Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part V

So what did you expect? That I will be diligent and post the entire trip in consecutive days? I took 4 years to finish a 2 years M.A. Program on education from TISS (www.tiss.edu). This rate of blog output is far better than the assignment submissions that I did for the course. In any case, here goes the part V...

May 5^th Tadapani (2630m) to Sinuwa (2360m)

Summary – Crazy ups and downs. Killer steps. German bakery in Chomrong. Fresh apple pies. Death after Chomrong. Body brought to Sinuwa.

For those readers who don't want to hear one long monotonous groan you may skip this day altogether.

Skies were clear again this morning and we had good views of Annapurna South and Hiyun Chuli from Tadapani. The trail starts to descend almost immediately from Tadapani. It passes through a forest and quickly reaches a slope and descends steeply on switch backs and steps. We drop to Chuile (2309m) and walk down further to cross the stream Kimron Khola at probably 2000m. So we lose more than 630m and all in one steep downhill. My left knee was hurting badly and I was struggling to maintain any pace at all. I was really thankful that I had carried a Leki walking stick. I tried to shift all my weight to the stick when I was using my left leg but it didn't really help. I had to figure out how to use the stick correctly to keep pressure of my knees, but that I did only the next day. So it was an agonizing day for me.

When we climbed down we lost the view of the mountains and instead it was valley views. This part is not really wild and most of the hill sides are prepared for cultivation. There was barley, corn and vegetables and potatoes being grown here.

After crossing Kimron Khola we had to climb again. We passed Ghurnung (2060m) and the walk was easier, almost flat along the hillside towards Taulung. But I found it very difficult to walk even on flat ground, my knees was giving me lot of trouble. My knee protection and pain relief gel was all in my backpack which Narayan had carried far ahead. I was walking very slowly and gingerly. We reached Chomrong (2170) by 11:30 and stopped at the first restaurant for lunch. It took us a very long time to get our food, but I was happy to get my knees attended to. I rubbed Volini gel on it and put my knee caps on. We also saw some Himalayn Griffons soaring up the valley riding the thermals. It was around 1 when we finished our lunch and thunder clouds had already taken over the sky. When we started to walk and it started to pour. We took shelter in a water purifying station in Chomrong. Beyond Chomrong ACAP does not allow plastic water bottles to be sold. After a heavy downpour the rain abated and we started to walk quickly. We reached Chomrong downtown which is an happening place. We found snooker clubs and bakeries in Chomrong. The smell of freshly baked apple pies wafted through the clean mountain air. But we were full and it was threatening to rain, so we had to move on. From Chomrong there is again a steep descent to Chomrong Khola. It was painful walking down the steps, may be 1000 or more. After crossing the stream we had to climb up to Sinuwa. We were now walking along Modi Khola which would take us all the way up to Machapuchare Base Camp. The exhaustion due to the steep climbs, up and down, and the constant threat of rain forced us to stop at lower Sinuwa. I had a hot shower and felt much better. We had got tired of eating inane food from the menu designed to appeal to the taste of western tourists. We decided to make kichadi and aalu fry for dinner. 2 German girls were the only other trekkers who had stopped in lower Sinuwa, the rest had plodded up to Sinuwa. The Germans were lucky to have a share of our kichadi, or so we thought. They politely said it tasted very good. They offered some rum in return which I gladly accepted. In that cold, rainy evening a thimble of rum in hot water made me feel good. I ignored Jayesh's frowns. He is completely against any alchohol on a trek and for good reason. I think for most Indians drinking alchohol is linked directly with getting drunk and that is a good generalization. Getting drunk on a trek is a nuisance and in high altitude it could be dangerous. It is difficult to distinguish the symptoms between Acute Mountain Sickness and a hangover. But I have never been drunk in my life, but Jayesh does not know that. In any case the rum did wonders to my aching bones and muscles and I slept well.

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part IV

Apologies

I have to first apologize for the delay in continuing the blog. I had jammed a finger of my right hand in the car door and it was badly injured. I was also away from Bangalore for 3 days. I was in Timbaktu (www.timbaktu.org) conducting training. Timbaktu has organized thrift cooperatives for women in the 3 blocks that it operates in Anantapur district of AP. These cooperatives have a turnover of more than a crore of rupees. A good part of this turnover goes as loans for borrowers who are attempting to run small businesses like milk production and trading, sheep rearing, poultry, small grocery and vegetable shops etc. Timbaktu thought it would be a good idea for the “loan officers” of these cooperatives to have a better idea of what it takes to run a viable business so that they can counsel their borrowers. This would have two benefits at least. The thrift cooperatives would have better repayments and the business persons would have a better livelihood. These “loan officers” are mostly women with very basic education and some of them are not even literate. We (www.tree-society.org) are trying to teach them “Business Viability Analysis” over a course of 10 days spread over 3 months. It has been an interesting experience. But let us get back to more important stuff of the ABC trek....

May 4^th – Ghorepani (2860m) to Tadapani (2630m)

Summary – Climb Poon Hill (3150m), sunrise views of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Range, back to Ghorepani. Climb from Ghorepani to Deurali pass at 3090m, have the same views of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna, walk through thick rhododendron forests to Ban Thanti (3180m). Climb down to meet Bhurungdi Khola again and then a steep climb to Tadapani.

We got up at 4. I was hoping that it would be cloudy and I can snuggle back into my sleeping bag, but it turned out to be a clear sky. Damn. From our guest house we could already see the fresh snow on Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South and Hiun Chuli (6434m). The climb to Poon Hill seemed like a pilgrimage. The entire tourist population of Ghorepani, around 200 of them, was up and early and religiously climbing Poon Hill to catch the sunrise. The only thing missing was bhajans and cymbals. May be it was the morning hour or my laziness the climb seemed infernally long. When we reached what appeared to be the top, there was a reassuring sign “Only 15 more minutes and you would reach the top”. I was thinking may be it would be easier if I sat for 15 minutes and waited for the top to reach me. The climb went on for another 45 agonizing minutes. There were some enterprising locals who had carried huge flasks of hot water to the top and the 200 pilgrims who had gathered had an option of coffee or tea, black or with milk (powder) at 80 rupees a cup. I gladly bought a cup and waited for the sun to rise.

The sunrise was not as spectacular as it was touted to be. It was a bit hazy and the sun rises behind the Annapurna range. It was nice to see the rays of light interrupted by the peaks but otherwise the view from Poon Hill is better seen at sunset when the fading light illuminates the mountain peaks. That would also mean a relaxed cup of tea in the evening and not getting up at an unearthly hour. Unfortunately at this time of the year it is impossible to have clear evening skies. But if you are in the Poon Hill area in October-November season I would recommend a sunset climb.

We climbed back to Ghorepani and had our breakfast and we were ready to leave. We had to climb again and the morning walk was up on a open ridge which had spectacular views of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna range. There was no reason for us to have tortured ourselves for the sunrise. If I had known that the views from Deurali would be equally good I would have skipped the sunrise tamasha altogether. After we passed the pass the trail descends into a beautiful rhododendron forest. The forest was filled with bird calls but I could manage to see only the red billed blue magpies. The gnarled trunks of the old trees made it feel as if we were walking through Ent land.

We reached Ban Thanti (3180m) for lunch. The owner of Hungry Eye (again) restaurant had lived in Mumbai for a few years and she was happy to talk to us about her experience. It looks like these small villages are safe enough for women to live alone. She lives there in her house even during winter when practically the whole place closes down. It seems ACAP keeps one guest house open in each village during winter for the occasional tourist. The community decides which guest house would be open. It is crazy to think how they manage during winter time in this rickety wood structures which are more or less open to nature. These villages have small vegetable patches where they grow cabbage, potatoes and other greens. As a responsible tourist it might be better to order food that is locally grown rather than packaged food like noodles and stuff. Both in terms of transportation and garbage disposal. In our group, Zubin was the most responsible in that sense since he ate Dal-Bath (rice with some vegetables) almost every lunch. I should remember this on my next trip.

After Ban Thanti the walk continued through forests and we had to climb down to cross the Bhurungdi Khola again. As soon as we crossed we had to make a steep long climb to Tadapani. It was a tiring day since we started early in the morning for Poon Hill and a climb up and down. We had to climb again to the pass and then descend and climb again to Tadapani. By the time we reached Tadapani it was cold and rainy. It was around 3 in the afternoon and I decided that I would snooze for a while, but we had some noisy Spanish travelers who were speaking loudly and I couldn't doze off. Our room in Tadapani was tiny but had great views.

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part III

May 3^rd 2011 – Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani

Summary – Altitude gain 1340m (tough day). A steep flight of steps from Tikhedhunga to Ulleri. Gradual climb from Ulleri to Ban Thanti. Steep climb on rocks and steps from Ban Thanti to Ghorepani.

We had a lazy morning and a 3^rd look at the ACAP menu made us decide that we should cook our own breakfast. We asked for permission to enter the kitchen and made egg burji. By the time we finished cooking and eating breakfast, it was around 8. The skies had cleared and there was bright sunshine. All through the trip, I was tired and went to bed by 8 at night. Thanks to the new Kindle that I had bought, I always had some reading material before I dozed off. Since I slept early I got up early too by 4:30 or so and was ready to hear the bird calls. But that never made me get out of bed, I would snuggle in the sleeping bag till 6 and then get up and get ready.

In any case, we left Tikhedhunga and we immediately crossed Bhurungdi Khola and started climbing, climbing and climbing. It seemed like a stairway to heaven or rather hell. It was all steps, endless and relentless. The climb was to a village named Ulleri (2020m) and it was the first serious climb in our trip and my legs and lungs were not used to such an assault. It was just 500 meters of climbing and we did it in 1.5 hours or so. The only relief was the first glimpse of Annapurna South (7219m) from the final approach to Ulleri.

Ulleri is a nice village on a ridge with good views and nice tea shops. We had nimbu pani to refresh ourselves and I also bought two bracelets from the shop on the top. I don't think there are very many Indian trekkers on this route and so most of the shop keepers were quite interested in knowing where we were from. Mumbai is always associated with Bollywood (or should I say The Hindi Film Industry?) and my companions were asked if they had met Kajol or Salman Khan. Bengaluru somehow seems to convey to them a very developed city where everyone is a scientist. I did not try too hard to persuade them otherwise. Ulleri also has a primary school and it did not help my self-esteem to see so many tiny tots scrambling up the steps for their morning classes. The high school is in Tikhedhunga and the older kids were waltzing down the steps. Some enthu, I say. I was curious to go inside the school but better sense prevailed and I let go of the thought.

After 30 minutes of “Shavasana” in Ulleri we set off for our next lunch stop at Ban Thanti (2210). The climb was easier and gradual and we had a leisurely walk. We walked mainly throughly step cultivated fields and small settlements. We had a long lunch in Ban Thanti. The tea houses start preparing lunch after you order them, so it takes a while. This worked well for me as it gave me time to laze around and recoup from the morning activity. Most of these villages were clean and cute. The ACAP has done an amazing job in keeping them tourist friendly. It must have been around 1 pm when we started from Ban Thanti. Now the climb was getting steep again through a rhododendron forest. There were either steps or rocks. The sky closed in again and there was thunder. I was reminded of our previous evening hail and Zubin and I hastened to reach our final destination Ghorepani. We had to climb another 600m for the day and it seemed a lot. I had taken out my jacket and covered myself and the day pack with a poncho. This made the heat inside unbearable and I was sweating profusely. But the thought of another thunder storm made me climb very fast and continuously. We stopped for a quick breather in Nangga Thanti and continued up, up and up. The forests were thick and there were lot of streams and tiny waterfalls, but the idea of dipping was not appealing since the water was coooold. By the time we reached the suburbs of Ghorepani big droplets of rain was falling. We had to climb another infernal flight of steps to reach downtown Ghorepani and we checked-in into the Hungry Eye Guest House and Restaurant. The threat of rain had made me climb faster even than Narayan and it was worthwhile since we narrowly missed a heavy downpour. I was pooped and I suspected that I had pulled something in my left knee. But we were warm next to a fire, indoors and I postponed my worries for the next day. The only other guest in the guest house was a German girl who had just finished her medical college and was in Kathmandu for a few months. Her guide and porter was a good friend of Mahesh and so they happily chatted away. The guest house had fantastic views of the mountains which we could see when the clouds occasionally cleared up. There was fresh snow piled up on the high peaks and the lower slopes were glittering with hail. We were glad that we were indoors.

Ghorepani is actually a diversion from the main ABC trail. We had climbed up here to go to Poon Hill from where we could also get a view of Dhaulagiri. The idea was to see the first sun rays on Dhaulagiri and Annapurna range. People who know me well would understand how much I detest sunrises. I hate getting up early in the morning, but the enthusiasm around me was infectious and in any case I was getting up around 4:30 so I decided I would join them on the climb to Poon Hill for the sunrise views. I had a light dinner of noodle soup and went to bed after a hot shower.

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part II

May 2nd 2011 – Pokhara to Tikhedunga

Summary – Altitude gain 500m. A short downhill from Naya Pul to Birethanti. A gradual uphill climb from Birethanti to Tikhedunga.

We had an early breakfast in Lake View Resort and packed our bags and headed out for our trek. We had a 1.5 hours car journey to Naya Pul. It was a Maruti 800 and it handled 6 of us admirably with our bags too in the hilly slopes near Pokhara. We reached Naya Pul not without incidents. Narayan noticed that his bag was missing. It seemed like his bag had dropped off during the car journey somewhere on the road unnoticed. Poor guy not only did he loose all his clothes but also his harmonica and his certificates. We were told by Mahesh that Narayan plays the harmonica very well and we would be missing his performances during the trek. Each of us donated some of our clothes to him so that he was adequately clothed. He took all this in his stride. Though he was definitely feeling bad about his bag, he continued to maintain his cheery countenance.

At Naya Pul, Narayan tied both Zubin's and my sacks together and carried them in typical Sherpa style using his forehead. This seems to be the preferred mode of carrying weights. They must have enormous strength in the their neck muscles. The sacks together must have weighed around 30 kilos and I couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

The path from Naya Pul (1070m) follows the Modi Khola (river). Modi Khola was going to be our companion for most of the trek be we left it after 30 minutes of walk after crossing over a bridge in Birethanti (1025m). We took a left towards Ghorepani from Birethanti. The path was a broad road and we could see construction equipment (heavy earth movers) for widening the road. The climb was gradual at this point and we walked comfortably. The road follows the Bhurungdi Khola river which joins Modi Khola at Birethanti. I was getting used to walking with my day pack. It is an old North Face pack, actually Madhavi's which I have used since Sahyadri days. It is the most comfortable of the small packs I have and hence I chose it for this long trip. I had 2 litres of water, some emergency medicines, flash light, rain poncho, a sweater, a jacket, gloves and an umbrella in my day pack to handle all eventualities.

We passed several villages and had our lunch at Hille (1460m). The menu card indicated that it was prescribed by Annapurna Area Conservation Project (ACAP). ACAP coordinates all the 'tea houses' in the Annapurna area. The tea houses provide simple lodging, a bed with a clean sheet and not-so clean blanket. I used my sleeping bag instead of the blanket. ACAP seems to be doing a good job except for the fact that ALL the tea houses in the entire area have almost the same menu. It felt like stepping into a McDonalds every time for food and this got tiresome after the third meal.

Almost within 30 minutes after lunch we reached our final destination for today, Tikhedungha (1520m). We passed the downtown area and checked ourselves in into Laxmi Guest House. I had a hot shower (yes, that is possible for 100 Nepali Rupees) and started writing my diary in the dining area sitting next to the Bhurungdi Khola. Narayan sat in front of me and was busy keeping notes and accounts and reading. Narayan is fully conversant in English and he can read and write fluently too. I could see a Verditer Flycatcher a few feet away and a Great Barbet screeching.

Thunder clouds rolled in and it started to hail. There were huge hail stones and it hailed for almost 45 minutes. I again started to worry about the weather. The Annapurna area is notorious for its weather due to the dramatic altitude differences. The South Face of Annapurna frequently has bad weather, lot of precipitation and avalanches. Our destination, ABC is in the south side and hence my apprehension...

Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Part I

I had always wanted to do a long trek in the Himalayas ever since my taste for trekking got developed in the Sahyadris. My first trek there must have been in 1991 when I went for a trek to Bhimashankar during the monsoon with some of my PUCSD friends. It has been 20 years since and recent events gave me a reality check that I am not growing any younger and so I contacted Odati Adventures and joined their trip to Annapurna Base Camp.

April 30^th 2011 – Bangalore to Kathmandu

The Jet Airways flight to Delhi was a surprise. As always I can never figure out if I am flying Jet Airways or Jet Lite. If I eat in the airport I go on a Jet Airways flight and I get food in the flight too or if I don't eat in the airport I have to buy the horrible in-flight food in Jet Lite. Sigh. This flight turned out to be Jet Airways and strangely they had allowed me to web check-in in the business class section. So I actually traveled business class to New Delhi. Since I did not eat in the fabulous New Delhi Terminal 3, the flight to Kathmandu turned out to be Jet Lite, of course. I had been informed that I should take the left window seat on this flight so that I would get my first glimpse of the greater Himalaya. As it turned out the day was cloudy and I could only see the peaks peeking out above the clouds. Still an awesome sight. We had an overnight halt in Kathmandu in Hotel Marsyandi Mandala in Kathmandu, near Thamel. It was an expensive and forgettable place. The rooms were not good, the bathrooms were horrible and generally the service was poor. This applies to Kathmandu in general. It is avoidable. It is dirty, polluted and the services lethargic. This is surprising considering that it is invaded by tourists.

In Kathmandu we got the initial briefing about our trip. Jayesh from Odati was joining us, Mahesh from Culture Treks from Nepal was going to be our guide and I had just one more group companion Zubin Fatakia from Mumbai. I was happy that our group was small and I did not have to deal with a lot of people. I was expecting these 15 days to be quiet and contemplative.

May 1^st 2011 – Kathmandu to Pokhara

We took an early morning bus to Pokhara from Thamel. This was a tourist bus and the seats were comfortable. It was a 4.5 hours ride to Pokhara in terrible roads. There were big traffic jams caused due to vehicles parked arbitrarily in narrow two-lane roads. Nepal reminds me of India 20 years back. Those who keep whining about how things are going bad in India should shift to Nepal. The bus route follows the Trishuli river. There are already pre-monsoon showers and the river is picking up lot of silt and is brown in colour. The building material of the gangetic plains is getting transported from here. We saw some folks in rafts and feel jealous and I think, may be we should be doing rafting too in this trip.

In Pokhara we checked-in into the Lake View Resort and we meet a very scrawny man who was very deferential to us and who picked up our bags. Later we found out that this was Narayan who was going to be our porter for the trip. Pokhara is a stark contrast to Kathmandu. The lake side is very pleasant and Lake View Resort is a good place to hang out. It started raining in the afternoon and this was a constant feature through our entire trip.

We visited the Mountaineering Museum in Pokhara and got full gyan about mountaineering and geology of the Himalayas. The museum is worth a visit. The plaster-of-paris relief maps were interesting. I could see that our trail to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) goes through some narrow gorges in the last 2 days and there was avalanche danger. I was thrilled by that prospect.

There have been expeditions to collect the junk that has accumulated in the mountains and the museum has a display of some of the junk collected. It is sad that in our pursuit for adventure we care so little about these pristine places. Hopefully, modern expeditions are more sensitive and collect their garbage and get it back....

When we came out of the museum the rain had stopped and the skies cleared. We could see the entire Annapurna range and Dhaulagiri range towering in the north. It was a crazy sight. Pokhara is probably lower than Bangalore but we can see the 8000m mountains rising very quickly within few kilometers from Pokhara. The mountains seem to loom way up in the sky and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. Pokhara is a very good tourist destination.

Our actual trek starts the next day and we have any early night. I am a bit apprehensive about the weather. It was rainy and stormy....

Maximum City

The taxi and auto drivers in Mumbai have always amazed me. Unlike other cities they are extremely professional. You can get an auto or taxi anytime without any fuss (except, of course, at the railways station and airports where they act up). I had come late from TISS, as late as 1 at night, and all I had to do was tell the taxi driver where I needed to be dropped off. Being conditioned by Bangalore and Chennai I am always taken by surprise and still I don't accept it and I am expecting an unreasonable demand at the drop off point. But the driver just checks his rate card (for night rates) and the amount is paid.
The last couple of days I have had my experience further heightened. Kidwai Nagar, where I stay with my mom-in-law has a lot of taxies. This week two times I did not have change for 100 Rs. So, the first time I told the driver that I will pay him hundred and collect the change later. He was puzzled but accepted. The next day morning I collected the change from him. Today the same thing happened and instead the driver took my phone number. Later this evening he called my phone and asked me to come down and collect the change! I had not even bothered to remember his car number or anything. This is the maximum city where you can still trust the taxi wallas!

Such a Long Journey

It has been almost ten days since I returned from my trip to Ladakh and I have still not posted anything about my travel. Since several of my fans have expressed they could not wait any longer I am forced to write in short bursts whenever I find time. (Some may wonder what is it that keeps me that busy, but we would not get into that now)

We left Bangalore on June 13^th 2200 hours and reached Alchi (a monastery 60 kms to the west of Leh on the Srinagar-Leh highway) on June 19^th 15 hours. It was a 137-hour journey, I am sure Armstrong’s journey to the moon was much shorter but I am equally sure that the scenery on the way must have been no more spectacular.

June 13^th – 2200 Boarded Sampark Kranthi express leaving Bangalore from the Yeshwantpur station, a long commute by auto-rickshaw

June 14^th – The train journey was to be utilized studiously by pouring over philosophy, sociology and psychology of education. Instead concentrated on the food that was packed for the journey, which spoilt by the afternoon. So, fretted and worried about the next meal after each meal. As Douglas Adams aptly put it, the best way to deal with an uncomfortable situation is to frown a lot and go to sleep. So did a lot of both.

June 15^th – Reached Dalli in the morning. Had a bath and ate lunch at Arati’s (my traveling partner) sister’s place. I packed and unpacked my backpack so many times that we barely made it to the New Delhi station in time to catch Shalimar Express (4645). We were running with our heavy backpacks on the pedestrian over bridge and realized that the staircase to our platform was closed. We got off at the next one and got down on the tracks with all its muck and clambered up again to reach the train (yikes). Don’t get enamored by its name, Shalimar is a cattle-cart. It was one hell of a journey in that train packed like sardines with 8 other broad-shouldered jawans all heading to the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir. All 10 of us in our compartment were either from Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, so I read Junior Vikatan on the way from Delhi to Jammu. It was sad to see so many young lives (all were in their early 20s) wasted in a totally unnecessary ‘conflict’. May be if both our countries should have conscription and when every family sends it young ones to the front sense and hence peace would prevail.

June 16^th – Reached Jammu bright and early at 1000 hours. The scheduled arrival was 0530 but no one other than us was surprised a bit. We missed the buses to Srinagar and so had to share a Sumo with 5 others to Srinagar. 4 of them were again army folks and the driver, Salim, was a spirited Kashmiri. The faujis were tense about the late start and wanted to reach the valley before dark. Salim could sense their unease and did everything possible to slow the journey. Thanks to him we had a fantastic rajma-chawal lunch in a relaxed pace. The road trip was great with nice views and was littered with vehicles that had missed the road altogether and plunged into the gorges and ravines. We got furthered delayed when the road was closed briefly to pick up one such wrecked car.

A wrecked car extricated and as always it is a good tamasha for everyone

By the time we reached Srinagar it was 2100 hours. We were politely informed in the bus station that 17^th being a Sunday there were no buses to Leh since they did blasting on the highway. Sounded as if India and Pakistan armies worked only on Sunday and did some uninterested shelling of each other’s territories on that day. My travel partner was slowly getting to know me better, especially my planning capabilities. So we had a day to chill-out in Srinagar.

June 17^th – A houseboat sounded appropriate for the night stay but it was just a shack. The only nice part was the morning spent in the verandah viewing the Dal (pronounced as dull) Lake and the vendors in their shikaras peddling their wares. I surprised myself and bought jewelry from one of them.

Buying jewelry on the houseboat verandah

We had enough of the boat when I heard obnoxious splashes when the bathroom was getting used. The sewage goes right into the lake from all the houseboats. So we decided that we would move to a guesthouse and at least the sewage is then centralized and if we are of an optimistic bent of mind we can even think that it would be treated before getting released in the Jhelum. The owner of the houseboat had sent his daughter in shikara to paddle us out and it was a very dreamy Kashmiri sequence, a pretty Kashmiri girl paddling the boat with me sitting on it. She was chitchatting in a friendly manner but the dream was rudely brought to an end when she asked “uncle, aap kahan se aaye ho”? It must have been my white stubble, so I promptly shaved that night.

Definitely not dull in any way

We did the usual rounds of Srinagar, the Mughal gardens, Hazratbal mosque and Jamia Masjid. The Jamia Masjid is a must see. Unusual for a mosque, it is constructed of wood with full cedar trees acting as columns.

Jamia Masjid, Srinagar - A differently shaped mosque with cedar columns

We finished the day with a fantastic Kashmiri dinner at Adhoos. There was a korma made out of lotus stems that was very unique and very tasty. Though there were a crazy amount of army men all over, Srinagar seemed reasonable safe. The town was very active though the touts are aggressive and annoying. We booked tickets on a Semi-luxury bus to Leh and settled into a guesthouse overlooking Jhelum for the night.

A Kashmiri family at the mosque, when shown the picture she said "behathareen". Urdu is so much more poetic than Hindi, "accha" sounds so flat.

The next post would be on our bus journey from Srinagar to Leh. Till then...

Pinch Me!

It has been a while since I have been in Bangalore for a reasonable duration. It was Chennai during Dec-Jan. A nice trip to Vishakapatnam (I would highly recommend that town, go forth and move there and make it another Bangalore, please...), Orissa and then longish trips to Lucknow, Kanpur and a brief but nice stop in Goa on the way back.

Something has changed in Bangalore. It seems to be getting better. Am in a dream? Or is it that as further time has elapsed since my regular agony of commuting through Hosur road to Electronic City I seem to be in a better mood in general to deal with Bangalore traffic?

Day before I had to drop someone to the railway station at 8 in the evening. Peak hour. But it took only 35 minutes for the 12 kms! Amazing isn't it? H.D.Kumaraswamy is making all the right noises of hauling up the recalcitrant bureaucracy, is he really serious about it? Is it showing effect?... I am still not able to believe this...

Well it is not an isolated case. For all the hype about the turn around of the Indian Railways, it does seem really true. I have been using the railways heavily in the recent past. I had shuddered to think of traveling in sleeper class to the badlands of UP. But it was indeed not so unpleasant. Trains run reasonably on time (The Farakkah Express was only 4 hours late, it was usually expected to be around 12 hours, so massive progress there). The food from the pantry car is actually hygienic and tastes reasonable. I did not fall sick after having more than 10 railway meals in a span of a week. I was stunned when the fellow from the pantry car came to me with a feedback form! The stations are clean. What is going on?

Are we seeing a new vigour in public administration or am I just day dreaming?