Ringing in the new year.

Its that time of the year again when the office is empty, people are busy planning parties, drawing up elaborate menus, planning to indulge in excesses and oh! listing out things for their resolutions.

There are two things which i will be doing differently this time. Not party or celebrate New Year and try and make a New Year Resolution. Better still stick to it! Both will be a first for me!

New Year somehow doesn't seem the same anymore. There isn't the excitement and enthusiasm to plan a party or be a part of the celebrating. Big Deal, its just another year, another day. What's the reason to party or celebrate? Before you think i am sounding depressed, let me just set the record straight :D I don't feel like New Year has to be ushered in loudly.I just feel like spending some quite time today.Maybe i am a little weird, maybe i have mellowed down or maybe i am plain lazy. :D

However, I am planning to have a New Year resolution this time.I was never a believer in this.But its more like a wish list! :D
Hey, this is as good a time as any to start something new or pick up from where you left off. There are two things on my resolutions list. The first one is to stay fit and lead a healthy lifestyle and the second is to start driving my car.The rest of the stuff i am pretty content with.

Here's to another year! Have a great 2009 folks!

Discovery!

On the recent road trip that i went on, I made an amazing discovery! Its the Lonely Planet book. It has all kinds of information one needs when traveling to the unknown.
Its got everything from to places to see, restaurant listings, hotels and lodges listing with the telephone numbers. It also has these little tips about the best time to visit a particular place, what to look out for, what to give a miss etc.
My next visit to a bookstore i am definitely picking up a copy.
Yay to The Lonely Planet!

Conversations with Dee

This post may not be of interest to you unless you love kiddie talk.
If you still dont heed my warning ,go ahead and get bored!

My niece Disha is visiting us for a couple of months and its soooo much fun being around her. She is 3 months shy of turning two!I was apprehensive meeting her at the airport as she has never seen me in person before. ( The one week visit when she was 5 months old doesnt count!) She knows me only through the computer and through photographs..Boy! Was i delighted when she instantly recognized me and flashed a big grin at me :)

Some interesting conversations with Disha :D

What's your name?
Deeeesha! (She's slowly losing the American accent now and manages to say Disha!)

Me : Bruum yen ayithu? (What happened to the balloon?)
Disha : Bruum phoos.....
Me : Yaake phoos? (Why?)
Disha : Disha koootho (Disha sat on it!)


What's Disha eating?
shheal , doya bowl (cereal in her Dora bowl)
or kaanbeyy (Cranberry)
or something unintelligible!

What did Ravana do to Jatayu?
cut cut cut! (Ravana clips off Jatayu's wings in one of the episodes of Ramayana)

What does Disha watch on TV?
Namanana and Mahahaha (Ramayana and Mahabharatha)

What does amma say to Disha?
Iknnoooo! ("I know!" Thats what my sis says in response to Disha's babbling!)

Who is America's president?
omama!

I am having a great time with her! :D

Celebrating one year of wedded bliss :)

This post is over due by a couple of days. We were out celebrating our one year wedding anniversary. We did what both of us like doing best, lazing around in a quiet place. We spent a day at a homestay in Wayanad. Taking long naps, followed by sumptuous Kerala food was the order of the day. :) The walk amidst coffee plantations was sheer bliss. The only sounds we could hear were the birds chirping and the bees buzzing around. It was the perfect holiday.

Thanks so much sweetheart! :)

Living under an illusion....

I have always heard people talking about someone else being on drugs or being doped.
I have seen on TV and movies junkies snorting cocaine or smoking marijuana.
However today i got to witness firsthand some one actually under the haze of addictive stuff.

This happened on my way to work while traveling in an auto rickshaw. While we were waiting for the traffic lights to go green, i noticed this person sitting on the sidewalk,inhaling from a bottle. On close observation i realized that it was a commonly used correction fluid called Erazex. It is cheap and easily available and the most common addicts to such stuff are the urchins and people living off streets.

They probably see it as a means of attaining quick relief from the harsh life that reality offers them. They would rather be living under an illusion than be faced with hunger, homelessness and the generally desolate life they lead.

I looked up for more information on this and found an article relevant to the city i live in. You can read more about it here . It was published sometime last year.

In comparison to this, it left me wondering why people who seem to be relatively doing well in life end up doing substance abuse.

150 Things To Do Before You Turn Thirty

Took up this tag from here. Though i am not 30 yet, i though i would take up this tag. That way i would still have 5 years to catch up on things i have missed!

Feel free to take it up yourself! You are supposed to highlight things you have done.Some of the things are really weird!!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

02. Swam with dolphins

03. Climbed a mountain

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula

07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

08. Said “I love you” and meant it

09. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg (Does a glacier count?)

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer (I think K had it at one point :D )

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk

42. Had amazing friends

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44. Watched whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Played touch football

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theatre

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight ????

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”

83. Gotten flowers for no reason

84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark

88. Kissed on the first date

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

98. Passed out cold

99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication

106. Lost over 100 pounds

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Touched a stingray

110. Broken someone’s heart

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a TV game show

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari

115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper (it helps if your friend is a journo)

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school

131. Parasailed

132. Touched a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes ???

134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head

149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone’s life

Foot in mouth.....

There are times when i talk about something very vehemently, especially if it is something i am very passionate about or something that i strongly believe in. I usually talk openly about what i feel about things. Often in such situations i come about as being opinionated,hopefully not over bearing !
One such incident happened at office today. We were all talking over our morning coffee at the pantry, boss included.
There are a series of events happening in office as a run up to the annual day.I found that the activities were not as well-organized compared to the previous year and expressed so.
The minute i said this , the boss said , "I approved the mail that was sent out".
I should have known then to keep my mouth shut then and not go on, knowing that he was part of the organizing committee. But no, I had to go on and elaborate why i thought it could have been better.

Sigh! Next time hope i think hard before i blurt out something.

Indian culture can be funny sometimes.....

It was Diwali and i was standing in my balcony in the evening,looking at the neighborhood kids bursting crackers. I saw this 12 year old boy who lives next door, lighting flower pots using a sparkler. His mom was supervising the activity and before he could go light another flower pot, she asked him to move his arms in circles with the sparklers in his hand.

I am sure we have all done this when we were kids. Swinging our arms with sparklers in hand and be delighted at the play of lights by the sparklers.

The lady wanted her son to experience the same joy that she had ,when she was a kid. Sadly by the tone of the voice, the kid mistook it to be some kind of a ritual which is performed before one lights a flower pot.
So before lighting every cracker, the kid would move his arms in circles once or twice with the sparkler in hand.

This got me thinking as to how a lot of such inane activities have come to become strict norms in the Hindu culture.

How many of such things we follow without ever questioning the rationale behind it?

In South India, we are still not allowed to cut our nails after dark.Its the same when it comes to plucking flowers or leaves. The way i see it, back in those days when there was no electricity ,you wouldn't want to cut your finger accidentally or be bitten by insects when you were out picking the flowers!

The Rangoli\Kolam was drawn in front of the house to ward off insects. So was the thoranam of fresh mango and neem leaves which adorn the main door of the house during festivities.

I can think of lot more such examples but i am sure you must have got the drift by now :)

Of course not all rituals are without logic.I am sure most of them have some logical explanation. But over centuries , the meaning behind the rituals have been lost and they have reduced to a set of meaningless activities.

Musings.....

Each time she picks up the phone, something holds her back from actually making the call.
Is there anything left to talk? To make up for the years of silence?
The words had never flowed easily. There was never a feeling of kinship. They had never been giggly teenagers who had shared secrets ,talked about crushes,gossiped about others.
She always felt she didn't measure up to the standards.
Why then did she feel that she still had to hold on to this one?

Valley Of Flowers : Part III

I finally got down to finishing the last part of the trilogy that i had planned on writing. This post you could say is the Grand Finale. This is were i talk about the very reason why we planned the trek : to visit the Valley of Flowers.

All of us were pretty excited about this part of the trek. The previous day,we atched a documentary on the valley of flowers. An Indian researcher (i forget his name) has put together a documentary which captures the diverse ecology of the alpine valley. He visits the valley every year from June to October (or thereabouts) in the hope of learning more each passing year.

We were in awe of both his documentary and his passion for researching the valley. We couldn't wait to be there amidst the flowers ourselves.

The trek started early in the morning. The weather was picture perfect.Just the right amount of chill combined with mild sunshine.There was a spring in our steps as we started the trek. Maybe it was the silence around us added to the heightening sense of excitement. Unlike, Hemkund, there are no pilgrims here, just the hikers. There is no grazing allowed or human settlement. No mules and dhabas dotting the path. It was just us and Mother Nature.

After a short walk, we started seeing flora and fauna typical to this ecology. Each of us stopped every few feet to admire nature's beauty. Flowers of every concievable color and leaves with intricate patterns and the early morning dew on the gossamer spider webs was breath-taking. I was amazed at how beautiful the whole setting was. To add to this we came across a brook making its way down to the valley. Crossing that rickety,makeshift bridge was quite an experience!

It every photographer's dream come true to be surrounded by pristine beauty and for K it was not any different. He had to capture it all in his camera. He would stop every few meters to capture nature's glory. I let him be and walked alone. I just didn't feel like making conversation with anyone else in the group. I was content enjoying the solitude in this picturesque setting.
As i walked along i realized this kind of beauty is to be enjoyed and cherished in the company of a loved one and decided to wait for K after all ;)

We went walking along and taking pics and came across this glacier. There was huge crack right down to the middle of the glacier threatening to split and come crashing down any minute.
The glacier on the way to the valley. Notice the crack in the middle?


I simply cannot describe in words the rest of the walk. All i have to do is close my eyes to be transported back to that serene place. I will instead share some pics of the place.


Some fruit which grows there. An amazing hue of blue!

The valley is itself huge. Flowers of one kind grow in patches. Cross-pollination has led to the same variety of flowers growing in different hues.Thats what lend the color to the valley.It feels like the valley is one never ending stretch.

After a short walk, we came across yet another brook meandering in the midst of the valley.
This is where we settled down for lunch. It was the best picnic i have ever had. While the rest of the gang wanted to further into the valley and also visit the grave of Margaret Legge , a botanist who died in the valley on her quest for more information on the flowers.
The brook where we had our picnic lunch

Few of us chose to sit by the brook and take in the scenery. L and M, decided to meditate there. It was the ultimate place for them for meditation. K and I sat there savoring the beauty of the valley in quiet companionship. While another couple S and D decide to take a small nap :D

More pictures on the valley of flowers.

Sky through the flowers



Panoramic view of the valley of flowers.

Its easily the most beautiful place on earth!

P.S : All pictures are taken by K. More of his pics here

Ok na?

A strange thing happened yesterday which suddenly made me realise how much difference it makes being married,in the Indian society. I was out on the porch lighting lamps since it was Diwali.This neighbor of mine spots me and stops his bike and comes up to speak to me.
I am wondering what possibly would make him want to speak to me! We usually just nod and exhange a hi when we see each other.

He starts by saying he needs some information about an "alliance" for his nephew.This particular "alliance" happens to be my cousin's daughter.
The conversation went like this :
Neighbor : Nimm kade ondu hudgi idaaLe.... nimm tande cousin magaLu anthe...
me : err...(racking my brains to figure out whom he is speaking about.After a long explanation realised who he was talking about)
Neighbor : "hudgi hege? ok na? ("Whats your opinion about the girl?")
me : huh? err... yeah very nice girl and good family as well! (duh!!)
Neighbor : hudgi akka divorcee anthe? (Her sister is a divorcee)
Me : Akka divorcee aadre yenu? (How does it matter?)
Neighbor : proceed madbahuda ?("Should we go ahead?")
me : hmm... haan ....proceed maadi....yenu problem illa....(sure why not...go ahead!)
Neighbor : "naavu ade yochne maadtiddvi....sadhya eega ondu reference sikktalla!"(Its a good thing that we found a reference)
I just grin stupidly and nod my head!

I have never been asked such questions before! duh, i didnt know how to react! For God's sake,how does my opinion about a person matter in situations like this!Its upto the two people seeking alliance how they like each other and how much they think they would be compatible.And how does it matter what's the marital status is of the rest of the family?

I then realised that one's status in the Indian society is elevated after marriage.Your opnion matters when it comes hitching up two people!
What if something goes wrong and they blame me later in life?yikes! i want my single status back when faced with such situations! :D

Its a date!

I did something i have never done before.I went out on a lunch date........with myself! Not that it is something that has never been done before or is unheard of. I am sure people do this regularly but i had never until today fathomed myself eating alone.

Since my usual lunch gang in office was out on vacation owing to Diwali, i thought of giving it a try today.

Now, it is very important to choose the place where you want to enjoy your first solitary meal. It should either be a very crowded place like a fast food joint, where no one notices you or it should be a place where there aren't many people. The popular restaurants are not a good choice. People instantly notice that you are alone and they might end up thinking you are a loser to be dining alone! You will be subjected to pitying glances or stares, making you conscious and that might ruin the whole experience of dining alone.

After deciding between the food court in the nearest mall and a small, quiet cafe in the nearby theater auditorium, off i went to the mall close to my work place. This also gave me a chance to go pick up a few books that i had been wanting to. After almost an hour of browsing through the various sections in the bookstore, i picked up a few books and then headed off to the food court in the mall.

The shortest line was at the subway counter and I decided to head there. After the sub was ready, I found myself a quiet corner and settled down to enjoy the meal with the one of the books that i had bought. Unfortunately it is difficult to read a book when you are attacking a sub whose stuffing threatens to spill out in all directions.

I gave up reading the book and settled down to the next best thing , studying other people. :D
I noticed that there were a few more people enjoying their solitary lunch.One girl looked like she had a lot of experience (nope am not judging her social life :D). She was totally immersed in the novel she was reading. There were others who were not quite comfortable eating alone.All they wanted was to be done with their lunch quickly!There were techies in large groups enjoying their friday lunch, flaunting their company identity cards. Then there were these college kids who looked like they had bunked classes to enjoy with their friends. And all the aunties out for their Diwali shopping getting a respite from slogging in the kitchen. And of course the high-society types. It always makes me wonder why they would want to eat at a food court. I saw Charu Sharma once at the food court in another popular mall in the city.

By this time i had finished eating my sub and i would say it was not a bad experience eating alone. One lesson from this was experience is not to order something messy if you are planning on enjoying your meal with only a book for company!

Valley Of Flowers,Part II,Haridwar and beyond....

We had to catch the Mussorie express from the old Delhi railway stattion to reach Haridwar . The meeting point for the KMA was the comesum hotel at the railway station(as someone in the group wisecracked, "some come and some dont come "!!).

On reaching Haridwar in the morning,we were stranded there for a couple of hours as it was the concluding day of the Kaavad mela.Hordes of pilgrims had camped all over haridwar and the traffic was at a stand still.

Kaavad Mela in Haridwar

After a long wait, we proceeded towards Rishikesh to the nearest garhwal mandal vikas nigam. There are GVMNs all over the Uttaranchal. These were built mainly for the promotion of tourism. Some of them are maintained well while others are in a decrepit state.

After freshening up and eating a hearty breakfast we started our bus journey towards JoshiMath to reach another GMVN. The journey itself was very pleasant and we spent our time looking at the passing landscape ,getting acquainted with the KMA group. The group was in top spirits as we started gaining altitude leaving behind the sweltering heat of Haridwar.

The next day was when all the hard work started.Our destination was the small hamlet Ghangria which is a 13 kilometres trek from Govindghat,about 30 kms from Joshimat. The distance sounded easy enough but turned out to be a killer as we had discounted the terrain and the heavily laden rucksacks.
The initial part of the trek was exciting as it was an easy walk up the hill with breath taking views of the mountains around and the gushing torrents of Ganga in the gorge beside us. As the initial adrenaline rush wore off,and the landscape remained unchanged, we began to experience fatigue.The 8-kg ruck-sack made things worse. The final descent was almost impossible and i was ready to give up. Only the thought of some hot food and a warm bed kept me going :D .

There are small dhabas all along the way for weary pilgrims and trekkers to rest and restore their energy levels with steaming hot chai,paranthas or maggi. Everything here is twice as expensive as the only means of carrying these goods are using mules.

One of the many dhabas on our way....

Roaring Ganga keeping us company throughout the trek.

We later realised that this was the toughest part of the trek! Some places it was almost a 90 degree incline.Once we reached Ghangaria, we were told to look for Hotel Priya which would be the place where we would be camping for the next three days .I was sure glad when atlast i spotted Hotel Priya!

The next day was the trek to the holy shrine of the Sikhs, Hemkund Sahib.
We started the trek around 6 AM in the morning. The visibility was almost zero. All along the way we heard the pilgrims periodically bursting into "Jo Bole So Nihaal,Satsri akaal".Sounded more like a war cry to me! And then there were others who would chant Ik Onkaar non-stop. It was amazing how these people effortlessly managed the climb, chanting all the while , when most of were focusing our efforts on just walking along the mountain.
We reached the peak after a 3 hour trek and we were in for a disappointment, the Hemkund lake was fully covered in mist. Having seen beautiful pictures of this place on the web, this turned out to be a major dampener.















Trudging along........

We decided to visit the gurudwara first before heading to the langar. Blankets are provided inside the shrine for all pilgrims. After warming ourselves ,we headed to the langar to eat some steaming hot kicchdi and drink some sickly sweet tea. It was manna for us weary trekkers.

Having my hunger pangs satisified, i felt guilty of not doing any Seva(volunteer work) in the langar. So a bunch of us sat down to the task of washing the vessels. It seemed like some people volunteered to this task becuase they got to soak their hands in hot water when it was freezing outside ;)














Inside the Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara.......

Having waited for a while for the mist to clear, we set out downhill. This seemed relatively easy and halfway through the mist cleared. That is when we realised how narrow the path was and how steep the precipice was!

We climbed down quickly enough and were delighted to be treated to hot hot Jalebis and chai!

Valley Of Flowers, Part I - Delhi

Back in college , (boy! that makes me feel old, although i assure you,that was just 4 years back), when there was a mail thread from the gang on what each one of us wanted to do in our lifetime, i too had my own list of things..... what i didn't know then that the top most on the list would come true. Going to the Himalayas once in my lifetime.

K and i being avid travelers, decided to trek to the valley of flowers in Uttaranchal. July and August are the only two months when the flowers are in full bloom through out the valley. The treks are more or less organized around this time of the year.
I was very excited about the trek and apprehensive at the same time as i had never been on a hiking trip ever!
its one thing to walk a few kilometers to the waterfalls or the nearby stream while you are on a vacation but quite another matter when you have to be walking in rugged terrain with a heavily laden back-pack for hours together.
One thing that held me back from going on these hikes or treks is the phobia for answering nature's call ...err...amidst nature...you never know what's lurking out there :P
I was relieved when i heard we would be put up in rooms there rather than pitching tents.i knew things would be alright. :) My experience of trekking being zilch,K was very encouraging and said that it wouldn't be as difficult as i thought. Easy for him, as he has scaled almost all the peaks in Karnataka and done two Himalayan treks.

In spite of having these self-doubts there was not a single time i thought of any kind of preparation for the impending trip.Another couple, Y and K who were to join us on the trek would take one day trips for practice during the weekends.

About a month before the trek i began to panic as i had no idea about my ability to sustain the trek or my stamina levels. We decide to put these to test and set out on a weekend trek to Satyamangala forests in Chamarajanagar,Mysore. Although i couldn't keep pace with the rest of the gang , i completed this trek successfully.... This boosted my confidence levels and i was all set for the Big one!

The day dawned bright and sunny...sounds too cliched isnt it? well, i wish it was like that...instead K and I were slogging on our laptops till about an hour we were to leave for the airport.

Anyway, off we went to the airport and on the way i get a call from a cousin saying that there were serial blasts happening everywhere in Bangalore and she asked me to be careful as i was headed to the airport. It was quite a shock to hear that the blasts were happening quite close to my work-place. I immediately called up colleagues at work not knowing what the intensity of the blasts were. I was relieved to know everyone was safe and much more when i heard they were all low intensity ones. I was still in a state of shock as to how someone could do this to my beloved Bangalore... such things only happen in other cities and you get to see these things on the television!

After an uneventful flight ,we landed in Delhi at around 9:30 pm and immediately set out for the Silk Board guest house near IIT. I had conjured up visions of homely comfort when Y had booked the guest house. Alas, that was not the case to be.On being show into our rooms, my heart sank.The paint was peeling, the furniture looked old and dusty. The bathroom was dingier. We had no intention of hanging out in the guest house except to sleep in the night so we decided to stay put.

The first day in Delhi was spent indulging in one of my favorite activities - shopping!This was mainly because both K and i had visited the usual tourists places in Delhi before,so we decided to skip them.

We still had two days before we would set off to Haridwar where our trek would start. The next day we headed to nearby Mathura and Agra. Here are some pics!

A pic of the Agra Fort. I must say the fort has been very accuratley re-created for the movie Jodha-Akbar.















The famous monument of love, Taj Mahal. We did what most tourists do when visiting the Taj.
Get a pic of the two of us sitting on the stone bench in front of the Taj :D

The last day in Delhi before we took off on the trek, we didnot have anything planned as we had a train to catch to Haridwar in the evening .So decided to watch a movie.The nearest mall had "Singh is Kinng" playing.Oh what a mistake it was ! Most parts of the movie had the rest of the crowd in splits and the few genuine jokes didnt get a reaction from them. It only left us wondering about the intelligence of the Delhi audience!

Small things in life that bring joy....

• Freshly brewed coffee first thing in the morning
• Long walks at night
• Holding hands
• Curling up on the couch with a good book
• That unexpected sms or phone call
• Cooking a good meal
• Give in to the urge to eat yummy chaat :)
• Watching the rain
• Sitting on the sea shore and listening to the sounds of the sea
• Sitting by the window and watching the world go by on a lazy Sunday evening
• Smell of burning incense at twilight when the lamps are lit
• Waking up to Suprabhata by MS/Vedic chants on festive occasions

Finally!!

I finally gathered the courage to create a blog for myself. I am stumbling upon words as i write my first post. After having read scores of blogs by some of the most eloquent writers and reading about their interesting lives i wonder what i will be blogging about.But lets wait and watch shall we? :)
After all, i have been wanting to put down my thought since aeons.....this is as good a time as any to start.

So here's to me!!

Cheers!