Wish You A Very Happy Diwali

Wish you all a very happy Diwali.

May we light a lot more lamps and bust a few less crackers.

And Yet More Truck Art

Colorful Truck Art

You can't blame me for posting these, I can only post what I see most! And you have to admit this one was quite colorful.

Of course this time we have 'blow horn' and not 'horn please.

Haveli Braj Bhushanjee, Bundi, Rajasthan

A Painting on the Wall in our Room at Haveli Braj Bhushanjee, Bundi, Rajasthan

When we got down at the Bundi railway station it was as usual without a hotel booking. I had an idea (from reading about Bundi at Indiamike) that most of the hotels in Bundi are in the Nawal Sagar area. And most of the are Havelis (mansions) too where owners and their families live too.

After getting to the city in a shared auto (for rupees 5 each) we asked a shop keeper about hotels. He pointed out one nearby. Then I asked about the hotels in the Nawal Sagar area. He replied, "wahan foreigners rahte hain" (the foreigners stay there).

We decided to explore it and he said it was a little far away, we need to take an auto. And that is what we did, the sun was scorching hot even at the end of September.

Haveli Braj Bhushanjee at Bundi, Rajasthan

Soon the auto dropped us in a narrow lane and I saw the board of Haveli Braj Bhushanjee and decided to give it a try. We opened a door and walked in and called out if anyone is there. A gentleman came out and asked us if we would like an AC room. We said we would make up our mind after looking at the room.

He took us up a flight of stairs and opened a room and the first thing we were the colorful glass windows and the paintings all around and we liked the room immediately. The room was quite spacious and clean with a clean and functional bathroom. And it had an AC in the room (which was god send for the scorching hot Rajasthan days and nights). Both Brat 2 and I were happy with it and asked for the rate. It was Rupees 1200 per night. But they charged only half of that for staying an extra 10 hours the next day.

So, I went down to settle the bill and Brat 2 made himself at home.

Our Room at the Haveli Braj Bhushanjee, Bundi, Rajasthan

Then came the hunt for the breakfast at Bundi. And then some sound sleep (with the AC on full blast) to catch up from the night's travel. Exploring Bundi came after it. And Haveli Braj Bhushanjee proved to be a nice camping ground for this trip to Bundi.

Skywatch Friday- The Sky at Langza, Spiti

Sky Watch Friday- Langza, Spiti, Himachla Pradesh

Sky Watch Friday (you can keep looking at skies from there site from all over the globe) looks like fun.

I came to know of them via Celine.

Dusshera Images

A Toy Stall outside a Dusshera Pandal

This Tempo (Auto) Full of Toys must be Heading to a Dusshera Pandal

Goddess Durga, Dusshera Celebrations

Walking Away from Nariyal ke Laddu

Nariyal ke Laddu

I have a huge sweet tooth and I also care that I do not gain too much weight. With tabel Tennis gone out of the schedule, I am scared to eat too much sweetsh. So when at lunch I saw this white looking stuff, thinking it is the normal Rasgulla, I took just one out of the heap.

After a bite I realized it was a coconut (nariyal in Hindi) sweetdish, something that I relish a lot. It was very difficult to refrain from taking a second one (see calorie chart for a similar dish called Nariyal ki barfi, and this is an unusual link, I do not count calories generally) but I did. I knew I would be haunted by the thought of the second one, so I decided that I would take a picture instead! That helped.

Agra Eye Anyone?

Not me. Quoting from the Telegraph-

More than 2.5 million tourists visited the Taj Mahal last year, but officials hope to increase the figure, and the amount of tourist income, by linking the Taj to neighbouring historic buildings and adding the Agra Eye - a sophisticated Ferris wheel modelled on the London Eye.

For the record I never went up the London Eye too in my three visits to London.

Colorful Truck Art

Colorful Truck Art

This truck again asks us to 'horn please.' The art on this one is quite colorful and instantly caught my eye. The Hindi line says, "Think really hard what would you take away when you leave this world." What do you say to that?

I liked the colors on the back so much that I deliberately followed it up to the red light so that I could click a picture. I would have been very disappointed if the light was already green, because then the truck would not have stopped and I would have not been able to click the picture. I have to admit that it was one of the rare occasions when I decided to crawl behind a slow moving vehicle but then it was so colorful that I had to take a picture.

Horn Please, It Happens Only in India

Horn Bajayen, That is Horn Please in Hindi!

We were taking lunch at a Dhaba near the railway station at Barog. And this tractor that invited everyone to honk was parked nearby! And yet I get annoyed when people honk at me. I mean half of us (OK maybe much less than half) somehow believe that honking is bad manners but the other half (OK maybe much more than half) believes in the message on the tractor!

Incredible India- The Little that I have Seen

Incredible India, The Places that I have Visited

Incredible India!

I have set up a Google news alert for India tourism and that is how I came across this article at a website called domain-b.com. It talks about the Ministry of Tourism plans to spend Rs 20 Crores on online advertising. So far so good.
The article on domain-b also talks about the Incredible India Website. I have always been curious to know what kind of traffic does Incredible India gets. Quoting from the article-

The ministry's Incredible India website, incredibleindia.org, has a daily average traffic of around 10 lakh visitors a day, with the ministry continuously innovating the tools on the site.

Have you ever tried searching for information on the Incredible India website? I have tried many times (I academically also try to write on tourism, hence this fascination with Incredible India) always using firefox. I almost always type Taj Mahal as my key words for search. And I do vaguely remember sometimes getting a result but most of the time the search function doesn't work. Below is the screen shot of the result I got this time if I press the arrow near the search key (enlarge the picture to see the exact error).

Search Result on Incredibleindia.org (3/02/2009) for Taj Mahal when you press the 'arrow' sign near the search box on the front page in Firefox

Search Result on Incredibleindia.org (3/02/2009) for Taj Mahal when you press the 'enter' key in Firefox

I get a different page if I just press 'enter' key (screen shot above) but that too gives no results. I mean we are software outsourcing hub to the world. Why can't we have a decent search engine on the Incredible India website that gets more than 10 lakh hits per day!

The ATM Culture in Jaipur

Street Food near Abmer Fort, Jaipur

While in Jaipur, I noticed that the place is not only colorful, but people behave differently too. I needed to withdraw some money from the ATM. So the auto driver, Gopi took me to one. I wonder what is your experience of taking out money in India but in NCR (National Capital Region comprising of Delhi and its nearby areas) there is almost always a security guard around and it is one person at a time. I know that is how it is probably world over. But not at Jaipur. The door to the ATM was open and you could queue in right inside the ATM behind the next person and no one seemed to be bothered in the least. So that is how I took out money in Jaipur, standing behind a person while he was doing his transaction and someone standing behind me when I took out my money. Can you imagine that in Delhi?

Images from Bangalore around Dusshera Time

I clicked this picture in Jayanagar in Bangalore two years back. In India banana leaves are used in may festivals and I found it quite interesting that the traffic police booth was decorated with it on Ayudh Pooja. I have not seen anything like this in the North India, where I have lived for most of my life.

This second picture is clicked around Bangalore, where a festival procession got our car stranded. So I got out stretched my legs and clicked a few pictures. The colors most definitely are striking.

Plastic Menance and Travel in India

Potato Chips and Colas on Sale, Near Abby Falls, Coorg

Many hill stations (Like Shimla and Manali) have banned plastic bags. And that is good. Otherwise the amount of plastic that we can throw around is just amazing. But then if we will not throw plastic bags then we will throw chips foils and plastic bottles! I persoanlly carry any rubbish that I canot dispose properly till I find a dustbin or till I am back to the hotel room. And I have seen many others do so too. But for every one person who does not litter, I have seen ten who would throw the chips foils anywhere. Yeah, I can see this is turning into a rant now. And of all things, when trekking, I have seen many small villages completely strewen with plastic, it is not jut the citywalahs.

A Really Strange Festival- Bhunda Narmedh Mahayajna

I came across this video via Indiamike. I was looking at some information about festivals in India and that is where this thread cropped up. If you follow the video links from Indiamike, there is a part 1 of this video too. It has so much (for me) animal slaughter on camera! Ihave to admit, I closed my eyes and peered between the fingers to see if we are on to something else. And I am not embedding it too.

Here is a description of the festival taken from the Tribune newspaper.

In the freezing heights of Bachoonch village in the prosperous apple belt of the Spail valley, Bhunda mahayajna stole the thunder on Christmas. More than 70,000 people thronged the village, 9 km from Rohru town, to watch this death-defying rope trick held there to please the local deities after a gap of 70 years. For locals, the Bhunda practice is nothing unusual in fact, for them it is as old as the hills. But for strangers, the rope trick was a crazy ritual that could have plunged Kunwar Singh, a traditional ‘Beda’ man, into the jaws of death had he fallen from the rope into the deep nullah.

But he did not. Kunwar performed the rope trick for the eighth time. Interestingly, if Kunwar, who belongs to Lohar caste (family of silversmiths) performs the rope trick 19 times, his family will become twice born — Dvij, the Brahmins. Bhunda narmedh (human sacrifice) mahayajna went almost unnoticed all these years.

2008 Begins on a Silent Note!

Twilight at Dhankar, Spiti, India

Due to cold somehow I have chocked my voice! Nephew is too happy, he can keep teasing me and I can only glare and not reply. Even my students would be very happy if they come to know of it! But thankfully classes begin next week only.

Methinks this is a sign that I should talk less and read and write more in 2008!

The Highest Point on the Spiti Homestay Trek- Komik

Komik, Spiti- Altitude 4275 Meters

And I guess if you just take one step after another, you reach somewhere in the end!

India Travel Blogs and Travel Blogs by Indians

I know there are many India Travel Blogs. I thought I will try and collect as many links as I can at one place. This will be an ongoing work as I know I have missed out on many. If you feel like pass me the links that I have missed.


A Backpacker in India Ravi

A Long Way Ahead Apu

As I See It... Ms. N

A Travel Blog of an Indian Backpacker From a Backpacker's Lens Backpakker

Climber & Explorer Anil

Cuckoo's Cosmos Cuckoo

Feel nothing experience everything Sandeep

Feringhee: The Indian Diaries Sirensongs

Fugue- Celine JS

Travel and Photo Blog Pijush

Impressions Akira


India is a Curious Place Hobo

India Travel Blog Arun

India Travel Diary Rups

India Vacations Rajeev

Itchy Feet Charu

Kalyan Verma Blog Kalyan

Kousik ans Sumana's Travel Ventures Kousik and Sumana

Musafir Hoon Yaaron (Travel with Manish) Manish Kumar

myHimachal myHimachal Group/Avnish

Notes from the Road Sumit

Payaniga Prashanth

Progammer- Outsource Thyself James W

Rambling Around- Ram

Soumya- Soumya.Org

Travel Memoirs Pooja

Travel Memoirs Sigma

Treks and Travel Aravind GJ

Trivial Matters Akshay

Travel Stories- A Log of My Journeys Priyank

Vagrant Jottings Aroha

VJ's Travelogues VJ

Wanderer Karnail

Wandering Souls Group Blog

Where is Deepak? Must be Traveling! Deepak

Windy Skies Anil

Last Updated- 25/04/2009

Pre-booking with Tour Operators in India

Yumthang Valley: Sikkim, We Booked the Tour at Gangtok

I sometimes get email queries for information on Ladakh or Sikkim. The most frequently asked question is: “Can you recommend a good travel agent to book the tour through?”

The problem is we travel almost like backpackers in India (my blog posts are a testimony to it) and this trend is broken only when I absolutely put my foot down (which rarely happens). Sesha just loves rundown hotels.

We do not pre-book almost anything on our trips (apart from the train or air tickets). I must say initially, I would almost go crazy at the idea of not having a hotel booking in advance. I can also assure you our entire family feels quite uneasy when we travel without any bookings but for the past 6 years we have managed to do fine at a variety of places ranging from Almora, Jageshwar, Chail, Ladakh, Sikkim, Joshimath, Bhunter, Manali, Jaipur, Udaipur, Bharatpur, Agra, Renuka Lake, Bharmour, Hadsar, Rajaji National Park, Dalhousie, Kaudiala, Auli, Mussoorie (this is all I have traveled in last six years? What am I doing with my life? Ok, I have left the treks out of this list cause you anyway live in a tent then, if I count the treks Goa, Har-Ki-Doon, Sar Pass and Kuari Pass get added to the list).

Soul-searching questions apart, how do we manage to do it in a crowded country like India? Here is why traveling in India without pre-booking is possible.

• Travel in the Off-season: Not all places can be visited with equal ease in the off-season (Ladakh readily comes to mind) but if you go to places like Sikkim, Auli or Manali in off-season, it is almost the buyers market. I remember going to Auli in August once. It was pouring and there were few people around. So, we could get a place at the GMVN guesthouse without any booking. What if we would have found it full? We would have come back to Joshimath and stayed there, Joshimath is not full even in June. Traveling a few times in the off-season is a must if you wish to escape the crowd. However, not having a booking at Goa in December (peak season) or Agra in season will make life difficult.

• It is Full of Tour Operators: Anyplace that is well known on the tourist map of India is full of hundreds (if not thousands) of tour operators. So, if it is absolutely essential for your peace of mind, pre-book your hotel. Any trips that you desire to take (like Pangong in Ladakh or Yumthang in Sikkim) can be booked after reaching the hub cities like Leh (Ladakh) or Gangtok (Sikkim). The prices charged closer to the destination also tend to be cheaper and you can shop around with tour operators.

• Sometimes you Stumble Upon Places: While coming back from Auli (in August, I have been there in June too) our bus stopped about 30 kilometers before Rishikesh, at Kaudiala for evening tea. GMVN has a guesthouse right at the bank of the Ganges here. We asked if there was a vacant room and we got it. Now if we had pre-booked a hotel at Rishikesh or Haridwar, this change of plans would not have been possible.

Still not convinced? Just try it ones for variety, and you may like it so much that it might become a habit.

FAQs on Tourism from Government of India Website

Kids in Village Talluka with a Jeans and Shirt Clad Me!

India fascinates so many travelers from various parts of the globe. I was today searching for some information on the net and stumbled on the site of Government of India FAQ on tourism.

http://indiainbusiness.nic.in/faq/faq_tourism_service.htm

I found it interesting. I wonder what do you have to say about the advice given there. On this page, I am putting just one.

I hear Indians are a more conservative lot especially compared to people in Western countries. What kind of clothes would be acceptable here?

Shorts, minis and tank tops are unadvisable unless you're on a beach. In small towns and cities especially, people may tend to stare if you expose too much skin. Safe clothing would be trousers, peddle pushers, capris, skirts, tops and shirts. India has some good cottons which are trendy and affordable. Buy yourself some. Women could try wearing a salwar kameez which is very cool and comfortable and could even improve the attitude of people towards them.

I am not sure how sound that advice is, particularly the salwar kameez part. Anywhere, when I am traveling on vacation my dress code is jeans and trousers only, as they are comfortable. Till date, I never felt out of place. Even shorts and tank tops are so common in big cities, particularly Malls.

Have a look at the complete FAQ and decide for yourself.