The North Of India - Part 2

Himachal Pradesh is by far the most beautiful place that I have seen in my life. No other state comes even close. Every sight of the rivers and the snow capped mountains is a new visual treat. Its amazing. I visited Kullu, Manali, Dharmashala, Dalhousie – 4 hill stations in HP and one bettered the other in superb fashion. And Himachal is THE place for Adventure. As many of u might know, I am scared of heights, of water and of many other things. A mini 'thenali'. But himachal had a Jayaram for me who brought out the adrenaline even from me and got me going (No Jyotika or Devayani though). I ended up doing things which I would have refused even for crores of rupees. This post is more about the places that I enjoyed on the trip than trivia. So, More of North India to you...

River Rafting On Beas

As we have read in Geography, 5 rivers contribute to Indus in Punjab. Out of the 5, Beas flows through HP before joining with the others in Punjab. It flows with amazing force and current through the Himalayan terrains. Wherever you go, it follows you dedicatedly like the Hutch Dog. I got a chance to go rafting on the dangerously flowing river. I took it and WOW! 14kms of rafting through rapids and turns. Zimbly Zuperb experience. It was like a LOTR experience, a river in-between two cold high snow filled mountains. I don’t know where else in India, u can go rafting on a super fast river.so, Rafting through BEAS – A MUST VISIT IN HP

Scared of Water : Who said?

Snow Climbing on Rohtang Pass

This was the next day. Rohtang pass is a place high in the Himalayan terrain where you can see only snow at any point in sight. All 360 degrees of snow, so, you are given a mountaineer outfit to beat the zero degrees freezing weather. It takes you 4 hours from Manali to reach there by car on a heavily dangerous route. The whole experience is dangerous as I was told that certain points in the snow are so deep that u’ll land up 2000 ft below dead and frozen. So every step, pathu vaikanum!! Climbing till the ice point on Rohtang pass was so thrilling that I might add it on my resume.Imagine, I was at 13800 ft, nearly half the height of Everest. In dota terms the place is just Imba shit- beyond godlike... Again Rohtang Pass – A MUST VISIT

Hot Air Ballooning

On my way from Manali to Dharamshala, I got a chance to be a part of an unique experience. To go as high as 1200 ft on a Hot-Air Balloon ! You can see the whole city of Manali, the second highest airport in the world, and the rivers Beas, Sutlej, Parvathy, and the rout to Leh, where the highest army post in the world is situated. Over experience. If u like the smell of petrol, its even more better as u will have to smell it all the way up. This was my first time on a hot-air balloon and i loved it.

Ya. Thats me flying at 1200 ft.

Everything for half a second

I had strictly told my parents that ‘No temples’ on this trip. They had agreed but the main attraction of the trip that I went was Maa Vaishno Devi temple at Khatra, J and K !!. It was a strange and bewildering experience by any means. You had to register to even visit the temple 16 kms above on a hill. There are umpteen number of transports uphill and downhill – by walk(free), on a pony(570Rs one way) , by a helicopter(1225rs one-way),and finally on a doli(3600RS one-way). The whole place is swarmed with atleast 20 lakh people everyday and there is total anarchy all around. We chose to go uphill by helicopter and downhill by walk. Helicopter travel is just 5 mins and that was the only highlight of the day. Have to stand in a queue, which didn’t seem to move at all, for hours together and go through cages and cages to end up at the shrine. Here comes the catch. I suffer hours of being in the queue with only jades for company, I get strenuously tired and then I get darshan or did I? It was just half of a second or even less. I don’t think I saw Vaishno Devi. Or Did I? It was all over in a flash, that I cudn’t even see the god properly. Worse than Tirupathi!. Then there was a knee bending walk from the top to the the base downhill. I was dead tired and finished the rest of the tour, limping. So, my friends, if u r going or being taken along to Vaishno Devi temple, prepare urselves for the battle ahead.

Beating the retreat

I moved out of J and K to Amritsar. The Golden temple is in direct contrast to Vaishno Devi. It is fully organised, kept sparkling clean and in complete peace. My kind of temple. It was a thrilling experience to see the Akalis guarding the temple with long swords and to wear bandanas and to be a part of Sikhism. The place was made more enjoyable by Punjabi girls, who have taken top spot in my ratings. Simply Awesome. Then came the highlight, the Wagah Border retreat ceremony. The element of patriotism is in the air there. With thousands of Indians and hundreds of Pakistanis swarming the place, it’s a grand visual delight and it brings out the emotions in you. Over feeling. And I also got the chance to see the Samjautha express when i was moving from Delhi to Chandigarh. But, I was asked not to take photos. More patriotism the next day, when I was in Jallianwalabagh memorial. The whole place is preserved as it was in 1919 and the bullet marks on walls, the well are all just still there. A super end to the tour. A patriotic end to an excellent fortnight. Ironically, as I was in places where the British had thwarted the Indians, History repeated itself as India went down to KP and co in the world cup, smashing millions of hopes! Wagah Border – A must visit.

The signboard at the border. A rare board!

I have been to 4 metros now and I would put Delhi slightly next to Chennai on my favourites list. The city is smashing and has a great history and I felt a close affinity towards it. Bombay would come third. I was sick of its maddening trains and the crowd. Generally, the jade quotient is a bit high there. Kolkata would come as a distant fourth. Worsht city. Galeej city. Only the Victoria Memorial provides some smoothening, if u know wat i mean. ;-) .

So, the standings :

1. Chennai

2.Delhi

3.Mumbai

4.Kolkata

5.Trichy

Now that the main 4 is over, it’s time to visit the next one and place it in my rankings- Bengalooru. And am just 7 days from it. Here I come, the City of Gardens,.... U better be good !!