Weekend Visits

Yesterday I and Pramod went to India Gate for a stroll. It was nice evening with cold breeze flowing after a mild shower. The place was bustling with weekend crowd both desi and videsi. Hawkers were everywhere selling their stuffs. We could see the gate from a distance glimmering in halogen lights like Mount Fuji in nights. A few km long straight broad road connecting India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan (Parliament House) was lined with British era lamps and flanked by gardens on both sides.

India Gate is a war memorial built in the memory of all the soldiers of erstwhile British Indian army who laid there lives in First World War and Afghan war. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The name of all the soldiers is etched on the walls of the gate.

After few hours of mental rejuvenation we headed for Andhra Bhavan which was few minutes walk from the place. Hidden in the calmness of Lutyens Delhi, this place is foodies delight. With authentic Andhra food, it is pretty cheap and very good. Ambience is also quite good. We got a thali for rupees 80. I liked the food especially the sweet.

After that we headed for Cannaught place which was 10 minute by auto from the place. CP is shoppers and revellers delight. CP restored to its pristine glory for the Commonwealth Games was looking awesome. As the movie halls where full, we moved aimlessly for a while just to enjoy the place in weekend.

At the end of the day we returned home happy and rejuvenated.

Summer Trip To Seattle - Prologue and the Hiking

I visited my brother and sister-in-law this summer to Seattle. It was a great fun filled 10 day trip.

I was looking forward to this trip for a long time. Excitement was running high. After 6 hr night flight from Baltimore, I reached Seattle without much trouble..... ya except the initial one hour flight delay and cancellation scare because of bad weather (I hate bad weathers :x ). Bhaiya and bhabhi came to receive me at the airport, got some "jadu ki jhappi" and we drove back home in brand new "The Ultimate Driving Machine".

Seattle is a techie hub and hikers paradise. With software giants like Microsoft and Amazon, you can see desis flocking around everywhere. It is also aptly called the Emerald city for its surrounding evergreen forest and beautiful lakes providing in-numerous options for outdoor activities. Summer is the best time to visit Seattle. On a fresh sunny morning going for outing is a refreshing experience.

On the very first day we went to the place called "Deception Pass". It was two and half hour drive from Redmond. It had a nice hiking trail and sandy beach. As it was a sunny weekend there were lots of visitors hiking, fishing, camping with there picnic table and grills. We sat near the beach listening the sound of the crashing waves creating a mesmerizing experience.

 We spent the wonderful afternoon there and drove back home to attend an evening barbecue at the neighbors place.  I love the smoky barbecue smell. We played garden football, had grilled corn and cheese paneer, and chit chats. We also went to farmers dairy to have ice cream which was good. Overall it was a great day.

Next day we had thought of going to Mt. Rainier to see the sunrise. Though the sunrise part didn't materialize because of the tiring day before, we did go to Mt Rainier.

Yay we are there !!

Mt Rainier has added beauty to Seattle more than anything else. Its magnificent milky white peak is visible from every part of Seattle. It is the highest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. 

It was three hour drive from Redmond. En-route we spent some time at Narada Falls.  It is said to be the most popular waterfall in Mt Rainier National Park, because the Mount Rainier Highway crosses the falls between its two tiers.

Cool couple and Narada Falls

We spend some "cool" time there before starting again. After an hour drive through the winding roads we reached the base camp of the Mt Rainier. We had a small breakfast and watched the small showcase movie on Mt Rainier about its rich flora and fauna and its effect on ecosystem of the surrounding region. After that, I do not remember exactly which trail we took, but it was beautiful anyway.

Hiking trail

Finally we reached the snow covered point.

Mt Rainier (I think so !)

Looking at Mt. Rainier from so close was an exhilarating experience.On the mountains you can feel the serene calmness interspread with songs of  birds which has a meditative effect on the senses. After spending an hour and half we trailed back to the base camp and drove back to home. It was an experience !

Reached home at night and had a nice supper. Thus the weekend ended in a majestic way.

My next blog will cover the culinary experience of  "Supriya's Kitchen" and "trip to Rattle Snake Ridge", so don't go away and stay tuned :).

Winter Nights at IIT Guwahati

The sun used to go down early in search of refuge. Days were shorter and nights were cold. By the time we finished our evening workshops and labs, it used to get dark. Amidst the chirping of returning birds and silent waves of lakes, we used to rush to the hostels to get a sip of tea and bites of hot bread stuffs. The surrounding hillocks swayed in breezing air and mighty Brahmaputra used to flow with less vigor. Canteen wallah had never got busier. People used to teem up to get slice of aloo parathas coming fresh from simmering tawas. Maggie and cardamom tea had never been so delicious.  

Rooms were made warm by constant efforts of room heaters. Calmness prevailed everywhere except the sports complex and the hostel grounds. Volley ball, lawn tennis and basket ball courts buzzed with activities under the flood lights. The chilly air was never a deterrence. Every one used to be charged up for the inter iit sports meet nearing by. I used to go for a jog on the race track, newly built for the inter iit. With mist in the air

Near my hostel there was a small crpf camp. During night they used to cook food in sigdi (clay oven). The smell of smoke with tinge of ghee coming from their oven always reminded me of the highway dhabas. 

Those were the winter nights of IIT Guwahati.

A night incident

Before yesterday, we only used to hear about crime, mugging etc in College Park and near by areas from others. For example a day before yesterday our neighbor Ashish was mugged by a group of two hoodlums. They beat him and snatched his mobile. Thanks to his strong voice for help, they parted away with only his mobile. We thought that this is once in a while incident which can occur anywhere. But next day only we had to face similar kind of situation. I was sitting on the couch in living room and suddenly heard a thud. The next thing I saw was a shattered glasses of balcony door with stone pieces.  After a minute of understanding what has happened, we called 911, US emergency helpline number. They came, they saw and registered a report. But it was bit scary. Anyways finally we faced it.

Rishikesh Trip

As a prelude to my blog, I would like to inform the global readers that Rishikesh is a place in northern India situated on the banks of upper reaches of holy Ganges in the lap of mighty Himalayas. All these combination to me sounds only one thing... awesome !!! and it was.

When we talk about Rishikesh the first thing that comes in our mind is its aesthetic beauty, its holiness etc. But for us the whole and sole purpose was to do white water rafting. Rishikesh is one of the few places in India were we have facility to enjoy this sport.

We went to Rishikesh in last weekend of November this year. We were four people all from the same company. We drove all the way to the place from Delhi. We hired Tata indica which was sufficient for us. It takes around 5 and half hours to reach Rishikesh from Delhi. So we started early at 5 o' clock in the morning. It was pitch dark and cold too. Thanks to Pramod who was given (or taken) the responsibility to ensure that we were all on time. I got a call from him at 3:30 AM !! Just a small conversation snippet:

Pramod ( in a somewhat concerned voice) : Hello Govind, hey kya abhi tak utha nahin ??
me (from my deep slumber): hain.....haan....uthna... haan @#$%
Pramod : wake up else we will get late.
me (now a bit concerned) : ya right..!!
call ends.

So that was how the day started. I got up. And by 4:45 I was ready, on the street waiting for the car. From a distant I could see the two headlights blinking vigorously in the otherwise deserted road.
Well there were four people as expected including the driver. Delhi to Rishikesh was an interesting journey. We passed through Delhi-Noida expressway and came across two heavy vehicles lying under the impact of accident. One was a milk carrier and other one was heavily loaded construction material carrier. We took first stop at a small tea stall just after crossing Noida. It was still very dark. Except Pramod who was sitting in the front, me, Karthik and Vijay slept in most part of the journey. When I woke up we had crossed Moradabad. Sun was up but the morning was too foggy. As we approached Roorkee we could see lush green fields. It was simply awesome. One thing for which Roorkee is known most is it is home to IIT which is situated on the side of highway. It took around one hour to reach Haridwar. It was a great feeling. I was visiting Haridwar after almost 17 years. Then I was a kid but still i had fond memories of the place. I remebered the Har ki Paudi, place where people take bath in holy Ganges and get rid of their sins, then majestic evening Aarti of Ganga , Mansa Devi temple on the hill top where we go by ropeway and offcourse the delicious tikia and rabri.

But as I said, our main purpose for the trip was rafting so without any delay in Haridwar with went to Rishikesh which is about 30 kms from Haridwar. After having breakfast at Rishikesh, we took a rafting package from one of the several agents available ans started of for a place 22 kms upstream of Ganges. It was the place from where we our journey.

We adorned the life jacket and helmet and a oar. The water was ice cold. Our guide gave us a few quick lessons of rafting and instructions to follow like right backward, left forward, how to handle the rapids etc. Then we started for our 5 hr journey.

We encountered 8-9 rapids with funny names like Good Morning, Golf Course, Double Trouble, Three Blind Mice, Daniel’s Dip, Sweet Sixteen, Cross Fire and Roller Coaster. Rapids are places in the river course where water current suddenly increases. There are several reasons for this change in current like steep gradient, narrowing of the course, blocking boulders etc.

Our guide was good entertainer too. With an american english accent he used to give us instructions to follow. Before entering any rapid we were told say "Ganga maiyya ki jai".

We had a small stay in our journey near shivpuri before marchin ahead. Then we started again. At later afternoon, temperature started decreasing, so whenever rays were blocked by the hills we felt really cold. One of the high point of our rafting trip was cliff jumping. It was more than 25 feet high and was thrilling.

Our rafting journey finally ended at Lakshman Jhula. It was sunset and banks were buzzing with evening aarti. After changing our wet clothes we went directly to have sip of hot tea and samosas.

From there we headed for night camp close to shivpuri. It was dark with only source of light being lanterns with deafening sound of gushing river water. Fortunately I met my good old college friends at same camping site. They are also working in delhi. There was bon fire . Roasted peanuts and fried papads for snacks and at around 8 we had dinner. After playing cards for hr or 2 we went to sleep. In the morning we could able to see the awesome beauty of the place. Riverline was surrounded by fine sand and there was volley ball court too. After a quick volley ball match and some stroll and breakfast, we started for Haridwar.


At first we had plans for visiting Rajaji National Park but it was later canceled since we were late. At Haridwar we visited Mansa Devi Temple and had to take a rope way to reach there.

From there we started our return journey for Delhi with a break at Dhaba for lunch. Then we also visited IIT Roorkee which has really nice 160 yr old campus. We reached Delhi at around 7 o' clock. Had a nice dinner at South Indian Restaurant Naividyam in Green Park, went home and had a good sleep.