More Pictures from Ladakh

Blooming in the Cracks

This picture was taken near Ganda-La base, when we were trying to trek the Markha Valley. I am partial to flowers and these two caught the eye all the more because of the bleak surroundings.

Sunset in Leh

This picturewas taken from a height while the sun was going down. Now sitting in the concrete jungle of New Delhi this looks so exotic.

I met these two kids at the Pangong Lake. They posed for me quite willingly. I wish, we were closer to the lake when I took this photograph.

The picture below is another one of my favorites and this was taken near Spitok, after we returned from our aborted trek. This is the viewfrom the tea stall where we sat to have a cup and wait for our pickup van to arrive.

An Ode to my Departed Ladakh Pictures

I had 400 plus pictures from my recent trip (June, 2005) to Ladakh. Like a fool I saved them in 'my pictures' folder on C drive. Like a fool I did not write a CD and like a fool again I did not transfer them to the other system at my home from my laptop. Then the hard disk on my laptop crashed. Only D drive data could be retrived. Apaprt from a few photos that I have on my blog and 50 that I have on webshots all others are gone! Today I am posting a few of my favorite existing ones and lament the ones that are gone. This photograph was taken on a trekking route on the way to Rumbak and I love it because the blooming flowers provide such a sharp contrast to the otherwise bleak scene. But I lament a lovely yellow rose bush photograph that I took near the hotel I stayed. The kids playing near it offered me a few of its flowers too, one day when I was passing by.

This one is again taken on the trek route and I love the clear blue sky and the pebbles in the picture. But I lament so sorely many other trek route photographs that included some glorious sunsets.

We had to leave our trek mid way as I took unwell. When we came back to our starting point, we sat at a tea stall. In the photo you can see the gate leading to the tea stall. There was a bridge near it and I took at least 50 pictures that day. A few of them I uploaded but the rest are gone.

This is my most magnificient shot of the Pangong lake and I am happy it survived. But my husband and I took at least 100 shots of the Pangong lake and a few had our faces in it too, which I do not upload anywhere! All of them gone. And both of us to be blamed for it.

Only one good thing has come out of it and that is our resolve to visit Ladakh again, sometime soon.

I Stumbled!

When I started working in the higher education sector in India, it turned out to be a real eye opener for me. When I was studying, I either went to better places or our generation was a bit more tractable. When I started teaching, I found the first two places completely impossible. This period of gloom lasted around two years. But I will write about that some other day. I will write about one good thing that came out of it.

My husband and I have always been fond of traveling but before I was really thrown into bad jobs, traveling for me was a nice change. But now it has become a religion. In between the breaks both my husband and I, dream about the vacations we are going to take later!

Our Trek in Har-Ki-Doon

It also happened that during my bad jobs I had zero opportunity to do research. I used to feel very restless then. It was then I started trying to write either in magazines or for websites. I started with the Indian ones and most of the time I never even got replies for my queries or unsolicited manuscripts. If I sent them by post after 2 to 3 months I would get a reject card! Even with the foreign publications it usually was no reply.

Our Recent Trip to Leh

Then one day when I was browsing the net, somewhere I saw a bunch of travel websites. One of them was http://www.gonomad.com/.

If you take a look at my post:
http://traveltalesfromindia.blogspot.com/2005/09/one-tale-from-abroad-most-unusual-walk.html

It is a watered down version of what I sent to GoNOMAD.com. And to my surprise I got a reply from them within three hours! Of course they rejected it. But getting a reply that fast itself was so reassuring, after all someone was reading whatever I was trying to write.

That got me hooked, and sometime later I sent them another story (on Goa) and this time I did not get an immediate reply. That raised my hopes. I thought, if they had to reject it they would have done it immediately. Later, I got a mail where they asked me for photographs related to the story. That raised my hopes still higher. Finally, that story came on their website after nearly three months and the check came one month later after the publication. In India the foreign currency checks take more than 15 days to get cashed, and I have still not seen the money in my account. But, it has turned out to be such a thrilling experience. The story on Goa can be found at:

http://www.gonomad.com/alternatives/0508/goa.html

After this, I tried searching for other sites that pay, and though I found a few that do, but so many that do not. I tried very hard to find another website where I could send my other two stories but after my initial search proving so fruitless, I got lazy. I again sent them my two stories and they again have asked for the photos after a long time!

Before I sign off, some of the best stories that I found on GoNOMAD are listed below:

Photography Tips:
http://www.gonomad.com/traveldesk/0505/photographers_advice.html

To Drive or to be Driven?
http://www.gonomad.com/transports/0505/ireland_drive_or_bus.html

On Paris
http://www.gonomad.com/destinations/0508/paris.html

I may continue writing travel stories and looking for avenues to publish them or I may get busy with my job, but either way I am going to remember GoNOMAD for giving me the first avenue for my stories.

Messing Up with what gets Written Even in Dilbert Comic Strips: Why Such Hurry to Change IIT-JEE Eligibility Norms?

Update: The meeting of IIT board decided to implement the new IIT-JEE rules from the next year. Sense prevails after all.
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This has turned out to be a rant from India but this time I am not apologetic. This comes straight from my troubled heart.

I never planned to write anything about the Indian Institute of Technologies, from where the Dilbert comic character Asok graduated. The first strip can be found at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3231561.stm

But for the last two days, I have been seething with the decision of the Human Resource Ministry to change the rule of the game midway. Yes, the procedure to get admitted into IITs has been changed, it has been announced mid session (those in 12th, the session has already begun, and those who have dropped after their 12th, and do not have 60%, they never knew the criteria when they were making the decision).

The decision sounds incredibly stupid to me for so many reasons, leave aside my personal prejudice.

1) The system is working and working well. We generally do not mess up with a system that is (rightly or wrongly) considered world class. Even Dlibert acknowledges it. Why the urge to temper with it?

2) When the systems are tempered, generally the objective is to make it better. Is it going to happen with the proposed system that attempts to make the test easier? I do not think so and here is why.

3) I wish someone would enlighten me, how the proposed system will serve the youth of the nation better? Are they going to increase the number of the seats? Many lakhs (100000) write the exam for 4000 odd seats. Do whatever with the examination system; with this mathematics will the competition go away by fiddling with number of attempts or claiming to make it easier? How can you make it easy when the weight of sheer competition is going to bog it down anyway?

4) Why has the decision been taken mid-season affecting hundreds and thousands of youth, and one of them happens to be my nephew. He is 18, he is six foot plus, he likes to put gel on his hair, (and I scold him), given a chance he will never steer a car, but like to zip on a bike (which I will never let him do, it is too unsafe on the Delhi roads), who can play basketball well, in fact he is a typical teenager and I am an aunt from whom he and his brother are the apple of the eye. They also live with us.

5) He somehow messed up his 12th board and yet we all decided he will drop a year and prepare for IIT-JEE. He is not a typical teenager because he sleeps for four to five hours a day, in hope of making it to IIT. He does not hangs out with his friends because his text books seem more fit for being used as exercising equipment rather than reading material. And now suddenly we find he is not even eligible to appear in IIT-JEE because he failed to score 60% in 12th. And please don’t tell me he anyway cannot make it to IIT, if he scores so low. My cousin graduated from IIT and had only 54% marks in 12th board. Can you imagine how he has been feeling since yesterday?

6) Well, we know there are many other options and the world will not end if he does not study in an IIT, but why this unnecessary stress to my nephew and many more like him because of the high-handedness of the ministry?

7) Yesterday night I heard the Human Resource Minister talking to a reporter and haughtily saying, there is no confusion and any confusion should be given in writing. Maybe he should try talking to some of the students or reading their mails (yes HRD ministry has a mail id listed and I am sure the mailbox would be flooded) made their decisions on the basis of the rules that existed at the beginning of the college opening session this year. What fools we are, didn’t we know things could suddenly change to relieve students of their stress!

8) On one of the news channels, a student asked an IIT professor, that did he know that the IIT topper this year managed to do it on his 4th attempt. Why is he (the person who asked this question) or my nephew not even allowed to even write the exam beyond two times?

9) The ministry says they want to reduce the role of coaching institutes in IIT selection. If the mathematics of getting selected remains the same, can they enlighten me how are they going to achieve it? Maybe they should talk to Dr. Manmohan Singh, who will tell them too much supply of students and too little seats are always going to lead to more stress and not less.

10) If you do not do well in 12th well, forget even dreaming of getting into IIT, that is the message I am getting. Why this amazing lack of tolerance for failures that we all taste in life at one point or the other?

11) Is someone jealous of the amount of money coaching institutes are making and want their cut?

For my nephew, we have other options in mind and we know Kalpana Chawala never went to an IIT. But he wanted to write it again. The pain caused to him (and seeing him like that, to me) and many like him is needless. He made a screen saver on my laptop where he had some of the choice words to say about the new rules and did some wonderful graphics on a few of those he thought were responsible. Of course, on my laptop his choice words do not go beyond ‘Ullu, Gadha, etc.’

If the rules are to be changed, it should not be done so in the middle of the game. At stake are the dreams and the peace of mind of many of the nation’s youth. Find a better way of reducing stress Mr. Human Resource Minister. And I know, you may not be confused because no one close to you is getting affected. But we are and our kids are. Maybe the court will be the hope of last resort, as usual.

Auli: Beautiful Hillstation in Uttaranchal, India

Auli is a picture postcard kind of a place situated in Uttarancahl, India. I went there in the August of 2002, just after submitting my Ph.D. thesis and just before starting my first job that turned out to be an absolute horror. Rainy season, that is July and August are the worst time to visit a hill station in India but we wanted to take a break at that point anyway, so we went to Auli.

One can reach Auli by going to Haridwar and from there taking a bus to Joshimath. The journey from Haridwar to Joshimath takes roughly 12 hours on twisting and bending roads, full of pot holes. We reached Joshimath at eight in the evening and it was raining lightly. I was dead tired and longing for food and rest. We checked into GMVN (Garhwal Viaks Mandal Nigam, a government run property) guest house where the room cost us Rupees 500 for the night. The next day we took the ropeway to Auli.

The GMVN Guesthouse

We again stayed at the GMVN guest house at Auli and it is one of the most horrible places I have ever stayed in. Nothing wrong with the surrounding as such, you can see from the picture above. But the rooms in the guest house gave such a terrible stench that it was a nightmare trying to fall asleep. We never stay indoors during the day, but still it was the most gloomy and badly maintained hotel room I ever slept in. There were not much option at Auli in 2002, just the GMVN property and one private resort which we thought to be expensive and never even inquired there.

The Meadow called Gurson Bhagyal

However, one can never find a fault with the place itself. The most remarkable thing we did was to take a 7 kilometer walk with a guide partially through a trek route. Before the beginning of the journey, I was really tired as I had just toiled to submit my thesis and left to my own I would have skipped the walk altogether. But my sane and sensible husband goes completely berserk in hill stations and no trip is complete without one of these walks. In the picture below you can see the meadows, called Gurson Baghyal, which we walked through. We were told that the real view, the snow clapped mountains, were hidden behind the clouds. It rained for part of the way and we reached back to our hotel soaked and dead tired in the evening. I have to add one thing, the cook at the GMVN guesthouse was excellent and we did all justice to the food that night.

The next few days were spent in roaming about aimlessly in Auli. One day we saw this perfect rainbow and generally walked through fields and flowers, sat on huge stones, my husband philosophical and I generally jumping around.

On another day we saw apple trees laden with ripe fruits and we also met too small girls who chatted with us. They used to go to school and were on their way to gather the cows before the evening fell.

One More Digression: Tennis Rant this Time

Update: Mahesh Bhupathi won the mixed doubles title at the US Open playing with Daneila Hantuchova of Slovakia.

TV news channels are reporting that Muslim Board of India has issued a fatwah against Sania Mirza for her way of dressing up on court. Poor girl, I hope she will come out of this episode quickly (RPM, you were so right).
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Two things prompted me to write this. One, the huge hype built around Sania Mirza back home in India. Two, hardly any mention about Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in the Indian media though they have achieved a lot in terms of grand slam titles.

A day before Saina Mirza was due to play Maria Sharapova in the last 16 of the US open 2005, I was watching Zee News (an Indian news channel) and in their opinion poll 84% of public said Saina Mirza would win! That made me ponder real hard that why did people think so? Unbound enthusiasm or what? Anyone who had seen Saina and Sharapova play at this US open, would not be betting their money on Sania with her current level of the game, yet 84% said she would win! Is it that people are/were buying the media hype? The final score line was 6-2, 6-1 in favor of Maria Sharapova. And today’s papers claim ‘Line call hit Sania, says her coach.’ One can read it in Asian Age (where there are no visible links for a story) and at:

http://inhome.rediff.com/sports/2005/sep/06sania.htm

There is a call said to affect Sania, when she was down 2-4, and had three break points on Sharapova’s serve. Even if the call had gone into her favor the score would have been 3-4. Anyway, I thought top players dealt with such things routinely and yet managed to win games. And the replays showed very clearly that Sharapova’s service was on the line indeed.

I am not trying to say that Sania is not a good player. She is damn good, but she has miles to go in terms of second serves and reducing her unforced errors before, I (anyone?) can actually think of betting the money on her against Maria Sharapova. But for the Indian press she can do no wrong, it was a line call that ruined her chances. What chances, I want to ask?

In contrast, Mahesh Bhupathi is in the semifinals of the mixed doubles of the US Open 2005 and he even has a glamorous partner, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. Yet, the Indian press is largely silent on his exploits. He won Wimbledon mixed doubles crown in the year 2005 playing with Mary Pierce. Leander Paes plays with Martina Navratilova and they have won grand slam events together but it is not hype worthy news for Indian papers. In a country where there are not too many success stories to pick from, I wonder why such noteworthy achievements go under reported. Why not the song and dance about them? Below I am listing the achievements of Bhupathi and Paes (all the facts have been gathered from various internet sites).

Mahesh Bhupathi

MEN'S DOUBLES

Year Championship Partner

1999 French Open Leander Paes (IND)

1999 Wimbledon Leander Paes (IND)

2001 French Open Leander Paes (IND)

2002 U.S. Open Max Mirnyi (BLR)

MIXED DOUBLES

Year Championship Partner

1997 French Open Rika Hiraki (JPN)

1999 U.S. Open Ai Sugiyama (JPN)

2002 Wimbledon Elena Likhovtseva (RUS)

2004 - Athens Olympics, reached semi-finals of the doubles competition.

2005 Wimbledon Mary Pierce (FRA)

Leander Paes

1992 - Barcelona Olympics, reached quarter-finals of the doubles competition

1993 - Davis Cup, reached semi-finals

1996 - Atlanta Olympics, singles bronze-medalist

1997 - US Open doubles, reached semi-finals

1998 - reached doubles semi-finals of Australian, French and US Open

1999 - reached doubles finals of all the four Grand Slams, eventually winning at Wimbledon and French Open.
2001 - French Open doubles title

2003 - Wimbledon and Australian Open mixed-doubles title along with Martina Navratilova

2004 - Athens Olympics, reached semi-finals of the doubles competition.

Now is that not impressive?

One Tale from Abroad: A Most Unusual Walk through Amsterdam's Red Light District

I traveled to Amsterdam from New Delhi in the summer of 2002. Almost all my foreign trips have been in relation to some academic work. This particular visit was sponsored by the Department of Economics, University of Groningen, as I was appearing in an interview there. Amsterdam, actually, was less of a travel destination and more of a stopover on my way to Groningen.

The landing at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport itself was exciting because I saw windmills from high up. My plan was to travel to Groningen the same day. On making queries, I found out that the first available train was after three and a half hours. Such delays may be inconvenient for many but they are heaven sent for me. It meant three hours in Amsterdam and I decided to venture out.
Taxies are a big no-no for me because of the expense involved and fortunately, I have a penchant for walking. But the problem is that I can get lost even in a telephone booth if it has two exits. To avoid getting lost in a strange city, I decided to explore the areas just next to the station. I followed my instincts and tried to get out of the station on Damrak Street. From what I had read on the Internet, it is the city center and all the regular tourist amenities like cafes, money exchange and so on are located on it. I also had to book a half-day tour of the city to take on my way back from Groningen.

The Dam Square

What a view greeted me! It was a bright and cool summer day. A light wind was playing on a stream flowing next to the road. But after walking for a while I started feeling confused. The street that I was following was pretty deserted; it did not look like a city center at all. I decided to head back to the station and ask someone for directions. When I asked a gentleman about it, he advised me to get inside the station and exit on the other side. But then he spoke in Urdu all the time, guessing quite correctly that I can understand it. He asked if I was from Bangladesh. I told him I am from India but I understood what he said. Thanking him profusely, I hastily made my exit.

I followed the crowd pouring out of station this time and correctly reached Damrak Street. Again, a canal was flowing right in the middle of the road. I started feeling pleased with my decision to take a walk. Keeping on the right side of the canal, I meandered to the Dam Square and Madam Tussaud’s via open-air cafés and souvenir shops.

I considered going into Madam Tussaud’s but my shoestring budget prevented me from doing so. You see, my hosts at the University of Groningen paid for my hotel and travel fare. On my own, the 17 Euros entrance fee seemed to be a big luxury, which I could not afford. After spending half an hour in the square, soaking in the atmosphere and music, flowing out of various instruments and artists, I decided to walk some more.

Wandering far was out of question as I could easily lose my way. So, I decided to turn back and explore the other side of the canal by crossing a small wooden bridge. I noticed some people sitting on the railing giving me queer glances. It puzzled me; queer glances are more common in India, particularly for a woman walking alone. Even some of the shops had vague signboards. I got confused and decided to head back to the station and later reached Groningen safely.

A Beautiful Bridge on the Canal

Fast forward to my day in Amsterdam after coming from Groningen. I turn up for the tour and take a seat in the comfortable bus near the central station. The guide explains that in front of us is the post office and the station and on the right side ladies and gentlemen, is the famous red light district and went on to other things! So it was just because of the signs on the shop I was saved a shock. I never knew it was located so conveniently next to the central station! Now I have told you where it is. It gives no indication from the outside as to what it is, so it is possible just to stumble there, as I would have had the shop signs not made me hesitate. Anyone who would like to walk around in cities unfamiliar can end up there! So now my boring tour of two hours in the city and one-hour boat ride (this was interesting) got over I had no clue what to do next! The boat dropped us next to the station around 6.00 in the evening. Now sun goes down in summer in Amsterdam at some crazy hour like way after ten at night (In India it goes down around seven in the evening and even earlier in winter). So I knew it would be day light for quite a few hours.

A Charming Windmill

I am quite timid by nature but now my curiosity was tickled. I tried going into the red light area, I knew it is a tourist destination and safe but when I started from India it was never on my agenda. I tried walking there but then walked back on the pretext that I want to eat something. Two bananas and a few strawberries later, I headed again but decided to take a stroll in some other direction. I started clicking a few photos and found that roll was jamming. Now for the third time I headed back to the other side of the street to get another roll of film. But by now, I was convinced that I am a chicken and I am hesitating to go into the area. A new film loaded in my camera, I told my self firmly I would go in this time, come what may! And I did.

Central Station in the Forefront and the Much Discussed Area on the Right

As some of my agitation subsided, I noticed other people walking through, with their cameras and other touristy telltale signs. That gave me courage. I started reading shop sings and while much is not to be repeated here, on offer was every thing from drugs, to massages, shows and much more. But the most prominent sign was ‘NO PHOTOGRAPHS’ on every glass window. Some of the vacant windows advertised contact numbers in case anyone was interested. After ten minutes, I dared to look up in one of the windows where there were sings of life. The lady occupying it looked perfectly comfortable where she was. I lost more of my agitation. I walked on those lanes for a while, proving my courage, to myself, as there was no one else with me to prove it to.

All this while, I still had the track of the direction I had to take to go back to the railway station or so I thought. I took my leave of various things ‘Red’ quickly, and crossed the bridge; only this time it led me to another place. My heartbeat almost stopped but mercifully from that place, too I could see the station, though at a completely different and crooked angle. I understood a new meaning of relief that day, as Amsterdam’s Red Light District was the last place I would like to get lost in. Since then there had been many other places and other walks but never this ‘Red.’