my first holiday

hello everybody
As i'm fresh form an amazing trip to manali, there could not have been a better way to start blogging(if that word exists). this trip was my first proper holiday as i've never been on a total liesure trip till date. since mid april lot of planning(only planning and no serious application) had
been put in to ensure that this trip would not turn into a disaster(as incase of most of our trips involving a lot of people). i've seen wrong people ending up together on trips and screwin up their time and more importantly money. i some how hate unplanned trips and try to follow a fixed itinerary. i don tak suspense, delays, shocks when m travelling quite easily. but this trip was different. nothin was planned. infact till the last date we were not sure if we were leaving that day.

To start off, after lot of confusion, cancellations and reservations i finally booked tickets to delhi for the 30th of may. my maiden journey by a rajdhani. i love travellin, be it alone or in a group. i reached chennai central in time for my train which was supposed to leave @ 610. a friend was going to meet me and tak some stuff of his. i got to my seat- coupe D seat 12, H1( i thought it was worth mentioning). AC first class of train no 2433 chennai - hazrat nizammudin rajdhani express. i have never travelled in AC first class before and had to do it once jus for the heck of it. the coupe was empty n i checked the charts if there was anybody else in the coupe(and many other things too). the train left chennai on time. the waiters got me bottled water and sum chocolates. 15 minutes into the journey a person came up to me and requested for a seat change. i said fine and left my all private saloon to end up in a cabin which had 2 ladies. a lady with her daughter, both going to jammu to meet up with their husband/dad respectively. the waiters got the breakfast soon and man was it a royal treat. nice tasty food(generally rarety on a train). they keep filling your stomach up at equal intervals till you get bored of eating. there was a proper 4 course lunch, a evening drink and den again a 4 course dinner. i had a nice sleep till 630hrs when the waiter got bed tea. a simple breakfast followed at about 830 and the train reached its destination at 1240, 2 and half ours late.

i had to reach old delhi station to take a train to sirsa where my sister stays. the train from delhi was on time and reached sirsa about an hour late. got to my sisters place. played with my kid niece. nothin much that i did in sirsa except for visiting the sirsa airforce station. saw the cockpit of a mig-21 bison( the aircraft that my brother-in-law flies). amazing piece of machine i must say. beautiful avionics(thats what he said). there cant be a better job in this world. to fly that thing everyday, defy gravity and other forces.

i returned from sirsa on the 3rd and got to charul's place where ritvik had reached the same morning. a beautiful house in mayur vihar. all the dilli wale met up on the 5th and i travelled in the delhi metro for the first time. simply amazing. the best way to travel in a crowded city like delhi. delhi metro makes you feel that YES we are DEVELOPing. comin back to where i was, we were supposed to leave on the 5th but i suddenly got a call from NI for an interview on the 6th. so the trip got delayed again. The mail said it would be a 2 day process for which i was so not prepared. i'd come here for a holiday not for an interview. well i did go to NI and did lot of things that i was not supposed to(details of the NI interview in the next blog). i finished my work and called up everybody saying we are leaving for manali TODAY. gaurang picked me up and took to me to charul's place, where most of my lugagge was.

i packed in ultra fast mode and we left for ISBT. chandigarh was our first stop. at about 515 hrs we reached chandigarh where after 1 hour and a lot of discussions we decided to tak a bus to manali. the journey was simply spectacular. mountains on both sides and a river flowing in the valley. majestic/splendid/fentabulous are all understatements(though i was shit scared on those very scary hilly roads). driving on such roads is an achievement according to me.
manali had to wait till 1830 hrs before it could see 6 young, bright engineers admire its beauty(i dunno where that line came from). huge tall trees, nice breeze, a pretty busy market with tourists and hotels all round-- thats manali. we put our luggage in a hotel, freshend up n got out to explore the town and to plan our visit. a simple dinner and a nice cozy sleep concluded the day.

the next day we were supposed to leave for rohtang pass at about 0500hrs, and after the typical delays by some people(read gaurang), we left by 0550hrs. the road was simply *******(my favorite adjective which is generally censored in public). huge green mountains, river flowing in the valley at a decent pace with smooth round stones in its path. snow tipped mountain at a distance. i'd seen all of this only in tv or in photos. never in 3D. after a brief stop for breakfast(maggi time- the 2 minute noodle) we reached rohatng pass- zero point 13050 feet( i hope i got that right gauri) at 9 or so. snow snow everywhere all of it to play. the last time i saw ice was in my coffee at the CCD in delhi. but yeah there was a difference in the quantity. i and tyagi put our skiing gears on and our guide taught us the basics. after a couple of warming up runs, we had a race which i comprehensively lost. i fell half way through while tyagi fell at three fourth the distance. the only tried and trusted way of stopping d ski was to just fall over. one by one in PAIRS we TRIED to ski. we put our skiing gear in our taxi and moved to beas kund where the river beas originates. the glacier slowly melting into a river. a little down on our descent we
stopped for paragliding. all others flew into the sky for a 3 minute ride which surely would have had a huge rush of adrenaline. we got back to manali by 3 or so. the same night we went to hadimba temple and gatotkach temple(mai hoon gatotkach mai duniya me sabse nirala). a big dinner and den v dozed of on our respective beds.

nothin was planned for the next day and so after breakfast we went to a travel agent. he arranged for a trip to manikaran and river rafting. in about 20 min we took off. i mean that literally because the driver was driving at 70 odd on hilly terrain. he was getting us prepared for the flow and speed that the river would offer. everybody pumped up, puttin our life jackets and helmets on. abhishek and gaurang had done rafting before in rishikesh. other four were all
new to this. we got onto the raft and slowly into the middle of river, picking up speed and boom into a rapid. the water was COLD. very soon all of us drenched n shiverin everytime water splashed onto us. the 10km ride in d raft was the best ride in any form of transport i've ever had. multi ******** is too small a adjective to define that experience. after the rafting we headed to manikaran. gurudwara manikaran sahib is a beautiful gurudwara on the banks of river parvati. the river was flowing FAST. we had to be a bit(tiny little bit) louder than normal to get heard. i'd never been to a gurudwara before. a serene clean place of worship. we then had our lunch at the langar. the whole concept is so noble. the kadhi was just amazing. the temple complex also had hot water springs where most of the cooking was done. just imagine this- the cold river water and right next to it hot boiling water. nature at its best. the last stop was an ancient Ram temple. the taxi took us back to manali.

3rd n final day in manali we went to the vashishta temple. nature park was our final destination. we clicked photos. gauri and ritvik suggested that we play hide n seek and after deciding on the boundaries in say 10 min, i was the first den. 6 engineering graduates- a couple going for their mba programme, a couple in their dream jobs and the last two into india's largest IT company, playing HIDE N SEEK. it doesnt end here. picture this- amit tyagi does skiing- no problem. he paraglides - no problem. he does river rafting- no problem. he plays hide n seek-- big problem. his ankle gets twisted which turned into a bad ligament tear. he always loved being called langda tyagi. the name fits him better now. we boarded the bus bac to delhi and reached by 1030. we went to charul's place again and from there ritvik took his train back home. gaurang dropped me at the airport from where i took my KINGFISHER(you know the reason thats in caps) airlines flite to chennai. back home by 1 am on the 12th of june 2008. this ladies and gentlemen was my first holiday....



PS:please leave comments.as promised next blog would be about my exploits(thats surely the right word) at the NI interview.. so keep readin.. haf fun..