Incredible MYSORE

I wanted to visit Mysore as soon as I came to India on July, 2014. There were two reason behind this.
One: I wanted to meet my dear friend Sujan.
Two: I wanted to see Mysore palace.
However this had become only a wish until and unless I decided to go all of sudden during my semester break. We had just cancelled out North India visit because of fear about Swine flu being viral as it had already taken dangerous presence all over India. The first day of vacation was passed boringly in Hostel. However, I couldn't prepare myself for three such more days. So I convinced Gaurav and finally boarded train to Mysore, the second day. That was a challenge to swine flu ;)


Mysore:

Mysore is one of the beautiful cities of whole of India. Located in Karnataka state of India, Mysore is an ancient city with rich cultural heritages and historical importance.

I happened to visit this place recently. During my three day stay in Mysore, I visited some of the prominent tourist destinations that were really amazing. One of the oldest planned cities of Asia, life in Mysore resembles to that of some European countries. Things that keep Mysore a class apart from amongst other cities of India are: clean roads and public spaces, mildly populated, no heavy traffic, many cultural and architecturally exceptional buildings, etc.

Based on my own experience, I recommend you to visit following places if you happen to visit Mysore anytime in future.

1)      Mysore Palace

It’s marvelous, really captivating, and the lights makes it really a heaven on earth !

Mysore palace during evening time, every Sunday, 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Mysore palace is the official residence of the Maharajas of Mysore-The Wodeyars. The palace houses gigantic courtyards, gardens and buildings. The palace is built via use of Hindu, Muslim, Rajput and Gothic styles.

Mysore palace during morning time

Every year during Dussera festival in Autumn, the palace hosts famous Mysore Dussera which is the major festival in Mysore and a major tourist season.  The palace is a must see especially during evening time on every Sunday and some other special occasions like Dussera.

2)      Chamundi Hills

Chamundi hills houses the famous 11^th century Chamundeshwari temple on top of the hill. Situated at about 13 kms from the city and at height of 1000 meters, the view from top is mesmerizing panoramic, from where we can see beautiful Mysore.  On the midway to the hill is a statue of bull Nandi, the carrier of Lord Shiva, which is carved out of single piece of black granite ( 1.9 m tall and 7.6 m long). Hindu Mythology has it that the then king of Mysore Mahisasura was killed by goddess Chamundeswari after a fierce battle. To mark this victory Hindu followers celebrate Dussera/Dashain festival, which is the major festival in Mysore.

An evening bike ride to Chamundi hill can be really a worthwhile experience. Try it !

3)      Brindaban Garden

Adjoining to a dam called Krishnarajasagara which crosses Kaveri river is a beautiful garden called Brindavan garden. This garden is one of the most visited tourist destination in Mysore. Famous for variety of flowers and fruits, the garden is really amazing during evening time when the ambience is beautified via lights and water fountains. The construction of garden dates back to 1927 and is still one of the most favored tourist attractions in Mysore.

A major attraction here is the musical fountain where bursts of waters are synchronized to music of song.  Go there with your loved ones and enjoy the gift of nature. :)

Beautiful Sunset on way to Brindavan Garden !!

It was not only place but my greatest buddies who made travelling fun. On the first day Suwas decided to join from Bangalore. More fun to my stay was by momo party hosted by Nepalese girls, evening  bike ride, sleep upto late morning, alcohol, movie and movie and so on....such a FUN !!! I am thankful to my friends for being such a great host. Special mention to Sujan, Suwas, Sainju, Raju !! See you soon again Mysore ! Now back to default >>Chittoor!!

ICCR Winter Camp- 2014-15, Madhya Pradesh

I am quite a lazy guy to update my blog regularly and mostly internet of my hostel favors my laziness by not working properly. I wanted to write a blog about this camp that I recently participated. But thought that if I write down immediately I might write it in details and make it a boring read. So I made up my mind that I would write it later  and only about those things that I found important and I missed the most. 

I was selected for a camp which would turn out to be incredible experience in terms of fun, adventure, friendship and exposure. It was Government of India affiliated Indian Center for Culture and Relation(ICCR) organised Winter camp for scholars from different countries across the world currently studying in India under Government of India scholarship.

I along with my classmate Dwaipayan were selected for this week long event. We boarded our train from Vellore station to Bhopal. The next seven days would unravel a fun fulled and thrilling experience to be cherished for a lifetime. 

Moments that I would like to remember:

1) Almost missed the Train to Bhopal

  It was really a long journey and we were almost late for train when we attended the first half of our MBA classes. Another unfortunate event was that we almost missed our train because of lack of any indication in the platform. Thanks to our habit that we keep poking people for information.

 2) Train journey and almost lost phone

It was awesome and tiresome. We had carried enough food to survive with, some books to keep our brain busy and our casual talks ranging from MBA classes to politics in Nepal. Most of all it was fun. Almost same happened when we were about to board train back to Chittoor. The train was late by some four hours  and it made a great test of our patience. A small tamil kid made our journey fun-filled who was teasing my friend by calling him villian in his regional language. 

Another stressful and memorable incident was me losing phone. I had kept it in my pocked while sleeping. I happened to wake up at 4:00 am in the morning and found that my phone was lost. I searched for a while and later woke up Dwaipayan to search it. Unfortunately couldn't find it. I began to think about new phone to buy, but was sad that I would lots of memory and data of  lost phone. But Dwaipayan was not to lose hope. He asked to intensify search and thanks to him that finally after some 15 minutes I found my phone below a rucksack.

3) Searching for Good food in Itarshi ! 

Banks of Narmada river, Hosangabad.

 I don't know how long but we really walked for longer time to get a good food. Because I was with a great gourmet, we always needed good food. :D  Happy part was that in the end we were successful. I do also remember that spicy Panipuri and Cutting chai of Hosangabad, near Narmada river bank. Such a blissful it was. 

4) Bhopal

We finally reached to Bhopal. What awaited in Bhopal was good friends, good foods  and a perfect travel plan. Next seven days would unravel unprecedented fun-filled moments with to-be-friends from different countries. 

5) Travel-Travel and Travel

While a lot happened in between, we were busy travelling most of the time in the camp.  

My favorite of all places during the camp: Bhedagaht. Boating among the rocks was  an amazing experience.

 Bhopal, BhimBetika, Sanchi, Jabalpur, Panna Tiger Reserve, Bhedaghat, Shivpuri, Gwalior etc were the places that we had to visit in the camp. Things like Music, pranks with friend, dance and all added spice to our fun.

6) Anna, Kaif and Adam

I and D waipayan were placed in a room. We were accompanied by a friend, from SriLanka, Mr. Anna(Joy). On first day we also got to meet another fun-loving guy from Afghanistan-Kaif. And rest of seven days would be filled with Anna's jokes, being satirical and lots of mischief. Not to miss to mention was Adam from Nigerrrrrr (as he would pronounce). Inspite of being single from his country, this boy was a serious fun lover and humble human being. What we liked more of this guy was him singing a Hindi song " Kal ho na ho" ! 

7) Chumki, my beloved, everyone's beloved! 

Camp had participants in majority from Afgansthan, Srilanka, and Nepal. Because of fear of unknown all of us were not interacting with each other and staying in almost fixed position in our bus. Me and Dwaipayan planned something that would make camp really great. We started teasing Chumki( friend from Bangladesh) and almost everyone joined us. This started interaction in between/among all of us. In few hours Chumki became celebrity of the camp. Thanks to her fun loving nature. Guess what then? Everyone started expressing their love for Chumki.

8) Birthday of Kesayat ??

We wanted to add more fun to the camp. So  asked if anyone had birthday during camp duration. But none had. So we came up with fake birthday. Of course our dear friend Kaif was ready for the prank. We worked really hard to get a good cake late-night in Khajuraho. Finally our effort paid well. Specially for Kefayat who got a lovely birthday surprise gift !! ;) May be that Cake shop knew that it was a fake birthday, the spelling of his name was wrong. So it was a birthday of Mr. Kesayat, who none of us knew. :D

 

9) Our Nepali dudes !

I feel very comfort to start conversation with foreign nationals in contrast to Nepalese. The same happened in the camp. However after few days we started to talk to everyone and fostered a cordial relationship.  Our Nepali juniors from Delhi univeristy( Alisa, Palpasa and Raj), Pratima and Nesa from Chennai ! 

10)Emotional goodbye

The camp ended in Gwalior after travelling various historical and prominent places of Madhya Pradesh. It was our last day in Gwalior.We had train back to chittoor late night of the last day of camp. So me and Dwaipayan, along with camp officials were only left to bid farewell to everyone. Everyone was sad to bid goodbye to each other. What made difficult was tears of Chumki and Antara. Further more to bid goodbye to everyone was a emotional work. At the end of the day, the hotel premises was silent and I began to feel like I woke up from a long beautiful dream. 

I personally enjoyed Afgani music and dance, Tamil dance, Adams hindi song, Mr. Junge songs, ICCR officer being strict , cracking jokes with  my nepali sisters, doing pranks with Kefayat and Joy, and many more. That was awesome week we spend together. And now I really feel that all those memories are from a long beautiful dreams. 

ICCR Winter camp was a great platform to explore India and to explore- self amongst friends from various part of the world. This indeed was really incredible experience in the heart of Incredible India. 

Kochi: South India Tour 2014

Kochi is one of the most visited place in India. The capital state of Kerala, Kochi boasts as the most beautiful natural harbor of the world. Also known as "Queen of Arabian sea", Kochi attracts many tourists to enjoy its backwaters which is famous in the world. Because of the backwaters, kochi is often compared to Venice of Italy.

We reached to Kochi at 3:00 am in the morning. Being deprived of sleep whole night because of 2S seat, we had no option but to sleep in the platform after we reached Kochi railway platform. So as to make ourselves safe, we choosed the clean place outside of Railway station manager to sleep. It was such a sound sleep that we didn't hear any disturbances in spite of the bustling train passing through the platform. 

Early in the morning we searched for accommodation and finally got one near famous Marine drive of Ernakulam, Kochi. It was difficult to manage our travelling in and around kochi because of tourist attraction being scattered apart in contrast to that of Kanyakumari. We felt a kind of shock when we heard that Kochi was in the process of being a dry state and sales of Alcohol was strictly prohibited. For me, I couldn't understand the logic of making a famous tourist destination a dry state. Apparently we could see some of its direct impact when we saw bars shut down, lodges prices dropped down and not much of tourists hanging out inspite of the time being a tourist season.

Inspite of not being able to drink we made sure to enjoy yourself by visiting some of the beautiful places of "Gods own country: Kerala" and enjoyed its  natural beauty. One point to support dry state would have been to make tourist enjoy Kerala naturally and I couldn't disagree. 

We managed to visit following places in Cochin, Kerala.

1) Alappuzha Backwaters ride

This was one of the most beautiful and serene boat drive I had ever experienced in my life. We hired a boat house and went off for 3 hours boat drive in the backwaters. Alappuzha is one of the most preferred location to enjoy the backwater drive in Kochi. Also known popularly as "Venice of the East", Alappuzha also boasts of  picturesque canals, beaches and lagoons. We could enjoy the natural environment the most and were mesmerized by the natural beauty of backwaters. And one thing not to miss was the warm hospitality of the people of Kerala, esp those involved in tourism industry. 

 Backwater boat drive was such a serene and peaceful experience that it helped us to connect with self and to enjoy the nature at the best. We also enjoyed watching people enjoying the boat water ride, waving hand to them, and witnessing the life of people in those areas. It was amazing to have look into the life of people whose daily livelihood was directly linked with water.

2) Marine Drive

Our group in Marine Drive

Marine Drive of Cochin was nearby to our hotel so we managed to visit it during the evening time. I along with my friends were excited to visit it imagining the fun of sauntering around the marine of Mumbai. Plus, the googled photos of Marine drive of Cochin had added more excitement to us. But to our surprise the Marine drive of Cochin was small, not properly maintained, arranged with poor lights and was not the most happening place for evening walk. Thus Marine drive left us disappointed.

Googled photo, Marine Drive in its Decorated structure. At present it is not well maintained

3) Fort Kochi 

Fort Cochin was on our list on the next day of our trip to Cochin. We took a government ferry from Marine drive to Fort Kochi at a cost of INC 4 each. It took us about 20 minutes to reach Fort Kochi. We wandered around for some time until we decided to hire a cycle and took a ride around the island. We could also spot some Nepali speaking guys while we were trying to find cycle for rent. Finally we got some cycles and went off to see the Kochi Fort. We made visit to Mahatma Gandhi beach, Dutch Palace, Jewish museum and street,  beautiful church named as Santa Cruz Basilica Church, etc

Chinese Fishing net in Kochi

Santa Cruz Basilica Church

We also enjoyed visiting the local market in Fort Kochi, purchasing some souvenirs,  and enjoyed the seafood etc.  With this our South India tour came to an end. We boarded a train to our station on evening. And from the next very morning we were again back to our same old routine. 

Kanyakumari:South India Tour 2014

Our journey was a overnight train from Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari. As again, we didn't have enough seats and thus had to manage somehow. We checked seats which were vacant from Rameswaram to Maduria and occupied them. And from Madurai onwards, we shifted to General class compartment which had relatively less passengers. We reached Kanyakumari early in the morning at 6:00 am. The train platform was clean and well-maintained. After checking hoarding board of the railway platform regarding the tourist destination in Rameswaram, we went in search of accommodation.

Sunrise in Kanyakumari 

We checked Vivekananda Kendra for rooms. But unfortunately couldn't get. Our hunt for accommodation continued for next one hour, but still failed to get rooms. The reason being "Dussera" being on the same day. Finally we spotted someone checking out from a lodge and got a room there. After resting for some time and taking a delicious lunch in Punjabi Dhaba near our hotel, we started our exploration for the day.

1) Kanyakumari beach

We took a holy dip in the merger point of Indian ocean, Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal. The place is famously known as Kanyakumari triveni and it is believed that after taking a dip in this holy place, people will wash away their crimes.

Vivekanand Rock Memorial and Thiruvallur Statue

2) Vivekananda Rock memorial

Locate in a rock island , this place is the one in which Swami Vivekananda did meditation and attained enlightenment . A ferry near to Kanyakumari temple take visitors to the memorial. However the ferries are operated by state government and is poorly managed, that makes visitors wait for many hours. 

 3) Kanyakumari Temple

We took darshan of Kanyakumari temple on the very auspicious day of Dashain festival. Kanyakumari temple is one of the shakti peeth (power goddess) of Hindu religion. We also took part in a chariot ride of Goddess Kanyakumari and felt lucky to see the unique culture of Kanyakumari. 

4)  Snow white church

One of the most beautiful church that I  have ever been, this church lies within walking distance from Kanyakumari Temple. We went there to learn about church and about christians way of prayings. 

5) Gandhi memorial
Built in the memory of MK Gandhi who visited Kanyakumari twice, this building marks the place where his ashes were kept for darshan before immersing it to the sea. The architecture of the building is said to be uniques as it is designed in such a style that on the birthday of Gandhi ji (October 2), the sun rays falls from the hole in the roof to directly on the spot where his urn was kept for public display. Also it is 79 feet in height representing the age of Gandhi ji.  One can see a spectacular view of Vivekananda Rock memorial, Thiruvalluvar statue, Lighthouse and View tower from this place.

6) Kanyakumari View Tower
The view tower is nearer to Gandhi Memorial. One can have a mesmerizing view of the major parts of Kanyakumari from this place. The entrance fee is minimal( i guess 10 rs). On the top you can feel the cool breeze of the Arabian sea. If you want to take a panoramic view of Kanyakumari, this place is perfect.

7) Siridi Sai Temple

This place is about 12 Km from Kanyakumari Bus stand. We took a local bus to reach the temple. Unfortunately, because of misunderstanding, two of our friends were left in the bus station. They later catched next bus to teach the temple. It was midday when we reached the temple and the priest was preparing for midday pooja. We attended the puja and after staying there for couple of minutes, we caught a local bus to reach another famous temple of the area: Suchindram.

7) Suchindram
Suchindram is about 30 minutes drive from Kanyakumari. It is another famous temple of this area, which is also famous because of its majestic entrance tower that is filled with many sculptures and statues of hindu mythology.

The place is said to have a idol representing all three major gods of Hinduism: Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. We couldn't see much inside the temple as it was lunch time and the temple officials were in rush to close the temple. One disappointing thing here was that they temple officials and priests were so coercive to ask the visitors to donate money.

Well in conclusion Kanyakumari was all about religious pilgrimage. We couldn't manage to do anything  beside visiting temples. However it was a great fun and a religious experience for all of us.

Rameswaram: South India Tour 2014

It was almost the end of September and Dashain vacation was near. In Nepal it lasts for complete 10 days. But in India it is symbolically celebrated just for a day or a two by worshipping goddess durga and festival is known as Dussera. As such it was sure that we weren't getting long vacation that would be enough for us to go to Nepal and thus came the plan for south India tour: Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari and Cochin.  Originally the idea was to include almost every one of the class but latter train ticket unavailability, cost factors etc. caused the number to decrease to 6 . Finally we started to plan for the journey and took a ticket 2 weeks prior of the journey. In spite of trying early, the tickets were almost full and in some of the route we were bound to accept waiting list tickets.

Tirupati:

Shopping was done. Bags were packed and we were all set for our week long south India tour. In the morning of September 30, 2014 we checked out of the hostel at 8:00 am and took a public bus to Tirupati. After a bus ride of about 1 hr. 30 mins, we finally reached the city of temple: Tirupati. Tirupati is known as one of the most visited religions shrines of the world after Vatican City and thus is very famous among the followers of Hinduism. This time our purpose of going to Tirupati was not for pilgrimage but to catch a train to Rameswaram.

In contrast to the railway platforms of the north India, we came to find the platform of Tirupati very clean and well-maintained. As we were early by some hours, we took some foods and waited in the platform. As we were placed in waiting list, we were just elated to get an SMS from Indian railways informing that we have been allocated with four seats. Finally at 12:30 pm Meenakshi Express (our train) arrived and we boarded the train.

Since it was first train journey to some of our friends, they were just elated and were sharing about the experience of the journey. So as to pass some time, we started to play card games. After about 2 hours of travel, the train passed just from the league nearer to our college. As the train moved on, we started to take a track of the position of the train via Google map. The scenery outside the train was so lovely and green. I came to realize those parts of Tamilnadu as being relatively cooler and beautiful than that of Andhra Pradesh.

The train was stopping in different locations. We were managing to get ourselves engaged by getting something to eat from wherever the train stops. Time was passing by and soon it was darker outside. We started to eat our packed foods and went to sleep early. As we didn't had enough seats, we managed to sleep two people in  a single berth.

Rameswaram:

The next day we woke up at around 5:00 am when the train stopped in Madurai. In Madurai junction the train got almost empty thus we changed our seats and started to sleep more comfortably as the final station was still 3 hours away from Madurai.

We woke up at 5:00 am to see the sea link in Rameshwaram known as Pamban Bridge. Our train had started to swiftly pass from the sea link. The view of the sealink was breath-taking as this was a unique experience to us. Early morning beautiful sunrise in the island and the clear blue water of the Indian ocean made a perfect beginning of the day.  We equipped ourselves with cameras and cell phone and began to take videos and photos of the bridge. Finally within couple of minutes, we reached Rameswaram rail station.

We then started searching for accommodation. We had googled about Bangur Yatri Niwas which was nearer to Ramesworam temple, and one of the beautiful place to stay at, in an affordable cost. As we asked the caretaker about rooms he firstly refused. But after requesting for sometime, he finally provided us two rooms at a cost of Rs 750. We went to our rooms and took rest for some time. As a very good veg food was available in the Ashram at a cheap price of Rs 60, we took lunch in the same hotel. It was about 11 am when we checked out of the hotel to go to Dhanuskoti Beach and the surroundings where a sea link was said to be established between India and Srilanka by Lord Ram. Following were the places that we visited in Rameswaram

1.       Dhanuskoti beach:

We took a bus to Dhanuskoti beach from the gate of Rameswaram temple which cost us something like 16 Rs and took about 25 minutes. On the beach of Dhanuskoti we could see a mesmerizing view of the clear (but rough) blue Indian Ocean on one side and silent Bay of Bengal on the other. From that place we hired a bus to take us to Ramsetu that was about half an hour drive and would cost us Rs 100. As the market was not properly regulated, the charge was very high here. This place was once a living hamlet, and was burgeoning trade route and pilgrimage route between Indian and Srilanka. On the way we saw some wrecked Church, roadways, railway track etc. I came to know from the fellow passenger that there was a small town in this place which was destroyed by a cyclone in 1964. Now you get to see very few in this place. The bus driver said us that the nearest distance to Srilanka from this place was like 18 Km (but of course we were not permitted to go). As I stood on the tip of India, I thought of Rama and Rawan as ordinary people who fought for land or women, but whose success stories passed over to the generation as religious sculptures. However, the remnants of sea link between India and Srilanka (also proved by NASA) made me more confused.  After staying there from some couple of minutes, clicking some photos, we went back to the bus station.

 

2.       Rameshworam Temple:

We came directly from Dhanuskoti beach to our station. We changed our dress and decided to go for Ramesworam darshan as because the pilgrims were very few in the evening. You need to make sure that you keep you footwear, cameras, cellphones etc. away while you plan to enter the temple. In the beginning it was confusing for us as we entered via opposite gate. Finally we reached the main gate where temple miking was going on. A gentleman offered to help us saying that he would charge little more for taking holy dip in the kundas inside the temple. We agreed and later to find that the man had cheated us for Rs 100 each. However taking holy bath in Rameshworam temple kundas was a worthy experience and it gave us religious vibe when we chanted “Om nama shivaya” while taking holy bath in 22 kundas.

3.       Agni Ksehtra:

This place is exactly on the front side of the temple which in fact is Bay of Bengal. You can find many pilgrims taking holy bath here.

4.       Gandhamathana parvatham:

This is the tallest place of Island that we went on second day of Ramesworam stay. One can see a spectacular view of the whole island from this place. This temple is said to have the footprints of Lord Rama on a chakra. Because of being located in a topmost hill of island, we took lots of pictures in this place

5.       Pamban Bridge:

We visited to Pamban Bridge on the second day. We just walked across the bridge, took some photos, watched the train pass by etc. On the other side of the bridge we could see lots of peacock playing near the sea beach.  This was an amazing experience to all of us who had seen peacock only in zoo.

6.       House of Kalam:

We also visited the House of Kalam, which is house of former president of India-Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. In spite of our expectation to see the simpler life of Kalam from his original house, we were disappointed to see a modern house with a kind of museum about Dr. Kalam. However we came to know at least sth. about Dr. Kalam and how this man of wisdom had struggled to occupy the highest position of India.

Our Rameswaram tour was totally religious. Beside these place, we visited many other places like: Lakshman Tirtha, Panchamukhi Hanuman, Jatayu Tirtha, etc during our two days and one night stay. As we had out train to Kanyakumari on the evening of second day, we took some food and reached to train platform to wait for the train.

Maiden visit to Delhi

It was second time I was in India, and this time I was fortunate enough to visit Delhi, cultural and political capital of India, while enroute to Tirupati, India. The date was Monday, July 28 when Air India jet landed in Indira Gandhi International Airport.  Generally Delhi is very hot in summer ranging sometime  to 50 Degree celsius.  In contrast to congested airport of Kathmandu, delhi airport was capacious and very well maintained.  While I checked out of delhi Airport the temperature was almost double than that of Kathmandu, 44 degree celsius. Thanks to my maternal uncle who had come to pick me up.

The journey from Delhi to Gurgoan was 30 minutes car ride. Just outside the vicinity of the airport I could see skyscrapers rocketing tall into the sky. It was a real fun with the speed of the car ranging up to 130KPH, which ofcourse is difficult to enjoy in Kathmandu, provided small roads and poor traffic rules along the highways.

My flight to delhi was in late afternoon of July 28, Monday, so I hadn't had much into my to-do-list. The evening was utilized to take rest and to have a nice family time with my maternal family in Gurgoan.

Chadani Chowk:

with my aunt in Chadani Chowk

The second day of  delhi visit was exciting me as we had planned to visit various landmarks of the capital city. We began the journey with Metro ride from Hunda City station towards Chadani Chowk. In contrast to the old and wrecked railways of Mumbai and other parts of India, I found Delhi metro very well managed and cheaper also. We reached to Chadani Chowk in about twenty minutes of boarding the train.

To talk about Chadani Chowk, it is one of the oldest and busiest market of entire India. Established on 17th century by the Mughal emperor of India Shah Jahan, Chadani Chowk offers varieties of goodies of day-to-day usage. We checked out the lane where clothes, fast-food items, and jewelleries. I found the market congested and unmanaged. However I found that the market offered wide varieties of goods at a cheaper prices.



Jamey Masjid:

Jamey Masjid during eid

It was day of eid ( Muslim's greatest festival) that I was visiting Jamey Masjid. I found the masjid very spacious than that of one in Kathmandu. As the people visiting the Masjid for religious purpose was very large in number, we skipped to enter inside the Masjid. However we could find lots of muslim pilgrims wandering in and around the masjid with beautiful dresses( most of them being typical to muslim dresses) and in celebration mood.





Red Fort:
Red fort is another greatest monument in New Delhi which is said to be built by Shah Jahan, on the banks of Yamuna River, and was used by the Mughal emperors as place of residence and the political center of their empire. As we were supposed to check-in  the Red fort, we saw line of thousand of people waiting in queue to visit the fort. The traffic was high basically because of Musilm's greatest festival on the same day. We clicked some photos of the fort from outside the premises and headed-off towards India Gate.



India Gate:
We hired an auto-rickshaw,  which took us about 13 minutes to reach India gate. I had seen India gate many times in Hindi movies and in Indian news channel. The gate is a memorial to some 70,000 Indian soldiers who died in World War I. The war memorial stood up like that of Mumbai Gate in Bombay. I could find lots of people wandering around this monument and passing time. Most of people were visitors like me we were relaxing in the lush-green garden  in the premises of India gate.  After having some snacks and clicking some photos there, we marched towards Gurgoan via the metros.

Delhi Metros:
Just like when you are in Mumbai, you should not miss hanging around in Autos, while in Delhi, you should not miss using delhi metros. Delhi metros started operation since 2003 AD and serves 2.4 million people on daily basis as of 2014. While the metros are advanced and well managed based on security and system, one thing that makes delhi metro unique is the large number of people using the metro and their behavior. Well if you get a seat in delhi metro, you should consider yourself lucky for that particular day. And on top of that, to check-in and check-out of delhi metro is very difficult and is similar like winning a battle ( :D ). But if you get a seat in the metro, you can save yourself from the heat of Delhi, at least for a while. Well, for me, I enjoyed the ride in the metro for three days be it short ride or as long stretching from Huda city center to Greater Noida.

Well these well all the places that I managed to visit during my short stay in Delhi this summer. I had a flight to Tirupati on 31st of July where I was going to join college for MBA. Inspite of my short period of stay, I enjoyed Delhi. Still in my to-visit list in Delhi are some famous tourist attractions like: Qutu minar, Lotus temple, Aaakshar Dham Rastapati bhawan etc.

So, Delhi ! See you next year :)

Naainitaal : Travelogue

Well I was excited to visit Naainitaal since last 2 years. There were two reason for this: One, I had heard about the beauty of Naainitaal right from my childhood, and Two, I had my relatives near Naainitaal whom I wanted to visit so eagerly.  However it is obvious that only wishing and planning doesn't make your wants come true. It only comes true when you really kick off your visit.

I scheduled my visit to Naainitaal after completing my ICYEP program of my Rotaract club on March 22, 2014. I boarded a train to Kathgodam on evening of March 22 from Gorakhpur terminal. As I was travelling alone, I quickly got introduced to some passenger on the same compartment. I found them pretty humble and down-to-earth. As I was tired enough because of continuous train journey since last 2 days, I felt asleep very quick. The next day at 9 am I reached Kathgodam. The whole day went on taking rest and talking to Grandparents in Kathgodam. The very next day on March 24, I along with my father went to Naainitaal who was there for family visit. 

A bus ride of about 1 and half hour from Kathgodam and we were in Naainitaal, is located in Kumaon division of Uttarakhand at a height of around 6000 ft.  Inspite of my imagination that the lake would be BIG, the lake was small one. However I was amazed as, inspite of being small, the lake looked marvellous and offered a beautiful ambience for the tourists. The name Naainitaal is assumed to be derived from " naaini" meaning "eye"  and "taal" meaning " lake" in hindi language. Delving more into this fact, I came to know the fact reason: The Naina Devi temple located at the north bank of the lake is believed to be the same place where the eyes of Goddess Sati fell down in the ancient time, when the charred body of Goddess Sati was being carried by Lord Shiva. 

Following are the specialities of Naainitaal:

1) Peaceful and calm Naainitaal

Though the lake is not very big, the positioning of the lake makes it extraordinary. The lake is also managed properly as we can see it very clean. There are pavements along the side of the lake which makes it easy to take a walk around the lake.  Boating is very popular here and you can find different varieties of boats in different fancy colors. 

2) Culture

Naainitaal is very rich for different kind of culture. I was amazed to see religious shrines of many religion within a radius of 500m. I could easily locate a very old church (possibly St. John in the wilderness), a famous hindu shrine: Naaina devi, a mosque on the side of the cricket ground and also a Gurudwara. Also you can experience the rich culture of bhotia people, people of Kumaon and Garhwal, and almost of all the major religions of world. 

3) Shopping

Naaainitaal is also recommended for shopping of various kinds of items. For eg: Bhotia bajaar is recommended for shopping of woolen clothes and items. You can also buy some souvenirs from the local market which is famous for candle-works, masks and gifts. Also you can find different gift items made up of woods. One can also buy fresh fruits like: apples,  cherries, strawberries, blueberries etc.

4) Fun sites
Cable car ride is one of the fun thing to experience in Naainitaal, which you are sure to enjoy as it gives you a bird eye view of the whole Naainitaal area. You can also go for horse riding in the vicinity of the lake. Also, Naainitaal is famous for trekking and short hiking, wildlife sighting, high altitude zoo, botanical garden visit etc. 

This is all about what you can do in Naainitaal. After visiting the whole of the morning , we went back to Kathgodam. If you are planning for a visit and have quite a long vacation than don't forget to include other tourist attractions nearby like: Bhimtaal, Rupakhet, Khurpataal etc . 

A view that i regret to witness !! take from google. 

Goa: The city of beach

We reached to Goa on March 18, 2014 at 6 pm in the evening after a train journey of around 10 hours. The weather was really hot and the hot vapour made the journey little difficult. Nevertheless the excitement of being to Goa after some hours made us enthusiastic inspite of having a little difficult train ride.

All day swimming, enjoying beers and breezer, tasting different cuisines, trying some water adventure etc are worth mentioning about Goa visit. 

These snapshots summarises Goa visit.

Goa welcoming us with a perfect sun-set.

All set for parasailing in Baga beach

Learning to swim all day

Water game adventure, Parasailing in Baga beach

Aaajaoo on the Beach ;) , in Baga beach.