Final day-Day 13:

Early morning 5:30 am, we wake up and gather our bags. By now everyone’s begin to miss their parents and their sunny home state. Sanvordem arrives. The next station is Margao. Reach Margao station at 6:15 am. And that’s how an incredible tour comes to an end. Even though there is no dearth of the places that mesmerize us, the fact remains that nothing beats our beautiful GOA, our home!!!

Day 12:

The ensuing day on the train is spent in reminiscing about the tour.

Day 11:

Hmmm… everyone in a big hurry. The train bound for Agra is to arrive at around 8:30 am. So, all are in a mad rush. We haul ourselves into taxis and set off for the railway station. We have our breakfast there and then board the train to Agra. Reach Agra at around 11:30 am.

Once there, we proceed for the siteseeing of the place most synonymous with Agra-the Taj Mahal. A mausoleum combining the Mughal, Persian, Islamic and Indian architectural styles, it is counted among the Seven Wonders of the World. A treat for the eyes! Once done with the Taj site-seeing we go to the Pizza Hut. By then it is almost 4:00 pm and the train back to Goa is due at 5:30 pm. So, we decide to speed up and reach the station in time for the train and start our journey back home.

day 10 continued...

So we have to hurry up with the temple sight seeing and unfortunately we could be there only for half of the day, and mind you, the security checks there eat up quite a lot of your time.

After Akshardham, it is shopping time!!! But alas, we are real short of time. We are hungry by this time and first go to KFC and then head off to Palika Bazar. After about an hour there, we move on to Karolbagh. But as luck would have it, it is closing time when we reach there. After a brief but quite an eventful shopping spell, we return back to the hotel. Almost all of us are awake till quite late that night. Next day we are to head to Agra.

Day 7 :

So now, we are done with the breathtaking Manali and we set off for Shimla. That’s after the breakfast at around 8.30 am. On the way we halt at the Vaishnomata temple and pay our respects to the deity.

                                                     

And as luck would have it, I get a cramp in my leg. I am unable to move and it’s getting more and more painful with time. That means I can’t climb the temple stairs anymore. Hmmm… So now I have to wait outside, while everyone else has already begun climbing. I am quite dejected. Meanwhile Aniket says he knows how to handle such cramps since he had learned about it while going for his diving classes. And thanks to him, I can actually walk around and the pain is reduced. Then in the bus, the entire back seat is reserved for me. And let me tell you one thing-though we are yet to pass out as engineers, there is no shortage of dangerously overqualified doctors in our group. Suggestions start pouring in from everywhere. I am pampered a lot. All thanks to Aniket, Tosha, Apurva, Sandhya, Harsh and Amogh. Thanks a lot for being there, peopleJ.

Day 6 :

We leave for Hadimba temple at around 8.30am .We walk up the slope and after taking the blessings we head to the nearby stalls for a hot local breakfast and some shopping. After relishing the parathas with lots and lots of butter, we return to the hotel. A sweet surprise awaits us at the hotel backyard, the traditional women with amazing traditional costumes! We try out the costumes and enjoy a quick photo shoot with the lady who was a part of a Famous TV ad.

Then most of us go for the exciting river rafting in the cold waters of the river in Kullu, while some go for shopping in the city. The river rafting is an adventure sport, we enjoy it to our heart full, even if you don’t enjoy rafting, the cold waters make you realize what you are missing!

We all are dead tired as we jump out of the rafts, thank our guides and sit along the campfire put up by them to bring our lost breath back. After that, we get back to the hotel. On the way back a session of jokes emerged out of our creative heads and that truly made the trip worth while. All hit the beds as soon as they could and mental preparations began for the next day to head for Shimla.

Day 5:

We leave for snow point in jeeps, after having our breakfast .Our jeep skids on the slippery road, & the “Ladka Party”, as the driver referred to them, roll up their sleeves and push it up the slope. Once there we do skiing, which we couldn’t enjoy to our fullest, but the sliding tire does make our trip worth the effort. We climb up the snow peaks, make a snowman, play with the snow, slide down the slope and of course pose for a lot many photos. We then proceed to the Vasist Bath, where we see the hot water sulphur springs. After having a blast at the snow point, walking up the slope leaves us fatigued. Then we return to the hotel. Have dinner and then a campfire is put up outside the hotel. Looking into the fire all the tour mates feel warmth run through their cold tired minds, it was a night to remember with all the singing and dancing we enjoyed. Finally as the strength of the flames start to fade; we decide to call it a Day.

day 4 continued....

4:45 pm and we are 185 km from Manali. Some people can’t take the twists and turns of the roads, and give in by throwing up. Many pharmacies spring up in the bus and tablets start travelling from one to another. By the time we reach, around 12 midnight, everyone is pretty exhausted. We get off the bus only to notice the snow filled roads and all my sick tour mates start feeling better, as they take in the whiff of fresh air .We experience the snowfall, and look around to find snow everywhere, from trees to mountains to the jeeps which will take us to the hotel. The temperature is around zero degree celsius outside. The aura of Manali can’t be described in words; you just got to feel it. I succumb to the charms of the place, and then and there get into the photography mode. Only one word echoed in my mind all throughout –Mesmerizing!!!

Day 4:

We head for sight seeing, post breakfast. The aura in the bus enlivens with the introduction of “North India FM” Courtesy RJ Sagar (aka RJ Shaggy). We utilize the mike in the bus to the fullest.  Song dedications start  pouring in. We altogether forget the world around us for some time.  Each dedication emerging from heart. No one even bothers to give a second thought. We all knew such moments in life are best lived through instead of wasting time in thinking. By this time an unknown bond had started to develop among the tour mates. And I guess this is the only station in the world which was interrupted because Maurice got a phone call!!!

We reach Rock Garden, made out of waste materials. Lots of photographs later, we head off for the Sukhana Lake, a pleasant scene with lightly dispersed fog & ducks.  We stop for lunch at this overpriced dhaba, which we vow to report to the consumer forum. On the way, we see Bhakra Nangal Canal, the water to which is fed from HP. It goes up to Rajasthan. We also see the Govind Sagar Reservoir, the water from which goes to Bhakra-Nangal .

Day 3 continued...

So, finally the things start falling into place. We get into a sophisticated bus. With luxury almost ten times compared to the train, we started spoiling ourselves a bit. We feel comfy and warm in the cozy bus and start enjoying the scenic beauty of Delhi. On one hand there are all well maintained roads and infrastructure, high rise buildings and on the other, the slums, poverty, muddy streets. My mind is driven into deep thinking about how a stark divide though very much in existence is conspicuous by its absence. Though everything seems paradoxical, there is still unity in diversity. We also came across the common wealth Games stadium,about which I need not elaborate. Quickly, collecting myself I notice that right now, we are travelling on the National Highway 1, Built by the British from Calcutta To Amritsar via Delhi. We stop by the Gulshan Da Dhaba for a delicious lunch break. Meanwhile I end up taking a nap post lunch and wake up at 7.30pm. We reach Chandigarh, have dinner and retire to our rooms for the night

Day 2:

3:30 am. We are all still awake, wide awake. In fact, we are so much awake that we made noise loud enough to wake up a certain uncle, who shoots off a warning to us saying that we better not repeat our behavior, or else he will have to be “HAARSS” with us. What he didn’t realize is that his pronunciation “error” had translated into “terror” for Harsh (our buddy, who organized our tour).

Now you may see that he has been renamed as “Haarss” and will be addressed (read tortured) that way for the rest of the tour J

After our adventures with the fellow travellers we get onto our beds only to get up late! There is nothing much to do, really. We are quite sick of playing cards and the morning just drags on and on. Somehow we pass the day. In the eve we try something new. We all squeeze into one of the compartments, and start singing songs and playing games, loud enough to scare the daylights out of anyone. We play almost all games one’s empty head can think of, from ‘Dumb Charades’ to ’Truth & Dare’ to narrating ghost stories so lively that no one could even think of sleeping. I had sore throat, but couldn’t stop myself from narrating one of my stories about a dead waitress and her spirit, who everyone would mimic(imagine my plight with the sore throat) and by the time we went to sleep there were all supplementary stories about her were making the rounds!

Eventually we move to our berths and are fast asleep. But what awaited us next was worse than the “sweet” ghosts!

Day 1:

 Its 10:30 am. I arrive with my dad at the Margao Railway Station, Apurva in tow. All too excited about the tour and at the same time hoping fervently that the “right now absconding” fever doesn’t come back to hamper it. I meet bump into the others waiting at the entrance. We all get to platform # 3, where the train arrives bang on time, at around 11:00 am. Amid some confusion about the coach number, we finally settle down in proper berths, and after bidding adieu to our families, the train gets moving. Now to kill time, we preferred to play cards, listen to music, or just stare out of the window, while some people read magazines and novels. Its 2:00pm, time for lunch. Most of us had got our food packed from home. Post-lunch everyone plunked onto their respective berths for a siesta. But I preferred reading, even as everyone dozed off. So far so good.

And then in the evening came the shocker- “The train route was to be diverted due to some agitation in Rajasthan. The new route meant increasing our journey time by almost 10 hrs!” That coupled with fog definitely amounted to a whopping delay!!!Alas…. L   

It’s Evening. We get the news that the agitation has been called off, but no use now……the damage has been already done! In the evening, most people cracked jokes and were kept themselves engaged in gossips and discussions to kill time. Had dinner then, but hardly anyone slept.

TOUR OF A LIFETIME...

An account of the north india tour i had been on recently...

I must admit that it’s nothing short of a miracle to be writing this diary entry, for when there were just two days to go for the tour, I was down with fever. It had dashed all my hopes of making it to the tour, though I was quite gung-ho and had prepared for the tour with gusto. Besides, though news channels are as speculative as they can get, you can’t help but feel a shiver run down your spine, when you see reports about record breaking cold and snowing on these channels. Nevertheless, I guess it was destiny which made me to go on to not only recover, but also enjoy the best, and the most memorable days of my life so far. J