Thoughts @ Amit Gupta is a blog by Amit Gupta on india, internet , mobile, marketing and life in general. » Travel & living

multi-utility – this happens only in india

Amit Gupta — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:39:24 +0000

Interesting images captured on road.

Maruti Suzuki launched a new multi-utility vehicle to cater to specific indian requirements. This was launched without much fanfare but was spotted on gurgaon roads

This guy is wearing helmet for protection from ???

Plan trip to vaishno devi – online

Amit Gupta — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:55:29 +0000

My weekend trip to vaishno devi, so what is different from my last trip in december. This one was a completely arranged online for every step of journey. I had the mix experience bad one with irctc (online booking for indian railways) and Indian railways but excellent experience with official site of vaishno devi shrine board.

I booked my rails tickets on JAT express tatkal basis. They charged me fare from originating station (ajmer) to the destination (jammu), almost double in my case and 150 rs tatkal charges extra + irctc charges. But they treated me as no show because we boarded the train from gurgaon. Once we boarded the train then we realized TC gave our seats to someone else. We were told that we need to get our boarding station changed 24 hrs in advance by giving written request at railway station which irctc tatkal faq clearly failed to tell us. So pls be extra careful while booking tatkal tickets. This is least expected from the site, which has the lion share of indian online transaction. This was the only ugly instance on the whole trip. Indian railways shame shame…

On other hand, shrine board site offers host of online services on simple registration.

a) Yatra parchi slip: It is mandatory for every yatri to register himself before starting the yatra. A online registration saves a lots of time at katra (starting point of yatra, some 40 km from jammu). Online booking cost rs 50 per yatri and entitles you to collect prasad from govt souvenir shop at katra.

b) Room Booking: Site offers you rooms at Jammu, katra and bhawan at very reasonable rates. These rooms are generally short in supply and its advisable to book well in advance (booking opens 30 days in advance). We got the booking at vaishnavi bhawan (rooms are allotted on random basis online, this can be improved).

c) Helicopter Booking: This service is provided by Deccan and pawan Hans

And last but not the least if all these services seems less to you click here for online darshan and pooja.

Weather at katra not as what is seen below in photographs. It was hot and humid there with temprature touching 38-40 degrees but this change as we go high up on a long 14 km trek on the mountain.

We made some friends on our way (the center pic not on the right). And as the luck was on our side they had extra VIP passes for darshan. The normal waiting time for darshan was around 4-6 hours. (Advice : plan your trip in winters and avoid weekends. There is less no. of devotees and old holy cave is also open to devotees).

Enroute to bairon mandir, the weather here was awesome and one can feel the true beauty of nature.

This is me gulping desi ghee ka halua. Most yummy halwa i ever had.

This is one intersting signboard in center pic seems to be inspired by Sholey like ‘Ramgopal varma’ producing disasterous ‘Sholey’ . And finally the journey back to gurgaon with indian railways and this time thankfully we got our seats.

Neemrana Fort palace, Rajasthan

Amit Gupta — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:22:50 +0000

Few months back, we picked up Neemrana Fort Palace for a weekend get away trip from Gurgaon. I have some kind of facinations for the Palaces & forts and Neemrana is the closed fort in Rajasthan from Gurgaon, some 80 km from IGI Airport.

We booked a stay for a night there in Hari Vilas (Lord Vishnu’ adobe) , one of the rooms being offered from the heritage property. The deal – One night stay @ INR 5000 excluding the buffet lunch (INR 600) and dinner (INR 700). We opted for this room for three primary reasons

a) This room is part of the original fort (There are many additional new rooms and facilities being constructed as an extention to the original fort palace.)

b) The room have extended balcony and private roof top terrace.

c) This fits into our budget

We started a cool ride on NH-8 towards Jaipur. Our first stop was at Mc’donald close to manesar for brunch. We picked up usual burger and coke. The ride was very smooth and took us less than 2 hours to reach neemrana. Road to the fort is from within the Neemrana town is still in shape the last king must have left it. We followed a camel cart patiently to reach the fort.

We certainly had some high hopes of staying in a heritage fort palace which was once home to decendents of Prithviraj Chauhan. Neemrana fort is magnificiant and well maintained property but the room was bit of a disappointment. Its actually a heritage property (no fancy floors and ceiling, tv, intercom and even room service). My wife insisted and actually checked on couple of same room but found this to be best.

Infact if we ignore the room per say rest of the experience was lovely. There was huge balcony attached to our room and we have access to two level of roofs. The room offered excellent view of both fort and neemrana town from balconies and roof top.

Nights offer even better view of the fort (My camera though couldn’t captute it) . The fort has 10 stepped level and whole fort was illuminated at night. Fort also has a common room with television, library and few indoor games. But we decided to explore the fort after dinner. We covered most of the levels and but at times it was really scary to be roaming in the narrow staircases.

Next day we decided to have breakfast out on restaurant terrace and explore some more of fort.

and then we discovered the most coverted mahal(palace) in the fort. It was just a chance discovery as the way to this palace is told by fort authority until you have the pressing need. Look for yourself…

Traffic light for footover bridge in gurgaon !

Amit Gupta — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:46:57 +0000

This can happen only here in India. We know how to ulitize all the resources to fullest and look forward to accept new challenges. Look at the images below I clicked of foot over bridge meant for pedestrian in millenium city, gurgaon.

No hurry at all – Guy seems to be attending a call from home

Wow ! such a good negotiater of sharp turns

Pedestrian should be given adverse travel advisory for crossing expressway by footover bridge build in gurgaon. Or considering the amount of motor vehicles goverment should put up traffic lights up there. Or better lets have a another overbridge on the existing one

Trip to Ladhakh – Final part

Amit Gupta — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:41:17 +0000

Day 6-8 Khadungla (Highest Motorable pass) , Chumatang (Hot water springs) , Monasteries (Hemis, Thiksey) & Leh Palace

Day 6: A bit of disappointment as snow blocked our way to Khardungla (18380ft above sea level). We waited for the snow to get clear at South Pulu 14 km from the top (K-top) for 2 hours but in vain. We got down to Leh and roam around in market. We had food at local café with some interesting menu items ‘SNAKES’. Fortunately for my wife it was only a spelling mistake.

Recommended:

Coconut Cookies @ Golden bakery in main market.

Vegetarian North Indian food @ Lamayuru Restaurant

[View with PicLens]

Day 7: Early rise to a long day. The enthu twosome headed to Khardungla again. A it was worth an effort. We felt like on top of the world. Got some souvenirs from the

Army shop at the K-top and clicked loads of snaps. Few interesting landmarks on the way:

a) India Gate

b) Gateway of Numbra

After a lunch break @ Happy World Restaurant in Leh we headed to Kali Mata Mandir close to Leh Airport. No photography allowed within the complex but there was an flowering apricot tree… amazing beauty.

Leh palace was under renovation but offered eagle eye view of Leh town. There was a temple inside the palace but you need to look for it no signs boards. Photography is allowed with palace and monasteries but without Flash.

We followed up palace visit to Thicksey monastery. Amazing place with beautiful statues and paintings of Lord Buddha and other Buddhist God.

[View with PicLens]

Day 8 : Yet another early rise for a long drive. This was our last day in Leh and it was reserved for hot water springs in Chumatang. This is close to 140 km on Leh-Manali highway towards Manali. It was a break from the regular snow and the route had picturous red mountains and notorious Indus flowing along with us. A long but not tiring 3 hour journey ended with loads of fun. Though snow was missing but there was enough of ice to supplement. So you have hot boiling water and ice present at the same place (Though Grown up kids accompanying us Vikas & Neha went berserk and destroyed all).

We ended our day and Leh trip with visit to Hemis monastery. The place can’t be explained in words but can only be felt and captured on frames. Must visit.

[View with PicLens]

And that’s bring us to the end of exiting and adventurous week of vaccation. Next day morning, We flew with Kingfisher Red back to scorching heat of Delhi.

Trip to Leh (Ladhakh) Part II

Amit Gupta — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:34:15 +0000

Day 3. We came across snow for the first time On the way to this beautiful and frozen Pangong Tso (or Pangong Lake; Tso: Ladakhi for lake). It is 120 Km long lake with one third of the lake falling into Indian territory and rest in China. The temperature was freezing cold literally and wind were blowing hard.

Our first stop was at the army post of Zingral @ 15500 ft. Few interesting things on the way (see images)

a) White house

b) Frozen drain

c) J & K Bank (Just 38 Km away)

By the time we crossed Changla (The third highest motorable road in the world) we all were shivering in our woolens.

BTW I had my favorite maggi at Pangong Lake. Ummah..

[View with PicLens]

Day 4. Highest Guest room complex in the world @ Tangse. But the highlight of the day was snowfall. Finally a long cherished dream come true. Dance in the middle of the snowfall.

On the downside because of heavy snow road leading back to Leh was blocked and we were forced to stay back in Tangse.

[View with PicLens]

Day 5. Thanks to the Indian Army, our way got cleared by late evening and headed back to base. Fresh snow was too tempting to resist and all of us had lots of fun. We had to chain our wheels to make sure we had safe journey. It is highly advisable to get the vehicle chained in snow as it increases friction and grip for the tyres.

[View with PicLens]

Adventurous trip to Leh (Ladhakh)

Amit Gupta — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:31:02 +0000

So finally I got a well deserved break from the daily routine with a long pending family vaccation. My Wify always wanted to see some snow clad mountains and I wanted to go on some adventure holiday. And we discovered a perfect mix in the Land of Lamas-Leh.

I have done some goggling before packing our bags for the leh. Few useful tips based on suggestions and personal experiences:

a) Leh is on high altitude and really high So you are bound to suffer from high altitude sickness. The degree of effect may vary from person to person. Common effects:
Breathlessness

Ø Headache

Ø Vomiting

Ø Bleeding from nose

To overcome this you need to drink lots and lots of water. And don’t venture out as soon as you reach Leh. give some time to your body to acclimatized to the conditions. We rested for one full day before any activity.

b) Carry warm cloths, jackets , Caps/Hats nd pair of good sunglasses. (Thanks abhishek for your jacket.)

c) Consult your doctor and take medicines to control effects of High altitude. Carry some first aid medicines with you like Paracitamol, Eno , Disprin , Anti Vomiting drug etc.

We were stationed at Kharu (40 km from Leh) in a beautiful army guesthouse. We didn’t venture out anywhere on this day. Though I can’t resist clicking the beautiful Leh and Sheh city on our way to the guesthouse.

Day 1. We flew with early morning flight of Kingfisher Red (As if we had other options). There are daily flights to Leh from Delhi by Kingfisher Red, Jet airways and Indian. It was a very comfortable flight (highly recommended). Delhi – Leh flight is for 1hr 10 min but there is a difference of more than 10000 feet in height and a variation of 40 degrees in temperature. We landed at Leh airport around 8:30 AM and the temperature outside was 2 degree Celsius.

[View with PicLens]

Day 2. We were off to Leh city.

a) Hall of Fame: War memorial by Indian army. No photography allowed inside the building but it treasure the war memorabilia’s and weapons from the war fought in this zone, including the Operation Vijay (Kargil war)

b) Magnetic hill : On our way to Gurudwara Pathar Sahib there is a place which supposedly have magnetic properties. Our SUV was pulled towards the hill in engine off condition.

c) Gurudwara Pathar sahib : The Gurudwara got its name from the huge rock (Pathar) which was thrown on Guru Nanak dev ji by some devil. The rock turned soft on touching Guru Nanak Dev and got molded in his shape.

d) Sangam of Indus and zanskar river : Beautiful place where two meets. we had lot of fun at the banks of the rivers’. Couple of hours just passed away.

e) Leh market : Markets are stuffed with woolens, handicrafts and Chinese stuff. Nice place to roam around. I am no shopoholic, so not much interested.

[View with PicLens]

Few more days of leh watch out the next post J

A close encounter with Vintage Car

Amit Gupta — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:34:54 +0000

A chance encounter with this beauty on National highway 8. I could’nt resist myself to get clicked with this charming beauty. I felt like a royal…

Reissue of Indian Passport

Amit Gupta — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:25:26 +0000

I filled the application form online from official website and it generated a downloadable format for me to get the photographs done etc. And the best part , I got a appointment online for submission of the form. Somehow I manage to get all my documents in palce and time (Most difficult being proof of residence.

So a journey of five month has come to an end. I have managed to lay hand on my reissued passport after much delay and followup. For the starter an Indian passport has to be be reissued after every 10 years. My passport was about to expire (actually there were still 9 months to go) so I thought to get the same reissued in time. I was pleasantly surprised to find that system has evolved much since the day I have first applied for the same, year 1999.

ALWAYS REMEMBER :

a) Telephone Bill means only Government line (MTNL or BSNL) no Airtel, Tata Indicom or Mobile bills

b) Bank Statement : Only government banks (No Citibank, ICICI though it is second largest bank in India, No HDFC it may be the largest housing finance banking entity of the country)

AND so on… Anyways, Fortunately I have one sarkari bank account in Bank of Baroda which actually become the passport to my passport application. So two days of effort to collect documents and 1000 RS down I managed to submit my application. They cancelled my current passport and accepted the application for reissue. So now I was practically without a passport (with some 9 months still to spare for expiry ).

This was the beginning of long journey, which was suppose to get over in just 45 days.

The wait begins for the police verification as the passport status site show the status “Awaiting Police verification” from the very next day. After numerous round to ACP office and request for early verification, the same happened some after 60 days.

Now after 90 days I found the new status on the site “Police verification clear, Application under process”. Now starts another round of wait for the processing of passport.

Then the round of mails and personal visit to RPO ensure that I got my passport after 5 months. I feel like being on cloud nine without actually flying

Update ( Feb 27, 2009 ) Months after I got my passport , I got call for a police verification again. As per them My verification is still pending. this send chill through my spine. But fortunately It was some error and I was saved from any hassle.

Trip to Vaishno Devi

Amit Gupta — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:34:01 +0000

I am back in Delhi after a three day trip to Vaishno Devi. The trip was thought and planned a month ag0, But all my planning failed (2 set of cancelled train and hotel bookings) and like every time we were rushing to catch the bus. whatever…

The journey and the destination was worth the effort. It was such a nice weather all through the journey. Everytime I visit the place I seems to be discovering something new and mystical. By the way in a rare occurence (at least for me) I was fortunate to visit the Ardhakuwari temple and the ancient cave of Vaishno Devi in single trip.

View From Our Room

After a trek of 13 km we reached the bhawan (the main temple) and stayed in the room there. And I have the surprize view from my room’s balcony. Our balcony faced the bhawan. We had a full view of the temple from our balcony. It was really a divine experience.

Some of the natural beauty we discovered on the way :

Natural Spring

Goat