Quit Smoking...

Hamburg Diary

It is one week now I am in Hamburg. Days are short and gloomy, nights are cold. I go to office in the dark, come back in the dark. Temperature has gone down to -7 degree last week. So very different from India. But, I am enjoying the cold, the easy with which life moves, people's interest in their lives and the continuous effort to improve their lives is amazing.

I am living in the north Hamburg, near the river Elbe. I cross the ferry to reach Airbus, my office. I stay in a very cozy little place named Landhaus Jenischpark.
Still not see the city much. Plan to see it with my wife when she will be here. The food is great, I like most of them. Had tried cooking some of them as well. People speak English, more or less. Shops has only products with German names. No clue what you are buying.
Overall, liking it. Next week my wife is coming to Brussels, will meet her there. Feeling good about it.

attu

You bite, you pull my hair,
You always move here and there;
Your kisses are wet-
Your eyes are moist;
I like you the way you are,
I love the honesty in your love.

The French Connection, Pondicherry

Beaches, French style brick roads, laid back lifestyle, French cuisine, sari clad aged women on bicycle...Pondicherry. We stayed in the house of a French lady, Patricia Michel. There are many more available in the net. Her house was on Rue Francois Martin;- the second lane from the sea-shore and a minute's walk from Aurobindo Ashram. We wanted to visit Pondicherry the French way, trying to take in the flavor of the French life there; food, home, alleys with their name written in white on a blue board, the Aurobindo Ashram and the sea.

One can spend hours on the Rue Goubert (Beach Road) eating, buying small-little things or just sitting on the rocks. We sat on the rock and watched the sea slowly moving closer with the tide and moistening our eyes, face, camera lenses. Night fell and we went to 'The Promenade' for dinner. They were doing barbecue in the terrace restaurant with a view of the old light house and the sea of course. Amazingly romantic place.
After the dinner it started raining and we walked along the empty Beach Road in the drizzle. It was fun. Even if you are not so lucky to get rains, try to come to the Beach Road at night when it is empty. You will never forget it.
Next day we visited Auroville, the self-sufficient village with handicrafts, pottery and eco-friendly lifestyle. After seeing the Matrimandir, we went to the Quiet Beach and took bath in the sea. Though Podicherry has no beach for bathing, you will find a few like this within 10 km from the city. Then we came back to the city to see the Ashram. There was a few shops in the Ashram and around it; we did shopping. The evening we sat on the rocks watching the sea again.
Today's plan was a French dinner at the most popular place among the French here; 'Satsanga'. service, ambiance, food;-were great. We spent hours drinking and having dinner.
Next morning we had French breakfast at Patricia's house and started our journey back. We were on the highway with lot of stories and memories of our French connection.

Hampi - a dynasty in ruins!

It all happened in the 15th century. Muslim sultans became united to capture the capital of Vijayanagara Empire and destroy the historical Kishkindha, the Vanara (monkey) kingdom which finds mention in the Ramayana. The city is now in ruins due to invading Islamic aggressions that treat idol worship as blasphemy.
We, a group of seven, decided to visit Hampi over a weekend from Bangalore, so booked Hampi Express, an overnight train to Hospet. We took an auto-rickshaw from the railway station to Hampi.

If you reach Hampi without any plan, like we did, believe me, you will enjoy it more. Yes, we went to the big hotels, including the KSTDC one, did not like much and followed the suggestion of the rickshaw driver and landed in Hampi Bazaar. We arranged a hotel on the bank of the river Tungabhadra, in the ruins. The rickshaw driver took hundred bucks and we got a hotel with very basic amenities in rupees three hundred per day. The great ambience was free of cost. We were happy!
The hotels have restaurants at the terrace, we went for breakfast. They don’t serve drinks, hard ones; and it’s a no-non-vegetarian place; - a sacred place for the Hindus. We were sad; - no party in this trip!
Our hotel had a great view of the river at one side, and at the opposite, the famous Virupaksha Temple.
It was a hot day; we took bath and came out of the hotel; saw a shop renting bicycles and scooters for the tourists; - we rented four in rupees 125 per scooter per day. We visited the KSTDC office in Hampi Bazaar and collected the tourist guide with a map in it and started. We had two days in hand, so we planned to visit the places on the same bank of the river where we stayed on the first day and next day to cross the river and see the places there. We loved the old structures, almost destroyed; we loved the stone pillars, big stones lying beside the road, we loved the stone gates and temples and palaces; but what we liked the most is riding through the vast ruins, the unusual combination of green land and brown stones, the smell of mystery on our every step.

On the way, we heard of a restaurant named ‘mango Tree’ on the bank. In the afternoon we went there to see the sun set and have dinner. Yellow lanterns, the moon light and the darkness; - it was a nice experience. After dinner we started riding the same roads again, to feel the night fall on the ruins. Late night; - we were sitting on the bank of the river, watching the silvery stones telling the old stories to the river, which is carrying the same to the unknown lands. ‘Nandi’ sat in the middle of the river and admired the beauty with us.
Next morning we crossed the river with the scooters with us in a small round boat. Again in the ruins, on the roads little less traveled. We came back to hotel in the afternoon, had lunch and packed our bags; - it was time to board the return train to Bangalore. That is how we ended our trip, but still now, after one year, I day dream about Hampi.

Birthday

Day passes by,
Night falls-
A new day begins;...
We cherish the yesterday,
But we love the today.

Gurudongmar, North Sikkim

We reached Gangtok and booked a Gurudongmar trip with a travel agent. It is necessary because you have to cross a lot of army check posts, so, you have to collect a lot of passes before you start. If you are not clubbing any other place with it and you can travel on hill roads for long, you can do it in two days. So, they packed food for all for two days, oxygen cylinders (if you want as back-up, we didn't take), and we packed our bags with as less things as possible, because the less the load, driving is easy.
Next morning we started for Lachen, a small village at a height of approximately 8900ft. around 120km from Gangtok; it would take 6hrs. We reached Lachen at around 2 o'clock and visited the monastery. But it was almost dark!

It was in the year of 2006 and tourism was not at all developed at this part of the world. We stayed in a hotel (Siniolchu Lodge) run by a Nepalese family at their home. They prepared food for us with our vegetables and rice. We roamed around in the village after dinner at 6 o'clock in the evening. It was freezing cold outside with nobody to see on the road. A small shop was open round the corner selling 'Tongba' or 'Chang', a local drink which keeps you warm. We sat near the fire and drank till night.

We planned to start for Gurudongmar at 4 o'clock in the morning because the wind becomes strong after eleven near the lake making it difficult to breathe. Anyways we were shivering in cold with all the jackets on, under two layers of blankets. We could not remove our shoes as well. We could see the frozen Tista river from the window of our room. After an hour our window was covered with snow. Temperature was -10 degree. We woke up at 3.30 and freshened up. Water was cutting through our fingers after they were melted using heater. And we started as planned. Roads were difficult, after a few kilometers, trees became short in height. We climbed more and there was no tree. Then the snow filled terrains started to be seen.

It is called cold desert. One side, there is nothing, other side is full of snow. Finally we reached the lake at a height of 18600ft. Our bodies took some time to get adjusted to the cold. They did not switch the car engine off otherwise the army diesel will freeze. Splendid it was.

There was a monastery with a board written 'Sarva Dharma Sthal' on it. We had our breakfast there, enjoyed the altitude, the snow, the low pressure, we knew for the first time the source of river Tista.