Writing from Khartoum (Sudan)

Writing from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Not a place one would have chosen for maiden visit abroad, but I got a chance to visit this place on some official work of my employer ONGC (ONGC Videsh). I believe every place has something to offer. We enquired and told about a pyramid site and the confluence of Blue Nile and White Nile. Lets see what I can get for my readers.

Have been so busy with this assignment that I could not write about the exicitement on the build up leading to my first foreign trip. Arrived here this evening after a rigourous 14 hours of travelling from Delhi with change of flight at Dubai. My first impression of Khartoum was that of an ordinary city, but with wide roads. The landscape is barren - desertlike with very few trees around. An old airport with no organised taxi service which is understndable as no  tourist probably comes here. My collegue had to wait at Delhi airport immigration when the immigration officer saw the destination as Khartoum. The officer called his boss who asked my friend where he works. As he received the reply ONGC, he said OK and the passport was stamped.

At the airport, the taxis in the parking area were shouting at the few people who were waiting for their vehicle. Most foreigners had their vehicles pre-arrnaged. We were told by our cab driver that a new and bigger airport is under construction. The current one looks like an ordinary small town airport. The bus that transported us to the terminal from the Emirates flight also did not have AC. The driver also drove fast and applied very sharp brake once, which I had never experiemced in any airport. Anyway, will be staying here for the entire week. Will have a stopover at Dubai for a day on return. Hope to see marvels of Dubai. Will write back in a week's time.

Mangalore, Surathkal and Udipi

Sometimes you travel to places which were never in your radar. One such place for me is Udupi. This small coastal town on the Western Ghats in South Karnataka is known to most of us for the famous Udupi Restaurants and cuisines. Udupi is equally famous in that part of the world for its temples, specially the centuries old Krishna temple, known as the Udupi Sri Krishna Matha. The educational hub of Manipal is also attached to this town.

It was Nov, 2009 when I got a chance to visit the small costal town of Mangalore in Karnataka. I was on an official trip to the Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) which is a subsidiary of my parent company ONGC. Many of you might not know that MRPL was a Birla Group Company which went sick around year 2000. ONGC acquired this sick company and turned it around in few years. This was unprecedented in Indian corporate history – a PSU acquiring a sick private company and turned it around. It is considered as a masterstroke of the then ONGC Chairman, late Subir Raha.

As there was no direct flight from Delhi, we had an overnight stopover at Mumbai. As options were very limited, we took the early morning Jet Konnect flight from Mumbai. There is a small but international airport at Mangalore, called the Bajpe airport. Located on the Western Ghats, the landscape is full of hillocks. The airport is located on one of the hillocks. We crossed several hillocks on our 16 km journey to the MRPL plant, which again is located on another hillock.

Once the official engagements were over, we had decided to explore the areas around. We had a car at our disposal, but very limited time – at best 4 to 5 hours of the evening. Our colleague at MRPL suggested we should make a trip to the famous Krishna temple at Udupi. They spoke highly of the temple and the beliefs the locals have on this deity. We had in mind a visit to a beach and some local market. We were told that quality cashew is available there. Udupi is some 60 km from Mangalore. If we go there that would consume most of our time. Thus we had to prioritize things.

Beach and sunset came first because living in Delhi, we do not often get to see them. So it was Surathkal beach. Then it would be Udupi and if time permits we were to try cashew shopping next morning, may be on our way to airport to catch the 1130 flight back to Mumbai. These were obvious choices as both Surathkal and Udupi falls on the NH17 while the Mangalore city and the market is on the opposite direction.

We headed out of the MRPL complex to the Surathkal beach for enjoying the sunset. Though I am not able to recall the distance, it was within 10 km. It was about half an hour or so to sunset when we had reached. The beach is located very close to the REC Surathkal (now called NIT) campus. It was a small but peaceful beach. Only a handful of people were there enjoying the sea and the sun, half of which were probably REC hostellites. No hawkers or vendors, because it is not a tourist hangout. The boulders strewn around on the sand added to the beauty of the place. A lighthouse provides an ideal backdrop. We spent the entire afternoon there till the sun went down the horizon. I collected a small dead starfish for my kid. She was delighted to see the starfish.

Udupi Sri Krishna Matha

As evening was falling we set out for Udupi. A major part of the highway was in real bad shape. The craters were so large that cars can not avoid getting scratched on its belly. The effort of the driver was to minimize the damages to the bottom of the car. It was dark when we finally reached Udupi after about 1 ½ hours of drive. There was not much rush in the temple. From our general experiences of a temple visit, we started looking for shops for offering / prasad, but there was none. Language is the biggest barrier in finding things in southern part of India. Later we found that the system of such offerings does not exist there. When we were looking for entrance, the fellows manning the main gate, asked us to hurry as aarti was about to start and gates were being closed. It was such a coincidence that we had reached the temple just in time for the aarti.

We joined the small and manageable crowd inside waiting for the aarti. The process started with subordinate priests initiating the process. Then the head priest entered the scene and formally started the aarti. The complex became abuzz with chants and Karnatic music. Many people wishes to be there to attend the aarti, but that wish remains unfulfilled. And here, me, not vey devout, yet the lord had chosen me to be here to witness the aarti. This overwhelmed me. This made my evening. I will never forget this occasion.

The aarti went on for about half an hour. The darshan of the deity is to be done through a small window called the navagraha kiTiki, the window of nine planets, while doing parikrama of the Sanctum Santorum. This window which is covered with artistically carved silver plates. You will find many materials on it in the net. There are two unique facts about the temple: 1) the deity is not facing the main entrance. In fact it is facing backwards and has to be seen through the 'Kanakana Kindi' or the small window at the back of the temple. And 2) Lord Krishna is worshipped here in his form as a child or small boy. As a child can easily get gratified, the lord here can also be easily gratified. He fulfils wishes very easily. This belief brings large no. of devotees to this temple. The attire of the deity is changed on a daily basis. So every time you get to see him in a new avtar.

We spent some more time in exploring the temple complex. The main building is a wooden structure, well ornate in south Indian style. Statues of various deities / gods adorn the building. Prasad can be bought from a counter, once you complete the parikrama. The temple is managed by a group of eight temples collectively known as Astha Matha. Each of the Ashta Mathas performs temple management activities for two years in a cyclical order. There are few other smaller temples in the complex. There are souvenir shops in the complex from where we bought photo of the lord. While entering the temple we had to leave the footwear outside, just by a wall, unattended. There was no system to deposit shoes. Surprisingly the shoes were there when we returned. It seems lord by his influence had kept bad elements away from his complex.

On our way back, we had stopped at a roadside hotel for tea. We were easily identified as outsiders. Not much tourist type of people comes to that village tea stall. Some of the locals started to get into conversation with us. When they learned that we are from Delhi, one of the boys proudly announced that he had been to Delhi once. He spoke of the wide roads, big cars he had seen and admired in Delhi. Well, most things always look good from distance. We had enjoyed everything we had seen that evening, and that boy enjoyed what he had seen in a concrete jungle.

Next morning, we were informed of an informal breakfast meeting. This left us no time for visiting the local market. While leaving, we were given mementos as parting gift. When we opened the gifts, it had two packets of cashew! This is what we wanted to buy, but could not find time because we had chosen to go to Udupi. Did we gratify the Lord Krishna by preferring to pay a visit to him rather than going shopping? May be. Certain things do not have logical answers.

Got a new car

Last one month has been busy in deciding my new car. Buying a car ( auto usate milano )is a hard decision. As I had now bought my new car, an Indica Vista Aura ABS QJ, I would like to share of experiences of trying out 3 cars before deciding to buy this car.

I was looking for a hatchback big enough car where 3 people can sit comfortably in the rear seat. Sedans are ruled out for the parking problems in my apartment. In the Maruti Wagon R that I own for last 7 years, it is always a struggle to fit 3 people in the rear seat. Apart from that, the Wagon R has been a fantastic car because of the upright sitting position of the driver and I had enjoyed every bit of driving whenever I took it to the highways. But the new Wagon R looks terrible. Maruti have killed it. Neither had I liked the look of Ritz. Swift’s look is 6 years old. Therefore after owning 2 Maruti cars, I wanted try something else.  Further I wanted to try a diesel this time as my petrol bill has gone up considerably in last few months because of the spiraling oil prices. You can’t get out in Delhi’s 40+ heats without the AC on. When I bought the wagon R, petrol was selling for 33 a liter or so. Now it is 50+.

As usual the search started with searches on the net on various websites and forums. Car buy / sell sites have flourished in last few years. It is big market and a source of information. Many a times these forums will make you go made. Honestly most people in the forum are making comments on cars which they had hardly driven. Driving a car for a couple of KM does not make an expert on that car. So most of these so called auto experts writes in the forums borrowing knowledge from auto magazines.

My choices were zeroed in to three new cars in the market. Punto, Fabia or VW Zeta could not be considered because of my transferable job, I need service backup. Thus my choices were the Hyundai i20, Ford Figo and Indica Vista QJ. The first one I tried was the Hyundai i20. I targeted the new Sportz version. The car has killer looks and anyone will fall for it. Driving was also pleasurable with many inbuilt features. The on-road price for me would have been 5.95 lakh. But even at this price for a petrol car which does not have a very good mileage, I was not getting ABS. Only the Asta version of i20 has ABS and it would have cost me 6.3 lakh. The diesel version is beyond reach.

The next vehicle I tried was the Ford Figo. Actually Figo is a small car pitted against cars like Wagon R, 10, etc. I tried the Titanium diesel version. Driving was good as is most new cars. The on road price in Delhi was 5.82. This had a Bluetooth enabled 2 DIN music system. But surprisingly did not have tilt steering. The features were very little as compared to other new cars. The plastic of bumper felt so soft. Cost cutting was apparent.  The look is good. But the costs of ownership of Ford cars are high. There was nothing so appealing for me to go for this car.

Then I tried the new Indica Vista. Despite all the negativities about a Tata car, when I sat on the steering wheel for the test drive, it felt a little overwhelmed. I never thought that such a big diesel car would move around so easily. The power steering, though not as smooth as my Wagon R, was smooth. It had a host of features, mostly borrowed from the Fiat Punto. Tata’s has a JV with Fiat and thus has fitted this car with almost every feature of Punto. The engine used for Vista QJ is same as that used in Punto or Swift. Vista had host of features like lumber support for both front seats, Bluetooth enabled 2 DIN music system, driver seat height adjustment, tilt steering, rear wiper and demister, both front and rear fog lamps. I found that at 5.5 on road price Vista is offering what others are offering at around 7 lakh. The car was being offered with 3 years free maintenance package and an assured buyback at 60% price after 3 years.  That is 2+2 years warranty with 3 years free maintenance which literally means no cost for maintenance. This was too much for me to drop the idea of i20. The i20 Sportz was costing me 5.95 lakh, that is 45K more, that too without ABS. Vista was diesel whereas i20 was petrol. i20 Diesel at almost 8 lakh was beyond reach. If I discount the cost of alloy wheels, the i20 is still costlier by 25K, which would be enough to buy diesel for 3 years. The mileage of Vista is around 20-21 on highway as against 15-16 of i20.

The Vista has 3 engine variants. The Safire is 1172cc petrol and is an underpowered car at 65PS. The TDI version uses Tata’s indigenous 1405cc 71 PS diesel engine which is the familiar noisy Indica engine. The drivetech version with Fiat’s 1248cc 75PS diesel engine and gearbox had just been launched. There are 5 variants with different features in each engine type. That is lot of variants, typical of Tata cars. It starts with Terra (earth), then Aqua (water) and Aura (air). The top end Aura had 3 variants – Aura, Aura ABS and Aura ABS +Airbag. The engine used for Vista QJ is same as that used in Punto or Swift. The new ad looked impressive (follow the youtube link in my earlier post).

Like most of us I also did not have a very positive view of Tata cars for personal use. This despite my working as a trainee engineer at Tata Motors a decade back at their Pune plant. Tata have been known for generations for making vehicles for commercial use. Almost all commercial vehicles launched by Tata’s has been a success, be it the 407, 207, or the  609. But personal cars was a different story. The Indica has been on the road for now almost 10 years with n number of versions. Tata had even launched a limited edition Vista to mark the 10^th year of Indica launch. Indica has always been perceived as a taxi car. Thus when they launched a car with all new look and features, even size, they named it Indica Vista. This is done while retaining the old Indica the price of which is much lower to kept it attractive for cab / taxi use. But what baffled most is why they retained the word Indica for the Vista. The only similarity may be the back of the car. Even that is different from the old Indica, though not very distinctively different.  They why named it as Indica. As most people would write on the net, an Indica is an Indica. They should have removed the name Indica from Vista to make it more appealing.

Thus I made a practical decision. I finalized on model AURA ABS QJ. I had consulted a neighbor who owns a Vista for almost a year. His feedback was positive.  By that time one more Vista had arrived in the society. But I had to convince my wife on the Vista who could not forget the look of i20. Once the car was decided, it was about deciding where to buy new car ( vendita auto usate ). The bargaining started with two nearby dealers. I received the car after 20 days of placing the order, despite having no official waiting time. We had our first long drive yesterday around Delhi. The car rode majestically, taking care of potholes very easily. The wagon R being a couple of hundred kg lighter felt flying through air 100+ rather being on the road. Being heavier and with wider tyres, this one felt always remained on the road. My wife is now convinced we made a good choice. When I bought the Wagon R that was the only Wagon R in the colony. Here I have company. While out on the road, I get to see many Vista indicating the increasing acceptability of the car.


Here is some more info in case you want to research about cars : compro auto usate

New Indica Vista Drivetech4 ad

Vaishno Devi Yatra : जय माता दी

Staying at Delhi, I have seen the importance of the to Mata Vaishno Devi (lovingly called as Mata Rani) shrine located near Katra in Jammu. Popularized by late Gulashan Kumar of T-Series fame, the chants of जय माता दी (Jai Mata Di - which also is part of T-Series logo) is as popular in Delhi as the Ganpati Bapa Moriya in Mumbai. The Vaishno Devi Yatra is probably the most popular Hindu pilgrimage circuit from Delhi. Everyone living in and around Delhi aspire to visit the shrine. The popular saying goes that one gets a chance to visit only when Mata Rani wishes. Though not superstitious or very religious, I have seen people planning the trip, but had to be cancelled for one or other reason. May be the saying is true. We received our call or माता का बुलावा in Oct 2009.

Travelling from Delhi to Jammu by the Rajdhani was a familiar experience. Barely six months back had we taken this route for our Kashmir trip. The train arrives around 5 in the morning. The yatra starts from Katra, some 40 km from Jammu. We hired a taxi from the stand just outside the Jammu railway station. The taxi service is highly unionized. The rates are fairly high for a 40 km route, but no bargaining. One can hire a taxi only from the stand at the publicized rate of the taxi union. All types of cars are available from hire. We hired an ambassador for 750 rupees that accommodated two families comfortably.

There is no dearth of hotels in Katra. We took help of Kishor, our dependable driver from the Kashmir trip to find a decent accommodation at reasonable rate. We landed at hotel Indraprastha for 500 rupees per room. In Katra you require a hotel only for freshening up and then for a late night sleep when you will be returning dead tired. Thus taking a luxurious hotel makes very little sense unless you have loads of money to spare.

It was almost 10 am when we got ready for the यात्रा. Most hotels provide free dropping / pickup to the यात्रा start point. Being a lean period, the counter where यात्रा पर्ची or token / pass are issued was near empty. We had chosen a good time to be there. During peak seasons, like नवरात्री, there used to be huge lines in the पर्ची counters and it may take hours to get a पर्ची. The hotel car dropped us at the यात्रा start point which is another half km or so from the पर्ची counter.

यात्रा options from Katra:

One has the following options – 1) On foot which 2) Hire Ponies, 3) Hire पिठू (for small kids) and पालकी (for old people) 4) Use the battery operated car which is available between 6 and 12 km part of the track via Bhawan, and finally the easiest one, 5) Use the helicopter service.

90% of people do यात्रा cheerfully on foot. Hiring Ponies needs hard bargaining skill. Being un-regualted and so well organized to form cartails, the rates varies depending on your bargaining skill. If I compare this to my other यात्रा till date to the Hemkund Sahib in Uttaranchal, the pony service was organized and regulated. The rates were fixed and reasonable. The track there also was of 14 km, but not paved as this one and hence climbing was very tiring. The rates quoted by pony owner at Katra will make you shriek. Anyway, most healthy people will like to do the यात्रा on foot. It gives the real feel of a pilgrimage.

The shrine board offers services of battery operated autos between the 6 and 12 km part of the track. On their upward trip, the autos carry old people or ladies with babies. But on their downward trip they probably carry almost everyone. However, this service is available only upto 6pm in the evening. The charges are about 100 rupees per person.

The helicopter services are offered by two operators. The one way cost per person on the day of my visit (Oct 2009) was 1500 rupees. But going there by helicopter you will not be doing a yatra. A यात्रा on foot with friends has a different charm.

Our यात्रा:

Our यात्रा started around 10:30 am. The weather was pleasant. It was a bit hot for climbing up the hill, but was bearable. Even though we had two kids, one 7 1/2 and other 6, we started on foot.

After the first 6 km, there are two routes -- one is 6 km (via Bhawan) and the other 8 km (via Ardhkuwanri). You have to take a call which way you want to proceed. The day we went, the route via Ardhkuwanri was closed for some maintenance. So we had only one option – the shorter one.

The entire track is tiled or paved and the incline is gentle. Therefore the climb is not very tough. Shortcuts with stairs are available at many places which we avoided as additional strength required in climbing stairs will drain you up fast. Almost the entire route upto the halfway diversion point is dotted by shops and eateries. These shops are allowed with hefty annual fees which run into lakhs and are a big source of income for the shrine board. There are a couple of eateries run by the shrine which offers lunch / meal at reasonable rates.

We had walked at leisurely pace. No one was in hurry. Every co-traveler appeared to be in peace occasionally chanting जय माता दी . There were several security posts where you will be frisked. This level of high security is because of the importance of place as a Hindu pilgrimage site and the location being part of the troubled state of JnK. Your bags etc are also scanned in X-ray machines at least twice.

After a long 7 hours of walking with numerous breaks, we had reached the shrine at 5:30 pm. The kids were so happy when they actually made the 12 km climb on foot. People say children have blessing of माता रानी which helps them to make the climb. Once you report at the yatra counter at the shrine, you are assigned a group no for darshan. This is basically done to divide visitors into batches. Even if you miss your batch, you can get in. प्रसाद has to be purchased from the shrine board counter located few meters ahead of the last security scan post.

By the time we got freshen up; the shrine was closed for the evening आरती. The आरती time was from 6pm to 7:45 pm. The two hour break had built up a sizeable queue. While waiting in queue, we had started to feel the bitter cold. Because of the height, the place becomes cold very fast after sunset. The bag where we had kept our warm cloths had been deposited in the locker rooms. The shrine board offers free of cost locker room service with safe boxes to keep your belongings. Nothing is allowed inside the shrine except you as person. One has to be careful to carry light warm cloths even in summer.

Our turn for दर्शन came at around 8:30. Moving in with the crowd and joining the chorus of जय माता दी, we reached the sanctum sanctorum. It was a memorable experience. We had heard so much of it and now we are standing in front of the deities. The दर्शन got over in about 15 minutes. The shrine remains open for दर्शन for almost 24 hours. Piligrims going there in summer often travels at night so that दर्शन can be done early in the morning.

Many people go to the Bhairon Temple located some further 2 km up the hill. Bhairon was a tantric who tormented the devi. He was killed by the devi, but then apparently given him a boon that the darshan of माता रानी would be considered incomplete if a visit to the Bhairon shrine is not done. Our legs were too tired to try that. May be we were not that religious. May be this appeared to be a cooked up story. We went there to pay obeisance to mata rani. Thus our यात्रा has finished. (There is a Bhairon temple in Delhi as well. I have a diferent story to tell about it.)

People were seen getting ready to sleep on whatever covered space available in the complex. Blankets can be hired there. But the idea of sleeping in open in that cold sent down shivers my spine. Other worry was the cleanliness of the blankets as they were both used as mattress as well as to cover up. Thus we had decided to return to Katra. We had our dinner there. Several eateries are available. This time we had skipped the shrine board run one at it was way too crowded. We tried hiring ponies for the kids. But the rates quoted were more than what they asked for coming up. That was ridiculous. They were so shrewd that they try to take advantage of your situation. Thus we decided to continue on foot.

The return trip took about 4 hours. My little girl indeed proved to be brave, in fact very brave. Aged just 7 ½ she completed the entire यात्रा on foot, i.e., a daunting 24 km in 15 hours. She needed some prodding and encouragement for the last 2-3 km. But she made it. I wrote a note to her class teacher about this feat who announced this to her class. When everyone clapped, she felt very proud of her feat.

We were back in Katra by 1:30 or so in the night. We hired an auto to reach hotel and lied dead asleep for the rest of the night.