Ladakh - the floor below the roof of the world

Ladakh, the word means Land of high passes in Ladakhi and appropriately so. A lot many people think even though they have read in History and Geography, that being a mountainous area it’s just an extension of Himachal Pradesh, and not a part of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Infact barring Jammu, both Kashmir and Ladakh have been the reason for dispute with our respective neighbours since the last 68 years of independence. But then that is a lesson for different audience, here we are more interested in getting there and enjoying what it has to offer, rather than a history lesson.

And what does Ladakh has to offer? It depends of what you went there looking for. The landscape is barren, very barren. Almost like a desert in fact a lot like a desert, just that there is little sand but lots of mountains and rocks. It also has rivers and green valleys, which seem like an unusual contrast when viewed from the high peaks or any of the famous passes.

This natural scene does not appeal equally to all who go there. For some it’s just the empty noise of wind in their ears, while riding over the distinctive thump thump of their enfield engines, or the spirituality in the air, heavy with its unpolluted presence for over 2000 years now.

And spiritual you are bound to become, once you reach this place. It reminds you of how utterly insignificant you are in the long run, or how so ever important or successful you are, these mountains and valleys have seen many more such people than you, they came they conquered but its this place that has seen it all and yet is unchanged for the past so many millennials.

There is a lot to see and learn from, for the initiated, for the naive there are all the attractions of a hill station slowly destroying the calm culture, prompted by the heavy tourist inflow and lack of the other economic opportunities save the tourism industry. Though humans have the tendency of reducing the best of places to mere photogenic memories, it is a long time before all of Ladakh would be just another destination to show off on your social media timeline.

For most of the statistical data look below, and then read on for what it will be well worth the experience,

Best months to visit - 

By Road : (Self Drive)

Via Manali - May to September. The road opens normally by mid of May, Rohtang pass opens a couple of weeks earlier.

Via Srinagar - May to September. This is the longer route, though it lets you see all of Jammu and Kashmir, if you choose to return Via Manali. 

More on the choice of roads to come later.

By Flight : All year. Flights are available all year round, depending on weather in Leh. There are atleast 4 direct flights between Delhi and Leh.

What did I do?

This was my second trip to the fabled land. And having seen both the routes the first time, i had the liberty to choose my path. The Srinagar - Kargil - Leh route been open since May would have been the ideal choice but a time crunch made me decide to head to Manali and try my luck from this side.

Delhi to Manali

It takes a day or rather 12 hours of drive to reach Manali, from Delhi. No matter at what time you start your journey, it is going to be of the same duration. Delhi to Manali is an easy drive, the hill routes are not tough. The road and traffic both get a lot better post Barmana, where the ACC Cement Factory is located. Till there, there is a lot of movement of heavy traffic which makes overtaking and driving at decent speeds impossible.

Kullu to Manali

Kullu and Manali have since long been connected with the new bypass road so now we don’t need to cross the city to head to the other side. There is still a lot of jam in peak season to cross the bridge towards the bypass at post Bhunter. The bridge over a tributary of Sutlej is quite narrow, hence results in a lot of bottlenecks. Once crossed Manali is hardly an hours drive away.

Manali to Leh

This is the tricky part and also the best part of the journey, at least for me. To drive on this route is the ultimate test and experience of ones driving skills.

The route from Manali to Leh is peppered with 5 passes, each getting higher than the previous as we proceed towards Leh. That is why it is mostly advisable to return through this route and head to Leh from srinagar side, but when were we to follow the right way?

RohtangLa

The first of the passes, translated to “Pass of Corpses”, literally is the worst to cross. Not because of the bad roads or difficult terrain but for the influx of tourists on this spot. It is said that even after stringent restrictions on arrivals here, atleast 1500 vehicles make a round trip to this pass daily and thats just the average number. One of the busiest tourist attractions, this pass is snow covered all around the year. Although a tunnel is being constructed from the solang valley side so that traffic to Leh can be opened all round the year but there are other bottlenecks on this route as well.

Once you cross RohtangLa, the roads become even more treacherous and muddy going down on the other side. A lot of careful and attentive driving is required on this stretch. Although the terrain provides ample opportunities to try off roading as well, at some places, but be advised, its a do it at your own risk activity.

Next destination is a small halt, Gramphu. This is the place where on the right, the road heads to wards the ever magnificent Spiti Valley, and left head towards Sissu, the next stop on the Manali Leh highway.

Off late some camps and staying options have come up here as well, so people heading to Leh can have a stop at this place too, otherwise there is always camps at Jispa.

Jispa is around 140 kms from Manali, and some 23 odd kms from Keylong. It is a small valley with Bhag river flowing at its right edge. It makes for a very scenic stop especially at night under clear skies.

On way to Jispa is Tandi, a small village and the last petrol station before Leh on this route. It is advisable to have the tank filled up completely here, and also carry some extra fuel in a jerry can, you never now what detour or bad road may halt your progress ahead. The next filling station, as a board proudly boasts is about 364kms away at Upshi.

A night stay at Jispa later, you are acclimatised and rested to tackle the roads better. A word of advise, if you leave at around 6 from Manali, you may reach Rohtang by 9. Spending an hour or two here will be a good idea, then head to Jispa by 12. You will reach there by 4, very comfortably.

BaralachaLa

The second pass on this route, and also maybe the worst to cross. For reasons like its location, and geography, the weather on BaralachaLa is always unpredictable. There can be rain, snow or bright sunshine within a matter of minutes. Whereas sunshine is good only when you leave early and cross the pass before the snow and ice starts melting, because then, the naalas start flooding which may cause traffic to stop for 3-4 hours at a stretch. On the scenic front this pass scores more heavily than any of the other passes on the route. Just below the pass is a lake, Suraj Tal, which remains frozen till end of June only thawing by Mid July, by then there are small camps setup there, which make a good overnight staying option, if you can bear the chill that is.

Sarchu

On the other side of BaralachaLa is Bharatpur Tent Colony. Beautiful and Barren. The temperatures here reach to -10 degress and more often than not, the fuel lines are frozen for vehicles which stay overnight here. If this is what it does to non living things, think about yourself. The people manning these tents are very helpful and friendly. Another hour later you reach the Himachal Border, at Sarchu.

If you leave Jispa by 8 in the morning, you can cover the distance to Sarchu in three or four hours, with ample stoppage time in between for photoshoots, which can never be enough, because the barren beautiful landscapes beg to be clicked now and then. And no matter how many pictures you take, the next scene seems too good to pass without taking another shot.

Pang

Post Sarchu, the next big stop is Pang, which takes another couple of hours. In between lies Gata Loops, a set of hairpin bends which take you from around 14000 ft to 16000 ft at the NakeeLa. This is the third pass on this route. The ascent is very comfortable save for the bad condition of the road on the loops and of course, an occasional landslide could set up back by an hour or so on the time. Barring that, it is one of the easiest passes on this route. Once you cross NakeeLa, the next valley has a crossing named, BiskyNala, or WhiskyNala. One of the two famous nalas in this region, the other too, a one before is named after another spirit, for that you can do some research on your own too. It would be fun.

Crossing Whiskynala, another 8 kms later is LachulungLa. This is one of the easiest passes even though being on such a great height. From here Pang is another half an hours drive. Why is Pang important? Well for one, from there starts the More plains. This is a plain stretch at about 13000 ft for 40-45 kms. The views to see here cannot be described in any words. You have to see the vast expanse to believe it. So much land, so much free space and exquisite sculptures cut by the movement of water on rocks for thousands of years. Each view more beautiful than the previous one.

TanglangLa

The fifth and last pass on this route is TanglangLa. Claimed to be the second highest motor-able pass in this reqion, this is one of the best maintained sections of the whole highway. Post this pass the drive simply follows the Indus river to the Leh valley along cities like Hemis, Shey, Thiskey which are also centuries old monasteries, infact Shey was the captial city of Ladakh kingdom until very recently, the new palace too is located there.

If you leave Jispa by 8 am, then you can very comfortably reach Leh in 10 hours with ample stops along the way.

Leh is another 90 kms from here, and the road is well maintained, with the route all along the Indus river, from Upshi the first town you will encounter in past 24 hours. No doubt you would be a bit disappointed at seeing fellow human beings after two days of solitude, and the natural sceneries now start to get dotted with human intervention. Not that that does not have an intrinsic beauty of its own but the to each their own piece of heaven, that is what Ladakh has to offer.

Other important information:

Permit for Rohtang - When you are travelling to Leh, you don't need the local permit to travel to Rohtang, that is only applicable for vehicles returning the same day. For vehicles crossing Rohtang to Lahaul side, the shack at Gulaba or somewhere before on the route will issue a slip which needs to be safely carried along till Leh. There are BRO check points where you have to sign in with the local official on duty. It is mandatory.

Tips for Driving:

Make sure you are adequately rested. Never drive sleepy on mountains. Drink a lot of water or juices. Go light on aerated drinks as they can cause acidity on higher altitudes, which is not good for driving on such roads. Take regular stops but don't physically over exert yourself as you will tire out very easily at such heights. Fellow travellers since they are very less in number try and stick in close driving distance, driving in those areas is very different from what we are used to in plains, proper etiquettes need to be followed for ones own better experience and those of others too, whom we encounter on the road.

Book Fair 2016 - Another year another visit

Book Fair 2016 - International book Fair

It’s not seldom that one gets to view or be part of a news recently read in the papers. Over the period of my short life, as compared to many other generations before me, i have had the honour of being at the right place at the wrong time, many a times. The timing though yesterday could not have been better, for some minutes before or later i would have missed the group of cyclists, on the NH 24. What made them stand out wasn’t that it was a large group of people cycling together, or that they were dressed in apparels common to all, but what made them noticeable was the police escort under which they were travelling. For it was the sound of the siren that made me notice what was happening on the other side of the highway carriage. Recently i had read about a group of cyclists who had come from Nepal, through UP to Delhi, maybe it was them who were heading back to their source. What had interested me in the new were two things, one the cycling from Nepal, and other the route they took, it was almost a mix of politics and religion, the places they had visited. Gorakhpur, Patna, Gaya, Varanasi which were on the route for religious places of  importance, but Saifai? And Agra? Probably because they would have arrived using the only cycle-able route, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra, Delhi. That’s the route normally taken by anyone heading to eastern side of the state anyway. When i saw them, and since they were cycling on the NH 24 it seemed they would be returning through the other highway, the slightly northern one which goes through, Moradabad, Barielly, and maybe even head back into Nepal from Pilibhit side.

Here is the only link which i could find online mentioning something of their trip, Link. 

What further made me a part of history, wan’t the fact that i was heading to Delhi on just some day. I was travelling on the 13th. Not that it was the first time i had been out on Delhi’s roads on the day of lohri, but the fact that it was an odd date and i had odd numbered vehicle too. Odd, yes the even-odd we learnt in school. I was a part of the traffic during the experimental two weeks of odd - even rule as well. The Kejriwal government decided that it would reduce the traffic and pollution on Delhi’s roads, yes to some extent atleast the traffic is less, pollution i could not guarantee since i wasn’t the one carrying the proper scientific apparatus around. While heading into Delhi, even though i was travelling around 2 in the afternoon, the traffic did feel a lot less than what i had seen it to be in the previous years. I could see some rule breakers too, like this white scorpio travelling right ahead, but then who was i to point this out to?

The lines at the ticket window at Pragati Maidan weren’t that long, just around 5 or 6 people ahead of me, and the buying and entering was hardly an affair of 10 mins. There were some college students too, i assumed from their excitement about getting tickets on showing their id cards that they were here for the first time and it wasn’t only the books that had drawn them here. But then everyone had their own little motivations and plans for being someplace. Who was i to question their young desires? Moving ahead i caught a shuttle to the nearest hall. Even these shuttle to the respective halls weren’t that infrequent and crowded, i could easily gain a seat without any hustling, that is so characteristic of any fair at Pragati Maidan. Maybe the even odd rule and part fact that i had chose my visit on a working day mid of the week that to at noon worked somewhat in my favour of a quite roaming around in my own company. The book fair this year for some reason seemed alot more organised in the number of halls to be visited and presence of the publishers. Maybe subconsciously all the previous visits along these years were paying off or the fact that this one was the only visit in all the years that i was going alone too had something to do with it. I was alot more free in terms of making mistakes about going and retracting my steps, i wasn’t worried about walking an extra mile even if in the wrong direction. And a alot more than a mile i did walk. Once home, i checked on my steps i had taken for the complete day, and they were well over 10000. That’s more than 6 kms, and though all of it wasn’t by roaming in the fair, but atleast 4 out of those 6 were.

My visit began with the usual halls 8-11, which since time immemorial have been hosting the foreign publishers. That being the first step of the fair, i rounded up most of the biggies like, HarperCollins, PanMacmillan, Hachette, Oxford and others in their league. These were the ones most crowded, people thronging their aisles for their favourite books and hoping to catch the fair price bargains. The crowd was young and interested in books. Even though there were enough people to make the halls suffocatingly warm, walking wasn’t that tough. I was more interested in books and stalls which sell those rare books which can’t be found in the regular book shops, though it not did not prevent me from entering the popular stalls and talking down names of books being currently published on topics of my interest, which being politics, history and philosophy.  What i did notice was that there was a dearth of new topics, new books being published. I could still see books from 3 or 4 years backs being on the bestseller list, which says either something about our reading habits or good content missing from the shelves. Some new participants which i could see was those of the Speaking Tiger, and coincidently had finished a book of their publishing just a couple of days back, so the name too was quite fresh in the memory. They have an interesting collection at hand, and are printing some really nice stories from all parts of India. Here is the link with some more information incase anyone is interested in knowing more about them. Exiting from the international participants, i made my way to Hall 12, the one for Hindi publishers. My visit here was restricted to listening to authors in a couple of events and looking into a few stalls. The authors too had nothing new to add to what i already did not know about the publishing in hindi language, the declining readership and their commentaries on social issues plaguing our society since ancient times. I made my way towards the Hall 6, kind of escaping from what i thought was like the nature or most of our population. Escape from reality or problems of others which were not yet our own. All through the long walk i kept reflecting on various social evils in the society, which we choose to conveniently ignore in the safe havens of our homes.

Reaching Hall 6 was somewhat a change as this is where the smaller publishers and book stores have been aloted spaces. Here was where i expected to land a bargain and get some part of the treasure i had come looking for in the first place. I came across yet another new name, Niyogi books which i hadn’t registered on any of my previous visits. I wonder if we feed on what happens to be whetting our appetite in the near past, because i could see they had some really interesting titles in their collection. Here is a link incase you want to check out more about them. I finally struck gold at the stall of Sangeeta Books. They had the oldest collections of some of the rarest books. Books about which i hadn’t even heard of on most of the top e-sellers even. There was a clearing sale of sorts going on and every title was available at bargain prices. I spent the longest part of my visit there and when i had been satisfied that this well now had no more water for me, i made my way towards the highlight of the Book Fair this year, lugging around 7 kgs of prised possessions. I had even beaten 3 or 4 people to a title they could not help but envy me for being there at the right time, which was minutes before them.

Planning my exit strategy was easy, heading back towards hall 7 to cover the Guest country China’s exhibits and the showcase of India’s cultural past were next on my agenda. The history of printing in China has been very well exhibited and covered in great detail. It is peppered with lots of specimens on display, replicas of  rare books. Some of which i captured to be shared, most of it i just stood and soaked in the experience.   

 Once i had seen what our northern neighbour had to offer, i headed into my own past. A place which show cased India’s literary travels through the various ages. It is a nice setup, a full circular area, which starts with the southern india and ends on the eastern front. With books and arts from  each area displayed splendidly, i could do nothing but be mesmerised with what all there is to see in this land, and what a small part of life we spend trying to see it all, whatever little we see, we think we have seen everything.

I then moved on to bid adieu to a day spent well in the company of books and knowledge, both of which one can never have enough of, in my opinion. The drive back wasn’t easy, traffic was back on the road, it was later than 8 pm, the time limit for odd even rule had expired and so had space on roads. It took me about an hour or so to reach back home, a distance of around 17 kms in in one hour. But in this one day i had already travelled far and near, in theory, i had been to China and back and it had only taken me 2000 years or so.

Banaras - A city lost in its own identity

Bana aur Ras, literally translating into “Make Spirit”, Ras here is not the traditional liquid oozing out of sweet dishes, it is the Ras, the spirit which makes us what we are. 

These are not my words though, but those of the legendary Ustad Bismillah Khan sahab. 

Varanasi, another name of the city come from it lying between two tributaries of Ganges, Varuna and Aasi. Hence the land lying between them became, Varanasi, in the distorted form. And the third, Kashi, being most probably the oldest name, means the "City of light”.

Banaras, Kashi, Varanasi are not just names but the different identities this city has gained over a period of around three millennia. Yes that is how old the city is, maybe even older. Atleast when Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath, Banaras was one of the reasons. Being a rich and well populated city it made for a bigger audience than any other place. For each civilisation, for each era, there has been a Kashi, a place to gain knowledge, a place to learn about life, a place to learn about your own self. It is a city which is part myth, path reality and part so ordinarily simple that once you are there, you won’t feel intimidated. On the other hand, Kashi has had the ability to assimilate into itself, everyone, not just individuals but whole communities and then make them it’s integral part. In essence Kashi is what india for long was, a land of richness, knowledge and space.

Kashi  offers you so much space to do your own thing, that you are engulfed in it. Like a sponge in deep sea you wan’t to absorb it all. Like the water around you, the city clean and takes away from you, whatever you came here to wash your hands off. This characteristically unique miracle is famous for very river which flows through it as well. The Ganges. It is said that since time immemorial ganges has been the cleanser of sinners on this land. To take a dip in it’s waters is to be free of all what you have accumulated as your debts to this world.

Geography

Where is it located?

It is located towards east of the state capital, Lucknow, lying around 320 kms from it. It is close to the next biggest religiously important city in the country, the city of Allahabad and is around 120 kms from there.

The climate is as in most of northern india is, Dry summers, hot and humid post and pre monsoons, if they are ever on time, chilly winters, with extreme variations in day and night temperatures.

History

It is quite difficult to write about the history of a city which is living each day and making history. It’s like watching Sachin Tendulkar, ask a number of cricket crazy Indian fans, about Tendulkar not everyone would know about Kashi. The city is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the history of civilisation. The oldest relics found by the archaeological survey of india date back to 18th century BC. This city in the earliest finds mention in the AtharvaVeda, which it is also believed was part written here.

Effectively this puts it younger than Athens, one of the other greatest history centres of the world.

A lot of oldest religious text mention this city. Shiva, yes the lord Shiva himself is said to have said that “All the three worlds form one city of mine”, as mentioned in the Skanda Purana. 

Frescos depicting puranic stories and ramayana

land of the seekers

one of the oldest ghats as per the folklore

Not just the city, infact every religion known for its brith in india has propagated from here.

Buddha gave his first sermon in Sarnath. Before that the city was already an important Hindu and Jain religious centre. Even in the 8th Century AD, during the times of Adi Shankracharya, this city regained it’s Hindu culture very predominantly.

Not just movements and religions Kashi has been an important factor in the lives of so many saints like Kabir being born here as per popular records, also Guru Nanak’s travels too brought him here around first decade of 16th Century.

In the words of Mark Twain, the famous american author, who had a love hate relation with India, said, “Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together”. That is the least that can be said, and is still true to this time.

The Trip

The best way explore the city, as is with any old civilisation, is up close and on foot. The second best way would be a cycle, which though not very popular as of now, is gaining traction slowly.

A walk in the bylanes brings the city alive, not its cars and roads, not the people, but observing life upclose, watching people go about their daily routine, not like a voyeur or stalker, but a decent tourist though. When you walk a city street, its pulse and yours eventually start beating in unison, your find a certain rhythm with other wise can’t be felt. This then lets you observe the city in a different light all together.

The trip began right after alighting from the flight. Looking for the baggage on the belt i had completely forgotten about the fragile tag on it. So rather than coming on the belt it was waiting with the airline staff. Once collected i stepped out to the familiar commotion of a UP airport. People all crowded around the entrance to receive their passengers. Taxi walas trying to woo you so that they can earn some fare.

A friend of mine and his brother in law came to pick me up. Getting into the car started the fun ride into the city. The airport being on the outskirts on so called highway towards Lucknow. This highway then hasn’t changed in a lot of years, it is still a single road with traffic more often than not approaching you head on, in your lane. Lane driving is till missing in these parts. A night drive around the BHU campus takes you along a world in its own. There is the relaxed hustle and bustle of student life, whereas the same students internally are going through another level of turmoil in their life. Being and engineer myself, its easy to know that there is something always going on back in the mind. The BHU campus is huge, one of the largest university campuses in India. And as is common there is one big are designated for the joint. VT. Even though the name sounds quite modern it is an acronym for one of the oldest landmarks in the city. Vishwanath Temple. Since the university students can’t head to the original one every now and then, there is a replica of sorts, although larger in dimensions from the original. The local eateries serve what they serve best usually at such places, maggi till recently and hopefully in the recent future as well, sandwiches and the awesomest cold coffees. Not to be missed if you are in the city to soak in on the local flavour, also a round of the campus is must, with all the greenery around, the whole campus seems a lot cooler than the surrounding city. Cooler literally.

From the university it was a small stop at a pan shop. Pan and banaras go hand in hand. Almost 3 in 4 people here you will see will have some sort of concoction stuffed in their mouths.

paan finds a special mention in the city

Frequent spits (Peek for the uninitiated, is a hindi term and there is a particular style to it. It’s not just plain spitting.) In the local lingo, a sweet pan is termed janani where as a plain pan, without sweets is termed mardani, which is to denote the eating preferences of women and men as a majority. Men also get sometimes what is known as zarda, a mixture of bettle nut, kattha, chuna, and tobacco.

in the golden morning light

sunrise on the river ghat

morning prayers

Add caption

time ceases to pass in this land

faith moves mountains and floats long distances

If the ghats need be visited, which they should be, the best time is early morning, so that you can catch the sun rise. The city is mostly built east west on the banks of the river, the popular ghats located on the western bank, hence you can do whatever suits you looking at the early morning sun. An hour or so of strolling and you should be ready for the morning tea at the ghats or at one of the myriads of small tea stalls that are peppered all over the place. The staple food for all in the morning is smaller fried dollops of wheat, filled with either potatoes or pulses, grounded with secret spices, which are unique in proportions hence you get different flavours with each shop. Kachoris small ones, and served with potato stew, spicy and awesome. Needless to say these small bombs are heavy, and eating a couple of these, you would feel hell sleepy afterwards. No walk no exercise will get you out of the feeling of lethargy which you get. Any trip to banaras that too in the winters is futile if your don’t taste the amrit  of all sweets. Fresh butter churned overnight and kept in the morning in open so that the morning dew drops mix in it to give it a flavour of the season. Malayo. Truly the food of heaven on earth. I was lucky to taste it the very next day, when making it was started this year.

tea is a life line of the city

seasons first

Banaras is not a town which is worth just a visit, it is a place where you have to live for some days at stretch to absorb all that it has to offer. You don’t visit such a city, for it to teach you something, for you to learn something about life from here, you have to let it take you in and live how it lives. 

No wonder people don’t just come here to live, they come here to die and get out of the whole cycle of re-birth too.

Major Attractions

Ghats

Banaras is known for it’s ghats, needles to say which is not unknown. The most famous ones are the Assi Ghat, Harishchandra ghat, Manikarnika Ghat, Dashaswamedh Ghat. Kashi is one place where even the river was divided up by kingdoms who sent their ambassadors here. So along the river ganges you see a lot of private palaces and some private ghats connected to them. Many of these have been been converted to hotels now, some right up in the luxury hotel list. The other charm around these ghats is that people who owned property here, rent their homes for longer period of stay. One room or the complete apartment. Apartment here does not mean the new kind built by realtors, but houses modified to suit accommodation for the backpackers, the seekers, the learners and of course the revellers as well. Off late the ghats have been in the news for all things other than knowledge and wisdom too, but then thats a different trip altogether. 

Temples

Banaras is a city of temples. So many so that you would spend a life counting all of them let alone talking about visiting. A rough estimate would put the number at quarter of a lakh. The most famous ones are usually the three on everybody’s list, Kashi Vishwanath, Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple, and the Durga temple.

Kashi Vishwanath temple is pretty close to the Dashaswamedh Ghat. Why the ghat is named such is a puranic tale which goes on to tell, that this is the ghat where the supreme creator in hindu religion, Brahma, sacrificed 10 horses to welcome the coming of Shiva to this place. Since then Shiva has been the lord of this city. Dashaswa - 10 horses, ashwamedh yagna is a name for the horse sacrifice ritual.

Life

Life in Banaras is simple. There is a unique mixture of so many cultures, yet the city retains what is it’s own. The language is such that it just drips of love, even the cuss words come out as music to ears, which are liberally sprinkled even in a single sentence. The age old daily routine involves at least one round of the ghats, visiting some temple or mosque at least once, praying to life and nature is so deeply involved here that is it a second to nature act now. The major industry is tourism and the declining banarsi silk handloom too.

Photos of the trip

Why I won’t buy the new iPhone 6s?

I don’t think Apple would care if one guy did not buy their iPhone. The latest most advanced iPhone yet, from the leading smartphone seller. Why just a seller? Because they stopped innovating some years ago, and that is a big statement to make, against the child of a man who in some circles is hailed as the greatest inventor of the 21st century. But then as of now, this is how matters rest, and yes i firmly believe now that Apple does not care if one person does not buy their latest offering. Their vision is no more about making simpler and exemplary products for that one customer. They are now in to the business of making what they think would work better at gaining a larger market share. Bigger phones and copied features, and that is why i won’t be buying the new iPhone.

“New”, is a relative term. By new now, Apple doesn’t mean new in the market, it just means its a first on the iPhone.

So what is new then, this time around? Lets talk one elephant in the room, at a time.

Hardware

The new A9 chip, which is again 70% more faster and power efficient than the A8 found on the iPhone 6. As far as a user is concerned, that shouldn’t hang on him, and that the iPhone seldom does, so i don’t care what numeral is that A inside the iPhone followed with. 

Unless of course i’m a technogeek or gadget showoff. Hell the only “A” followed by numbers i would be interested in is the model of my next Audi upgrade. That’s what the class of most iPhone buyers in India already is. They buy it for the status symbol, “gold ki warak wala”. And now they have one more color to show off, the Rose Gold, actually pink is not pink anymore because Apple said so. The phones of such a market went smarter than their owner, just when they could connect to the internet and search something up on google.

The next hardware change is the new iSight camera. Now with more megapixels and further improved sensor. So gone are the rumours of the three prism light reflectors, and dslr mimicking technology, all went suddenly kaput. I won’t even get the image stabilisation unless of course i go for the plus model, but why would i? I already have an iPad, why would i like to buy such a huge phone? And of course the updated selfie camera for the new generation of people buying smartphones just to capture better moments on themselves awkwardly posing with or without friends. The new 5 megapixel Facetime Camera as they call it. 5 megapixels worth of smiles.

Is this the famous Apple innovation? The Apple touch, much like midas’ was? Where is the “new”, that is the only question which “pops” into the mind.  Popping brings to conversation, the new touch technology on the new iPhone 6s. Coming to the touch therapy then. 3d Touch. A bold new interaction method. What Apple invented for the watch, has been now ported on a larger canvas, namely force touch, oh no, 3D touch. So this is a new way in which you can interact with your iPhone. Press the screen. I am sure many will agree we have already tried that every now and then, when the frigging phone betrays our well placed confidence, we do want to strangle it at times and many of us have even tried tapping harder and harder as if it would make any difference. Well being the innovators Apple are, they actually listened to your frustration. They realised they did not want to make you any less exasperated, but they could make the iPhones do something now, in this hard pressed situation. Now the new iPhone has the capability to react to such violence.

Software

iOS 9. The most advanced mobile operating system since iOS. So what’s new in this? On the face of it, Apple had to add something in lieu of the most wasteful interaction added on the phone. So how the iPhone now reacts when you use 3D touch? It opens context menus on home screen app icons. Within apps it does what could easly have been done by long taps. But then where is that Appleness in that? Let’s face it. All mobile OS were so good at touch experience because they did not have windows like features of nested menu based navigations, which are good with a pointing device but a nuisance with finger touch. Android brought them into being on it, with long presses way back, as a way to provide shortcut to frequently used actions. But iOS never had context menus. That was the simplicity, that was the novelty. Why is that being lost with each new iteration? But then they are there only to have some use for the 3D touch. That’s an excellent piece of hardware and software integration, i must say.

Live Photos - A feature, of which when i heard, i didn’t know to laugh or cry. I was eventually doing both simultaneously. i had an HTC One a couple of years back, the M7, first one of the One series. HTC back then came out with the revolutionary UltraPixel camera. That was innovation. Then they had Zoe. A photographers dream come true. What did Zoe do? It would take small 3 second videos with still shots. These videos could be then edited, much like burst shots, you could take out objects accidentally captured in the frame, merge a couple of pics to make on perfect group shot. Live photos has none of these features. And this was a good two years back. Not just this, Zoe would also create events based on time and location of captured photos, these then would be automatically compiled in a short 30 sec video with music mixed at the background. True delight to quickly review a nice episode in life. Moreover you could also edit these videos. And of course share them at will. iOS 9 has none of there features but has highlighted Live Photos, coupled with 3D touch again, if you press hard enough on the lock screen, the wallpaper would show the live photo version. That’s it. Maybe we have to wait till iOS 11 for more of the above features to be ripped off and Appled. Highly Innovative yet again.

Some of the other greater less marketed features are the Low Power Mode. Apple is losing on the user convenience side largely. While on most android phones the low power mode was present since long, it would automatically go off once the set level of charging is reached. For iOS 9, you have to specifically go into Settings -> Battery to disable it. Slight inconvenience, but not at all characteristic Apple of two years back. Speaking of battery we also have now the detailed battery usage shown, app wise, finally. Yet another never seen before on iOS kind of new feature.

Some actually good changes are like the new system font, San Francisco. It makes viewing all the more clear and spacious. Even the keyboard looks a lot more neat, all thanks to the letter now visible in small as well, rather than all caps. There is also a native new transliteration keyboard for Hindi. It is crappy at times with transliteration but is better than having to install third party solutions. There is even an updated notes app. It does have some drawing features, options to create lists easily, so that another small improvement. You can do away with the “Evernote” installation now, if you only used to note down things you were afraid you would forget if you didn’t. They could still do with some native image markup features.

The smallest yet the best addition that Apple did to iOS is the one least mentioned, and to go likely unnoticed by many. The small option to go back to the previous application from which you came in to the current one following the notification that distracted you.

So now you don’t need to double tap the home button to go into the multitasking menu to select the app you were previously in. iOS 9 takes you right back you were with one tap. That is the user experience Apple is know for. Finding beauty in the simplest of interactions. It was this thinking that they used when they started making bigger phones but thought of one handed operations as well. A gentle double tap on the home button and the whole screen comes half way down. That was the Apple i knew of. We need more of that from Apple, not some fancy new useless tech like 3D touch.

It’s was in the small things that users found delight while using Apple products.

Now my reaction with my iPhone and maybe the next one is going to be like a abusive bad girlfriend, to whom i keep returning for reasons better not mentioned on this page. There is still nothing on offer outside the Apple Universe to make me go back to android if i want to buy a new phone. Even with all the copying and crappy innovations, iPhone is still the best user experience by far. Their hardware and software integration is till by far the best in the market, but till when? It’s like any relation in life, when the pros would eventually be far less than the abuse i face.

It’s been two days since i decided i won’t buy the new iPhone 6s. And how do i feel? Tormented. It’s like a breaking up. Like telling myself i won’t be seeing her ever again, because we have had a bad fight. That’s what Apple has done to the world. It has created a relations between humans and their products like a real life relation. We may hate, we may love, we may have mixed feelings for it, but feel we shall. In a nutshell it has become like another situation in life. Apple isn’t selling a phone, it’s selling life and hope. It is selling experiences, i trade in my last one in the hope of a better experience with the new iPhone. Hope and dreams. That is some marketing machinery.

And even in between all this rant, i went ahead and booked the new iPhone 6s. Eventually i too am buying the new iPhone. The most advanced iPhone since iPhone.

A little over 36 hours to Pune

It takes a little effort to sit down and jot the fine experiences one has been through in life at some point of time. No this is not a biographical preview or any history related post, just a simple travel story, through which i had the good luck of passing.

The plan was a simple one, to travel from Mumbai to Pune over the weekend, but the idea was not to take a route travelled often. Hence a search ensued a day before departure for other roads which may too lead to rome. When time is a not a constraint, spending it becomes almost too easy. Something like money, if you have an idea where you want to spend it, spending on experiences becomes a joy. 

On the face of it, there were three places i earmarked for the coming days to visit.

• Malshej Ghat
• Shivneri Fort
• Bhimashankar

What ensued what a slightly different version. For a change i had decided to head to these places completely unprejudiced about them. I didn’t read any reviews, check places to stay, or even try and know what to expect. Sometimes the best experiences are the ones not orchestrated to perfection, but which fall into a grand puzzle all on their own, to complete an unseen picture.

And thus began this adventure.

The ideal time to leave from Mumbai, as usual early morning on any weekend or weekday, when you can observe a good cloud cover. That is the best time to travel towards the ghats. Leaving early morning also saves one from the hullabaloo of other people driving on the road. Sometimes though a lot many people decide to head even in the wee hours of the morning, thereby derailing your well laid plans at the nearest toll plaza. But I have learned to take it my stride, in the long run, time becomes inconsequential to travelling.

Leave by : 5:30 AM

Route :

Eastern expressway towards Thane

From Thane catch the NH3 towards Nashik

14 kms onwards there is a crossing, take right towards Kalyan on NH222

Continue on this road till you reach Malshej Ghat, distance of about 90 kms.

The road from Kalyan to Malshej Ghat is a mixture of experiences.

Till Murbad (around 32 kms), its mostly planes, and a lot of greenery, so much so that you may not feel you are even moving ahead or watching the same sequence again and again. Tokawade onwards starts, what is ascent on the western face of the western ghats, and here starts the breathtaking visuals, of which you can gorge on the next few days till you again exit on the next expressway.  

Kalyan - is a small industrial town, all inclusive of the Century Rayon factories for different products. The main logo of the company says its a part of BK Modi enterprises. All along the length of the town, visible factory areas, union offices, loitering people, hospitals can be seen by some or the other relation to Century Rayon.

There is a small fort as well, which I could did not stop to visit, part because of the increasing traffic on the road and part for the sake of leaving something out for the next time. This adage will feature almost with every place i visit. Maybe its simple laziness on my part and this acts as an excuse to not travel thoroughly or maybe as an excuse to come back to some place again, and yet find something new. The fort known as Durgadi Fort was constructed at the time of Rule of mughals, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb. 

The first destination or so for the day was  Malshej Ghat. It hardly took 3 hrs to reach it, even with all the stops for photography soaking in on the views infront of me. The ideal activity would be to stop at any place you feel a connection with, which if you don’t control your mind wouldn't let you move 10 kms without another stop. Such is the beauty of this region. Pristine and untouched for most part.

Once you actually reach Malshej Ghat, there in lies the surprise. Its just a large table top area, overlooking numerous regions on the Ghats. The only place to stay is the MTDC resort and its from there that the place gets its name. 

The resort is named Malshej Ghat, there is no town no place to visit. In essence you arrive no where when you actually reach your destination. Kind of like finding life itself.

I decided to drive in to the resort and was met with a person who straightaway asked me at the gate if I was going to the resort or restaurant. I said i am looking for a booking, but the expression on his face told me all i had to know. Nevertheless i ventured into the reception, and asked the attendant, if they had any rooms, he looked at me as if i had asked for a bottle of mineral water on mars.

 So that’s how it went, i returned to my parked car, now even more hopeful of a better adventure waiting for me today.

A word of caution, its good to be adventurous but then there is a time and place for everything. If you ever plan this trip with your family members make sure you have booked the resort in advance, if not you can always do the next best thing, move further ahead on the road.
Junnar is a really small town, maybe the name even means the same, in some local dialect, which of course is complete speculation on my part. Junior is town you would completely miss, if not for the formidable structure that looks over it. Has been looking over it for the past 400 years maybe. The Shivneri Fort. Better known as the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja, the place although has a history which dates back to 2000 years, as is evident by the presence of the rock cut buddhist caves around the area. It was an important guard post on the trading route which started from the port city of Kalyan, as mentioned earlier, has a fort as well, albeit a small one. The fort in itself is majestic and in the words of many a travellers from the times of different ruling  dynasties, next to unconquerable.

Moving further ahead from Malshej Ghat, i came across a lake. There i was presented with a bit of offroading opportunity which i did not let go off.

The unmetaled road led me straight to the bank of the lake. A very beautiful and tranquil place to spend a couple of hours if again you have the means to survive food pangs and a good book to read. The ideal way to spend time here would be with a couple of close friends, of one close soul mate, or your family and have a picnic of sorts on its banks. The lake is formed by a dam, PimpalGaon Joga Dam. It is one of the largest lakes in this area, as is evident from the shear size of it.

The dam itself is fairly recently constructed, and opened in 1999, as part of a project involving 5 other dams in the vicinity. Some of which i would later see on the way, others on google maps.

Looking for a decent place to stay over for the night, brought me Junnar and also a part want to see the Shivneri fort, which was what i was told was the closest attraction after Malshej ghat, by the locals i stopped to ask for directions from. Right in the heart of the town is located, Hotel Ratan Enterprise. An excellent place to stay if you want to experience world class service in the most obscure of the locations. The hotel is a new construction, but the staff is extremely well mannered and hospitable.

Appa ji, is the name by which the manager goes, and he is a gem of a person. He has worked in Delhi, Ashoka hotel for a period of three years, and then came down here for personal reasons. Even though it is the only alternative to stay in a radius of about 15 kms, still the hotel or staff does not have the false air of being the only player in the market. He also informed me about two more places to visit, both of them, temples dedicated to Lord Ganesh. Part of the important Ashthivinayak locations, two can be found within 20 kms of each other. Girijatmaj Temple at Lenyadri and Vighneshwara at Ozar. Both the places can be covered in one evening comfortably.  

A good night’s rest at the hotel, had made me fresh enough to visit the fort early morning. To soak in the view of sunrise from such a height would have been truly satisfying alas the weather wasn’t   on my side and instead of bright sunshine, i got clouds and rains. Not disheartened i traveled to the fort and went out to capture what i could of the low-lying regions from atop.

The fort isn't too visited, all i could encounter were a handful of locals going about their morning walk and exercises. The fort compound in itself if huge and required me to walk around 5000 steps to cover it completely. ( A km is about 1300 steps.)

Fully exhausted and satisfied i returned to the hotel for a hot tea and breakfast. A siesta and bath later i was ready to check out and move further into the unknown list of destinations i would be encountering on the second day.

Bhimashankar as the name may sound have everything to do with Bhima and Shankar. It is said to be a part of the 12 Jyotirlingas, the supreme partless reality, or as the legend says the twelve places where Shivji’s divine light shown on earth to end a feud between Brahma and Vishnu. It is a part of total 5 such shrines built by the Pandavas during the period of their exile. But the important story is that they were all built within the time period of one night. So the history of this place dates back to more than 4000 years give or take a millennium easily. 

For the religiously bent, in one trip of less than 24 hours, one can easily visit 3 of the 20 most important pilgrim centres in the whole of India, which itself can be termed as a remarkably spiritually satisfying journey.

 The road to Bhimashankar is a constant up and down, eventually flattening out in form of a plateau, with greenery all around 360 degrees.

On the way, you can spot a couple of dams as mentioned in the earlier part, Dimbhe Dam and Vadaj Dam, depeding upon which route you take from Junnar to Bhimashankar. For me the most scenic and drive friendly was through Ghodegaon and Mapoli.
These can be easily seen on Google maps. Mapoli is the ideal place to have a magnificent view of the Dimbhe dam too.  

The route from Bhimashankar to Pune will change from regular busy road to a more scenic and calm path, depending on the turn you chose from. Returning for about 15 kms on the same route ( its a single route, towards and return) you get a bifurcation of very small magnitude, towards the right. This is your chance to explore a little bit more of the uncharted territory. The road is full of steep declines so coming onwards from Pune through this is not advised.

It would tax your driving skills to the fullest just to cover the next 35 kms or so the the Chas Kaman Dam. Another beautifully hidden treasure, where a day can easily be spent, sipping coffee and reading a book, under the cloudy skies or just lie there listening to the sound of water and wind in your ears. This  dam is huge by comparison with all the others in the same area. And the oldest too. The magnitude of its dimensions can be made from the fact that there were waves like those at beaches on its banks, because of the wind and partly maybe because of the earth’s rotation. There are some make shift snack  shacks unlike other such man made lakes i saw on the way. One such shop served me the most mouth watering grilled corn on the cob. And he was the one who told me that this one is the oldest in this region, dating back to almost 30 years. A fact which i later checked and thanks to internet, confirmed that it is actually almost 40 years old. Started in 1977. 

It’s fun to meet some fellow travellers and the stories or other locations they endow you with, the dam is open for all to visit unlike many northern India counterparts, which are off limit to people for security reasons.

This was the last stop which was worth making and staying for some period of time on towards the route to Pune. Further to this the district road takes you to Rajgurunagar, further south east, about 18 kms away. That is the gateway to transition from oblivion to world as we know of it. There starts the Nashik-Pune expressway.

Life takes us all along different routes, different times and situations. Yet there is alot of common ground where ideas, thoughts and dreams meet. We yearn for soul gratifying experiences, which share a thread through literature, art, and travel. All this then cumulates into stories and folklore, which in turn enrich the our next experience of the same place. Eons ago this land was traversed by our forefathers, those who just had learned to create fire maybe. We may just have now their genes and DNA physically, but a want for experience is what connects us through the fabric of time. To quench a bit of this thirst, to stoke a greater fire for travel, do take this journey, within you.