Uttarakhand - Enroute Haridwar

This was a route I took twice in June 2015 during a trek to Valley of flowers, Hemkund Sahib and again for a trek during December 2016 to Brahmatal-Jatropani summits.

The entire stretch enroute Valley of flowers/Hemkund Sahib-Govindghat-Joshimat-Nanda Prayag-Karnaprayag-Srinagar-Haridwar and also the enroute Lohajung-Karnaprayag-Srinagar-Haridwar was a splendid route with valleys, number of tributaries like Pushwati, Laxman Ganga, Saraswati joining the river Alakananda; further river Bhagirati joining Alakananda at Devprayag forming the holy river Ganga or the Ganges. All of them flow by the mountains, from and into the valleys, the journey on the road more than 12 hours wasn’t enough for the eyes and soul to enjoy the varied and colorful landscapes. Was also amazng to see at the edge of mountains while the rivers were flowing beneath, there stood numerous houses and temples along way at places like Devprayag and Rishikesh.

Enroute Govindghat:

During my trek to the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib in June 2015, was monsoons and it was common to winess rains and landslides due to which river Ganga was in her brown muddy water form surrounded by the green mountain ranges.

However, during December 2016 while returning from the Brahmatal & Jatropani summits, though almost the same route it was astonishing to see different shades of green rivers joining along way. One should be really lucky to live in India and witness in different seasons the beauty of mountains and rivers. The entire way itself was like a movie that narrated stories of rivers and mountains and simply cannot escape my memories. MUST visit and this surely is not a destination but the entire journey!!

At Dev Prayag we see two different Turqoise colorful rivers arkavati and Bhagirati joining to form river Ganga. 

Our Beautiful River Ganga:

        River Alaknanda & Bhagirati:

 River Pushpawati:
The Pushpawati river in the valley of flowers area got its name while Rama was trying to take water for Sita and noticed numerus flowers flowing from the river hence the name.

Jatropani Summit

Delhi - Haridwar - Lohajung - The Camp 1 & 2 - Brahmatal Summit- Jatropani Summit

This was certainly a trek to remember for life! Though an easy trek for trekkers, I was not very confident myself that I can do any high altitude trek. Not being a hard core trekker, my love for Himalayas pushed me to go for this. Despite taking an option that a pony would carry my bag I shamelessly was the last person to reach the summit unlike others :p 

Memories flashed, as it was the same Badrinath route I had taken 2 years ago while I went on a trek to valley of flowers, this time it was on a different route via the Baijnath temple. A day's journey was filled with fun while we made friends for life through our journey. On our way we visited centuries old Baijnath temple.

Baijnath temple: 

Baijnath or Lord Shiva temple said to have been built by the Kumaon Katyuri king during 12th Century AD. Dedicated to SivaVaidyanatha, the Lord of Physicians, the Baijnath temple is actually a temples’ complex built by the Katyuri kings with the idols of Shiva, Ganesh, Parvati, Chandika, Kuber, Surya and Brahma. The town itself is called Baijnath and is situated on the left bank of the Gomti River and the temples were constructed using stones. The main temple that houses is a beautiful idol of Parvati is chiseled in black stone.  

Lohajung was our base camp and it was a beautiful village. We were able to witness a part of Himalayan range Nanda Gunti. It surely was freezing with around 3 deg C in the night. We had some hot soup and yummy food. And the next day we started for the trek after listening to the instructions from our guide.

We had camped at 2 places one near Bekal Taal and the other near Brahma Taal and were to trek for 3 days. Our guide and his folks brought  the food items and cooked at the places we camped. They were using the wood found around to cook and further served us with hot soup, tea, food and sweet at every place. It was a boon that there was absolutely no network which made us enjoy nature better. Collecting woods for camp fire, the songs we sang, the dances (snake dance..lol) and the laughter is fresh in memories and almost everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

First camp near Bekal Taal:

Bekal Taal:

We ascended to reach the lake and were quite surprised that this area where the sunlight hardly reached; was full of snow and a peep from the top gave a wonderful DREAM SCENE of the lake slightly frozen, surrounding the border with snow line and the trees and logs around capped with snow. It was mesmerizing and all of us got into the mood of capturing this place and started our photo shoots that ended really late.

Second Camp near the Summit on the Day 2 &3 Brahmataal (you can see the blue camps to your right):

First time ever I experienced living in a camp that we were to crawl in, get into the fleece & sleeping bag to sleep. It was challenging to sleep with the varied snoring sounds from all over echoing and also the cold winds adding to it!  Numerous stars in the clear sky that we were gazing was yet another great experience.

Next day, the ascends were never ending with numerous ridges that we had to cross. I often was feeling breathless, nose blocked, legs were painful lot, also I took breaks in between to drink water as that is the source of energy and additional supply of oxygen  to our body during any altitude treks. Overall I had number of reasons to take breaks ad no wonder I was the last to reach. Once I reached the top of a hill and excepted it to end, I saw many already on the top of the other ridge and I gave a sad look at Anand our guide who was struggling to accompany me as I was extremely slow for him obviously! 

Anand often said 'Do not see up madam, just look down while trekking and you will not lose confidence or feel tired'! He was motivating and inspiring me often and also gave wrong info that we just need to climb up this one hill but it was never ending 6 hours of ascend and descends. At times there were no trails and we literally climbed up with few grips for our foot on the steep uphills!

Hours later, we reached a point and THIS stretch of stunning mountains and this part simply will make anyone there believe in the existence of God!  And the magic worked here, there was absolutely no sign of pains in my body and suddenly I had no complaints or excuses. Couldn't take my eyes off and such was the contrast of  uniquely shaped green valley underneath the snow-capped gigantic Nanda Gunti, Trishul, and others in this range of Himalayas.

Nanda Gunti, Trishul Range:

Any powerful camera surely wouldn't capture this 360 deg view and ofcourse the experience. This was not the end, we were to cross again 2 more small uphills on the north part that was Jatropani summit. With the hard cold wind blowing and shaking us literally, I was slower, took baby steps and finally reached the other part, to witness another range of Badrinath and Kedarnath range. I quenched my thirst and was a fulfilled soul having finally accomplished this. It surely was an achievement and  also an opportunity for life.

Kedar Dome, Chaukamba, Nilkanth and Mana Parvat: (Badrinath & Kedarnath Range)

The specialty about the Jatropani summit was that we were able to view 2 parts of Himalayan range the Badrinath Range with Kedar Dome, Chaukamba, Nilkanth and Mana Parvat. The other L part we were able to witness was the Trishul, Nanda Gunti and others.

Also at our 2nd base camp we had an opportunity to watch one of the most beautiful sunsets. Here is a captured snapshot.

It was a great happy returning trek as it was mostly descending through the forest and I was leading this time obviously and our guide was supporting me to do that too. Back in Lohajung we all had great fun. We started our journey back to Haridwar. It was a day long road trip however, the entire route was scenic throughout the way with visual treat to our eyes that had varied turquoise colored rivers with its landscape of our river Ganga with other  rivers.

We Indians are very lucky to have such amazing places that is magical and magnetic!

I was one of the happiest souls to have visited and felt contented in life to have visited such a heavenly place. Tons of thanks to Achintya and BASC group for providing such a wonderful opportunity to remember for life!

Taj Mahal - The Jewel of Palace

It was a usual picture in anyone's house that I always saw. TAJ MAHAL. People used to proudly narrate the experience of visiting Taj Mahal and shared their pictures specially framed big in their houses.
However, the photographs never impressed much! It was only ’fyi’ in my mind registered that it could be yet another usual structure but in White!

Anil Tufchi, my college mate was in Delhi and helped me make a plan. We reached Delhi and were treated like royals with awesome authentic Kashmiri dishes. Next day we left to catch a train from Delhi to Agra at 6am. Anil and his father drove us to railway station and were helping us going out of their way and ensured we were safe. Felt lucky and proud to have such friends. Was surprised to see more number of people from outside India in our train.

We reached Agra station at 8.30am and took an auto which passed through narrow roads. This further made me wonder whether this structure, really is worth being included as one the WONDERS OF THE WORLD. We got out of auto and walked in a small lane with many small shops on either sides trying to sell small white models of Taj Mahal.

After a couple of minutes of  walk we reached a designer red colored old style gate and entered. BHOOM!  Felt like a curtain suddenly was pulled in seconds for us and it was like someone just placed this amazing PURE WHITE MARBLE-MADE MASSIVE GEOMETRICAL STRUCTURE neatly carved kept right on the banks of river Yamuna.  It was an amazing gift for eyes and it was almost impossible to take my eyes off from this astonishing marvel while I couldn't believe I was watching this soothing piece of structure. I further more than agreed and realized why TAJ MAHAL is one among the wonders of the world. The pictures I had seen all through my life did not match even half of what can be believed to have witnessed it LIVE!

One will automatically start recollecting the elements of symmetry in Geometry and from any corner, the monument looked perfectly symmetric.

Our guide briefed us about the history of this place and it goes like this in short:

’Shah Jahan son of Jehangirhad 3 wives and his third wife Mumtaz only was able to bear 14 children of his. Shah Jahan has built a monument in memory of his beloved wife spent about 4 crores in 16th Century eternal love. The fourth Mughal emperor of India and the grandson of Akbar the Great. It is said that Shah Jahan was so heartbroken after her death that he ordered the court into mourning for two years. Sometime after her death, Shah Jahan undertook the task of erecting the world's most beautiful monument in the memory of his beloved. It took 22 years and the labor of 22,000 workers to construct the monument. When Shah Jahan died in 1666, his body was placed in a tomb next to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal’. This magnificent monument came to be known as "Taj Mahal" and now counts amongst the Seven Wonders of the World.!

We also visited Agra fort and our guide took us to a basement where the queen used to bathe. The entire room was made of marbles cum mirrors within and when a small lamp was lit the entire room reflected the reflections of the light and it was all worth visiting this place in the fort! 

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Port Blair – Ross & Smith twin islands – Digilipur – Mud volcano, Limestone Caves – Dani Nalla Mangrove walkway – Havelock beaches – Port Blair

We hear more about the jail at Port Blair and Havelock islands, the beautiful beaches, scuba diving and so on. But there are more to add in the TO-DO list, travel Port Blair to Digilipur that is the northern most part of Andamans and travel via the scenic green thick jungles and villages. Also on the way we get to come across the only remaining Indian tribes, Jarawa. We also visited on the way the Mud volcano and Limestone caves at Baratang. In the middle Andamans we visited Dani Nalla Mangrove walk way and the northern most part Digilipur with the beautiful Ross & Smith twin islands.

Ross & Smith Islands, Digilipur: 

We reached Ross & Smith islands by a boat after travelling for a day from Port Blair. The sea here had a very unique turquoise color. We couldn’t believe an exquisite sand bar that was connecting these 2 islands. The sand bar narrows and widens twice a day exhibiting the natures magic! 

The Sand bar connecting the twin islands

It also started raining and we were lucky to witness the varied turquoise colorful sea turning grayish and the entire landscape changed number of times while all of us enjoyed fully in the beach that had very less crowd and the rains extended the joys.

  During a cloudy day in Andamans

Jarawa Indian Tribes:

We traveled from Port Blair to Digilipur the northern most part of Andamans. We got to go through thick forests and also a stretch a forest in middle Andamans for 1.30 hours where we get to see the only Indian tribes Jarawa. We strictly are not allowed to stop, talk, photograph or videograph them. Government has been preserving the area and the tribes.

The Jarawas, apart from the fact that they use rafts, live in oval huts and are excellent swimmers. They are approximately 320 in number, live in the thick forests of the Middle Andaman and were totally isolated from the outside world till very late. In the history of the Andamans for the first time on Oct 21, 1997, 8 Jarawas, 4 of them women, emerged from the jungle close to Kadamtala in Middle Andaman. Signalling for food, they pointed to their bellies. They were fed bananas and coconuts and sent back by villagers who were petrified lest the Jarawas let loose their arrows. This, however, triggered a regular arrival of Jarawas to nearby villages.

The Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese and Great Andamanese are thought to have traveled to the Andaman Islands from Africa up to 60,000 years ago.  The Andaman & Nicobar Islands remained the abode of the Negritos and the Mongoloids, who occupied the Islands for centuries. 

Dhani Nallah Mangrove walkway:

The Dhani Nallah scenic Mangrove Walk Way is one of the longest and is built among the dense mangrove forest near a place called Rangat. This walkway is made of wood and is 713 mtr long and walking through the wooden bridge curves through lush green dense jungles adds to the beauty of the nature. 2nd largest Mangrove flora and fauna after West Bengal is here and we get to learn some names of the Mangroves varieties too here.

Witnessed number of varied colorful birds and butterflies as well and this walkway ends with an opening to a beautiful white sand beach called the 'Dhani Nallah Beach'.

Active Mud Volcano & The Caves:

There are active volcanoes in Andamans that spill out mud. We walked for about 20 minutes inside a forest near Digilipur and we can find huge deposit of molten mud that had got dried. We further walked further for about a Kilometer and saw some of the miraculous moments of mud spewing out of small volcanoes. Also, this mud flows down like a drainage and is grey in color and sticky that flows down creating its path down the valley.

Havelock Islands:

Back in Port Blair we took a cruise that reached Havelock islands in about 2 hours.

Havelock Island is 39 Kms by sea from Port Blair is one of the picturesque natural paradise with beautiful white sandy beaches, rich coral reefs and is the  most popular tourist destinations. Radhanagar, Elephant and Kala pattar beaches are the few very famous ones. 

Radhanagar Beach:

Radhanagar on the Havelock Island in the Andamans has been ranked 8th Best Beach in the world among the top 10 in TripAdvisor's World's Travelers Choice Award-Winning Beaches. This shows the stunning beauty of nature that India has to offer. Also, Radhanagar beach has been rated as “Asia’s best beach” by Time Magazine and has also been awarded “Cleanest Beach Town” in the India under Swacch Bharat Abhiyan by Hon’ble Prime Minister. Elephant beach is considered to be best place to snorkel and scuba dive.

Kala Pattar Beach

The most amazing beach I loved was the Kala pattar beach, as it was altogether an entirely unique turquoise colored God made PAINTING that was kept there just for us to get INTO

Cellular Jail, Port Blair:

The airport at Port Blair, is named after one of the greatest freedom fighters Veer Savarkar. One of the main reasons to have a prison built here as these the remote islands were considered to be a suitable place to punish the independence activists. Not only were they isolated from the mainland, the overseas journey (Kala Pani) to the islands also threatened them with loss of caste, resulting in social exclusion.

This prison was used by the British especially to exile political prisoners to the remote archipelago. Many notable dissidents such as Batukeshwar Dutt, Yogendra Shukla and Vinayak Savarkar, among others, were imprisoned here during the struggle for India's independence.

Each of the seven wings had three stories upon completion. There were no dormitories and a total of 693 cells. Each cell was 4.5 by 2.7 meters (14.8 ft × 8.9 ft) in size with a ventilator located at a height of 3 meters (9.8 ft).

The name, "cellular jail", derived from the solitary cells which prevented any prisoner from communicating with any other.[citation needed] Also, the spokes were so designed such that the face of a cell in a spoke saw the back of cells in another spoke. This way, communication between prisoners was impossible. They were all in solitary confinement

The fantastic Sound and light show showcases the entire history of certain live incidents that happened within the Jail premises, the kind of torture the freedom  fighters encountered during the other rulers gives everyone goose bump. 

Forced to arise at 5 am, tasks including cutting trees and chopping wood, working at the oil mill under regimental strictness, with talking amidst prisoners strictly prohibited during mealtime and they were subjected to frequent mistreatment and torture. 

One can’t imagine how prisoners were put into a cell of 13 X 6 ft dark and dampy coated moss, Food provided was unfit for human consumption and also often one was forced to watch his other friend fellow prisoners being handed in the gallows.

Savarkar was sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but released in 1921

We stayed in budget hotels in various places like Port Blair, Rangat and Digilipur and tried scuba diving which was an amazing experience.

The Kaas Plateu, Carpet of Flowers

Kaas Plateau -Thosegar falls, Lingamala falls-Panchagani-MahabaleshwarTemples - Bhuvaneshwar- Mahi temple - Krishna devi temple where krishna river is born

Focus was just this place and a day or 2 in Pune, we ended up visiting further Mahabaleshwar, Panchagani which were few of the most beautiful green with table top mountains and valleys with various waterfalls too!

The Carpet of Flowers @ Kaas, Satara:

The Kaas Plateu is a world heritage site managed by UNESCO located near Satara. This plateau on high hill graslands turns the entire grasslands to colorful plateau beween August to early October. Kaas Plateau has more than 150 or more types of flowers, shrubs and grasses. The orchids bloom here for a period of 3–4 weeks. It lies between Sajjangad fort and the Kanher Dam

Sahyadri Mountain range:

The Sahyadri Mountain Range, Sahydri meaning (The Benevolent Mountains) is a mountain range that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, located entirely in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hot-spots" of biological diversity in the world. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain. The Western Ghats is among greatest mountain ranges in India and The Sahyadri Mountains are located in south-west India. It is one of the longest mountain ranges in the world as well with its stretch spreading over 1600 kms.

The waterfalls: Thosegar & Lingamala falls over the sahyadri mountain range was a feast to our eyes. We also had an opportunity to do horse riding on the table top mountain at place called Panchagani.

 Thosegar Falls: Thoseghar and lingalamala falls were quite big ones within the sayhyadri mountain range. These were quite different in its shapes and sizes compared to westren ghats in Karnataka.

The Krishna River from near where the river is starts from a temple:

We also did a boating and witnessed the Bamnoli Triveni sangam  where 3 rivers meet (River Koyana,Solashi and kandati).

Lingamala Falls:

The Ganesh Temple at Wai, Satara on the banks of River Krishna: This town is surrounded by Sahyadri mountains and also had the prominance during the rule of Peshwas. Also called Dakshin Kashi as this town has about 100 temples.