Our Travelogue

Being the son of a defense officer, my travel days started quite early (45 days after i was born). Since then, every 2 years my father would be transfered to a new place so untouched by man and development. From the ever green and yellow fields of Punjab spread like a carpet to the Snow capped mountains of Ladakh, It would be so white you would not know where the land finishes and where the sky begins. I would wait for autumn in Srinagar to witness another marvel of nature, the maple leaves turning red. It would be red everywhere. The dying leaves on the trees, the ones on the roads and the ones on all the mountains, covered with maple leaves. I wish everyone of you should experience the beauties which India itself holds. Most of our experiences are recorded in the photos in the link for Flickr, but don't go there just yet. We would recommend you read all the way down and then re-live the experiences we have had. We met while travelling in a train 10 years ago, that was another experience. we saw the sun rising from the hills of the dry northern plateaus of Karnataka sitting by the door and then itself we knew that travel was one thing that would take us a long way. Since then, we decided to travel at least 4-5 places every year. Our first travel experience was long back to Goa by Bus. The bus journey was amazing traversing through the Nilgiris into Karwar and finally Goa. It was the month of August and monsoon was doing its bit every evening. We visited the ancient churches, the empty beaches of the south and the shacks that probably served the best Goan cuisine around. Our next trip would take us to Coorg and the deep jungle treks within the areas surrounding Madikeri. If the nature did not do its best of you, the Namdroling Monastery at Kushalnagar is something that would displace your existence and take you to a different world filled with chanting and a mind full of rest. We traveled to Wayanad in one of our trips and discovered the evergreen jungles of Kerala. Its truly gods own country since there is no other place where god has gifted a single place with so much time. He took his time to create this place. The numerous water fronts every 50 kms, the tiled roofs being sheltered by Palms and never ending coconut trees. The caves at Edakal talks about so much history that it makes us wonder how they survived with so less of everything. We had the opportunity to visit Pondicherry and witness the laid back life of the former French colony. The architechture, the plain old food joints and even the bicycles everyone uses to commute is a wonder. The mothers resting place and the Auroville are wonders that speak of self existence without harming anything in nature. On the wilder side, we have had the chance to party in most of the discotheques and Lounge bars that offer the best of local cuisine. One of the journeys took us to Lakshwadweep. They were something that just took our breadth away for a few days. Numerous tiny islands, many of which were inhabited, were so close to each other but still could not be accessed by humans to habitat them. Only a select few islands were habited and the biggest of them was a kilometer long and half a kilometer wide. The snorkeling experience is an amazing feeling. The corals are so pretty with such a wide variety of colors and living things to follow. But a piece of caution, please don't step on the corals. Not only are you destroying somebody else's backyard, you would surely cut your toes and feet in the process. They are razor sharp. Kalhatty is another wonderful area within the forest reserve 30 kms short of Ooty. Now this place is definitely not going to be found on the map so don't bother searching for it. Drop us a mail and we will direct you how to get their. A must place to visit for all those hardcore trek enthusiasts. The long day long trek takes you to a huge water fall, a massive Bear cave (of coarse the bear ran away), and a natural swimming pool for those who would like to take a dip. when you are inside the water, close your eyes and listen. You would hear tiny droplets trickling from somewhere. I have been to Kalhatty 3 times and i could never find it till date. Please let us know where that wonderful music originates from. Abroad, well only Anita has had the opportunity to visit UK and boy were the photos good. The chill winter breeze by the coast of Wales makes her skin numb till date. The grass covered hills by the day and the numerous cows grazing on them is a site to see (not that we don't see them in India, we meant the cows only). There are many more stories and experiences we would love to share with everyone of you. But not now, we shall keep it after we win the competition so that we can share so much of so many things.