Day 4

Today was supposed to be my longest day. I had to travel more than 300 Kms to reach a small town in Maharashtra called Lakhnadon. This would bring me much much more closer to you :).

I should have started the day earlier. However, since the past few days, I have just not been able to get up early even though I have always been one of those active ones. The moment I finally got up today at 8AM, I knew it would take me some great efforts to travel so much distance and that too in daylight. As before, I had been advised by locals not to travel much on the highway during nights.

I quickly got ready and boarded the bus by 10AM. It was a bit cloudy and I was expecting a bit of rain. It would have helped cool off the journey as well even if by little. We were soon speeding on the highway NH-26. I was looking out of the window. I was blank. No emotions, none at all. I guess I was just overwhelmed with the feeling of seeing her soon now. Yes, I was inching my way closer to her and by midnight today, I would be just around 600 kms away from her. Thankfully, nothing dramatic happened on the way and by late evening, I managed to reach Lakhnadon.

Dear Pooja:

Knowing you has been the most eventful and the best journey of my life till date. And also one journey of which I probably cherish each and every moment. Log aksar kehte hain mujhse, " I am crazy". I only have one thing to tell them, " THIS IS WORTH IT".

Before I sleep, my i-pod tells me, I can be a HERO too. Enrique just sings along, " I can be your hero baby, I can kiss away the pain, I can stand by you forever.....". Good Night.

Day 3

The day was supposed to begin early and it did as well when I woke up at 6:00 AM to wake her up. However, little did I realize that even though she would wake me up by 7:15AM, I was sleepy enough or may be tired enough from last night to still get late. Finally, I managed to wake up by 8:00AM to an extremely hot morning.

I am in Gwalior today and the plan was pretty laid-back. Moreover, the heat was taking a heavy toll on me and I wanted to save my energy for the longest part of my journey which begins tomorrow. So, I remained indoors most part of the day and spent the precious moments alone reflecting on the last few months that have gone by.

Dear Pooja: Soch raha tha ki is samay kya kar rahi hogi. Waise tumko batana chahta hun ki bahut khush hun main ki tumko wo karne ko mil raha hai jo tum karna chahti ho. Ultimately what I have realized is that a smile on your face has began to define my state of happiness as well. May be I am being selfish but seeing you happy is what I would always want to achieve in my life. I just hope and pray that I am able to do that. Agar kabhi na kar paon to meri koshish ko hamesha dhyaan mein rakhna.

After having a good lunch, I decided to head towards my next destination i.e. Jhansi. I have never been to this city but I still love it. And my reason for fascination is Rani Lakshmi Bai. I love history and she has been one of my favorite characters from India's Independence struggle. The courage that she stands for and her love towards her country and her people - I feel nothing can get bigger than this. And so I took the bus to Jhansi and as usual took the window seat. Total distance to Jhansi is 98 Kms and takes around 2 hours to reach from Gwalior.

When it comes to RP, guess somethings can never go right. My bus broke down midway somewhere near the toll plaza and we were left in the middle of nowhere. Jhansi was around 30 mins from here and I was not at all in a mood to wait in the heat for another bus to come.

And then suddenly, GOD comes calling. A sardar ji riding his bike agreed to offer me a lift till the city of Jhansi and so off we went. The highway was pretty smooth with not much troubles and we reached Jhansi 5 in the evening.

I checked into a city hotel and ordered lots of chilled lime juice for myself.

BTW Pooja, I am much more closer to you now with just about 800Kms left for me to cover. Before I sleep, my i-pod sings, " Everything I do, I do it for you................". Does it remind you of the Hindi version which we developed. :) Good Night.

Day 2:

The day started early and wonderfully too with me waking her up and then she waking me up :). My mornings have never been the same post 16 February, 2011. I need to speak to her the moment I get up else it just seems a little incomplete.

Anyhow, I woke up by 8:15 AM today, got ready, took a heavy breakfast and then headed straight to Taj Mahal. This is what I saw:

Beautiful and EXTRAORDINARY is what comes to mind. We all know it stands for love. I was however wondering how could someone possibly love someone so much that he ended up creating a piece of art which even in modern times stands tall and is revered by people from across the world. If you do not understand love, I suggest, come to Agra - there is a good possibility that you might be able to start your journey.

Pooja - main jaanta hun ki tumne ab tak Taj Mahal nahin dekha. Dua karta hun ki agli baar jab yahan aaon to tumhe apne saath laa sakun. Main chahta hun ki jab tum pehli baar ise dekho to main bhi tumhare saath ho sakun. And you very well know, if RP can dream it, he can do it as well.

My next destination was Gwalior. The total distance between Agra to Gwalior is around 125 Kms and by bus it would take me around 2-3 hours. I was advised by locals here to do the entire journey during day time as the route passes through the Chambal region. Though beautiful, it is often considered a little dangerous to travel in the night.

I loaded myself with lots of liquids and boarded the state roadways bus and we very soon hit National Highway number 3. The site was indeed picturesque and offered a number of excellent photographic points.

I reached Gwalior by 5 in the evening and the first thing I did was find this small, shady internet cafe in the city and write this post. I am planning to hang around in the city for a day, take some rest and leisurely reach Jhansi either by tomorrow evening or early morning the day after.

Dear Pooja:

Sometimes, somewhere in life you end up meeting someone who means to you much more than your own existence. And I feel that my time has indeed arrived. When it comes to you - numbers, distances, time, money just does matter. They seem irrelevant. There is absolutely no logic behind what I have felt for you and what I do for you.

It might not be your favorite song but I know you like it. My i-pod has just started humming, " Gulon mein rang bhare...baadlon bahaar chale, chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka,.....kaarvaan chale". Good night!

The biggest Journey of my life - Day 1

Yesterday while I was speaking to her and with one emotion leading to the another, she softly told me, "I wish we were together in this moment". Bas fir kya tha, usi moment decide kar liya ki ab to milna banta hai.

Day 1: 12:00 PM

The total distance between Delhi and my destination is approximately 1532 Kms. I had looked at flights yesterday- too expensive. Train tickets at such a short interval - just not possible. And so began the longest road journey of my life.

My first destination was Agra (on NH-2) - The land of Taj Mahal. I took the Mudrika bus service from Wazirpar (about 2 Kms from my home) and got down near Ashram. From Ashram, I took the State Roadways Bus and made myself comfortable at the window seat. I must tell you, it was extremely hot. As the bus engines rolled, a sudden realization happened - I was ACTUALLY on my way to meet her. This has to go down as the craziest thing I have ever done in my life so far. I was excited, a bit nervous but all SMILES.

" My State Roadways Bus"

Agra is close to 200 Kms from Delhi. Highway is good on most parts and it took me close to 5 hours to reach my destination with a 30 min break in between for lunch. Yummy paranthas on the highway along with daal makhani are always recommended. I reached Agra by about 6:30 in the evening and headed straight to my friend's place, Abhishek who just managed to be in Agra at that time. Thanks to him, I got to stay at his place and saved on a lot of cash. Next morning I plan to visit Taj Mahal and then head towards Gwalior - my next destination.

Dear Pooja:

Jab tumse pehli baar mila tha, tab aisa bilkul nahin socha tha ki ek din main aisa bhi kuch kar sakta hun. It has been close to 6 months that I have known you and in all these times, all you have done is come closer to me and unconsciously become an important part of my life.

7 din ho gaye hain tumko gaye aur roz apne aap se yahi sawaal karta hun ki, " pooja waapas kab aayegi". Tum aao ya na aao, main aa raha hun.

What I am doing today, is just for you.

As I sign out for the day, I dedicate this song to you as my i-pod sings out loud, " Na aaye ho...na aaoge..na phone pe bulaoge...na shaam ki karari chai labon se yun churaoge....gaye tum gaye ho kyun, raat baaki hai...gaye tum gaye ho kyun, saath baaki hai....gaye, tum gaye hum tham gaye, har baat baaki hai". Good Night

My Travelogues - Day 4

27 Dec, 2009

4:00 AM – Full night bakar session left us all with very little time to sleep. I switched off all lights at 4:00 AM in the morning only to be woken up by an alarm exactly three and a half hours later.

7:30 AM – Woke up to a very cold morning and it was extremely difficult to leave the blanket. We kept pushing each other to get out of the bed first and get ready. As therefore it became clear, it took us two hours to be ready and reach the breakfast table. Just as we were getting into our car, my stomach gave a tweaking sensation. Not sure on what it was, I decided to ignore the same.

10:00 AM – We are heading towards Manikaran, some 70 KMs or a 3 hour card drive away from Manali. The journey was expected to be a steep downhill journey with very narrow roads.

10:45 AM – We stop at a Hill Shawl factory. Perfect time to do some shopping and make best use of it to impress your mother and if you are lucky enough your girlfriend as well. One guy is married and the rest of us have never had any luck in the later department, so we just decided to impress our mothers so that she chooses the best one for us.

When it comes to shopping, I usually end up deciding on the items within few minutes of entering the shop and very much the same pattern repeated today as well. Since, others were taking far too much time to complete their shopping; I took a walk across the road to be near the river. My stomach was beginning to give me lot more problems than I had imagined. I rested myself against a rock and prayed to God to keep me fit n fine as it was a long day ahead.

Nature has its own set of paradoxes and one such was right there in front of my eyes. The river water was gushing down the stream in full flow making loud noise and yet it was calm all around, so serene, so peaceful. I wonder how the nature manages to create it. And as I was sitting in such surrounding, a thought struck my mind. Why do we drink or consume alcohol? Because all that we remember are things which have made us cry/sad at some point of time in our life. There was another afterthought however. Was this one of my serious reflections or my stomach hangover which was giving me such thoughts?

12:00 PM – We reach a temple site called Vaishnavi temple, still some distance away from Manikaran. I could not figure out much about the significance of this temple but it had some really beautiful wooden carvings. We finished the darshan in quick time; I drank a bottle of Fanta followed by a bottle of Limca and we started again.

1:45 PM – We still have not reached Manikaran and have halted at some point in between. The driver is having lunch, Shweta is munching peanuts and everyone else is busy clicking photographs and I am sitting inside the car (blame my upset/hangover suffering stomach)

2:15 PM – The driver is still having his lunch, the gang is still clicking the picture and I am still sitting inside the car. The status quo has been maintained except Shweta who within the past half n hour has graduated from munching peanuts to munching chocolates.

We had planned that we would return back to our hotel from Manikaran by 4PM that however now looks a far distant possibility.

3:15 PM – We reach Manikaran and what a nature’s site this place is. Manikaran is famous for a hot water spring in between the icy cold waters of river Beas and some wonderful landscapes. It is a famous pilgrimage centre for both Hindus and Sikhs.

According to a Hindu belief, Lord Shiva and Parvati spend 11,00 years here and once when Parvati lost her mani into the river, Lord Shiva instructed his attendants to retrieve the same. Their failure to do so led Lord Shiva to open his third eye and Sheshnag was requested to pacify the lord. It is believed that he hissed so strongly that the water spread over the entire area resulting in the appearance of the mani. However, the hiss gave rise to the boiling water.

According to a Sikh belief, Guru Nanak Dev visited the place and once it happened that he and his disciples had no fire to cook the food. Guru Nanak Dev then lifted a rock and a hot water spring appeared. This is also a reason why one can find a number of devotees cooking rice in the hot water spring as it is considered pious.

to be contd................

My Travelogues - Day 3 contd

1:00 PM: Amidst a heavy traffic, we manage to reach Solan valley just before the lunch time. Since all of us were full with our last dose of maggi, we decided to head straight towards the Shiv temple. It was a long 3 KM stretch up the hill. There was also a strong temptation to do some horse riding up the strenuous slope but the enthusiasm in all of us refused to die down and we all geared ourselves for some adventurous trekking. However, just before we began the journey, everyone suddenly decided to do away with the astronaut type suits which we were wearing. A logical reason being the difficult trek ahead and the suits along with the boots might make the journey difficult. I am yet to figure out but some devil in Shikha and me stopped us from doing what the others did. Our logic, it might just be too cold and windy up there. But I guess sometimes it is better to be a bit dillogical as Shikha and I found out by being the slowest to cover the entire journey and also ending up with few rashes and very tired legs.

2:00 PM: The trek was simply amazing. There was some sunshine during the early parts of the journey. The mountains at the back were full of snow and with sun throwing its yellow light on them; it formed a perfect picturesque moment. We could see helicopters at regular intervals ferrying the visitors up till the Rohtang Pass. At the front were another set of mountains, much darker than the ones behind us. In between them, was the free flowing Beas River with crystal clear water. We were trekking along the river, stopped at many a places and posed for some wonderful set of pictures.

By 2PM we had reached the point from where we could clearly see the shiv temple. It was nothing short of another testimony of God’s existence. The water was flowing down continuously from the waterfall above and it formed a shivling like formation at the site where the temple was located. It was freezing cold here and barefoot darshan of the temple was a spine chilling experience.

On our way back, we settle down for a lunch at a small restaurant located right in the middle of the valley. Mountains all around, river by your side, hot maggi and 6 friends. Ah! What a life.

5:00PM: As soon as we came down from the Shiv temple, we were once again trekking to do some paragliding. Thankfully, this time Shikha and I had got some sense into us and we got ourselves free from the extra and unnecessary baggage at the very first opportunity. Low wind and low visibility could have proved to be a dampener to our paragliding experience. And as we were moving up to the spot, there were people who were coming back disappointed, regular phone calls were exchanged between us to confirm whether the show is still on or not. In the middle of all the confusion, poor Shikha refused to go up any further and she went back along with Chetan. The rest of us somehow managed to reach the top and got ready for the next airy adventure. By the time I reached the spot (yes, I was late again. Blame my astronaut suit which made me really tired), Nitin and Shweta had already descended down.

When my turn came, I was given a heavy dose of instructions of Dos and Donts. The two incidents before me where people fell down and hurt themselves as they could not lift their machine up made me wonder if this is the first and the last time I am going to fly. I prayed to God, “I don’t want to die a bachelor”. All I heard from the instructor was RUN. As soon as I heard the word, I obeyed the same in a true army style and just started running. People were shouting “Well Done! Well Done!”, I could see one on my right clapping as well. I ran with even more power and as the next few seconds unfolded, I realized that there was no ground below me. I was still making the run like movements with my legs, but nothing below me. It took another few seconds before I felt like I was really flying. With mild wind blowing past me, brushing through my hairs and sun setting far off in the mountains, it was a ride through the heaven. And just as I was beginning to enjoy it, I received another set of instructions from the pilot to make some adjustments to my leg position. We were sailing down. It sent down another set of shivers through my spine. One moment, I felt we were going to crash into the hut and another moment we were heading straight towards a tree. But I guess the pilot behind me was an expert and he manoeuvred the machine perfectly for a safe and a sound landing.

7:00PM: It was really dark by now and we headed our journey back to the hotel. In between Shweta’s challenge to run down to the hotel (which eventually none of us accepted), we had our dinner, explored the option of a night out but eventually decided to spend the night in cheating Shweta to the game of Monopoly.

My Travelogues - Day 3

26 Dec, 2009

5:00 AM: A call from Chetan wakes up the three musketeers. And even though it was extremely difficult to make our first moves outside the quilt ( I wonder why we get the best sleep in the world when we are woken up once and then cuddle back into the quilt), we still managed to get ready in time (obviously since none of us dared to take bath today) and made our way out of the hotel by 6PM.

It was still dark outside. No sign of sun yet. We checked out with the hotel staff if we could get anything to eat, but we were left dissapointed as the mess would only open as per the scheduled time of 7PM. Since, we did not want to compromise on our trip to Rohtang, we started the drive up the mountains. The sky was beginning to turn grey and it cast a certain mysterious spell on the icy mountains above.

The roads were narrow now, the most infact on the journey so far. One mistake or a minor lack of concentration and the car can go spiralling down the valley.

7:00AM: We stop to buy some special suits meant to help us survive on the mountains above full of snow. It was weird to wear them initially since we had no idea how cold it would be up there. The suits covered us from head to toe, the troubling part being that they had absolutely no opening. And so the job of relieving ourselves from the natural pressure became a strenuous exercise in itself. There were some lucky souls though who still managed to do that without dropping off their suits. Some talent, I must admit.

We pick our suits and head up again. Within 15 minutes, we stop again for the breakfast. Eating hot egg omlette in such suits and those long snow boots was certainly one of its kind experience. Outside, it was now windy as well besides the cold. I was slowly realizing the worth of these as I was feeling considerably warm inside. This place was Kothi. The news from Kothi is that it is very good snow up there but the disappointing part is we might not be able to go upto te Rohtang. Not only the road is covered with snow, it has also become extremely slippery to allow any kind of vehicular movement. Not willing to give up on our excitement yet, with our stomachs full, we began the ascent again.

8:15AM: We reach a site 30 kms before Rohtang Pass. Its all snow and much more can be seen at the mountians upwards from the point from where we are all standing now. This place is 7980m above sea level. Phew, never had imagined that I would come this far. It has become much brighter now compared to when we started. However, there is no sun yet. The sky is clear and so the sunrise would happen soon and would be clear as well. The otherwise green pine trees are also full of snow.

The police officer tells us that our car cannot go beyond the point and we would have to board the local jeep whose tyres have been wrapped with steel chains all around so as to prevent the vehicle from slipping because of the snow. Some bargaining later, we board the jeep to go to even higher altitude.

9:15AM: We reach Gulaba. The temperature is 0 deg C, it is very windy and surprisingly no sun yet. The road till gulaba was extremely narrow with snowy mountains on one side and deepest valley ever seen on the other. At some sharp turns, we could clearly feel the tyres slipping away only to get back on the road in time.

With snow in front of us, our excitement levels reached its zenith. We started walking. Nitin for some reason has found glory in slipping and is doing so very often now. Mind you, it is extremely risky to do that here. I was wondering, who brought him here. Anyways, the first thing that I did after reaching here was to thanks God for the suits which we were wearing. Although they made us look like complete astronauts, yet they were managing pretty well in keeping us a little protected from the cold, strong winds.

As the sun began to emerge from somewhere within the mountains, the colour orange on white snowy mountains felt so pure, so beautiful. I have not seen heaven but may be this is what it is supposed to look like. This was nothing short of a God's miracle and only he is powerful enough to create a moment like this. Between the two mountain peaks, out came the sun bringing life to the entire place. We spent two hours there, playing with snow, a bit of trekking, and lots of poses. Yes, lots of poses but no pictures. And that is so because Praveen forgot the charger in Delhi, Shweta's camera didn't charge enough through the night (since there was hardly power at the hotel) and Chetan forgot the camera cells in the car itself.

I remember from my marketing class, a question was once posed to us, " Who is the biggest competitor to Sony cameras?". The answer is neither canon, nor kodak. The correct answer is a mobile phone. How powerful can this answer be was only realized by me today. So, out came our mobile phones, which also needed some immendiate charging but we started clicking anyways. All was going well, we were gearing up to return to the base when as much as Rs. 130 slipped out of Shweta's hand. As people shouted, I turned immediately, looked back and I could see a 100 Rs note flying freely in the air (swinging like a sinusoidal wave) and down towards the valley. One amongst many localites present there ran behind it doing a Hrithik Roshan from Krishh and managed to fetch back Rs.110. And the reason why money had to come out was because Shikha tried out a daredevil stunt by fitting herself inside a tyre and diving down from a certain height. Gosh, this was risky as well because the tyre is tied to a rope and as you go down, you go down only till the lenght of the rope. And when it stops, it gives a sudden jerk, powerful enough to throw you out of the tyre and make you fly down the valley. If you do not hold on to the tyre strongly with both hands, only God can save you.

There was in fact more to thank God. While we were going down, our jeep got stuck at a turning. The driver gave a full raise, but the tyres continued to rotate on their axis only and did not move ahead. Praveen suddenly jumped out of the jeep and started running ahead. Sensing something wrong, I too started to unbolt the front door. At this the driver shouted back and instructed not to move because it would make the jeep lighter and increase the risk of slipping. As the driver continued to give raise, all of us tried to find the humour in going down. Unsuccessful, the tension began to mount with every second now. Suddenly, I found that instead of going ahead or backwards, the jeep was sliding sideways. I gave a quick glance to my left, it was a deep valley, so deep that if we do go down, it would take at least two days for someone to locate us. Suddenly, I saw Praveen coming towards us and with him were two more men, probably the local people. This brought a certain relief to a few tense moments.These localites then helped put the jeep back on track. The scariest few minutes of my life had just past away.

We reunite with our driver and begin the downwards journey towards our next destination for the day, solang Valley.

I do not know why, but my i-pod has just switched on " We shall overcome, we shall overcome, hum honge kamyab..ek din...mann mein hai vishwas, poora hai vishwas, hum honge kaamyab ek din". Enjoy!