Lush Vs Barren: Beauty Lies in the Eyes of….

So when I told a dear friend about my impending Leh visit, she did not seem to share my excitement and told me that it was a depressing place and that lack of vegetation made it thus. I just smiled since I wanted to experience it and not just rely on hearsay.

Our tour operator suggested that we reach the airport early and grab the window seat since the aerial views will be breathtaking. Am I glad I trusted them, a really short flight of an hour and 15 mins, the descent began pretty soon. Flying over the fluffy white floating wisps of clouds that reminded one of baby’s breath anyway, I caught white and brown mountain range peeping from the cloudy veil. As the flight kept moving on the bird’s eye view kept changing and transforming, the mountains from full white to white with streaks of brown it definitely was a glorious sight like none other. The sight enthralled me like never before.

On landing and throughout the trip of 5 days in Leh, we visited several places, but the landscape largely was browns and whites. Like my little old friend of 6 years said, “vanilla with streaks of chocolate or just vanilla”.

The mountains in Leh are a unique lot, brown majestic ones dotted with huge boulders till the eyes could see making us wonder at times, “what was the force that was holding them up” they did look like they could roll right down anytime. The very small weedy grass interspersed at far intervals just revealed the strong will of life’s desire for itself. Defying desert and snowy conditions some weeds swayed and danced to the rhythm of cool breezes.

Another marvelous exotic never-seen-before sight that welcomes one on the way to Lamayuru Monastery is called the Moonland. The beautiful sand-dune like high mountains had a unique personality of their own, it was a sight one cannot forget in a hurry. The soft rocks that turned into sand on being crushed in-between the fingers and its yellowish orange hue added to the surreal beauty of the area. Our WOW Buddy Zeba said that these formations reminded her of Cappadocia in Turkey! 

Sure, Leh was not lush, the mountains were so very very different from the ones that we are used to in Shimla or Nainital, but was it devoid of beauty? No ways, it had a charm that was so distinctive it is unforgettable, the barrenness striking against the azure skies and stretching far and wide may be “imperfect” to some but beautiful it is. My take is that Beauty should not be trapped in definitions. It is all encompassing, and the saying that “it is in the eyes of the beholder” resonates so much more deeply today than ever.

Are We Ever Really Alone

 

One of the to do on my bucket list before turning 40 was to travel alone. Alone not because i dont like spending time with my family but because i really have never ever travelled alone. Really i mean it. I have had a pretty comfortable sheltered and protected life pre and post marriage. However, this yearning to travel alone was taking over my thoughts and became deep rooted. Fortunately the hubs supported my desire and let me go "jaa jee le apni zindagi" style and so did my amazing son who promised to behave himself and not miss me too much.

I zeroed in on a destination and knew i wanted to travel with wow an only women travellers group since i have known of sumitra since my PR and her travel writing days. I decided to go to Leh; Pangong lake being my prime motivation. So off i went to the land of high passes and altitudes.

Alone? But really was i ever alone. No. I found a bunch of awesome strong women friends all with the solo aim of grabbing their downtime and quota of fun. The minute we touched down we located each other the pink brigade 22 in total, all set to live together as one big family for the next 5 days. And yes there were mny cases that demonstrated an amazing bond of sisterhood. Sisters of the heart. Due to high altitudes and less time to acclimitise we all did develop some headaches, tum tum issues etc but they were merely minor distractions. We shared love,meds and even desi nuskhas. We bonded extremely well and though we werent with the families and friends they were with us in our hearts, while bargaining for gifts and mementos, while getting monogrammed tees and sometimes when the phone signals came on we spoke to them.

Its then that i realised we never are truly alone its just that at times we need a bit more than elbow space, a space to claim of our own. An adventure that liberates us and yet keeps our feet steadily on the terra firma.

Cheers to all my wonderful girl friends and of course i am a convert and will take up many more trips with WOW. It was a wowsome experience very well orchastrated by the team and Zeba our WOW buddy.

I will travel alone again but i know i wont ever be lonely.

Auto Gyan

Zara Sambhal ke

Hari ke Dwar

Post toh self-explanatory hai. Ab humm ka bolaengae bhaiya. Zara sambhal ke 

Hari Bol !!

Hot Wheels & Pit Stops

No trophy for guessing that this is a post about the Formula 1 Racing. Yup, yours truly had the privilege to being one of the advantaged few to witness the historic win of Vettle, (he became the youngest four-time world champion), in person from a vantage point. Before you jump to the conclusion that I am bragging, well partially I am, it isn’t everyday that I get to experience F1 races up close and personal from the sponsor’s Airtel’s lounge. So let me start from the beginning, when the heart almost took a somersault on receiving the invitation. 
On Sunday me and husband left early to catch the pit walk and reach the venue before the crowds really started pouring in. We were led into the Paddock Club lounge by the gracious hostess and handed over the days schedule, wi-fi access cards and earplugs. This is exclusive seating with many privileges, of which pit stop walks and access to top notch hospitality is the star. First things first, we decided to go  for the pit walk and were totally awed by what we saw. The names of the racers that we had only read about were blazing on the stands and we were standing right there in front of their garages and teams. One was as excited as well to use a cliché a child in the candy store.
Ofcourse photo shooting happened and at almost all the stops. Walking along side were Vijay Mallaya, Sahara’s Subroto Roy, Vir Sanghvi, Deepa Malik, Gulshan Grover and so many more frequently spotted on Page 3.

In the true Delhi style of celebration there was a bhangra performance that took place right there. True you can never take Dilli out of a Delhiite, doesn’t matter that they belong to the caviar and champagne league.
And yes, that was freely flowing too in the lounge. The extraordinary hospitality was well….extraordinary. Free flowing choicest wines paired with prawns, chicken, and other select stuff on the menu served with as much style and much much more.

To be very frank I hardly follow this game or its rules, but the excitement around, the energy and the vibes were palpable and pulsating. The adrenaline flowing as much as the wines. One could hear excited and animated chatter all around. There are many laps in a Formula 1 and it can take over 90 minutes, but the starting of the game deserves unwavering attention. The rev of the engine, the high decible sounds and the zoom of the cars leaves no one untouched, followers or not. That moment is breathtaking, its like now you see them and now you don’t, a blink of an eye and you missed it. After a couple of laps however one kind of gets used to the sameness and if you are like me, walk back to the comfort of the air-conditioning in the lounge and watch some laps on the huge screens. The friction and the speed, the smell of burnt tyres and the ease and quick that the tyres get replaced with new ones make you realise the value of a split second and how it really can be life changing. Well after a drink or two you do get philosophical isn’t it?

As the race approached the last couple of laps we sauntered on the terrace again. This time to witness the euphoria of the win. Vettle did a circular trance like couple of zooms after the win, almost like the sufi dervish. The tyres of course burnt and fumes rose as more bubbly popped and was showered on the media and others who were close enough on the track to share his win.

Next year it may not be. But the memories etched are forever, aren’t they. And especially if they are made of such awesome experience isn’t it?
For More Pictures Click Here

A Sea that Melts into the Horizon

 

It is actually amusing how the mind wanders and how memories deeply stowed away in the recesses of mind tumble out at the slightest provocation. An article in TOI triggered the memory of a beautiful surreal vacation that I took as a young girl in class XII with my parents and brother. Papa was posted in Barrackpore Cantt near Kolkatta and we all decided to take a small break and venture out to Chandipur-on-sea in Odisha near Balasore. He planned it because he wanted to show us DRDO’s testing range It is from here that many a missiles have been launched. We were booked to stay in the DRDO’s guest house right by the shore. Little did we know that we were in for a surprise when the sea, yes the sea, did a disappearing act.

At that time, this is more than 2 decades back, now now don’t start calculating my age this was a very quaint little town and I remember I had run out of my camera roll and couldn’t even find any around the shops here. That explains the lack of pics in the post scanned or otherwise.

At night we went strolling on the well kept and manicured lawn terrace that overlooked the sea and watched the sea lapping up its waves till the shore. We chatted and heard the sounds of the sea and generally soaked up in the peaceful environment before calling it a night.

In the morning post breakfast we decided to walk to the terrace again to greet the morning sea and we were in for a shock. Where is the sea? Yes we were sure we saw it last night and left it right there before retiring. But surprises of surprises there wasn’t a drop on the sea bed and me and bro were out of our wits since we hadnt heard any of this and were absolutely unprepared for the sight. On asking the guard “bhaiya” there we got to know that this is normal, huh, the sea here recedes each day almost upto 5 kms and then comes back again. Yes we had heard about high and low tides but this was amazing and absolutely unbelievable had we not seen it our selves. The guard told us maybe we could take a walk into the horizon and go look for the sea. To that suggestion we jumped and as excited kids started our walk, a walk that was almost a km long and no trace of the sea. Mom sat on the terrace and watched us through binoculars, and after a point starting waving at us frantically since she was scared. All we could spot was the endless horizon spreading in front of us with no sight and sound of the sea.

It was a beautiful place, a lovely vacation and an amazing experience…all of it deeply entrenched as fond memories of a carefree childhood. Ahh I hope I had a digi camera in those days to capture it for posterity but all I have is stories unlimited for my grandchildren. Thank you papa and mommy for providing us with an abundant beautiful childhood filled with love and joy. 

Navratris Jaise Bhi

 

Celebrations and festivals are a few of the things that bind us all with a thread of unity. Though there does exist a cultural and traditional divide between the rituals and festivals of North and South India, Navratris is one festival that is celebrated all over. All across the length and breadth of the country; the flavors are different, methods are varied, rituals are diverse but celebration time it is. Hindus are one of the few that believe in and revere the feminine principle like no other religion. This festival is dedicated to the goddess, the mother, the feminine divine.

Navratis mean different things to different age groups and castes. While in North India the most predominant method is by observing fasts through the seven or eight days with kanjak celebration on ashtami or navami. For Bengalis, the last four days is the biggest festival with them decking up the pandals innovatively with use of a multitude of materials, feasting, indulging in pandal hopping, sindoor khela and dhak competitions. It is a community celebrations for Bengalis with no abstinence on either veg or non-veg food. Infact since I am an army product, at one of the sendoff parties when my mom wasn’t even eating regular veg food, this aunt was drinking alcohol and even enjoying her piece of chicken, she told us they belong to a community in Rajasthan where even the poorest of poor will eat non veg during these days since they worship the Shakti roopa of the Goddess, it sounded so cool at that time. Ah and how can we forget the famous dandiya dance that all the soaps on the TV are celebrating with fervor. By the way the farm house parties even arrange for Dandiya competitions for couples with vrat ka khanaa on the side even in saddi Dilli. Gujaratis and Mumbaikars are big on Dandiya and Garba during the season, film stars and celebrity singers perform at various functions throughout India and even abroad especially in US, Canada and UK.

In South of India people set up idols and dolls in several tiers or padis a customary ritual during navratris it is observed in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In the evening when people visit the homes where Golu is sthapit they are sent off with Prasadam. It is kept for 9 days and packed up on the 10^th on Vijaydashmi.

Dussara in Mysore is celebrated with a big pomp and show. During the nine days leading up to Dusshera Mysore city is decked up as a bride and various tourists from around the world throng the city to watch the beauty and soak in the revelry. This is one royal experience for sure. Various cultural shows are performed in front of the illuminated Palace. Dasara celebrations commence with a pooja performed to Goddess Chamundeshwari atop the Chamundi Hills with the presence of the Wodeyar royal couple, and state officials. On tenth day of Dasara, a grand Procession (Jamboo Savari) starts from the palace after the royal couple worship the idol. The main attraction of the Dasara procession this year 2013 will be the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari which is carried in a Golden howdah weighing over 750 kgs on top of an elephant. The procession consists of dancers, musical bands belonging to State Police, Folk dancers, decorated elephants, horses and camels. Colorful tableaux created by different State organisations too form an integral part of the procession.

Keralites mark this period with worshipping of the book during the last 3 days. This period is celebrated as Sarasvati poojan period. On Vijaya Dashami day, the books are ceremoniously taken out for reading and writing after worshiping Sarasvati. Vijaya Dashami day is considered auspicious for initiating the children into writing and reading, which is called Vidyarambham. Tens of thousands of children are initiated into the world of letters on this day in Kerala.

This is also a time for shopping and auspicious beginnings, of rokas and weddings, of buying new cars and those sone ke haars. A great time for both publishers and advertisers, a time when corporates do maximum business and a time when consumers reap maximum benefits. No one remains untouched with the fervor and the festivities in the air just like that slight nip of cold. So whatever suits you fasting or feasting, dancing or buying, praying or meditating….just keep the faith, take a deep breath, bless the world and before I forget, raise your arms and scream out loud JAI MATA DI !!

How do you intend to celebrate these nine?