Hyderabad...

Was on a weekend trip to the city of pearls, bangles, Biryanis and the Nizams - Hyderabad! The weather was great and its a beautiful city. The ancient structures seem to co-exist very naturally with the modern buildings making the city architecturally beautiful.
Enjoyed the climb to the Golkonda Fort. The view from the top is just awesome. Walked around the seven tombs. There is a well laid path between all the tombs, surrounded with well maintained gardens and old park benches! All these add to the pleasure of walking and viewing.

The old city has the Char Minar. And Chowmahalla palace with those wonderfully crafted chandeliers. The busy streets leading to these have old buildings, the pearl bazaars, and shops after shops selling bangles - just bangles! It was an amazing sight!

There are ancient forts, minars, tombs, palaces, beautiful gardens, multi-storied buildings, beautiful temples, winding hilly roads with nice looking houses - all housed in the same city! Driving past Jubilee hills and Banjara hills gave me memories of Hollywood and Bel Air!

From the top of Golkonda Fort

Went in a speed boat around the Buddha statue in the middle of Hussein Sagar lake and it was a lot of fun. The laser show at Lumbini gardens was quite nice.

The Ramoji film city almost felt like a desi version of Universal studios tour. The sets, the hop on hop off buses going around and showing the various sets, the rides(I went in a few rides like the ranger ride, where it turns and goes 360 degrees and scares the bejesus out of you! That, my friend, is what fun looks like upside down! :) ) and the shows related to the art of film making made it a nice place to check it out.

I do not remember any inching traffic jams. The food was just great. Had the best fish kebabs and fish biryani.

It was a very pleasant stay and enjoyed some great hospitality, thanks to a friend. Hyderabad is wonderful! :)

Life lessons from Leh...

When I look back at my cycling adventure in Leh,Ladhak I have the greatest memories. But everyday cycling about 40 kms for 5 days was not vanilla fun as I can distinctly remember my thoughts of those time, while I was actually doing it. The mornings were wonderful to cycle, but if it was uphill it was a struggle. The high altitude was not helping. The scorching heat of the afternoon sun, the shade-less stretches of NH1, the chilly winds of early evenings making you want to wear a thin jacket - and ofcourse the fatigue that comes with physical exercise in extreme conditions - every evening I would wonder if I could cycle the next day. And the next morning I would wake up all fresh and would have the enthusiasm like it was my first day of cycling. In spite of all the things that were not easy, the trip is easily one of the best things I have done in life.

So what was so wonderful about it? Here I am, days after turning 31, realizing my dream of being able to explore Leh which I have wanted to do for so long. I love cycling and cycling in the mountains is so awesome. I was not sure if I had the physical stamina to do such things. I wanted to check. And I did it, and quite impressive indeed. I seem the happiest I have ever in past few years going by the pictures taken in Leh! The sense of accomplishment is immense.

That is my bike! :)

Very importantly I learnt a few life lessons:
1. To conquer the mountains you need to be in good shape, more so mentally. It is so tough to believe when going gets tough. But thats pretty much the only way to do it - believing that you can.
2. If you have chosen to explore the mountains with a mountain bike, well knowing that the fuel would be your energy and it takes greater time and effort to cover the given distance compared to a motor bike - you would have put in a deal of thought and chosen the trip for yourself. Believe it. Dont wonder why do you even do such things to yourself. It mostly seems stupid midway. May be on the way, exhaustion sometimes gets the better of you and there are low times when you wonder what the heck you are doing in the middle of nowhere in that hot sun, gulping glucose water like crazy and cycling so slow that a rock at the distance is your reference for a whole hour. Think well about what you want to do before doing it. Questioning your decision after starting or mid way is a bad idea. Drop the doubts. Stick to the decision, if you thought you could do it, you mostly likely can. So, just do it.
3. Journeys are about exploring yourself, as much as they are about exploring places. Enjoy. Take your time to smell the roses, soak in the warmth of the sun, breathe, meditate, day dream, share, care. Experience. Life is but a journey!
4. Uphills are tough. But if you wanted a view, you would have to climb the mountains. Thats why you are there to begin with. If you reduce the resistance by keeping the gears at their lowest, all you need is patience and persistence to get there. Uphills are there for a reason. And a little bit of practice and right perception can get you wonderful views that you will cherish all your life. So, hang in there, and go 1-1, 1-1, 1-1 (thats the gears!) and keep at it.
5. Downhills are fun, but they last a few mins! "Fun" in life cannot be forever. "Forever" fun may not be so much fun. But to get that fun feeling - of feeling the wind in your hair and cycling like the brakes had failed and singing at the top of your lungs and being so happy - you got to climb uphill. So it is just a part of the road, you cannot have downhill all the time, if you weren't pedaling enough why even cycle. You could put yourself in a drum and role down the road or something like that! Dont expect every piece of road to be downhill. Fun journeys are not made of that stuff.
6. Interesting people add to the joy of journeys. Choose whom you go with carefully. Although cycling is a very personal journey, there are times when having someone look out for you gives a nice feeling. When you take breaks to have lunch or to energise it is nice to have people who believe in the same things as you do, and say a kind word or give you motivation or just a knowing smile. The energy drink can re-energise your body, these other things energise your spirit. And tough terrains test your spirit more than your physical stamina. You need the right kind of people around to have your batteries charged, else it may just be a tough terrain struggle you signed up for.
7. The bigger picture is what you get when you have completed it. So wait. You cannot have those great abs, toned arms and legs till you complete it. You cannot understand what you have achieved bypassing anything on the way. You have to beat the heat, climb all the uphills, enjoy all the downhill rides, take in the great views, stop and enjoy the scenarios, click snaps initially at every beautiful sight and then get tired of doing it - there is a great scenery around every corner - so instead just stop enjoy the view and then cycle on, you have to keep focusing on that next peddle when you are totally exhausted and until you can find that shade and then wonder why you are here! :P You have to do it all. Only then you know what the whole deal is. So if you havent got the big picture yet, "picture abhi baaki hey dost!" :P
8. As it turns out, when you look back you carry only the memories of the good stuff, not so nice stuff erases gradually. Tough people last, no one can take away the sense of accomplishment from you. Only you know what you are doing, because no one else can understand you and tell you what you would enjoy doing the most. 

Apricots!

This was a pic I had taken after having a bite of one of those yummmm juicy fresh apricots in Leh, Ladhak. I love that yellow color and their taste is fresh in my memory!

Ladhak memories make me smile from ear to ear. In the office elevator recently, I saw this man wearing a T-shirt that had "Juley" written on it("Juley" is "hello"/greeting in Ladhaki)  and something like "Heaven on earth - Ladhak" written below. I dint know the person, but I just started smiling uncontrollably at the person, and he must have wondered why! :)

I am just so happy I got to see this heaven on earth - the natural beauty of the Ladhak region with Indus, the dust/sand mountains, the rocky landscape, the azure skies and all of it. It had been a long cherished dream to explore Leh, Ladhak and am so happy I could do it this year, feeling blessed. :)

In the land of apples and apricots...

I had some of the juiciest apples in Leh! The fruits seem to be grown in almost everyone's backyard there. There were also lots of apricot trees in the gardens. Having fresh apricots were a very tasty experience!

The local markets had all the fresh produce of fruits and vegetables. I guess all these are organically grown and much cheaper! No fancy packing, and taste heavenly.

Local market

Playful shadows...

There are wonderful shadows cast everywhere on the beautiful landscapes of Ladhak. The clouds cast shadows on mountains. The mountains of the plains and roads and other mountains. The trees on the roads. Airplanes on anything underneath. The shadow play of the lights was a photographer's delight. 

Many a times, the shades from these shadows were a real relief for a biker from the scorching sun.  

Just amazing :)

Mountain biking....

I was on a holiday to Leh, Ladhak, Jammu and Kashmir for the last 11 days or so.  What was I doing? Well I was on a mountain biking trip J How cool is that! The bikes aka the geared cycles were extremely good for the terrain and it was a wonderful experience. The best part of biking in the mountains is the meditative aspect. The terrains are tough and the weather in Leh is ruthless to the extent of literally sucking up all the moisture your body dares to expose. If you breathe through your mouth instead of the nose, the food pipe dries up! The dehydration left to itself can cause depression is what I heard, so even to keep oneself sane, one needs to hydrate as often! The early mornings and late evenings are chilly and the late mornings and noons are unbearably hot(for a Bangalorean i.e) and dryness is irrespective of day or night. Given the fact that I had all the time in the world, I became very aware of the body and mind. Any physical activity under extreme weather conditions is a mind game to begin with. 

The first day of the trail run(it was about 25kms!) I just wondered what on earth made me enroll for this, it felt very tough and I felt very unfit. The next day I was far more comfortable and by the fifth day the bike and me were almost so much in sync it was difficult not to believe I hadn’t done mountain biking before in my life. I learnt to synchronize breathing patterns with pedaling the bike, handle the steepness of the mountains with the bike, learnt to negotiate the hair pin bends. 

The roads - the roads in Ladhak deserve a special mention. They are extremely good, better than the roads in metros may be! The biking experience in Leh can be said to be of supremely high quality because of the excellent roads! Three cheers to the roads! :)

The azure skies provide a sense of calm that can only be experienced.

And the sense of accomplishment is so awesome. Imagine climbing mountains with your raw physical power for a fuel, what in the world can match that! The travel and the adventure add to the fun. The whole ride was on NH1 and most of the route was next to the Indus river! Scenic. Fantastic. Breath-takingly beautiful. I would highly recommend the experience. It is a doer’s delight. At the end of it all, you not only get a sense of accomplishment, you also get a toned body – that is a big bonus now, isn’t it!

Beauty and the wrath - in the beautiful lands...

Have been reading reports of the floods in Uttarakhand over the past 15-20 days. I had been there last August and a week or two before I went there were flash floods. But I never imagined the magnitude of floods to be as it is now.

While I was there I had seen land slides, fallen bridges, the tar of the roads swept away by rains make the rides bumpy. Had experienced the perils of driving in the rainy weather on the winding narrow roads sitting next to the driver in a small bus. On one side was a mountainous “wall”, that could give way anytime and rain boulders, stones, pebbles and soil, and anything that the loosened earth from the rains had in it, which was just yielding to gravity. On the other side were the deep valleys, beautiful for an onlooker but if the vehicle lost control, hardly anything recognizable could be retrieved.

Can you spot the road there?!

Rubble from a land slide...

Life there is not easy like in the plains, everyday is an adventure if you think about it. The most beautiful picturesque river can wash everything in the way if the rains persist. I remember so distinctly sitting on the banks of river Ganga in Haridwar, just keeping my legs in the water sitting on the steps – that itself kind of scared me, because the current of the river was so strong and just the immersion of a few centimeters of myself was enough to make me feel like being carried away by the mighty river. I am talking of the calmer times of the river when the river was flowing well within the danger limits. Imagining the ferocity of the river during the floods is plain scary.

A bridge view of civilization on the banks... 

Some say the calamity is man-made, deforestation loosens the soil, the washed away soil increases the level of the water in rivers, the rivers gets ruthless almost to the extent of wiping out the very civilization it had created around the banks.

My sincere wish is to preserve the forests, rivers, valleys, lakes and mountains of Uttarakhand, it is the land of a lot of the most beautiful places on earth. 

Engulfing beauty - a blissful feeling!

I have had spiritual experiences just looking at the wonderful natural wonders here. May peace and green prevail.

Picturesque journeys, happy memories! 

Israeli love song...

We were on our way from Govind Ghat to Badrinath which is about 25kms drive. It was a small bus. Big buses cant take turns easily over the winding road. We met an Israeli couple from Tel Aviv. The man was a shy type, but the woman forthcoming. We introduced ourselves. Got to know that he taught music and they were on a two month vacation to India. It was their last week, they had been roaming around Leh, Ladhak, Valley of flowers etc. All the places covered were in Nothern India. They were excited to know we(me and three of my friends from Bengaluru) are from Southern India and told us they planned to visit this part on their next trip to India.

I asked the music teacher to sing a song for us. He declined politely saying he taught percussion and not vocal music. We just insisted a little more and the couple started singing a song for us. It was very melodious, may be in Hebrew. Their voices sounded good together, it felt they must have sung together many a times before. They were generally facing us as they sang, but would look at each other almost at the same time, as they sang some parts and their eyes seemed to light up.  They seemed to share some secret thoughts even as they sang. It felt so good watching them sing. After the song got over, we clapped in delight. It was quite evident, but I asked them what kind of song was it, and the woman told us it was a love song. One of the most melodious love songs ever, she said. It must be so good singing one of the most romantic songs ever, with the person you love the most! :)

Chaat burger!

We were walking around Joshimath. There was this big copper colour container tilted in a weird angle, such that its big base was visible. It was placed inside a mobile cart with tomatoes, onions, chilies, lemons at the base of the standing vessel. Was very curious - it was most definitely some kind of eatery, but what? Could not find the vender. I was hoping we come back on the same road, and we did. It was a "chaat burger" stall! The vendor had all the veggies- onions, chilies, tomatoes, boiled potatoes and channa ready. He mixed them all with some masala and lemon in the big copper container to make a tangy, spicy saucy mixture, slit the bun and filled it with this. Every bite was surprisingly delicious! hmmmmm yummmm!

The mobile tea shop!

It was a busy, narrow, winding lane of Rishikesh, on either sides there were small shops selling all kinds of things - jewelry, clothes, bags, books, items of religious significance like rudraksh etc. I noticed a tea vendor serving tea. What was different was how he was preparing tea freshly as he moved along and served both shop keepers and their clients alike! He had a covered kerosene stove on top of which he had placed a kettle of milk. There was another plastic bucket in which he kept his milk can, disposable tea cups, tea powder packet and a container along with a filter to prepare and serve the hot tea. The tea tasted very good. His shop was amazingly mobile and was a good business idea compared to the stagnant shops. Given the fact that the streets were quite narrow, a mobile tea shop works thoroughly well for some of those lanes of Rishikesh.