Sayonara 2006

As I look back at 2006. I can see that one factor played an important role in my life in 2006- CHANGE. There were lots of minor and few major changes. I guess most of them happened for good. Yes, it is very difficult to cope up with a major change even though you know that change is the only constant factor in life. Things have not been easy. I faced many failures and few victories. I was at the abyss at one point of time. And yet my trust in Him and in life never flickered even once. In fact, now I know that life is more fun when one takes it as it comes. So I wanna go ahead with 2007 forgetting all the night mares and remembering the lessons that I have learnt in 2006.

I am definitely looking forward to the arrival of the little bundle of joy in 2007. I know there will be huge changes in my life in 2007. I know that I will have more roles to play. I know that I will have more challenges to face. But then, I know that life will be more interesting in 2007.:)

I have absolutely no resolutions at all for the coming year. I am ready to accept whatever life gives me. So with the utmost faith in the Almighty, a hope and a song in my heart, I prepare myself for 2007.

Hearty new year wishes to all of you. Hope 2007 will help you realise your dreams and bring lots of smiles on your faces.:)

WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR:)

Yippee! A goal is scored.:)

I remember the excitement and the dedication I had in my school and college days when I worked for the fulfillment of a goal. Those sleepless nights, those scraggly notes, those long phone calls with friends having discussions about the possible questions and so on; the list is endless.:) Most of the times, I would end up scoring less than the standard percentage I had set for myself. But those few times when I surpassed my expectations, the joy was boundless. The sense of achievement would reign over me for few days. But then again I would start off by setting another goal and working for it.

Looking back, I find that I have always had goals in my life. I have always had some targets to achieve. And I have found life challenging by working to reach those goals. But they have never been long term ones. In fact, I blank out when people ask me what do I want to become in life. For me, setting short-term goals is realistic.

There have been certain empty periods in my life. Why do I call them empty? Because those were the phases when I did not have any motivations and I felt that my life had come to standstill. Those were dormant phases. And then I had to shake myself up and start off all over.

Right now, I find myself in the same situation again. I definitely need a goal to keep me going. Or may be there are some hidden goals in front of me and I am yet to realize them. Well, the quest is on.:)

Falling in love with melancholic tunes

Tears well up in my eyes as I listen to Kishori Amonkar's Todi. Somehow whenever I listen to this Raga, all my hidden pains surface up. And yet I love listening to Todi!

There is an album of Jagjit and Chitra Singh dedicated to their son who passed away in an accident. Trust me when I say that I become very emotional whenever I listen to it. But I am in total love with that album.

I know that lot of us love listening to those soulful, tear-jerking numbers of Kishore Kumar again and again. And we are fully aware that those songs might rake our old wounds. Still we love those songs that touch the pain in our hearts, don't we? May be we love them 'coz they simply touch our heart and pain is such a strong emotion.

Well, as I have mentioned in my previous posts, music is so powerful that it can cause a whirlwind of emotions in your heart. And I don't think anything can equal that. But yes, this effect cannot be produced by all the musicians. There are only some who can make music that can touch one's soul. And a big salute to those great people who can touch millions and millions of hearts so easily.:)

Going back to the track

It has been exactly two months since I stopped blogging. No, no, the decision was not a conscious one. Just that the circumstances turned out to be so unpredictable that I did not find time to blog. And when I had time, I ran out of energy and thoughts. Lots of lessons learnt; lots of hardships faced in these two months. My whole life has changed. Priorities have changed. Isn't it amazing that life can suddenly take an unknown turn and then everything just changes?

Anyway, I hope to be regular in the blogging world from now on. But there is so much to write about that I do not know where to start. May be I need a day to reorganize my thoughts and then pen them down.

Orkutting world

I must confess that I am a frequent visitor to orkut. I have found some friends with whom I had lost touch for years. But the one thing that attracts me to this networking site is the concept of communities. There are numerous communities about music, books, quiz, schools, regions and so on. In most of the communities, you will find exchange of good information. Of course, there are some pointless ramblings and chatterings in between. But if you can filter the useful information that comes through, then there is nothing like it. In fact, I have gathered a lot of information through the discussions that happen in these communities.

Well, people tend to misuse or abuse such facilities. But then I think that we should really make good use of this powerful medium to learn a lot and stay connected.:)

The Man in Khadi

vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je
peed paraayii jaaNe re
par-dukhkhe upakaar kare toye
man abhimaan naa aane re

I have always been a great admirer of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. No, my friend, this post is definitely not inspired by Lage Raho Munnabhai.:) It was 2nd October yesterday. Also a discussion with a friend of mine about Gandhiji sparked off this post. I felt that I had to write about this "larger than life" person.

Right from my primary school, I used to watch the film, "Gandhi" on October 2nd. The DD would telecast it every year. I never got bored of this movie. Every year, I felt that I understood the movie better. And then I got hold of "My Experiments with the Truth" five years ago. I was amazed by the truth and the honesty in that book. I also loved the way he experimented with everything and learnt lessons from his experiments. His simplicity fascinated me.

And then one day, I started reading about Bhagat Singh. The fact that Gandhiji could have saved the lives of the three brave revolutionaries was unknown to me. But Gandhiji did not do so. I also read about Gandhiji's family. I felt that his children were the ignored lot. There are also rumours about Gandhiji being partial to Jinnah. After reading all that, the impression of Gandhiji being a perfect person disappeared.

But when I think about it, I find that I have equal respect for Bhagat Singh and Gandhiji. Their paths were entirely different. But they were great personalities in their own ways.

The other day, my friend was telling me that Gandhiji was a great leader. True, he led the masses of India very effortlessly. And the majority of them trusted his abilities and leadership. He was a man who lived his life strictly bound to his principles. He fought the freedom struggle in a unique way. Certain principles of Gandhiji like Satyagraha and Ahimsa were instant inspirations with the youth of the country. Yes, Gandhiji did some mistakes. Unfortunately, they were major mistakes. But then he was not God. He was human after all. And the way he fought for freedom selflessly can never be forgotten.

I don't know how much of his principles will be followed by our and the future generations. But his simplicity, determination, and honesty will definitely continue to inspire me, as always.

About the real world, Steve Irwin............

Been away from the blogging world for quite some time now. After bathing in bliss in Himlayas, I found it a bit hard to get used to this routine again. Eveything seemed very unfamilar. I completely felt lost. But now, I am tracing back my steps and sadly getting into the routine.:) Welcome to the real world.:))

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Sometimes mere words can cause heart aches. How we wish that we could let go off the pain which was caused by those dagger-like words!!!

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Steve Irwin's death was one of the incidents that affected me. I did not watch his shows regularly. But when I watched them, his selfless love for the animals and his enthusiasm was very inspiring. In fact, I was not even aware of his last name. When my colleague informed me about his death, I did not know about which Steve was she talking about. Only when she told me that it was the croc guy, I recognized him!

My mom still grieves about his death. She is a big fan of his shows. She tells me that the sight of him crying over a dead croc was very touching.

I wonder why the best lot always disappear from this planet so early. May God give lot of strength to his family to bear this huge loss.

Conclusions

The best thing that happened to me was the trip to Himalayas. No word is sufficient
for me to express the joy I felt when I was there amidst nature. My mind was
absolutely clear and all the feelings of stress and tiredness seem to have vanished.
I think there is no better healer than nature, isn't it?

People say that peace is within us and we try to search for it everywhere else.
It is true. But I think the environment definitely matters.

Himalayas is one place which can actuate spiritual feelings even in an atheist's heart.
Every minute when I was there, I marveled at God's creation. I wondered how can man ever
feel superior. We are nothing at all in front of God's other creations. No book, no movie,
no object created by man can provide the serenity that these stupefying creations in the nature can give.

Yes, there is a bit of me wandering in Himalayas. That bit of me loiters in the gushing Alaknanda, those mysterious caves, the peaceful valleys and the gigantic, towering mountains.

As I stand thinking about it, I am awakened by the honking of the cars behind me.
Yep, now I realize that I am back in my city.:) I walk on with a hope that this serenity
stays with me forever.:)

Here I Come, Himalayas- The Final Day

The guide has already told us that it is going to be completely a journey by bus today. All of us are feeling a bit depressed about the end of the trip. But then we try to cheer up ourselves by playing Antakshari. We croon hindi songs all the way. I try to get a last glimpse of the mountains and the river. I hope to get back there some time again.

We reach Rishikesh at 5:30. We take a phatphati with the gujrathi family to Haridwar. Our train is at 11:30 PM. We have plenty of time left. So they advise us to go and have a look at the famous Haridwar aarti. Thanks to their generosity; we get a room at their guest house to keep our luggage. We immediately rush to the banks of Ganga where the aarti takes place. We manage to catch up with some final moments of the ritual.

It is such a big change from the silence in the mountains to the noisy crowd in Haridwar. People flock us forcing us for donations and poojas. We somehow make our way to Chotiwala ( a famous restaurant) and have our dinner. Both of us are very weary as it has been a long, tiring day. We go to the guest house, collect our luggage and leave to the railway station. All of a sudden, all the weariness has come to me, mainly because of the heat. As soon as the train arrives, we find our seats and sleep as if we have not slept for days. Needless to say, I dream of only Himalayas.:))

Here I Come, Himalayas- Day 7

I get up early in the morning. But I make a mistake of not peeping out of my window. If I had done that, I would have seen the majestic Neelkant peak. Well, I hope to catch that next time.:)

Our guide informs us about the Mana village. This is supposed to be the last village of India as it is situated on the border of India and China. Most of them in our group are very tired. So few of us decide to take the bait. As it is a small group, we take a jeep.

First we see the birth place of River Saraswati. There are lots of stories about this river. It seems that Mahabharata was written in this place. When Vyasa was reciting the verses and Ganesha was writing them down, Saraswati was flowing with a roaring noise. Vyasa found this very disturbing and hence he cursed Saraswati to be visible only at the source and at Prayag.




















I have never seen any other river flowing with such a force at its source. River Saraswati's source is a very gratifying sight.

We go through the Mana village to Vyas Gufa. The villagers belong to Bhutiya tribe and they are very shy. They make very beautiful carpets. I try to capture these people in my camera but they refuse to be photographed. So I take a picture from the rear end.















Vyas Gufa is the place where Vyas recited the verses of Mahabharata. And then we go to Ganesh Gufa. There is something very special about these two places. They are non-commercial and untouched yet.

Our final destination is "Bharat Ki Aakhiri Chai Ki Dukan" ( India's last tea stall).:)) I have a tulsi chai here. I being a tea lover absolutely fall in love with this chai.

We go back to Badrinath. It is a long bus journey from there to Pipalkoti. The guide informs us that we need to spend the night at Pipalkoti. So we make some phone calls, have our dinner and get back to our rooms at Pipalkoti.

Here I Come, Himalayas- Day 6

As we are behind schedule for a day, the guide gives us two options; either we can take a horse to Hemkund and then back to Govind Ghat or trek back to Govind Ghat. All of them decide to take a horse to Hemkund and then to Govind Ghat. We decide to trek down to Govind Ghat (14 kms) as we wanna enjoy the shades of nature. So we start off at 7:00 A.M. We walk at our own pace enjoying each and every creation of God. We stop by the river and spend an hour there. The water looks so pure and untouched. But it is damn freezing!















The last three kilometres seem a bit tiring, may be because of the scorching sun. I am thrilled when I reach Govind Ghat. We reach Govind Ghat at 1:15 P.M. Man, this has been my longest trek:)

We wait for the co-passengers in the bus. I then realize how actually tired I am. My feet are aching badly. But my happiness gets over the pain. Our team arrive at 3:00. The guide informs us that we will be leaving to Badrinath. All of us are so tired that we sleep all the way to Badrinath.

I am amazed at the beautiful mountains that surround the Badrinath temple. There is a small ashram on one of those mountains that attracts me. I shall be talking about it in a separate post.

We ask the hotel people for hot water as we wanna have a nice bath before we go for a darshan to the temple. We are thrilled when the hotel people get the hot water from the hot water spring. After the refreshing bath, we go to the temple. We get a special pooja done. There is an amazingly peaceful feeling in me. We visit the hot water spring. Again it is one of God's stupefying creations.

We have a very good Gujrati thali for dinner. After a long time, we are getting to eat rice. We then retire to our rooms wearily.

Here I Come, Himalayas- Day 5

We get ready at 6:30 and have our breakfast. We have been having parathas all the time.:) We start our trek to Valley of flowers finally. We are told that it is totally an 8kms trek. The paths are beautiful, untouched and remote. They do not allow horses there. You have to walk or take the help of a porter. We click lot of pictures and continue our journey. River Lakshman Ganga flows all along the track. We play in its waters and admire the force with which it flows.















We get to know that we are approaching the valley of flowers as our paths are strewn with flowers.















And I stand there and look at it. Man, it is awesome. I cannot express the beauty in mere words. People call it the heaven on earth. There are mountains, the river and the vast stretch of colorful flowers. I have never seen anything like this before. And it appears more beautiful because it is not a man-made garden. It is completely God's creation!!!
















We sit on a rock and slowly try to observe the breathtaking environment that we are in. I can see the snow capped mountains far away. There are gigantic mountains all around me and I am so dwarfed. It is absolutely peaceful. You cannot really hear any sound there except may be the humming of bees and the flowing of water. I had been dreaming of going to such a place since so long. I sleep on that rock for some time. It is as if the nature is singing a lullaby. We dwell on those silent yet meaningful moments.

After a couple of hours there, I am very reluctant to leave that place. But our guide warns us that we need to cross a certain point before 12 P.M. because of a possible landslide. So we force ourselves for the return trek. We walk very slowly and silently. May be each one of us are still mentally present in the Valley of Flowers.

We reach our guest house at 2:30 P.M. We spend the rest of the day lazing around and wandering in the Ghangaria lanes.

Here I Come, Himalayas- Day 4

In the morning, when I peep out from the cottage at Auli, I see a conspicuous snow capped mountain. I am very, very excited as this is my first clear view of snow. Later I get to know that the mountain I have been admiring is actually Nandadevi. Wow!















We reach Govind Ghat at 9:00 in the morning. We have our breakfast at a dhaba there. We meet two elderly Sikhs there. They warn us about a very hectic journey ahead. They ask us to take a horse to Ghangria at least as the slopes are too steep. We decide to check it out. Most of them in our group decide to take horses. The trek is for 14 kms. And this is my first major trekking expedition.:)

So we start off at 10:30. It is getting very sunny and I somehow manage to trek for 3 kms. I know that I will have to trek for 8 kms again the next day to valley of flowers. I decide that I should take a horse to conserve my energy.:)

Believe me when I say that trekking is much more easier than riding a horse on this cobbled, steep paths! The paths are so narrow and you always have to be very wary. The horse that I am sitting on looked very feeble and I am expecting it to collapse any moment. And as I expect, it fumbles over the steps twice. We stop in between for lunch. And continue our journey again.

I reach Ghangria at 4:30. It has been a very painful, strenuous ride. But yes, the pain is alleviated by the stupefying nature around.

We try calling up our folks. The phone booth guy tells us that for every minute, the charge is 15 Rs. as there are only 3 phone lines in that village. Everything is expensive here. We spend a very quiet evening, relax and get ready for the next day's trek.

Here I Come, Himalayas- Day 3

All of us get dressed up optimistically for the trek, that is supposed to take place as per schedule, hoping that the landslide has stopped. If it has, then we decide to walk through the mess of mud and stones on the road and find another bus of GMVN on the other side. So we get our backpacks and trekking shoes and walk towards the landslide.

As we approach the place, we see a huge crowd there. We hear the thumping sounds of the stones, And I witness the first landslide in my life. The rocks roll down majestically with a loud thundering noise. Then all of a sudden, everything seems to stop. There is silence. I start hoping that this is the end of it. But immediately there is a big boulder rolling down again. We stand there and watch nature's fury. Even in its time of wrath, nature is breathtaking.






























We use this time to do a bit of trekking in lower hills out there. We wait for a couple of hours and then return back to the guest house. We try to take a nap in the dormitory provided to us for temporary accommodation. All of us know that we are helpless and we will have to patiently wait.





Finally there is good news that the landslide has stopped and the road has been cleared. So we enthusiastically continue our bus journey. After traveling for about 4-5 kms , we find ourselves stuck in another traffic jam due to another landslide. But the good news is that the land slide has stopped and the government authority is clearing the road. Nevertheless, we are stuck at that place for a couple of hours.

It is already night by the time we arrive at Joshimath. Due to some problems with the accommodation, we are taken to Auli. It is very dark out there. But I can see that we are going through some very steep, winding crude roads. It seems a bit scary. When we reach the place, the guide tells us that it is supposed to be one of the favorite spots for skiing. But since it is summer, we cannot see any snow at Auli. Besides it is very dark. We walk wearily towards our cottage. Man, it is freezing!

Here I Come, Himalayas- Day 2

We start early at seven in the morning. The guide tells us that it is going to be a long bus journey. We get introduced to the other groups in our bus. There is a bengali group of 8 members, a gujarati group of 5 members and a mumbai group of 7 members. I begin to see the gigantic mountains of Himalayas as we progress through our journey.

I learn a lot of new things in this journey. I had always believed that Ganga was the river that came from Gangotri. But then that is not completely true. We get to see some prayags ( sangam of two rivers) in this journey.

1) Deo Prayag: Sangam of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi. This is the real place where Ganga is born.




2) Rudra Prayag: Sangam of Alaknanda and Mandakini.

3) Karan Prayag: Sangam of Alaknanda and Pindari

4) Nand Prayag: Sangam of Alaknanda and Nandakini

Our whole journey is along river Alaknanda. This river takes birth at a place called Alakpuri. It flows very aggressively and forcefully. So the journey amidst Himalayas and Alaknanda is beautiful.



















We stop at a river rafting camp for our breakfast. And then we continue our jouney. Though the journey is perfectly scenic, it is a bit exhausting. At 4:30 in the evening, we reach Pipalkoti. We are supposed to proceed to Joshimath. But the road is blocked due to a landslide. We can see a long queue of vehicles ahead us. We wait for a couple of hours but we are informed that the landslide is still happenning. It is 15th August. So the government people who are supposed to help are not in office. So our guide informs us that we will be staying at Pipal koti that night. Since Pipalkoti is a small village, all the people who are stuck in the traffic jam are not able to get the accomodation. Luckily, there is a guesthouse of GMVN. So we manage to get some rooms there.

We take an evening walk exploring some shops in Pipalkoti and also trying to see the landslide. But then we see that the traffic jam there is so bad that we decide to walk back to our room.
I am a little apprehensive now because we are behind our schedule. We do not know when the landslide will stop. It seems that landslides have become quite frequent there mostly because people have messed up nature's balance while installing electric ploes in the mountains. Sigh! When will man learn that he can never outpower nature??

Here I Come, Himalayas- Day 1

After a couple of days' stay in the scorching heat of Delhi, I start off at an early morning in Shatabdhi Express to Haridwar. The journey reveals the dumped garbage and slums on either sides of the railway track. I am depressed when I see Yamuna being reduced to a drainage place.

After arriving at Haridwar, we take a phatphati ( a three wheeler with an engine of a bike) to Rishikesh. I enjoy the ride as I am exposed to fresh air and greenery. We get to see lot of ashrams and temples on the way.

Finally we reach the guest house of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) at Rishikesh. Even though there is a nagging tiredness, both of us decide to pay a visit to the banks of River Ganga. So we walk through the narrow lanes to an ashram on the banks of Ganges. And then, I see Ganga. Al my weariness disappears as I look at the powerful, majestic river. There is a group of people out there performing a puja. So with their recitation of shlokas in the background, both of us sit on the banks and watch Ganga dumbfounded. I have never seen such a magnanimous river ever before.














I see a sadhu meditating on the banks of the river. The view of the mountains, the river and the meditating sadhu all together make me very spiritual and philosophical. In front of other creations of God, we are midgets.


We start finding our way back to the guest house as the sun sets.

Just a note on 22nd August, 2006

I am at Delhi now, just back from a great vacation at the mountains. I will be leaving to Bangalore in a couple of days. Meanwhile, I thought that I should put together my experiences that I had in these eight days. It may not be an exact travelogue. I am just penning down all the random thoughts and experiences. I will try to divulge the details as I go on. So I shall post each day's experience.:)

We had gone on a package trip to Valley of Flowers and Badrinath in Uttaranchal. This trip was organized by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), a government organization.

I am off to an exciting vacation far in the mountains. I will let you know the details once I am back. Meanwhile you take care and have lots of fun.:))))) Adios.:)

Rangantittu

We had been to rangantittu a couple of weeks back. It was my first visit to the bird sanctuary. I think our timing for this visit was very good because we heard that they closed the sanctuary the next day, for some time.:)) I found the visit quite interesting. There were not many visitor birds because it was almost the end of the season. But I must honestly confess that the wild crocodiles there caught my attention, especially the one which was lying on a rock at the centre. Our boats went so near by to that crocodile that I was almost expecting it to jump on us any time.:))) The funny part was that a lady in our boat was not convinced that it was a live crocodile. She somehow went on justifying that it was a statue. Look at the snap and you will understand why.:))Here are some of the snaps that I clicked while we were there:

Friends

They were there with me when I was broke and shattered. They corrected me when I went wrong. They applauded my efforts when success came on my way. They were there to pay my bills when I stood there penniless and unemployed. They cried with me when they caught me shedding tears. They were there for the silly jokes, banter and laughter. They sang all those nostalgic songs with me everyday.

Most of them are still my fellow travellers and the rest have taken different paths. But they form a major chunk of my life. Yep, I am talking about FRIENDS. Life has been a joyful, fun-filled ride with them.

Wish you all a happy friendship day.:))))