Our Travelogue

Apart from two official trips to the US and Bangkok which were well-planned, our trips are generally of the last-minute variety. The scenario is usually like this: "Long weekend coming up...let's go somewhere." "But where?" Browse net for "weekend getaways", shortlist places (usually hills/mountains), argue, make a few calls, argue some more, make bookings, and off we go! We're not professional photographers but we often stop to transfer some of the beauty around us onto our simple digital camera. Whether it’s the swift-flowing waters of the Ganga at Rishikesh, the blooming flowers at Timber Trail, Parwanoo, the cloud covered valley at Kufri, the droplets of rain clinging to leaves and flowers at Mashobra, the tall pines at Dhanaulti, monkeys sitting atop a fort at Jaipur, a mother rhino with her young one in the early morning mist at Kaziranga, Ruskin Bond posing obligingly in a book shop in Mussoorie, the awesome beauty of Rohtang Pass, or the setting sun at Vagator beach, Goa…the list is long. Very often, other than the planned trip from Delhi to destination A, B and C are thrown in at the drop of a hat, and bookings/enquiries are made en route. One such trip that stands out is the one we made to Kufri in August 2008. Although we’d made bookings for two nights, we ended up spending the second night in Mashobra instead. We did Shimla on the way back home. The longest drive we did in a day was our return journey from Manali in Oct 2008. We did Hidimba temple in the morning (around 7.30), came back to Manali Cottages for breakfast, set off around 9.45 am at a leisurely pace, stopping frequently on the banks of the sensational river Beas flowing along the most picturesque highway we’ve ever seen. We managed to do an hour’s rafting at Katrain and some dry fruit shopping at Aut on the way. The next stop was at an awesome place which had a very Jurassic Parkish feel about it. So by the time we left the Kullu valley, it was close to 1 pm. We drove the rest of the way non-stop, halting only for lunch and dinner and were back in Delhi around 1 am. Not all the places we've stayed in during our trips have been pleasant experiences, but when on the road, unpredictability's the name of the game. And that is exactly the ingredient that makes travelling so spicy, wouldn't you agree?