As I see the calendar, we are in
the last week of May, suffering from intense heat and looking forward to the respite
in form of rains. Kids will enter very last leg of their much celebrated summer
vacations. Summer camps are coming to an end. All the releases meant for kids
have been watched: be it Doraemon or Chota Bheem or Chintoo. Mumbai Indians
have won IPL. Summer kid’s theatre, fairs, exhibitions, circuses have been
visited. In our times lecture series like Vasant Vyakhyanmala or talk sessions
like Majestic Gappa were also the valid forms of entertainment for even the youngsters.
For today’s kids anything to do with gadgets is the ‘in thing’. Now the kids are
looking forward to new books (don’t they smell great???), uniforms and new
teachers. They also have started missing their school friends.
Some may have had their annual
vacations done and over with. Some unlucky souls may not have had a chance to
take any holiday thanks to their duties or for some other reasons. For me, it was
Himalayas again as a vacation spot. Somehow I have a deep fascination for the
mountains described as Nagadhiraj by none other than Kalidas. And I am sure if I
initiate Himalaya fan page on facebook and promote it properly, I would have
infinite members as fans. Somehow the fold
Mountains, as we learnt in geography, unfold very romantically. First you are
in plains, be it at Kathgodham, or Kalka or Dehradun, or Chandigarh, or
Pathankot or Rishikesh or Siliguri. Then you have rivers gushing in to plains
as manifested divinely at Rishikesh. There is no place as romantic, mystic, and
myriad as Rishikesh. You need to add few spices of domestic and international
spirituality, making Rishikesh a great experience. You wait for something to
happen as you camp in Rishikesh and follow uphill trail. Then you start looking
at tall hills covered with trees. As you climb, you start getting scared of
narrow roads and traffic. It’s tough to drive here. Then you come across
typical British hill stations each typified with a Mall road, a lake or
churches, houses. Crowds and commercial touts are the only down side of these
popular hill stations. But then the weather is good. Now you get to see snow
capped peaks. As you drive uphill you start experiencing different terrains,
and finally you end up playing in snow (depending on location and weather). For
those on treks, the efforts to climb up and down with own luggage on the back
and the hardships to camp at very basic
electricity free rest houses, are worth when you take a look at those
breathtaking scenes offered by nature in form of flora, fauna and landscape.
And you also need to add to that, a divine sound of river flowing, cold
weather, taste of hot tea and maggi to make your Himalayan experience complete.
Hope I have chance in next few years again to experience same.
Somehow I feel that odd when I
see someone declaring coordinates on facebook/social media about their
vacation, dining places, etc. Thus am bit shy of posting my own experience on
this blog. But after a long debate, felt like sharing travel experiences here
as this is my own space and some of travel experiences can be useful for other
tourists.
This year we planned Punjab and
Himachal. Punjab leg of tour was bit challenge thanks to weather with
temperature reaching 42 deg C. Chandigarh was first stop after driving from Delhi
where we landed. City is good as you know it’s the only planned city in India.
Some sections of Rock garden were worth the walk in the heat even if it was
late evening. And boating at Supna Lake was enjoyed by kids. Then we drove to
Amristar and headed for Wagah border. The ceremony is bit hyped as actual
parade is only for 10-15 mins. The crowd and heat makes it worst. The crowds
are so unruly and grotesque. And I also don’t know why on earth they make a way
for a dance floor for ladies dancing on patriotic songs carrying national flag.
Only exciting part was seeing Pak side of border and one imagines what would
have happened during partition at same spot in 1947. How individual egos of
overrated politicians supported by cunning British policies led to mass
killings and strife?
But then next day had we had a
very good shopping of local merchandise. One really feels for people killed at
Jailanwalla Baug and my std Vth daughter was so interested to see that same
place out of her history text book. Evening visit to Golden temple was great.
One really feels peaceful and divine there.
Then we started HP leg of our
tour in Dhualadhar circuit. One starts climbing hills as you drive from
Pathankot. This year, I added an experience of driving in mountains thanks to
some local logistical support from a good friend who lives there. This time I
had luxury of having base camp at Baijnath and driving across Dhualadhar range.
Baijnath has old Shiva temple which is very divine amidst the backdrop of snow
capped mountains. What an experience this trip was? Waking up in morning, driving through the
divine mountains and visit places, then come back to have home cooked lunch. Again
go on drive late evening and end up dinner sessions at house till midnight
while enjoying windy nights and chill. Khajjiar or mini Switzerland of India
was amazing. The road we took was not the conventional one on tourist circuit
where you have to pass Dalhousie to reach Khajjiar. We took rod from Palampur
to reach Khajjiar first and reach Dalhousie. The road is narrow and had some
close shaves. The road is very picturesque but risky. The Khajjiar landscape is amazing with peaks,
deodar trees lining a very big grass field and lake at the centre of the field.
It’s like heaven. Dalhousie is like any typical British hill station. We saw
Tibetan influence at Mcleodganj which is at great height. I had experience of
Paragliding at a great place called Billing (strange) near Baijnath. Kids
enjoyed Kangra Toy train till Jogindernagar. Palampur is also a great place
with its tea fields, orchards, forest walk (named after Late Capt Saurav Kalia
who was barbarically tortured and killed along with 5 Jawans during Kargil war),
bustling market and good hotel joints to spend evenings. Weather was great
compared to plains but locals were complaining about heat as well. But then it’s
all relative.
I had a chance to see IPL stadium
at Dharamshala and was surprised how they could find flat land for the cricket
ground. That takes me back to the subject of much maligned cricket league. I saw
the play off matches out of compulsion faced by a diehard cricket fan like me
even if I did not want to. But then the excitement a as I used to feel
previously was all gone. One can guess that what we have seen is only the tip
of iceberg and the fixing corruption can be much wider. One also should realize
that BCCI is just a private body. Government needs to think hard before it
jumps into popular mood of regulating BCCI. It might end up like Olympic bodies
for other sports. But then public should not be cheated. So ideal solution is
to legalize betting as done internationally and make criminal laws stronger to
control corruption. But then cricket is just a sport. I really hope
international matches are clean as I look forward to champion’s trophy in June
in UK. So it was nightmarish end to mid summer nights dream named as IPL.
Thankfully MI won. I supported MI fully in first three editions and MI had the next
liked team status after PWI in last 3 IPLs. So there is another feather in HIS
cap. IPL will no more be same without HIM as ODIs are without HIM. We the fans
look forward to a perfect swan song for HIM in the Tests as well and we all know
HE missed bus for ODI swan song on 2nd April 2011.
This summer we saw ugly face of
Naxalism. It’s time for arm chair philosophers, idiotic novelists (like on Ms
Goddess of cheap things as described by a good friend), leftists, JNU based
media stalwarts, to stop sympathising with Naxalites. It’s nothing about
ideology or social justice or lack of development. It’s all about power by
means of violence and terror. Government should come up with strong policies,
action and resolve. That’s a very high expectation from current regime. What we
have seen is that government only ‘denouncing the cowardly attack and blaming
state government. Dear Dr Singh do something more. First thing first is call
your HM who is vacationing in US. We also saw bad face of religion based terror
in UK. How can any religion subscribe to such barbarism? These guys are very
much misled....
Meanwhile back in Pune as we
landed at airport there was a kind of cheer when captain announced outside temp
to be 25 deg C at 8 pm. As the flight had initiated in Delhi, that was big
respite. That is the time you realize value of being in city like Pune. I heard
that LBT strike is off thanks so some promises. This is now time for we the
people to form pressure groups to stop various parties take us for granted and
put us into hardships. As i read there are last 30 days to note objects to New
Development plan for Pune. So let’s wake up and drive out lethargy created by
weather.
Good news is that Monsoon is on
time and expected to be good. But then you don’t believe these forecasts and let’s
keep fingers crossed. Let’s pray that heavy rains wash away the famine
situation and tears all across.
We are all set for monsoons after
a long summer and as you know Pune is really heaven when it rains. With its
beauty Sahyadris can match only to Himalayas. But then each place is special.
Each season is special and so are summers.....
