The Kanatal Trip – the Trip up the mountains

28^th December’09: Monday morning, 0430 hrs.

“Phew! We are lucky to have made it in time..”, I say as the train leaves. The fun factor has risen to another level thanks to our near escape from missing the station. Our hands and feet going numb due to the chill in the air, we move towards the exit to look for a taxi booth.

I was surprised to see the auto and taxi walas up at that hour. Hovering like bees to honey, coolies and taxi drivers ask us where we wanna go.We asked for the location of the taxi booth and one driver pointing to the right said, “वोह उस पेढ़ के पास है”. At that moment my glad eyes spot this huge billboard reading Prepaid taxi Booth.

“कनातल का  taxi मिलेगा?”, we ask the old guy at the booth. Rs 1710 to Kanatal (one side mind it)!! Our calculation seems to not match what the ol’ man is saying coz after all Kanatal is around a 100 km from Haridwar. “यह Tehri के rates हैं |यहाँ यही चलता है |”. Negotiating with the man is useless more so because it was a prepaid booth… Nothing going in his pocket after all!

Sanghi and I look at each other and discuss what should be done. Since a cab from the prepaid booth is definitely the safest bet, we take the cab and wait for our ride to come.

UP07J 2762: white Ambi. “Hope this doesn’t die down on us”, we say to ourselves. Well, we are not going to meet the queen so the car should do fine as long as it gets us to our destination. We ask the driver to put the luggage in the boot and get into the car.

The driver needs a special mention here:  गौतम, Gautam (we later found from one of his phone conversations that he's bengali). A super hyper guy humming some local song in the wee hours of the morning, lost in his own world. Kanatal doesn’t have a taxi stand per say so we ended up taking this guy for the return journey as well. Two 1000 rupee bills dangling in front of his eye as he explains that charges for keeping the cab over night will be extra.

Throughout the trip he’s the source of some senseless and hyper questions/ statements that entertain us. Sanghi quite rightly named him a gate crasher with some lucky stars…lol! The first statement of  his was when I asked him what is the route to Kanatal. His prompt and defensive reply was "आप जो सोच रही हैं, ऐसा नहीं है | यह एक संस्था है |" You are deeply misconstruing 'coz this is an institution!

0500 hrs, the road journey starts. A quick call at home to inform we’ve reached along with passing the cab number; we head to our final destination.

Sleepy, tired and shivering from cold, I take out a sheet that I packed in my nap sack for emergency cases (the incessant packing and shopping did prove to be helpful here). I’m not sure if that insufficient cotton sheet provided warmth to any of us, but the mental satisfaction that we have another layer around was enough.

The sun did not rise till 0700 hrs hence majority of our road trip was in the dark with minimal traffic. Driving through the mountains with the sound of silence, looking at the valley with lights twinkling from houses, the chasteness of the majestic mountains...Euphoria sets in... Rushing to get off at the station, extreme cold and windy morning, numb hands, feet and legs-Its all worth it!

 After two small stops (one for petrol and one for driver wanting some tea), myriad hues in the sky at the time of sunrise, numb feet and 3 hours of patience, we reach the camp site. Yes!! All smiles 

The Kanatal Trip – the Journey and how it almost was missed

So I pick up from where I left in my last blog: The plan is to take a train to Haridwar and a cab from there to the Kanatal.

With tickets to Haridwar booked and confirmed, dinner done with amazing aalo parathas made by mum, I try to get some sleep coz the train’s departure is scheduled at 2355 hrs. Finally the restless me puts the luggage in the car, hugs mum and off to Nizamuddin Railway Station it is… with dad dropping me J

The drive to the station/ airport on your way to a vacation is always a thrilling experience, and the fact that we were driving relatively late at night on a Sunday with no traffic what so ever made it better. Who would want to get stuck in a jam at such a moment?

The last time I boarded a sleeper train was 12 years back, so I was a bit wary about my luggage being stolen. Result: I am contemplating on my way to the station and discussing with dad whether I should buy one of those chains they sell. The ironic thing was that my friend had not even locked the luggage, leave aside buying a chain to tie the equipment that would turn out to be a real life saver the next day.

As we reach the Sarai Kale Khan Bus terminal and try to locate a parking, I’m thinking why stations are always so crowded and chaotic even at the oddest of hours.

In my miniscule acquaintance with trains and railway stations, there wasn’t much alteration to the picture painted in my mind since the first time I boarded a train with this time’s visit: coolies asking to carry the luggage, the hurry in one's step when climbing the platform bridge and searching for the platform number…

Anyway, Dodging all the madness and deciding to meet up at the designated platform, I descend into the twilight zone between reality and heaven we’re about to be part of.. A thought just crosses my mind: This reality that we so speak of: Is it for real or just a screen saver? Call it perspective thinking but the place we call heaven is the tangible reality. Why else would we run off to our relative heaven and feel more at peace, one with ourselves?

My deep thought/ concentration gets broken with dad confirming the compartment number. A minute later, my friend arrives and we board the train, place the luggage (without the security chains J), say good bye to dad, settle in and start chit chatting and asking about how the other has been, how we are looking forward to the trip.

The train starts to move and Excitement_level = Excitement_level+1

Yes, its past half past 0000 hrs, Monday morning and the notes of us talking are signs that we are not tired yet. "What time should we set our alarms to.. 0400?", my friend says. Cautious me says lets plan it for 0330 as we’re not sure what time the train will reach Haridwar. The alarm is set and we retire to our bunks deciding to confirm the time with the ticket checker.

With a big nap sack hanging on my head that's taking precious space, I shift 'n toss 'n turn to find my comfort zone. It takes time but I am able to finally doze off just to be woken up by a mundane and detached voice asking for tickets. We show the tickets and doze off again:

Q: Who at this moment remembers asking the time the train reaches Haridwar?

A: er... Noone!

The alarm buzzing at 0330 hrs and I wake up Sanghi asking what to do now. With her being tired from another painstakingly delayed journey from Allahabad to Delhi, I get up and look around for a soul who is not sleeping. Bingo, I find my knight and he says it should reach around 5. Gladly I return back and give the update, change my alarm time to 0430 hours to keep 30 mins as buffer. 1 sheep over the fence, 2 sheep over the fence, 3 sheep over the fence, 4…..Zzzzz

0430 buzzing on my phone: signalling me to wake up! In a sleep deprived state, I wake my friend and also try to wake myself up…. The train halts and I decide to check what station it is and maybe also get details of how far our destination is.

It’s a tough task to wear shoes when you are sleepy… Walking till the gate, I look around for a signage of some sort to tell me the station’s name. I see no boards but I do see a bunch of familiar faces who boarded the train from Delhi. I look around some more before finally asking:

Me: Which station is this?

Them: Haridwar

Me: HARIDWAR???????

Them: Yes

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Did I say I was sleepy/ sleep deprived?… No way. I cannot afford this luxury I think!

The stoppage of this train at Haridwar is 5 mins… one min gone in wearing my shoes, one min in looking for a signage and finally asking people and half a min in realizing we are in deep shit!

I run back and with a worried tone tell my friend whose resting that we’ve reached Haridwar and got only a few minutes to get off! Not getting off now is not an option that has or will cross my mind and while my friend is getting up and wearing shoes, I am desperately pulling the luggage out. Not chaining the luggage suddenly seems like the best decision after all doesn't it?

Every second is precious and the irony is that we don’t know how much time we got. Both of us pull out the luggage and I still got to check my nap sack, wear my comfy jacket and cap that’s merrily lying on the bunk. In the mean Sanghi had stepped out one piece of luggage to the platform. I check, double check and triple check in a hurried state to ensure nothing is left behind, and rush with my bag and heavy luggage to the platform.

Yes, we are out of the train in the nick of time because a few seconds later the train starts to move!!!

Did we really pull this off??!! We laugh at ourselves and the crazy moment that passed us by, unable to believe that one can do so much in so less time given our semi-drowsy state!

This marks the true beggining of our journey and unpreditable situations we're about to face.

YES, The adventure has finally begun…………….

Kanatal: Prologue

2 weeks back my BFF sends me an SMS saying she'll be in Delhi in the last week of December so we can meet up. But of course I was all thrilled to read he message and following the chit chat we concluded with a tentative plan of us girls heading out to the mountains.

Deciding the place:

Deciding the place took a day or two with the options being from Corbett, Jaisalmer and myriad others. I wanted to visit an unheard destination with one constraint: it needs to be not too far off. With help from One stop solutions, we were able to decide on the place fast and Kanatal it was.

Logistics:

Night time travel seemed the best option to ensure maximum utilization of time but driving or hiring a cab was ruled out. Wat about an over night train till Haridwar?? Sangeetha checked the tickets availability and voila the trip was confirmed!

With booking done a week or so in advance everything running as scheduled.

Packing for the trip:

With a hectic week at work, dinner/ lunches with friends and a 7 course meal (I just had to talk abt the 7 course meal coz it was goooood), I started to pack only yesterday and realised that all the winter clothes wont fit in my favourite travel bag so a bigger case was taken out.

As a pointer, make sure you pack enuf when going to the mountains in winters. You never know what's in store for you (This comes from personal experience!)

I know it made me run to the mall and the near by markets a couple of times but its worth it: Caps, scarfs, mufflers... You just don't get the opportunity to flaunt your winter clothes in Delhi / Pune so both of us are excited and hoping for some decent thand.

Travel time companion: Music

Well, music is essential! Creating a new playlist dedicated to the trip with an assorted collection of Chopin, OST - Crash, El Postino and The Last Samurai, motown music, Dean Martin, Miles Davis, Matchbox 20, Lifehouse, Poets of the fall, U2, Telepopmusik, Dream Theatre.... The list is still going on so I plan to dedicate one blog to the music accompanying us on the trip as well.

As for now... Going for dinner and then Kanatal here I come!!!!!

These are a few of my favourite things

Sound of Music is one of the best musicals I have come across! My favourite scene from the movie absolutely has to be the one where the captain says to Maria "Oh yes we are Captain!" when she is incessantly pleading him to pay more attention to his kids and be more of a DAD to them than a Captain running an army. A song from this movie:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kitten.......
Brown paper packages tied up with string,
these are a few of my favourite things

..has inspired me to write about the everyday things in life that are my favourite. Its funny how your everyday drive to work, the little things you see around, the converstions you have bring joy that may be hard to imagine if you are not there to see them first hand.

• 95 fm has to be first on my list as the moment I step out of home, I switch on the crazYness that the RJs on the station have to offer! I frequently call up to participate in their segments / games involving the listeners and its plain fun talking to them.
• The Israeli commando, pointed out to me by my travel time companion these days, who stands outside the Embassy making sure everything is in order. I've come to a conclusion based on the various bunch I've seen standing outside (restricting the bunch to the israelis) that Israeli men are no less than Greek Gods!
• The trees loaded with those pink flowers at the round about at The Claridges. I've been obsessing about these flowers for ages now!
• The kid in the billboard of Lufthansa Airlines at the Shanti Nikentan red light.
• Lunch/ Post Lunch walk with my pal Pooja...
• Blogging from work ;)
• Spontaneous dinner plans with colleagues
• Mini stop overs for ice cream / Gol guppas
• Mum playing farmville when I reach home
• Watching a war movie on my latest aquisition - the giant 42 inch plasma TV

Moron Alert

I've been told that one of my favourite word/slang is the word "Moron".
Well, one can't really help it if you are surrounded by so many of them most of the time!
Here goes my custom definition:

Moron = a low life; not worth wasting your time / effort energy on; self obsessed person; someone selfish or inconsiderate; outright stupid; dumb

To ensure that this blog does not get an agitated response I've tried to keep the definition generic, which was quite a challenge for me...

Dreams...... Sweet Dreams!!

Sunday night and I am retiring to bed early with some soothing music: Dean Martin, Miles Davis, Aqua Bassino.

With the only light in my room being the distilled rays from a distant street lamp through a round window, all I see is the silhouette of objects around.

The sounds of these pieces take me to the calm sea shore where I see the waves soothing the age lines of a picturesque beach.

Music is so mesmerizing... I saw the pianist yesterday after being hooked to its music forever. Adrian Brody had done justice to his part. The character's love for the music... his soul is alive all the while... I guess that is the key to survival through the darkest of hours!

My fondness for war movies can never be fulfilled!

For those who love the sounds that take them to wherever they want to go, Aqua Bassino is definitely worth trying out!

As read in a review, the album that I am listening to: Beats and Bobs, the reviewer, Andy Puleston quite rightly describes the album as "A sumptuous mix of styles, Beats and Bobs fuses deep house with nu jazz, down tempo and African rythms to create a sound that is both accomplished and travelled."

Good music just makes my day.. in this case a great evening and a nice sleep...

To health and happiness

Our purpose of life is to appreciate and cherish the life we've been given, and by appreciating I most definitely do not mean the incessant late night partying.

Happiness comes in different forms for different people.. It can be work, family, friends, doing some greater good for humanity or anything one strikes a chord with.

Every now and then I keep asking myself whether striking a balance between all the aspects is a prerequisite to eternal happiness. As part of my trifling conclusion, our Gods (some of them) left the worldly boundaries like family and took upon the entire mankind as their own, with no discriminations based on cast, creed or colour. If that may be the case, does the quintessential balance that we talk about really exist in reality or is it just a one of our creations to justify the norms of society that we life in?

Being in that state of happiness and contentment is an experience compared to none and very few would have found the key. The idea is to cherish what you have and throw the unnecessary baggage that weighs you down. As pointers:
*Cherishing what you have should not be misconstrued as an escape routine to not set goals. One should always keep setting goals for themselves, both short and long term!
*The Baggage that I talk about is a part of everyone's life: a bad relationship, an unsuccessful career move, a tyrant boss. The key is to let go of the unnecessary and move towards the greater good that you need to achieve.

I try to implement the same in my life and look for inspiration in and around.

As a conclusion, hang onto the good habits/people/activities and let go of the negativities that bring you down coz they really aren't worth wasting the precious limited time you got..

Make a difference in the life's of people around you and see the happiness and joy it brings to you!

Look out coz this year winters weekends are sizzling!!!!!

Come weekend and we all are filled with this immense energy that is just too in your face to miss out. More so when the weather outside is just perfect to do anything, I feel I can just fly..

Well, like any of you, my weekend is also a routine (lucky me, only sometimes) but the break away from the 5 days of mundane life is so irresistible that I fall prey to it. My theory is to keep the weekend on its toes for I can't sit idle and waste a perfect day just sitting around.

For all your foodies out there, indulge in a nice brunch: Take time out for yourself! My take on enjoying your meals is doing so while listening to some nice music. Why not treat your body and soul... I ended up making a decent meal for myself both days: Hot and steamy Idlys with Sambhar and porridge/Omelette loaded with veggies with a hot cuppa herbal tea.

I just can't do without my green tea and the best part is that you can create an infusion out of anything that you fancy. My next tea is gonna be all about rose/ jasmine. I can already see me enjoying the all goodness and the aroma...

I love those morning jogs at 5:30 when the street are loaded with nothing but the morning mist and dim yellow street lights twinkling through them.

Add to that your favourite music and voila you got a perfect start to a prefect day!! I am a fan of the oldies and new age music just doesn't do it for me. If you have heard the soundtrack of What Women Want, you'll know what I am talking about.

I've got you under skin,

I've got youuuu deep in the heart of me,

so deep in my heart that you're really a part of me,

I've got you under my skin

Next on my agenda is stepping out and doing what I do best... Just being myself

Good Morning

4:30 and I and am up?? I look at my watch and reliase this may be the earliest I have woken up for no reason.

Well, an early start to a day is always a good sign so a lil bit of reading here and there and I stumble upon a speech/ article by his holiness, the Dalai Lama on Compassion.

The purpose of life

ONE GREAT QUESTION underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life? I have considered this question and would like to share my thoughts in the hope that they may be of direct, practical benefit to those who read them.

I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affect this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment. I don't know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.....

Please follow this link to read more...

Stop Running Away

We’re all searching
Time’s unfolding
Trying to fill our lives with meaning
Still we’re learning
How to breathe amongst the pain and suffering
When all we need is peace of mind

Stop running away

Beliefs are changing
Still we’re paying
Power holding back the people

All we need is peace of mind

Electronic music and Sleep

My favourite moment: Me alone in my car driving to nowhere land with strangers passing by in their big and small cars eagerly waiting to get to their destination...

One of my favourite hobbies is to sample new music and/or genre... not necessarily newly released albums but music new for me.

Music is a part of my life 24x7... well, music is me. Its brings out so many emotions: makes you laugh, cry, miss people, fall in love, anger.....

With the world where I am sleeps, I'd like to stick to some relaxing music to suit the mood.

I feel I'm close to becoming a junkie coz after death defying sound and some head banging, I prefer to listen to the soft and sedative sound of electronic. well, just a thought..

So I check my trusty iTunes for some nice music and come across Télépopmusik. Their dreamy music.. it just soothes all the stress away. Gives me the feeling as if I stepped into an old Hollywood movie.

I see remixed / dance version of these songs and wonder why would one want to rob the originals of their beauty??

Some of the Telepopmusik's songs that should not be missed:

Breathe

Love can damage your health

Close

Yesterday was a lie

Smile

I enjoy the company of some good music while driving and mr. radio jockey at 95 fm makes my day sometimes by playing a song where I can sing along really loud. However, I need to keep a backup of some of my personal choices as well for one of those rainy days when my friendly neighbour RJ's music notes do not match mine.

My kinda music

The 80's rocked man!!

Before retiring to bed, listening to Bruce Hornsby and The Range - The way it is

You can get the girl out of the 80's, but you cannot get the 80's out of the girl!!!

Just stumbled upon in my iTunes library Dean Martin's - Sway...

Perfect first dance at one's wedding. As sleeping beauty sleeps in deep slumber, she most definitely would have been dreaming of this song in repeat mode.

These are the first links I found to associate with the song (which may not be the best). In case you can suggest me better links to review the songs, please do share

... to be continued

Good times gonna come

A couple of months back, I got an album of Aqualung after listening to their song in one of OC's episodes.

The album "Strange and beautiful" somehow reminds one of the era gone by. It's something you can listen to while driving on a long lonely road: restrospecting with a melancholic tone to some extent.

I liked the music for the soothing, melodic yet sedating tone, best for listening to on a rainy day.

The singer Matthew Hales has crisp voice that I haven't heard in sometime, quite addictive!

The opening note of the song, Good times gonna come is eerie but the strange sinking note picks up later with positive under tones.

The realization of Love found, love lost and then found again in the song Brighter than sunshine is borrowed in the movie A Lot like love.. aptly associated I must say.

I am picking the album up after a long time hence cannot comment on much songs as they need to be revisited.

On the whole, I would recommend the music to people who enjoy the soft tones of the piano, some dreamy and thoughtful/ mellow lyrics... perfect to listen to when you want the time to just go by...

Choose your company

The wisest decision one can make in their life is the people they hang around with. Why?? Coz you are known by the company you keep!

Since people reflect their image onto others, we sometimes tend to bear the cross of a fucking moron that just came along for the ride....

Choose carefully... and its never too late to give up the association of a negative person even if the damage has already been done by them.

People come and people go but at the end of the day if you have your head held high none of them can get to you.

Remember, a phoenix burns and rises from the ashes to be a newer/ better version of itself!