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31/07/05

PuGGeR nOw !!!

I am officially a PUGGER now...

hehehe.. sounds funny.... well.. its not.. its kinda interesting... Pugger comes from a word PUG, which is the short form for Palio Users Group... this is a group about 800 people strong... and as clear from the name is of ppl who own palios and are passionate about them too...

Why am i an official pugger... because i have a sticker which says PUG on my car now... it also says Not Drivers, Only Lovers... and that is so bloddy true... we all are in love with our palios.. be it a 1.2 OV, or a 1.2 NV or the superb 1.6 GTX or the damn sexy s10 or the 1.6 Adventure...

Today was PUG Delhi Meet Chapter -II... we were expecting more.. but.. 6 people manage to turn up...


ME with my 1.2 NV Sport


Shobhit with his 1.2 Galaxy Black Sport


Ashwani with his 1.6 GTX



Deb with his 1.2 ELMS, he also had a friend with him who has a palio but could not bring it...


Shobhit with Anirban's 1.6 Adventure...

I was not late... and managed to reach there at 1000 hrs sharp shortly followed by Ashwani, who is an editor with The Times of India, and then by Shobhit, who works for Sapient in their HR Arm... i managed to talk to Ashwani before Shobhit came in about some of the things that i did not have a clue about.. the air filter, fuel filter... servicing knick knacks... and then came Deb, who i guess is still studying... and then Anirban came in... he works for Wipro in Marketing...

Took a good number of fotos..






and talked a lot about the cars.. the good the better and the best of Palios...the dealers.. the things to take care of ... technology.. and 100s of other things... which told me how passionate ppl could be about the vehicles they own... its rare to see in india... most of us just buy a car.. to take us from point A to point B... in comfort and the least amont of Fuel... anyway... this was a group which was different..

moved to the Great Kabab Factory in sector-18 after a good 2 hours of convos in the parking lot in sector-18... and the appetite for conversation about the cars was taken care of along with the excellent food served...


came back at 1600 hours, happy and excited about the new set of stickers pasted on mycar.. which DECLARE it as a member of the PUG and me as a PUGGER :) I had a great time with the rest of the gang.. and am really looking forward to a lot of such meets....

oh and yes... I forgot to mention... we are getting the cars serviced together at the Dynamic Auto, in NOIDA next sunday... might just be a good move to tell the service centre that there is a strong customer force behind Palios and they cannot affort to take anyone lightly anymore !!!

Happy driving everyone... and wear your seat belts...

30/07/05

tHeSe BoYfRiEnDs !!!

Why are we guys like this !!!!

I have experienced this twice now... one of my good friends... well i call her a good friend coz she has been around to hear me out when i had anything to speak.... she was not feeling well for the last few days.. and i called her up yesterday... the talk went nicely.. and then she said... Prashant.. i need to talk to you... being the super intelligent i am .. i asked her if this was the last time we were talking... and then she said "KINDA".... i mean.. what does kinda mean... its either the last time.. or its not.. anyway...

why this happened... here is why... she has a boyfriend... and he probably is not comfortable with the two of us being friends... insecurity... trust... faith... whatever.... though he is nice enough not to say that in clear words to this friend of mine... however... in subtle words the message was shared.. and she took the right decision... for her its HE who should be more important and talking to me ... or being friends with me is something that is not that high on the list...

lost another friend... for no fault of mine... the last time it had happened was when i was in Hughes... a friend of mine called up one fine day... and toldme that Prashant Manish is not really comfortable with us talking... and she would never talk to me again.. and i let go !!!!

Guys... why are we like this... why can't we accept that our girlfriends can also have friends... why do we bloddy act like this... and i am not excluding myself from the list.. i probably am like that only...

possesive

insecure

anyway.... i just hope things just work out fine for both of them... coz if they do not ... this guy needs a serious kick in his butt !!! that girl is giving up her nature for him... she is changing herself for him.. he must be one helluva guy... am i jealous.. yeah... i think i am... am i angry... yes i am ....

would i let go...

YES I WILL

29/07/05

iNtErEsTiNg !!!

Check this link out, and use this as your home page :)

For how to do what i did... this is where you need to click.

And the credit to bring this to my notice goes to my dear friend Ms. Deepali Gambhir...

28/07/05

MeeT d'JeRk

Jerk....

usually refered to as something that you experience while on the road...
not the one which happens because of sudden acceleration or slowing down... not the one which happens because of pot-holes on the road...

but the one who meets u when you are driving...
the one who would change a lane without any signals...
the one who is proud of the fact that he is driving on the wrong side... and fast as well...
the one who is pround of the fact that no intersection would slow him down...
the one who is happy with entering a fast lane from a small street lane and surprise the ppl driving on that road...
the one who sees that that the ppl in front of him on a traffic-signal are moving but would still honk his horn as if there were evil spirits trying to catch him...
the one who is sure that he has to overtake from the left only...
the one who does not know the difference between high beams and low beams.. and makes sure that he is driving in the high beam only...


I salute you JERK !!! May God bless you.... and save yourself from me...coz if i manage to catch you sometime... you really need HIM to save your ass !!!


on second thoughts.. i decided to google the word... and here are a few interesting things that i found about the JERK...

A jerk is basically a person without insight. He is not necessarily a fool or a dope, because some extremely clever persons can be jerks. In fact, it has little to do with intelligence as we commonly think of it; it is, rather, a kind of subtle but persuasive aroma emanating from the inner part of the personality.

A jerk, then, is a man (or woman) who is utterly unable to see himself as he appears to others. He has no grace, he is tactless without meaning to be, his is a bore even to his best friends, he is an egotist without charm.

The slang term jerk meaning 'a stupid person' first appeared in 1919, according to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, and became popular in the 1930s, when it was glossed in the American Mercury as 'eccentric fellow; fool'. It is a shortened form of jerkwater, which, in the 19th century, was a remote station where a locomotive had to "jerk" water from a water tower to fill its tender.

Jerk : An unpleasant, tiresome person: bore. Slang drip, dweeb, nerd, pill, poop.

26/07/05

bLaCk dAy !!!

Dunno how many of us saw it on TV yesterday... I did..


and i was disgusted with what happened... almost cried with anger... the way the policemen were beating up the workers @ Honda... merciless... takes away all my faith in that deparment... there were clips being shown over and over again as to how the Lathis of the policemen were being showered on hundreds of ppl.... disgusting... one big BLACK day in the history of Gurgaon and Haryana Police.. not to forget the pain that the people who were beaten up are going through... and their relatives who at time are struggling to find out where their loved ones are....



it all starting with the 4 workers being dismissed.. i have a few friends at HMSI, they were talking about some protests going on for the last month and a half... Honda has suffered major losses in that time period.. and after what happened yesterday.. i have serious doubts about how the things would get back to normal...


Shame on the Administration of Gurgaon, Shame on the Police Department of Gurgaon... Shame on those ppl who will generate some political mileage out of it instead of trying to improve the situation.

25/07/05

ODM ChApTeR - II

I am late in writing what happened... and why... thanks to my machine at home.. which chose to freeze just 2 minutes before i wanted to post the message... no no.. i was not writing online.. i had written everything in a notepad... and this time.. this did not work out... anyway... here i am again.. about my thoughts on the ODM Chapter-II


I was late... well that is not usual... i hate being late or waiting for ppl who are not on time... but time was just flying as i had a number of things on my agenda for saturday.. completing some work in office... then conduction a training and a refresher, and then fixing the rear speakers of my car.. and then getting a rear curtain in the car.. and then rushing to CCD, CP for the ODM-II... hehehe this looks funny.. lemme elaborate.. rushing to Cafe Coffee Day in Connaught Place for the Orkut Delhi Meet-II.

well i was a good 30 minutes late... and i had Aseem, Bhaskar, Deepak and Akshay waiting there...
Aseem, I have known for a while....
Bhaskar, I have met once in ODM-I.. we had the meeting on the 1-Apr-05
Deepak, was not a stranger thanks to the convos we had over our scrapbooks and the Delhi community in Orkut
Akshay, was the new kid on the block, a 3rd year Engineer Student from IIT Chennai.

The usual round of introductions followed... and then we decided to pool in some moolah to avoid any confusions about who's spending what... and how... so Deepak became the Munshiji... and we handed over the money to him...

had not eaten anything since morning and enjoyed my favorite Iced Eskimo there.. with a veg sandwhich... with the rest of the gang enjoying wat they wanted... Aseem here told a nice small story about how he got confused with the various flavours of Hot Coffee when he came there the first time... hehehe.. even i enhanced my knowledge about what is Mochachino and what is Cappachino there... for me it still remains hot coffee....

and then came in Bharti maidam... with Rahul... the only chick.. oops.. girl to join the meet... and brought with her.. yes yes!! along with Rahul.. a lot of smiles and giggles...

Met Bharti for the second time.... she is a nice chirpy gal.. with lotsa laughs... and Rahul... welll he looked like a calm composed guy... and later i found out that he was an MBA and looking forward to joining the Army... i am sure he is going to be a good Army man... God bless...

the conversations more or less revolved around fotos and cameras in CCD as we had three cams... ok 4... hehehe.. Aseem also had his Nokia 6600 which has a fairly decent camera... and the rest of them were with Bhaskar ( a fuji, finepix.. good small point and shoot digicam), Deepak ( an advanced, 5 mp Panasonic Digicam, which i btw found a li'il difficult to use... i really need manuals before i can use such gadgets... i do not think i took any good fotos from that cam... though Deepak was really good with them) and then my conventional Canon 3000v SLR ( I am really comfy using this.. i feel it gives me more flexibility then any digicam, i might be wrong.. but then... thats what i feel)...

ok back to the ODM-II... Bharti and Rahul had to leave... they had to pick someone up i guess.. and we 5 also decided to move to someplace which was quieter then CCD... and what could have been better then Pragati Maidan... wide open roads, greenery, and peace... all was available there... spent sometime there... looking at my Valley of Flowers trip... clicking some pictures... and managing 6 passes of Euphoria.. yes.. the band was to play there... some conference arranged by an insti called Pie Education... for engineering aspirants.. however.. we did not go there... time constraints..

and moved to CP again... and this time to Cafe 100... inner circle.. had some more fotos taken... and some convos about Delhi being the rape capital of india.. to how media gets the mileage outta these things.. and why some Political Parties were now realising that Aishwarya Rai is their sister and they will take Salman to the jail coz he mistreated their sister...

well... we ate and drank.. and then decided to call it a day... actually a wonderful day... Aseem and Deepak moved towards his car.. Bhaskar and Akshay went ahead to take the Metro.. and i took out my car to reach home... what a day it had been... loved it... and this is how the ODM Chapter-II came to an end....

lets see when do we have another ODM... the chapter-III... lets see where... and when..

19/07/05

GeTTiNg OuT oF iT !!!

I have a friend... =>i am sure you also have a lot of them...

she is in love( no not with me.. i am a pure third party here.. not involved in the mess)...=>i am sure you friends also love someone or the other...

the guy she loves does not reciprocate... =>i am sure you know what that feels like...

the guy she loves is a very good friend... takes care of her.. likes to talk to her... spend time with her.. but when she confessed her love to him he told her that he could not love her... ( could not... what does that mean)... and that he was feeling guilty for not being able to reciprocate and that he just could not think of a relationship for sometime..( very valid points...) he wants to think about his career at this time ( he should do that... its important).. and that he could not get married for the next 4 years ( ok.. so that timeline is set too!!) => i am sure this sounds like something you have heard or seen or witnessed or felt sometime or the other...

now coming to the issue we have been discussing for the past couple of days... she wants to get out of the feeling of love for him.. but is not able to... i asked her what is she doing to get away from the feeling.. here is what she told me..
prashant, i think about not messaging him.. but i end up SMSing...
prashant, i think about not talking to him.. but i end up TALKing...
prashant, i think about not thinking about what he did.. why he did...but i end up THINKing...

my response... my dear, every sentence that you said ends with a verb related to him only... so invariably you are doing what you are running away from... and to really avoid this... start thinking about things which end up differently... like...
i think about reading books...
i think about watching TV...
i think about walking...
i think about learning guitar...

i feel that none of these things are related to anyone outside her ownself.. its about her... and would stay about her...

why do ppl get so irrational when they think they love someone... ( include me here, the prashant about 1.5 years back... madly hooked to a girl, used to be like this...) I will talk about this sometime later... things which we do in love... and how concern becomes pestering... how questions become lack of privacy and independence...

getting back to what i started the post with....do you think i gave her the right opinion.... why do u think someone would not like the person who likes him or her.. and if (s)he does not.. then what can the other person do... after being rejected !!!

16/07/05

DiLLi - VaLLeY oF fLoWeRs aNd BaCk !!!

So finally i sit down to write about my trip.. i was waiting for the fotos to come in before i write so that while you are reading about the trip you can also see what i saw...

Friday, 8-Jul-05

I was back from office by 1400 hrs to attend myclass.. and back home by 1700 hrs after my class... Aro was not yet in.. coz the bus he was coming had a flat tyre.. and that delayed his arrival to my place... he finally managed to reach by 1800 hrs... and then we started packing our stuff... two huge bags... and about 50 line items needed to be packed for this long 8 day trip.... we were still not sure about that plan.. about when and where we would be except that we have to move out of home asap and reach the Lal Quila to catch our bus...

we left around 1900 hrs and took an auto to reach the Chandni Chawk Red light... i felt that the 5 rolls i was carrying were not good enough and i needed more.. so we went to the market there and grabbed another 5 pack of the Fuji 100 rolls... the shopkeeper gladly gave them to me for 220 bucks.. a good Rs. 2 more then the price in the market... next stop the travel agent's counters.. and we found out that the first bus to Rishikesh would not leave before 2200 hrs... we were not ready to wait for that kinda time and move to ISBT to catch a bus...

We managed to get good seats in a faily decent 2X2 UP Roadways bus.. called the Pawan Gold... and took our seats at 2100 hours... at that time there are loads and loads of buses to Rishikesh... actually every 2 minutes you will see a bus moving into that direction... this bus looked like the most comfy of all.. and we took our tickets... cost of the tickets... 312 bucks for two... the bus finaly moved at 2145 hours after we had two big cups of the Mother Daily Mango Delight Icecream... we were expecting to reach Rishikesh by 0330 hrs in the morning... but a traffic jam after Muzaffar nagar increased the travel time by over 90 mintues...

1 UP Roadways bus from Delhi to Rishikesh
~ UP roadways bus we took from Delhi to Rishikesh, seen here parked at the hotel near Khatauli... we had to push this bus to start it here.. making it a true 2X2 Pushback :)

Saturday, 9-July

We managed to reach Rishikesh only around 0530 hours... thanks to Traffic Jam.. and quickly rushed to the Srinagar Bas Stand.. this is where we had to take the next bus from... We were planning to go to Badrinath... we were told that we could take a bus run by GMOU Ltd. stands for the Garwal Motor Owners Union Ltd... infact most of the buses on this route are associated with this body...

when we reached there... we got to know that there was no way we could reach Badrinath by night.. as the bus was scheduled to move only at 0630 hours and it would reach Joshimath in about 12 hours... late enough to skip the last Gate from Joshimath... we had no other option but to board the bus... it was a small... actually reach small bus.. and we managed to get the first seats from the back on the gate's side... i could hardly manged my legs between the two seats.. and was wondering how i would manage to be there in that bus for about 12 hours... trust me it was not a very nice thought... anyway.. the bus moved at 0630 hours for a destination about 300 kms and 12 hours away.....

we stopped for a quick breakfast after about an hour.. and had some Aaloo Paranthaas with Curd...

2 GMOU Bus from Rishikesh to Joshimath
~Our first break after Rishikesh.. what you see in the foto is the bus which took us to Joshimath...

Long travel that was.. and the view outside the windows was really beautiful.. most of the time was spent sleeping and the rest looking outside the window.... we passed through.. Srinagar ( in Garhwal), RudraPrayag, KaranPrayag, Nand Prayag, PipalKoti etc to reach Joshimath in the evening...

We got stuck in a Jam caused by a landslide and had to waste about 45 minutes waiting for it to get cleared... and once it was done.. we moved ahead...

3 Landslide being cleard on the way from Rishikesh to Joshimath
~ The road being cleared... Border Roads Organisation has done a great job with the roads on this route...

One thing which i noticed here in the jam was the disclipline with parking... reminded me of the reason why we got late on our way to Rishikesh.. the traffic from one side of the road would try and take as much space as they can.. and then block all the lanes that the traffic from the other side can use to cross.. but here it was different... the vehicles were nicely parked at one side of the road... and ensured that there was enough space forthe vehicles from the other side to cross when the road clears up...

4 Nicely parked vehicles
~ Notice the way vehicles have been parked... rare sight in a jam if this was in Delhi...

We manged to reach Joshimath earlier then expected.. it was 1700hrs... and we got to know that we had missed the last gate only by 30 minutes... if we had not been caught in that Jam.. we would have reached Badrinath in the night itself... anyway... li'il that we could do about it... we searched for the GMVN ( Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) Guest house... and did not find it upto the mark... the room rent was 350 bucks for a night.. and it was not in the best shape either.. so we decided to look for something cheaper and better.. and then checked in a hotel called Hotel Sriram right next to the Guest house.. for a room which was for Rs. 250 a night.. definitely better then the guest house.. and the owner of the hotel was a very nice fella himself.. we spent about 30 minutes talking to him before we moved into the room... the view from the room was very beautiful... the air pure and the feeling great...

5 from our room in Joshimath
~ The view from our room at Joshimath...

Took a back with freezing cold water... and had a quick dinner before sleeping... did not take much time for our tired bodies to get to sleep... we had decided that instead of the going to Badrinath we would go to Govindghat.. and then to Hemkund Sahib and the Valley of Flowers before we move to Badrinath...

Sunday, 10-July

We got up early... around 0500 hours... managed to reach the gate by 0545 hours.. this is where we could get a bus to Govindghat.... managed to get the seats in a decent bus which moved at 0600 hrs... and we were in Govindghat by 0645 hours....

6 Gate Timings from Joshimath to Badrinath
~The Gate system at Joshimath... to avoid any jams on the small road ahead !!!

We just could not stop looking at the mountains when we reached Govindghat.. the view was magical.. clouds all over.. huge majestic mountains... lovely wind...

7 at govindghat
~ Got down of the bus at Govindghat... the view was too beautiful to move from there...

and then we received a shock !!!!

we had thought that we could take a cab/taxi something to Ghangria... but this is where we realised that we had to walk 13 kms to reach Ghangria also known as Govinddham... anyway... li'il we could do about it... so we starting walking... and realised it in the first 500 metres that it was not going to be easy... though the weather was good.. there was no sun.. and it was kinda cool too... we were still all in sweat... and we had bags which weighed over 10 kgs each... it was going to be one challanging journey...

8 Riverrafting anyone
~ Rafting anyone :) the sound of the waters could tell you about its might too...

I just could not take it anymore after about 6 kms.. and had to hire a pony... no no.. not for myself.. but the bag... talking about ponies... this entire path had a never ending smell of horse shit...

so basically you would breath air.. walk on stones.. listen to a small but very mighty river and smell horst shit on this way from Govindghat to Ghangria... there are plenty of small shops all along the path where you can get cold drinks (the 500 ml bottles) for 25 bucks... glucose buiscit packets for about 10 bucks... and anything to eat... and if it is packed... it is going to be awefully expensive.. and the prices would increase as the altitude increases....

We reached Ghangria around 1500 hours... very tired.. and very hungry.. and it had also started raining a li'il... and we did not have our raingear with us.. it was in the bag.. and the bags with the TattoWalla... who had already reached about 30 minutes before us...

9 our hotel in Ghangria
~Our hotel at Ghangria

we had a quick afternoon meal... well.. for a meal we had some noodles... and then we checked into this small but decent hotel called the Hotel Pritam...

We were too tired and it did not take us more then 30 minutes to fall asleep... which means were already in deep sleep by 1600 hours....

We woke up around 2000 hrs... i guess we were hungry.. and then had a nice walk around the place... and some bad dinner... and some great Gulab Jamuns ( tat too at a price of just 5 bucks each)... now with everything so bloddy expensive there.. this treat was more then wat we could ask for... anyway...after having the sweets we headed back to our hotel... applied some move on the legs... they were in real bad pain.. and then went off to sleep to get up early next morning...

Monday, 11-Jul

Woke up at 0430 hours.. thanks to the alarm in my mobile... an alarm clock was all it could have been used for.. coz there were no signals i could catchafter rishikesh.. anyway.. that was something that i really liked... no one could call me up... away from the world....

so by 0530 hours were out of the hotel.. had some biscuits and some tea at a tea stall and then started our trek for Hemkund Sahib.... had no clue what were heading for... we thought what we had experienced in the last three kms to Ghangria was the worst that could happen.. it was a climb at 45 degs.. and we were walking on stones... had to look at every stone we were stepping on... otherwise would end up having some strained muscles.. and fractures...

anyway.. we knew it was going to be tough... 6 kms... and moving from 3049 m to Hemkund Sahib @ 4329 m.

10 Ponies from Ghangria to Hemkund
~ 100s of Ponies are there in the morning... costs about150 bucks to reach the Glacieron the pony and then walk from there...

We were walking on a path which was not one of the best laid.. i remember looking at every stone that i kept my feet on...

11 the stones we had to trek on
~ The kinda path we were walking on.. this is a better part of the entire way...

But trust me.. it was worth it... the views that we had from the way.... the air that we were breathing.. the faith that we witnessed... it made it all worth it... people of all ages.. kids, women, men.. old or young... everyone was determined to climb up and reach the Gurudwara...

12 The steep climb
~ Look at the steep climb... some determination it takes to do this trek...

13 One of the views from the trek
~ What a view... made all the pain worth it...

Finally after walking for over 4 hours... crossing a Glacier.. and climbing up over 1200 steps ( there were two ways to the Gurudwara after the glacier.. we could take the stairs or the slope.. we chose to walk on the steps... knowing that it is tougher to climb up the steps.. we still took'em... wanted to reach faster actually)

14 The Glacier we crossed
~ The Glacier we had to cross to reach Hemkund Sahib... looks scary.. and was too..

14a Ice Age in July
~Ice on my hand... and me on a Glacier...

The view at the Guru Dwara was breathtaking... it was just too beautiful to be described in words... i do not know enough adjectives to describe what i saw... so will just stick to some pics...

15 The Lake at Hemkund Sahib
~ The lake near Hemkund Sahib...can't believe i actually dip my feet in it...

16 HemKund Sahib
~Hemkund Sahib

I managed to gather enough courage to dip my legs in the lake near the GuruDwara and wash my face with the water.. it was freezing cold... can't tell u how bad i was shivering after i did that dare.. and there were ppl who were taking a dip in there.. .phew.. how did they manage it.. is something that they only know... to make things worse.. it started raining.. which dipped the temprature to sub-zero level and then the only pair of socks that i was wearing got wet... man !!! i was not in a good situation there...

went inside the GuruDwara...

came back...

had some hot and really tasty Khichdi and Tea at the Langar.. and then started walking back...
which turned out to be more painful and long then we expected.. every time i was keeping myfoot down on a stone.. the entire leg used to cry out loud in pain.. from my ankles to my knees... it seemed that i just could not take it any longer.. but still there was no other option but to carry on... and so we did...

and reached Ghangria at 1500 hours... with almost broken bones.. had managed to save myself from slipping a couple of times as well... the knees and the ankles were in pain like hell... and yet there was a satisfaction of achieving something that a lot of ppl do not...

17 Ghangria when we came back from HS
~ Ghangria when we came back from Hemkund Sahib...

before we could sit down for lunch in our hotel.. there was a huge sound of stones falling.. and it was just behind ourhotel... we had to run hard to save ourself... the sound made us feel that a stone could hit us any moment.. but we were lucky.. though the noises were scary... the landslide was at a distance... so no harm done to anyone...

had a good lunch.... and then were off to sleep by 1630hours... not before applying lot of Move to our legs... this is were we realised how soothing these lotions can be...

got up around 2000 hrs for dinner... had a quick bite.. and then our favorite Gulab Jamuns and went off to sleep again by 2200 hrs... tmrw was going to be a long day... we had to go to the Valley of Flowers.. and then back to Govindghat....

Tuesday, 12-Jul

Woke up early morning... but coz we were so damn tired.. justcould not get out of our beds... managed to somehow get moving at 0530 hrs... the legs were still in a bad shape..lots of pain still.. but we had to do it...
so packed our biscuits.. and some peanuts... and started for the VOF....

18 A bridge on our way to the vally of Flowers
~ a bridge that we had to cross on our way to the Valley...

soon after we entered the gate.. we realised we were in a different world... i could only hear a small river flowing nearby.. and could listen to the insects... even breating heavily would be considered noise there...

it was just to beautiful.. and right now.. i hate my vocab.. i just cannot find enough words to write what i felt... just cannot :(

anyway... the pics might just help...

19 the way was still beautiful
~ Though this was not the peak time for flowers... we still managed to catch up with a lot of them...

We were again walking on some steep paths.. though the pain was there... the beauty of the surroundings.. kept the thoughts of the pain away...

20 way to the valley
~The trek is too beautiful... steep but beautiful... tiring and relaxing...

Crossed two small glaciers.. and two landslide areas with complete care... and got stuck at a glacier about 500 metres from the Valley... it looked too dangerous to move ahead on that.. though i had a stick with me.. i was not sure i should move ahead... i was scared.. coz there were no one around to help... and a minor mistake there could have meant... death... that too in cold waters... just could not take that risk.... so stayed there for sometime.. enjoyed the view.. and headed back to the hotel.. so that we could start our journey to Govindghat from there...

21 First view of the Valley of Flowers
~ This is what the Valley of Flowers looks like...

22 Another view of the valley
~The Valley of Flowers... all nature.. pure as pure can be...

22a The glacier we could not cross
~ The glacier we could not cross... Aro became too sad after this... though i was kinda content with watever we managed...

We were back in Govinddham (Ghanngria) by 0930 hrs.. had some heavy breakfast, hired a pony to carry our bags and then moved started for Govindghat by 1015 hours... Had to walk for another 13 kms... we knew its going to be a tough walk ahead... and were determined to make it through...
so we started...

23 a camp outside Ghangria
~ Some camp just before Gangria... probably was an Army camp... also had a helipad there..

24 trek down to govindghat
~ Walking in the middle of the nature with almost dead feet... pain and pleasure together...

We reached Govindghat by 1500hrs...

26 My shoes and my stick saw me thru
~ These shoes were brand new when i moved out on friday.. and look at them now :)

this where i saw remains of a tragedy which struck the small town a few days back.. a flash flood... about 11 people lost there lives.... and about 230 vehicles were destroyed beyond recognition... 200 two wheelers and about 4-wheelers... the area was still being cleared and the scooters and the bikes were being dumped at the sides... it was scary to see the state of these....

25 bike after the flash flood
~ A bike as good as waste in GovindGhat... reminds me of the power of Nature...

had to wait till 1715 hours before we got a bus for Badrinath.... we had again missed the previous gate by just about 15 minutes...

what we landed into was another jam.. because of a landslide... waited for an hour for that to clear up... and then decided to go back to Govindghat for the night... we were already too tired to take it any longer.... and then God knows that came to our minds... both of us decided to get back home...
the decision was quick and was not questioned by anyone of the two.. so we took at jeep to Joshimath and landed at the same hotel... where the owner was really glad to see us...

Talked to him for a good 45 minutes before we went to the room... then i rushed to get the tickets for the first bus out of Joshimath to Haridwar...
had a great dinner after a nice warm bath... and slept after repacking the entire stuff by 2200 hours...

Wednesday, 13-jul

Got up at 0330 hrs... and move out by 0400 hrs to take the Himgiri Express to Haridwar.... the drive back also involved a lot of sleep... beautiful sceneries around... some fotografs...

27 himgiri express
~ The Himgiri Express parked at a place called Teen Dhara...

28 drive carefully
~ Notice the small white car being pulled up...please drive very carefully always...

29 Got stuck again
~C the Earth Movers in action again...

We were in haridwar by 1600 hrs.. looked for a place to keep our bags... and then moved to the Har ki Paudi... stayed there for while.. before going to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale.. to stuff our tummies with Poories, Halwa, Kachories, and Gulab Jamuns... then had some good Lassi... followed by a fantabolous pan....

30 a quick stopover at Haridwar
~At Har Ki Paudi in Haridwar

bak to the Bus stand by 1715 hours.. and took the first bus to Delhi.... a failry decent bus.. the front seats again.. so that we could get enough leg room.... though we were expecting to reach delhi by 2200 hours... a Jam struck again.. and this time near Khatauli... just before Sakauti... spent a good 2.5 hours there before we reached the ISBT late night around 0100 hours...

it was a trip well done... too muchhard work.. and surroundings that i had never seen before... i would like to go again to the same places... but then this time i would act a li'il more intelligent...

we managed the entire trip in somewhere around 2500 bucks per head... and here are a few learnings from the trip :
- Start working out atleast a month in advance when you are planning such long treks...
- Stop smoking for this time period at least....
- Always carry a pair of socks with you ;)
- A stick always helps when you are climbing up or down...
- Always look before you step forward... make sure that you do not step on the wrong side of the stones...
- Carry along with you loads of will power and mental strength....

waiting for another trip already... well.. thats what i am .....

31 weather back home
~Weather back home was great as well... took this foto after some good showers on Thursday
The pictures from the trip are available HERE.

07/07/05

fLaT TyRe !!!

exactly 12233 kms after I got the car.. i had my first flat tyre today.... even the tyre had to choose a day like today for rest... all mud around the tyre.. and now after i changed with the Spare... i have my entire Boot Space in mud.. and the Brand new tyre all soiled too .... will wash that tyre before I put it back in the car !!!!

Tmrw I would be out of delhi for a good nine days... the plan is to go to Joshimath and then decide where I can do from there.. depending on the weather...

Looking forward to see a lot of
  • Rain
  • Clouds
  • Hills
  • Snow
  • Flowers
  • Lakes
May Gob be with me...