Pachmarhi – The good, the bad and the ugly

After my Khujaraho trip failed to materialize, thanks to Nikhil and his friends we managed to pull off Pachmarhi (M.P.) in a long weekend.

Pachmarhi (or Panchmarhi) gets its name from the Pandava caves, where it is believed that the Pandavas spent some part of their 13 year old exile. Later, in 1858 it was discovered by the British who made it the regional summer retreat for their army, and now the Indian army inhabits most of Pachmarhi.

The result of the army presence is that the place is wonderfully maintained, complete with a nice golf course and forest rest houses. Parasailing was literally the “high” point of the trip! On the downside, because of the peak season the place was very touristy (and expensive).

The last photograph above was actually shot when the train from Bhopal passes Narmada river en-route to Pipariya. The train ride is beautiful, much like the train rides in the Western Ghats post monsoons.

Final verdict: Pachmarhi is quite a regular hill station, which is not really something bad, but for someone who travels a lot there are probably other places to be seen before. However, for a long weekend with a good gang, it was an awesome trip!

Please post your comments about the photographs (I know they’re not up to the mark this time, but comments are still welcome).

From the past: Malaysia Tour

I was going through some old photographs on Flickr, and came across some shots which are worth sharing. My vacation to Malaysia was one of the most interesting trips for various reasons good and bad, and also the most memorable experience of sun and sand.

The photographs are from Perhentian Islands, a beautiful set of islands in Kota Bharu, Malaysia. The islands are on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, much less publicised compared to Langkawi, and much more beautiful. These were shot by my friend’s camera in film, and I cannot be sure which photograph was taken by whom, and so I don’t claim to have shot these. Here goes!

Rediscovering Delhi – Part 1: Connaught Place

I had been away from Delhi a long long time, and a lot has changed in the past five years. With all the roads, flyovers and Delhi Metro construction activity, routes no longer look familiar.

I had a chance to visit Connaught Place yesterday, and it was awesome. I have never browsed so many books in a single day before! And I happened to carry a camera along as well, and there are a couple of photographs worth showing.

A hand-held panorama – PVR Plaza road

Hundreds of pigeons feeding on the sidewalk

I took another panoramic shot but I messed it up (overexposed with bad focus). CP is a heaven for shopping on a limited budget, specially for books. I got myself an Orhan Pamuk (he’s become popular even with footpath sellers) for the time being, since I was short on cash, but I’ll surely be making another visit soon enough (with lots of cash!). :)

Well, while the weather remains as good as it is, I’ll be doing a bit more Dilli Darshan (hence the “Part 1” in the title). So long!

Matheran: nature-lovers' delight

OK, first things first, this is about a weekend trip I did long long ago (September 2006). I guess I have some time to kill today so I'll blog about that trip. My close friend Anirudh was about to head to Australia to work, and so we decided the two of us should meet up once before he left. Since he was in Jaipur and I was in Hyderabad, I thought I'll pick something in the middle, and Matheran (none of us had heard about it then) happened.

A view of the hills - photograph (most probably) by Anirudh

Matheran is a popular tourist resort not too far from Mumbai. The most attractive part is that it is a "pedestrian hill station", which means except emergency vehicles, no vehicles are allowed there. So both of us reached Mumbai from our respective cities, got together and started towards Matheran.

Dew drops - photographed by me using Anirudh's awesome telephoto lens (don't remember which, I don't know much about Canon gear)

If you have visited some of the popular places in Western Ghats you would know how beautiful they look post monsoons. It was the same for Matheran. Anirudh and I both love to walk a lot, so we walked a lot. A lot. No horses or rickshaws for us, we just walked. (The hundred year old chuk-chuk train ride the ideal way to reach the top, but it doesn't run during monsoons so we walked).

We sat on one side of the hill and saw the sun set behind clouds and then into the Arabian sea visible far far away. Again photograph most likely by Anirudh (I kept borrowing his camera because it was a digital SLR with an awesome telephoto lens :) hence the scope for confusion).

Good thing we got to spend Friday there, because on Saturday and Sunday there's a mad rush. There are human beings everywhere, and the charm of being secluded in beautiful hills without being overrun by tourists is lost completely.

Cute native girl

Why the blog more than two years later? Well it was triggered by the sight of some permanent red stains of that soil on my jeans :) . If you go to Matheran your shoes and jeans/trousers will get permanent red coloration from the soil there. So be prepared. What else to be prepared for? Monkeys. I got to witness a brave primate trying to get away with Anirudh's precious bag (with the camera and lens) while Anirudh held on to the other end! Eventually a foreigner (I think she was a doctor) scared the monkey away with her cane. It was hilarious and scary at the same time. I mean, if the monkey had gotten away with the bag, it would have been really tragic.

Red soil, bags and a photographer inches away from the edge.

To conclude, Matheran is highly recommended for people who like to call themselves "nature lovers". As I mentioned before, go for weekdays rather than weekend. And carry a stick for scaring monkeys if you can :) .

P.S. I think I've not used so many smileys in a blog before!

Udaipur - "Grand" is the word

I visited Udaipur for a couple of days. Well whatever travel blogs say about Rajasthan in general and Udaipur in specific is very true. Udaipur (formerly kingdom of Mewar) is rightly Venice of the East with its lakes, and like other destinations in Rajasthan it is very colourful.

Of course, if you actually want to experience the royal lifestyle of Mewar kings, like stay in Lake Palace or dine in the great Durbar hall with the "grandest" chandeliers you can ever hope to see, you should have a lot of money.

A hand-held panorama of Udaipur from City Palace.

Without sounding too critical, it is worth noting that you won't love the lakes if they're dry. So if the rains have been good, the lakes are nice and the fountains have water. If the rains have been scanty, the lakes dry up and don't look so good.

View of the ghats behind Jagdish temple from Lake Pichola

Udaipur is a small city, it won't take too long to go from one end to another. Due to time constraints I couldn't visit too many places. Plus I was careless enough to run out of battery on day two! Check out the Picasa slideshow below for the entire album:

Wine and dine: A weekend in Pondicherry

A day before Cyclone Nisha hit Chennai, I returned from a great trip to Pondicherry (now called Puducherry). It is 3 hours away by road from Chennai, and there are two picturesque routes: East Coast Road (along the Bay of Bengal) and the slightly longer National Highway 45. The drives are both beautiful, and the weather in November (southern monsoons) made it even better.

Pondicherry is a very small town; one could walk from one end to the other in less than an hour. We stayed in Ville Blanche (White Town), the French part of the town. It is very pretty; the architecture has a Colonial feel to it. Apparently even new structures in that area are forced to match those architectural looks.

 

 

Its a nice little town, with good food and cheap liquor. Those are the photographs from my Picasa album (limited somewhat because I'm not keen to shoot in rains). Feel free to leave comments.

A trip to God's own country: a photo essay

Kerala is marketed to tourists as "God's own country", and rightly so. I happened to spend a week on the backwaters of Kochi and Alleppey, and am sharing a selected few photographs that I took. My weapon - Nikon D40x (with the kit lens).

Kochi had a historical importance in ancient India's ties with the west. Here are a series of photographs from around Kochi - mainly Fort Kochi which has the original burial place of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. Jew Town was the other historically important place - it is one of the oldest Jewish establishment in this part of the world, though only 13 Jews live in this town today.


The fine yet strong Chinese fishing nets have been serving the local fishermen for years at Fort Kochi.



A fishing boat lies abandoned at Fort Kochi.



An antique shop in Jew town.



The colourful street market of Jew Town.


Here are a few photographs from Alleppey. It is no wonder that the backwaters here are amongst the top tourist destinations of the world. This place gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "lose yourself".


The sun rising over the placid waters of Alleppey.



Visitors do not seem to bother these birds inhabiting a secluded island.



The sun peeking from behind coconut trees at dawn.



A boat "parked" on the canal, exaggerating the calmness of the scene.



Coconut trees stand tall on a thin strip of land separating two channels.



Just another day in the life of the fishing folks in Alleppey.



A fisherman at his job.

The beach at Alleppey was a surprise hit - we never knew it was so good! Here are some shots to prove it.


A traveller leaves his footprints in the spotless sand at the beach in Alleppey.



Sea, sky and sand in perfect harmony.



Men and birds alike soak themselves in the breath-taking scene.