ahem :D

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star - Paul Theroux

After racking my brain over the cosmos I wanted to experiment with some new genre of books, and so I ended up picking up this travelogue. All these years I never tried reading any travel books, reason being I always felt that travel is something you should be doing and not something you sit at home & read about. And so I kept my distance from the travel magazines or books. But with this book my perspective has changed a bit. I still feel that travel is something you should be doing, but I guess it is something you can read about as well.


This book is a very light read, its like chatting with somebody who is narrating his travel experiences, where all he went, how did he travel, whom he met, some conversations he had, some history about the place, how it has changed since last he was there, how he felt about the place now. The route he has taken starts from London, through Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan & finally via Russia back to London. So basically he has covered many Asian & some European nations. He is actually retracing his path, taken some 30-40 years back.

It gave me an insight regarding life in these countries. I mean we always hear about life in USA, UK etc, but quite rarely about life in other countries. So it was pretty enlightening & shocking at times. For instance, up until 2006, Turkmenistan was ruled by Turkmenbashi, who was such a megalomaniac that he had even renamed days of week and months name on himself or his family members names. It left me wondering in which era are we living! Then his visit to Cambodia's killing grounds, etc was quite poignant, with people still recovering from the tyranny of Khmer Rouge. For that matter all these countries, have had some or the other debilitating history, fraught with sufferings of people, as more or less all these nations were involved in some or the other kind of war or colonial rule. Its how far they have reached since those times that matters now. For instance, after being flattened out by the nuclear bombs, Japan is now one of the most developed nations. Has gone a long way since then!

I could very well relate with his experiences in India for obvious reasons, & his conclusion regarding India was just so apt. “Too many people”!

There were a couple of things that irked me a little. In one place author has met up another of his author friend & along with sight seeing, they are discussing other authors. So kinda put in his personal views regarding other authors. Secondly every place he went, he had to write about the brothels & prostitutes over there, as if he is researching on that subject. There are so many other facets which could have been explored. He could have put in those instead to break in the monotony.

Anyway, apart from these points, rest all was very pleasurable to read. Loved the way author has penned down his journey. He mentioned that he likes to travel alone. That must be something - stranger in strange lands, meeting and befriending new people, observe - assimilate - write.

Trip to Raigad Fort - 04Spet09

Well for this trip, the planning part is as memorable as the trip, so I might as well pen that down. With a long weekend coming up, we (myself n my teammates) wanted to plan an overnight trip to “some” place. Now why that “some” is quoted is because, we were as sure of going, as unsure of where we will be going. Our planning began with a backup plan - Aurangabad, stay at one of the teammates place & visit Ajanta Ellora. As people got into an adventurous mood, we decided instead of going for rafting followed by visit to again “some” place. But then people kept dilly dallying and changing their mind. One day they wanted to come n next day they were “not sure”. And hence the plan hanged till just 2 days before the weekend we were at the verge of dropping the idea of going “anywhere” at all. Finally half of us[5 out of the initial 10], mustered our enthusiasm again and a day before weekend fixed that “some” place to “Raigad”, booked vehicle n were all set to leave the next day. Phew :)

Pic 1: Lush Green on the way

Day began quite early & the light drizzle seemed to tell us that weather was completely in our favor today. After picking up everybody we set on the route to Mulshi – Tamhini ghats. The drive had barely begun & we started devouring the eats each one of us had got. That along with the pleasant weather kept us cheerful & lively. Once we left the city, the road quality kinda deteriorated, but then considering the awesome view we were getting, that was hardly any concern. We stopped for breakfast in a road side dhaba, and filled ourselves with hot poha, missal pav, followed by tea.

Pic 2: Foggy road somewhere near Tamhini Ghat

Once again on road, we crossed Tamhini ghat. As we were in no hurry to reach anywhere, we took stops in between to enjoy nature at its best. It was quite foggy also, especially in the Tamhini ghat region, so we couldn't really see any view from any of the points. The drive overall was wonderful. The lush greenery around, pleasant wind, & music - had such an intoxicating effect that I personally felt extremely buoyant.

Pic 3: Many such waterfalls along the way

By the time we reached Raigad (foothills), it was nearing 12 & so we decided on going to the fort at the top via ropeway & come back down on foot. The rope way took us to the fort in minutes & those few minutes gave us such an amazing view of the mountains, waterfalls & the valley below. On reaching the top, we decided on eating lunch[which was a local dish junka bhakari] first, & after that went on ahead to see the fort which centuries before happened to be the capital of Maratha king Shivaji.

Pic 4: Raigad Ropeway

Pic 5: View from the top

Pic 6: Shivaji Maharaj

Pic 7, 8: Ruins of Raigad Fort

It was drizzling on n off, was more than drizzle actually & the wind was adding to the cold factor. Plus the fog, which whenever was getting cleared for few minutes, gave us opportunity to click few snaps. We roamed around for quite some time, seeing the remains of the fort & admiring the lush greenery around. After a while it started pouring & it seemed that there was a competition between the wind & the rain, which one could be fiercer. We hanged on to our jackets/umbrellas & scrambled back to the ropeway. As there was no way we could see any more of the fort or walk, we took the rope way to go back down.

Pic 9, 10: Ruins of Raigad Fort

After changing into dry clothes, we started our drive back. We had planned to take one de route after crossing Mahad, towards Shivthar Ghal. It was in these caves, that Ramdas Swami wrote his famous "Dasbodh". The drive again was awesome with many waterfalls (due to monsoons) enriching the splendor of lush green mountains. In shivthar Ghal , we saw the caves & water fall, enjoyed ourselves soaking in cool stream water & then finally headed back for Pune.

Pic 11: Waterfall at Shivthar Ghal

As it was already dark by this time, so now there were no more views for us, instead it was pitch dark around, and all we could see was a portion of road ahead cuz of the car head lights. We played the ever green game of antakshari to while away time. Taking the route of Bhor - Pune Banglore highway, by around 9:30 we reached Khed shivpuri & had dinner there. And then by 11, back home in Pune, tired and sleepy, pleased after yet another memorable trip.

LohGarh Trek - 23rdAug09

With the onset of monsoons the weather in and around Pune has become very pleasant, ideal for trekking. And so last friday me n 3 of my teammates suddenly planned on going to Malavali on saturday. We decided on meeting at the railway station at sharp 7:15, so as to take the 7:30 lonawala local to Malavali.

Saturday morning began with wake up calls to each other, as we couldnt risk anybodys oversleeping. On reaching station & purchasing tickets, we gotto know that the local is at 8. So we whiled away time in Comesum, having tea & chit chatting. Once aboard the local, it hardly took 70-80 mins to reach Malavali. We started walking from the station towards Lohagrah fort, quite excited & energetic. To our dismay the sun was merciless. We were expecting a pleasant weather and here the sun was in its blazing glory. Anyway we managed to walk n walk, with some rest breaks in between. As we gained height the weather thankfully improved n then we started enjoying our climb.

The scenery around was simply picturesque. After reaching the base of the fort, there were quite a lot of steps, which took us to the fort. The view from the top was breathtaking & the greenery around vivid. We spent quite some time there, clicking snaps, taking in the view all around us, & enjoying the cool breeze. It was so refreshing that we had already forgotten the fatigue of the climb.

During our climb down, after covering half of the distance real quick, due to pleasant weather & downward slope, we took a break to eat. Hot plates of kandha bhaji & poha, followed by tea in a dhaba reminded us of how much starved we were. After relishing all that, we continued our walk downhill. The merciless sun once again greeted us & we tried to beat the heat by soaking in some cool water of a spring.

Finally back to Malavali station, we boarded our 4 o' clock return train. Exhausted & content with our trip we reached back already planning for the next trip :)

Fabric of Cosmos

You have got to take my word on this, its a fabulous book. Especially for people who love science but don't want to plunge into the depths, at least for now. I could actually feel the atoms and molecules in my brain working, or should I say the strings comprising those atoms vibrating, haha :D

I wont brag that I could understand everything explained by the author, but then isn’t it difficult to understand something that is beyond your imagination. For instance, time is not constant, it is different for everybody. For a person moving at a very high speed, time ticks slowly than the person at rest. And then, Gravitation manifests itself as the warps & curves of the space. Can you imagine space with curves & warps?? Phew!

So that was the difficulty – imagination. But otherwise it was a very interesting & informative read. I honestly didn’t know so many things, like last I read electron was an indivisible fundamental particle. But it seems it is further composed of quarks.

The book is very well written. Author has explained how our understanding regarding cosmos progressed from Classic physics - Newtons Laws, to Einstein's general relativity to quantum mechanics to todays theories on String/M theory, and also the various possibilities of the origin of cosmos. Towards the end he also mentioned how physicists around the globe are trying to experimentally prove these theories.

With the many examples & analogies, author has really made reading this book fun.

Trip to Ladakh (4th - 11th July09)

I had always wanted to visit Ladakh & when me n my hubby had to plan a vacation this time we went ahead n booked our tickets for Leh. We left for Mumbai airport on 2nd July evening. The drive from Pune to Mumbai on express highway was quite good, weather being very plesant. On reaching airport we came to know that our flight had got delayed by 2-3 hours, so we just whiled away our time in the airport & I was half dozing by the time we boarded the flight. On reaching Delhi airport there was again sometime before the next flight, so we ate something n waited more. At around 6 am we boarded the next flight, I again half dozing. Only after the breakfast was served in the flight I was fully awake. Once we started flying over the Himalayas we just couldnt contain our happiness, it was a clear day & it was so exciting seeing those picturesque snow covered mountain tops. I had never seen such a sight before in my life. All the tourists in the plane were so excited n nearly everyone was clicking away snaps, & the pilot with his commentary was adding to all the fun.

Picture1: View from flight

Finally after such an eventful flight we reached Leh airport. It was a sight in itself. Barren land surrounded with raw mountains with a runway in between. wow. We took it easy after alighting the flight as we could feel the thinness of the air due to the altitude [approx 10K ft compared to zero of Delhi]. Besides we had already got loads of advice on acclimatization through parents n internet. So we just gave the whole day to acclimatisation. We ate n slept n watched tv in our room. Our only outing in the entire day was outside our room in the evening clicking some arbit snaps.

Picture2: Thiksey Gompa

Next day, after a whole day of rest I was literally aching to go out. We booked a scorpio for our entire sight seeing program. Having done so, at around 10 we left for the visit to the Gompas. It was a bright n sunny morning & the drive took us through the barren lands, oasis around Indus, some small establishments by local people. Our first stop was at Hemis Gompa. Every gompa we saw, was a collection of small stone houses, the top most being the temple, housing the Buddha statue & the remaining others being the abode of lamas. The temple was cool n dark, lighted only by lamps, decorated by flags & having seating arrangements for prayers, very calm if u minus the tourists there. Also every Gompa is lined by prayer wheels. So after having seen the Hemis Gompa we headed for Thiksay Gompa.

Picture3: Buddha Statue at Thiksay

In this monastery, there was a huge 2 storeyed Buddha statue which was quite nicely decorated also. Also in one section they had some weird pictures n statues of dunno what, but they looked very weird demon like. I was surprised to find something like that in a Buddhist monastery. Next we went to Shey Palace, which was hardly a palace I must say, just rocks & a temple at the top. By this time we were beginning to get tired. We had to walk considerably as all temples were at a height & the sun was merciless. Actually the air being so thin there, makes the sun even more hot.

Picture4: Indus River

Next we went to "Sindhu Darshan", basically at the banks of Indus river. It was quite beautiful & calm here n we would have sat there for hours, had we not started to get hungry by this time. So we called it a day, went back to our room, ate n slept having planned for the next day.

Picture5: Leaving Leh for K-top

Next day Route : Leh - South Pullu - Khardungla top - North Pullu - Nubra Valley - Khalser - Diskit - Hunder. Approx 120 kms one way.

We left in the morning after breakfast & our first stop was at South Pullu [height approx 15 K ft]. Over here we were told that since some drilling n all is going on somewhere near K-top, so we will have to wait for few hours before going ahead. We had tea in the 'VIP' room & fortunately in the mean time District collector and his entourage passed by & stopped the drilling for the time being. So we could go ahead without any further wait.

Picture6: VIP room of S Pullu [Ht 15K ft approx]

Picture7: Snow near K-top

Picture8: Nubra Valley

The drive was simply awesome, such rugged mountains, as we went further high up, there was snow & that was another such beautiful sight. Nubra Valley was also very beautiful, here Shylok river meets the Nubra river & even though its a desert, one can find patches of greenery along the river banks. Moving ahead we crossed Khalser & Diskit villages n reached Hunder by lunch time. Hunder is an army establishment, and the closest civillian establishment is Diskit. We had our lunch n rested for sometime.

Picture9: Diskit Gompa

In the evening we went n visited Diskit village followed by the visit to Sand dunes near Hunder. Its a rare sight to find sand dunes in mountains & even though we didnt ride the double humped camels there, we enjoyed the evening.

Picture10: Sand Dunes in Hunder

Next Day we had to travel the same route back to Leh. While having breakfast in our room, which was surrounded by desert mountains, I was admiring the view & wondering how it must be like living there. As a tourist I am enjoying every moment of it, but for a person living there, it must be so difficult, specially during the winters. During winters everything is covered by thick layers of snow, roads get blocked n commuting gets very difficult, many a times supplies have to be air-dropped. Our return drive was equally good and this time we stopped at the Khardungla top [height approx 18 K ft], the highest motorable road in the world. It was a nice experience being there.

Once back to Leh we rested & in the evening strolled to the Leh market. Tourism is an important means of income in Leh & it was quite evident by the numerous shops catering to tourist needs lined up there. Infact there is this Changspa road in Leh, which has just restaurants, travel agents, rental stores, souvenier shops, money exchange & internet cafes. But mostly the tourists here are foreigners, and Indian tourists are very less comparitively.

Next day was little dull, as we both were suffering from headaches n dizzyness & we ended up resting the whole day.

Picture11: Changla Baba at the pass

Next day route: Leh - Karu - Changla Pass - Tangtse - Pangong Tso Lake. n back. Distance approx 160kms one way.

We were up by 4am n ready to go by 5am, thanks to our driver who was insistent that we should leave early as there is a pagal nala enroute, which might get difficult to cross if water level increases as the day progressed. The drive again was awesome, this time the mountains being more of rocks n stones, a different view to take in. Even though its just mountains around, the terrain differed so much here n there that I never took my eyes off the surroundings. At many places, roads were quite bad & we had a bumpy ride. Our first stop was at Changla pass [approx height 17,800 ft], third highest pass. It was snowing there n quite cold, but the feeling to be there was so good. There is no habitation except for few army posts. Those few people have to live there for years together with nothing to do except gaurd those posts. There is also a temple dedicated to Changla baba there. We had complementary tea, which is kept for visitors n moved ahead. By this time we were growing hungry & eagerly waiting to reach Tangste, where we had our breakfast.

Picture12: Mountains or just a heap of stones & rocks?

Finally we crossed the pagal nala, which is stones n water & no road & reached the Pangong Tso lake. Height is approx 14K , length of the lake is around 135kms, 45 kms being in India & remaining 90kms in China. Water is saline & has no life forms. During winter this lake freezes completely.

Picture 13: Pangong Tso Lake

It was pretty cold and windy there. We did boating for sometime & then just sat beside the lake admiring the grandeur around us. It was so splendid, I can never forget the wonderous feeling I had sitting there. On our way back we had lunch at Tangste again & were back in Leh by 5 in the evening. 11 hours on road, for one hour near the lake, totally worth it!

Next day was our last day in Leh & we decided to rent a bike to visit the near by places. We rented a thunderbird, being our personnal favourite, but it was in quite a precarious condition. Nevertheless after breakfast, we drove till the Pathir sahib gurudwara. Drive, as always was quite good, scenery breathtaking. After visiting the gurudwara, we further crossed the Magnetic Hill n reached the Sangam of Indus & Zanskar river. It was like a painting, greenish Indus calmly meeting the muddy brownish Zanskar.

Picture14: Indus & Zanskar Sangam

We further went with an intention of visiting atleast one of the 2 monasteries, Alchi n Likir. But we had to turn back after covering nearly 2/3rd of the distance, because firstly we were not sure about the amount of petrol left in the bike or its milleage[and no fuel station in sight] & secondly there was a patch of extremely bad road to cross. So we turned back n were about to reach Leh when we had a flat. Oops! Back to Leh we had lunch & then in evening headed for Hall of fame, a museum. But it had closed by then n we could not visit it. So we headed for Shanti stupa instead. It is located at a height & gives a panoramic view of the whole Leh city. So after a series of flop shows in the day, we had a nice time admiring the view from the shanti stupa. We just sat contemplating how our past one week had been, & how much we had enjoyed being there.

Picture15: Leh City

Next morning we boarded our flight to Delhi. The receding view of the Himalayas was beckoning me to come back again. Maybe we will go back there sometime :)

Lord Of The Rings - J R R Tolkien

Phew...what a lengthy book :) I had started reading this book long long back , when the third part of the movie was being screened. At that time the multiplexes here also screened the first 2 parts, so that people like me who hadn't seen any part as yet, could do so , before watching the 3rd part. So I ended up watching all three parts of the movie , before I could finish reading even half of first part of the book. I really enjoyed watching the movies, and having done so, I did not feel like continuing reading the book & so left it there.


Now few months back when I was in Bangalore at my frens place with my hubby, we ended up discussing LOTR, all four of us being fans of the movie triology. And this renewed the interest in LOTR book & I again started reading it. This time I enjoyed reading the first 2 parts of the book, but by the time I started reading the 3rd part, I was like "Phew". Its quite a long story [and my book having all three parts in one, is really a fat one]. In fact I found it a verbose book. I mean there would be pages together on description of the forests n climate n mountains n all. This surely means that the author has loads of imagination & skill to pen it. But for readers like me its difficult to again convert those words into imaginations. To some extent its possible, but then pages together gets too much :D Plus there were those poems n songs, which I just had to skip. Not to forget the language, I mean its English off course, but its written in a different n "not-so-easy-to-read" way. Otherwise the story is good, the world of hobbits, n elfs, n rings, etc etc, is quite interesting. My favourite characters being Aragon, Gandalf & Sam :)


I am still in the middle of the third part, but guess its gonna be a long time before I finish it, but I will surely finish the book this time :D Its been 4 months since I am into this book [okay this is not the only book I am reading, many more going on side by side], lets see how many more months before I finish it :D