Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Seeing Bangladesh- so near yet so far


bangladesh- no near yet so far

Non Stop Adda
15 of us ( mother not there as she is taking the pix)

Titi at Taki eating taratari


August turned out to be a very action packed month. We had gone to Kolkata to celebrate Titi turning one year. After birthday celebrations were over,  15 of us ( inlcluding TiTi) set out for Taki in a Tata Winger.

Taki is on the banks of the river Ichamati. On the other side is Bangladesh with the river acting as a border. All boats which ply on the river MUST display flag of the country they belong to.

Taki was a great trip. Everyone had lots of fun as you can make out from the pictures.



Sunday, May 19, 2013

A Very Special Summer Sojourn




First we went to Kolkata from Hyderabad. There one day we visited a litchi orchard. It was fun to see the raw fruit green in colour hanging in flocks from the trees. During my next visit to Kolkata a fortnight later, I learnt they would be ripe and red and fit to eat.
From Kolkata we travelled  by a summer special train which was supposed to reach Delhi next day at 2 pm but all the staff in the train were vouching it would be at least 4 hours late. Such is this train's reputation! An uncle came and took our order for dinner. He told us that dinner would be served between 5 to 6 pm. He also told us an interesting fact about this train-most trains stop less and move more, but this train is just the opposite.
Just as the train entered Durgapur, there was a hailstorm. I saw white ice on the station. It was a new experience for me and I just loved it.
This is really a very special train which finally reached Delhi Anand Vihar station after an almost 7 hour delay. We hurriedly took the metro and reached old Delhi station and boarded the Mussorie Express after a well-deserved dinner at Mcdonalds. If the special train had been a little more late, we might have missed this train.
The next day after alighting from the Mussorie Express at Haridwar, we went to Elephant Brook Resort near Rishikesh. It is a beautiful campsite on the banks of river Hyule, a tributary of river Ganga .There I had a lovely time wetting my feet in the brook, watching the trout under the water and eating breakfast in the middle of nature. In the afternoon we went to Dehradun and the rest of the day was spent in the hotel resting and readying for the trip to Auli.
Tuesday May 6th we started for Auli from Dehradun at 8 am. One hour later just as we crossed Rishikesh, I felt like vomiting.  Then my mother told me a secret by which I could stop the vomiting. I followed it and for the next ten hours journey to Auli, I was just fine. We finally reached Auli at 8 in the night. The last part  was through thick jungles where Sunil uncle had spotted a leopard just ten days ago crossing the road. After reaching we had to walk in the darkness for about fifteen minutes to reach Devi Darshan Lodge. When Sunil uncle asked if I still wished to see a leopard, I quickly said “ NO!”
Wednesday we went to Gorson meadows, first by chair lift and then on horses. At Gorson top, there were still snow on the mountain and it was fun to play with the snow. With us was a family from Pune. There were two girls, Kanchi and Saheli and we became friends. We had a lovely time playing on the snow and sliding down the green slopes. After a picnic lunch we returned to our lodge and played carom and ludo.
The next day I went with my mother and Sunil uncle to the site. It had a lovely view of the snow peaks. We then visited a lovely old house in which lived a lonely old man. We spent quite some time there and I got a little bored with the non- stop talk.
Finally the time came to goodbye to Auli. We got back to Haridwar and boarded the train to Jodhpur. The next morning there was only sand and sand outside the window. We were crossing the Thar desert.
What a grand holiday! I want more such holidays. Yeh dil mange more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!