Life lessons for dummies - but, are we learning them?

In Chapter 6, verse 5 of the Bhagavat Gita Lord Krishna says, "you are your own best friend, and you are your own worst enemy". No words can summarise the Chennai disaster better.

Before getting into the length and depth of these holy words of wisdom, I want to share a story from my life first. 

Part 1 - My story

The year was 1991. The date, May 21st. Time, 11 ‘o’ clock in the night.

My mom and I were on a Tamil  Nadu State transport bus going from Bangalore (then) to Tirunelveli, my home town, to attend my cousin’s thread ceremony. Just as our bus was nearing Salem ( a city in Tamil Nadu) a bunch of hooligans (definitely politically motivated)  stopped the bus and asked all passengers to disembark. Thereafter, using the huge clubs they were carrying they went on to smash the vehicle’s  glass windows to smithereens.

The reason for their aggression: they were protesting  our ex Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s brutal assassination, a few hours earlier, near Chennai! That, the mob felt, was as good a reason as any to vandalise public property and terrorise people!

Terrified at the turn of events,  we thankfully found ourselves put on another bus (which had also been vandalised) that promised to drop us at the Salem bus depot. On reaching the depot, we were left stranded with nowhere to go! We were also told that no buses would ply for another few days thus eliminating any chances of either proceeding with our journey or returning home.

Needless to add, those were times when there was no GPS, no mobile phones, hell, not even basic wired telephones (we didn't have a phone at home and did not even know my father’s office contact number). So, my mom and I were left clueless on how to get across the info on our whereabouts  to my father in Bangalore.  Worse still, how and where were we (and several other stranded women and kids) going to spend the night, attend to nature’s calls etc. for the next few days? (Again, in those days, it  was not common for women to take up lodging in a hotel without a male chaperone.)

Just as my mom (I was still in school then and of not much help to her) was trying to figure out the next course of action, a Salem resident named Gangadharan,  who happened to be at the bus stand at that hour, offered to take us women folk into his home till sanity was restored in the outside world.

Soon, my mom and I, along with three other families, found ourselves safely ensconced in his house, where we spent the next three days.

Super nice as Mr. Gangadharan’s family was to take in a bunch of complete strangers into their home, they were not in a position to feed us.

Then, help came from unexpected quarters….

Believe it or not, the  local auto rickshaw drivers (yes, the same rickshaw drivers who are frequently accused of fleecing customers) took it upon themselves  to feed us and all other passengers stranded in that area, three meals a day for the next three days. They pooled in their personal money to organise food for all of us. And feed us they did, royally too! I remember one rickshaw driver served
us all a dessert at the end of a meal while apologising to us that it was all that he could do, given his
limitations!!

And eat it we did, squatting on the bus stand ground, thankful for every morsel that we were served
and for our terrific luck even  in those trying times!

Finally, after  three days of ‘refugeedom’,  as things gradually returned to normalcy, my mom and I managed to board a bus back to Bangalore and returned home.

Nothing unusual about my story, though it does reiterate the fact that we humans are capable of swinging between both extremes - acts of valour, virtue and generosity (eg. Gangadharan’s family and the rickshaw drivers) and incredible acts of  brutality and irrationality (eg. Rajiv’s assassins and the hooligans). And, as a society we are eternally struggling to balance these brighter and darker sides of human nature. 

Whenever  there has been a calamity on a large scale, mankind has risen above its petty and base instincts to lend a helping hand to the 
needy, thus redeeming itself of its copious sins and restoring hope 
in humanity.  Call it our basic survival instincts or attribute it to the 'selfish gene', or hail it as the divine element in man, but it works when all else fails! 

This has been amply demonstrated in the recent Chennai floods.

Having said that, the rising hope in humanity is at once mitigated by the thought of human frailties and short-sightedness that have been and will be on display in Chennai in the aftermath of the floods.

Part 2 - Confessions of a myopic dummy

Enough has been said and written about how the Chennai floods were as much a man-made disaster as it was the result of nature's fury. Author Michael Crichton's words (in Jurassic Park) that the annihilation of a species is embedded in its own behaviour rings so chillingly true now!  Let me elaborate.

We are programmed not to remember…

Returning to my Salem story, while we were there, everybody around me talked endlessly of  how
they were going to go home and write to the media  (there was no social media then) about the
generosity of the Gangadharans and that of the local rickshaw drivers. None  of which, of course, ever happened!

As soon as we reached  home, we got busy just getting back to our routine lives! The episode was, I am sure, relived in the dinner conversations of our families, but only for a while. Eventually, all of us caught on with our lives,  and memories of those three days were gradually forgotten….

Well, I guess there's nothing strange about it.  It happens to us all the time. We human beings  are programmed to forget older  things so we can remember newer ones, mostly stuff we need for our everyday survival! (The good part of a short memory is that it also helps us overcome our personal grief, tragedies quickly.)

And the same thing is going to happen to Chennaites as well. Both the horrors of the past one month, the reasons for the catastrophe and the memorable deeds of heroism, mercy and nobility of their brethren that they were privy to, will slowly fade away from their minds as everyday challenges take them down….

Wait! I'm not saying the calamity would have no impact on anybody. I'm sure there are some of us
who are more sympathetic and empathetic than the others, those few of us for whom this event would
have definitely been ‘the’ catalyst for change.

But, unfortunately the vast majority of us are super inept at learning  or remembering the lessons life teaches us. It's simply beyond most of us!!

We are short-sighted and irrational....

So, much as we'd like to, let's not for a moment believe that the deadly deluge is going to pave the way for a huge social change in creating a borderless, casteless Utopia of our dreams in Chennai.  Oh heck, let's not even fool ourselves into believing that people will remember to dispose plastic responsibly henceforth.

And then there is an entire market for ‘bad/wasted’  land that the floods have thrown open, which is waiting to be exploited. Real estate prices in all the affected parts of Chennai have already slumped.
Land sharks waiting to grab lands will find this the most opportune time to do so.  They will buy now and will sell later when memories of people's sufferings have slowly dissipated from their minds. Meanwhile, with prices looking favourable, home owners looking at buying a house for investment will also find this an ideal time to invest. So, it is only a matter of time before Chennai’s real estate bounces back with a vengeance, and rampant construction  begin all over again.

Such a prognosis, outlandish as it may seem now, is based on  history. Since the cloudburst that poured 944 mm of rain in Mumbai in 24 hours on  July 26, 2005, realty prices in some of the worst affected areas of Mumbai have grown at a pace of 20 percent every year or nearly 6 times  over in  the last 10 years. Think about it!

So, don't be surprised if you find another large share of Chennai’s water channels remaining today
also give way to more skyscrapers  in another 10 years. After all, freak weather phenomena are known to happen only once a decade and if we are lucky, it may be another century before a similar
calamity strikes again.  And a century is a long time, even a decade is, from an investment point of
view. Whereas the investors, whether retail or otherwise, plan to stay invested only for a short time. Make your money and flee! And of course, there are also the genuine but naïve buyers, but they can be
easily conned into buying a house with just some clever marketing!

And so the city of Chennai or any other Indian  city will grow and grow insatiably till nature comes back to claim what is rightfully her’s! Unless….

We need the State to interfere

Unless...the government and administration take certain hard calls for the welfare of its citizens and does  not fall prey to petty politics and realising short term gains!

Individuals do not have the panoramic view that the state has. Individuals do not act rationally all the time.That's why we need a government, to see what you and I can't see, to think and act rationally for the larger common good!  Not for telling us what we must eat, wear or watch!

Can we citizens afford to repose such faith in our rulers? Will the State  rise up to meet these basic expectations of its people. Maybe, a little faith is all we can garner  in these trying times.

  In any case   it's time we shed our suicidal instincts, stopped fighting with ourselves and became our own good friends.....

Amen!

India, the land of endless journeys ……

The United Nations declared the last Sunday of September (27^th) to be observed as world tourism day. Being travel bugs ourselves, my husband and I celebrated it by taking yet another trip, this time down nostalgia lane, reminiscing the various journeys we have made across the globe over the years. Although we have been lucky enough to see a bit of the world, India remains our most favoured destination – simply for the diverse attractions it offers.

After all, how many countries can boast of 7,000 year-old cities, 18,000 feet high roads, gigantic peaks and the deep blue seas, both the largest salt desert in the world and the rainiest place on earth, or the art of sex aesthetically carved on stone, all under one sky?  

Apart from its geo and bio diversity, remnants of India’s rich cultural past also lie scattered all over the sub-continent, waiting to be rediscovered by each passing generation.

In short, India is well and truly the land where, the journey never ends…..

Feeling elated over the diversity and richness of India’s tourism potential, I set out to do a ranking of the various destinations we have been to, and the unique experiences we’ve had.  

Here’s the result – our top 14 travel destinations/unique experiences that I want to share with you. Also included are some related places which are still on our aspirations list; these, I’ve marked out in boxes.  

 A few disclaimers before we proceed…

Indian tourists have now moved beyond the golden triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur), Rajasthan, Goa and Kerala. So, my list excludes these beaten tracks. It also excludes sports/adventure hotspots for trekking, para gliding, river rafting, etc., which call for an independent ranking of their own. Nor does it include wildlife destinations, as spotting wildlife can be tricky with no assurances of sightings. The list also leaves out places like Rameshwaram, Varanasi, Velankanni, etc., which are no doubt exotic travel destinations, but pilgrimage centres first.

 Secondly, although I’ve ranked our favourite destinations and experiences here,  in reality, each of these attractions is really special, unique and hence incomparable.

Thirdly, this compilation is not a travel guide and is not designed to help you with your travel planning. The basic idea is to create interest for these places and urge you to explore these destinations for yourselves.

 Finally, please note that this is only a personal compilation, and is based on the destinations we’ve been to. Needless to say, there’s a lot more to India than these places. I would be thrilled if you shared your unique experiences and pics online or offline, and I’ll be happy to add those destinations to my list of must-do travels.

So, ladies and gentlemen, pack your bags to get set go…….

Life’s a beach

 #14) Chandipur-on-sea, Odisha (natural phenomenon): Chandipur is a small town on the coast of the Bay of Bengal in the state of Odisha. The uniqueness of its beach is that water recedes up to 4 kms into the sea during low tide revealing the sea bed. You can take a long walk into the sea before the tide turns. Believe me, it is a surreal experience, one not to be missed. And, if you can make the trip closer to, or on a full moon night, then you’re guaranteed to take home memories of an unforgettable night.

 Take the walk of your life......

Narara marine national park off the coast of Jamnagar, Gujarat apparently offers a similar experience, where one can walk on the sea bed during low tide and take a peek at a wide variety of marine life that lives there.  

For more info: http://www.gujarattourism.com/destination/details/12/319

Is it a ship, is it a boat, no…it’s a fort

# 13) Murud-Janjira Fort complex, Maharashtra (man-made wonder)

 A personal favourite of mine, the Janjira fort rises majestically in the Arabian sea off the coast of Murud, a village in Raigad district of Maharashtra. Sitting right there in Shivaji’s realm, the Janjira remained unconquerable by the Marathas, the British and the Portugese through its 500-year long history.

With an African connection, this sea fort is existing proof of our subcontinent’s complex ethnic and cultural history. Hooked?

Go check this must-see destination and give it the attention it deserves.

Travel advisory: 1) For Mumbaikars, it’s highly doable as it’s only a stone’s throw away from Alibagh. 2) The ferry service that can take you to the fort from the coast may not be operational in the monsoons. And summers can be smelteringly hot. That leaves the winter months, which would be ideal to do this destination.

Fort trotters, check this link to know about other sea forts in Maharashtra. http://www.walkthroughindia.com/walkthroughs/top-5-amazing-sea-forts-in-maharashtra/

Oh, what might’ve been!

 #12) Bibi-ka-Maqbara, Maharashtra (man’s faux-pas?!)

Imitation is not always the best form of flattery, especially when it’s a poor copy of the original. Bibi-ka-Maqbara was built by Azam Shah, Aurangazeb’s son, in memory of his mother, in what proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to copy the Taj Mahal.

Although the chief architect of this monument was the son of the principal designer of the Taj Mahal, severe budgetary constraints imposed by Aurangazeb played havoc with the aesthetics and proportions of the monument.

Go, check what might have been! Catch the next train to Aurangabad!

Experience nothingness (No, I’m not talking of vipassana here ;))

 #11) Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat (geological freak)

 Imagine a place, with nothing around you for miles, nothing….no vegetation, no animals and definitely no humans.

 An unlikely prospect in the second most populous country in the world?

Well, the happy news is that such a place does exist, and it is called the Rann of Kutch (RoK).

A geological shift that cut off a connection to the Arabian sea, and a change in the course of the Ghaggar river created miles and miles of salty marshland that form the RoK, counted among the most inhospitable terrains of the world. Small wonder then that you don’t find much life here, save for the tenacious wild ass and the occasional wild swine.

Btw, sunset here is quietly beautiful and if you go during the winter months, you might have the migratory flamingos for company.

 Go if you are a solitude seeker and want to dwell upon the meaning of life. Go, even if you aren’t. 

If you want to experience desolation of a different kind, head for Dhanushkodi in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, a sort of India’s Hiroshima. Unlike the Japanese city though, Dhanushkodi was a victim of nature’s fury, when a terrible cyclonic storm in 1964 washed away the entire town and its people. What remains is a ghost-town, a tragic reminder of man’s vulnerability to nature’s whims.

Aamchi Scottish Highlands

#10) Sahyadris in the monsoons, Maharashtra (scenic beauty)

‘Of rolling hills and wooded vales….’ is how a poet describes the Scottish Highlands. Wanna share his experience? The good news is that you don’t need a UK visa to do that. Just hop on to the next flight to Mumbai and hit the Mumbai-Pune highway or the Mumbai-Nashik highway in the monsoons.

The moss on the dusty hills that go all dry and brown in summer suddenly come to life in the monsoons and weave a magic carpet so stunningly beautiful that you’ve got to see to believe.

Overnight, small meandering streams and tiny gushing waterfalls erupt, and dry grasslands metamorphosise into lush green meadows, adding a finishing touch to the dramatic makeover of the Sahyadris.

Come, experience this wet green paradise and be charmed!

For other scenic routes to experience the Sahyadris in the monsoons, check:  http://mumbaimag.com/monsoon-travel-driving-through-the-sahyadris/

Incidentally, the Indian monsoons are an attraction by themselves. Considered the single largest weather phenomenon in the world, the monsoon winds that originate off the coast of Kerala travel 2,500 kms inland up to Kashmir and bring rainfall to most parts of India for nearly four months in a year.  That’s big!!

  

Sare jahan se achcha…

 # 9) Wagah Border, Punjab (man-made blunder?!):

Yet another ‘what might’ve been’ emotion is sure to strike your heart when you stand at India’s Berlin Wall— the Attari (in Wagah) border check post in Amritsar, Punjab – and peer 100 metres across into the breakaway land, the prodigal nation called Pakistan.

This dramatic border check post, marked by two imposing gates demarcating the territorial boundaries of the two warring nations, is a grim reminder of a people thrown asunder by the misplaced aspirations of their leaders. 

‘So near and yet so far…’, are the words that come to one’s mind as the gates to both the countries are opened for a very short while during the ‘lowering of flags ceremony’, when two soldiers from either country exchange a brief handshake before the gates are sealed once again, shutting out all hopes of a borderless world.

Go to shed a tear or two for the people who lost their land and loved ones so these gates could come up, and to mull over what might have been…..

Travel advisory: Reach the check post in good time so you get a vantage position on the galleries erected to watch the lowering of flags ceremony that takes place in the evenings every day. (Check with the local guides for the correct timings.) A word of warning— it can get extremely crowded here, so be careful with your kids and things. 

Get set for time travel

 #8) Lothal, Gujarat (Harappan ruins)

Just 80 kms off Ahmedabad sits an industrialised urban settlement known for its bustling economy, efficient town planning and best-in-class sanitation, the kind that would put modern Indian cities to shame.

And it is just 5700 years old!

That’s Lothal for you, a Harappan city that has lived to tell the tale of India’s glorious past.

Once a busy commercial centre that traded with the Sumerians (present day Iraq and Kuwait), the highlight of the place is its dockyard, the oldest in the world, that suggests a prosperous economy led by robust maritime trade.  

 As you walk down the paved roads, past the bead making factory, the sacrificial altars, the granaries and toilets built using the famously standardised Harappan bricks, you can’t help but be awed by the civilisation’s antiquity and also its surprising continuity into modern day India.  

 Go, discover the place where it all began…...

Among other larger Harappan sites in India are Dholavira in Gujarat, Kalibangan in Rajasthan and Rakhigarhi in Haryana, which are pushing the antiquity of the civilisation even further. These excavations will hopefully help us decode the Indus valley script! 

   

Poetry in stone

 #7) Sun temples of India (Gujarat & Odisha) (architectural marvel)

India is home to several sun temples, but the most prominent among them is the Konarak temple in Odisha, eastern India. Envisaged on a grand scale and built in the form of the sun's chariot drawn by seven horses, this 13^th century temple turned out to an unfortunate casualty of its own vanity.  

Archaeologists believe that the ambitious size of the main vihara caused it to cave in under its own weight.

Although what remains is a mere phantom of its original, it is enough to leave one awe-struck and struggling to imagine the grandeur of the earlier structure. 

While Konarak receives the sun’s first rays on the east coast of India, there is yet another temple in the extreme west of India, which pays obeisance to the Sun God in its own grandiose way. The sun temple at Modhera, off Ahmedabad, which actually predates the Konarak, may not match up to its eastern cousin in size, but is no less in terms of architectural splendour.  Indeed, the intricate carvings on the temple walls and the ornate step well at the entry are fascinating, and can give Konarak a good run for its money.

 Follow the sun to bask in the architectural brilliance of India!

A jewel to hold water

 #6) Step wells of India, Gujarat (engineering marvel)

 In the extremely hot and rain-starved parts of western India, the step wells are a unique phenomenon that combine cutting-edge engineering with architectural aesthetics.  

 What makes these ancient step wells special is that they are very deep and ensure year-around supply of groundwater, made accessible to people through multiple layers of passageways and steps. Besides supplying water, these step wells also doubled up as a leisure retreat for the women who came to draw water in the sizzling heat.  

The artists didn’t stop there. 

They made the mundane task of carrying water an aesthetically enriching experience for the women. The result—stunning panels carved exquisitely on the walls of the wells in mind-blowing detail and perfection.

 Two such ornate step wells can be found in Gujarat – Rani-ki-vav, a world heritage site, and the Adalaj vav, both just a few hours drive from Ahmedabad.

 Step in to quench your thirst at the well, or simply gape at the incredible art around it.....

Incidentally, Kallanai or the Grand Anicut, built across the river Kauveri in Tamil Nadu by a Chola king nearly two millennia back, is considered the world’s oldest water-regulation structure that is still in use. Would love to check this one out! 

Paradise on earth

 #5) Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir (Joint venture of God and Man)

When Jahangir burst out into poetry, equating Kashmir to paradise on earth, he probably wasn’t just talking about the place. He may well have been thinking about the people here. Blessed with insane good looks and the gift to make infinitely intricate art, the people of Kashmir are proof of God’s kindness (Allah-e-Reham!) to man.

And, when man decides to work alongside God, the result is... the enchanting city of Srinagar. Be it its famous Dal Lake dotted with flower-laden Shikaras and house boats, its beautifully manicured Shalimar gardens, the green canopy of the Chinar trees or the majesty of the snow-capped mountains that meet the eye everywhere you care to look, the bewitching beauty of Srinagar is certain to haunt you for a long, long time. 

Go, live this paradise and pray we don’t lose it yet again to war and violence....

Travel advisory: The city takes on different dimensions in different seasons. So anytime that is not prohibitively cold is a good time to visit it.   

A walk in the clouds through the bridge and the rainbow

 #4) Mawsynrom, the rainiest place on earth and the Living Root bridges, Meghalaya (natural phenomenon, man-made wonder)

 If you are a romantic and have always fancied a walk in the clouds, then your fantasyland is right here in India; in Meghalaya, to be precise. With its unique geography, Meghalaya was destined to be pretty.... and also the wettest.

 The summer air currents that sweep over the floodplains of neighbouring Bangladesh, after gathering moisture from the Bay of Bengal, form dense clouds and hit the hills of Meghalya, bringing torrential rainfall here, through the year.  The village of Mawsynrom holds the record for being the wettest place on earth with a whopping annual average precipitation of 11,860 mm, which is over 10 times the average annual rainfall of UK (counted among the wettest nations of the world).

 The cloud cover is sometimes so dense that sometimes you can’t even see the end of your nose!

 Fascinated? Wait! Meghalya’s awesomeness doesn’t end there.

 It is also home to some of the fantastic pieces of civil engineering ever created by man – the living root bridges. 

Wooden bridges that are necessary to cross the endless streams and rivulets that erupt with the rains, can’t survive the incessant downpour. So, the locals have found a simple and natural solution to it – they simply grow (!) their bridges by guiding the living roots and vines of large old trees across small rivers and streams, thus creating navigable over passes that do not rot but actually strengthen with time.

 If that’s not ingenuity, what is?

 Go, live your childhood fantasies - walk in the clouds, dance in the rain and watch a rainbow from a living bridge in mesmerising Meghalaya!

Land ahoy!

 #3) The Brahmaputra & Majuli, Assam (natural phenomena)

To borrow the catchy Bollywood phrase, there are two types of people in this world -  those who suffer from a lack of water and those who suffer from its surplus. Clearly, the people of Assam in North East India belong in the second category.

 And the cause of their grief and prosperity is the mighty river Brahmaputra – 2,900 kms long (1,800 miles), 10 kms wide in certain places and discharging 680,000 cubic feet of water per second!

For its sheer scale, a boat ride on the mighty Brahmaputra can be a humbling experience for you, when you surrender to the force of nature, accepting its sovereignty over you.

 As your ferry transports you gently across these treacherous waters, you’d be tempted to play the  Rabindra-Sangeet, to synchronise with the gentle, rhythmic movement of the oars, and the ripples they leave behind....

But then, you would be absolutely wrong in reading the river’s emotion!

For, there’s nothing gentle about the Brahmaputra- which notoriously snuffs out hundreds of lives and decimates several livelihoods every year during the monsoons.

In any case, don’t make the mistake of sharing your Bengali fantasy with your Assamese co-passenger, as it could really upset him. For, the Assamese have a vibrant culture independent off the Bengalis and are very proud of it. Otherwise, they are a gentle people who have learnt to navigate the whimsical waters of the river to make a living whenever possible, or simply surrender to it when not......

 Just when you begin to tire of your long ferry ride, you hit a piece of land - Majuli , one of the largest river islands of the world.

 According to folklore, Majuli was originally a narrow piece of land sandwiched between Brahmaputra and one of its tributaries. It then had a violent rebirth in 1750. A major seismic event set off catastrophic floods for 15 days that led the Brahmaputra to tear into two, thus creating the island as we know it today.

Well not exactly!

The island has since lost nearly two-thirds of its lands to erosion caused by floods! And it is shrinking further....

Alas, we are in an endangered zone!

If you can disregard this disturbing fact momentarily, you can enjoy the quaint little emerald isle that is Majuli. Lined with green bamboo trees everywhere you choose to look, the island is also home to the various satras or monasteries associated with the neo-Vaishnavaite culture. 

Go, take a plunge into this remote water world.......

In the lap of divinity

 #2)  Sunrise at Kanchenjunga-Darjeeling, West Bengal & Sunset at Somnath, Gujarat  (celestial phenomena)

 If you are woken up at 3 am on a chilly morning, pulled out of your warm bed and asked to set out into the bitter cold, braving a sub-zero temperature at 8,500 feet altitude, and yet, you comply without a murmur...

 .....you must either be a hostage at gun-point, or you must be going to Tiger Hills, Darjeeling to experience the most spectacular sunrise of your life! It’s the latter, hopefully. :)

When you arrive at Tiger Hills, disregarding the chill weather, you find the world around is still shrouded in darkness. Sunrise is still some time away, and you can spend the minutes either counting the stars in the supremely clear sky or securing your vantage position on the viewing deck as the crowd starts to swell.

 As you keep looking expectantly at the distant dark spot, where you’ve been told rises the gigantic Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world, the sky slowly starts to light up. You wait with bated breath as the light grows brighter. The world around you has fallen silent and you can almost hear the seconds ticking away....

 And then suddenly, it happens! The spell is cast!!

 The rays of the rising sun fall on the twin peaks of the Kanchenjunga making it dazzle like gold, almost blinding you for a second, much like the mountains you see in ‘Mackenna’s Gold’!

 “Surely, this must be nirvana?!” you think.

 The golden effect, however, lasts only a few seconds. As the ark in the sky rises further, different magical hues play out on the snow-capped peaks, and you stay put, rooted to your spot, smitten by the sights for you know not how long.

 Eventually, the spell breaks and the world returns to normalcy, till.... yet another sunrise.

An equally overwhelming experience is the sunset at Somnath temple, Gujarat on the Arabian sea. The thing about Somnath that makes an everyday sunset over the sea a special happening is the temple’s unique geography.

It is a land’s end of sorts.

Believe it or not, there is no discernible landmass between the Somnath temple and the south pole; nothing but 6,150 miles (nearly 10,000 kms) of water till Antarctica! Interesting?

 Sitting at this unique piece of earth, and watching the sun set amidst sounds of the relentless waves rising and falling, the mind replays the fantastic stories learnt in school - of the temple’s riches and of Mahmud of Ghazni’s attacks and plunder- and you wonder.... surely, this an experience that belongs in the bucket list of things-to-do-before-you die!

Travel advisory: The sunrise at Kanchenjunga can be tricky and depends entirely on the weather of the day. On most days, dense cloud cover over the peaks can ruin the chances of a good show. However, the skies are relatively cloudless in the months from mid-October to December and in March and April. So plan your trip accordingly.

 Experience the dazzling sunrise and the magical sunset to know eternal bliss!

 Some breath-taking moonlight experiences: Still awaiting an opportunity to savour the surreal white landscape of the Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, the largest salt desert in the world on a full moon night, and watch the marble rocks lined along the river Narmada at Bhedaghat, Madhya Pradesh glisten in the moon light....

    

Oh, how blue is my sky!

#1) Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir (scenic beauty & endurance game)

What would you call a land that receives little or no rains, is barren, frozen and starved of oxygen through most parts of the year – hostile territory?

Then, that is what Ladakh is.

Ironically, while being all the above, Ladakh is also so heart-wrenchingly beautiful that, like the brave prince Sindbad, you don’t mind taking these challenges head-on to soak in its ethereal beauty.

Located on the ancient silk route, Ladakh, the land of high passes, is a cold desert on the Himalayas with a terrain so forbidding that you could well be on planet Pluto.  

But, then, that’s the key charm in travelling to Ladakh - challenging human limits......

And, there is more.....

For one, it’s a photographer’s dream! The pollution-free air that gives the clear blue skies, the panoramic view of snow-capped mountains and their reflection in the lucid water bodies below make for great photo ops.

Then, it’s a biker’s delight! Ladakh stakes claim to the highest motorable road on earth at 18,380 feet on the Khardungla pass. A drive up this road is sure to give you a high, literally!

Plus, the Ladakhis make excellent hosts. Allow them to indulge you! Not in a flamboyant Punjabi kind of way, but in a warm, unpretentious, family kind of way.

But, Ladakh is more than just dizzying heights, endless snow, sparkling blue skies and crystal clear lakes. It stands for the indomitable spirit of man to live, love and serve in a hostile habitat.

There is an old Ladakhi saying that captures the essence of this place, “The land is so barren and our passes so high that only our fiercest enemies or our best friends would want to visit us.”

Go visit this land and its people as friends, and they are sure to win you over. That’s a promise!

Two things here that you will not fail to notice:

First, the ubiquitous army presence. But, unlike in the Kashmir valley, it is not intimidating. On the contrary, it is very comforting as life in Ladakh would be impossible today without the infrastructure created by the Indian army.

Second, the interesting sign boards put up by Border Roads Organisation.  Some samples here:  http://ladakhroadsigns.com/index.php?option=com_easygallery&Itemid=28

Go for yourself and for the Ladakhis who need you, and also for the army men who you need..... 

Travel advisory: 1) Ladakh’s terrifying altitude needs time to get used to. If you fly down to Leh, the sudden descent into an oxygen-starved terrain can cause acute altitude-sickness. So plan your stay accordingly, leaving enough time for acclimatisation (1-3 days). On the other hand, if you took the Manali-Srinagar-Leh highway, you would gain altitude gradually. In which case, the sickness may not be so acute.

 2) Owing to its tricky terrain, travel in Ladakh can be challenging. The hills are also highly prone to avalanches. So, ensure you hire a good driver to take you around. And carry a full oxygen can with you at all times. While we were there, we got stuck at 15,000 feet in a road block caused by an avalanche, which took five hours to clear. Having exhausted the little oxygen that was left in an old used can, we were dangerously dizzy and breathless by the time we reached the hotel. So, don’t hesitate to invest in a new oxygen can!

Most medical shops there sell canned oxygen and are happy to take them back if they remain unused.  

3) Ladakh can be stressful for children and elders and people with travel sickness. Roads are windy and weather-damaged in certain pockets, despite BRO’s best efforts to maintain them. So, the drive can be really, really bumpy at times!