nineteen till i die » Travel

I’ve moved!

zephyr19 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:21:27 +0000

This post is just a placeholder to mark an important milestone. I have moved from Nomura India to Nomura USA. I am so happy and excited ! I will be busy for the next few months with finding a home and taking some mandatory exams. I will be back on my blog after that. No related posts. Related [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

All for this one moment !

zephyr19 — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:41:38 +0000

The fire that wasn't

Let me begin by conceding that this post comes almost a month later than when it should have. Partly because of the delay in getting the picture, partly because of some unforeseen problems with my website, etc etc.

As is visible in the picture, I, along with two of my friends am holding a bunch of wood-sticks. The place is Kashid Beach, a famous new year celebration spot near Mumbai. We left Mumbai at around 7 in the evening, hoping to make it there in time. I know, 5 hours is a long time for a 135 km journey. But, you know, Mumbai traffic doesn’t need an introduction. Despite all that, and some added hindrances by nakabandees on the highway, we managed to reach there, barely in time. It was sharp 2350 by my watch when we entered the Kashid Beach.

The view was amazing, a lot of people had gathered there to celebrate the new year, and we could see quite a few bonfires on. Fireworks were amazing and the environment was as serene as it can get. The tides were expectedly noisy and high.

Excitingly, we all caught hold of a local lakdi-walla who was doing the great job of lighting up bonfires for people. We found a decent place and the guy started assembling the wood-sticks. We were enthusiastic about it and gathered around it, clicking pics one by one. It was barely 1 minute to go for the new year and we were ready to light our fire. The kapur was in place, and the match stick was burnt.

But, the fire was not to be! In few moments a hawaldar came and dropped our wood-sticks as if he was playing a touch-and-run game. The match stick was left to burn itself to death. We were amazed! A 5 hour journey for this one moment, a moment that was not to be. But it was an experience in itself, and that too a great one.

We later learnt that as a part of the security procedures, the Mumbai police was ensuring that no sea-face will have any bit of lighting after midnight. Given the kind of terrorist attacks that have been rocking India in the past few months, the strict security measures were understandable. All beach shops were also asked to shut off lights and the whole area was totally dark.

The next day was great fun. I will now pen off and let the pics do the talking..

;

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Well.. not always the case !!

Pawan — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:14:00 +0000

This weekend when I went home, I went by Chandigarh Jan Shatabdi (JS). In case that needs an introduction, its a Northern Railways train run between New Delhi and Chandigarh. Since my childhood I have this admiration for trains, that whenever I get a chance to travel by a train, I never miss it. I just love travelling by trains. So when I had decided that I’ll leave sometime in the afternoon, JS was an obvious choice.

I got the tickets booked to avoid the hassle at the station. There have actually been instances when I have reached the station 40-50 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train, only to find formidably long queues of passengers at the ticket window. And, thanks to the great maintenance of Booking Counters by Indian Railways, none of the digital display boards seem to be interested in updating themselves after every transaction. They just lie there blissfully in a sweet slumber. Moreover, there being no separate counter for Jan Shatabdi, you never know how many of the queued people are actually for your particular train. All this leads to one conclusion – you can never be sure if you will get the ticket after half an hour of a sweaty wait. So ultimately I end up at ISBT(Inter State Bus Terminus), regretting my not booking the train tickets in advance. Soon I reassure myself by realizing that my decision to go home was too spontaneous to get that done.

So I was really elated after I had the ticket in my hands. But alas! did I ask for the window seat? No! And there was no way I was going to go back to the counter and get my seat changed. I did not even know the procedure of that. Also, I was unaware of the numbering system used in the coaches of JS. So I just prayed that I get a window seat. I am crazy about window seats – be it bus, train, or an airplane.

I reached the station well in time. The train was to depart at 1550, and I was at the station at 1500 hrs. Within 5 minutes, the train arrived(from Chandigarh). I entered the train, wishing that seat number 48 is a window seat. And to my surprise, it was actually a window seat! I was overwhelmed at my great luck. It is always my dream journey – travelling in a train sitting in the window seat.

There is one thing I hate about JS. It is fast allright, which is clear by the fact that it covers a distance of around 200 km (New Delhi to Ambala) in just 3 hours (thereby reaching at around 1850). A normal roadways bus would be able to manage it in not less than around 4 hours. But thats where the problem starts. The momentum just gets destroyed as soon as the train leaves Ambala. The journey is never the same. Chandigarh is only 45 km from Ambala, a kind of distance that JS should be able to manage in 30-35 mins. But the train takes a whopping 90 minutes to reach Chandigarh, reaching there not before 2020. This is just not done.

I agree this is all traffic and signal stuff, but I just wonder why the priority of the train is this low on this route. It has to stop for each and every damn train that needs a signal. Come on people, why so? Why would you not like passengers do travel the whole journey by your train? Why do you want to force them to take a bus after reaching Ambala station? I am afraid I have never done that, but if the scenario continues I will start doing that. Anyways I have only a month of stay left in New Delhi after which I will head to Mumbai. So doesn’t make much of a difference to me.

Nevertheless, the train does save time if you compare it with a whole journey by roadways bus. Charging just 75% of the roadways fare, and offering too many additional facilities (to name a few are the all-time availability of snacks, tea etc. ; more comfortable seating; and last but surely not the least – restrooms), the train will always be an automatic choice of any passenger, provided the time suits him/her. Clearly there has to be a tradeoff somewhere. You cannot have the best of everything for less price in one firm with the other firm still making profilts. Roadways buses between New Delhi and Chandigarh are available so frequently that you just need to stand at the gate of ISBT for a maximum of 5 minutes. It seldom happens that no bus to Chandigarh crosses you in those 5 minutes. Thats where roadways win. But, if the departure time of JS suits you, there is nothing better (of course there is the Shatabdi Express, which charges a whopping 430 – personally I find it totally useless – no value for money).

Comparing with the famous fable, the roadways may well be called – “The slow and steady”, and JS the other character who sleeps in the middle. But the moral doesn’t hold here. “You thought slow and steady wins the race? Well, not always the case !”

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Wonderful Wonder La

Pawan — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 11:39:00 +0000

This weekend we visited the Wonder La.. a wonderful amusement park in the outskirts of Bangalore.

The best part for me was the water park. You really cant return before enjoying all the water rides. Thankfully there are no silly rides in the water section which tend to do crazy things with you.

We also had a pleasant rain in the evening, just after we had returned from the water rides. I couldn’t stop myself from taking a photograph of the rainbow that emerged after that. Its a collectable by all means

All in all, Wonder La is a omplete one day package for someone who really wants to enjoy his day out!!! More information at http://www.wonderla.com

I have shared all our ful filled photographs here

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