Tour to North India

Day 0- 'The Train'

I woke up to an exciting morn, one filled with excitement, all in anticipation, hoping the days ahead will be amazing ones! I ended up rushing to the train station, at Margao. Were many parents there, anxious to see their kids leaving. Nikhil had his mom calling out 'Nicku!. . ‘followed by what to do & what not to do on the tour.

There was hustle & bustle of the crowd and people striding to their seats. All settled down, at our respective coaches. Well the journey by train began! It was 1100hrs on a Monday morning. All Sat n enjoyed the scenery for a while, capturing the sceneries on our digital cameras.

1600 hrs, we Jus crossed Ratnagiri. Pranav was called Sharukh khan by one of the Chakkas who climbed the train, should have seen the expression on his face, after he/she pulled his cheeks!

Evening. .1800hrs. Journey seems to be getting boring. Some groups playing cards, others Uno, rest Mafia.

I did click a few snaps of the setting sun, its so beautiful, one can’t explain in words, or even in a picture!

Well, i was listening to music, joined in Christmas carols n sum bollywood numbers (something I don’t do very often), Dumsheratz, Some way to kill time. I took a long walk with Akhil, till the end of the train, meeting all friends, n seeing new faces, something v don’t get to do every day.

Its 2000hrs, the day has almost ended. All are getting ready for bed, nicks is making sure our bags are not stolen by fastening it with a lock and chain, receiving a great jolt on his head in the bargain, by one of the berths that accidently fell upon his head without warning. We set the beds with d sheets that v had all stuffed in our bags. Overall i would say I had a somewhat different experience, never did before.

Day 1-'Pizza Hut!'

Well. . We were not so asleep after all, our class mates didn’t allow us to sleep with all the noise they kept making. The security got them quiet. No worries i got around 8 hrs of sleep. Woke up to a freezing morning . I knew it was nothing compared to what we will be experiencing in a couple of days.

0645hrs. The train halted at a station in MP. Nicks went out to get his breakfast; I had brought mine with me. He comes with two plates of Kachouri.

In the mean while, Maha was throwing a big tantrum, kept complaining about how freezing it is(when it actually wasn’t!) . I bought chai from a vendor & had it with breakfast.

Now we'll be arriving at Jaipur, called the pink city, as nicks had jus explained to me why it’s called so. Another day, lets see how we kill the time till we arrive at the pink city. .

1420hrs. . We just got the news that we'll be arriving in Jaipur an hour early, that’s around an hour from now. So we all getting set n packing up our stuff scattered all over the place. I’ve just decided to drain my battery, by listening 2 music, which I’ve been saving since the beginning of the journey!. . We've not yet arrived Jaipur, still gathering our bags n stuff. .

We had arrived in Jaipur at 1540hrs. We rushed to our buses . On d way we saw all the buildings, the Pizza Hut, n so many more nice buildings, but hey there's a population Explosion!

Well since the time i saw Pizza Hut, I was determined to go there! So we took a shower n started walkin. . We reached there at last! . But man was it worth it!! We ordered a chicken ceaser salad n a chicken supreme deep dish. . It was so awesome. We then decided to go to paratha hut, which was on the way while walking back. Had 2 parathas n drank a cup of hot lemon tea. We walked back to the hotel.

We'll be leaving 2mrw for site seeing and at night, we'll be headed off to Delhi.

Day 2- 'The Fabulous Pink city'

0700hrs: we woke up to a cold morning, Well, its wasn’t that cold, but it was just fine. Nicks switched on the TV, had a good laugh with an episode of friends .

We got ready n went out in search of a restaurant to have breakfast. Managed to find a small one, where we had 2 amazingly hot parathas . Walked out n caught the tourist bus.

First, we want to Birla Mandir. This amazin temple was made of white marble. No snaps allowed inside the temple, so i dont have any of the temple inside.

We saw there so many pigeons feeding on the grains given by the locals. We then went to Albert museum there were beautiful paintings, n swords cups plates . We boarded the bus n headed off to a textile industry where they sold artifacts n handicrafts.

We then went to this crazy place for lunch, we then went to fort Amber. Man now that place was amazingly huge!! We needed to go there by jeep, since the roads to the fort were very narrow. The fort walls, the court yards, the stairways, the pillars and the minute carvings on the walls and pillars, all were just so lovely. Clicked a few snaps .

Then we went to see the Jal Mahal. . A structure in the middle of the water. .The reflection of the temple on the water was just a lovely sight. It was sun down by then, so we went for a stroll on the sidewalk. . While nicks n Abhi went for a camel ride!! They described themselves as '2donkeys riding a camel'.

It was dark by then; the bus driver fired up the engine n drove us to the railway station. We kept our bags on the station while the guide looked after them. We headed off to McDonalds in a Rick, after a long argument. Had a chicken Mexican roll. Felt like heaven, we had it with fries and a hot coffee!! . . felt so so warm.

we walked out n roamed a bit in the neighboring area. The city goes dead by 9. . Most of it, the lights r out n everyone goes to sleep, I guess.

We then met Abhi n nicks and caught a rick n came straight to the railway station, where i'm sittin right now n writing this entry. We’re waiting for the train to Delhi, which is scheduled to depart at 0030hrs. I just can’t wait to be in Manali. :)

Day 3-'Chandigarh'

0030hrs, ok we're still at the station, waiting for the train. Maha made our life more interesting. . She happened to see an unattended metal box. She started bursting out saying that there's a bomb in the box! She pulled Abhi along to inquire about it. Well, guess what that turns out to be! It’s the sweeper’s box, one of the train employer’s! By the time the train came, the story of the unattended bag was all over the station, I guess, even strangers must have heard.

The train arrived at the station, behind schedule, well as we stood in a queue to get in, we noticed a crazy guy jumping out the window of the train! Some sample!! We entered the train, n there was a big commotion at our cabin, cuz some guy was travelling to Delhi on the wrong day. As the train rocked thru the night, freezing cold wind blew into our faces. I did sleep much, but I did manage to get little bit of shut eye.

0540 hrs, reached Delhi, it was freezing. Well, we didn’t halt there. We directly boarded the bus to Manali. 0845 we halted at a Punjabi Dhaba & ate warm parathas with hot tea.It was indeed refreshing!. .

We then modified our itinerary to stop by Chandigarh, the cleanest n most expensive city in India. It was lovely, but shopping was not worth it! Stopped by the Rock garden, a really nice spot, a park, then continued our journey to Manali, after stopping for dinner at a restaurant. The day was a travelling one, a different experience.

Day 4- ‘A Photographer’s Paradise!'

We arrived at Manali, 0540hrs. Now this is as cold as it can get!! The weather was extremely freezing!! I noticed white patches over the lawn in front of the hotel. I had a doubt, whether it was snow, I wasn’t sure. We rushed down to the reception to book our rooms. Abhi, nicks n myself got a room together again, a beautiful one this time. It was spacious. I've decided to clear the doubt I had about the white patches over the lawn, so I went out & touched it. it Was Ice!! This was exiting. The first time ever I felt snow in my life!! I called nicks along n told him to feel it too.

We couldn’t wait to see what Manali was all about. I was wide awake from then. I took a hot shower in the mean while nicks watched the movie ‘atonement’. Abhi, spent time sleeping under the blanket, fast asleep. We just spent some time in the room, watching TV, till dawn, we looked out of the window n for the first time I actually saw snow capped mountains, with my eyes! 0830hrs Nicks n Myself got dressed, with thermal wear n 3layers of jackets, n went for a walk outside. We took snaps of ‘heaven’, as we had described it. It was lovely, really. The smell of the air, the view, the mountains, so magically blended together.

We then went to have breakfast with the rest of the crew. N waited for them to leave for sightseeing. We left after having warm chicken soup n parathas, with masala tea. We saw a yak. The animal was huge but agile! Easily climbs slopes n it’s got this long hair. Oh we made friends with tiger, a cute big dog which lives in the vicinity of the highland hotel. We went walking to a temple in the hills. I bought gloves for the snow. All I wanted to do was click, click n click snaps. I couldn’t capture it all. 

We then headed to the market for shopping, so many beautiful things to buy. We went to have lunch at this lovely restaurant serving Tibetan food. Guess what! We had momos. Fried n steamed, noodles n all. So much of it all. I just loved the momos.

The day ended like that, we were all anxious about the next day, as we were heading out to snow point!

Day 5- 'Winter Wonderland!!'

0711hrs: I woke up, just thinking what the freezing day is going to be like. We were supposed to head to Snow Point. We looked out n there was sleet. . Hmm. . I wished it were snow. We all got dressed & headed out for breakfast. We had egg paratha n tea. We looked out, n it was snow!! All were so exited!! . . We headed off to snow point, while in the jeep, we reached a higher altitude, on one of the hairpin bends, the jeep skid an exact 180 degrees, n we came to a standstill! We took a U turn n headed back for attempt number 2.

This time, we needed to push the jeep up the snowy mountain. We reached snow point!

We made a large snow man and we clicked loads n loads of snaps. Then, we went skiing, just 2 rounds. . But it was totally fun. We had a bad experience too.

We then visited a hot water spring . . It seemed so amazing, in the freezing cold, nature has a way of providing heat to the inhabitants.

We went to the same restaurant where we had gone yesterday, we wanted 2 try out the soup so we ordered a wanton chicken soup, momos, fried. . N noodles. . It was really satisfying. We then headed back to the hotel, we needed to get ready for the DJ night. We did, n left for the party at 8, the lighting was lovely. . But the music wasn’t impressive. We went upstairs to have dinner. While walking back, I noticed it was almost full moon, the snow capped mountains gleaming in the moonlight, just so so beautiful. We just had fun, totally. I spent midnight under bright moonlight.

Day 6-'Shimla'

We left early morning for Shimla, after warm breakfast of bhurji & parathas. I'm really going to miss the place, the snow, the weather, the sceneries, Everything!

Shimla, we reached in the evening after stoppin at a couple of places for meals. We checked in to Woodrina hotel. Abhi, Nicks n myself together again, this tym we got a cottage.We thought it'll be really warm. But it was so freezing. . At a point it felt worse than manali! It had this dry dry kind of cold. Which made everything so without life. Well it was am experience. We slept in d freezing cold. Nicks woke up with black feet! Guess it was due to lack of circulation. He placed his feet in a bucket of warm water till they re-colorized. 

We hurriedly packed our bags & set out to the bus, where we dumped our bags. The tour head decided to take us to kufri, where we had to go on mules to reach there. We reached on top n saw this fun world, which wasn’t worth it at all. . Had a go karting circuit, which was too small n way too expensive. So we didn go at all. . We enjoyed the sceneries, n took way too many snaps. . Oh we had breakfast of chips n noodles, which was accompanied by a cup of masala tea.

1400hrs: Was getting late, so we decided to head out, to the upper mall. We walked around there, searching for barista, where I had a cup of coffee & a wicked brownie, which was served with ice-cream. While heading back, we entered the church which was on top of the mall, visible from anywhere in the mall. Then hopped in to subway, n got us a subway sandwich, of smoked chicken.

1630hrs, we needed to rush back to the lift, the meeting place, as we needed to reach Ambala, to catch the train to Amritsar. We reached the station on time, there was a big confusion about the platform, but we managed, n figured it out in the end. We rushed onto the train, n we shoved our bags under the seats, all thanks to nicks for his help.

Day 7- ‘The golden Temple’

We then arrived at Amritsar early morning at 0600hrs. We directly headed to a hotel and checked in to freshen up. All were waiting for the big day; the golden temple was what we all wanted to see. After getting our rooms, we all had a bath & headed off, we visited Jallianwalla Bagh, alternatively known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar where, on April 13, 1919, while doing a peaceful demonstration on occasion of Punjabi New Year, British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The firing lasted about 10 minutes and 1650 rounds were fired, or 33 rounds per soldier. Official British Raj sources placed the fatalities at 379. According to private sources there were over 1000 deaths, with more than 2000 wounded,and Civil Surgeon Dr. Smith indicated that there were 1,526 casualties.

We all became sentimental after seeing the site.

We then walked to the Golden temple, a site whose eyes must behold at least once in a lifetime. The glorious structure resides in the middle of a pool of water. The Golden Temple is culturally the most significant place of worship of the Sikhs and one of the oldest Sikh gurdwaras. It is located in the city of Amritsar, which was established by Guru Ram Das, the fourth guru of the Sikhs, and is, also due to the shrine, known as "Guru Di Nagri" meaning city of the Sikh Guru.

It was a festival day, when we had gone there, so there were many Sikhs there, we were supposed to stick to the schedule so we didn’t get a chance to enter the main temple that stood in the center of the lake.

After a glass of lassi, and a few snacks, we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags n dump them in the basement, we had only one place left to go in Amritsar, as per the itinerary, the Wagah border often called the 'Berlin wall of Asia', is a ceremonial border on India–Pakistan Border, where each evening, there is a retreat ceremony called 'lowering of the flags'. At Sundown, there is very energetic and thrilling parade done by Border Security Force (B.S.F), India and Pakistan Rangers soldiers. It seemed slightly aggressive and even hostile to us, but it really is just entertainment for the crowds from both sides. Border officers from the two countries sometimes walk over to the offices on the other side for day to day affairs. The happenings at this border post have been a barometer of the India-Pakistan relations over the years.

Day 8- ‘The Capital’

We caught the train to Delhi from Amritsar, by night so we arrived at the Capital in the morning where we freshened up n headed out to, the Bahá'í House of Worship in Delhi, India, popularly known as the Lotus Temple due to its flowerlike shape, is a Bahá'í House of Worship and also a prominent attraction in Delhi. It was completed in 1986 and serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent. It has won numerous architectural awards and been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles.

All Bahá'í Houses of Worship, including the Lotus Temple, share certain architectural elements, some of which are specified by Bahá'í scripture. `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, stipulated that an essential architectural character of a House of Worship be that it requires to have a nine-sided circular shape. Inspired by the lotus flower, its design is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides. While all current Bahá'í Houses of Worship have a dome, they are not regarded as an essential part of their architecture. Bahá'í scripture also states that no pictures, statues or images be displayed within the House of Worship and no pulpits or altars be incorporated as an architectural feature (readers may stand behind simple portable lecture stands). The nine doors of the Lotus Temple open onto a central hall, capable of holding up to 2,500 people. The central hall is slightly more than 40 meters tall and its surface is made of white marble. The House of Worship, along with the nine surrounding ponds and the gardens around comprise 26 acre (105,000 m²; 10.5 ha).

We visited Akshardham in New Delhi epitomizes 10,000 years of Indian culture in all its breathtaking grandeur, beauty, wisdom and bliss. It brilliantly showcases the essence of India’s ancient architecture, traditions and timeless spiritual messages. The Akshardham experience is an enlightening journey through India’s glorious art, values and contributions for the progress, happiness and harmony of mankind.

The grand, ancient-styled Swaminarayan Akshardham complex was built in only five years through the blessings of HDH Pramukh Swami Maharaj of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) and the colossal devotional efforts of 11,000 artisans and BAPS volunteers. The complex was inaugurated on 6 November, 2005.

Akshardham means the eternal, divine abode of the supreme God, the abode of eternal values and virtues of Akshar as defined in the Vedas and Upanishads where divine bhakti, purity and peace forever pervades.

We headed to the hotel for a shower n then it was shopping time in Delhi, I had saved up my money to go shopping out here in Delhi. The first time we tried out the metros, really world class. An experience I would never forget in the metro, the whole tour group came to know about it by the end of the day. I was pick pocketed, but just a couple of hours later, I got a call from an anonymous number saying my purse was found & since I was leaving next day for Agra, the purse would be couriered to my house in Goa, all my cards were intact, only my money was gone. 

We didn’t sleep all that much that night; we needed to leave by dawn to catch the train to Agra. So we did a bit of packing & hit the sack.

Day 9- ‘The Prestigious Taj Mahal’

We were all tired by the time we reached Agra. The train journey wasn’t all that pleasant. But we did make it, all in one piece, with just the right amount of energy to see Agra. We visited the Taj Mahal first al were desperately clicking photos, with the world heritage monument. No one wanted to miss a shot!

We walked around the Taj & then it was 1300 hrs, time to head off to have lunch

Day 10 & 11- ‘Amchem Goem’

It was a 42 hour journey from Agra to goa. On the way all of us were reminiscing the days of the tour, checking out the photos that we clicked and by now all of us missed home sweet home, all were tired n waiting to be home to say hi to all relatives & friends. There is no place like home, that’s what we all agreed to.

0500hrs, Jan 17th : We arrived at the station in Margao, parents waited to see their kids again. I would describe the tour as the best 12 days of my life.