Mission : Cover Delhi, Shimla, Manali, Kulu, Byasi and Agra in 8 days!!
Assumptions: No Sleep, No Rest, Sight Seeing during the day and Travel during the night!
It was a six member trip to start with but midway through the planning stage, a very good friend Ayush Sharma dropped out for office issues ( damn hell!). So we 5 reached the railway station to kick start the journey. And we suddenly see Mr Sharma at the station!! After the initial hurray and euphoria, Mr sharma tells us that he still isnt coming to the trip and that he has only come to see us off - Felt like killing him!!! grrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Saala bekaar mein hopes dilata hai!! So after the "saale tujhe aane ke baat dekh lenge" dhamkees , we bid good bye to our dear friend and started off for the nine day wonder trip!
The entire description of the trip would be too long, so I will give you all the highlights of our amazing trip!!
New Delhi
To our luck, the train was an hour late and we were stinking ( we traveled in the sleeper class - imagine the heat!! ). Cursing the Indian Railways, we came out of the station and took a cab to the Old Delhi station ( that was where we had to take our next train to kalka the same night). We soon realized that it would be too late by the time we go there and freshen up. We still had to see the entire Dilli city!! So we decided to skip that and go to city tour directly ( Imagine no brush and no bath since 20 hrs!!). We asked the cabby to show us the city and he agreed to show us the major visiting places in the morning and drop us at the station by 6. And so Delhi Darshan began.
The Isckon Temple:
We started off with the Isckon temple of New Delhi. The place was mesmerizing. You are blessed with Peace and tranquility the moment you step into the temple. One is greeted with devotes singing lovely bhajans and few mins into it, you feel like almost catching upto them.
Indira Gandhi Memorial: The next stop was the Indira Gandhi Memorial. We saw the house that Indira Gandhi lived in and the place where she was assassinated. The house was a memorial now and it was a great visit for me. It was amazing feeling to see hand written letters, diaries and photos of the Iron Lady of India. The archives and the photographs left a lasting impression on my mind.
The Rajghat :
Next was the trip to Rajghat. We saw the Mhatma, Mrs Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. Paying Homege to those leaders was emotionally overwhelming.
The Road trip : Post the Indira Gandhi Memorial, we went to the Qutub Minar and took some snaps there. Looked around the place and gazed at the immaculate construction of the four storied Minar. The next agenda was to see the Rashtrapathi Bhavan, the India Gate, The Parliament, The Red Fort and the Chandini Chowk. Since its not allowed to stop at any of the above places except the India Gate, we Jump-Skip-hopped all those places taking photos and admiring the elegant structures. The road from Rashtrapathi Bhavan leading to the the Lal Kila was amazing. We see it every year on Jan 26 and Aug 15, but seeing it in person is a completely new experience in itself.
The last stop was at the old delhi station where we finally freshened up after almost 28hours!! We were greeted by the news that the train to kalka was late by 2 hours :( . Somehow we killed the dreadful 2 hours and reached Kalka the next day.
Kalka to Shimla Toy train: This was one the best journey's ever!! the narrow gauge train and the scenic valley around kept us firmly mesmerized. The entire stretch of the Kalka - Shimla track is filled with exciting views and beautiful sceneries. The only hiccup here was that we ran into some trouble with a fellow passenger family over a trivial issue. Keeping that aside, the train journey is worth every second of the 5+ hour drive. The early morning sun shines through the mountain tops creating ripples in the sky - that is simply an amazing scene. The valleys keep shifting sides based on the direction of the train and the young and old jump around the train with equal excitement!! I'd recommend every one to go that trip atleast once for sure.
Our shimla stay was pretty much truncated because the train was running late. We saw around the city main roads and the Mall Road ( the main shopping area) of the shimla and boarded the bus to Manali.
The Manali and Kulu trip:
This is the best phase of our trip by far and the most relaxed part too. The reason being the fact that we spent 2 days and one night there ( No, Not a honeymoon package !! :P ) which meant that we could have a one night's rest - a great incentive for our back breaking journey!
The Manali sight seeing was fabulous. The Para Gliding and the Ice Skiing were adventurous. The Snowy peaks covered by heavy fog were scintillating. 6000 - 8000 feet above the sea level , temperature close to 1C and 5 buddies playing in the ice !! it was heaven!! we made snow man ( a very bad one at that :P ) . and played around it like little kids. We were lucky to experience snowfall on that day. It is amazing when the sun covered by clouds and it snows. The whole atmosphere turns magical ! We saw the Hidima temple ( the one shown in Roja Movie), the vashishta temple and few other temples in Kulu. The return to the manali was even better coz the sun was setting down and the scenery got even better! We could not have asked for more!!
The Two day stay at Manali was the best experience i'd ever had! Now i know why is it the most sought after place there!!
The Haridwar - Hrishikesh - Byasi River Rafting:
If the Manali stay was leisure and easy, the travel from Manali to Byasi ( 30 odd Kms away from Hrishikesh ) was the most painful one. We changed two cars and a bus to reach there and took us almost an entire day to get there. We went to an adventure camp in Byasi. The camp was actually set up amidst a jungle on the bank of the river Ganga. The entire area was cut off from the civilization, we had no electricity, no cell phone, no music, no tv, not even wash rooms!! All we had was nature at it very basic best! the trees and the mountains overlooked while we enjoyed the kool Ganges shower!! the water was freezing cool and we took the holy ganges dip - and the sins washed away :P . The campfire at night under the clear sky was lit up by no artificial lights, but by the unpolluted sky full of stars. All the pain we took to reach there was seeming to pay off.
The night was spent in talking, sharing experiences and enjoying the serene nature. It felt like being pure.
The day after was the most exciting part. River rafting 30 Kms to Hrishikesh! It was the best adventure i'd ever done. We had to cover a 30km stretch of fast flowing ganga with numerous rapid water currents and whirlpools between ( before embarking on the ride, each of us had to sign an agreement taking the responsibility of any accident on ourselves!! ) . That was the best adrenaline rush ever. Water splashing hard on the body, each of us had to row the paddle and work towards a common goal. It re-iterated the lesson of team playing and co-operation ( no wonder all the corporates take their employees to such places these days!) . It took us close to 3 hours to reach the final destination and boy were we tired by then!!
We spent some time there, gathered our energies and came back to haridwar. And from there we took up the last leg of our journey - "Agra".
Last Leg - The Agra :
The last day of our tour was at Agra. The agenda was to see the beautiful Tag Mahal , the Agra fort and shopping at the Agra bazaar. There was just one thing that we did not account for - The killing HEAT . It was so hot that we almost fainted by the time we reached the base of Taj Mahal from the buland darwaza!!
The grandeur and the beauty of Taj Mahal is capitulating. It makes me wonder about the technical expertise of the engineers back then. If they could have built such a massive beautiful structure at that age, its hard to imagine what they could have accomplished today had they live now!. It is not called the wonder of the world for no reason!!
We took a lot photos there and tried all the possible gimmicks ( touching the tip of the tomb and all!!) and walked around the Taj till we dropped tired!! Finally, we bid good bye to the world wonder and visited Agra fort. the Diwan -e- aam, the Diwan- e - khaas, the sheesh mahal were excellent. By the time we came out of the fort, it was evening and we were crust fallen with tiredness!!
We had hardly enough patience to stand !! So we quickly did the shopping. Bought some Agra ke Petha and came back to the station for our final travel. The Travel back HOME!!
The train fortunately was right on time and this time, we did the final good byes to the trip and took the train to home!! and thus accomplishing all that we set out to. We had the best time ever and saw some mind dazzling places!! It was a memorable trip. A trip that will be always special for it was with some of my most special friends!!
All thanks to Puneeth, Ravi, Rahul and Sai for making this trip the most cherish able time of my life! And Ayush - you better not miss the next one!!
It was a great 9 days of my life!!
P.S : I know by now , you might be cursing coz i've not put any pics !! But the post itself is so long, hence i decided to post some pics on my other blog http://maverickjunction.blogspot.com/. I've put some imp pics there. You can find elaborate pics on my Facebook account http://www.facebook.com/krbhardwaj . I hope you like the pics!!
cheers
rammy
