Tag Archives: Travel

Mumbai-Delhi-Haridwar – Detour (Uttarakhand Chronicles)

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Well, what can I say about this amazing journey that began with an amazing start… Something like the Amazing Race! I was slated to go on a Friday  to Haridwar, via Dehradun express on a train with all my friends. Little did I know that my destiny had something else in mind… As much as I could avoid the whole slurry of a detour, it was something I just couldn’t.

I was all packed for my journey as you read in my previous post. The backpack was ready and I had already taken a rickshaw to go to the railway station and that is when this twist happened…

It all started with a phone call…

“Srinivas, we have been trying to reach you through out the day….”

“Yes? Who’s this?”

“I’m calling from Reliance BIG entertainment… You had auditioned for Fox Travelller’s show right?”

“Oh yeah… I did… ‘This Journey is fun’  I know…

“Well you have been shortlisted in the finals, you need to come tomorrow for an audition…”

BANG!!!!

Now what do I do? Here I was at the crossroads for between ‘My First Himalayan Expedition’ & ‘A life changing opportunity.’ My train was in an hour from LTT to go to Haridwar. I had already booked my tickets, they were confirmed… for crying out loud…

“Can this happen some other time? Any chance I can come back and give this audtion?”

“Dude, this is a national audition… There’s no way it can happen any other time…” said Afreen, who was handling the production for this show.

That was about it… I had to make a split second decision and tell her what I was going to do. I bought some time and told her to message me the address in any case… I needed some time to make the decision.

What were my options??

1. Go, board the train and set off for my First Himalayan Adventure (Valley of Flowers Trek)

2. Go for the auditions and once it’s done, take a flight to Delhi and catch the same train on Sunday morning to regroup with my friends…

Interestingly option no. 2 gave me enough time to actually catch the same train in Delhi, on the morning… Quite an adrenaline pumping situation and what do you think I decided to do??

Option 2 it was…. I called Afreen back and told her that I’ll make it for the auditions….

But, that was just the beginning of my detour… A story that I’ll remember for life…

Once I finished the auditions, I decided to call up my agent and get me a flight booked to Delhi that night or early in the morning so that I reach Nizamuddin Railway Station by 5.30 AM and catch the same train…. Or so it seemed 😦

That was just not going to happen… I guess… Most of you know Mr. Murphy from the infamous ‘Murphy’s Law’. He was stalking me like crazy…  I had just missed one flight by the time I finished my auditions and the one that was available now reached in the morning by 6 am… So there was no way I was going to make it to catch the same train…

Well, that was it then… I finally did board the flight, and thought I’d take a bus from Delhi-Haridwar (Uttarakhand Parivahan)

But wait… there was something I had forgotten…. My other friends @irohan & @vishal_g were still in Delhi and they were going to go to Haridwar via a bus!!!  I quickly called em up and rushed in an auto towards Kashmiri Gate and caught up with them at the last minute as their bus was leaving… Finally I managed to get some company at least, before I could reach Haridwar and catch up with all the friends… Rest is history of course.

Quite an exciting start to a journey that was going to be filled with a lot more adventure! What do you think?

Valley of Flowers – Yet another SriniOnTour…

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Valley of Flowers - Backpacking Begins...
Valley of Flowers – Backpacking Begins…

So, I’m all set with my backpack  and with a lot of hopes from this trip. This journey has long been on my bucket list and I’ve been working quite hard to make it happen. Finally, this is part of my first ventures as a part time travel writer, and beginning my career into a whole new dimension. Yes, there are a lot of ifs and buts still, as far as my whole plan goes, but that’s the best part about it…

As far as this trip is concerned… I’m sure there isn’t any doubt, that this is going to be another #SriniOnTour that will rock. This time around, I may not be able to blog on the go, due to connectivity and rains, I’ve decided to  avoid carrying my laptop… besides my backpack is already about 10 kgs… which we would carry all the way up to the West Himalayas. So I’ve decided, I’d upload a lot of photos on twitter and facebook and showcase my journey as a live photo-blog.

http://facebook.com/srinistuff

http://twitpic.com/photos/srinistuff

Also joining me on this trip are a some of my close friends with whom i regularly go on trips/treks.. Swapnil, his wife, Mangesh and his friend…

From the twitterverse, my new found friends @irohan and @_vishalg would be part of this trip.

This journey is also inspired by my conversation time and again with Chris Collins – (http://nicolaskumar.com/) Author of (Valley of Flowers)  – Chris, thanks for all your advice and help… As soon as I’m back from this trip, the first thing on the agenda is to get the book and read it… That way, I’d be able to relate to everything in it much better. 🙂

So here’s the plan (Some details might be helpful for others who plan to travel here)

Leave for Haridwar via Dehradun Express tonight…

Reach on the 31st July, just in time for the Maha Aarti.. Which is a beautiful and a spectacular sight and something that we should not miss… Hari-Ki-Pauri as it’s popularly known…

Haridwar

Haridwar

1st August

A few more locations in Haridwar, mainly…

Maya Devi Mandir , located on upper road. This temple is one of the 51 “shakti peeths” and its the presiding deity of Haridwar. It is from this temple Haridwar derives its other name Mayapur.

Maya Devi Temple

Bharat Mata Mandir, 5 km north of the center. Dedicated to Mother India, this is half temple, half nation building exercise, with seven floors stacked with deities, saints, and secular heroes of all Indian faiths. Some signage in English.

Bharat Mata Mandir

Bharat Mata Mandir

Bilkeshwar Mahadev Mandir , Shiva temple located on a hill.

Depending on how much time we have on our hands, we’d plan to see these places.

2nd August

Rishikesh

We take an early morning train to Rishikesh. Hemkunt Express – Leaves Haridwar at 6.50 AM and reaches Rishikesh by 8.00 AM. That’s the only train available in the morning. Else we might have to take Vikrams/Rickshaws costs (Rs.60-70) max per rick.

I checked out info for white-water rafting and most places say the season is September-November and March-April-May ideal for rafting. But we can get to know once we are there….My friend Swapnil has also got a few contacts, who say they might be able to arrange for the rafting.

White Water Rafting

White Water Rafting

 

Let’s see how it goes. Besides River Rafting we can visit these places on the 2nd at Rishikesh…

 

Lakshman Jhula, Trayambakeshwar Temple, Lakshman Jhula. is 13 stories high, with different deities throughout.  edit

Lakshman Jhula

Lakshman Jhula

Triveni Ghat, This is a bathing ghat. Daily in the morning and evening there are thousands who take bath here and enjoy the Maha Aarti being performed. It very soothing to sit on the banks of the river and enjoy the cool breeze from the river.

3rd August onwards we report to YHAI Basecamp and follow their itinerary…

4th  August – We take a bus from Rishikesh – Joshimath

Enroute Joshimath

Enroute Joshimath

5th August –  Orientation walk / Visit to Auli and Tapovan

6th August – Joshimath to Govindghat by Bus…

Joshimath to Govindghat by Bus

Joshimath to Govindghat by Bus

6th August – Govindghat – Ghangaria Ghat (A trek of 13kms) This one’s going to be the real test as the place that we would trek would have rain, and there are some really slants that we have to overcome carrying at least 10kgs of backpack is certainly going to be a challenge. While we have trekked over 20-30 kms in a day, this 13km trek would be with full supply backpack and the altitude would be quite challenging, add to that the cold and rain… Should be fun at the same time.

Govindghat to Ghangaria Ghat

Govindghat to Ghangaria Ghat

7th August – Ghangaria Ghat to Valley of Flowers… Now this is the most beautiful place that we hope would really make the 13km trek the previous day, worth it’s while… It’s about 8kms to and fro. This should be easier as our backpack would be at the camp and the trek is much lighter. But the beauty of the park and the flowers in the valley… would really be amazing.. The photos will tell you for sure 🙂 Stay tuned… In the meantime you can also read my poem about the Valley of Flowers here

Valley of Flowers

Valley of Flowers

8th August – Ghangaria Ghat to Hemkund Saheb – This is another amazing place, a worshipping shrine for Sikhs, this place is divine and much more beautiful in terms of the scenic locations and I hope to get a glimpse of some glacier / Ice as well…

Hemkund Saheb

Hemkund Saheb

9th August – We trek back to Govindghat.. The 13km trek.. This should be easier as it’s downhill…

10th August – Govindghat to Badrinath is around 25 kms and this would be a bus journey. Some rest to our ailing legs 😛

Badrinath Temple

Badrinath Temple

11th August – Badrinath – Vasudhara falls around 16km trek to and fro. This is a beauty… In the cold and the rain, it’s quite a pretty sight I’ve heard.

Vasudhara Falls

Vasudhara Falls

12th August –  Badrinath to Rishikesh and check out after breakfast…

Post that, since it’s a long weekend and we have a couple of days on our hand we may just chill in Rishikesh and then head back to Delhi on 13th or 14th August, from where we catch a train and reach Mumbai by 15th August and celebrate Independence Day at home 🙂

All this ordeal would be quite an experience and certainly a journey worth sharing… For now, I’d be updating pictures at

http://facebook.com/srinistuff

http://twitpic.com/photos/srinistuff

 

So stay tuned and hope you enjoy the updates.

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Rudraprayag – Where Gods choose to dwell…

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Sometimes it isn’t that difficult to find what you are really looking for. Sometimes there are signs that help you along. But most of the times, more often than none, you will realize that what you are really looking for has been there right in front of your eyes. Sitting right there at the corner of your eyes, while you’re off like a whirlwind across the world looking for whatever you won’t really find…

So finally, I’ve decided, come July, my travel spree will resume! Dedicate more time towards my writing, I will take  that time to search my solitude and finally write as much as I want. Working towards my travel writing career is one thing and finally moving on from experimental writing and getting to write my second and actual book. Yes, finally I know that it’s about time.. Time to get started on that seed that has been burrowed inside my head quite a while ago. It’s time to start working on growing and nurturing that tree.

In one of my meetings with @amisht I learnt that writing a book is not like making a business plan. He told me that it’ll all come to me… There is always a theme and the incidents that happen to you are all a chain or a sequence of events, which you realize are like the dots that you connect… At the end of it all there is your answer.  And I think I’ve started believing in that… There has to be some effort of  sorts to make this happen. And now I know it’s time to put in that effort.

So here’s what I’m going to be doing. It’s not the greatest of adventures or for that matter a total absolution from this world. But it certainly is going to be an attempt. An attempt that I’d have to be resilient about, no matter how long it takes and how much distance I have to cover. Doesn’t matter how many hours I put in or how much blood, sweat and tears that go into it… I know it has to be done and it will be done. And yes, one thing I know, It’s going to be a wild adventurous spree… Of unknown locations and paths not traveled. But I think I have a reason for all of these travels that I will take. At the back of my mind I know it because, I know it as the ‘master plan’ And as I said before, a ‘master plan’ is never a master plan if it’s revealed. So without having much to give away about this plan, I’d like to share little bits and pieces of it as something I’d like to call ‘My Travel Bucket List’   

Right now, now is the time… I’d make this list and when the time is right, I’d go there… Why?? The answer I don’t know yet, but it’s there somewhere at the back of my head and it will all be found, once I finish my ‘Master Plan.’  As soon as I visit those places, I’d go ahead and chalk them off ‘My Travel Bucket List’  

So here we go! The first one on my list…

Destination 1: Rudra Prayag, (Uttarakhand)

There is something more than mystical about this place. It certainly is the most important place in my scheme of things. The beauty of this place lies within its certain strategic and geographical location. Spiritual as it may be, this is the place that one has to go through if you have to go into Kedarnath and Badrinath. Another historic and spiritual location for Hindus.

Named after Lord Shiva (Rudra), Rudraprayag is a town in Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand. It’s one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alaknanda River, the point of confluence of rivers Alaknanda and Mandakini. Alaknanda then proceeds towards Devaprayag where it joins with Bhagirathi river to form the river Ganges. Kedarnath, a Hindu holy town is located 86 km from Rudraprayag.

Till recently, Rudraprayag was a part of District Chamoli and Tehri. In 1997, the Kedarnath Valley and parts of district Tehri & Pauri were conjoined to form Rudraprayag as a new district. The entire region is blessed with immense natural beauty, places of religious importance, lakes and glaciers.

So this is the destination that would be certainly on my mind… It’s only a matter of time before I got there… As I keep saying

“Soon I’d be free… Love, Life… Walking by the desires of my dreams on the crooked roads of my destiny.”

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Walking Along… Road Less traveled

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“Soon I’d be free… Love, Life… Walking by the desires of my dreams on the crooked roads of my destiny.”

This I say to myself with great pleasure for I take pride in my travel… I want to find myself a destiny, as crooked as it sounds or looks like… Without living a lie to myself or to anyone else. Sometimes I just feel like taking this wild trip into the adventurous dreamscapes of my wilderness. Sometimes I think of stopping time without having a notion of what it really meant.

They say you live life only once… Once is what you need, and what you can get. But sometimes I say to myself… that once is never enough… I’d have to be born again and again in my dreams to say to myself that I need this more than once. So I decided to anyways figure a way out…

Pretty soon, I’d be taking the road less travelled, chalking out maps and hoping for a great dream, waiting to happen. Take off every month for about 10 days, just to live for myself… Live without the world as we know it. Live for a greater search, spiritual and metaphysical. Every month I’d get time for myself to give my goals a shot. My dreams to be fulfilled without the fear of losing what I have at the helm of what we all end up looking for as ‘Life.’ Truth be told, life is out there… and not really here… So I’m all set to trudge on that path along the crooked roads of my destiny. Wherever they take me I’d say, bring it on….

For now, I don’t know where I need to be, what I need to do, but I know this… I have to get out there… Out there without the fear of letting go. Without the question of what, why, when and how… get out there without self-doubt, discontentment, resent or for that matter the true question of what is success and what is failure.

So without asking many questions to myself I thought of what would I want to do with this thought of discovery and the thought of the real plan being in my head and where would I really want to go… For now, the answer is, ‘I don’t really know’ but what I can do is, chalk out a bucket list… A bucket list for me to travel to.. Places that I would really want to go and something that I want to do, not for just the sheer joy of traveling, but for a destiny that lies beyond my comprehension. For now, let’s just say this is something I have to do… I have to do for this is what I believe in…

What is this belief you ask? Well, random thoughts that I know have a meaning… I know them now because ultimately I have a master plan… A master plan which cannot be divulged, as it won’t be a master plan then… It won’t make sense as much now, I know it won’t… But somewhere down the line, I’d come back and then I’d know… Why I wrote this post and what it meant to me and why I decided to take these roads less traveled. One day I’d realize how this whole ‘master plan’ fits in the grander scheme of things. How the beauty of these words make bigger and a much stronger sense of belief.  I know, there’s a reason for that too and there might be some changes that would come along the way… Nonetheless, it’s all part of a plan… I know, cause I had to… Cause, It was meant to be… Yep, meant to be… This side or the other…

“Soon I’d be free… Love, Life… Walking by the desires of my dreams on the crooked roads of my destiny.”

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The Kanyakumari Sunrise…

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I had thought of making a Sunrise collage quite a while back when I started #SriniOnTour… Different stages of the Sun Rising and depicting it’s beautiful layers upon us uncanny humans… After missing out the Marina beach breaking of Sunrise because of the confusion between Park and Park Town station… I thought I would get some great pictures at Pondicherry beach… had been waking up early on most of the days to ensure that I get great pictures and am finally able to make a Sunrise album… I guess it wasn’t to be… As they say, everything happens for a reason… Now I know the reason… The sunrise collage had to be in this most blissful and eternal place of all… Farthest down south and the most beautiful place I’ve seen so far…

 

So I woke up early at 5:30 AM, quickly showered and made sure I got to the Sunrise point at 6:00 AM… Thankfully I got a hotel room not quite far from the Sunrise point.. As expected, everyone in Kanyakumari (mostly tourists, fishermen, malbari swamis) was wide awake and ready to witness the grandeur… After Rameshwaram I had certainly anticipated this one… So I had to make sure that I go to a spot where I get great snaps… So I decided to walk all the way to the bridge near the Muttom fishing Vilalge…

 

 

Muttom Village

Muttom Village

There is a huge bridge of rocks, (I overheard someone saying it’s the bridge that helped Lord Rama get across to Lanka… hahaha.. what imagination some people have) Anyways, it’s  a beautiful sight that I must say… and if you walk down the bridge with the breeze in your face, it’s nothing but eternal bliss that you ‘face.’ So after reaching the bridge midway, I decided to sit down on one of those rocks and patiently wait for the Sun to rise…

 

 

The Rocky Bridge...

The Rocky Bridge...

 

There were clouds and my hopes were diminishing.. Hopes of seeing the sun in it’s orangey best… Well, I was crossing my fingers and hoping that I get some really nice pictures… Slowly I saw the rays of light break through the cloud… Fishermen going into the sea across the horizon, the rays really blissful and the Sun raring to go and break out of those clouds… All I did was cross my fingers and hope in my heart that the Sun does breakthrough those cloudy shackles…

 

 

Breaking Through...

Breaking Through...

 

Slowly, yet steadily, Surya Bhagwan (Lord Sun) answered my prayers and made sure he showed up for one of the best collages thatI’ve been able to shoot so far 🙂 It was an experience that was totally worth it…

 

 

Lord Surya Answered my prayer...

Lord Surya Answered my prayer...

After that was done with… I decided to head off to the Vivekananda Memorial Rock, the first ferry that takes you there starts at 8:00 AM and tickets go up for sale at 7:45 AM… The state-owned Poompuhar Shipping Corporation runs ferry services between the town and the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvalluvar statue, situated on rocky islets off the coast.

 

 

Ferry to the Rocks...

Ferry to the Rocks...

 

There is a huge queue that starts gathering around 7:00 AM and I was at the back of it of course… But thankfully, the queue is fast moving and you have to just wait till 8:30 to get there… Getting there is an experience in itself… Wearing Life Jackets just for the heck of it of course, cos none of them were really worth wearing, some broken chords, some tattered jackets… but at the end of it all it’s just a formality so to speak.. Though when the time comes, I’m sure they would help you to a certain extent, but I don’t think its a big ordeal…

 

One of the rocks called Sri Padhaparai is said to bear the footprints of the virgin goddess. Swami Vivekananda is said to have meditated on this rock for three days. Also on this rock, there is a Dhyana mandapam, an area for meditation. Ferry services are available to reach the memorial. (Wikipedia)

 

 

Vivekananda Memorial Rock

Vivekananda Memorial Rock

 

Once you are done with the Vivekananda Rock, you get into another ferry, which will take you to the Thiruvalluvar Statue… the gigantic 133 feet (40.5 m) tall statue of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar (Completed on January 1, 2000 by the legandary Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati, Chennai) is one of the biggest statues in Asia. (Wikipedia) Witnessing this is truly an experience that you should not miss… Truly blissful 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Thiruvalluvar Statue

Thiruvalluvar Statue

 

Thiruvalluvar's Foot

Thiruvalluvar's Foot

All in all these two hours in the midst of the ocean really make you wonder… think about what you are really doing in life… Not just about the spiritual existence of your body mind and soul, but also the real question of what you want to do in life… One thing you must do… is get to the top most section at the feet of the statue… From there you can really look out to the horizon.. Look out to the horizon and ask yourself the question… What are you? Who are you?  Why are you here?? How should you go about life… Truly a philosophy of existence is something you will see, with clairvoyance of sorts that you won’t be able to witness elsewhere…

 

 

A distant view...

A distant view...

 

Inside Out...

Inside Out...

Utterly Blissful

Utterly Blissful

This certainly has been a mesmerizing experience for me… Do let me know what you think of this?? Have you ever felt this way??

 

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Tiruchhirapalli aka Trichy – Srirangam Temple

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So, having missed out on Thiruvanamali, I think this was a great opportunity for me to cover this location especially since the Srirangam temple and Sahamyapuram temples are very famous in this place… Left early in the morning at 6:00 AM since I was behind my schedule, had to cover Trichy, Thanjavur and reach Madurai at night…Even then I’d be behind my schedule… As I left Salem, it was very cold in the morning, very cold for a Tamil Nadu morning so far…

 

Sunrise Enroute Trichy

Sunrise Enroute Trichy

When you least expect it… I got to see the sunrise… After waiting for such a long time in Pondy, and elsewhere I couldn’t get a glimpse of the sun rising… And when I was travelling in the bus… here we are…

Sunrise galore...

Sunrise galore...

 

So anyways, I was still one day behind my schedule, so didn’t have time to go to Sahamyapuram… But I did something which I hadn’t done so far on #SriniOnTour, here… I checked in my huge n heavy backpack into the cloak room in Trichy bus stand…

 

I’ve been going ga-ga about TN state bus services so far, especially the frequency, the easy accesibility to various places and a lot of other things… This time around I decided to try out their cloak rooms… Was a little difficult to find.. but with my broken Tamil and a little bit of English, I managed to find access to it in one corner near a restaurant inside the Bus stand…

 

So after checking it in, I took the city bus… Bus no. 1 from the entrance of the bus stand… Off to Srirangam I was…

Srirangam temple

Srirangam temple

 

Srirangam Temple

Srirangam Temple

 

Lord Narsimha

Lord Narsimha

 

Inside the temple, near the arts gallery, you will find a lot of these statues… Everyone with a story of their own…

Destroyer of Evil

Destroyer of Evil

Goddess of Power

 

Here’s some info about Trichy courtesy http://www.trichy.com

 

Tiruchirappalli, situated on the banks of the river Cauvery is the fourth largest city in Tamil Nadu. It was a citadel of the early Cholas which later fell to the Pallavas. Trichy is a fine blend of tradition and modernity built around the Rock Fort. Apart from the Fort, there are several Churches, Colleges and Missions dating back to the 1760s. The town and its fort, now in Trichy were built by the Nayaks of Madurai. This city has given great Tamil scholars whose contributions to the Tamil literature have been very significant.

 

The most famous land mark of this bustling town is the Rockfort Temple, a spectacular monument perched on a massive rocky out crop which rises abruptly from the plain to tower over the old city. It was one of the main centers around which the wars of the Carnatic were fought in the 18th century during the British-French struggle for supremacy in India. The city is a thriving commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is famous for artificial diamonds, cigars, handloom cloth, glass bangles and wooden and clay toys.

 

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The journey begins… #SriniOnTour

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All my bags are packed

I’m ready to go…

Standing here outside your door…

Finally, the day is here… The day that I have been so meticulously planning for! I mean, come to think of it, I have never been so organized and well planned on any of the trips… Yet, #SriniOnTour has always been about those amazingly impromptu trips that have been taken… So ya, this time around, there has been a little planning into this one. And why wouldn’t I?? Afterall, it’s going to be something different… than the ones that I’ve already done before. Before I begin, I’d like to give my thanks to @debLPMAG from Lonely Planet, India, @travelwell_in and the entire team for helping me with the nice badge you see up there 🙂 and of course featuring my blog on their website.  http://travelwell.in 🙂 Thanks guys… We are onto something 🙂

 

Live Blogging this trip is something I’m really geared up for. Taking great photos… Blogging, tweeting, twitpicing, facebooking and all that… 😛 A blogumentary, my first… Let’s see where this is headed… Quite a vacation I must say.. (P.S Those who didn’t know, this is my vacation 🙂 Refer: Workaholic, Travel Junkie

 

So what does one pack for such an extensive trip?? After two hours of carefully making sure everything on my checklist has been stuffed into that goozy backpack of mine, I’m hoping that I have the strength and energy to carry it around for 15 days! I mean, that looks small, but it is certainly not a mean feat to carry it around on this hop-skip and jump kind of an adventure!!!

 

Having said that, here’s how my departure looks like. I’m going to take a bus to Bangalore… Leave Mumbai (Chembur) at 6:00 PM and hoping that I reach Bangalore by 2 PM latest by 3 PM. Hoping to catch up with the #FordFigoTour man… @dhempe if he’s free and most importantly if we get time…

 

I’ve calculated it as much… I think if all goes smoothly, I should reach well within time to get my train to Chennai. But If my bus doesn’t reach  Bangalore before 4.25 PM on Christmas, then I’m doomed for sure…:P Well, I have to catch the Chennai Express/Mail that leaves Bangalore by that time…  You never know, what might come my way… that’s the best part about these kind of adventure trips… Just go with the flow and hope all falls into place…

 

So what are the bets like?? Will I reach Bangalore on Time(16.25 PM on 25th Dec) to catch my Chennai train??  If not, what options do I have?

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#SriniOnTour – South India Trip 2010 – A blogumentary

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So this is what my #SriniOnTour looks like as of now… It’s certainly a different kind of vacation that I have ever taken. Yes, I have certainly blogged about most of my long weekend, on the spur of the moment type of trips. Certainly have always wanted opportunities like these to glorify my travelogue and make sure that I let loose the wild traveller within me. This journey however has much more significance than just one of those blogs or travelogues.

 

What I truly want to do with this blogumentary is to achieve some true respite and get my travel writing skills up one notch. We all have such vacations and in fact one of the reasons why I chose this vacation was to make sure that I expand my travel portfolio… I know of a lot of enthu, photographers, travel buffs reaching out to people with their creative art form and expressing a truly meaningful self…

 

What I wish to attain through this blogumentary is to document not just geographic locations, but also the true emotions behind every single photo I take, every single temple I visit. Document the theme that India down south represents. Something that we all know and have already discovered. But to me it’s more than just that. I need to really rediscover some of the elements that a lot of us forget many times. Every minute details of the trip will help me understand a lot of  things that are really help make me who I am…

 

With every blog that I post, I hope to tell a story that will build and develop itself. A story that will mean a lot more than what it seems. A story that we all hope for and expect to really make some sort of a difference to our lives.

 

My presentation on Slideshare got featured in the travel section by the editorial team of Slideshare. Now, it also has over 1000 views. I will be live blogging, tweeting, and updating my experience here. So do stay tuned. Also would love to hear feedback and tips from all of you guys about the trip. Tips, places of interest, expert comments are more than welcome 🙂

 

You may want to stay tuned to these links below as well Hope you find this interesting too.

http://facebook.com/srinistuff (Photo Journal)

http://bit.ly/sriniontoursouthindia (My Tour map for this trip)

http://everlater.com/srinistuff (My travel planner)

http://bit.ly/SriniOnTour (My Travel Map so far)

http://twitpic.com/photos/srinistuff (Travel Photos On the Go)

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Lohagad – An escapade truly to remember

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Trekking (definition) : To make a slow or arduous journey on foot, especially to hike through mountainous areas…  But… “A trek is never a trek if there ain’t a little fun, little adventure, some moments to cherish and of course a little mishap here and there..’ That’s where the ‘arduous’ part comes in…

9:00 PM and we are still at work?? Come on guys let’s pack up and get the hell outta here… That was what was going on in my mind… but I guess, we had to make sure that everything was in order before we left for the trek.

On a chilly December night, trekking at 2:00 AM in the morning was no mean feat. Yep, that’s exactly when we reached the village called Baje, it served as a base camp for us. Parked the car over there and started hiking up towards the footsteps near Lohagadvadi… While there is another route to reach the footsteps where even cars go, it wouldn’t have been fun for us to take our car there and then climb up… as the trek time would have been just 15-20 minutes.

Anyways, at the end of it all, the hike up to the place was really worth it… trekking the mountain in the morning, chatting up and singing along for a journey and an experience that we were yet to have… Something told us, this is going to be one of those memories… You know what I’m talking about, now don’t you?

It took us about 2 hours to reach the top… Breezy in the morning, the caves were only warm place for us to feel some comfort.. but that would again defy the definition now, woudn’t it?? So we decided to chill out near the entrance, camp ourselves and make ourselves a couple o drinks to feel better… haha, that’s what you get for the arduousness as a reward. Besides that watching some of them, singing and dancing to ‘Sheila ki Jawaani’ as well 😛

Soon, it was time for the Sun to rise and us to have some really nice Photo session and of course meet our ancestors who made their way up on to the top to find out if we had some food for them. I was wondering why on earth did I even buy a bunch of bananas before we left, now I know exactly why…

The vision of breaking dawn was one I had been waiting for before I could get my hands on my DSLR, and begin my clicking spree… After a lots of fun and frolic, some nice photo sessions, we decided to head towards Vinchu Kaata… Alas, that was not to be…

While everyone was enjoying singing and dancing… we suddenly heard a cry out loud from one of our friends…The slippery tracks from where we had decided to take a detour towards VinchuKaata had made sure that today wasn’t the day, when we were going to be out there…

She suddenly lost her footing, slipped and fell instantaneously… We made her sit down, making sure that we find out what happened to her. Hoping it was not a fracture…we took a look, it looked more like  a sprain and a ligament tear we thought. But we were not sure, didn’t want to take a risk… So finally this is the exact reason why that arduous word came into the dictionary while defining the word ‘trekking’ It was quite a challenge as she was not able to walk…

One of the challenges now, was to find out ways and means to get our friend down.. So, a couple of guys went down to get the car from the other route to ensure that one car is at least downstairs, at the base camp from Baje village… While we were trying to figure out how to get her down.. We tried to make a stretcher with a couple of bamboos and blanket we had… Nope, didn’t work… We had a chair, tried to make a palkhi with the bamboos and a rope we had… nope, didn’t work… What could we do??

We were thinking and trying to figure out a way and that’s when it struck us… This was the only option for now…

The most effective and the most simple way was devised out of a story I remember my grandfather used to read in Chandamama comics, ‘Vikram Vetaal…’ yes, that is and was the only option for us…. So there, the only option left for us was to backpack her (literally) and that could have been done by only one person in our group and I don’t intend to tell you here who it was. For people who don’t know us, it won’t matter but for people at work… you guys should have fun guessing this one! As it turned out later… i.e almost at the bottom of the mountain, we met a guy who took a look at her leg and with the help of acupressure and she was able to slowly walk… Irony I say… Always on all my trips 🙂

That’s exactly the reason why I’ve not included anyone’s names… and precisely why this story ends like this… What happened later was something we all call an escapade truly to remember… 🙂 well, at least until the next one happens.

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Off to Lohagad – The Iron Fort…

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People Travel to know the boundaries of the world… The boundaries within their universe, the journey which they want to experience and imagine if ever they thought of living a life they couldn’t. People travel to know more about different people. People travel to experience what their soul will take with them to a different dimension. Sometimes when I think of these quotes of mine, I realize we all have  a desire in ourselves to understand fully what the beauty of this universe lies in. Be it the short trips over the weekend, adventure camps in school, trips and picnics during the monsoon or a great vacation abroad… When we travel, we unleash our inner spirit. One that adds to our charm and the experience of a life we live in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To me, trekking is one such experience where I can relive the adventure, which I always wanted. Think of nothing but the freedom that I get when I get up there. Be it 4000 feet above or just a mere 1400 feet. Doesn’t matter, one needs to understand that the beauty of all this is in the fact that you have a goal in mind and you go up there to achieve it.

So here we are, bunch of us office guys @SocWav have decided to head to Lohagad, a very easy trek tomorrow night. This would be my second experience trekking at night after one way back in Naneghat. Since, there are a lot of newbies and girls mostly, we decided to trek to Lohagad as its the easiest of the lots. I haven’t yet been here so it should be a great experience. The last time around, my friends ditched me on my working saturday and did a quick drive to Lohagad and got back with great photos and absolutely amazing videos. That was during monsoon though. Don’t know how it will be this time around. Hope the cold and pleasant weather will make up for a little bit lack of greenery I hope.

So we plan to trek at around 10-11 in the night, reach on top about 12:00 – 1:00 AM and camp up there. Hoping to set up a barbecue if we get hold of  a village local. Otherwise we’ll manage with our own Cup Maggi and other snacks.. I mean Maggi should really be the brand for all trekkers. The best part would probably come early in the morning, when we’ll take a look at the awesome views especially the ‘Vinchu Kaata’ and the Ganesh Darwaza… So courtesy Wikipedia here is a bit of trivia for all you folks about the destination.

Lohagad (literally “Iron fort” in Marathi) is one of the many hill forts of Chatrapati Shivaji. It is situated 52 km from Pune in western India. Lohagad is at an elevation of 3,450 feet (1,052 m).

On the west side, there is a long and narrow wall-like fortified spur called Vinchukata (Marathi for Scorpion’s tail; see picture) because of its shape. Lohagad has a long history with several dynasties occupying it at different periods of time:

Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas,Yadavas, Bahamanis, Nizamshahis, Mughals and Marathas. Shivaji captured it in 1648 CE, but he was forced to surrender it to the Mughals in 1665 CE by the Treaty of Purandar. Shivaji recaptured the fort in 1670 CE and used it for keeping his treasury.

How to reach the fort

From Mumbai, you can take a train to Lonavla. Malawli is the next station from Lonavla in the direction toward Pune. There are a number of local trains operating between Lonavla and Pune; you can take any of them. From Pune, you can take any of these locals.

From Malawli railway station, the fort is just 9 km away. Vehicles can go up to the foot of the hill. From here, which is near a village calledLohagaon, there are steps to the fort, numbering approximately 500.

When it rains, the top of the fort is covered with mist and clouds and becomes particularly wet. It is advisable to carry protective gear during the rainy season (mid-June to mid-September). Further, food is not easily available on the route. Most of the food stalls sell water, poha, tea/coffee, snacks, and soft drinks.

A panoramic view of the Pawna dam can be seen from the fort. Although it isn’t raining now, hoping to get a breath of fresh air… cold winter air during the amazing trek we take. 🙂

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