Wild @ Heart was never so apt to describe the way we have lived our lives, from the descisions we have taken, to all our trips so far! Every road trip I have undertaken has had three elements clearly standing out, Spontaneity, truncated time-tables and unpredictability. Amidst all this chaos, here are a few gems that bring a smile to me every time I think about them. In this travelogue, I'll try to share some of the most amazing moments of my travel life with you A vagabond is born -------------------------- Delhi -> Amritsar -> Wagah -> Dalhousie -> Dharamshala -> Trihun -> Delhi I had been to many places earlier but nothing prepared me for this, 1600 Kms in 4 days, and we hadn't planned a thing. Meeting for a snack in sec-18 was de rigueur till that day, when 4 of us decided to pick up 5K cash each, a back pack with minimum clothing and a tank full of gas in my swift. Starting @ 11pm from Noida, I drove all night and reached Amritsar (545 kms) by 4.45 am. @ that point I was ignorant of the fact that, the shatabdi took more than 8 hrs :) Harmandir sahib was lit up in all its splendor in the early hours of dawn and my droopy eyes smiled @ the sight, I always dreamt off. A trip to the golden temple had always been elusive to me. Many hundreds of lines (coding HDL), later I was here listening to the paat that ensued. Wagah came by in the evening, which I guess is as interesting as it gets with a man singing in a female voice (in the army band), and the jawans keeping the crowd hooked with a bellicose display of opening the gates and brining down the flags on either side of the gate. As the sun set, on the Pakistan side of the border, we decided over a cup of tea to scoot to Dalhousie. Dalhousie came in the vee hours of the night, and we had no accomodation, no restaurants! Starved, tired and desperate, we bribed a few cops to wake up the cook in the nearest restaurant and cook us Dal Chaaval. With great difficulty we found a room, which we had to vacate by noon the next day. The colonial styled hotels made from wood were cozy and comfy after the long drive. The next day to our disapointment, we found that there was no activity to do there, Over a casual phone call, I found out a group of our friends were trekking up to Trihum from Dharamshala. And off we went, another 350 kms to reach Dharamshala in the evening. Surprisingly we found Mcleod ganj much more happening than the night clubs of Mumbai :). A small town with food joints from every part of the world and I then figured out, why the Dalai Lama never left India, he was having a whale of a time here :D (J) We went trekking up to Trihun which was the most amazing trek I had been to till then (Its still my favourite), I will leave this IMPORTANT portion of journey to the pics. Every single phrase in my lexicon will fail to describe the majestic Himalayas. The pictures tell a better story though, Check them out in the flickr stream. A wet sojourn ------------------- Another trip which will always remain in the spaces of my mind, is our trip to sat-taal. What started as a "I wanna have a break this weekend", turned into the dampest sojourn till date. The high point of the trip was taking the decision to go on a Night trek! We never realised that, we would regret this every step we take, every breath we take for the rest of the night! The promise of a haunted lake by our crafty guide made us fall for the charm of the night trek. It was raining heavily that night, visibility down to a few metres and this was just the beginning. 7 kms later, slipping in the dark, un-plugging a dozen leeches and wet to the bone, you could feel the dampness creeping into the deepest corners of your soul! When all hope seemed lost, In the midst of the mist was a lake with clouds straight out of "Pirates of the Caribbean", Pity I could not take out my EOS 400D. The entire trek, I was lugging a 5kg burden and desperately trying to save it from any moisture. Finally we reached base camp which was like heaven by then. If you are wondering, why I am narrating this story, its for the fact that, this was the most ardous weather I had ever faced during a trek. I'll never do something like this again, but for those who are nutty enough, to under take a DARK adventure, this is it! Check out pics of Sat-Taal on my flickr stream A beautiful mausoleum --------------------- A trip to Agra might sound like a cliche, as in who hasn't seen it! But the reason why its mentioned here is the fact that, its something of a challenge for photographers like me. Over exposure is the biggest prick for any one on the wrong side of the lens. Polarizers and filters apart, it shines a bright for any setting. The only way to get it right is under expose it by a fair-margin and correct it later in the confines of your cozy home. Equally impressive is the Agra fort, from where countless mughals have ruled India. The only reason you dont get tired of walking (its a BIG fort), is the grandeur it reflects of the centuries gone by. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have stood the test of time and weight of many a verdict. If you are visiting Agra, dont forget to buy some leather jackets and Wallets. You get amazing discounts on excellent stuff there. Exercise caution if you are taking ladies for shopping, it might be several hours, before the thought of a husband/boy friend waiting for them passes their mind. Check out pics of Agra on my flickr stream Balmy beaches --------------------- Beaches are always serene during sunrise and sunset and Goa is no different. If you are from mumbai, you'll find the beaches here heaven vis-a-vis Juhu. There are a few things about Goa that will strike you, the foreign population, booze that's almost free and a cuisine spread that will surprise you with its diversity. The balmy beaches of Goa were a welcome change for me in Nov 2008, from the Himalayas which I had got so used to. Sitting on the beach @ night with a bottle of bubbly and listening to Pink Floyd singing shine on you crazy diamonds is quite a surreal experience. As the bubbly takes you, you lie on the sand counting stars and seeing non-existent shooting stars! Walking in the water at low tide makes for the perfect night, with tiny crustaceans (read as crabs, molusks, snails) touching your feet. And if the wind doesn't sing you a lullaby, the wine for sure will do you in. For liquor afficionados, I suggest you make a trip to newton's (liquor super market) before you leave for the beach. Jack Daniels was selling @ 2400 then. I can't imagine those prices in Saddi Dilli. In that 4 days I stayed in Goa, I made quite a few friends, germans, brits, well Goa is geographically a part of India, spiritually, it belongs to the entire world. You will find people from all over the world, who call Goa home. To be honest it actually makes you feel nice about the fact that, you get a slice of the world in every corner of this tiny state. Goa's diversity is often reflected in its cuisine. I personally recommend Martin's Corner to all those who want spicy sea food. The Konkani fish dishes actually make for a delightful palate with a chilled beer. If you wanna have food from any nationality, any variety, Goa is the place to be in. You keep eating out daily and you still won't run out of options. Best time to visit Goa is between Nov and Feb. Try going there during the Goa carnival, I'v heard its pretty colorful! Check out pics of Goa on my flickr stream Drunken decisions ----------------- Jan 1'st its new year and three bachelors sit with a bottle of fine scotch and the next day morning they wake up in srinagar. Striking story, but its not a bluff. It happened this year, Jan 1'st 2009, 1.00 am, three of us wondering why HBO was the best thing this side of Elevate (a popular discotheque in Noida)? We decided, we should do something, and ended up checking availability for ANY flight out of Delhi. Srinagar was the cheapest, we took it!... :D haha (I am not kidding, it was that simple), 6 am we leave for the airport in a semi-ebriated state with a few woolens and sleep on the flight, only to wake up in Srinagar. Welcome to a country, within a country! We were Indians, the popular adage was "aap hamare bhai jaise ho" (actually you should be kicking your self in the gut for boarding the flight, thats what they meant), and we soldiered on into the city wondering why we forgot to check hotel listings (such a terrible cliche, hic! hic!). We finally found a decent hotel where butter chichken costed us 800 bucks (2 measly pieces), and enlightment! We need to run away from the hotel, before they decide to charge us for breathing oxygen! We checked out the next day morning and left for Gulmarg, its skiing time! We chose public transportation owing more to restricted funds, than out of any serious concern for the environment. Reached Gulmarg, only to find we were poor by 300 Rs to make it to the TOP (level 3). We could only make it to level 2 where truly speaking, I had an amazing time skiing and clicking beautiful pictures. The journey back to Srinagar was a very interesting one with a benevolent lady detailing how to make a good Kashmiri kahweh, and a hostile taxi-driver reprimanding her for talking to INDIANS (brother, I thought we were in the same country). After that un-nerving episode, we finally found a hotel room in "Hotel Taj", near LAL CHOWK. We were the only occupants barring a few mice and lizards. A couple of jawans knocked our door @ night just to check that we did not have toys lying around (read as AK-47). To our amazement, we were duly informed they expected more (the hotel it seemed had HISTORY of a militant situation and hence the armoured car posted outside). We slept in peace, in our dirty bedding, with the knowledge that we had Z++ category security @ our door step. The next day, we left for Islamabad (hang on, we are still in India, its also known by the name Anantnag), and caught a shared sumo to Pehalgaon. There is an air about pehalgaon, that reminds you of shammi kapoor and asha parekh running around trees, flowers and bees, you get the picture right, romantic :).It was a lovely trek to the top with fields of kesar, which we bought as if, we owned big bazar down here in Delhi (read as, "thop ke bhav pe"). The trip back to srinagar was weary at the best. The gloomy overcast weather had got to us by then. The next day, I guess was the most memorable day of the trip. We woke up @ 6.00 am and visited Shankaracharya in Srinagar town. It was sub-zero at the top. The autorickshaw ride was the most memorable drive, in conscious memory. It was powdery white, straight out of, Chronicles of Narnia, with the pine trees and the ice all around. We had to remove our belts, wallets and shoes before we got into the sanctum and I will always remember every step I took. Walking on frozen granite was like being SHOT! By the time we climbed 15 steps, we could not feel our extremities. The sanctum was much better, it had an oil lamp, and thou shall be granted salvation!...the relief from the cold was infintely soothing. Hazrat Bal came next, a beautiful shrine built out of marble. Don't miss this, do visit Hazrat bal and Shankaracharya when you are in Srinagar. Kashimiri cuisine is pretty famous and the obvious are, Kashmiri dum aloo and Rogan Josh. But truly, its the Rista, Goshtaba and Yakhni we were impressed with. I have never eaten mutton so tender and succulent, like in Srinagar. An interesting dish to try out is Harissa, which is mutton mashed with atta and spices. It is served as a paste with kashmiri bread (not a big fan, but it costs 5 Rs, so I am not complaining). On day 4, we finally landed back and ended up @ the same keyboard with which, I am typing this article... :) hope you had fun reading my travellogue! Check out pics of Kashmir on ORKUT. NOTE : All these trips have a lot of GOOD snaps on my ORKUT profile. Pls feel free to go through the same.