6000 feet high on foot!!

My first experience of trekking in South India... Velliangiri Hills @ Coimbatore it was... Though this one's supposed to be a religious trek, the aim for me was not to go on top and ask God something that I can ask him at a temple next to my house! :) The sole aim was to enjoy an awesome 2-day trekking experience, and more importantly, to get a nice break from the monotony that is slowly setting in my life.

The weather being just pleasant, and our guides geared up for making this trek a memorable one for us, the steep journey to the top began. 6.5 hours of non-stop trekking took us to our tent @ 6000 ft altitude! And this included a 2.5 hours journey post sunset, with the help of a torch. This was easily the best part of the entire trek.. An ultimate adventure! Hot n delicious upma for dinner amidst the clouds brought us to the end of a memorable day. Oh, not yet! With the mercury dipping to almost 10 degrees and just 1 jerkin to help you, a sleepless night was guaranteed! An unproductive sleepless night it was! The downhill journey started late next morning after people who had come for religious reasons finished off with their rituals. The return journey was as much exciting, which also gave us the opportunity to shoot some good desktop background kinda scenic shots from the top.

Overall, a good experience between the woods those were lovely, dark & deep indeed! I guess I must try to trek more often than I do...

Here are some pics of the trek:

night trekking...
view from the top
blessed!
tent at 6000 ft!

Switzerland of the east - Tawang!

The week-long trip to Tawang was being planned amidst tension of 100% placement at insti. While a small portion of our hearts wanted to enjoy the last few days of our stay together through this trip to Tawang, the other larger chunk desperately wanted the final 2-3% of our battalion to find their destination soon. Finally the trip happened, 6 of us packed our rucksacks and took off in the tried-and-tested Tata Sumo for the much-awaited adventure trail to the Switzerland of the East – Tawang!

Breathtaking & amazingly picturesque landscapes, snow-capped mountains, tranquil Buddhist monasteries, inspiring war-memorials of the 1962 Indo-China battle, thousands of hairpin bends on stretches of annoyingly poor roads, are a few things Tawang is known for. And we experienced them all!!

The trip in a nutshell: (The numbers in between denote time in hrs)

22.03.10 (Mon) – Dep. from Shillong 1000 – Stopovers for lunch and Naariyal paani – via Tezpur 1700 – O/N stay at Bhalukpong (on Assam-Arunachal border) 1900

23.03.10 (Tue) – Dep. from Bhalukpong 0930 – Visit to Tipi & Sessa orchids – Photo-session at a river on the way to Bomdila – Bomdila 1500 – Visit to Bomdila monastery – O/N stay at Dirang 1900

24.03.10 (Wed) – Dep. from Dirang 0900 – Visit to Nyukmadong War Memorial 1100 – Sela Pass 1400 – Tawang 1800

25.03.10 (Thur) – Tawang Monastery 1100 – Tawang War Memorial 1300 – failed attempt to get permit to visit Indo-China border (Bumla pass) 1600 – Shopping at local market 1700

26.03.10 (Fri) – Dep. from Tawang 0900 – Stopover & photo-session at Koyla-famous water-falls 1000 – Visit to Jaswant Garh War Memorial 1230 – Another photo-session on top of picturesque cliffs 14k feet above MSL and below freezing point temperature – O/N stay at Bomdila 1900

27.03.2010 (Sat) – Dep. from Bomdila 0900 – Shillong via Bhalukpong, Tezpur 2100

Some of the things to be remembered from the trip:

- Food:

All along the way to Tawang from Guwahati, every village has got about a couple of so-called restaurants. Dimly lit, old wooden furniture, a kitchen boasting of the ancient Indian choolha to cook roties – describe these restaurants well. And these small eating outlets primarily serve good & tasty vegetarian food, with just one or two varieties of chicken thrown in for non-vegetarians like the ones we had in plenty! Otherwise, the menu consisted of Rotis, Mix. Veg. sabzi, plain rice, dal fry & maggi. Pretty much edible food and moreover, limited choice of items meant less time wasted in deciding on the menu!

- The long & tedious process to get permit for Bumla pass:

God knows why do Indians need an ‘Inner Line Permit’ (something like a visa) to visit an Indian state in the first place! (a visit to Arunachal Pradesh needs one). And moreover, anyone who visits Tawang has to spend more than half of a day in getting another permit from the DC office in Tawang to visit the Bumla Pass (Indo-China border). This has to be followed by a visit to the army headquarters in Tawang to meet the Brigadier in-charge in order to get his clearance to visit the border. One can imagine the amount of time one has to wait to get these clearances, given the speed with which Indian Government offices work! The wait is acceptable to an extent considering that this particular border is sensitive. But we were unlucky to have spent more than 3 hours at the DC office just to be told that the border would be closed for visitors for two days. And hence, our initially-planned two days stay in Tawang reduced to just one day, and as a result our trip consisted of 5 days of travel for a day’s stay at Tawang!

- War memorials:

It’s amazing to listen to the invigorating war stories, the manner in which the war heroes displayed remarkable valour while fighting the enemies. The visits to Tawang war memorial & Jaswant Garh war memorial raised Goosebumps on our skin surfaces! In particular, the story of an ordinary rifleman Jaswant Singh who fought a lone battle in the ’62 war with the vastly over-sized Chinese army for 72-long hours killing hundreds of enemies before sacrificing his life was truly inspiring! This photo taken near one of the war-memorials sums up all of it brilliantly:

- Trust the two!

Imagine yourself sitting in a car with your very good friends, driving on altitudes above 10,000 feet, the single-lane two-way road being in an awfully bad state, the condition outside being extremely foggy with visibility of less than 1m!! The only two people in the world whom you leave your life to – one is the God, and 2^nd is the driver of your car! The drivers there are really skilled, especially those who are brought up in the hills. I am pretty sure they can be groomed into excellent F1 drivers with the right kind of training and support!

- Road Safety slogans painted on rocks by BRO:

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has indeed done a tremendous job making the road to Tawang motor-able. But for years of real hard work of this organisation, tourists like us would never have got the chance to visit this heaven-on-Earth. Hats off to the people who have given their lives while building the roads in this difficult terrain and extreme weather conditions!

All along the road to Tawang, one can find safety slogans painted on rocks by the BRO. The slogans are definitely worth a read, and a real good time-pass on the long n tiring drive. Some of the slogans that I can recollect:

· Danger creeps when safety sleeps

· Safety is as simple as ABC... Always Be Careful!

· Normal speed meets every need

· Have another day, by being safe today

· Speed is a 5-letter word, so is the word Death!

· Driving is risky after whisky!

· Better be dead sure, than sure dead!

· Feel the curves, but don’t hug them!

· (One of the best) Love thy neighbour, but not while driving!! J

· If you sleep, your family shall weep

· Drink n drive, you won’t survive

· If you are married, then divorce speed!

· Speed is a knife that cuts life!

- 3 GB of beautiful photographs from 5 cams:

We had the privilege of travelling with some incredibly talented photographers! Thanks to them, the essence of the place was captured in its true form and we ended up having 3 GB of sweet memories to take home with us!

What's this obsession with the future?

Why are people so concerned about the 'Future'? Whomsoever you meet, wherever you see, all worries of mankind are related to the future! Right from a 16-year old kid who is worried if he would be able to crack his IIT exam 2 years hence, to a senior economist who is already predicting the GDP of his country in 2020, everyone is concerned about what the future has in store! SMS Contests on TV Channels & Websites on who will win the Cricket World Cup 2011 have already started doing the rounds! The mother of a new-born starts worrying from day 1 (yeah! day one!!) about what her child would become when he/she grows big. Moreover, some insane people (who call themselves astrologers) make a living out of this belief of humans that this unpredictable thing called 'Future' can actually be predicted!

Infact, the whole of Financial World thrives on this profession of analyzing the past, understanding the present and predicting the Future... Wizards from top Business schools of the world form this so called 'elite bunch of intellectuals' of the Financial community... Where did these brains go when the whole world was reeling under financial distress?? Some asshole from this same 'elite' community must have researched in 2006 that the 'Future' of US Housing market is very promising, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Sometimes I wonder, why can't people live in the 'Present' and stay happy. Why worry about something over which you don't have control? Why to have expectations from the future; and then, when the future unwrap's surprises, things like misery, sadness and even madness start to creep into one's life. By living in the present, I don't intend to ask people to stop dreaming! Bcos, no dream in the world would have ever come true had people behind realizing those dreams not dreamt of it. What I am only coming at is, stop worrying about what lies in store in future; Dream how you want your future to be and work towards realizing it. Live in the moment, and enjoy every bit of it.

"Live as if today is the last day of your life!!!" (borrowed from Robin Sharma's TMWSHF)

Teach me how to cry...

Life makes one so emotionless, so cold that one forgets to cherish the small moments of happiness and forgets to cry for lost dear ones, missed opportunities in the past and also cry during times of happiness & nostalgic memories. Sometimes, one really wants to unleash the emotions within, but as time passes one becomes so hard at heart that it just does not happen.

I don't know how to cry. At times, you really want those drops to roll over your cheeks just to feel good. You really want to cry sometimes when you remember old friends, and how insensitive you were to them, how you have lost contact with some of your best childhood buddies after new ones came in, how you miss your dear ones who have always been so caring for you while you haven't, how you talk to your cousins only on their bdays now while you spent hours playing with them during your childhood, how suddenly trivial things in life become more important than those that actually matter, how your parents have brought you up by sacrificing everything they had and you still can take hardly 5 mins from 24 hours to talk to them from your so called busy day..

These might be small things but they are THE most important; these are things that will remain etched in your memory for ever n ever, that add life to your current no-life! While my quest towards living a meaningful and fulfilling life is on, I pray to the almighty to teach me how to FEEL.... and CRY!

An event-phul week!

As I scribble this post, its almost dark here at 7 am in the morning in Shillong... thanx to the near total Solar Eclipse, a once-in-more-than-a-100-year occurrence ! I was told I am not allowed to look out into the sky, but couldn't help doing it :)
It has been an eventful last week out here, with lots of stuff happening... Firstly, the long-awaited 'Sports Management' course finally came to an end, after a splendid week-full of activites, presentations etc. It was by-far one of the best courses I had done! Then, there had been 'Bakar-unlimited' in the last few days... Not something new, but nevertheless, last week paani thoda sar ke upar chala gaya tha... :) Moreover, got the opportunity to eat Bombay Biites ka Veg. Cheese Burger 4 times... And trust me, Midnight is the best time to have these burgers... waah! mouth watering already!!! Exclusive Movie screenings for the elite: The classroom-turned-theatre, where night shows are aired is one awesome place to be in, especially when the movie is a pathetic one!!! Yea, you read that right! A pathetic one. And that's when the junta is in the best of its form and comments galore... A roller-coaster ride.. truly! That's not all... The cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake has been the post-midnight rounds of Table Tennis! 1 am to god knows wat time daily... when you start playing TT, time is something that just keeps running...
oh, by the way, I forgot to mention! the closing ceremony of the eventful week is happening today with a Cultural evening by a Rajasthani Folk Group & a Talent show by the Fachhas! the drama might just come to an end... only to start another one! :)

too much T20... excess salt in the food ??

Well, there seems to be just T20 cricket being telecast on TV these days... immediately after the 2nd round of IPL ended, the 2nd edition of the World Cup began. I wonder whether this overdose of T20 leaves any kind of interest in the cricket watchers' community in the lengthier forms of the game. Even the 50 over game for that matter may seem to be tooo long to watch fully, because of the advent of the so called "the most exciting version" - T20! Can you imagine yourself sitting in front of Star Cricket from 9 am to 5 pm to watch a 50 over game, especially after you have become so used to watching a complete cricket game in 3 hours flat?? To add to the spice of T20 cricket are attractions like 8-10 sixes in each innings, last ball finishes, unlimited number of twists and turns!! Given all this, I doubt if many cricket enthusiasts will be left with any patience to watch an entire 50 over game, which was quite happening before the invention of the 20 over format. Personally, I strongly feel most may not be able to do it.

If this is the condition of the ODIs, what words could I use for the future of the longest version of the game. Test Cricket - considered to be the truest form of Cricket, is losing its popularity slowly but surely. The day is not far when a 3rd day of an Ashes Test at Lord's or MCG will have empty stands. T20 cricket has become a hot commodity these days, for the marketers, for the players as well as for the Cricket boards! It has led to complete commercialization of the game.

I am not writing this blog as a result of my disappointment after the T20 World Cup debacle that India faced. That could be one of the reasons, but definitely not the only one. The reason being given for their poor show was the fatigue factor. One must remember that this fatigue was a result of not a 5 match test series against Pakistan, it was because of the just concluded IPL 2. It is very obvious that too much of T20 can be disasterous for the players' stamina, a critical requirement for the 5-day format. We all know as a fact that the Suresh Rainas, the Rohit Sharmas and the Yusuf Pathans cannot be part of the 11 of an Indian test squad, a fact proved again in this T20 World cup where all of them were caught struggling against the good-old short ball! This means that an Indian test team will have players mostly different from the ones in the T20 team, atleast in the batting department. And which also means that the popularity of T20 will be of no match to that of Test cricket, least in India.

I wonder if the cricket boards (read BCCI !) are pondering over the dark future of ODI and Test cricket. One may argue by stating that T20 has been consistently pulling crowds, with most games running into full houses, but my counter-argument would be that T20 is good from the crowd's perspective - its full of masala, a kind of a 3 hour thriller movie show! But is it as good from the GAME's perspective? Isn't Cricket the loser and Money the winner in this growing popularity of T20 cricket??? My sincere request to the 'Owners of the game' - please let the game live long... Its not worth losing it!

Shillong - a true paradise...

It was skepticism all over when I came to know that I would be spending my next two years at this place... Little did I know what an Eden it would turn out to be... The weather, the scenic magnificence, amazing waterfalls, valleys... jitni bhi taarif ki jaye, kam hai... It is not like any other Hill station, this one's different in a lot many ways...
First of all, it is not as commercialized as a Shimla or an Ooty... Its a blessing in disguise that Shillong in not very well connected, else hoteliers and related businesses would have squeezed out its Natural Beauty by now.
Secondly, Shillong is the face of the rich and unique Culture of North East... Each North Eastern state carries a cultural legacy of its own, which is worth experiencing... So many places to visit around Shillong, both within Meghalaya, and also in other '7-sister' states... Believe me, North Eastern India is a Travel-maniac's paradise.. Be it an Adventure enthusiast, Wildlife Hunter, Religious tourist, or someone who loves Peace & tranquility or who is on a Leisure trail - it has got something for everyone...
Lastly, the PEOPLE ! I sincerely feel it is a real previlige to have got an opportunity to come here... The people here are so kind hearted, peace loving, helpful and so accepting, that the urban population has to take a cue from them... These are people who are very content with whatever little they possess.. They just love nature, and most of their homes, however small they may be, have a small Garden outside... They are ones, who love their music also very much; Rock music thrives in their senses, and most of them I feel, are born with this talent of playing a guitar!
I am already feeling bad to have come here just for 20 months, as I realize that 1 year is almost over! Dear Time, take your Time !!! Let the remaining 10 months go on like an Eternity!