Till Friday

No, no I have not given up on blogging nor on reading blogs. But till Friday, everything is else on hold and I have to finish some work. After that I should be back in full force. And in second week of May , I will take a short break. Oh! how I am looking forward to it.

Flowers being sold on the Street: Bangalore

From a bunch in a road side florist shop in Noida

Yellow:Some flowers, Some Fruits

Still hard at work. So, just to keep the blog going here are some flowers and fruits for you. I do not post too many flower photos on my blog but I am a huge fan of flowers.

The Five Hilarious Travel Photo Contest

When I stumbled upon 'The Five Hilarious Travel Photo Contest' I said "why not!" So here I go.

The photo below was taken when we were doing a little bit of shopping in Leh (Ladakh, India). Till date we are clueless what does the sign Useless Wali (Useless One) means. Googling doesn't help much either.

The second photo was taken again in the main market of Leh (Ladakh, India). I was asking these mild looking ladies (in Hindi) if I could take a photograph of them. My husband has a practice of standing 10 feet away from me on such occasions. To my surprise, the third lady from the left almost shouted her "NO" at me. There were two other gentlemen on the scene and they too looked a bit taken aback, though being foreigners to India they could only have guessed what was going on. Crestfallen, I started walking away. Then she called me back again and asked if I wanted to photograph her alone or the entire group? When I said the entire group, she smiled and said I could take one.

The two gentlemen sensing a change in the mood asked me if they too could take a photograph. I acted the interpreter and the ladies said yes to them too. One of them ran and sat next to the ladies. And here is the picture I got after a little bit of scolding. But the best part is after putting it at my blog (earlier) I got a comment form a person saying he knows the second person from the left in the picture. It is a small world.

The third photo was taken on our journey to Bharmour (Himachal Pradesh, India). We had these two goats as our fellow passengers in the bus. I will have to add, they were very well behaved even if a little bit smelly.

In this fourth picture my husband strikes a pose with a buffalo (I guess so) skull that he found on the Kuari Pass trek (Uttranchal, India). What wonders does spending time with nature does to people!

And here we are in Sikkim (India) when our jeep skidded a bit on the snow. There were only two women passengers including myself and the menfolk decided that they could push the jeep out on their own. I was happy to get the opportunity to take the picture.

On a Speeding Bus

My blog friend VJ finds himself on a speeding bus that met a horrible accident. He is safely back but he tells that not everyone was so lucky.

I looked out – Delhi was still 67 kms away. It was 3:37 in the morning. Then I saw a lime color mini truck coming from the other side with two young guys sitting in the front and it came too close. I was wondering – can he still swirl this time. Something inside me said, he couldn’t. My body voluntarily flung to the aisle as a reflex. There was a loud impact and everything went black. I experienced glass flying, metal sounds, sound of iron hammering and a few second later, as the metal sounds subsided, I heard loud human sounds screaming for help. This was an accident and I was still alive. I got up thinking I am hurt, I wasn't. I located the exit door and flung it open. As I opened it, I saw a body under my feet. People behind me shoved me out of the door.

DRINKING AND DRIVING ABSOLUTELY DO NOT MIX.

Blogging or the Lack of it!

I thought life would be hectic till 27th of this month. But it seems it is going to remain so till May 4th. Posts are drying up and reading your blogs have come to an absolute standstill. Thought I would put at least a post up, saying this upfront.

On the other hand, after ages I am doing some serious work that I am enjoying (not always, I get too tired at times) to the hilt.

I have Got Mail: Middle Class Content

Who Cares about my Wardrobe in such a Heaven?

I got a mail from someone who read my blog and then wrote to me. I appreciate the gesture so much, in itself. It gos like this:

"hey, Mridulaji, its nice to read such beautiful & informative articles, particularly contents belongs to middle class tourist. ..."

Can you blame me if I feel flattered? What I like the best is of course "particularly contents belong to middle class tourist." I take it as a huge complement. Thank you dear writer.

Just today I was reading this (in Hindustan Times Sunday supplement Brunch) as travel advice in a column called 'indulge' by Seema Goswami:

Crease-proof clothes which can be rolled into the tiniest bag make for the best holiday wardrobe (and other such pearls of wisdom). It is followed by a picture of a picture perfect lady on vacation, wearing at least 4 inches of heels and not a hair out of place framing a perfectly made up face.

Try as I may, I can't achieve that look even for work (don't even want to), forget about trying to achieve it on a vacation. Cause the places I go, no one gives a damn about my wardrobe. The picture above is a testimony. Apart from my husband, our guide and the bhainse (buffaloes) there was no one else around for miles.

I know, I know not everyone is sirfira (eccentric) like me when it comes to travel but it won't hurt the mainstream media to climb down from its high horse and write just an occasional article that touches base with the middle class.

China Expat and Some of My Pictures

One day lat month, I got a mail from the China Expat folks. They said they wanted to use a few of my pictures from Sikkim on their website (with due credit and link back to this blog not a paid one). They used one of my pictures for their cover. And the top picture (before the start of the article) plus pictures number 3,4 and 5 in the article about The Ancient Tea-Horse Road are mine.

It gives me such a thrill to see my pictures on their site, plus the interaction with them was such a pleasure. Here is one more from Sikkim.

About My Feeds

Two people have now told me that my feeds are behaving strange. The thing is I am putting lables to my back posts, so they must be getting fed into the readers. I wish to put lables to all my previous posts. And I have no clue if anything can be done about the feeds. What is your suggestion?

White is the Theme for Today

Manali-Leh Highway

From a Trip to Best Western Resort in Manesar

Nanda Devi: Kuari Pass Trek

From the Strees of Bangalore

PS. Life is quite hectic till 27th April. Should be getting more time after that.

My Har-Ki-Doon Article at Gifted Travel

View at Kedar Kanta: On the Har-Ki-Doon Trek

My story about the Har-Ki-Doon trek is now featuring at the Gifted Travel Website. I had queried them and they accepted my article later and they pay (or were paying) a token amount. I found the whole interaction with them a pleasure. However, when I went to their submission guidelines recently this is what I found:

UPDATE: As of 3/14/2007, we cannot accept queries. We have an overwhelming number of article ideas submitted to us at this time and while we wish we could commission most of them, our meager budget does not allow for this. Check back for updates and thank you for your interest.

I hope this changes soon.

The Queue at the Enterance of Taj Mahal in the Evening

We (my two nephews and I) visited the Taj Mahal in July 23, 2006. We visited the monument in the morning and thought of spending some time again in the evening. But when we saw this queue, we gave up!

Sunsets Over Noida and Uttranchal

The sun sets over Noida


And the same sun setting over Har-Ki-Doon (Uttranchal, India)

Green is the Theme

I was going through my pictures saved at the laptop (it is working now but no luck with the camera yet). Once again, the picture that seemed ordinary when looked closer to the trip now feel regal to these eyes watching concrete day in and day out. So, I have picked up some of my greenest photos for this post. All the pictures are from the Kuari Pass trek (updated on Kamla's suggestion, this pass is located in Uttranchal. I am adding the link because Apu wanted it).

I loved the flowers and tried to nearer to get a better shot. But the way was far too slippery. So, had to be satisfied with this shot only.

Looks like heaven, isn't it?

Lots of green, no concrete

A little, a little white and a bit of flowers, what more can I wish for?

Full of Stones or so it Seems Sometimes!

We encountered this stone filled track on the Kuari Pass trek. Why does it seem to resemble life at certain point? I know, I know, I have no right to crib. But just felt like it.