The Qutub Minar

Went to Qutub Minar with relatives last weekend and badly missed my digital camera. The plan was made randomly and nothing was planned otherwise I would have definitely brought my camera along with me. Anyway, cellphone comes handy at such situations and I managed to click a few snaps. The reflection of minar in the glass could have been much better with the digital camera.

Trip to my village

Went to my village Vijaygarh (not the Chandrakanta fame) last weekend (12th and 13th April). Its near Aligarh and it took me 5 hrs from Noida to reach the village. Sunday early morning I went for a walk with my camera to capture the pure beauty of the village, its people, fields, etc. Below are some of the snaps (click here to go to picasa album).

Hrishikesh trip snaps

Hrishikesh Trip - Day 2

Day 1 - 5th April

Day 2: 6th April
Day 1 had been a great experience already and with white water rafting, body surfing and cliff jumping still in store for the 2nd day, I was sure it was going to be even better that yesterday.

My first open air toilet experience
Though I had put an alarm of 5am, I woke up on my own at 4:45am. And as was expected, as soon as I woke, I had an intense urge to empty myself as quickly as possible. Took some tissue papers, a lantern, and a water bottle and started walking in search of a "suitable" location :) On my way I also met Phani and Chachaji who were also awake early for the same purpose. They did not have a water bottle with them, thanks to Nehul that he had kept one filled bottle in our tent before sleeping. Anyway, I was over with everything by the time Phani and Chachaji found a bottle for themselves and I was very glad that everyone was still asleep and I was already free and relaxed and ready to take on rafting with full energy :)

Breakfast
By 6 am, 4-5 people had woken up. I had taken out my camera to click some snaps of the surroundings. We did not see the sunrise due to high mountains all around but we were glad to see that it was going to be a nice clear day free of any water logged clouds. I took a lot of snaps before breakfast. And since Chachaji was also with me, he made sure that his photographer (me) had enough work to do on his model (chachaji). Breakfast was served around 7am. There was "aloo poori", "bread butter" and "omlette" for breakfast. I had my breakfast sitting near a cliff seeing the silver water of ganga flowing with full vigor. The sunlight that was falling on the river water and also on the wet rocks had made it look like silver jewelery and pearls all around it.

Two buses had been arranged to take us to Shivpuri from where we were to start our rafting. Nehul and I started the task of emptying the camp and sending everyone to get on the bus as soon as possible. The Innova driver was another character. When all the ladies (some with their kids too) had to go till the main road which went through some tiring and rough path, the driver had his own weird reasons not to take them in his vehicle. We had asked him to at least take the ladies in his car while the boys would come on their own. That time he said that his vehicle will get damaged going up and down this rocky road. But later he got into Innova, collected some guys whoever were still in the camp and left for the main road above.

Anyway, we reached Shivpuri where we were briefed about the adventure and risk involved in rafting. We were given some instructions that we had to follow while rafting and we also got the rafting gear (life jacket, helmet and a paddle).


Rafting
The rapids in the river were graded from 1 to 6+. A 6+ grade rapid meant a waterfall and only professionals were allowed to get into such a rapid. The max grade rapid we were to face was grade 4 (Golf Course rapid and Roller Coaster rapid). Our raft captain had warned us for the worst and also told us what to do in case of the raft turning upside down. We first had a warmup rowing in still water before we started for the BIG THING. In my raft we were 8 of us plus our captain. Deepak, Smitha, Ramakant ji, Panthri, Phani, Nehul, NS and me. Smitha was made to sit in the middle while the rest of ur were on the periphery of the raft with paddles in our hands. The first rapid was a grade 2 rapid and still I was a little scared but more excited about it. When I saw the raft just in front of us go through the rapid, I was like W.O.W. its gonna be fun. And then finally our raft went into the rapid too. And our trainer used to shout "Bolo ganga maiyya ki ...." and we all shouted in unison .. "Jai" .. this happened everytime we plunged into a rapid. And the experience was great. The huge waves try to push you and your boat to the other side so its very important to have a balanced seating on both sides of the boat. That is why on the right side of the raft were Nehul, NS and me (Nehul and Me are on the heavier side) while the left hand side was occupied by Deepak, Panthri, Phani and Ramakant ji. When we passed the first rapid, we all were excited and charged up to face the second one which was a grade 4 rapid. The grade 4 rapid had created a wall in front of our raft at one point. At that time our raft was surrounded by waves on 3 sides - right, left and front. But we emerged winners as did all other rafts too :) Once all the major rapids were crossed, our trainer asked us to jump in the river if we wanted to. And as if all were waiting for his instructions. Except for Smitha, we all jumped into Ganga and floated with the boat for quite a long time. That was a great experience too. Floating in the river and admiring the nature all around. It was splendid. NS is very particular about cleanliness and so Smitha and I had a great time pestering him while he was in water. Specially Smitha, she used to shout that she can see something dirty floating and coming towards NS and he used to feel disgusted and jump inside water and shout that someone please get me back on the boat. That was real fun. We also played another prank with NS while on raft. NS had switched places with Smitha so now he was in the middle facing the river. AT one point our captain just jumped into the water since he was feeling the heat. We all shouted to NS, "look our captain has suddenly fallen into the river and is nowhere to be seen.". And we all gave an award winning performance there on the raft. The expression on NS' face was worth capturing. he was all scared and confused about the future of the raft and his own future. I sm still laughing while I write this incident. No doubt why we call NS "pups". He IS too cute. When we all were assembled at the starting point I wanted to get on a raft with people of my choice. People I enjoy most with. But I am glad to mention here that I enjoyed a lot with my team while rafting. All 8 of us had great fun. And that is why we call it a team exercise. Its all about putting up a combined effort with your team no matter how close or stranger you are to each other. Nothing matters once you are on the raft. It was a great experience for me.

Cliff Jumping
Just two rapids away from our camp (by now I am used to measuring the rafting journey distance in terms of rapids), there was a halt where people were jumping from a 20-22 ft high cliff into the river below. It was a kindof short trek to reach till the cliff. And there was a huge line of people till the foot of the cliff waiting for their turn. All this while I kept thinking should I do this or not. I asked NS whether he knew how to swim, and he said he didn't and yet he was heading towards the cliff top eagerly. That somehow encouraged me too and I simply followed him till the top. Just before me was Rashid who went till the edge of the cliff and then couldn't jump at that time due to fear. As he turned back I got a little scared as to what lied ahead. The trainer also shouted angrily, "Jinko darr lagta hai woh na aaye yahaan" (Those who are scared should not come till the cliff). He used to count till 3 after which we had to jump. I could hear people shouting from everywhere, "Don't look down, just look in the front and jump". Right after Rashid was my turn. Even after everyone asking not to look down I just couldn't help but look down right into the depth and the water below. The trainer started counting 1...2...and without waiting for a "3" to come, I just jumped. Before I hit the water, I had closed my eyes. And within 3-4 seconds I was floating in the water. I opened my eyes, looked around, and whoa !! I was alive :) I looked at the cliff from where I had jumped and I could see Rashid giving a second try. And I screamed from there, "Rashid sir, kood jao, kuchh nahin hoga" (Rashid sir, just jump, nothing would happen).

But the adventure was not over for me. People after jumping from the cliff were getting back on the ground and heading towards their rafts. I thought why get back on the ground. Since I am floating and there is a line of rafts till my raft at a distant corner, I will just float till my raft taking support from the rafts in between. Nice idea and I was enjoying floating from one raft to another in water till I saw a huge gap between the current raft and mine. Before I could think of anything, the flowing water had already thrown me right at the center of the river. By now I was in the middle of the flowing river, far away from both the sides. I shouted "Hello, Help!" in dispair. My friends saw me and they told me (later) that since I was smiling they thought that I know swimming and that I am enjoying there in the middle of the sea. But soon they realised that I am actually in trouble. There was a grade 2 rapid some 60-70 meters away. Rohit threw a rope towards me but it could not reach me since I had reached too far from the raft. I just told myself there is no way I can drown since I am wearing a life jacket. All I have to do is swim till my raft. I started flapping my hands like a bird and easily swam till my raft. Thankfully the current of water was not forceful enough and I did not have to apply too much force to my flapping to cut through the river. I was infact very happy that I could handle this situation with a cool head.

We again got back on the raft, went through our last rapid named "Thank you, good bye" and reached our camp. There we played in the water for some more time. We also played a game of holding our breath inside water. And Anoop was just too good at that. I always came second. Others used to come out of water very soon and the competition was always left between Anoop and me. But Anoop had to be pulled out of water everytime otherwise he seemed quite cozy inside :)

After playing there in water, I got back to my tent, dried up and changed. Lunch had been served. All were looking fresh even after a grueling session of rafting. I had a heavy lunch and then by 3pm we all left the camp and headed towards the bus stand where the bus was waiting for us.

Back Home
Everyone fell asleep in the bus since all were tired. Had our dinner at Cheetal and then we again regained some energy. Chatted a lot and reached office by 11:30. It was a great trip and the hangover is still not gone even after 3 days. The photographs have come out too good and will soon upload all the photographs and also put some pics in this article as well.

Mukteswar Trip: MHR and Trek to the hill top

We reached Kathgodam in the morning where cabs were waiting for us. The route to Mukteswar is very beautiful and scenic. There were many places where I felt like getting down and take snaps. And when I saw snow covered peaks I couldnt stop myself and asked the driver to stop. But he assured me that I would get to see such peaks in Mukteswar too. I had almost given up but thanks to Poonam that we had to stop since she was feeling uneasy. And I am lucky that I could take the snaps of those snow covered peaks which I never got to see in the entire trip so clearly. Thanks Poonam once again ;) !!

We reached the resort ("Mukteswar Himalayan Resort") by around 10 am. Half of the junta was to stay in another resort which was 10 kms uphill from MHR. I stayed at MHR. The resort was nice in terms of rooms, cleanliness, facilities and surroundings. All of us quickly checked in rooms and got fresh and had breakfast (aloo ke paraathe .. yumzzzz). Though I was feeling very sleepy after a heavy breakfast but I had no plans to sleep. Some decided to take rest till lunch while some of us decided to have a stroll. Phani, Kartik, Shishir, Apoorva, NT, Joy and myself formed a group and left the guest house. Just a few meters away we saw a passage to climb the hills and so we all unanimously decided to give it a try. We kept climbing and taking pictures all along the way. Finally we reached the top of the hill where there were two houses and a temple. One of the house owner (a farmer) offered us cucumber with a special mix of spices and it was refreshing after a tiring trek. We took some more photographs with the farmer and his family and then proceeded towards the temple. The weather up the hill was just too good. Slow cool breeze brushing our faces and dense shade of trees gave a calm feeling. Soon we had more company joining us at the top. Rohit, Jatin, Dilip, Poonam, NS also took the same trek path :) We played dumbC for about an hour there and I really enjoyed it. Rohit did a great job at recording videos and it was great fun watching them later at the resort on TV. I had a light lunch (just salad) and then we all headed towards the other resort where the rest of our junta was staying.

Mukteswar trip: Boarding the train

Finally the office trip which was on the cards since a long time did happen and what a trip it was !! One of the best trips I have been to in my life. I had a great time with my office junta and the place is simply awesome. Far from commercialization, pure beauty and nature.

We all gathered at the old delhi station to board the Ranikhet Express. Our ticket was upgraded from sleeper to AC 3 tier (Laloo jindabad !!) but the coach "BE" was nowhere to be found. We went till one extreme of the train and then marched towards the other end hurriedly since the train was about to leave. After walking for 1.5 times the length of the train we found a coach which had no label on it. Having no other option left we got on that coach and luckily it WAS our coach :) Our seats were all scattered within the coach and it took some time to finally exchange our seats with people and get most of the seats together. We had 18 seats reserved in the coach and we were 19 people. Ashish and Joy had to unluckily share the same berth and they had a "not so sound" sleep.

New albums added ..

Do visit the new albums

• Lovely Lonavla (June 2007)
  
• Mystical Clouds (June 2007)
  
• Timber Trail Trip (July 2007)
  

Most of these pictures have been taken from Nokia 3250 cellphone with a 2MP camera. And the effects were added using Picasa and Gimp. The panoramas have been made by ArcSoft Panorama maker which has given me the best quality panoramas till now. I am still to understand the features of my digital camera so haven't used it to its full potential.

Fried Ice Cream ??

I was amazed to see this shop at Pinjor Gardens (near Panchkula) where you get Ice cream pakodas and equally disappointed when the shopkeeper told me that the material had got over so there wont be any ice cream pakodas available for the day. Though I did ask him how does he make them. He takes a small cube of ice cream, marinates it in corn flour and deep fries it. I am yet not convinced that the ice cream wont melt but then he has his shop doing great business there, so must be true :)

5 states in 24 hours

Nothing great but just to make a statement, I did travel to 5 states in the past 24 hours. Started from my office in Noida (U.P.) on Saturday evening and reached New Delhi (Delhi) railway station. I was going to Panchkula (Haryana) to my sister's place so I boarded the train to Chandigarh(Punjab). On Sunday we went to Timber trail, Kalka (Himachal Pradesh) which was an awesome trip. A perfect Sunday spent with the family (parents, jiji and jiju). Anyway, details about the weekend trip later. For now, the five states are Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh :D

Talk about travelling ehh ?