Delhi, Diwali and Other Things

I guess I have grown up the corporate ladder. Now I am taking one day trip to other cities. These one day trips are good because it just like going to the office and then coming back home the same day except that the medium of transport is an airplane.

One day before Diwali and the airfare had shot up more than 3 times. People rushing to be home for the holidays. Considering the morning flight, the evening flight is not full. All the seats in my row are vacant. Most of us are home

Being the first Diwali after the marriage means I have to be home before tomorrow. Amu is waiting.

35000 feet up in the air, I am on my way home.

Even after so many flights, I have a scary feeling every time the plane takes flight. I have to calm my nerves when the plane takes flight, more when I am travelling alone. Its not just the flight but I think I am more scared nowadays…of everything.

For an unknown reason.  Hope this feeling passes out.

Maybe the feeling is because I am not alone now. With the responsibility of another person, I am worrying about the future, But then her "Don’t worry" can work wonders too. As everybody sleeps around me and I can even hear someone snoring over the engine’s sound, I am going through my wedding pictures. The marriage will be 5 months old 4 days from now.

Its the time of knowing each other.

We have married late in life and we have lots of catching up to do. I want to hold up to every moment that passes. The wait was worth it!

In all my trips to Delhi, this is the second most fastest stay here. The earlier one was back in New Year eve of 2010 when I landed just before midnight and was out of Delhi by 6:00 AM.

On my flight and return from Delhi, I have been travelling on Indigo flight. I was surprised to see the same hairstyle for all hairhostess until I realized that they were all probably wearing a wig. Having the same Uniform is mandatory for Air staff but same hair style is taking the matters just too far.

Its after many days I felt like writing. Just expressing without any topic to discuss. I want to write but work and life takes preference over writing. With a photo blog that demands attention everyday, F2F takes a back seat and then subjects become old and I lose the enthusiasm to write about that topic.

Reaching home in couple of hour and publishing this. Hope you all have a good Diwali

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali from Amu and Me!

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The Beep Beep Sound

Quiz time

Who is the most happiest between engagement and the marriage?

Its neither the boy or the girl but the telephone company which is the happiest

On a different note what was I doing on evenings before 22 January 2011? So the evenings are spent talking to the Wife-to-be on phone. Its time I give her a name. The Wife-To-be is somewhat….how to say it… not romantic.

Living on the two opposite end of the city mean meeting cannot be an everyday affair, even though I would like to be more of an everyday thing.

So we have different office timing and the best time to talk would be when she is travelling to office in the morning and then back in the evening. She travels in a train for a short distance while talking to me. I have now learnt to identify where she is is based on the background noise.

I can imagine and state correctly the whole route by listening to the background sounds and believe me, I am good. It was the same knowledge which I used to give her a surprise during Valentine day.

Yes! I had my first Valentine day!

There are a number of background noises I hear during the whole chit chat to and from the office. Most of them identifiable. But there was one noise I could not identify.

When she is on the railway platform, a continuous beep sound could be heard in the background. I asked about it and she did not know. I have been travelling on the Mumbai locals for a long time and even I have not heard the sound or maybe did not pay attention to the sound. I heard the sound everyday as she waited for the train but I still could not figure out what was the sound.

Few days back while travelling with my mom, I was waiting for the train at Mumbai Central Station and I heard the sound again, the same continuous beep sound.

The Mumbai local trains have introduced a small compartment reserved for handicapped and cancer patients. The compartment is mostly the 6th compartment in a 12 compartment train. Earlier it was very small. Now its much bigger in size. It allows the handicapped people to travel in little comfort.

The train has a board which shows the location of the compartment. On the platform, an illuminated board shows the location of the compartment so a handicapped person can identify it and find it easily.

But how would a blind person identify the compartment if he/she cannot see it?

The answer is quite simple. By verbal aid. The board gives a continuous beep in regular interval. The blind person can identify the compartment with the beeping sound and get into the handicapped compartment easily.

With all my senses intact, it becomes difficult to really understand how a handicapped person will go along in his/her life. I take things for granted but they don’t. Someone thinks about the way to make things easier for them. Sometimes what you need is a simple logic.

Quite a simple idea when you think about it!

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Jungle Jamboree 13

The Camel’s back road is known as Camel Back road because of a naturally formed rock formation which looks like what else but Camel’s back. The road is between Kulri Bazaar and Library bazaar

All the while we were thinking that camel’s back road is called so because the twists and turns of the road resemble the humps of a Camel’s back. We had the option of travelling the road on horse but many of us decided to walk to enjoy the weather.

It was a very long walk but walking gave us a chance to take many photos

The fog covered mountains on Camel’s Back road

The road is lined with light lamps from the past era

And old houses…

The road offers a bird eye view of  Mussoorie

Resting place like these offer some respite on the long road

My friends posing for photograph at a resting place

Cables and wires running through the hills

Found this little one roaming alone on the road

The cemetery on the road is present from Britisher’s time and has many Britisher’s resting after their death

 

A broken lamp on the streets

The  cemetery entrance looking like a church

 

Finally the Camel’s Back rock. The rock is naturally formed rock on the small hill and we were looking at the mountain opposite imagining the whole mountain to be the hump of the camel

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God’s Own Country

The 1st day of the year and travelling more than 6000 kilometers in 6 days by air, car and boat with almost 4500 kilometers in less than 16 hours

Having fish for 6 days

Attending a Malayalam Christian wedding

Watching Kerala’s laid back life from close quarters

Watching miles and miles of greenery

The trip to Kerala at the start of the year has been a good experience

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2009 – A Snapshot – Part 3

The final part after 1st part and 2nd part

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July 2009

 

Koraigadh, Lonavla

Neral in Monsoon

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August 2009

 

Neral-Pune

Silonda Trail, Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Kanheri Caves, Sanjay Gandhi National Park

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September 2009

Delhi

Mussoorie

Camel’s Back Road, Mussoorie

YHAI Hostel, Mussoorie

Haridwar – the second trip within 4 months.

Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand

Jim Corbett National park, Uttarakhand

Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand

Corbett Fall, Ramnagar

Nainital, Uttarakhand

Kausani, Uttarakhand

Kausani-Kathgodam, Uttarakhand

Humayum Tomb, Delhi

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October 2009

Kothligadh, Karjat

From Kothligadh

Kothligadh, Karjat

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November 2009

Brother’s marriage

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December 2009

Just lazy to go anywhere

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So this has been my most travelled year. Plan to better it in 2010, hopefully. There’s still a lot of world to be seen

 

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2009 – A Snapshot – Part 2

Continuing from the first part

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March 2009

Panhalgadh, Kolhapur

Mathew at Panhalgadh

The grain godown at Panhalgadh

 

Narsobachi Wadi

The 75 feet tallest Ganesh idol, Chinmaya Ganadish near Kolhapur

The Rankala Lake, Kolhapur

New Palace, Kolhapur

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April 2009

Mamachi Wadi Beach, Arnala, Virar

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May 2009

Too many birthday parties

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June 2009

Gangotri, Uttarakhand

Tehri Dam

Haridwar, Uttarakhand

Laxman Jhula, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand

Delhi

Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, Mumbai

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2009 – A Snapshot – Part 1

I have travelled a lot in 2009 which started from the first day of 2009. Its said that whatever you do on the first day of the year, you will continue doing it the whole year.

Incidentally, I will be travelling on Jan 1st 2010 and plan to have a wonderful time being happy, taking pictures and travelling. Hopefully, the above will be true and I will be travelling, be happy and take pictures for the whole year.

This year, I have managed a trip for 9 out of 12 months. More than 60% of the post were of my travel stories. A look back at some memorable ones

January 2009

The magnificent Golden Temple in Amritsar

Jalianwala Baug in Amritsar – A symbol of sacrifice of Indian Freedom Struggle

Panchpula – Dalhousie

A view from Kalatop – Himachal Pradesh

Khajjiar – The Switzerland of India in Himachal Pradesh

A walk to Chamba, the 1000 year old town in Himachal Pradesh

The 1000 year old town of Chamba

Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh

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February 2009

Malavli, Near Lonavla, Maharahstra

Bhaja Caves – Near Lonavla, Maharahstra

Lohagadh, Maharahstra

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Jungle Jamboree – 12

Gun Point is almost the highest point of Mussoorie and provides a bird’s eye view of the whole of Mussoorie. In addition it has many artifact shops, a small temple and some eateries.

Gun Point Information. The information leaves a lot to be desired. It has to be much better than shown above.

A view of the city of Mussoorie as seen from Gun Point

The Parvati Mandir at Gun Point

View from the top

The hills have lots of beautiful flowers blooming

The cable car for Gun Point

Competition for Google

Except the view from the top, Gun Point offered little attraction. Finally we came back to see the rest of Mussoorie

 

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Jungle Jamboree – 11

Gun Point is called Gun Point in Mussoorie because for many years canons were from the hill to signal midday. Its also a favorite tourist spot. You can take a long winding road to Gun Point and you can take the cable car up the hill. It is also the only cable car ride in Mussoorie and hence a major tourist attraction.

It was also my first trip in a cable car. After walking quite a distance in Mussoorie, we finally arrived at the cable car stop. The feeling of hanging by a thread comes when I travel in the Cable car.

The cable car ride and a house on the slope seen from the cable car

The rocks are too close for comfort

The fog covered gun point hill

Our destination – Gun Point

The cable car of Gun Point

The cable car at the docking station at Gun Point where we finally arrived

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Jungle Jamboree – 10

Mussoorie is called the “Queen of the hills”. A famous tourist destination it retains the traces of the British era to a large extent. Also houses the best boarding schools in the country.

When we started from YHAI hostel, we had still 5 more kilometers to go. We found a bus to go up to the city. Drivers driving on the hills have little fear of heights. Turning and twisting the vehicles at more than the permissible limit, they can make you sick. The bus veers dangerously close to the edge and vehicles pass each other like they are traveling in a 6 lane highway.

After all time is money here and the more trips you make, the more money you earn.

We arrived to a cold but bearable Mussoorie weather. The cars in Dehradun was to bring us to this spot and then we had to walk around. We did that at a much cheaper option using the bus.

Mussoorie is built on hills and the roads go up and down, narrowing and broadening as the hills permitted.

 

When we got down at the Mussoorie bus stop, we had to walk to the city

The road of Mussoorie with building lined up on both the slopes

The market of Mussoorie. The tourist have prompted many global brands to set up shops here. You can get practically all brands of clothes here

The foggy mountains

Observation balconies heavily influenced by British architecture

Probably a school with a running track

The climate changes in moments to show a bright sun. We were very close to the cable car which would take us to Gun Point

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