First rain of this winter

We woke up this morning with the nice view of first snowfall in the hills beyond Mussorie. It had rained here last night -- the first rain of this winter. Mercury had plummeted further. It normaly rains here in north India in December. Once it rains, both the maximum and minimum temperature remains within 5 to 12-15 degrees. The cold is biting, specially at night. Back home in Assam, winter is very pleasant as during daytime maximum temperature hovers around 20 degrees.

Last winter, areas around Mussorie had received record snowfalls during Januray. Mountain peaks capped with fresh snows provides a nice view from Dehradun. Hopefully, it will be equally magnificient this year to enable us to experience the last snowfall before we move to the dreadful city of Delhi.

ISBTs in Delhi : traveling out of Delhi

There are many tourist locations around Delhi and you are often required to catch a bus for traveling out of Delhi. But here comes the dilemma -- should you take a private bus or a roadways bus (govt. buses)! Traveling by private bus should be avoided at all cost. Now, where do you go to catch a roadways bus as there are 3 ISBTs in Delhi which are located wide apart. Delhi is full of touts who are out there to exploit innocent tourists. We had all learned it the hard way by getting duped at least once. It starts with the autowalas. If you ask them to go to ISBT, they will quiz your knowledge by asking which ISBT. Local word used for ISBT is Bus Adda. If you can not answer that then they know that you a sitting duck and may take you to private operator. To avoid trouble, you need to tell specifically that I want to go say Kashmere Gate Bus Adda. There are many shops outside New Delhi Station, the so called Tourist Information Bureaus. They constitute the second line of touts. They book tickets for private buses and hotels. You will find cheaper and better hotels if you take the help of a man puled ricksaw. There is no published price of bus fares for private bus and so the price you pay depends on your knowledge of fare and bargaining power. So it is always better to go to ISBTs and catch a roadways bus that keeps running almost 20 hours. But you need to know which ISBT you should go.

During 1998-99, I was employed in Delhi with a private organisation where I had to travel extensively out of Delhi. Fortunately, around that time, the Transport Deptt. of Delhi had published a list of buses from diferent ISBTs in leading newspapers. I had preserved that piece of information which had always been very useful for me. As now I have my own webspace, I feel it will be nice to share it with you all.

ANAND VIHAR ISBT (VIVEKANANDA)
(Buses mostly to UP and East Uttaranchal areas)
Almora
Allahabad
Bulandshahar
Bareilly
Bageswar
Dharchula
Etawah
Farukhabad
Ghazipur
Gajraula
Hathras
Hamirpur
Haldwani
Jhansi
Kanpur
Kashipur
Kalagarh (also from Kashmere Gate ISBT)
Lucknow
Lohaghat
Mainpuri
Moradabad
Nainital
Nagina (also from Kashmere Gate ISBT)
Pithoragarh
Pilibhit
Ramnagar
Rudrapur
Ranikhet
Tanakpur
Varanasi

KASHMERE GATE ISBT (RANA PRATAP)
(Busses mostly to North Haryana, HP, Jammu, Punjab and West UP, west Uttaranchal areas)
Guhana
Sonepat
Panipat
Karnal
Nahan
Kurukshetra
Ambala
Chandigarh
Kalka
Hoshiarpur
Patiala
Bhatinda
Ludhiana
Jallandhar
Amritsar
Katra
Jammu
Moga
Shimla
Dharamsala
mandi
Kulu
Manali
Pilani
Rohtak
Jind
Sangrur
Bhiwandi
Hissar
Sirsa
Ganganagar
Meerut
Saharanpur
Muzzafarnagar
Rurki
Rishikesh
Dehradun
Haridwar
Kotdwar (via Meerut)
Dhampur (via Meerut)
Nagina (via Meerut)
Kalagarh (via Meerut)
And all other routes towards GT Karnal Road, Bahadurgarh Road and Saharanpur Road

SARAI KALE KHAN ISBT (near Ashram)
(Busses to Hrayana towards Faridabad side and Gurgaon side, MP)
Ghaziabad
Hapur
Gurgaon
Sohna
Rewari
Narnaul
Sikkar
Alwar
Kotputli
Jaipur
Ajmer
Jodhpur
Chittor
Bhilwara
Udaipur
Kota
Faridabad
Palwal
Ballabhgarh
Agra (also runs from Anand Vihar)
Aligarh
Gwalior
Mathura
Vrindavan
And all other routes towards Gurgaon and Mathura Road.

Dos and Don'ts:
Here is a list of Dos and Donots from that list. I had added a few.

1) If you can not find the place you are going, check a map. You will get a general direction based on the location and go to that ISBT. Even if you land in the wrong ISBT, do not worry as DTC runs city bus service between these ISBTs. These buses starts from inside the ISBTs.
2) For God's sake DO NOT EVER GET INTO PRIVATE BUSES. The advertisement by Transport Deptt of Delhi rightly says You May Not Reach Your Destination'. Believe me, it is 100% true. The private bus service is highly unorganised and so there is no control.
3) Do not fall for luxury buses or AC buses of private operators. Many agents moves around inside the ISBT, manily around ticket counters and gates looking for innocent looking victims. I can assure you that if you fall for them you are guaranteed a horrible experience you will never forget. We all had gone through it and is so awareing you. Further, I have not seen any AC private bus till now. Probably there is not any. But I have I have seen many people fighting for refund of extra AC charges. But these crookes will not return you money.

4) There is no standard fare of private bus. They charge you depending on your knowledge. But my experience is that roadways bus fare is much cheaper, e.g., the Dehradun - Delhi fare for good quality delux bus of any roadways was 170-80/- while that of khatara delux of private bus was 250/-.
4) Even autowalas may be packed. They may pretend giving you friendly advise to take you to good delux buses. They do it for commision and once they hand you over to touts they will vanish leaving you to suffer.
5) So cardinal principle is that always board a bus from inside the ISBTs. All types of buses are available -- from real khataras to Volvos. Quality of buses may not look good, but they will still make you reach your destination safely.

6) All long distance buses from Delhi leaves by 10:30 pm or maximum 11 pm. So, you should not expect to get buses after 10:30 pm.

Useful Links :

Here are some useful link in case you want to gather more information. The DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) not only runs city bus service in Delhi, but also operates buses to almost all major tourist points to states around Delhi. Here is the link to DTC website . There is another very useful link to find local city bus routes within Delhi. Check this out DTC City Bus Route Finder . Want to know the auto and taxi fare in Delhi, then check this Auto and Taxi fare Calculator . To end, here is the link on the latest mode of commuting in Delhi, the metro rail Delhi Metro Rail .

Off-beat Dehradun : Santhala Devi Temple

Off-beat Himalayas is a popular term generously used on the net to attract exploring tourists to those little known destinations which are off the radar of the average tourist that travels to well known destinations only. Such places are everywhere, but because of lack of information one tends to stay away from it. Last Sunday, we have been to one such place within Dehradun which I am certain that even many Dunites living here for years have not seen. The place is a temple named Santhala Devi.

The place was just 7.5 km (excluding the 2 km track) drive from the ONGC colony towards Garhi Cantt. This means it is a mere 4.5 km from the junction at Garhi Cantt. It is the same road that goes to the more famous Tapkeswar Temple. But instead of taking a left turn, keep moving straight by the main road. Soon after crossing a bridge, you will get a cantonment complex named Birpur Estate. Further ahead you get another cantonment complex named Gonghora. Move ahead right through the gate of this complex. The army personal posted at the gate will not stop you. If you get a fountain named Phillora Fountain then you are on right track. A few meters ahead you get a diversion at Milan Chowk. Take right turn. There is not much confusion beyond it. Keep moving till you reach the end of the road. The road will take you to the foothill of the temple. A stream, may be a rivulet, gently flowing has made this place a picnic spot. The day being a Sunday, the place was bustling with picnic goers. Maneuvering the crowd and haphazardly parked vehicles, we reached the paid parking lot and parked our cars.

Then we set out on the track to the temple. The temple is on the top of a nearby hill. It was 2 km up from this point onwards. The climb was very stiff. It was difficult to ascertain how much you have climbed. When we asked those coming down as to how much is left, the common reply was that we had covered only half of the track and half is still left. The demoralizing effect almost made me gave up after traveling 3/4th of the track. Take my advice, do not ask anybody coming down a hill. It took almost an hour for us to reach the temple.

The temple is dedicated to Snthala Devi, probably a loacl deity as I have not heard of any such godess. Being inside a cantonment area, some unit of army has facilitated construction of the temple complex. Besides, the reigning deity, there were few other idols including that of Vishnu. Out side the temple, there is a tree where devotees tie knot with the traditional red ribbons to seek good luck. These will probably be untied when the wishes are fulfilled. There is no place left on the tree. I have seen that people had inserted small papers writing their names within the knots so that they can identify them later. Some has even put visiting cards. Ingenious ideas! There also is a viewpoint in the complex.

Animal sacrifices are made in the temple. There is a sacrificial spot just outside the temple. The blood of hundreds of animals that have been killed here over the years has covered the place in gory red colour. It was generating the kind a foul smell you get at butcher’s place. This signifies that some form of Shakti is worshipped here in the name of Snatala Devi. We did not witness any sacrifice during the half hour stay, but while coming up we saw many headless goats and chickens being carried by devotees. This is the second sacrificial spot I have seen in my life. The other such place I have seen is in the Kamrup Kamakhya temple in Guwahati. That was a long time ago when I was a kid, probably 6 years old. I have heard that large animals are no more sacrificed in Kamakhya.

Coming down was much easier. We made it in about half an hour. Picnics have reached their peak or the effects of booze have reached its peak. It was high time for lunch. We spotted a group that were enjoying picnic with the chicken sacrificed in the temple. Only the head is offered to God, the body is for mortals to eat! Who would eat a chicken head anyway? We too were feeling hungry after spending so much of energy. Many roadside hotels have sprung up in the foothill area which is very common in such places around Dehradun. But all of them seem to sell chowmin only. So we left the place to find a proper eatery for a late lunch.

That summed up the trip. It was more a tracking trip then pilgrimage. The quickest one this year, but undoubtedly the one that required maximum physical effort.

Tehri: The Sinking Town

Sinking Tehri : the price of development
Tearful eyes are bidding farewell to the centuries old Tehri town. The gigantic reservoir of the Tehri dam has started swallowing up the old town. Houses of more than 1 lakh people of Tehri and 112 villages will soon be lost forever. Relocation of the displaced people has been completed though on paper. Harsh reality is that many are yet to get compensation and are fighting a losing battle. The land and houses, however well constructed, up in the hill cannot replace the fertile lands in the valleys. It is never easy for the hill people to leave their houses where generations have lived. Commercial importance of the old town will also probably get shifted to Chamba. The events in Tehri have generated some tourist interest in the last few years. We went to Tehri during last diwali (15th Oct, 2004). It was a memorable journey for me as it was my first outing in Uttaranchal and also the first long drive in the hills. As more and more news of Tehri has started pouring in, it gave an occasion for me to look back and chronicle the trip.

The Drive from Dehradun to Tehri
From Dehradun we proceeded via Rishikesh, Narendranagar and Chamba. There is an alternative route from Dehradun via Mussorie and Chamba. But the road via Narendranagar is a better one for a new driver in hills. Once you leave Rishikesh, it is always up the hill. Narendranagar is 16 km from Rishikesh and you can see the Narendranagar Palace on the top of a hill from the Gandhi Chowk in Rishikesh. The palace complex, which was once the abode of the erstwhile King of Garhwal, now houses a five star resort named the Ananda in the Himalayas. There is a bypass at Narendranagar which passes right in-front of this palace. We spent a few minutes at the palace for photography. The guards on duty were polite enough to let us into the complex. The road was quite good and wide as this is used to carry all the heavy equipment and material to Tehri dam site. The sloping of road was also low and my Wagon R with 5 people was pulling well in third gear even in the stiffest stretches. The traffic was sparse as used to be in most hilly roads. A rivulet named Henval flows by the road. We had lunch in a decent roadside restaurant. You will get few of such decent eateries on the route.

Chamba (1524 mtr) was the next big town on the route. It is about 61 km from Rishikesh. The town looked beautiful from distance. Four roads converge at the town center of Chamba. These roads go to Narendranagar (the one we were traveling by), Mussorie, Tehri (and also to Uttarkashi and thus to Gangotri as well) and New Tehri. It has hotels in case you decide to stay. We proceeded straight for going to old Tehri, which that was 17 km away.

Tehri town (Old Tehri)
The final stretch of road was not that good. Near the Tehri bus stand we found a signboard welcoming you to the ‘Emerging tourist spot’ of Tehri, but other than that there is literally nothing to guide you. No road signs. We had to ask here and there and finally reached the point called Dobata from where the road to Uttarkashi starts. It is 70 km to Uttarkashi from here and 166 km to Gangotri. Here we had our first view of the dam and the sinking town down below. We had to take guidance there from the police outpost and started for New Tehri. We were told that no one is allowed to go to the old town. We had to come back to the point where we saw the signboard and took a dusty track that branched off from the main road hoping that this is the right road. After traveling for about 2 km the dusty track joined a blacktopped road. A kilometer or so further, we reached the office of Jaypee Associates who is the company having contract to build all THDC sites including Tehri. We gathered some information from the office there. The road to the dam site starts at this point. One may go to right up to the dam if they can manage prior permission from the THDC. If you know someone in THDC, then it is possible. We went down a few hundred meters by that road to have a good view of the old town and the dam. The town looked deserted and dilapidated. It was not submerged and was waiting its destiny with eerie calmness. Located at an altitude of 755 meters, the old Tehri town is more than two hundred years old. Maharajah Sudarshan Shah established the town as the capital of Tehri-Garhwal in 1803. Sadly, in about a year’s time it will be only in history and photographs.

Then we started our journey up to the New Tehri town, which was about 12 km away from this point. On the way up there is a viewpoint (along with a bus shed) at a place called Bhagirathipuram from where you can have a majestic view of the entire dam. I must confess it was quite a site. Dusts from the site had created a grayish layer on the entire site. The bulldozers, the concrete mixers, the trucks – everything down below were looking miniscule and resembled the scene of some sci-fi movie. You could see both the Bhagirathi and Bhilangana rivers from this point. It was late afternoon around 4 pm. The setting sun casted an orange hue to the grey colored concrete surroundings on the higher areas of the dam. The THDC guesthouse is very close to this point. One can also try for accommodation here.

New Tehri
New Tehri town is located at an altitude of 1600 meters. So it was up all the way from old Tehri. Thos stretch of road was not in good shape. Landslides had taken its toll in many places. We finally made it to the New Tehri a few minutes before sunset. We had covered roughly 135 km from Dehradun. New Tehri is a planed town built to rehabilitate residents of Tehri. It has all modern amenities built in a planned way. There are three hotels, all located together very close to the bus stand and the market. These hotels are located on one end of the town, the end that you get while traveling up from old Tehri. It will be opposite end if you travel from Chamba. There also is a GMVN guesthouse just next to the hotels. But we found it closed, may be because of low tourist traffic or to let the hotels survive. We bargained and got good rooms in the first hotel of the row for Rs.250/- a piece. I forgot the name of the hotel. The hotels provide you a magnificent view of a Himalayan peak. The setting sun casted a pinkish orange colour to the peak that was visible from our hotel room. As the sun was setting, the colour changed from pink to orange before becoming white again. I had never seen such a beautiful image of a peak in sunset. I am told that you get o see the best such possible view of this spectacle of colour from Kausani. Unfortunately, I ran out of camera rolls to capture this view and I will always repent this. I still have that scene deeply impregnated in my mind.

Our hotel did not have the restaurant functioning. However it was serving tea. Probably it is same in other hotels as well because all of them appeared to be unoccupied. So we had to go out to the restaurant in the market, which was hardly 50 meters from the hotel. To our shock the shops were closed and the town had gone into sleep even before 7:30. Though it was only mid- October, the cold outside was biting. Fortunately, we had managed to get our dinner in the only restaurant that was open. After returning back to hotel, the cable TV was the only instrument for passing time till the time we went to bed. Thanks to technology that cable TV is now available even in remotest places. We just imagined how would be the life of those getting posted to such remote places, e.g., people working in NHPC can get posted to such places. I must say a posting to Lakwa (in Assam) in ONGC is much better than this.

We started our return journey at around 10 next morning. This time we took a different route and proceeded further up the town and then came down to Chamba. It seems that the main town is located up the road as we get another market in upper areas. Once we left the town, a much larger range of Himalayas started appearing in horizon. We were excited to see a single peak last evening. But here we got a clear view of a large range with many peaks in front of us shining majestically in bright early morning sunlight. Traveling for few kilometers, we got confused in a road junction. There is no road sign. It is very irritating in the hills and is also dangerous. You may not find people for guidance. We almost proceeded by the road that goes to Karnaprayag. But then someone guided us the right way. After traveling for about 11 km from New Tehri we almost made it to Chamba, but got stuck in a traffic jam created by some stupid fellows protesting arrest of Sankaracharya. I really do not understand what is the mindset of such people. They think that by holding up traffic for an hour or so in a nondescript place in the hills they are going to make Jayalalitha listen! Fortunately, by the time we had reached there, half of the scheduled traffic blockade had been completed. So, after about half an hour of hold up, we managed to get out of the jam. Anyway, it gave me some experience of maneuvering a traffic jam in the hills. The incline of the road was very stiff, but fortunately I was driving down. If you keep your engine shut and decides to keep coming down slowly be-aware! Brakes tend to get jammed when your engine is off. But I must conclude that I had thoroughly enjoyed my first driving trip in the hills. When I saw this news pouring on Tehri over last few days, it brings back those beautiful moments.

Where has Ganga gone !
Where has the Ganga gone at Haridwar? Ganga sans Bhagirathi! These are few of the news headlines getting flashed in various news channels in the last few days. The news is that following a court clearance, the tunnel T2 of Tehri dam has been finally closed on 29th Oct, 2005 thereby diverting the water of the sacred Bhagirathi river into the massive 42 sq km reservoir of the dam. Mythology goes that King Bhagirath brought Ganga to earth through penance and so the river is also called Bhagirathi, i.e., river Bhagirathi represents actual Ganga. In fact, Bhagirathi provides 40% of total water supply to Ganga. Following the closure of the tunnel T2, supply of Bhagirathi water has come down to 2 cusec from the normal 1000 cusec. There is an agreement that release of water will be maintained at 40 cusec and the dam officials are claiming that they are maintaining it. Whatever is the amount of water getting released, it is still quite low and imagine how much water will actually reach Devprayag after traversing 80 km. This means that water of Bhagirathi is hardly reaching Ganga and so Ganga has lost its sacredness to the eyes of many who believes that a holy dip will wash away their sins. Alas! Ganga will not do that for them for the next 45 days or so. It is another matter that Ganga is so polluted that you cannot even take a hygienic dip beyond Haridwar. Ganga today is flowing with waters from Alknanda and Mandakini. What is Ganga or even where is Ganga without waters of Bhagirathi? There is considerable resentment over this even in the plains down below. A clash of religious sentiments with technology and development! Yesterday I saw a report in NDTV showing how Bhagirathi has reduced to a stream at Devprayag. I could feel what has actually happened or rather what changes might have taken place in the last few days. I have been to both Devprayag and Tehri in last one year. It was just four months back (23 June, 2005) when we saw the majestic view of the confluence of the two roaring rivers, Alaknanda and Bhagirathi at Devprayag. The river is called Ganga from this point onwards. (You can see this magnificent view of confluence at Devprayag in the Badrinath folder in My Photography)

The Tehri Hydel Project
Why are we undertaking a project that is displacing more than 1 lakh people and is hurting religious sentiments many more lakhs? With a projected generation of 2400 MW electricity, this is one of the largest hydroelectric project in the world. Built at the confluence of Bhagirathi and Bhilangana rivers, the 855 feet tall main dam is the 5th tallest in the world. The main reservoir is a massive 42 sq km that will completely engulf Tehri town along with 40 villages and partially submerge another 72 villages. The project has another 97 feet tall dam 14 km downstream at Koteshwar that will produce 400 MW power of total capacity. This will submerge an additional 16 villages. Besides generating electricity, it will stabilize irrigation to 6 lakh hectre of existing land and will bring another 2.7 lakh hectre under irrigation. It will also provide 270 million gallons of drinking water daily to Delhi, UP and UA. The project was approved in 1972 and construction started in 1978. The Tehri Hydel Development Corporation (THDC) was formed in 1989 to oversee the construction of the project. But it has always mired in controversy and the project got delayed by many years. Even the closing of tunnel T2 that has created the recent controversy was scheduled for Dec 2002. Two lower tunnels T3 and T4 were closed in Dec 2001. Besides the displacement and relocation of more than 1 lakh people, there were environmental concerns as the dam is located in a highly seismic zone. The Uttarkashi earthquake in Oct, 1992 raised further doubts as the dam is just 70 km away from Uttarkashi. One of the noted protestor of the dam is the environmental activist Sundarlal Bahuguna who once undertook a 74 day fast to register his protest. He said once that this dam is built with our tears. One of the major concerns is that what will happen to those living below if this massive dam crashes in an earthquake. Dam officials say it is adequately safe and can withstands earthquakes upto 8.5 Richter. But one should see the programs like “Nature’s Fury” and ‘Nat Geo Investigates” in National Geographic to understand what unexpected things can happen with nature. There already has been an accident on Aug 2, 2004 in one of the tunnel that took few lives as the tunnel gave in following heavy rains.

The dam may be beneficial for development. This is going to take care of all power and water problem of UA, UP and even Delhi. But the residents of Tehri and its adjoining villages had to pay a huge cost. Their struggle will go on and so do the controversies. But with closing of the tunnel T2, the dam is getting ready for generating its first unit of power sometime next year. I wish to visit Tehri again some time next year to see the sunken town.

Jim Corbett: the legend

Jim Corbett is a legend in Kumaon. He had left his footprint all across Kumaon saving lesser mortals from the jaws of man-eater tigers. Come to Ramnagar and you will feel the legend. The word Corbett had to be there somewhere in the names of any hotel, resorts or restaurants. Affectionately called the Carpet Sahib by local villagers, he seemed to be equally popular or may be better known than the father of the nation in this area. We had read about him in school, probably in class VII. It felt great to be at Arundel, his house at Kaladhungi which is now a museum run by the Corbett National Park. On our way back, we got the opportunity to travel by NH121 that runs right through the national park.

The Corbett Museum, Kaladhungi :

This is Arundel, the winter home of the Corbetts located at Kaladhungi. It is on the Kashipur -Bazpur - Haldwani road. Corbetts used to live in Nainital during summer and came down to kaladhungi during winters. A shortcut to Nainital starts right infront of the house. Nainital is just 32 km from this point and we travelled by this road to Nainital.

The house is located on a spreawling 10 acre complex. There are two seperate houses located close by. Few of Corbett's belongings are on display. In one section, there are some paintings depicting his life. The museum remains open upto 5 pm in summer. The gate fees charged is 5 rupees for adult and 1 rupees for child. It is managed by the forest deptt.

If you are a Corbett fan, you should not miss this. There is a luxury resort named Corbett Camp Jungle Lore very close this museum. But honestly speaking, this place is very far away from the actual Corbett National Park, around 30 km. The visit had renewed my interest in Jim Corbett. I came across many stratling facts whcih were not available in our school book. I had compiled a brief on the life of Jim Corbett which I share with you. If you are planning a visit to the park, you should know about this great gentleman.

The life of Jim Corbett (1875 - 1955) :
He was born as Edward James Corbett on 25 July, 1875 at Nainital. His father Christopher William Corbett had left military service and moved to Mussorie in 1858 where he got the job of postmaster in Mussorie. There he met Mary Jane who also had moved to Mussorie after lsoing her husband in the sepoy mutiny of 1857. They got married on Oct 13, 1859. Therafter he was transferred to Nainital in 1862 (and it took almost a month for the family to relocate). Jim lost his father when he was just 6. He wrote about how his mother Mary Jane had to struggle to bring the children up. They in fact had very large family. Jim’s parents had a total of 14 child of which 8 were from their wedlock and 6 (3 each) from there first marriages.

His brother Tom used to take young Jim into jungle for hunting for food. It is Tom from whom he leaned the first lesson in hunting. Growing up with the jungles made him a master of the jungles. Corbett started with a catapult to shoot down birds. He got his first gun, a double barreled muzzle loader, from his cousin Stephen Dease as a gift. Stephen wrote a book on birds of Kumaon and Jim collected more than 100 specimens for him with his catapult. He shot his first leopard when he was just eight. His reputation grew fast in Kumaon and received his first request to track a man-eater in 1906. The first man eater he killed was the Champawat Tiger in 1907. Between 1906 and 1941, he had slayed ten man-eaters in different parts of the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal.

Corbett was not just a hunter. He was a naturalist. He loved the wild and respected the big cat. He never killed a tiger for money or fun. He killed only the man-eaters to save lives. He was affectionately referred to by the locals as Carpet Sahib who would search jungles with inhospitable terrains for days in the trail of that eluding man-eater tiger. The combined total number of people killed by the man-eaters Corbett hunted exceeded 1500. The Champawat tiger itself had killed 436 documented victims. Similarly, the man eating leopard of Rudraprayag (see the photograph), killed in 1925, had 114 victims to its name. Deeply pained at the growing number of hunters and destruction to wildlife, he campaigned for the need to preserve the wildlife and devoted his later part of life for this purpose. He helped create the Association for the Preservation of Game in the United Provinces, and the All-India Conference for the Preservation of Wild Life, and he established India's first national park, inaugurated in 1934 in the Kumaon Hills as the Hailey National Park. This has been renamed in his honour as the Corbett National Park. In later part of his life he also took to wildlife photography.

Corbett was also a keen entrepreneur. After schooling, he joined the services of Bengal and North Western Railway at the age of 17. After few years he left service and started his own business. He had acquired a company called FEG Mathews & Co. for carrying out his business. He also started a large farm in a village near Kaladhungi. The farm is located in a village called ‘Chotha Haldwani’ is now a tourist spot. He owned many houses in Nainital where the Corbett household were settled. Corbett family had an established real estate business in Nainital which Jim carried forward. In fact his mother was said to be the first real estate agent of Nainital. Corbetts had a house in Kaladhungi where they lived during winters. It was built by his father.

Jim Corbett had also served in the army and took part in 4 wars. He had raised a battalion of Kumaoni locals and took few of them to fight in France in 1917. In 1939 Corbett volunteered to take part in the WW-II and trained allied soldiers in jungles survival in Burma. But the stress took a heavy toll of ageing Corbett. He had infected both Typhoid and Malaria during this period. After recuperating, he started penning his hunting stories. His first book, The Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1946), turned out to be best seller and has been translated into more than 30 languages., The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (1948), and the Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1954). He finally retired to Kenya with his sister Maggie (Margaret Winifred) in 1947. He had a special bond with Maggie among all his siblings right from his childhood. There he took up farming and continued to write. He died there of heart attack in 1955.

Want to know more. This site on Jim Corbett put up by Corbett Study Group had a very detailed description of Corbett’s life.

Traveling to Kumaon : Kausani

Five days of holidays were lurking. My cousin brother Rajuda had called me up to know whether we would like to go to Nainital. I do not miss such opportunities. So it was not a long planned trip but a sudden decision. I added Kausani to the itinerary. On the fine morning of 8th Oct, 2005 we set out for Nainital in the Maruti Zen of my cousin brother. While the north India including Dehradun were jolted by a powerful eartquake, we were trying to manouvre a treacherous stretch of sinking area with ankle deep water on the Haridwar - Najibabad highway. My brother called up from Bangalore to know how was the earthquake and then we had enquire back at Dehradun to know how it was. I had got a road map prepared with the help of my colleague Ajay Bisht who hails from Almora. But still the route was unknown to us and we will be driving alone. That provided the element of adventure. We drove the little car through lonely stretches in the hills and in the jungles leaving occasional curious onlookers baffled as to what the AS in our car’s number stands for. In turn, we were mesmerized by the splendor of the Kumaon hills. 5 days seemed to have passed in a blink. Its now time to chronicle the journey. For a change, this time I plan to start with the final destination of Kausani and end with the last part of our journey from Kausani to Dehradun with a night halt at Ramnagar.

Nainital to Kausani via Almora :
It was the third day of the journey. Kausani is approximately 125 km from Nainital. However covering that distance took us almost 6 hours. The road was hilly all through. Once you take the road out of Nainital, a left turn at the end of the mall road and by the bus stand, you reach a place called Bhowali which is 11 km away. At Bhowali, the road on left goes to Almora / Ranikhet via Khairna Bridge and the road on right goes to Haldwani and the tourist spots of Bhimtal (11km) and Naukachiya Tal located another 4 km from further on the same road. We had planned to see the Bhimtal and the Naukachiyatal. At Bhimtal you will be charged 20 rupees as parking for going to both Bhimtal and Naukachiya Tal. Visiting both the lakes consumed about an hour and half of our available time. The Naukachiya Tal is the largest lake in Kumaon and most tourists enjoy boating there. We too enjoyed boating for about half an hour as my little daughter wanted to ride a swan shaped boat. Four seater boats are let out @60 rupees for an hour. There is one more lake called the Sattal around 12 km away on a different route that branches out of the Bhowali – Bhimtal road. This completes the circuit of lakes in Nainital. We did not go there as we had had enough of lakes in two days – the Nainital, Khurpatal, Bhimtal and the Naukachiyatal.

For continuing the journey to Kausani, we came back to the junction at Bhowali and this time we took the left turn towards Almora. This road to Almora is very good and I must say you will not get better road in the hills then this. The Kushi river will accompany you along the road. This river is mentioned in Ramayana. At Khairna, the road bifurcates and one road goes to Ranikhet. There are actually two bridges located very close. If are going to Ranikhet, then skip the first one and take left turn at the second bridge. Road signs are good and you need not ask for guidance. The straight road goes to Almora. It is NH74E. It was almost 3 pm by the time we had reached Almora and all worms in our stomachs were crying for food. The bitter part is that there is no roadside restaurant, not even a dhaba on the entire stretch upto Almora. There were many sweet shops before you enter Almora, but no restaurants. Do not get into the Almora town. It is a quite large town and we were told that you may get stuck in traffic. However if you are going to Binsar, you will have to go through the Almora town. About 2 ½ km ahead of the town, a road goes down which is a kind of bypass. There is no road sign here, but a few shops and waiting taxis / jeeps will help you to identify this. This also is the end of the good stretch of road we had enjoyed all the way from Nainital. After traveling a kilometer or so maneuvering potholed road, we get confused as to whether we are on right track. The road got narrow and seemed to us kind of a galli through town. Never mind, it in fact is the NH74E. And fortunately traveling a few more kilometers we found a restaurant named Mountain View Restaurant. This is the only restaurant you will get on the entire road upto Kausani. So, fill your stomach with whatever you get. There also is petrol pump close to it.

After the late lunch, our journey continued and we crossed a place called Koshi. Few kilometers beyond Koshi you get a junction --- the road up goes to Ranikhet (this is the Almora – Ranikhet road) and the road down goes to Kausani. We reached Someshwar valley where also you will get a junction. Continue straight for Kausani and take the turn for Ranikhet / Dwarahat. It was about 11 km to Kausani from here. By the time we had reached it was evening but not dark. The moment we reach the centre of the place, hotel agents swarmed upon us. We got to see 3 hotels before deciding to stay at Uttarakhand Tourist Lodge which is located at the centre of town itself. I also checked the Kausani Village Resort about 3 km down the hill on the Baijnath road. It was nicely located but all the 8 good cottages were booked. It is off season in Kausani and so we were offered lucrative prices. Cottages were offered at 300 to 400. Even at Uttarakhand Tourist Lodge, we got deluxe rooms at 400 as against normal season rates of 1200.

What is unique to Kausani? It provides you the best panoramic view of the Himalayas. Its USP is the sunrise. During the main season in May-June, the sun rises from behind the Himalayas providing you a magnificent view. Similarly in the afternoon the setting sun casts a pinkish – orange glow to the ice capped mountains in the horizon. But unfortunately for us, it being almost winter, the sun had shifted towards south and so had gone behind mountains closer to Kausani. So we did not get to see the much talked about sunrise. Nevertheless, the place provided us a very peaceful break. It was quite different from the packed tourist spots like Nainital. It resembled somewhat New Tehri to me. Like New Tehri, all shops were closed by 7-30 pm. One should come here in May – June or may be in Feb-March to enjoy the beauty of the Himalayas.

The place had a good forest cover. It was warmer than Nainital. There is a forest rest house as well. All hotels are built on the side of the hill that faces the Himalayas. It is immaterial where you stay as you will get to see the sunrise from any hotel. Do not fall for the words of the agents. But if you want to stay in cottages amidst almost jungles, go to the Kausani Village Resort. There is another one named Mountain View Resort which is also nicely located on the same Baijnath road. But being a forest area, there were too many insects of both the flying and the crawling variety. So be ready for these if you want to stay in cottages. In the morning many species of bird were seen in the area. They were feasting on the insects that were everywhere -- on the trees, on the walls. One can also have a good view of the Garur valley from here. The road via Baijnath goes to Karnaprayag. In the morning I saw one bus in the town that was going to Badrinath via Bageswar and Karnaprayag.

Here are the phone numbers of the resorts –

Uttarakhand Tourist Lodge : 05962-258012, 258333, 258211 (Fax), 09412924222 (mobile)
Kausani Village Resorts : 09412958936 (mobile)
Blossom Hotel & Resort : 05962-258113, 09412095911 (mobile)

Kausani to Ramnagar via Ranikhet
It was day 4 of the journey. After breakfast, we left Kausani and set out for our next destination Ramnagar. It was not possible for us to drive 400 plus km in a day to reach Dehradun. So we had planmed for a night stay at Ramnagar, the town adjoining Corbett National Park. It is the railhead and one has to come to Ramnagar for visiting the Corbett. There are many roads for going to Ranikhet. One can took the diversion at Someswar or can come back to Koshi to cathc the Almora - Ranikhet road. We took the diversion at Someshwar for going to Ranikhet. The condition of the road spiralling through paddy fields of Someswar valley is not very good but the scenery is pleasing. After about 12 km from Someshwar we had to cross a steel bridge. There you get a junction – the road on the right goes to Dwarahat and the left goes Ranikhet via Binta. Traveling for about 40 km more we finally caught up with the Ranikhet – Dwarahat highway. Ranikhet was 16 km from this point and the road was good. I noticed a restaurant named Wayfarer few kilometers outside Ranikhet, but did not stop there because it was too early for lunch. We entered Ranikhet town by paying toll. I found this really ridiculous. Why do we have to pay toll for private vehicles? We had such toll system on highways for commercial vehicles in Assam a few years back until a Gauhati High Court held it illegal and all those toll collection booths were removed. We had to pay about 70 rupees as toll on the entire trip. Ranikhet looked more a military town rather than a tourist spot. It had a fairly large cantonment area. We stopped there for a while and then continued our journey. Take the road straight through the town and drive about 4 km till you reached a place called Kanyadhuri where one has to turn right for Ramnagar. Ranikhet to Ramnagar is 92 km and it is all hills except for the final stretch of about 15 km through the Corbett National Park. We again had to face the problem of lack of eateries on the road – no restaurant or dhaba. We prepared ourselves for a fast and ate the stock of fruits, but fortunately at around 3 pm, we were delighted to spot a restaurant named Danapani Restaurant. It was located about 2 km before Tota Am. This is the only restaurant between Ranikhet and Ramnagar and so you have to have your lunch / late lunch here. Fortunately, the food was not bad. Around 4 pm we entered the Corbett National Park area. The NH121 passes through the jungles of Corbett. It was a very pleasing drive through dense forest. Inside the jungle we even saw a fox in daylight! We also met wild pigeons, murgis and peacocks. We had read about stories of Jim Corbett in our school in rapid reader named ‘Aranyar Katha’ meaning the Stories of the Jungle. There was a beautiful hunting story named ‘Mohanor Manuh Khua Bagh’, meaning the Man Eater of Mohan. We had passed the place named Mohan inside the park and it made all of us nostalgic. I had planned to come to Corbett last year but it did not materialized. But this time I will surly come. The place has an alluring charm. We had stopped at places for photographs. We saw the official entrance into the Corbett. I was told that you need to drive further deep into the jungle through this gate for visiting the park. Finally we had reached Ramnagar town when it was almost dark. We put up at the Hotel Anand Delux which is located on the road to Kashipur. We paid 300 rupees for each room and it was so-so. Anyway, you will not be staying here for visiting the park.

I also collected information on visiting the Corbett National Park. The park normally opens in the first week of October. However, this year roads could not be prepared on time due to excessive rain. So the park is still not open. For visiting Corbett one has to have prior booking. One need to stay put in the forest rest houses inside the park for which capacity is limited. The total capacity in various ranges in 113 only. Booking can be done from Delhi, Dehradun and Ramnagar. The office at Ramnagar is close to the bus stand. The park had an official website named http://www.corbettnationalpark.org/. (However this link is not working now) I had downloaded many information, maps, etc. from this site last year. If you do not have booking, then the only option is to try for day visits conducted from Ramnagar that cost 600 rupees per person. But for that you will have to stand in queue early in the morning at their office and you also need luck as the capacity is only 32. Many resorts have come up around the park area. They are costly and I feel it make little sense to stay there if you want to visit the park. You can take your own car inside the park or take hired gypsies that charges around 1500. I will write more once I visit the park sometime next year.

Ramnagar to Dehradun is 250 km via Kashipur ( 26 km). From Kashipur we traveled by the same route by which we came. There is a road junction at Kashipur. While coming, we turned right at Kashipur for going to Nainital via Bazpur and Kaladhungi. The road straight goes to Ramnagar. We finally reached Dehradun at around 5 pm bringing an end to these 5 days of traveling through the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal.

Travelled in Kumaon

We had an wonderful five days of travel through the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal last weekend that extended till the holidays of Dusserah. In these five days we had travelled to Nainital with a brief halt at Kaladhungi. AFter spending two nights at Nainital, we went to Kausani via Almora. After spending a blissful night at Kausani we came down via Ranikhet and spent the last night at Ramnagar, the entrance and rail head to Corbett National Park. We had travelled in the Maruti Zen of my cousin brother who also lives in Dehradun. In all we had travelled about 850 kms in the five days driving in the magnificient hills of Uttaranchal and also through the Corbett National Park. I will be writing about the places soon. But this time photographs have already been developed and had been put up in my photo site.

Unbelievable offer for Goa trip

I just happened to come across this ad in today’s Delhi Times supplement. Two pages were full with lucrative offer for visiting exotic places. The one that caught my eye was a 4 nights stay at Goa in Hotel Victor Exotica from makemytrip.com. The price per person is Rs.10,810/- ex-Delhi and Rs.7,293/- ex-Mumbai. This is all inclusive of return airfare on Kingfisher airlines, meals, half day sightseeing with a boat cruise and the unbelievable -- unlimited alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink ! I had tracked the package tour prices to goa. This is really a steal. The offer is valid till 15 October, 2005. Interested! You can call 1-600-11-9747 or 011-26533251 or email to goodtimes@makemytrip.com.

Amritsar : The epilouge

Day 2 in Amritsar
Covering the Jalianwala Bagh, Goldelden Temple and the Wgah Border in a day was hard for us tender mortals. We were totally drained by the heat and humidity of day 1 and so started late on day 2. Climate was no better the second day. We were to cover local spots and do shopping. Our train would leave at 9 in the night and so we manged to bargain for half day room rent at the hotel. We had in mind to visit the Durgiana Temple and the Ram Tirth. As the Durgiana Temple is withing the city, we started for that.

Durgiana Temple :
It was also the Janmastami day and thus the trip also served the ritual of visiting a temple for paying obeisance. This temple was started by efforts of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. It is built in the Golden Temple style with an inverted lotus dome. The dome here is probably of brass, not gold. Like the Golden Temple, this one also stands in the center of a large lake. Inside there are idols of Krishna and Ram. There is nothing to shower praise on the place. Being a regular feature of Hindu temples, I saw the first of the beggars in Amritsar. From the market outside we bought small Krishna idols as souvenirs.

Ram Tirth:
This is supposed to be the place where Valmiki had his ashram and where Sita gave birth to Luv and Kush after being abandoned by Lord Ram. This is one of the places in the sightseeing list of Amritsar. It was about 15 km from the city and half of the road was kutcha and in bad shape. It was dusty. Do not even think of going there in auto. A shock was waiting for us to unfold after this hard travel. It was a sight of apathy all around. There is a big tank only half of which was filled with water. We could see the old temple of Vakmiki Kutir in the distance on the other side of the tank. People living around have built modern temples to help tourist get over their disappointment. It is upto you whether you go to this temple and shell out offerings in reward for those running them. We avoided barring one or two. The sun was blazing down hard. Braving the sun, we managed to reach the main temple. Condition of the temple will make you wonder if it really is the place! It is managed by Sikhs and there co-exists a gurudwara as well. In fact, all Sikh gurus call themselves descendents of either Luv or Kush. It was quite tough to travel bare foot on the boiling tarmac of the temple complex. We still managed a complete coverage of the monuments there. There is well nearby which people believe is there since the days of Ramayana (look at the photo above). Its water is considered sacred. It looked old, but wondered if it is there from the days of Ramayana. We were told that water from this well was taken for purifying the Amrit Sarover in the Golden Temple when it was being dug. We also saw the place where Luv – Kush supposedly stopped the Ashwamedha horse of Lord Rama. There is another temple on the bank of the tank where Sita is said to have been cremated. You need to be too religious to believe all these, not like me. I am not heretic, but just skeptic.

I felt like doing a short cut to avoid the sun. But as advised completed the parikrama of the tank. We were told by the cab driver that this poor condition of the place is a result of neglect and corruption. Nothing is done by the Government or the temple management to improve attractiveness or beautification of the place. My suggestion is to avoid it. You will feel like wasting your time going there. For me – now I have been to both the places where Ramayana and Mahabharata had supposedly been written. (Mahabharata was written by Ved Vyas in a place called Vyas Ponthi located in Mana village near Badrinath. We went there in our Badrinath trip.)

So that concluded the sight seeing. But the travellouge will not be complete with some general information on Amritsar. So, here they follows --

Travelling to Amritsar:
The no. 329 Dehradun – Amritsar Lahori Passenger that leaves Dehradun daily at 7-10 pm is best avoided as it takes 5 hours to reach Saharanpur. So we had decided to catch the 2903 Golden Temple Mail from Saharanpur at midnight. Travelling by taxi to Saharnpur takes about one and half hour. (for God’s sake, hire a taxi from the taxi stand, not from the MK Travels in the Rajinder Nagar market near ONGC Colony). The train had dropped us at Amritsar at 6:30 in the morning, almost on time. While coming back we took the no. 330 Lahori Passenger that leaves Amritsar at 9 pm and dropped us at Saharanpur at 5:30 am next morning. The Golden Temple Mail leaves at 9:30 pm, but it drops you at Saharanpur at the uncomfortable hours of 3:30 in the morning. So, it is for those going to Delhi and beyond. Get off here as Lahori passenger takes almost 7 hours to reach Dehradun from Saharanpur. Buses to Dehradun are easily available from just outside the station anytime. We were home by 8 am.

Accommodation:
We then moved into a hotel named City Heart located hardy 50 mtrs from the Jalianwala Bagh memorial. It was quite hot and humid. We got AC rooms for 550 which was not a bad bargain. Hotels in this area charges higher as they are very close to the Golden Temple. Hotels further away are cheaper, but one should prefer to stay close to the Golden Temple. I saw many hotels near the Sangam cinema. The Golden Temple also runs Sarais, a kind of dharamsalas, with a very nominal charge of Rs.50/- for non AC and Rs.200/- for AC rooms. One can try for accommodation there as well. After all, it is just a matter of spending one night.

Local Traveling:
Autos are quite cheap as compared to other places. The cab that dropped us at hotel from station took just 50 bucks. For a complete day hiring of a taxi that includes local sightseeing and Wagah Border costs Rs.650/-. We hired a taxi for the trip to Wagah Border only for Rs.450/-. Next day we hired a taxi again for local sightseeing plus Ram Tirth about 15 kms away for 300/-. You can also hire an auto for local sightseeing. But avoid hiring an auto for going to Wagah Border, for traveling 60 km on auto is no fun, and also to Ram Tirth, as the road is bad and dusty. Ricksaws normally charges 5 bucks for a short distance ply and 10 bucks for little longer ply.

Shopping:
If you avoid the Durgiana temple and ram Tirth, then Amritsar becomes just one-day destination. You can even catch the Golden temple mail at 9:35 pm to come back. However, you may like to do some shopping in Amritsar. Everyone will tell you that clothes are cheap here. But we found not much difference between Dehradun and Amritsar price. On the way back from Wagah, one can buy cloths from the OCM factory retail shop that is by the main road. There is a market just outside the Golden Temple for souvenir shopping. I bought a sword, the symbol of courage of the Sikhs as a souvenir.

That’s all folks. Here are few numbers that may be of help :

Hotel City Heart : 2292282, 2554511, 2549301

Prince Taxi : 9815091104, 9814053268

Wagah Border : The road to Pakistan

What an atmosphere, what a drama! The crowd that gathered on the Indian side should not be less than 12000, about half this number were on the other side of the border. Fridays normally get a larger crowd than other days. This is the road to Pakistan. The Delhi – Lahore bus service passes through these gates. The Samjhauta Express, the train that runs between Delhi and Lahore, also passes through this border post. Over the last few years, Wagah border has grown in popularity as a tourist destination. Wagah has become popular for its ceremonial lowering of flags at the border gates every evening. I must say it was an unforgettable experience to be able to visit the Wagah border.

Wagah border is 30 kms from Amritsar city. You need to be there by 5 pm. Start by 4 if you plan to visit Atari station as well. We managed some VIP treatment courtesy our colleague Sunil whose father works with BSF. We could drove almost to the entrance. Otherwise you need walk down half a kilometer from the parking area. Part of the crowd that day went there to submit memorandum for release of Sarbjit Singh who has been awarded death penalty in Pakistan in a supposed case of mistaken identity. Crowd lept building up at the entrance to the arena. Suddenly, there was chaos and people stated running for stadiums for a better seat. There is a system in place for entering the stadium in a systematic way and gates open for entry at 5:30 pm. But all went for a toss that day. We got lost in the surge of the crowd and so did our VIP status. Though later we managed to talk our way into the VIP sitting area but it was too late for us to find a good place up in the stadium and so had to settle for a place down below. My suggestion is that try to sit on the parapets along the road rather than in the stadium and sit on the right hand side of the road to avoid the sun in taking photographs.

What an atmosphere! There are mini stadiums built for the crowds that can easily seat 15000 people. Between the arched entrances into this sitting areas on both sides of the border, there stands the two gates together, one each opening to India and Pakistan. Soon after we were seated, the BSF started playing desh bhakti songs on large speakers. The place started vibrating with shunts of Vande Mataram, Jai Hind and Bharat Mata Ki Jai from the 12000 plus strong crowd. Some kids were allowed to run with a flag to the border gate. Everyone’s patriotic feelings seem to get a new vigour despite the heat and humidity. Something similar was happening on the Pakistani side as well. BSF guards were keeping a tight control on the crowd. The retreat ceremony started at 6:30 pm just when the sun strated going down in diatant Pakistan. Everyone was asked to sit tight. The gates on both sides were flung open for the ceremony. The parades of the guards were something that really amused the crowds. The crowd enjoyed the antics of the fast march-pasts that often ended with steps of legs rising above heads and foot tapings from the steeled bottoms of the boots. This is not the normal march past you get to see. It was a nicely orchestrated drama. Both the Indian and Pakistani rangers followed almost the same routine. The flags were lowered and the gates were closed after handshakes between the guards. That bought an end to the ceremony. It was almost dark by then. The sapping humidity had left us all exhausted.

We could not visit the Attari station, as we were late in starting from Amritsar. Attari station just 3 kms from here.

Amritsar : The city of the Golden Temple

The Golden Temple :

From Jallianwala Bagh we went to the Golden temple. It is hardly 5 minutes walk from the Jalianwala Bagh memorial to the Golden Temple. The weather was hot and humid. The sun was blazing down. We felt the temperature at least 5 degree higher than that of Dehradun. The marble tarmac of the temple complex was spewing too much of heat for our bare feet. Yet we were left mesmerized by the Darbar Sahib. Clad in real gold, it was shining majestically amidst the white surrounding. We have seen photos and read about the Golden temple from our childhood. It was quite a feeling to be actually there. Located at the center of Amrit Sarovar, from where the name Amritsar came, this temple was constructed under supervision of 5th Guru Arjan Dev in the sixteenth century. The construction was started in 1588 and completed in 1601. Later Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) got the top two floors plated with 400 kgs of gold leaf. The complex is kind of a fort. All the buildings are colored in white that reflects in the greenish waters of the lake. We took a detour of the complex starting from the left side. Offerings are to be bought inside the temple complex that are available by paying 10, 15 or 20 rupees. After offering prayer at the Darbar Sahib’s main prayer hall at the ground floor, we went to the first and second floor as well. Each one of them had a Granth Sahib, but of different size. The atmosphere inside the sanctum sanctorum was very soothing and calm, quite different from our Hindu temples. Imagine, this is the most important shrine of the Sikhs yet one do not have to struggle to pay obeisance. People were going in peacefully in queues in a very disciplined way, silently offer bows their heads to the Granth Sahib and come out. Just visualize something similar in Puri or Badrinath, two of the holiest shrines of the Hindus. After waiting for hours in queues, you get lost in the crowd inside the sanctum sanctorum and hardly are able to catch a glimpse of the deity. Another situation – just stands for 10 minutes at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar, I assure you that you will be mobbed by beggars and donation seekers. You will feel like scream and run away. I was really moved at the discipline and peacefulness of this place.

After completing a parikrama of the complex, we went for Langar. Also called the Guru-ka-Langar, it is the free community kitchen provided by the Sikhs. This system was started by Guru Amar Das. Once inside the hall, we realized that it feeds several thousands people everyday. It is open 24 hours. Even foreign tourists were seen having meal at the Langar. On our way in we collected the utensils and were returned to designated spot after finishing food. There are large number of volunteers engaged in cooking, distribution and cleaning. Nobody remains hungry. That may be the reason there were no beggars around. This Langar facility is run on donations.

We came back again in the night to have a view of the illuminated temple. We saw the ceremony of the Granth Sahib being taken to the Akal Takht where it is kept at night. It was around 10:15 pm. We were told that it is brought to Darbar Sahib in a similar ceremonial procession at 3:30 am in the morning. However, this majestic temple never sleeps and remains open 24 hours.

Jalianwala Bagh Memorial in Amritsar

Located on the western border of India, Amritsar is the city of the Golden Temple. It has derived its name from Amrit Sarovar, the lake on which the Golden Temple stands. Going to Amritsar was a spontaneous decision. My colleague Dibakar and his friend Navin, both with families were the companions for the trip. Traveling by the Golden Temple Mail, we reached Amritsar on the fine morning of 26th Aug, 2005. After little scouting, we moved into a hotel close to the Golden Temple. Soon we were out exploring the city. The 3 most important locations of the city are the Jalianwala Bagh Memorial, the Golden Temple and the Wagah Border. We covered all these on day 1. To enable posting with photos, I am writing separately on each of these spots. I start with the Jalianwala Bag Memorial, which was hardly 20 meters from our hotel and so was our first destination.

Jalianwala Bagh :
Located just 5 minutes walk from the Golden Temple, enclosed by old buildings on all sides, this is one monument that lies peacefully remembering those who had laid down their lives at the hands of colonialist impresser. There is no arched entrance here. Just a 3 feet galli between two buildings leads you into the memorial. A marble plaque on the wall says that Gen. Dyer bought his guns through this galli. Once you are into open space, a pyramid shaped stone stands at the point from where firing on the crowd was carried out. Some of the surrounding buildings still bears the marks of bullets that missed the crowd and got embedded in the walls. The Martyr’s Well is an enclosed monument. There is a martyr’s gallery inside the park. The place bears a peaceful atmosphere despite a large number of tourists.

Here is what I have collected of History from the site --
People in Amritsar observed a hartal on 6th April, 1919 to protest against the Rowlatt Act (passed in Mar, 1919). Following this protest British arrested Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satyapal, two noted leaders of the city. This led to a lot of resentment and violent unrest in the city. Sir Michael O’Dwyer, who was the Governor of Punjab, had declared martial law. Following this Brig. Gen. Reginald Edward Harry Dyer from Jallandhar cantonment took over control of the city. Around 2000 people had gathered on the Jalianwala Bagh compound in the afternoon of 13th April, 1919 to held a meeting. It was the Baisakhi day. Gen. Dyer bought his force to the ground and started indiscriminate firing on the crowd. The firing started at 10 minutes to six and lasted for about 7 minutes. This left 337 men, 41 boys and one 7 week baby dead. 120 bodies were recovered from the well located in the area.

Following a resolution by INC, a trust was formed in 1920 to build a memorial in the place of massacre. The piece of land originally belonged to one Bhai Hamit Singh Jallawala. The trust bought this land in 1923 for a price of Rs.5.65 lakh, a huge amount then. The memorial was inaugurated on 13th April, 1961 by the then President of India, Dr.. Rajendra Prasad in presence of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru.

On Mar 13, 1940, Udham Singh shot dead Sir Michael O’Dwyer, the DC of Amritsar during the massacre, at the Caxton Hall in London. Udham Singh was present at Jallinwala Bagh on that fateful day. According to him Sir Dwyer was actually responsible for the killings. Udham Singh was later hanged in London. Among those remembered in the martyr’s gallery at the park is Madan Lal Dhingra who embraced martyrdom by shooting dead William Curzon Wylie and Kiwis Lal Kaka on July 9, 1909 at a meeting of the Indian National Association at the Jehangir House in London. He was later hanged in London.

(Note : I have updated these facts collected at the site in en.Wikipedia.org as well.)

The Crashed Car

This car was seen dangling between rocks about 10 km upwards from Byashi on the Rishikesh - Badrinath route. We were told that nobody survided. The car is in no condition to be pulled out. A grim reminder of what may happen as a result of rush driving in the hills. I had to zoom this at 300mm for this view. See the other one below.

For your information , a few more new photos of Badrinath trip has been added to my albums at Albumtown .

Going to Amritsar

It was boring siting through 3 extended weekends. Finally a plan was thought of -- initially for Almora or Nainital. But we found that only one way journey from Dehradun to Kathgodam is a comfortable one as the overnight train that runs between these two stations runs only twice a week. That means one way of around 390 km had to be covered by road or take the brave decision to halt 2/3 hors at midnight at Moradabad, a UP town. None of us was in favour of any of these two option and so the idea of nainital had to be dropped. Further it is still raining here in Uttaranchal regularly which often results in landslides. My wife suddenly suggested to go to Amritsar as there is a daily train from Dehradun to Amritsar. Finally we all had agreed for Amritsar. I thought that only Golden temple is there at Amritsar. But after exploring a little bit, I found that we can see the Wagah Border (just 30km away) and the Jaliwanbagh memorial as well. So guys we are going there next weekend. Hope to write next week.

Mysore : the city of palaces

Mysore, called the City of Palaces, is about 135 km from Banglore city. We had started at around 8 am from Bangalore to be able to come back comfortably. One can also think of staying at Mysore for a night to cover everything worth a visit. However, normal daily tours conducted from Bangalore by KSTDC returns to Bangalore by 11 in the night. We reached Mysore at around noon after stopovers at Srirangapatna and also for lunch on the outskirt of the city. Myosre was the capital of the Wodeyar dynasty that had ruled here since the 15th century barring a brief period of three decades when they lost power to Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. British put up a puppet king from Wodeyar dynasty after the defeating Tipu and the kingdom enjoyed the British patronage till 1831. The town bears many historical buildings, built under British architectural expertise in the late 18th and early 19th century. So most of these buildings are in quite good shape. This is what we could see in Mysore in a days time (actually in about a half days time).

The Mysore Palace:
Among all the buildings in Mysore, the Palace stands out. This is the star attraction of Mysore. Designed by the English Architect, Henry Irwin, the Mysore Palace dominates the skyline of Mysore. A three storied structure in the Indo-Saracenic style built between 1897-1912, the palace is an exquisite piece of architecture. It has been converted into a museum. It has quite a good number of display. The huge paintings and other displays gives you a feel of the opulence of royal life. The place is crowded as everyone going to Mysore can not miss it.

A board manages the palace. It is money spinner for the descendants of the royal family. You are to pay many times inside the complex. Entry fee to the palace is Rs.20/-. Cameras are not allowed and you have to deposit cameras at the gate and also pay Rs.10/- as custody charge. Then you need to pay for keeping your shoes. There also exist within the complex another old palace that seemed like a wooden structure. You need to pay another Rs.20/- per head for entering that. If you are in a large group, you will avoid it as I did. I bet you will not find another such site where you will have to face the greed of the people managing it. Foreign tourists are also seen taking elephant rides around the complex. My recommendation is that visit the main palace as you do not get such opportunity to be in a royal palace which is in such good shape and skip the old one. Most of such palaces in good condition in India had been converted into five star hotels. But just keep in mind that the people who owned this palace were collaborator of the British and helped the British in their war against Tipu just to be in power. Inside the palace you can feel the British patronage. While most of Tipu’s valuables were plundered by British army and took them to Britain, valuables of the Wodeyar kings are still in display here.

The palace looks magnificent when lighted at night. The palace is illuminated on Sundays, Public Holidays as well as during the Dassera Celebrations when 97,000 electric bulbs are used to illuminate it.

Lalitha Mahal :
We had purchased a pack of postcards to know about places worth seeing. Lalitha Mahal is also an important building of the city landscape. It has been converted into a 5 star hotel. The white coloured building looked magnificent from distance. So we went there. The guard at the gate told that only customers are allowed in. However he let us in when we promised to pay him 10 bucks. We took a detour of the complex and came out. We did not pay the guard the 10 rupees and he shouted at us.

Chamundi Hills :
Thereafter we proceeded to the famous Chamundi Hills around 12 km from the city. At the top there is an eleventh century Chamundi temple. But the main attraction there is the statue of Mahisasura located in the parking area. Photographs taken with the statue of Mahisasura in the backdrop uniquely identifies that place as Mysore. Look at the photo on the right. I bet you have seen a lot of them. The white coloured dome of the temple looked beautiful. I did not went inside the temple. There are dharamsalas here for if someone wants to stay. Wodeyar kings had constructed a stairway of 1000 steps to the temple from the foothills in the town.

Then we came down to watch the Nandi statue which is located exactly halfway down the hills. Towering at a massive 5 meters, carved from a single rock in 1659 this sculpture is really a must-see.

The St. Philomena Church:
We came back to the town to have a look at the ST. Philomena Church. This is a beautiful gothic structure with twin spires, 175ft. in height. Built in 1933, it is said to have been modeled on the gothic Cathedral at Cologne. The church building was stunning. The altar bears the statue of St. Philomena,a third century saint from Greece. This one should not be missed.

Brindavan Gardens :
I had heard a lot about this place. I am sure you also have heard about those colourfull musical fountains of Brindavan Garden of Mysore. The park opens for public at 7 pm. We sped through the 17 km distance from the city to be there on time. The place was crowded right from the parking area. We had to walk down half a kilometer to buy tickets @ Rs.10/- per head and paid another Rs.10/- per camera. Once inside, a tedious journey wading through surging crowd started. It was like in a mela where you have no option but to follow the sea of crowd at their pace. To my estimate there should not be less than 15 / 20 thousands people there. We had to walk down at least 2 km along the Krishnarajasagar dam to get the sight of the first fountain. But where are the lights and more importantly where are the waters! Some tourist had to ask the officials present there. They said that most of the fountains had to be shut down due to lack of water. Cauvery can hardly feed the Bangalore city and Tamil Nadu is always crying for more water. It cannot feed these fountains anymore for your aesthetic pleasure. So why is the garden for without fountains and water. It was such a big disappointment. We were told that some of the fountains actually flow even now when it rains. We managed to reach the reservoir. On the other side of the reservoir, we could see lights from some fountains that may be running. Flashes were clicking there. But after the disappointment of coming this far of nearly 2.5 km, we were in no mood to walk down another one km. So did many other tourists. I must say, that this was the biggest disappointment I ever had visiting such a famous tourist destination. My advice is: do not go there. But you may still not resist the feeling of skipping Brindavan Garden. Imagine how much money the garden is making daily as gate fees! In lakhs. You will not only waste your money but few hours going there.

We finally came back to Bangalore at about midnight having dinner on the way. Bangalore is a nice city and even good restaurants are available along the Bangalore - Mysore Highway. The biggest advantage I found in Bangalore is that it is the only city in South that uses Hindi. This time no phone nos. of hotels as I had stayed with my brother. But here is the KSTDC website.

Srirangapatna : The capital of Tipu

I was on my way to Mysore from Bangalore. I had read about Tipu Sultan and Seringapatnam in history. Now called Srirangapatna and located around 120 km from Bangalore city , this river island on Cauvery that was once the capital of Sher-e-Mysore, the legendary Tipu Sultan takes you back into history. There stand the ruins of a fort from where the Tiger of Mysore ruled and fought three valiant wars against the British. A website dedicated to Tipu says ‘Every stone in Srirangpatna speaks of its great sultan – the Tiger of Mysore’. This place was chosen as the capital of Mysore by Hyder Ali, the father of Tipu after he seized power from the Wodeyar dynasty.

We took a left turn off the Banglore-Mysore highway to visit the Dariya Daulat Bagh, the summer palace of Tipu. It has been converted into a museum and you need to pay gate fees to enter the complex. Photography is allowed in the garden but prohibited inside the palace. The palace is a beautiful piece of sculpture made of teak wood in Indo-Saracenic style. It was built in 1784. The walls are completely covered in beautiful paintings many of which depicts Tipu’s war against the British rulers. Look at the photo which I took somehow by avoiding the guards. There are few historical artifacts in display there. However most of the valuables have been plundered by the firangis after the death of Tipu and they are getting sold off at Sotebey’s. 64 of Tipu’s artifacts were sold for £1.23 million in a Sept. 2003 auction. Vijay Mallya spent £500000 of his fortune to bring back many of the artefacts back home. To know more about this auction read on this news link Auction of Tipu’s artifacts .

Thereafter we crossed the main road to visit the fort which is located on the right hand side of the Bangalore-Mysore highway. People lives inside the fort area and so it hardly looked like a protected monument. Most part of the walls of the fort were destroyed in the fourth Mysore war in 1799. All the historical monuments like the Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple, the Jumma Masjid are scattered around the ruins of the fort. However the place where Tipu’s bullet ridden body was found is now protected with fencing. I had seen a report in the net showing children playing cricket using the tombstone as stumps indicating how neglected it was. Fortunately this is now fenced.

Tipu actually lived and ruled like a Tiger. He had to fight all through his reign. His maxim was that "it was far better to live like a lion for a day than to live like a jackal for a hundred years". However, betrayed by one of his own men, who did not open the gate of the castle to let the injured Tipu in, he was killed by the British army under Lord Wellesley here on May 4, 1799. Tipu proved to be the biggest thorn for the British in the south. With his death, the British smoothly took control of entire south. It is said that Wellesley declared the defeat and death of Tipu as “Ladies and gentlemen, I drink to the corpse of India”.

It takes about an hour to visit these memorabilia in Srirangpatna. It was a nice feeling to be able to visit this place that has so much importance in our fight for freedom. We then continued our journey to Mysore.

To know more about Tipu, you may try this link Tipu Sultan .

Horror of Zombies

What is a Zombie ? Zombie by definition is computer that has been implanted with a daemon (Pronounced DEE-mun or DAY-mun) that puts it under the control of a malicious hacker without the knowledge of the computer owner. That is your computer has been taken over by a hacker which you may not be aware of. Computers that have become Zombies are used by the malicious hackers who had obtained its control to launch DoS attacks (denial-of-service attacks). On hacker’s command, the zombie computer sends an enormous amount of packets of useless information to a targeted Web site in order to clog the site's routers and keep legitimate users from gaining access to the site. The traffic sent to the Web site is confusing and therefore the computer receiving the data spends time and resources trying to understand the influx of data that has been transmitted by the zombies. Compared to programs such as viruses or worms that can eradicate or steal information, zombies are relatively benign as they temporarily cripple Web sites by flooding them with information and do not compromise the site's data. Prominent sites such as Yahoo!, Amazon and CNN.com were brought down in 2000 by zombie DoS attacks. Want to know more about such computer terminology in details. Read on this link Zombie Computers

So the internet has tackled the horror of Zombies successfully. But we may actually see a real Zombie in future. Scientists at the Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research, Pittsburgh, USA has successfully created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans. subject's veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution. The animals are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity. But three hours later, their blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life with an electric shock. Plans to test the technique on humans should be realised within a year, according to the Safar Centre. Don’t believe. Read on this news link Zombie Dogs Recreated

Story of the Bicycle

Lance Armstrong had brought a dream end to his cycling career by winning his 7th Tour de France title on 24th July, 2005. The tour is an ultimate test for a cyclist’s skill, ability and endurance. Watching Armstrong in television had aroused my interest on bicycle. The cycles they use for normal riding cost at least $3000 a piece. The cycle used in time trial stages cost at least $10000 a piece. The costliest cycle was used by team Phonak in time trial stages, which is believed to be worth $20000 a piece. Our cars are not that much worth. What a piece of machine these will be to ride. I stumbled upon a nice bit of information as to how the machine in question – the Bicycle was invented. Though some form of bicycle had been reported in 19th century itself, the credit actually goes to Karl Drais, the German inventor for inventing the bicycle. Read on.

In the year 1816, extreme weather conditions were experienced across the world due to the Mount Tambora volcano eruption. This massive eruption in Indonesia in April, 1815 killed nearly a lakh people and threw so much ash into the atmosphere that the average global temperature dropped by 3 degrees. There was no summer in Europe in 1816. This led to poor harvest and prices of horse oats had increased so much that Drais got into thinking of replacing the horsepower with manpower. So he developed the first bicycle, the velocipede. This machine was in fact a four-wheeler driven by a treadmill or cranks attached to the rear axle. They were designed for two; a servant pedaled at the rear while the owner steered and supervised the operation from the front. He demonstrated this piece of machine in his hometown Baden on 12 June, 1817. This however did not catch the fancy of masses and so he diverted his attentions to other inventions.

However, prices of oats kept rising and Drais once again had to get into the idea of a machine to replace horses. This time he developed a two wheeler bicycle that indeed used the key principle of modern bicycle: balance on two wheels. This machine was called the Draisine. The Draisine pioneered other features of today's bicycle. It had brass bushings - elementary bearings - in the wheels to cut friction, and its frame of well-seasoned ash weighed only 20 kilograms, making it as light as a modern bike. This also had a brake though not that effective. He won royal support for this machine and was granted a kind of patent in Baden. However, some people in Britain and the US pirated his idea and got copies developed by them patented by different names. In Britain it was called the Hobby-horse. However, these copies did not have any brakes and so resulted in many accidents. Further, balancing act on two wheels was a new concept which people found difficult to adopt. This disillusioned people and a campaign against velocipedes was started. A change of guard in his home state Baden also saw a campaign by Drais’s enemies starting a campaign to malign him by trying to prove him as mad. He lost the royal favor and eventually died penniless in 1851. His idea of replacing the horsepower by manpower went a long way.

Want to know more about bicycles. Read on this link Bicycle

Kaziranga National Park : the pride of Assam

I do not want to harp upon the natural beauty of Kaziranga. The lush green forest extending more than 425 sq. km is bound to mesmerize you. It has been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. It is the homeland of the endangered one horned rhinoceros, and spotting of few of these magnificent beasts roaming in the wilderness is guaranteed in Kaziranga. I have seen a lot of these majestic beasts while travelling through the park since my childhood. The NH-37 from Guwahati to Dibrugarh runs right through the park and more often than not you will see rhinos, elephants and deers while passing through this stretch. The mighty river Brahmaputra flows on the northern boundary of the park thereby providing a very fertile area. The water surge from the river during the rainy season invariably inundates major portion of the park. Few elevated areas have been built close to the highway where animals take shelter during floods from where they cross over to the hills on the other side of the highway. One of my friends, Vaskar Barai had even seen a tiger once during a flood. That was indeed lucky as sighting a tiger in wild is absolutely rare. I have not been that lucky, but once I had almost bumped into a herd of elephants that were crossing the NH while driving from Guwahati to Nazira. Animals crossing the NH are quite common during the rainy season. The road through Kaziranga was a drivers delight and so hardly anyone followed the speed limit set. There always has been causality to animals crossing these corridors. Forest deptt. has now put several speed breakers to tackle this high speed driving through the designated park area.

There are three entry points for going into Kaziranga – Kohora, Bagori and Agratoli each of this being a separate ranges. The most popular range is Kohora followed by Bagori. Like most tourists, I also have been to Kohora only and hence my article is limited to Kohara only. My directions will be from Jorhat side rather than Guwahati side. Kohora is about 22 km from Bokakhat, the nearest town and looks like an ordinary alighting point on the highway. A small no. of shops and a welcome arch ensures that you do not miss it. The road on the left (or right if you are coming from Guwahati) with the big arch leads you to the point where most of the renowned hotels and rest houses are located. Though many new roadside hotels and resorts have come up in the area, this is the best place to stay as the forest office from where you are to obtain passes for entering the park is located here. The hotels here are Banani, Banashree and Aranya. Besides this, there is the Soil Conservation IB where I had stayed. Room rates starts from around 550 onwards. The famous Wild Grass Resort is however about 7 km from here and is located amidst a local village. It is built to give you an ethnic feel. Most foreign tourists stay at the Wild Grass. There is no road sign for Wild Grass and the kachha road that leads to it off the highway is at exactly 5 km from the Kohora point towards Bokakhat. You need to ask someone after traveling for 5 km for the way to Wild Grass. But if you are not a luxury class tourist, then prefer to stay in any of the places I have mentioned above. Their phone nos. are given at the end to confirm availability. Except Hotel Aranya, others accept telephonic bookings. Soon after you arrive rush to the forest office to register your name for elephant safari next morning. Which trip you get to go in depends on your serial no. in their register. The best trip is the second one at 6:30 am and so do not forget to register yourself early. During Mar- April, however the best trip will be the first trip at 5:30 am. If you stay in any far off hotel located along the highway, they may be having some agent to book on your behalf. Get it confirmed beforehand with the hotel. Each trip carries about 50 to 60 tourists depending on the availability of elephants.

I had arrived there around noon and so I had to take the afternoon jeep safari. You can choose to take it in the morning half as well. Afternoon timings are fixed from 3 pm to 5 pm. It was November and so by 5 pm it becomes quite dark in Assam. You have to hire the jeep yourself from market or through the hotel staff. They charge around 650 bucks per trip. Prefer to have a gypsy rather than a jeep as gypsy travels almost noiselessly. Afternoon trip gives you an opportunity to travel alone. If you are traveling in cavalcade, which is normal situation in morning, be sure to be in the front otherwise whirlwind of dust emanating from the kachha track inside the jungle will take some of the fun away. The forest deptt. charges are quite exorbitant. I had compared this with the rates in Periyar NP in Kerala in one of my earlier article. The charge are : Rs.200/- for vehicle entry fee, Rs.60/- per head entry fee, Rs.50/- for still camera, Rs.50/- as guard charges and Rs.500/- if you have a handycam. It is real loot-maar. They will however give you a forest guard who has an old .303 gun to scare animals away, especially elephants, if they attack you.

Day 1: Jeep safari
We entered the jungle through Mihimukh at around 3 pm. It was quite cool in Feb and so animals were around. A kutcha road leads you into the jungle. I am told that this road gets wiped out every year in flood and has to be rebuilt before the park opens. You can easily spot various species of deers and wild boars in swamps alongside the road. The drivers will invariably show you a tree which bears nail marks supposedly of tiger. Soon you will start spotting rhinos and buffalos either grazing or lying lazily in a mud pool. The driver was friendly and we were taken 4/5 km into the jungle to the Diphalu river where we could see some tortoise. They were dangling from trees lying on riverbed. Even the smallest of crackle will scare them to vanish within seconds into water. The air was carrying fragrance of jungle flower. It was a nice feeling to be so deep inside a dense forest. On the way we saw destruction caused by an elephant herd which had crossed that area the day before. If you get an elephant herd on the way, that is the end of safari for you as those beasts will not make for you. The road is very narrow; you cannot turn and run if chased by elephants. On our return, two barking deers, which are rarely seen, slowly walked onto the road hardly 100 meters away from us. They did not hear us coming. That is why I recommended having a gypsy rather than a jeep. Unfortunately my SLR struck in the snap I took with both the deers. However, the second snap with only one of the deers came good. As the sun was setting we were taken to the Diphalu lake for watching the sun set. Few tourist vehicles gathered there for enjoying the sunset. By the time we had returned it was complete dark.

The day was not over yet. At 7 pm the forest office opens for issuing passes for next morning’s elephant safari. You had to be there personally to pay and collect passes. Even if you had registered yourself earlier, if you are not present when your name is called you will miss the chance to choose your trip. Although I had registered at around 3 pm, I got the chance to be in the second trip as many tourists were not present when their names were called. So collect your entry passes before going for dinner. The charges were Rs.120/- per head plus Rs.50/- for still camera.

Day2: Elephant safari
We had to face a cab operator strike and so had to drive down to Mihimukh, the elephant riding point located about 3 km from the highway. We left the vehicle there at the gate and walked down to the tower built for getting onto the elephant. In fact you can easily drive there. The cab operators typically charge Rs.200/- for ferrying you from hotel to Mihimukh and back. The area was still engulfed in thick fog. I felt lucky that I did not have to go in the 5:30 am trip. We waited on the machaan for the elephants to come back from the first trip. It was a wonderful sight to see the cavalcade of majestic animals emerging through the foggy landscape in the distance. There were 17 elephants in the troupe of which 15 are used for ferrying tourists and 2 were under training. Though most of the elephants belongs to the forest deptt., few of them are privately owned. Carrying capacity of each elephant varies depending on its size. We got into a 3 seater pachyderm. Slowly one by one all the elephants vanished into the fog. So did we. The elephants had great difficulty in maneuvering swamps and crossing a small river on the way. I was sitting at the back and felt at times like felling off from the elephant. Soon we were taken to a herd of wild water buffalo which were yet to make its move for the day. After traveling for some time we get to see a rhino. We did not get to see anything else in the one-hour trip. But traveling through the tall elephant grasses, which at times towers above the elephants, in the jungle through the fog was something special. The beauty of the elephant safari is that you can see whatever you get to see from very close. I have read that elephant safari in other national parks is more fun than animal watching. But here you get both the fun and animals. I had really enjoyed the ride. Honestly it was my first elephant ride and I am happy that it was a memorable one for reasons other than that. We came back to Mihimukh in about an hour. Before alighting we ensured to have photograph on the elephant. This was the time my SLR started giving problems. Fortunately our photos on elephant taken by another tourist came good.

That also brings an end to my trip. This is a typical Kaziranga trip we use to enjoy in Assam. If you have planned to spend two days, then you can have the jeep safari at Bagori on the second afternoon. The distance between Kohora and Bagori is about 10 km. It was November when I visited. The park opens for tourists in October and remains open till mid April. But the best time to visit is end March or early April around Bihu (or just before the rain starts). Till about December, your views of the landscape will be blocked by the tall elephant grass jungles that are everywhere. They dries up by January and the forest deptt. set them on fire to clear areas. Once the pre-monsoon rain start setting in, freshly sprouted grass brings out large number of animals into the open and you can enjoy this magnificent view in March - April. However, this window is small as park is closed once the rain gets regular by mid of April. Before ending here are the phone numbers of hotels ----

Hotel Aranya : 03776-262429, Hotel Bonani : 03776-262423,
Soil Conservation IB : 03776-262409
Wild Grass Resort : 03776-262085/262437/ 0361-2546827 (Guwahati office)

For further information, you can try the following link :
Kaziranga National Park