Dehra Dun -The Landing

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originally uploaded by mani tours.

Dehra Dun -The Landing
My hard disk drive is showing its true colours so had to import a photo from my Flickr Album. So after a loong flight of 30 mins we landed in Dehra Dun. I was red faced with shame. Some experience I was gifting my MIL , wasn't I ? There was no proper Airport In Dehra Dun , rather it was an Air field. We disembarked and started looking for something to drive us into the main city. the Air field is in a pretty desolate place. Hardly any shops. few vehicles. only some Taxis were standing nearby. They were asking for exorbitant rate to drop us in the city. We were shocked. They simply refused to take part in our bargaining. And you can't bargain alone so we were left alone stupidly looking for some other solution when suddenly we saw an Auto rickshaw and after a little haggling we hopped into it. Our first stop was in Sahashtradhara, A beautiful place fed by numerous springs- hence the name. We had our brunch over there. washed ouselves in the cool pure water of the springs. splashed around, clicked snaps(you have already sen them in my previous post). Shashtradhara is the famous spot in Dehra dun. After spending considerable time there we decided to proceed to Tapkeshwar Mandir. An underground temple where at a particular spot, there is a natural ...should I say stream of water or drops of water bathe a Shivling.Hey Rest in next post okay? I have to rush for my duty

Dehra Dun- The story begins

Here I am back again with my story of that memorable trip to Dehra Dun - a much planned gift for my ma in law- but you see , mani and plans don't go together.

OK lets begin by introducing the above snaps to you- the first one - of yours truly in Sahashtra dhara in dehra dun...what? you are expecting some info from me. Come on guys you know the Internet inside out, you dissect blogs and do all your emotional and financial transaction in the net and you are staring expectantly from me for more info on its latitude and longitude, seasons and shopping areas.Hey I am just narrating my experiences here .Am a hopeless travel guide. but OK I will give my version of some tips but at the end of this narration , I mean the end of this story which can span quite a number of posts.

The second snap - Of my ma in law and shaleen -See their smiles- it took one day and a trip to wipe it off.

Third is of Sahastradhara and the fourth of the nearby hills of Mussourie- just around 30 kms away.

So how did it happen- Oh yeah that I can narrate of course. You see, ours was an interstate and inter caste marriage which had disappointed quite a many people so as soon as I settled in the new house I set about smoothing away the ruffled feathers. I had come to know that flying was one of my ma in law's dream , not the bird like you silly, but flying as in aeroplane. So I decided to gift her a flight trip as her birthday gift. Now it isn't so that I am stingy but belonging to a middle class [family in India puts you under some financial constraint, so I decided on something economical and feasible. So I settled for Delhi to Dehradun. Go by flight, come back by train shatabdi with an over night stay. I made all the necessary arrangements by net but had to slightly change our itinerary due to non availability of leaves and settled for a day trip instead. This point is important for the story - remember!

So on 21st of September , yes that's the day! We arrived happily in the Airport, but the moment our eyes set upon the aircraft my husband glared at me. It was not some Boeing or large aircraft , not even the standard ones , but a small light aircraft- Fokker ? I don't know exactly.I felt embarrassed but My ma in law didn't seem to notice and was looked completely excited. So we embarked on a quite eventful trip and the rest ... I will continue in the next post. I promise I will be back soon.

Dehra Dun - A boon or Bane?

So discussed about music, finished narrating about Auli and Goa. So what next or rather which one next. Did I mention about the Dehra Dun trip which was supposed to be a birthday gift to my ma in law? Did I mention how I made it into a disaster inspite of good intentions? Well the next post is going to be about the day trip to Dehra Dun.

Music and long drives

Salaam Namaste! .Well that's the most my brain can register at the moment after a hectic 12 hrs duty!. But the blog needs uploading seriously. So am here groggy eyed! Sleepy! God! I just hope people don't think I do drugs!

Coming back to our topic- that is the importance of music during long drives. At least for the Bhatnagar family its quite important. In fact in the pre journey preparation it occupies one of the top three position- Arranging the music! Yup arranging the music. No I don't have a recording studio and nor am I a composer, but we do have these thing about fixing the music in somewhat neat folders. Yeah! I know why should we complicate a thing as simple as just buying or borrowing or simply downloading them. See let me explain. Suppose in one of your long drives it starts to rain and what would you like to hear at that time most? Obviously not Here Comes The Sun but something romantic and soft like Rimjhim gire sawan. At least I would straight away lunge for it. But But! Wouldn't it be annoying to search frantically for it in the heaps of Cd's or the play list of a CD? So I simply made folders of all conceivable situations like Rain. Night, Funky etc etc and sorted songs relevant to the situation. Like? Like- Tip tip barsa paani, Barso Megha, Garaz baras sawan ghire aao of the movie Paap! In fact whenever that song is played Shaleen starts thinking himself to be John Abraham driving through Ladakh. How concieted of him!

I have Fiza- a folder to exult the beauty of nature which has songs like Kabul Fiza and Aisa shama na hota by Lataji!

Another folder- night- which has night songs like Aaj ki raat, Raat ki humsafar etc. And also a romantic folder and funky. In fact I am prepared for almost anything. I mean good things. Now,Of course Don't think about accidents. loose motions, puncture- no need to act smart OK?

So that's it. Once when I saw some paddy fields and farmland, I realised I don't have anything to go with it. I am yet to compile a folder for it. Any ideas?

music mani and madness

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originally uploaded by mani tours.

So Why?

So why do we travel so much. I mean around 25 trips in 36 months is way too much ,Don't you think so?
Well you see, we both are doctors( me and shaleen ,I mean). He is in the ICU - criticare, where he hardly gets to treat conscious patients. They usually are in a pretty bad shape fighting for survival.Me- well I can't feed much details except that I work in a government run institute, and shoulder great responsibility, answerable to the NHRC, the government, legal bodies, media, and last not least GOD! If you get the idea, then fine or ...you have to just keep guessing,.So the result is that we are in pretty much stress. He always fighting the MAN with THE HOE, sometimes successful sometimes not so...It takes a toll. No matter how mechanised and cynically you start viewing things, one needs a break. In my set up, its pretty basic with no hi fi hi tech set up unlike his,but we have a diktat. Avoid death inside the institute premises at any costs. So if someone gets too sick we have to set our ass on fire and its a run or race for who can make it first, the patient to the referral hospital 15 minutes away or the LEVELLER to the patient past us! After 2 months we start craving for a break even if it is just for a night. Another factor is that Delhi is flat like a pancake( no offense meant, otherwise its green has monuments and all) but we both are nature persons and so start missing the greens of the mountains of Uttaranchal and Himachal.That are the reasons for our frequent trips to the Mountains. Those beautiful breathtaking serene mountains!
I wanted to take a break from trip reports so I wrote about it. My next post will be about role of music in our trips.

Goa- Moral of the trip

See the second snap? That's my baby being lulled off to sleep by the swaying motion of the car. Why do I feel sleepy whenever I have to make a new post in my blog? OK OK I know I know the reason why my blog is so boring is because I sleep write.
So where was I ? Ok, about the Goa moral science story. Now, See the first snap? Oh my God! How could you ever think that , it is of Goa ? No no , the snap was uploaded to show that Goa is not at all like it. Jokes apart
First thing- Well , people say that Goa should not be visited during the Monsoons. Wrong. If you love the rain, the rough seas. the green country side , then by all means come in the monsoons.Of course you will not find much activities and carnivals and the works. You will have just water water everywhere and many to drink too.
Secondly, no matter how much hard you try for a perfect hitch less holiday with sound planning and applied rocket science, there will be bound to be some last minute problems , so don't lose heart! Hota hai! Happens all the time! at least all the time for me. but there is always a way out.
Thirdly- when you are visiting Goa do take umbrellas, You would not want umbrellas to be your first purchases when on a vacation, do you?
Fourthly- The best way to travel and sight see in Goa is by hiring a bike or a self driven car. Bike is better. So what, we fell off but that was due to our stupidity.
Goa doesn't mean that its a fun and frolic place only. Explore the countryside and you will find many NATURAL surprises.
So I guess thats it .Oh! Yeah! Don't fight after downing a peg or two. . No need to rely too much on prior hotel reservation. You can get a reservation even after reaching there. Sometimes thats better because the things promised in a brochure or the net may not be so in reality.Yippee! I did it. I finished writing ,now I can go sleep my head off!

AULI & GOA - What I Learned

So coming back after another trip from Ranikhet and Binsar rejuvenated...But no no no! This post isn't about it , rather its about What I Learned From My Auli And Goa Trip.Its rather my twisted views regarding the moral of the story...I guess.
AULI-- First of all- Never visit Auli or for that matter Uttarakhand in Holi unless you are as rich as the Ambanis or have a morbid desire to distribute your wealth without any scrupples among all and sundry.( If that is the case, then do inform me. I would like to queue up too.Ha Ha Ha !). I am not sure about the other festivities but didn't take a chance this Dussehra and readjusted my plans
Secondly- About the accomodation. About the GMVN tourist resthouses. Positive about them, is that they have a very wide network. You are sure to find even at the remotest places their TRH. Their net reservation facility is also very efficient. But the negative thing about them is that they are very very basic with no frills at all in comparison to other state tourism guest houses (like HP) or private hotels


3rdly- The roads are good in the the proximity of notable hill stations but deteriorates in the other areas. Thats the irony.The views become exceedingly breathtaking as you travel in the interiors but the ride becomes excrutiatingly bone breaking.( Just a little bit of exaggeration ,if you don't mind)
Fourthly.- The people no matter how demanding they may become during holi, are helpful and cooperative.Their tips are valuable. (Be it about driving or sightseeing or flora or fauna). Though you may get irritated by someone always requesting for rides and lifts, but still can be forgiven if you think about the uphill trudges they have to make every day


Now! about the photographs. Its of Bageswar , en route to Auli. Auli was covered with snow, but Bageswar? Did you see the varied hues? The contrast? DON'T YOU FEEL LIKE VISITING IT?


Now about Goa. Hmmm! Don't you think this post has become a bit to large for your liking. Have a heart for me at least yaar!I will die of exhaustion if I continue to type anymore. I will post the rest tomorrow. Ciao!

Afterword!

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originally uploaded by mani tours.

One of my friend commented that he was disappointed after reading my blog as it was just a routine commentary of what happened and that it would have been better if there would have been suggestions or travel tips. Well! First of all I am not sure if I qualify to tip or not as I have a unique travel history.I mean , my travel patterns can hardly be called conventional and that was precisely the reason I started to blog. So that I don't lose the memory of those breathtaking but precious moments. I mean, I don't think that it is common for people to have an interesting mishappening in almost everyone of their travels. But of course Mandeep I will surely take your advice and try to suggest some tips, not the usual ones but something that I learned first hand from the particular trips.
And Eju thanks gor being a regular reader of my blog.It will be better if I could include you in one of them so make plans to come soon.
So What did I learn from my Auli trip and Goa trip?
Obviously in the next blog, Dear

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originally uploaded by mani tours.

Goa the last day.

Will it by my last day in Goa, or will it be my last day on planet Earth? that was how the state of my mind was in . Finally shaleen returned after shelling out a couple of thousand of Rupees on the bike. He was already morose , how morose could one become. I sheepishly informed him about the loss of tickets. Thank God! we live in a civilised country. He bore it and started another hunt for the tickets. Failed ! But at least we came to a decision amicably in fact there was no scope of any other conclusion. We checked out of our hotel as soon as possible and reached the travel agency armed with the arrival tickets for reference and making the most pathetic of face we told the receptionist of our predicament. Cooperation doesn't cost much .We were issued a duplicate ticket after taking a charge of Rs 100. Don't ask me whether it was official or not! But we let out a sigh of relief. it was 4 pm. our bus left at 6.30 pm and we had still 2 hrs left to loiter and litter around. The Miramar beach was nearby ( actually it is a river beach , a continuation of the outlet - sea beach of the river, know what I mean). so we went there to spend 1 hr of sheer peace and bliss.Miramar is a very quite place, at least it was then. Though not as developed a beach as the others, still you can spend some peaceful minutes over there. We stayed there till 5.30 pm and reached the travel counter promptly at 6 pm. But JINX JINX JINX.! the bus was late by an hour and we started at 7pm. Still we were relaxed enough. we still had enough time to catch the 11 o clock flight of hours. After about an hour of relishing the swaying motion of the bus , we slept like babies. Next when we woke up it was around 6am. By now we must be quite near bangalore, I thought. After about 2 hours of scenery gazing of the countryside we came to a halt. So reached Bangalore. No! it was a tea halt. On enquiring the driver told us it was another 4 hrs journey more to Bangalore. We were shocked! How come we had reached in 13 hrs in our previous trip then? Excuses there were many. rains, bad roads, not a volvo! but but but! we had no time to lose. We decided not to wait and take a taxi then and there. But we found no taxis in the loonies either. Panicking we requested the bus driver to hurry up and promised all kind of favours! Not all! I mean! but almost. But it was of no use. He had his fill of tea. He had his fill of shitting and majestically he moved according to his sweet will. Obviously it was inevitable! What else? we missed the flight by a margin of an hour! And after that we just meekly purchased the tickets for the next flight. fought again like cats and dogs but finally landed in delhi in peace.