Keep Running

'16th December 2007’ marks an important fete in my life history - this line describes the great feeling of completing the BSNL - Bangalore International Marathon, non-stop in 130mins. Non-stop completion was the target; the legs tearing apart in pain did not hinder my will power. The drive behind this fete was just 2 words and they were - ‘Keep Running’!

It was a Sunday and I got up at 5AM. This could happen to me on a Sunday, only if some real action had to follow. It was the BSNL – Bangalore International Marathon that was organised at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. After registration, I met up with the only pal whom I knew was running for the half marathon. The run had to start at 6.15AM; but started only at 6.40AM. I started with my pal, but my pace left him behind in just a few minutes.

The first 10 kilometres were really cool and I ran without difficulties. As I crossed the midway, a race official marked my shirt with ink. The next few kilometres were a little tough; but I could push myself with few gulps of water along the way. I also cheered myself by cheering others; it was indeed fun!

As I approached the 14th kilometre I felt my legs were giving away. I then started to tell myself that I can do it and it kept me going for next couple of kilometres. The last 4 kilometres were the toughest and I could really feel the joints tearing apart in pain and I started to shout to myself ‘Keep Running, Keep Running’. Those words really were the drive for the last few kilometres and I did not stop. Why walk when I can run! Lack of water stations along the last 3-4 kilometres only fuelled my will power.

As I entered the stadium, I started to speed up a little in enthusiasm, only to realize that I had to take another lap inside the stadium. The last lap was indeed the most difficult and also the happiest moment of the entire run. I touched down approximately in 130mins and I felt perfect. I ran with one message in my mind to all the terrorism happening in the world; ‘Please stop it’!

Wanna Fetcha Cuppa Kapi?

Coffee! Someone who has watched the Hindi movie “Pyaar Ke Side Effects”, would guess that the actual topic is SEX; but thats not the case here! I will now pen down my love for coffee as I sip at a cup of it . . .

My childhood mornings would start with someone waking me up with a cup of coffee. Then I would just gobble and start sipping. The taste of it would actually kick start my day. During college days, Coffee Day used to be one hell of a hang-out. We would enjoy Cappuccino watching some cuties around. I also remember the days when my college buddies used call me up and talk about doing something the same night; I used to say lets do COFFEE [;D] They would say “Hey huchcha, balls to you!” and end up going to “Tavern Inn” for beer and then to the “Java City” for coffee. Oh yes, of course “Empire’s Grilled Chicken” would be the stomach filler. Those days still linger and I would cherish them forever. These days, coffee is the catalyst at work and people get hold of a cup; be it happy times or sad; be it project delay or appreciation. Coffee with snookers, coffee with chat, and coffee with anything in Namma Bengalooru’s weather is a sheer pleasure!

Even to this day, my love for coffee has never reduced, but I love it more and more. Coffee has been one of my best friends from a long time. Probably coffee is my substitute for alcohol or cigarettes. People say that they consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes when they are happy, sad or stressed. Coffee has done the same to me; be it success or be it fiasco, it’s been there for just 10 bucks or even less. So, “Wanna Fetcha Cuppa Coffee”?

Love Affair With The Northern Winter Chill

It's always fun to be part of a pal's wedding and if it requires more than 2000km of drift, its truly a unique experience! It took me less than a week to confirm my presence at Deepak's marriage, after he confirmed his wedding dates. It took about one sleepless night to decide the trip itinerary and later the train tickets were booked with ease; thanks to IRCTC. Ramakanth and Jyothi were my travel mates this time; unfortunately Rajeesh had to back out at the end, for his US of A travel. He did shell out a good bag of money on all the bookings. It was then the start of my love affair with the northern winter chill!

Jyothi had taken an earlier AirDeccan flight to reach Delhi before us. Ramakanth and I had a very bad experience, with the SpiceJet flight getting delayed by more than 3 hours; only to land at Delhi airport at 22.40hrs. It was then a total rush to catch the train scheduled to depart at 22.50hrs. We reached the Delhi railway station by around 23.20hrs. After a couple of platform juggles, we were finally at the correct platform only to realize that the train had not yet arrived. The departure finally happened at 01.50hrs. The train journey was memorable with the UP-style Hindi classes delivered by an elderly Lucknow resident. It was then sweetdreams for Ramakanth and me; but not Jyothi as she wasn't comfortable sleeping in trains.

Train arrived at Moradabad at 08:00hrs next morning and we were received by Deepak's cousin. After freshening up and breakfast, we hit the streets of Moradabad, shooting pictures of shops and people (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thyagaraj/). The actual marriage masti started with the evening Baraat, where we started dancing to glory, all along till the end of the wedding reception. The couple looked gorgeous and they spent time smiling to other's happiness and to the pain of their cheeks. Marriage was sure beautiful and eventful. It was around 03.00hrs the next day, when the couple finally tied the knot and we had to depart for our next train. Not to our surprise, the train was delayed again; but this time just by an hour.

The best planned city of India, Chandigarh welcomed us in the morning. We only spent about an hour in Chandigarh, only to deliver a package to Jyothi’s Infy colleague which was sent by his client, and to get the taxi for Shimla (costing us Rs.2500/- for an Indica). The journey to Shimla was about 121km pleasant drive, with us sleeping on and off; not to forget a good desi meal on the way in a daaba. Our immediate attention as we reached Shimla was the lovely sunset; best viewed from the Mall Road. The vehicle access to Mall Road is completely restricted and it is only open for pedestrians. The uphill is made ease with an elevator plying for Rs.7/- per head. We then went in search of the Academy of Audits and Accounts, where my friend, Deepna had booked the guest house. Thanks to her invitation, the stay turned out to be an excellent experience at the Yarrows. The dinner at the Yarrows was yummy and the night was really cold; thanks to the Shimla winter.

We were up and about by 09:00hrs for the breakfast. The next stop was Shimla railway station. We took a small wonderful trip downhill for about 40 minutes in the Himalayan Queen train. The taxi picked us up from that station and we drove to Sankat Mochan, a peaceful temple of Lord Shiva. Kufri was our next uphill drive, which was beyond Shimla. Kufri offers hourse rides for site seeing and costs about Rs.250/-. We decided against it as we were short of time and directly headed to the Zoo which housed a Snow Leopard. It was a great experience to watch the elegant beast walk around. After the brief visit of Kufri we got back to Shimla’s Mall Road. The Mall Road has structures that typically resemble European structures and it looks gorgeous. I spent most of the time of Mall Road shooting pictures and enjoying each moment in the cold. Back at the Yarrows; we tucked our bags on our way back to Chandigarh by evening. On the way back, we stopped over at the Mc Donald’s for quick bites to save time. It was then a train from Chandigarh to Ambala Cant and then another to Amritsar. Surprisingly all these trains were on time!

Amritsar too welcomed us with chilling weather. Couple of cycle-rickshaws assisted us in finding a decent economical guest house. We then took a walking tour along Amritsar streets to reach Jallianwallah Bagh. This place reminds of the terrible deaths caused at the hands of a British commander, which was otherwise a peaceful freedom protest. As we walked out of Jallianwallah Bagh, our stomachs reminded us of lunch and we had to cater to its need. The Golden Temple was the next visit and I was awestruck by its beauty. People’s wonderful faith, their belief, their holy dip in the lake, long wait in the queues and the copper carvings all along the main temple, were remarkable and unforgettable. Our last plan was to visit Wagah Border which is about 27km from Amritsar. Taxis to Wagah Border can be booked from outside the temple, but be cautious and do not pay any cash in advance before you actually board the taxi. We decided to take an auto-rickshaw as we could not find a taxi and we were getting delayed. A historical ceremony starts at 17.15hrs everyday at the Wagah Border; it’s a delight to be part of the wonderful ceremony. The rigorous marching of the soldiers look elegant; the patriotic slogans shouted, add to the excitement. It was packed with loads of people on both sides of the border and its truly an experience to be cherished forever.

The train from Amritsar to Delhi was again on time and I was the first one to depart from Delhi to Bangalore early morning. Jyothi had an evening flight and Ramakanth had another wedding to catch up at Meerut.

This 4 day Moradabad-Shimla-Amritsar trip was a great hit. I thoroughly enjoyed shooting with my new Nikon D80 all along and the experiments with it were great. With every place providing a unique experience, I definitely fell in love with this winter.

Gone Are The Days

Today I read an article on Mobile Television, which South Korea and Japan have been quick to embrace; and is slowing capturing certain other parts of the world including India. Times have changed which when said is now a cliché and everyone is aware of it. But I would still like to tell that I have thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful journey, and would love to pen down couple of thoughts/experiences.

I remember the days when there was a 'colour' television in our house and that was considered great. Above all that was the one television for a small community around our house. A lot of people would come to our house at 9 AM on Sundays, if I remember correctly, to watch Ramayana and Mahabharata on DD National. The other famous channel was DD Metro. The present world has very well camouflaged to the magnificent inventions and now it's all about LCD's and Plasma; Dish TV and Tata Sky - 'isko dala tho life jingalala'!

The mobile phone was one cutting edge invention and having it was an expensive affair. This was one of the funny incidents - some of our school friends (when we were in class 10) had gone to watch a movie at Symphony or Galaxy (which now does not even exist). We did not get tickets and it rained; but all these did not stop us from having fun. One friend had a toy mobile phone and we walked the entire stretch of M.G.Road talking on that phone giving an impression to all passers-by. It was too hilarious to watch people getting astonished. Now we can call the plumber or milkman on his/her mobile phone for their service and this is now common.

Those days a person attending a computer course was considered valuable and having a computer at home meant ‘lot of money’. Speed Post or Telegrams were the best ways to reach faster to the people in neighbouring town. Now one can use wireless networks and super sleek laptops or even mobile phones/PDAs with GPRS/WAP, to send emails to the other side of the world, sitting in a cafe or bus. Also the days of having computers with 5GB hard drives are forgotten and people's pockets have 150GB mobile hard drives.

Thanks to those intellectuals and their marvellous inventions; without which I would have been writing letters to all my buddies in the US on sheets of paper (but sometimes, I do miss the classical written letters). The journey has just started and I wonder what more can be simplified in life!

Intimate With The Other Voices

It was an intimately set living room, in the attic kind of a place of Ranga Shankara. The act meant to have no start and no end; but to leave an everlasting impression for the "suppose to be small 25 people strong" audience. Not a word to be spoken, the only option was to watch in utter silence. The presenter had no experience of what she was doing and "it was flawless" would be an under-statement. It was called "Other Voices".

The invented concept of "Other Voices" kicked off at Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival '07, which concluded last week. It was part of the ancillary performances. Getting tickets was a struggle, as it was only to a limited audience and could only manage to get the tickets for the last-but-one performance on Friday. The audience were ushered to the top floor, a small space outside the RS office. The space was well decorated to give a sense of the living room in "No. 1 Madhav Baug" of Mumbai.

Arundati Nag presents the idea to the audience and welcomes Revathi Menon onto the spotlight. Being her first theatrical performance; but backed up by an amazing experience of films, she delivers it flawlessly. Her performance, being real close-up to the audience, creates an intimate environment. It's well equiped with lovely script, direction, lights and sound. The intensions of "Other Voices" were easily achieved as the performance was intense and strong, and left an everlasting impression. Hats off to the "Other Voices" concept; sure a winner; and to be performed anywhere, anytime soon!

Deserves To Be Preserved

Thoughts sparked reading few articles about the so called 150 years old dream of Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project. Is it really of national economic interest or is it a collateral damage to the national heritage? No doubt the project is cent percent for the national economy; but the current alignment of dredging through Ram Sethu will jinx the Indian heritage.

India has a peninsular coast with trades juggling between the western countries, the west coast and the east coast. The presence of Ram Sethu with its shallow waters forces the ships to circumnavigate Sri Lanka, which of course is a longer sailing. The Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project's current alignment is to dredge a two way canal across the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka. This will cut short an additional distance of 254-424 nautical miles and 21-36 hours of sailing time. This will directly benefit the shipping industry; the Indian exports will get competitive globally and a few more will assist the booming Indian economy.

If there’s such an extent of economic benefit, why are the protests from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the VHP, the BJP and the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha?

Ram Sethu, also known as Adam's bridge, is a 48 km chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near north-western Sri Lanka, and Rameshwaram, off the south-eastern coast of India. Sea is very shallow, being only 3ft to 30 ft deep in places. Ram Sethu, as indicated in Sanskrit epic Ramayana, was the bridge built, and used by Rama and his allies to rescue Sita from Ravana; hence of great importance to Hindu heritage. Adam's bridge is of Islamic importance, as indicated by a legend; Adam used this bridge to reach Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka, where he stood repentant on one foot for 1000 years.

Ram Sethu defines not just the Indian historical importance; but provides a shield to southern Kerala against Tsunami. Local fishermen also say that the present canal would destroy marine life and corals. This will kill the shell trades which has a turnover of Rs 150 crores per annum. Invaluable thorium deposits would be affected which is important for Indian nuclear projects.

Then what’s the gamble? There’s a race to control the oil transit route; Indian competitors being China. With “String of Pearls”, being the line of strategic base points from Straights of Persian Gulf via the Indian Ocean to South China Sea, China has taken the lead. Realizing this, the political spear heads in Delhi have been trying the best in their counter attack; the most important being the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project as Sri Lanka is now the trump card in the game. And of course the US of A has to be there in the game when it is OIL as China's rising maritime power is encountering American maritime power along the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) that connect China to vital energy resources in the Middle East and Africa. The US grand plan for 1000 ships naval flotilla and the US Navy operational directive refusing to accept the sea between India and Sri Lanka as 'historic' is pushing the UPA to get the project done. On the other side, Tamil Nadu DMK government and their Non-Brahmin attitude is ignoring the beliefs of millions on Ramayana. Added to this, Tuticorin Port Trust has sent a report to the UPA stating that the canal can be dredged through Ram Sethu. Other experts also doubt the existence of Rama and whether humans were involved in producing any of the patterns. As result the current canal alignment seems to be the decision for the secular government.

Then what could be the solution than jeopardizing millions’ belief and heritage? A re-alignment of the canal which is surely available is the solution. This will safeguard the heritage and maintain national security without touching Ram Sethu. It will also ensure the economic growth by having a different alignment. Nobody is opposing the Sethusamudram project, but only the current alignment. Let’s stand together in support of the project; but a different alignment which will preserve Ram Sethu - राम सेतु!

Charms of Pallava Architecture

A 50 km smooth ride from Chennai on the ECR highway leads to Mahabalipuram, also called Mamalapuram. Home to beautiful Pallava architecture; Mahabalipuram has lovely marble and stone structures diligently maintained by the archaeological authorities.

The monolithic temples called Five Rathas are termed as Pancha Pandava Rathas though they have nothing to do with Mahabharata. The fact that each temple is carved out of single rock is fascinating enough for a person to wander around and be lost in the beautiful structures.

Strange Krishna’s Butterball and the cave temples are the other lovely structures around the vicinity of lighthouse. These structures being sporadic over a large area demands energy and sweat. A bottle of water is definitely helpful.

The fame of Mahabalipuram is the Seashore temple with two gopuras dedicated to Lord Shiva. The carvings are wonderful and the stones are kind of reddish in colour. Don’t miss the strange Shiva Linga in one of the gopuras. It is worthwhile to sit in the shades watching the gopuras listening to the music of waves. Peace of mind is surely delivered.

Note: Pictures courtesy Sony Ericsson W610i mobile device. This place is sure a boon for SLR.

All She Wanted Was To Come Home

Saturday @ work! What more can be fun? Well I'm not a fan of it; but a victim! I was hoping a different scene on Sunday and the e-newsletter from Ranga Shankara that was lying in my mail box did the trick. I was at Ranga Shankara to watch "To the Death of My Own Family” at 3.30 PM. The name of the play and its theme had already made an impression and I was hoping for a good performance and playwright. Awaken Theatre, New York & Q Theatre Productions had put up this 60 minutes play for the first time outside the US; with a couple of earlier shows in Chennai.

It is a single woman act and starts with a beautiful lady named Nadeema, being pushed into the interrogation cell. She is a “suspect”, deported at an US airport. Why? Could she be a potential threat, travelling in from Afghanistan? No, she is indeed a naturalized American citizen.


Nadeema starts answering and crying out to the voices coming in from all directions in the cell. What the hell was she doing in Afghanistan? Except for her father, the entire family had moved to America and settled away from the war-prone country. Her father is with the Mujahideen; fighting the Soviet initially and later the Taliban. There comes a time when her mother insists on getting her husband back, and the entire family goes along. There in Afghanistan, Nadeema witnesses a sequence of tragic events where the entire family, i.e., her father, mother, brother and her beautiful sister get slaughtered at the hands of Taliban. She is left behind alive and raped. After this entire trauma, “all she wanted was to come home”.

Farah Bala portrays the role of Nadeema with near perfection. The writer, David L Meth was smart in answering some of the questions from the audience in the post-play Q&A session. When I spoke to the director Peter Ratray, he said Farah is “special”. He was also polite in answering couple of my questions and he stressed the fact that he was profound and moved by the lovely audience. On the other side, the audience were mesmerized by Farah’s performance; at least I surely was. I love you, Farah!

Valleys of Ladakh

It was April when Shashi and I decided to explore Ladakh. Jyothi joined in while we were booking the flight tickets; later Nikhil. Jyothi ended up in Germany and Shashi had to start off to US. So it was Nikhil and me on the flight on 30th June early morning to Delhi.

After reaching Delhi, we left the luggage behind at airport's cloak room facility. With the Delhi map that I got hold at the airport, we decided to visit Qutb Minar, Lotus temple and Aksharadhama in the order of our plan to visit. It was 10 AM in the morning and the temperature was already high. We walked a little away from the airport thinking we could get a bus; but had to take an auto-rickshaw as the buses were jam packed. The entrance fee for Qutb Minar was Rs. 10 and the place was well maintained as it's one the world's heritage sites with it's Minar standing tall since the 12th century. Bus #534 then took us to Lotus temple from there. No entry fee to this place. After Lotus temple, it was lunch at Domino's. It was freaking hot and we decided to take a quick tour around Cannaught Place. We then took the metro to Indraprastha on our way to Aksharadhama. This temple was built on a huge site and has beautiful carvings. There was a musical fountain show at 8PM with an entry fee of Rs. 20 and this happens every evening. The show was well made and a real good entertainer. We walked out of the temple which was then highlighted with stunning lights. After a small struggle to get back to airport, we finished the dinner at Balaji restaurant and got the luggage back. We settled outside the airport till they allowed us inside the airport.

The funny incident on the Airdeccan flight to Leh was that they did not allocate a seat after checking-in but had to run to get a window seat after boarding the flight. The landing at Leh Airport was really cool and I did applaud the pilots for their lovely landing. The only means of transport out of airport were taxis. We decided to go to Shanti guest house which was mentioned in the lonely planet and the taxi charged us Rs. 150. On reaching Shanti guest house, we were informed that a room would be available only at 10 AM. So we settled for breakfast in their dining hall which was furnished in a lovely Ladakhi style. They charged Rs. 350 for a room with attached bathroom and Rs. 200 for a room without one. After getting the room, we slept almost till evening.

Our first visit in Leh was the tough uphill to Shanti Stupa; panting hard for oxygen we did take longer to reach the top. But the views from Shanti Stupa were amazing. Note that it is not advisable to take tough walks on the day of arrival; but we did. Some of the problems that we faced during our first few days in Ladakh, especially at high altitudes were breathless-ness, head aches and skin drying out in cold. Please take precautionery measures to avoid Acute Mountain Sickeness; this could be disastrous sometimes. Drink loads of water. We then took a walk down to Leh Market area. We had our dinner at Norlok Restaraunt; they serve really good momos. Couple of other tasks that we finished the same evening were booking the motorbikes for the next day's road trip to Kargil, buying Ladakh map and ofcourse getting local advice on to-do's.

It was a lovely 2nd July morning when we got hold of our motorbikes; I got myself an Enfield Thunderbird and Nikhil got a Pulsar for Rs. 600 and Rs. 450 per day respectively. We then got our permits from Leh Deputy Commissioner Office. Non-Indians need to get the permits via agents and cannot directly. The office charges the Indians Rs.20 per day per person for visiting Nubra Valley (Kardung La, Panamic), Pangong Lake (Mirsimek La) and Tso Moriri Lake (Hanle). Permits were also required for Dah-Hanu; but not charged. After getting permits, we loaded our luggages at the guest house we were off on our 4 day road trip to Kargil. We got our fuel tanks filled at Leh and also took additional fuel filled cans as the fuel stations were not that easy to find. We stopped at Nimmu for Lunch. We also stopped at lot of places to relish the beauty of nature and took shots at the beautiful views. We took a detour and visited Alchi Gonpa, the only known gonpa in Ladakh on flat ground. Our overnight stay was at Lamayuru, also called the Moonland View. We were not lucky to get a room at the Niranjan guest house which was physically adjacent to the Monestary. We did get a room at Moonlight Hotel who charged us Rs.500. This hotel had clean rooms with hot water facilities and a restaurant.

Morning views at Lamayuru were great. We finished our breakfast and then we were at the Monestary. The Monestary was the oldest known gonpa dating back to 10th century. The monestary has exactly 100 'mani's (prayer wheels) and 1 huge 'mani' in a chorten. They have prayers every morning at 8AM. There were a couple of 'mandir's with old, partly ruined paintings. Look out for a small cave in one mandir which was used by Monk Norupa for his meditation. It was then time for us to depart from Lamayuru; one of the places I will surely remember for its peaceful nature. Its advisable to get food packed from Lamayuru as there were no places for food for long distance. The route towards Kargil gets rougher with land slides and ruined roads. Fotula top was the highest point on Leh-Srinagar road at 13479ft. The approach to Wakha Valley gets greener. The kids here start spreading out hands on approach; its not for a ride but for a snap. They enjoy it and I did too. Kargil starts with a bridge and the right leads to the main market area. The options for stay were very few and they charge real absurd prices. The best option was to get the J&K Tourist Bunglow; which was quite a struggle but we did. They charge a nominal Rs. 100 per night. The bookings are done at the J&K Tourist Reception Centre for the two bunglows. A good choice for food was Las Vegas Restaurant which was on the way to J&K Tourist Reception Centre.

4th of July was a little unlucky as our struggle in the morning to get permission to visit LOC went in vain. I got my bike's front mud gaurd welded as it had broken. We finally started our journey to Dah. We hit the Batalik road which was not in the published maps and realized that this road was least used except for the defence vehicles. The road was real good and it took us through a number of defense bunkers and camps till we finally reached the bridge near Dah. We spent some time talking to the defense guys and nibbled at the apricots offered by them. About 2kms from the bridge, a hoarding of Prasar Bharati was the point to start the walk up to Dah village. This was one of the last 3 Aryan villages; the others were Hanu and Darchik. There were a few guest houses maintained by the locals. We found the first guest house cool and stayed overnight paying Rs. 350. Dorjai, the person who owns the place gave us some history lessons about the village over a nice homley dinner. We also met an old Belgium couple at the guest house and the conversation with them was interesting too.

It was a peaceful morning as we took a walking tour of the village. This small village was home to a vast collection of fruits like apricots, apples, grapes, peaches and a lot more vegetation. Our journey back to Leh from Dah was faster with lesser stops and a stop for lunch at Nimmu. My bike's rear wheel started wobbling which made us to head directly to Shanti Guest House. After checking in and cleaning myself I was on my way to the bike guys for a repair. I then did a quick tour to Phyang Monestary; a visit is advisable as the Monestary is located over looking a beautiful village. On the way back, I did a detour to Spituk Monestary which was closed; but the views were great with the backdrop of Leh city.

5th July was relaxing as we got out of beds by noon for visiting Leh Palace and Tsemo Ngyamba Gonpa. The uphill to Leh Palace starts from a lane behind the masjid in the main market area. The entry fee to the palace was Rs. 5 for Indians and Rs. 100 for Non-Indians. The palace has nothing much of interest except a Kali's temple and lovely views from top. It was then the next uphill to Ngyamba Gonpa and believe me, it was tough to bring Nikhil's spirit up and about for this uphill. Don't forget to carry water. We spent some time relaxing at the gonpa and then a late lunch at Leh View Restaurant. We spent evening around main market, confirmed the need for a Thunderbird for the next day's road trip to Nubra Valley. This time we had decided to cut down expenses by hiring one motorbike and ofcourse me being the rider!

Thunderbird took off to Nubra Valley the next day which was fateful with the rear wheel going flat exactly 20kms from Leh. We Left behind the motorbike and got a ride back to Leh. Thanks to the guys from Dehradun who offered us the ride. The bike lendor got the motorbike fixed as we finished our lunch. It was the day when Indian Stock markets hit 15k mark. We started off really late, after 3PM and had problems crossing South Pullu. We reached Kardung La, the world's highest motorable road in the world and spent time shooting snaps and sipping the black tea offered at the cafeteria. We managed to reach Kardung La and checked in into the only traveller's choice of rest house paying the care taker about Rs. 150. Sewang, a local boy served us food made from his home and his hospitality was great.

The next day turned out to be the coldest day of our days in Ladakh, mostly raining. The rain held us back at Kardong for nearly 5 hours and we reached Hunder by evening. Looking for stay options we found Jamshed guest house to be a good choice for Rs. 350. After checking in, we were at the Sand dunes (the desert among snow caped mountains). The place was really cool and amazing. We spent a lot of time shooting snaps. The disappointment was that we could not find camels as it was late in the evening and also as it had rained. Back at the guest house we spent time speaking to some travellers at the dining table and finished our dinner.

On 9th of July, we started off to Penamic by 7.30 AM from Hunder and reached the place before 10 AM. Penamic can be skipped from the itenery as it was not of great beauty and the only reason for visit were the Hot Springs. Finishing our breakfast at a local restaurant, we were riding back to Leh with good pace. After reaching Kardung La, we met a lovely couple from Bangalore and accompanied the ride back and also a late lunch at Tibetian Kitchen. The restaurant serves good food, the best were the momos. After getting back to Shanti Guest House, Nikhil was off to sleep and I was off for another visit to Shanti Stupa; this time on the bike. As Nikhil wanted to relax the next day, I decided go rafting. I got the rafting booked at Maitreyi Adventurers. The man in charge there has spent a lot of time in Bangalore and spoke good Kannada to our surprise.

10th of July was the rafting day. I was up from bed early and while I waited for the taxi to arrive, finished my breakfast. Over the breakfast I met 3 girls from France who had plans of trekking for 20 days from Hemis to Manali. The taxi picked four others on the way and it took us about 2 hours to reach Chilling. The rafting started at Chilling and conculded at Nimmu which was a ride of about 25kms. It was a great adventure as there were good rapids and one rapid rated about 4. The low oxygen levels add to the difficulty levels. It took us about 3 hours to conclude the rafting. After finishing the lunch at their camp, we were back at Leh.

As we could not get our taxi arrangements to visit Pangong Lake on 11th of July, we decided to make arrangements for the next day. The way it works at Leh, is that the taxi is shared by a maximum of 5 people. So if more people are needed for sharing, an advertisement is published at the tour operator's notice boards. I did the same and it worked. We then decided to visit Shey Palace and took a mini bus from Leh bus station at 4 PM. The journey takes about 30mins and getting a bus back was not difficult. Shey palace supposedly has the largest statue of Buddha in Ladakh. Back at Leh, I took a non-stop uphill to Shanti Stupa. I wanted to do this before I left Leh and I succeeded that evening.

12th of July was the drive to Pangong Lake. We had an Isreali couple and a lady from Germany to accomapany us on the drive. We had some interesting cross cultural conversations and the journey took us about 5 hours to reach Pangong Lake. Remember to carry about 5 copies of the permit for Pangong Lake. The place was just mind blowing. Some interesting facts about the lake is that it is the largest at that height, one third of it is in India and rest in China. The driver allowed us only about one and a half hour at the Lake. This duration was really short for us to enjoy the amazing beauty of Pangong Lake.

13th of July was the last day; we had one final place for visit and it was Hemis Monestary. The mini bus starts at Leh bus station at 9.45AM and the journey takes about 90mins. The return bus from Hemis was at 12.30PM and this gave us less than 1 hour at Hemis. Hemis Monestary was the biggest known monestary in Ladakh and was worth visiting as it has very well maintained temples. After returning back it was some shopping at Leh.

Our flight out of Leh was early on 14th July. This time the seats were allocated at check-in and the flight landed at Delhi which had slight showers. We both left the luggage at the airport. I had about 3 hours before I could check-in for the next flight; so I decided to watch a movie at PVR Priya, the closest to airport. Nikhil had couple of more days before he could return and he was off to meet a friend in Delhi. At PVR Priya, it was only Harry Potter and I had no other choice but to watch the movie.

So my journey to the beautiful valleys of Ladakh ends here and it was an amazing experience. With the number of places it offers for visiting, the difference in each place and the lovely people, I did have a blast. With a lot more places left for visiting, I will surely be there again. It was also a great experience meeting people from every corner of the world and it was very interesting to know their views about India; and also about their place and culture. Thanks to LADAKH which catered a lot more than what I expected.

Pictures from my friend @ http://picasaweb.google.co.in/nikhil.bharathesh/BestOfDelhiAndTheLeh#