Thanks to my four year stay in the north-east India, I could not go
home every time I get a few days off. So I would go to all those
beautiful places with a few other friends of mine. I really enjoy
traveling.
I was just wondering if I could say that the train in my favorite
"vehicle". I spent considerable time in the trains from Hyderabad to
Guwahati. And there are several interesting experiences that I can
narrate:
- The bomb blast at Kokhrajhar. 111 hours from Hyderabad to
Guwahati. Kanchanjunga express was our home for atleast two full days at
New Jalpaiguri (also known as NJP).
- Bramhaputra flood, cancellation of trains and the wonderful bus
(on its last) journey. A record 116 hours, and a (kind of) scared
university fresher with us.
- Sreedhar misses the speeding train at NJP. We got down to have
food. He was in his shorts and had some cash. I managed to catch the
train with people behind the "running" me shouting at me. I think we
really have some kind of an attachment to NJP.
- Home to Univ. without any reservation in a crowded train. And
after the last semester, journey back home when we miss a train at the
Howrah station. Two people squeezing in the narrow train door for close
to six hours is fun :-).
After I come back from every trip of mine, I would write a travel log
to send that to people I know. You don't get to read them now (not
atleast till I find some time to write them down again); all credit to
that system administrator who lost the tape that had all my
stuff backed up on it.
Include the travel logs of
these places here ...
- With family to different places along the western coastal
states. Dharmasala, Udupi and Mangalore in Karnataka, Guruvayur. I
returned to Bangalore from Guruvayur via Thrissur, but the rest of the
gang (Dad, Mom and Sis) proceeded to Thiruvananthapuram from there.
- The trip to Cambridge on official work. Even though the aim of
the trip was not fully satisfied, I had a great time walking on the
roads in Cambridge (and getting lost one evening) and visiting the
famous colleges. Atul and I also took a picture just near the Newton
apple tree at Trinity college.
- To Alwar and the Sariska tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan. Hitesh and I could not
spot any Tigers there. There was some tiger dung (the jeep driver told
us that it was tiger dung) and a few foot prints near a water body. But
it was a fun trip and we did a lot of walking and hitch-hiking.
- To Burma by walk via the Moreh route. Imphal (During Holi, kids
from the neighborhood come to your place, sing for you and ask for
gifts, cute?. Also, be there to watch the rhythmic community dance
called Thabalchong), Loktak (the lake with small beautiful green
floating islands), Sendra and Kaibullamjong in Manipur. We also had
Sekmai Yu there. Hitesh and Navin were our guides on this trip.
- The unforgettable trip to Tawang on the Indo China border (Lhasa
in Tibet and Beijing are 450 Km and 4500 Km respectively from here) in
Arunachal Pradesh via Tezpur (A cosmopolitan city in Assam with an
Indian Air Force base), Bomdila, Dirang (and its hot springs) and Sela
(The highest place I have ever been to. 14000 ft above mean sea level.
The first time I got to feel snow, was here). Tawang was where
we met Hitesh Ajit Shah and Navin Chandra Singh.
- Family trip to the Daulatabad fort (well maintained and still
standing majestically), Ellora (excellent rock cut temples and statues)
and Auragabad in Maharashtra.
- The trip to Gangtok and Mantosh / Skand's exploits. The Tsangu
lake (at 12,400 ft above sea level) surrounded by mountains (It is on
the way to the Indo Chinese border via the Nathula pass). I tasted tea
made from Yak's milk near the Tsangu lake. It doesn't taste all that
bad.
- The bad experience at Siliguri and the quite enjoyable trip to
Darjeeling (where I got to see what a real Royal Bengal Tiger
looks like. Royal, they call it, true to every alphabet). The rope-way
wasn't operational then, we would have tried it otherwise.
- Many trips to Shillong via Barapani. Once even with Dad. I
canoed for the first time in my life in the Barapani lake in Meghalaya.
It was kind of scary when the speed boat went past our canoe. Neither
Vedam, nor I knew how to swim, but it was fun as we drifted along.
