A walk to remember - Post 1 in Munnar Tea Gardens, Kerala

11^th April 2013

I have promised my wife last night that I will wake up before her unlike every day because I love long morning walks in the scenic places. And in spite of managing to sleep at 1, I woke up at 5 am. The weather was very cool. I went to wash room and begun reading one of the novels by Ruskin bond. Ruskin writes quite well about nature and that is why I love to read him at such places. I was reading 1 story about ghosts and also getting scared as the silence in such places are deafening. 

At 5:45 am, my wife also woke up. It was very dark outside. Finally, at 6 we went for a walk amidst the amazingly beautiful Tree plantation in Munnar. We breathed deeply to gift our lungs lot of fresh unpolluted air absent in cities. 

There were not many people and vehicles on the road and that provide us the opportunity to walk hand in hand without worrying about anything in life. Such simple pleasures of life amidst nature are actually the true gifts of life and should be appreciated and relished to the maximum. The beautiful nature trails surrounded with Tea Gardens on both the sides makes you realized that this place is tremendously gifted and bestowed with beauty and enormous number of panoramic views. It seemed as if God had created the beautiful green carpets and rolled them over the Munnar valley. 

"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day." - -- Henry David Thoreau

After Sunrise

Believe me, this was the most beautiful part of our complete trip. Peaceful walk was the biggest advantage of booking our Hotel 10 km. before the Munnar. If we have booked the Hotel in Munnar, I am sure we would be devoid of this lifetime walk amidst the tree plantation. We did a lot of photography, laid down on highway and also saw the sun rising. 

At around 7 am, we saw lot of children going to school and asking for lifts from the tourists. Life at hill stations is no way easy. We came to know that children need to walk some 4,5 kms each way every day to go to school and perhaps that is the reason that people are healthier in hilly areas. 

Road is wet due to the heavy fog in the early morning

At around 7.30, we came back to our Hotel and got ready by 8 for the sight-seeing. I also told my cab driver that I want to come back to hotel 1 hour before it get dark in the evening to enjoy my evening walk and thankfully, we also enjoyed the evening walk but on a different trail. In the evening, we asked him to drop us 3, 4 km before the hotel and can park the car in hotel and if we were tired or anything, we would call him. 

There was 1 church very near to our resort Nest. While coming to hotel, we sat on its terrace for 30 minutes and it was really very pleasant experience and the pure vibrations we felt are perfect setting for introspecting. 

Captured from the terrace of Church

Also, on our way, we heard some voices of people but nothing was visible. There was 1 dense route going downwards from the road, we thought of traversing it. It was getting dark and we also confused whether to go down or not. We decided to go on this route for 5 minutes and then come back if we did not found anything substantial. After 10 minutes of walk, we uncovered 1 big field where local people were playing cricket.

Local People enjoying the Cricket

  It was a very beautiful field blessed with trees on all the sides.

The one thing about such places that always attracts me is that people here have lot of time unlike in cities and life here is not like rat race. Instead people are very friendly here. 

Lastly, I would like to add that Early Morning walks in the Munnar tea gardens is 1 such thing that I strongly recommended for everyone.

Check my another post in this series walk to remember here.

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Trip to Chilkur Balaji Temple : Hyderabad

This temple was used to be a very small temple in a village called Chilkur, some 25 kilometers from Hyderabad, with very few visitors and that too local only and from nearby villages. It is only in last 10-15 years that fate of this temple is changed and it becomes one of the most popular and crowded temples of Andhra Pradesh. 

It is also known as Visa temple. It is believed to be the only temple of India which is known to help the devotees to get their VISAs to travel abroad with specialization in US VISAs obtaining which is really a very big challenge these days due to the new stringent rules. 

I am planning to visit this place from a long time not with the intention of getting VISA but out of inquisitiveness. And on 1 fine Sunday, my plan materialized. We started from our home at 5:30 am in the morning. We started early because I was very well aware that this temple attracts huge number of crowd especially on weekends. We reached temple at 6:30 am and there was decent crowd in the temple, however no queue. After a Darshan, we take 11 rounds of Parikrama (circumambulation) around main temple. It is believed that once your wish is fulfilled, then you have to come back and do 108 rounds of Parikrama. Since it is quite difficult to remember, numeric card is given free with numbers from 1 to 108 written on it so that once you complete 1 round, you mark it on paper. 

There is an amazing story behind why this temple became as the VISA temple of India. It is believed that few people reiterated their tale of getting Visa after visiting this temple to the priests of the temple. And these tales passed like conflagration with word of mouth and rest is the history, as we all know it. 

This is a temple of youngsters. I have heard this sentence from many people and read it at many places but was not sure what it is implying unless I visited the temple. There is 1 commentary going on in the temple by the priest with really high voice on loudspeakers instead of Bhajan/spiritual songs and he is talking about the attachment of our youth with Facebook and other social media site. I was kind of shocked and at the same time, the cognizant of the priests about Social media were also appreciable.  It is when I realized why this place is called as the temple of youngsters.            

Also, it is continuously announced by the priests that please keep your eyes open during the Darshan as God wants to see the sincerity in your eyes. 

One of the good things about this temple is that they do not have any Hundi for donation; however they have mentioned different bank accounts on the walls of the temple and thus, if you want to contribute, you can directly transfer the amount in bank account and thereby ensuring that your money is going straight to the hands of Temple management committee. 

After completing the Darshan, we had a breakfast just outside the temple. This place reminds me of Shakumbara Devi near my hometown Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where we used to go frequently with my family members.

We have completed everything by 7:30 am and decided to go back. Early morning ride on Activa and that too in villages of Andhra Pradesh away from the traffic of Hyderabad was quite a break. 

I would recommend this place to everyone especially if you are looking for a small picnic with your family for half day. I will also suggest to go as early as possible in the morning to  beat the crowd and also to enjoy the ride more. 

On our route back to Hyderabad, we passed through Mrugvani National park. As we have lot of time at our disposal and we have already completed everything before the time as we planned so we thought of visiting this place. But then came to know that this place will open at 9am. So, we waited. There was nobody except 2 of us and 1 security guard. 
 

Please let me know if you have any questions/doubts regarding planning your trip to this place.

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Trip to Hampi - Part 7 : Day 3 Itenerary

9^th December 2013, Monday

We woke up at 7 am. I was not in a mood to go back again to join that corporate rat race. As soon as I woke up, my mind is full of office, work informing colleague about my leave. I went upstairs looking for some peace. Hampi is a very beautiful town and our guest house offered very good view.  I and wife took some pictures. Some foreigners were doing Yoga in other guest houses nearby. We talked to some of them. I told them how much I appreciate the way they travel. I asked them how they manage to travel for so long. One of the guys Tommy told me that they work for some time quit their work and then join again. Isn’t it interesting?

He was in India from last 6 months and travels extensively to Kashmir, Shimla, Amritsar, Delhi, Rajasthan, Dharamshala, Kerala and many other places. We exchanges emails and blog addresses.

Finally, we took a bath and checkout at 9am and had our breakfast at Venkateswara restaurant. 

My wife CA and me

 

Then we took a bus to Hospet and From Hospet, we took a bus to Tungabhadra Dam. 

Tungabhadra Dam is in Hospet and perfect place to kill some time before we can catch out train at 3 pm. For more pictures of Tungabhadra Dam, click here.

Dam was also very scenic especially 1 location where I took  power nap of 20 minutes to get recharged.

Left: Bench on which I took power nap. Right: View from the Bench

Tungabhadra Dam

Tungabhadra Dam

 

Please note that there is also cloak room in Tungabhadra Dam so if you find a huge queue in the cloak room of the railway station, you can use this one. 

We reach railway station at 2pm. Our train was the same from which we arrive. It was scheduled to reach Hyderabad at 5:30 am in the morning. It confuses me that the same train take 9:30 hours from Hyderabad to hospet but taking 14 hours from Hospet to Hyderabad until we reach Guntakal. At Guntakal, I came to know that the train will stop here for 5 hours and will join another train. It was a slip route train. But, nowhere it is mentioned that it will stop for 5 hours in between.

Finally we reach home on 10^th Dec. at 7 am drenched with fresh memories of Hampi. 

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Complete Hampi trip Posts Compilation so far

About Hampi and what to expect in Hampi

Day 1:

Day 1 Itinerary

Mustard Ganesha, Krishna Temple and Queen's Bath 

Vijaya Vittala Temple

Day 2:

Day 2: Itinerary 

Trek to Mathanga Hills

Day 3:

Day 3: Itinerary

Restaurants in Hampi

Train ride to Remember: Kalka–Shimla Mountain Railway of India

This is one of the most beautiful train rides that I have experienced in my life. I have been to this route some 4 years back but I have not written any blog as I do not have a blog that time. 

The idea of writing about this post comes to my mind when I was traveling in from Delhi to Moradabad in Shatabdi. During the journey, all the passengers were provided a copy of Rail Bandhu magazine only to be read in the train. While reading one of the topics, my eyes caught an old guy named Achharu Ram, who was featured in a BBC documentary (at 10:30 timeline) series Indian Hill Railways, retired some time ago as a porter from the Shimla Railway station.  I felt the intense desire to see the documentary and quickly open the YouTube in train. You can enjoy that documentary below: Courtesy to BBC documentary series.

It is only after watching this video; I decided to write a blog on it.

  

The Kalka-Shimla Rail route is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site under Mountain Railways of India along with Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Nilgiri Mountain Railways. 

The other two mountain railways in India,The Kangra Valley Railway and Matheran Hill Railway were also submitted by the Ministry of Railways  in the UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage sites.

Just Before Boarding the Train

 

Never felt so close to nature in my life

It runs for 96 kilometers (60 miles) though 20 railway stations, 102 tunnels, 998 bridges, and an incredible 917 curves. Speed of train is between 25-30km/hr both ways up . This line was opened to public on November 9, 1903. It ascends from 656 meters (2,152 ft) and terminates at an elevation of 2,076 meters (6,811 ft) at Shimla. This marvel is a perfect gift to India by British people.

We have boarded a train from Shimla. We have come here 2 days back from the road journey. We have not planned for this trip but after coming to here, we were amazed by his popularity among the tourists and guides and thought that coming to this great place will not be complete unless we experience this train journey and that was one of the best decisions. We told the driver to meet us at the Kalka railway station and we boarded the train. 

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Luckily, it was raining heavily that day in Shimla and seats were available in train. This train journey was around 5-6 hours against the road journey which takes only 2-3 hours but it is life time experience. I also heard that if you are travelling in it during a sunny day, views will not be that good as on cloudy day. Luckily, that day was heavily clouded.

Standing at the door of Train to have at least 180 degree view

Road Route is also visible

Watching a nature in a train is a delight. Splendid surroundings along the route will keep you enthralled throughout the journey and even after that.

At Kandadhat

I remembered Ruskin bond’s essays about nature and railways. Just after we boarded the train, the next 1 hour was passed capturing beautiful photographs of nature and train. After that I spent my time watching outside and introspecting. We reached Kalka at around 9 followed by our car drive to our hometown at Saharanpur. 

Solan: Mid point of the Kalka- Shimla Railway

As I was watching the mesmerizing landscapes, Glimpses of the movie “Into the wild” and excerpts of essays on Nature by Ruskin bond kept coming to my mind. Nature was at its best. I felt myself so ignorant felt like another brick in the wall.

 

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”   Gustave Flaubert

I was missing 2 important things that would be like icing on the cake .First  One is the novel authored by Ruskin bond, which I always carries with me while traveling and other one pink Floyd’ music.

Same thought again crossed my mind that how badly we treated nature and our mother earth. 

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