I got back from Kayaking and stuff on Monday morning. Been lazing around, its the first time both Beks and I are unemployed at the same time, so we get up quite late, have a bit of breakfast and catch up on the blog world (well atleast Beks does that) and get back to hugging.
Anyway, since my last post, I went up to visit Shambu Ram in Kandi, Palampur and spent the day with him on my way to McLeod Ganj. I've never felt so welcome in any other house as I felt there. I promised him that I would return with Beks and spend a couple of days there. After breakfast, he took me for a walk and we went to Kamla's (his wife's) sister house for lunch. On the way back, we stopped and had some chung (rice wine) before he put me on the bus to Mcleod Ganj. I didn't tell my parents that I'd be visiting him since I thought they would be worried. As it is, they were freaking out if they couldn't get through to my cell phone like every 6 hours or something. The cell phone is a curse while travelling and Beks and I thought we would switch off our phones and switch it on only when we wanted to make a call... In other words, we'll be unreachable but we can reach anyone whenever we want.
From Kandi, Mcleod Ganj was like an hour away and I went from there to Bhagsu, like 2 kms away and stayed at the Trimurti Nivas. It was a really nice place, owned by a tabla player and his german wife - a devotee of Mata. She was very happy to know that I was from Kerala. I would highly recommend the place if you're looking for some peace and quiet, Mcleod Ganj is really crowded now since my last visit. However, it is a really steep walk up from Bhagsu and walking back down with my heavy bags sort of sprained my knee. Don't know what went wrong and its much better now, but it was kinda screwed for a couple of days.
In Mcleod Ganj and Palampur, people reaffirmed what I had heard from Kibber about global warming. The snow line has gone up in the past 4 years, and the last 2 years have had very little snow. Global warming is definitely happening... Also, talking to Shambu and his family, I felt so lucky to have got the benefit of a good education. Shambu's son Anup is now in the 10th standard in an English medium school but can hardly speak any English. How can he take part in the country's progress? I urged him to speak in English whenever possible, even if he is scared of making a fool of himself. I also thought that I should try and send him some good basic books on learning English. Without a proper education, he has no means to really improve his chances of a better future. Of course, what we mean by a better future can be debated on forever, whether development is better for us and so on. In this context, all I mean is that Anup's wife won't have to go through what Kamla went through by losing two children at infancy due to malnutrition and so on.
Anyway, after Mcleod Ganj, I got to Haridwar catching a train from Pathankot. In Pathankot, on an auto and later in the most convenient 'bar' right at the end of the platform at Chakki Bank, I realised that Punjabi's are naturally good businessmen. They understand that a customer is most important, and are willing to go totally out of their way to serve the customer better. This is in sharp contrast to Kerala where most shop keepers act like they're doing you a favour by getting you something.
I spent a day in Haridwar, going up to Rishikesh for lunch, and took a lot of photographs which are on our flickr account. In fact, the flickr account has a lot more pics of the whole trip. I was really surprised by how clean the Ganga looked. I had expected a lot more dirt and a lot less water in fact! I met the kayaking gang the next morning at Haridwar station and went to the base camp. After a few hours on the duckies, Anvesh felt we were god enough to take on the three blind mice. Peeves and I flipped on the second mouse and couldn't get back on the craft and had to body surf down the third mouse. It was awesome, though I did get an initial shock as we flipped. The next day we drove up to Dev Prayag where the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda join to make the Ganga and kayaked down to Beas Ghat where we camped the night. The third day was quite tiring with 5 hours of kayaking. PV and I become experts at the big waves (though I chose to walk past the wall, and everyone walked past Daniel's dip), but we kept flipping at the exits in the small eddies. Anyway, it was great and probably the best outdoor experience of my life. Somehow on the photos, the rapids look quite small and not as thrilling but I've already sold Chechi and Robi on a trip. Here's a video of the wall though its kinda unclear and distant...
Anyway, since my last post, I went up to visit Shambu Ram in Kandi, Palampur and spent the day with him on my way to McLeod Ganj. I've never felt so welcome in any other house as I felt there. I promised him that I would return with Beks and spend a couple of days there. After breakfast, he took me for a walk and we went to Kamla's (his wife's) sister house for lunch. On the way back, we stopped and had some chung (rice wine) before he put me on the bus to Mcleod Ganj. I didn't tell my parents that I'd be visiting him since I thought they would be worried. As it is, they were freaking out if they couldn't get through to my cell phone like every 6 hours or something. The cell phone is a curse while travelling and Beks and I thought we would switch off our phones and switch it on only when we wanted to make a call... In other words, we'll be unreachable but we can reach anyone whenever we want.
From Kandi, Mcleod Ganj was like an hour away and I went from there to Bhagsu, like 2 kms away and stayed at the Trimurti Nivas. It was a really nice place, owned by a tabla player and his german wife - a devotee of Mata. She was very happy to know that I was from Kerala. I would highly recommend the place if you're looking for some peace and quiet, Mcleod Ganj is really crowded now since my last visit. However, it is a really steep walk up from Bhagsu and walking back down with my heavy bags sort of sprained my knee. Don't know what went wrong and its much better now, but it was kinda screwed for a couple of days.
In Mcleod Ganj and Palampur, people reaffirmed what I had heard from Kibber about global warming. The snow line has gone up in the past 4 years, and the last 2 years have had very little snow. Global warming is definitely happening... Also, talking to Shambu and his family, I felt so lucky to have got the benefit of a good education. Shambu's son Anup is now in the 10th standard in an English medium school but can hardly speak any English. How can he take part in the country's progress? I urged him to speak in English whenever possible, even if he is scared of making a fool of himself. I also thought that I should try and send him some good basic books on learning English. Without a proper education, he has no means to really improve his chances of a better future. Of course, what we mean by a better future can be debated on forever, whether development is better for us and so on. In this context, all I mean is that Anup's wife won't have to go through what Kamla went through by losing two children at infancy due to malnutrition and so on.
Anyway, after Mcleod Ganj, I got to Haridwar catching a train from Pathankot. In Pathankot, on an auto and later in the most convenient 'bar' right at the end of the platform at Chakki Bank, I realised that Punjabi's are naturally good businessmen. They understand that a customer is most important, and are willing to go totally out of their way to serve the customer better. This is in sharp contrast to Kerala where most shop keepers act like they're doing you a favour by getting you something.
I spent a day in Haridwar, going up to Rishikesh for lunch, and took a lot of photographs which are on our flickr account. In fact, the flickr account has a lot more pics of the whole trip. I was really surprised by how clean the Ganga looked. I had expected a lot more dirt and a lot less water in fact! I met the kayaking gang the next morning at Haridwar station and went to the base camp. After a few hours on the duckies, Anvesh felt we were god enough to take on the three blind mice. Peeves and I flipped on the second mouse and couldn't get back on the craft and had to body surf down the third mouse. It was awesome, though I did get an initial shock as we flipped. The next day we drove up to Dev Prayag where the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda join to make the Ganga and kayaked down to Beas Ghat where we camped the night. The third day was quite tiring with 5 hours of kayaking. PV and I become experts at the big waves (though I chose to walk past the wall, and everyone walked past Daniel's dip), but we kept flipping at the exits in the small eddies. Anyway, it was great and probably the best outdoor experience of my life. Somehow on the photos, the rapids look quite small and not as thrilling but I've already sold Chechi and Robi on a trip. Here's a video of the wall though its kinda unclear and distant...
Back at home, I've been busy informing all the statutory authorities of the closure of the factory and finishing up some other stuff before we leave. This will be the longest trip I'm ever taking with Beks and I'm so looking forward to it. Though I enjoyed the freedom of travelling alone this time, with no plans and no commitments, it also has its downsides, like always having to overeat or waste food, and of course the lack of Beks. I have to go Delhi inbetween at some point for my INSEAD interview. In other MBA news, I've got a 20% fellowship at Rochester, and around a 22% fellowship at ISB. Still waiting to hear from Carnegie Mellon and Duke. More details about my MBA is on my other blog. At the end of the trip, we're landing up in Goa for a birthday party.
Thinking of taking my PDA so that it'll be easier to blog from than my phone....
Thinking of taking my PDA so that it'll be easier to blog from than my phone....
1 comment:
hey rohit, congrats on the admits/ fellowships. Really nice blog( i like this one better). I went to kerala for a short trip , drove through kasargod, kannur, telecherry, mahe, calicut. It was amazing , kerala is beautiful. Keep posting, will back pack along.
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