My longest road journey & the end of summer holidays

Within a couple of days of reaching back from Camp Himalayan, we were off to the longest road journey i've taken till now.

4.30 am...... New Delhi to Udaipur. We reach Udaipur at 3.30 pm. Swim in the pool & chill & night stay in Udaipur

next day.....

Leave Udaipur at 9am for Ahmedabad.

Break for lunch for a sumptuous guju thaali & meeting vinay kaka& charul maasi.

Leave Ahmedabad at 5 pm

Destination for night stay is in my old house in Dahanu.

We reach at 1 am

We crash to sleep.

2nd day

Wake up in the morning, a ride on our 'ole scooter, check out the stuff at the good 'ole Agni Bakery, meet my 'ole friend Pehzaan & a quick hello to Brian Kaka & Farida aunty......

10 am Dahanu to Bombay.....we reach for lunch in Bombay, which is our destination.

A total of almost 2,500 kms on road, & in a space of 5 days we weaved through Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat & Maharashtra & surprisingly it was not stressful at all. ( Yes, except for the Traffic cops at Ahmedabad city who kept extorting bribes out of us like a mafia gang)

I spend the rest of of my summer holidays with my cousins in Bombay. Watched movies, football matches, played, laughed, cried, fought, enjoyed, had kulfis, ice creams, pav bhaaji, bhel puri's, paani puri's, doughnuts, enjoyed the company of my aunts & uncles & my maternal grand mother, i saw & received the first rains, visited my farm near Pune .........

& now i am back to the grind.

Time & days seemed to have moved fast......

Lots of school work to complete before it re opens on the 28th.

Wish me luck........

Back from Camp Himalayan...... wth stories of the Brown Dipper & the Crested Bunting

Three of us took our trip up to the Shoja valley by bus, after an overnight journey, a jeep was waiting to take us to the Camp Himalayan.

We had a great time playing with the ever green Badshah & getting thrown into the ice cold waters of Thirtan river....

One day morning we were just fooling around the river, when suddenly i spotted the Brown Dipper....... a lifer for me

Had good sightings of Verditer flycatchers

Here are some of the other birds we saw like the Himalayan Griffon, actually up close eating a carcass, the Streaked whistling Thrush, Rock Buntings, Rufous Naped Tit, Himalayan Treepies, Blue whistling Thrush among others.

The Green backed Tits looked stunning in their colours

The snow peaked mountains were sometimes visible on a clear day, though there was torrential rains also.

Finally it was time to leave & bid good bye..... Due to many reasons we did not do much trekking this time, once we went up to Jalori pass, luckily we came back in the night, it hail stormed heavily in the night. But yet again a great stay & a lovely time at Camp Himalayan

.

As we started our long drive back

yet another lifer for me a Crested Bunting was sitting on the wires....... yippie

adios,

will be back again !!

off to Camp Himalayan yet again...........

Welcoming the holidays

escaping from the sweltering heat

welcoming my cousin brothers

three of us

just three of us

are off......

yet again

to Camp Himalayan

this will be my third visit in as many years

looking forward to the treks up Jalori pass, to see the Himalayan griffons up close & up into the Great Himalayan National Park, to all the exciting river crossings & for the general peace & quiet which the mountains offer.

Will i get to see the Western Tragopan, or the Snow Leopard.........

Even otherwise 'am sure once again my visit to Camp Himalayan will be memorable !!

See you guys on the other side.....

My Birthday

Finally .............finally I'm twelve !!

I called a few of my friends and we played in the park, had lots of Margherita's, Brownies, Doughnuts & Ice cream.

Then we watched "Night in the Museum 2" and it was really funny and everyone enjoyed.

To top it all I got an ipod nano & football studs from my parents, some very thoughtful gifts from my friends, phone calls from cousins & relatives and ofcourse good wishes from all of them.

Camp Himalayan........... goodbye for now !!

Well all good things in life have to come to an end............... i guess !!

We left the next day morning after breakfast saying very fond farewells to Gopibhaiya, Hemrajbhaiya and Sumit uncle.

After a long tiresome trip (17 hours) stopping only at a Highway dhaba for lunch and at Nik Bakers, Chandigarh for dinner we reached Delhi finally at 2:30am !!

Now after a couple of days at home.............. 'am off to Mumbai to be with my cousins for a couple of weeks !!

Camp Himalayan ...... Thirtan River

Imagine after such an exhausting walk,

to be able to find a spot like this where one can dip one's feet in freezing water

& also actually have a sumptous lunch

It was just awesome.....................

Camp Himalayan........... to the Great Himalayan National Park

I cannot believe it.............

We are going to go to the Great Himalayan National Park today and were all set to leave at 8:00 am with packed lunch and all. Gopi bhaiya and Hemraj bhaiya the caretakers of Camp Himalayan came with us. We went till Gushaini in the bus as then the road became too narrow for a bus to go.

We hired a Sumo which went for another 2 kms of motorable road. We then began our trek

to the gate of the Great Himalayan National Park which we thought ( by mistake) was close but actually it turned out to be a long uphill 7 kms walk. The walk was really beautiful through the forests & next to the Thirtan river. But it was exhausting. But when we reached it was really wonderful, as we had lunch on a rock perched in the Thirthan River. It was one of the most beautiful spots one can ever imagine.............................

There was a huge pool and a big waterfall with a water spray cooling us each time there was a breeze. We finished lunch and went on through the gate of the Great Himalayan National Park just 10 meters in and came back out as we had a long way to get back. We saw a lot of birds on the trek- Barbets, Bulbuls, Flycatchers and some Raptors.

On the way back we stopped at a Rainbow Trout fish farm, it was cool and some of the trouts were huge. We reached back at camp at 6pm and had a bonfire with soup and a yummy dinner.

I had a bath and finally sleep......................

At Camp Himalayan...................

I've been to Camp Himalayan before for a school trip & i had thoroughly enjoyed it & had the time of my life.

So this time i was going with my parents, my cousin sister from Mumbai & my friend Ankit and his parents (my grandmother was going to come too but unfortunately she fell ill & did not feel up to the long journey). We set out from Delhi at 8:00pm. We were going in a 9 seater private bus we got really late getting out of Delhi because our driver didn't take the proper route to exit from Delhi. Infact we took 16 hours instead of 12 because of the cartoon of a driver who was driving very slow & he did not know how to drive in the mountains. My father infact wanted to drive many a time !!

Well, we at least reached our destination- Camp Himalayan at 12:30 pm the next day. A Himalayn Griffon swooped below our eye levels as we entered the camp. We met Sumit Uncle and talked to him for a while and went to our rooms. One of the first things which stuck me was that the camp was looking totally green compared to last time i was there because then it was winter and all the apple trees were bare. Whereas now it was summer !!I remember from the lounge I could see all the cottages clearly but now most were submerged in greenery.

We had lunch at 2:30 which was really good especially the daal.

All the parents went to rest but Ankit and I went around the camp with our camera's watching birds. We saw a lot of small birds and we were trying hard to get a clear picture but they kept moving & were so busy all the time (though we finally did and i even found a nest the Grey Tit was using).

Then suddenly the Yellow Billed Magpie popped out of a bush. I call this bird the chalaak dada because it flew up the mountain so we chased up the mountain trying to get a photo and then before we can do anything it happily swoops down the mountain above our heads as if to say "goodbye slowpokes" while we are standing there helplessly. Later when I didn't have the camera, it was sitting on the apple tree next to me happily. But when i do have the camera it flies away.

We finally got our parents up from their slumber and went for a walk which was quite nice. We went around the village we saw the fields full of Jowar, Green Peas, Garlic & Potatoes.

But it started raining and a storm was brewing so we had to hurry back. We had a real good dinner & went back to our rooms and slept well in the lovely mountain.

Infact i am quiet- happy to be here.

Also infact i cannot wait for tomorrow, because we are trekking to the Great Himalayan National Park !!

To Camp Himalayan. Once more !!

14th May was our last day at school before the summer break, tomorrow we leave for the Camp Himalayan................... yet again !!

Roaming Roms

My visit to Delhi…….. Before I left for Delhi my friends had warned me that Delhi is going to be too hot & advised me not to go. Though I knew they were speaking the truth I told them that the heat cannot bother or affect me, coz I am too cool. The day we reached delhi the heat was killing but we left for the hills two days later.

The journey to Kathgodam by Ranikhet Express was the most memorable one. We had reservations, but it seemed that travelling in the train did not need any reservations. The train was more of a circus than an train. There were people who offered to exchange seats with them, but we soon realised that but those people had no reservations. We met 4 cool characters who had their own problems.

The first dude was from Kota in Rajasthan & his problem was that his nephew did not smile. The second guy was a stud from From Delhi & he had conflicting emotions whether to sleep or to watch the drama which was unfolding in the train. The third guy was from nowhere & he had one of the weirdest problems. According to him a policeman in uniform was was with a woman who was not his wife & so he took up the fight with the policeman. Both of them were calling their own contacts & arguing with each other, when the fourth dude entered. He was also a policeman & a stranger to the party. His name was M.K.Yadav & he was very cool in handling the situation. By now the story can be imagined by anyone, the four deadly characters, with Moradabad as the junction of all this turmoil only made the trip more exciting.

The next morning we reached our destination & we were really happy with the weather. We had a trek up the mountain which seemed to be never ending, but when we reached the top we found the trek was worth the effort. The place was called Jilling & the vacation was one of the most enjoyable ones we had. We had a cottage around which there were dense forests which had leopards, mysterious langoors who seemed to change their shapes, sizes 7 colours. We really enjoyed ourselves in the day, ‘though the nights were a bit scary. We walked high up to the ridge about 7,200 ft & saw many rare birds like the Lammergier, Black Eagle & the Himalayan Griffon. The rest of the time went in playing cricket, while playing we discovered a new talent whose name was Daya. We named him Jogi, because he bowled like Joginder Sharma of T20 fame, & also he liked his new name. He accompanied us on all our trips. He enjoyed our company & we enjoyed his.


When our holiday in Jilling was over we went to Saatal, spent our day bir watching. The owner of the place seemed to have like us so much that he did not charge us any thing for the lunch for all of us & the time we spent in his hotel.

We left in the evening for the station in Kathgodam & reached Delhi early in the morning. When we reached we realised the weather was not at all hot & the temperature had fallen by 9 degrees, there had been a hail storm that morning. We had loved the weather in the hills But we hardly knew that it too loved us & was following us to Delhi.

The day we arrived in delhi was also my Birthday
& so we celebrated it by having pizzas & Black Forest cake. Life in Delhi was very chilled out as I went to sleep only early in the morning & just managed to wake up at the time of lunch. Everything was cool until the day of my result was announced. I was afraid & my hands were trembling when I was pressing the keys of the key board to find out my result. But when I saw my marks I was really delighted & was in a mood to celebrate. We went to a restaurant named Angels in the Kitchen for dinner.

The next few days we spent roaming around Delhi. We went to Gurgaon, then Dilli Haat, in the night, I really liked the atmosphere there. One day we went to Old Delhi. We travelled by the Delhi Metro, which I found as good as the trains abroad. We visited Jama masjid & also enjoyed the cycle rickshaw ride from Chawri bazaar to Chandini Chowk. We ate in Parathewale galli & enjoyed the deep fried parathas while cursing them, the paratha were horribly good. In the night we watched the Sound & Light show at the Red Fort which reminded us of the times of the mughals & brought us to the life of what ever was written in our text books. One day, i went to Akshardham, I enjoyed the exhibition & the carvings there, but the best part was the food over there.

We were all getting ready to leave for Bombay when we heard from the news that the protesting Gujjars had dug up tracks in Rajasthan & our trains were cancelled. Then we had to try & book our flight tickets, while booking our tickets we went through Yatra.com, but apparently the flight which we booked was full & Yatra.com tried to console us with their excellent slogan which said Its annoying but it happens. The slogan annoyed us further, but we kept our cool & soon booked tickets for the earliest possible date. So that was the end of a very memorable holiday. I thanked my uncle & aunt & also congratulated them for bearing with me………..

This one is for you Roms.......... enjoy !!

Axe effect

Mon voyage à Delhi…………. Finally the 19th morning had arrived & I would be leaving Bombay after long & tiring year of hard studies. The morning started peacefully, but one event led to another & as usual we were in a hurry to catch the train.
As I entered the Rajdhani a sense of calmness & excitement suppressed the sadness of leaving Bombay, home & the mess --- life behind. I realised a trip without parents indeed has its advantages & bullying my cousins 8 years younger did feature pretty high on the list.

The attendant on the train treated us really well & who wouldn’t ?? After my father & my uncle who are almost identical twins giving them instructions at two different stations 20 kms apart must have really confused him.

As the train left the chaotic city of Bombay, we (three of us) settled down onto a single berth, the journey continued with us checking out the famous station Ratlam. A few hours of sleep later the train was rolling to a halt at Hazrat Nizamuddin station. My uncle & cousin were there at the station, thus started an exciting vacation.

Once at home; cricket in the living room, Pokemon etc took over. We went for a swim in the evening. But to my surprise, there was not even one hot girl in the 50mtr pool. It is easier even in Virar !!

A day later we left for Jilling, one of the hills in Uttarakhand. We were taking the train of trains, with stories more fascinating than the Ekta Kappor serials………. The Ranikhet Express from Old Delhi Stn to Kathgodam.

But a smart delhiite had beat me to the balcony seat of a drama which had a script fit for a C grade Bollywood movie !! As the train left & the passengers settled down a police man, a woman & another man entered the scene. What seemed to be molestation turned out to be the in train entertainment for the blessed few of us. The story with its twists & turns reached a stage where the ‘other man’ started manhandling the police man. The police man was accused of been with another woman while on duty. After hundreds of phone calls to their children & superiors the police couple convinced the star & policeman on board Mr M.K.Yadav was the real husband. Threats & blows followed, but peace & silence finally was regained at Muradabad Station where 15 policemen arrested the other man.

Thus we reached Katgodam station, took the waiting taxi, the trek up Jilling had all of us panting & puffing, especially my aunt, who felt her heart skip 3 beats to be precise while we were climbing up.

At first Jilling felt nothing out of the ordinary, but as soon as we relaxed a bit & walked around, it seemed to be just the place to go to beat the Delhi heat. The days to follow were normally welcomed by nice breakfast, hours of cricket, numerous treks to catch a glimpse of beautiful birds that had made Jilling their home.

Daya a.k.a Jogi liked playing cricket & bowled some fabulous spells & hence the name Jogi (Joginder Sharma of T20 fame), which he also found a liking.

While coming back as we easily came down the tracks which had taken us hours to climb, I realised that I had really enjoyed the hours of birding. I distinctly remember the moment where me & my cousin spotted a Leopard………. But unfortunately till date is denied by the rest of the gang.

The journey back to Delhi was nothing out of the ordinary & we reached Delhi to surprisingly cool weather. Hail storms had cooled down the temperature almost 20 degrees below the normal heat. Looked like the weather gods also liked us out here. I also felt much better knowing that those idiots (friends) who kept warning me about the Delhi heat had a much harsher climate in Bombay.
One of the highlights of the trip other than than the ultra cheap shopping at Sarojini Nagar was the hail storm I experienced. Small round balls of ice, falling beautifully on the plants nearby reminded of the ‘dots’ ice cream in Bombay. One day I also went to Akshardham, to fulfil my promise to dad & daadi.

Another of our unchilled but exciting days was when we decided to go on an Old Delhi darshan. We took the tube from Central Secretariat to Chowri Bazaar. We had some amazingly prepared Kulfis, one of which was stuffed into a ripe mango by removing the seed. We then had our dinner which was mouth watering but rather cheap at Parathewale gali. A night visit to the Red Fort followed, which included ‘un spectacle sow et luiere’ about its history.

Our wandering in delhi included turns to Dilli Haat & Nirula’s & not to forget the Nataraj Dahi Bhalle walla who happened to be quite a let down considering the hype surrounding it. That was probably the only day in Delhi were the centre of gravity of my body had changed to my stomach.
Then we went to suni maasi’s place, who to my surprise let the Red Bull flow. The Lasagna she had made, reminded me of my favourite at Little Italy. Chilling out in her place was a lot of fun, which was more than I ever thought would ever be.

As we readied for our departure on Tuesday, we saw the news flash, that all trains going through Rajasthan has been cancelled. Ours was not an exception, I am sure it was mainly due to the prayers by the 6th passenger who was going to be travelling stuck between us 5 cousins !!

Chaos followed as flight tickets had to be booked. We tried one of the new dot coms. Yatra. Well after of trying to book & Rs 20,800/- being debited from my aunts account all we got was one of the craziest apologies……….. it is annoying, but it happens. Never use Yatra.com again. Finally everything got sorted out thanx to makemytrip.com.

As I reflect I realise this was more enjoyable than any vacation I' ve ever had & I would love to do it again.

Must Do’s

Momos at every corner
Chuski........ Bombay Gola
Golgappe…… The poorer Paani Puri
Walking through IIT……… amazing peacocks
Stand in the rain & try catching the hail with your open mouth

This one for you Aks..... & thanx for writing !!

Mana's musings...........

My stay in Delhi was supposed to be quite short but due to unavoidable circumstances, it has been lengthened by a few days. Can’t say I was disappointed, for a change I am not counting the days to get back home. The weather was shockingly beautiful……….. we didn’t have to suffer through delhi’s summer. Feels good to have every one suffering in Bombay for a change.

As far as food goes the trek (which I did with my college in association YHAI) compelled me to eat food, which I wouldn’t have other wise touched. So coming here was like heaven after eating the watery potatoes for 12 days. The Pizzas were a nice change from all that. This time around I did get to see parts of old Delhi, sadly I had to miss out on Jama Masjid……….. but that means that I get to come here again LOL.

One thing I really love about Delhi is the shopping, especially at Sarojini Nagar. This time, ‘though short, I did manage to go there thrice & that really filled up suitcase to the limit, along with the rocks I had collected from the trek.

The sound & light show at the Red Fort, which itself is a beauty was quite nice (except for the mosquito's). I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more, if there was more emphasis on Mughal History of the fort, it somehow fascinates me more.

A visit to a mall in Delhi, was really disappointing, it was nothing great. Possibly it was one of the few times that I missed my Bombay.

The protest by the Gujjars led to the cancellation of our trains, we tried to book plane tickets, I suppose I will not forget this day & more than anything else will always remember It is annoying, but it happens………. Courtesy Yatra.com

I loved the Aloo parathas which Prema makes & also the mad dog which stays downstairs called Kido, who is really adorable !!

A song for M........ enjoy !!

He has a say in the matters..............

My experiences in Delhi…………

I had come to Delhi a couple of times before to meet my cousin, his mother & father. But this time it was going to be the best because my elder brother & two other cousins were also coming.

We came by the August Kranti Express from Bombay. My brothers were coming for the first time. The meals in the train were tasty, ‘though I couldn't eat much, but my brothers are such hoggers & finished everything.

We were met at the station by my uncle & my cousin. After we reached home we explored the house, then we had lunch, then my cousin’s friend Sagar came. After he came we played box cricket in the house. We then went swimming in the evening, then we ate a fabulous dinner, even Sagar stayed for the night.

Next morning my cousin went for his Aikido class, I also went, we had lots of fun.Then by the time we reached home my cousin’s mother came from UK, she got lots of chocolates for us. Then we played a lot on the computer........ But the most exciting thing was we were going to the hills. The place we were going was called Jilling.

We went to Old Delhi Station in the night & took a train called the Ranikhet Express. The train journey was really deadly. Before the train started someone had left a bag on my bunk, but I had fallen asleep. But I came to know of what all happened in 2094dn Ranikhet Express next morning from my cousins. But I cannot write all that here, it is too long.. But I heard the star of all the commotion was a police officer called M.K.Yadav.

We took a taxi to Jilling, climbed up the hill, we watched birds, went for long walks, we played cricket, we made good friends with a guy who worked there, his name was Daya. There were some awesome rain on the last day, plus my eldest cousin was telling very, very scary stories in the night !!

Our journey back to Delhi was not bad. The same afternoon another cousin(sister) also came to be with us in Delhi. The rest of the days we were exploring Delhi. First we went to Sarojini Nagar & Babu Market & bought some clothes, we went to Delhi Haat, ate lots of food, bought some handicrafts, then one day three of us went to Akshardham, I went to the Imax & saw a movie, an aunt had invited us for lunch at the Hotel Ashoka, we really freaked out on the food, then my mothers friend who stays in Gurgaon had called us for a evening, then one day we went to Chawri Bazaar, we ate the best kulfi, had parathas in Chandini Chowk, we went to the Red Fort, we saw the sound & light show. Then Suni maasi called us for lunch,we had made awesome Lasagna.

The we were supposed to go back the next day, then our trains got cancelled, we had to book ourselves in plane, so I had to stay two more days in Delhi.

A song for V........ enjoy brother !!