Nice travelogs with pictures
If you liked reading my Spiti Travelogue, I must refer you to Priyank’s site.
Priyank did a mountain biking trek in the Himalayas, and his pictures are awesome. Check his Niagara pictures too!
July 3, 2007
June 27, 2007
Updated navigation for travelogue
I was a novice blogger when I started out posting my Spiti travelogue. Thanks to feedback and comments, I’ve realized that it was very difficult to actually navigate through the travelogue. It even led to some folks thinking that the “Introduction” post was the whole travelogue itself! 
They have only me to blame. I apologize. Now, I’ve added a nice index to the introduction and added navigation links to help
reading…
Thanks for the patience and bearing with me. Also, note that comments are enabled only for the first and last posts.
June 26, 2007
Yearning for Sense…
Once an issue becomes a mainstream news item in India, you can be sure every major religious group, political party, student organization, and celebrity will have an opinion on it. After the Shiv Sena, it’s now the All India Minorities Front’s (AIMF) turn to freely express their views on Orkut while living in democratic India.
What are odds that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will not be the next to express their views from Gujarat?
How does one issue become mainstream? Well, one of the TV channels has to take the bait, and the rest will follow. The print and electronic media will then aggressively offer the right platform for everyone to get their views miscommunicated, taken out of context, and misquoted. Competing with a dozen other news channels and newspapers, the one creating the most sensationalism and misunderstanding will win the most eyeballs, goes the wisdom. There will be talk shows with pundits, and opinion polls, and public talks shows.
In all this brouhaha, two things happen. Not only is the true issue misrepresented to various extents and typically blown out of proportion, but other significant newsworthy items are all but ignored.
How many of you recollect tomorrow’s British PM-to-be, Gordon Brown’s high profile visit to India? No? Not surprising, because the Indian media never knew of anything else happening in the world apart from Big Sister Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother!
Not only is this phenomenon unique of India. For e.g., in the US, the retirement of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman was relegated to the background over more important stuff like celebrities being jailed for drunk driving.
While US Cable TV was obsessed with drunk-driver-celebrities (DDC, a long wanted title):
“President Bush skipped the final session of the G8 Summit, Vice President Dick Cheney needed to have his heart pacemaker replaced, and NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis prepared for launch!”
In India, it’s Cricket Coach Controversy, Big Sister abused on Big Brother, the AAA (Abhi-Aish-Amitabh) wedding, Big Uncle kissing Big Sister, so on and so forth. Too much coverage, too many opinions, too many mountains out of molehills. When this happens - and its happening with increasing frequency - I need a break. To regain my sense, rejuvenate my capacity to reason, to make this world meaningful again.
Then I listen to Kumar’s Nirguni Bhajans (or read this review) , or Mozart’s 40th in G Minor. Watch Ek Doctor Ki Maut, (or read this review by my friend, Asuph), or dream of taking a yacht cruise like Gail Wynand in The Fountainhead. What can you do? Escape to the Himalayas by reading my Spiti Travelogue! Just kidding…though I do that too, sometimes!
May 18, 2007
Himalaya: Personal Stories of Grandeur, Challenge, and Hope
“To see the greatness of a mountain, one must keep one’s distance. To understand its form, one must move around it. To experience the moods, one must see it at sunrise and sunset, at noon and at midnight, in sun and in rain, in snow and in storm, in summer and in winter and in all other seasons. He who can see the mountain like this comes near to the life of the mountain, a life that is as intense and varied as that of a human being.“
Words from Lama Govinda, a 20th century holy man, quoted by Richard Blum, one of the three editors of National Geographic’s book, “Himalaya: Personal Stories of Grandeur, Challenge, and Hope“.
Some say the book is worth buying for the photographs alone (more than a 100 from some of the most accomplished photographers in the world). But the 40 short essays accompanying them are what gives this book its real meaning.
“What the collection of writings in Himalaya does is take those experiences among the tallest mountains of the world and bring them back to where they most touch people that spend time in the Himalaya, which is in your heart.”
“Conrad Anker, one of the world’s most talented climbers, writes in his Himalaya essay, the mountains he had gone out to first ascend in Nepal and Tibet, had faded into the shadows next to the people that lived there. “The mountains have taught me humility, but the people who live in the shadows of these mountains have taught me acceptance, respect and kindness.“
The words of the world’s foremost wildlife biologist, George Schaller, in a voice light on science and strong on feeling: “Standing at this convergence of snow and sky, I lift my face and feel afloat like a passing cloud. Spirits soar in such infinite space, one feels euphoric in the cold clarity of the peaks, and the silence speaks to the soul.“
Himalaya approaches this from so many different directions, from the Tibetan monks who live in the high monasteries, to Jimmy Carter on a trek, to climbers scaling the heights. Yet a consistent theme runs through each essay, and if we approach this book as we approach the Himalayas, looking for it to give us something, ultimately we come away with a greater sense of self and what we too could achieve.”
Some more information on the book, with a full list of contributors, is here. You can get it from Amazon or directly from National Geographic.
Sounds like a great addition to my library…
May 17, 2007
Spiti Travelogue updated with more pictures
I received offline as well as online feedback to update my Spiti Travelogue with more pictures. I was humbled, and have updated the travelogue posts with a large number of additional pictures…take a look!
All your comments, criticisms, and suggestions are most welcome!
April 20, 2007
Spiti Travelogue: Day 14
Back Where We Began: Home sweet home at last!
All this time, the wheels of our train were constantly bringing us closer and closer to our home. At last, we reached Pune! Wherever you go in the world, there is no place like home! Moreover, after such an extraordinary trip, this was as true as ever.
We waited to develop our film rolls, and share them and our experiences with friends and family. I decided to write this travelogue because I felt too many things were missing from verbal narratives. It has been a different pleasure altogether to write about our trip.
We all met again on the weekend when all of us were in Pune - recounting our memories, reliving our experiences, sharing our thoughts and planning for future trips back to the Himalayas…
Technorati Tags: spiti, lahaul, himalayas, himalaya, trekking, travelogue, travel, tourism, manali, monastery
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Spiti Travelogue: Day 13
Wheels Back In Motion: Reflections on the way back home
I always feel uncomfortable and out of place in Delhi. I was anxious to be on our way back, and we caught the Jhelum Express the next day. The others from our group were flying back to Pune, while only George was with us on the train. Vidisha and I had a relaxed travel back. It was mostly time for reading and reflection.
The world up to Manali was the civilized world, as we knew it. Above that, once you crossed Rohtang Pass, it was as if you entered a different world. Indeed this distinction bears out even with the seasonal disconnection of the upper region. The Rohtang and other mountain passes are open only after summer, for a few months. For the most part of the year, the Spiti region is isolated from the rest of the world. The region has remained in isolation for centuries, and hence has an introversive culture and life focused around its monasteries.
What does ‘Spiti’ stand for? Si means Mani, Piti means place, Spiti means the place of Mani, the jewel. Rudyard Kipling writes about Spiti in these words: “At last they entered a world within a world - a valley of leagues where the high hills were fashioned of the mere rubble and refuse from off the knees of the mountains…Surely the gods live here. Beaten down by the silence and the appalling sweep of dispersal of the cloud shadows after rain, this place is no place for men.”
Our rare glimpses of tourists in Spiti were those of foreigners. We never saw any Indian tourists. I was saddened that apart from the local villagers and the military, Indians rarely ventured here. In contrast, I thought of Kedarnath and Manasarovar, where there was no dearth of Indians.
Reflecting on the purity of the people’s culture, lifestyle, and religion, I also wondered whether we were invading the region with our tourist paraphernalia. The civilization of the valley was significantly changing the lives of the people. There is now electricity, irrigation, and primary school education available in Spiti. Crime is still virtually unknown. The government has installed few antennas through which many people are able to watch Doordarshan. Telephones have reached Kaza. Overall, the changes in recent years are more than those that took place over several centuries.
Spiti Travelogue: Day 12
Devilish Delhi: Return to civilization
The next morning, we came to Manali with our Gypsy vans to catch the buses to Delhi. We bid adieu to our vans, and our drivers, Sonam and Mahinder. Our drivers had gained our tremendous respect in the past few days ever since we began our journey with them from Manali. Both were from Ladakh, Tibet. Sonam was an entertaining orator, and passengers in his van enjoyed long entertaining narratives of his trip to Goa and his experiences with other travelers. His cousin sister was the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest at the age of 17.
As drivers, they were top-notch. We felt safe and secure with their hands on the wheels. Driving in the rugged Lahaul and Spiti valleys needs courage, endurance, skill, patience, and wisdom. Few people would be able to do the job, and Sonam and Mahinder did it exceedingly well. We bid an emotional farewell to them at Manali while thanking them for everything.
We did not speak much on the bus. We were back in the crowds and back in civilization. It felt dreary. We reached Delhi and checked into hotel for the night. I called up a couple of cousins, and had long chats over the phone, before resting for the day.
Spiti Travelogue: Day 11
Serene Solang: Relaxation before the return journey begins
The quaintness and solitude of this town attracted me tremendously. It was a place where artists of all kinds could swathe in the beauty of nature and rejuvenate their creative powers. Our hotel owner, Sohan Lal, himself was a master of several arts. He knit beautiful carpets and blankets with ornate designs. He had built the hotel furniture on his own. He was also an excellent cook, and we enjoyed his delicacies so much that we did not eat anywhere else.
His eldest son was India’s national ski champion. All his sons and daughters had won innumerable medals and trophies in many winter Olympics. Yet, he was so humble, serving us tea/coffee and meals with reverence. I wondered whether humility was an innate trait in the people of this region because of the powerful forces of nature that dwarfed man here…
Sohan Lal with his son and his children’s numerous trophies adorning the shelves…
Today was a day of rest and relaxation before we began our return journey. We strolled to the Kullu/Manali forest range, the protected forest area. We discovered a small temple, built recently, bedecked with wooden bells and intricate wooden carvings. This would be our last day for scenic photography, so Vidisha was busy clicking close-ups of flowers and I capturing the snow-clad peaks around.
Friendship Hotel in Solang
We wandered around aimlessly that day, with no purpose, goal, or destination. I felt as if yesterday’s paragliding was an orgasmic climax of days upon days of relentless adventure and building tension.
Spiti Travelogue: Day 10
In the Air: I take the flight of my life
Morning in Solang was refreshing! We had a quick breakfast, especially the kids and I, because we wanted to paraglide. Even after all the exciting things we had seen and the adventures we had experienced on this trip, I was waiting expectantly for paragliding. It felt like a dream to me, flying in the air, and I felt it too good to be true that this dream was going to become true.
The guides sat behind you steering the glider, while you simply let your feet dangle in the air while cruising in the air. There was a short jump and a high jump. I hesitated a bit, but Vidisha encouraged me and I was on my way on horseback to the top of the mountain. From about 1000 ft, I plunged into the air. Manali and Solang were tiny towns beneath me, and so were many mountaintops. It was indescribable. We were swinging downwards to flirt with the treetops on the side of the mountain, and then swinging upwards with the air current. My flight controller was very skilled and I was able to appreciate the art of continuing to find air currents to keep you alight. I was on cloud nine, literally.
In the air at Solang…that’s me under the red glider…
Slowly, we descended and were back on earth, running to land on the ground. A dream had come true for me and I felt satiated. Vidisha was smiling, looking at my glowing face. She had captured several good pictures of me high in the air.
I chatted with my guide Sangeet, and learnt that a new glider cost anywhere from Rs. 1 to 1.5 lakh. A second-hand glider cost from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 70,000. A new glider lasted for about 50 hours of flight. The short flight cost Rs. 300, and the high jump at Rs. 1000. Normal prices were slightly higher; we got a discount because Sangeet was a relative of our hotel owner.
Can you see me up there?
After lunch, we decided to take a walk to Dhundi, a spot about 5 km downwards on the Solang nala. We were walking beside the stream, on the rounded pebbles and gigantic rocks. On our way, we were enticed by tree trunk bridges placed above the stream, and were doing a balancing act back and forth. It was fun.
On our way back, we decided that the road would be safer in the dark, than the boulders and rocks. The mountainside was full of vegetation and trees, and we hiked our way up on slippery, wet grass, towards the road. It felt good to be walking on the road in the dark.
