeling. there's something about juvenile green trees and an icy pure river that makes you feel "Pahadi" all of a sudden, and it doesn't leave you till you leave the landscape.

Manali, is a beautiful town located 40 km from kullu in the kullu valley. although the town is largely unaffected by the tourist population, it does tend to get crowded during the tourist season, esp. the weekend punju crowd in the peak of the season. on our first day in Manali we visited the Hidimba temple, which i loved because its an idyllic pahadi temple. it was nestled on top of a hillock and was surrounded by cornifers all around. we then went to the manu temple which about 3 km from the city . this temple had magnificent views of the entire valley.

there are two kinds of people in manali, non vegetarians and 100% pure vegetarians. what the heck is a 100% pure vegetarian food?, because all the restuarants in manali make that claim. you almost think they'll feed you plants straight off from the fields . however non vegetarians need not despair, my bro and i found a non descript tibetian restuarant on the main street which served the best momos i've ever tasted. however due to the large hippie population we also saw some restaurants serving israeli food and stuff, but seriously due you want to eat israeli food in a place called "hotel parampara"?.

the next day we left early for the Rohtang pass. and this place needs to come with a traffic jam warning. easily the mot hideous, humoungous, cacophonous jam, you've ever seen and that too at an altitude of over 12,000 feet. You have to reach there early because the later you reach the farther your vehicle will be parked and the more you'll have to trek. the best option is to hire ponies and behold the snowy scene peacefully, rather than huffing and puffing and getting all cross and bothered. i really was disappointed with Rohtang, this was my second visit, and the first was with my school mates 8 years back and the place was in pristine condition, now the snow was all dirty and the air consisted solely of diesel fumes. but the snow capped peaks all around almost makes up for the chaos down below. the Beas actually originates in a glacier near the Rohtang pass, so one can see the young toddler river struggling past the rocks. i was fascinated by the reverse life cycle of the Beas that one witnesses as we proceed to the origin.

there are other places to visit in Manali, like Vashist were the hot springs are located, but i wouldn't recommend a dip in that unless you fancy watching flabby naked people. urgh. but vashist is a cool place, and i'll say that only if there are cool places to shop and cool things to buy. got some neat suede bags, wrap skirts and some really hip junk jewellery.

I miss Manali, even as I'm writing this. I miss the pahadi feeling. this is one place, i'll definitely come back to, come back to revisit dear old Beas

breathtaking

This kept the old king going

Agra fort : pearly inside

Agra fort : the entrance

Agra : The pearl next to a decidely dirty lake

so right, Delhi finished over and done with, we decided to assault Agra the next day. assault is the right word. so the situation : two cameras (one of which could store about 600 images) in the hands of two people who have a passion for capturing anything remotely touristy, namely mom and bro, and one harried non photogenic, photo -op hater, namely me, and a neutral dad, off to the taj in a bus with a schizophrenic A.C.

i love visiting old monuments, what i hate is the touristy element. you know, that whole group thing with a guide in the middle, trashing out facts, and then cliched photo poses. i don't necessarily have a problem with it, it just makes me go , " bugger".

our first stop was the Agra fort, which, if you have a moment to spare, is magnificent. but since the temperature was 43 when we came to visit, i didn't have a moment to spare. bugger. the heat can destroy so many moments sadly. all the photos we took at the fort and later at the taj have me frowning. and then the assaultees were in turn assaulted by the " in house" photographers both at the fort and at the taj. they are the most annoying race next to IA's cabin crew. they haggle you, they show you the grand range of their ouvre, they haggle you some more and the only way to get rid of them is to succumb. yes, get a photo taken and be done with it.

after the fort, it was time for the taj. i still relish my first sight of the taj, way back, 8 years ago, on a school trip. my heart skipped a beat. it still has the same affect. the sight of the taj, through the darwaza, is still awe inspiring. the kind of mood when "harry met sally" becomes tolerable. yea slightly mushy. but a nice feeling. yes the taj is magnificent, but pity its so neglected though. rather deeply under valued. but the heat can still spoil all these nice mushy feelings. and then my parents had this ruddy mad idea about sitting on this love seat and having a photo taken, thesame seat where DI pointedly sat alone, rmbr?. ruddy mad idea because hullo? its 43 degrees, how can anyone be smiling? or how can any one want memories?. it takes all kinds.

while returning from the taj, the A.C finally gave out and there was mutiny on HMS southern travels. and that was funny because the mostly gult passenggers were trying to speak hindi and sound nasty and threatening. the bus puttered to a stop at mathura, which is a shockingly dirty place. since we were the only folks not to fight with the driver about the A.C, the man stopped another bus, and got us seats on it while the other passengers were busy temple hopping. thus, the weird face of come uppance. oh btw the A.C on this new bus was rocking. the frown ceased to exist but sadly both the shutters were closed

India gate

Designs on red sand stone

The Ashoka pillar

The Qutub Minar

the magnificent Ba'hai lotus temple.

Delhi : The city of kings

"are you guys crazy?". june 15th, 1 in the afternoon, we had just landed in Delhi, and my folks wanted to go Sight-seeing!. dear lord!. the outside temperature was 42 degrees. folks like me, who have lived in bangalore right through, cannot comprehend such temperatures, infact we didn't know that the thermometer was capable of reaching such temperatures. so first lesson, do not come to Delhi, in the months of may and june, or if you do, get umbrella and sun screen lotion, trust me if you don't have these two, This city will make you vicariously enjoy the insides of a tandoor, and that you don't want. the best time to visit Delhi is in the months of October, november . when the city seems like its romancing the autumn.

but no poetry for us, we did end up sight seeing, sans umbrella and sunscreen lotion. thats why the bitterness. this city has no dearth for tourist attractions. it might have a water shortage but when it comes to tombs, graveyards and mughal monuments, it can make a neat donation to other cities. thats so odd, everybody who was anybody in the mughal era seems to have tomb for themselves. and they took their tombs seriously. and people here still take their toms seriously, so much so that you need to pass through hazaar metal detectors at the entry. since we were goin to the big mama of all tombs, the Taj Mahal the next day, we skipped all the tombs.but Humayun's tomb is worth a visit.

on this trip we went to the lotus temple, which is actually a B'hai praying area, not a temple in the conventional sense. its a very beautiful structure and looks remarkably like the sidney opera house. the inside of this temple is very serene and the best time to visit it is in the morning, because one needs to enter the complex bare footed. after that we proceeded to the Qutub Minar, which is situated in Mehrauli, near Saket. its a fantastic structure, and if my history serves me right, took 3 emperors to build it. in the same complex is situated the Ashoka Pillar, which is an iron pillar which has supposedly not rusted for 800 years and legend has it that if one can encircle their hands around it, with the back to the pillar, their wishes will come true. the government of india it seems, doesn't want your wishes to come true, theres a fence around it and you'll be arrested for trying.

we then went to Chatrapur, which is like a colony of temples, there are modern temples everywhere in this area, dedicated to almost all the gods one is familiar with, the very lavish architecture in all the temples suggests that the temple trust had a lot of money, but not the soul of Bob Geldof. Sigh.

we went to the India gate and then finally to the birla temple. I'm bored now, i won't elaborate on these, i'll talk of Delhi chaat instead. its comme si comme sa, if you like pommegranates in you dahi papari, you'll relish it. and the gol gappas were a lil too thick, but on the whole pretty decent but not worth the hype.

i was with family, so we didn't go to any nightclubs in delhi. mebbe another time. surely

welcome to my travel blog.

I'm not a travel junkie, however i do travel a fair bit. I've been to most places in india and I've loved it. a couple of weeks back my family and i went on a 6 city north indian tour and we took about 400 pics. i needed a place to put them and ofcourse my thoughts on the entire experience. thats why this blog.

so why garam chai?, well the beta name for this blog was lost wanderlust, but after much thinking, i've decided it must be garam chai, on translation hot tea, because wherever i've travelled to, into the deepest of boondocks, there has always been someone who has offered me garam chai, its the one constant in every place i go to and when you are living out of a suitcase or backpack, or moving from hotel rooms or tents, that one constant can make a world of difference.

godwilling, here's to more and exciting travels!!!