YHAI’s Himalayan Trekking Expedition SARPASS with Special Chabbis (SP-26)

It was my first ever month in Belgium and serendipitously, it had snowed the whole night. As I was peeping out of the window, all I could witness was white carpet worn Leuven and an unstoppable snowfall adorning the morning. There was no time for coffee, after all, it was my first time watching, feeling, breathing the snow and I was very eager to taste it without any further delay.  In an excited state, I marched around the white town on a long stroll. I was not the only one as there were many snow enthusiasts already shaping up the snow men, a few busy in snowball warfare and many letting shutterbugs do what they do the best…

After about lunch time, I reached IMEC and informed my colleague, Isabelle, sitting across the table, “You know what Isabelle, I saw the snow for the first time in my life.” Isabelle, as witty as ever, quipped, “You know what Guru, my baby is watching it for the first time too.” Isabelle’s had four months old baby then and needless to say I was/am only eighteen then and now…

View of Peak Parvati (6127m) from the base camp in Kasol-Himachal-India

Special Chabbis (SP-26)

I was recounting the incident as finally for the first time in my life, I was witnessing an Indian Himalayan snow clad peak Parvati (20096ft/6127m) sitting in the YHAI base camp in the Parvati valley, Kasol-Himanchal-India. Soon, we, the 42 participants composing the 26^th batch (SP-26) of the season 2013 baptized ourselves as Special Chabbis and were set to depart on delightful SARPASS Himalayan trekking expedition. Itinerary was to scale SARPASS (13800 ft/4200m) starting & ending in Kasol (6500 ft/2000m) in 7 days. Bus rides at the start and the end of the trek would consume about 1800ft/2500m and the intermediate base camps at many insightfully planned picturesque locations (Kasol-Galgi thatch-Khora thach-Zirmi-Tila Lotni-Biskeri thach-Bhandak thatch-Kasol) would provide much needed rest to the legs while rejuvenating the souls.

Picturesque Biskeri thach camp 

Picturesque Bhandak thach camp

View from Bhandak thach camp: After all the hardwork of going up and coming down, we relaxed playing cricket at this Lords!!! 

For an almost-all-affordable cost (3655 INR/65 USD) YHAI not only provides an excellent platform for interaction within the participants from disparate states, it does an outstanding job in planning and streamlining all the routes-stay-and-food for all the batches. In the remote part of north India, I was amazed to have mouthwatering soft and fluffy idlies for breakfast. Food at the higher camps was not only nutritious but was delicious as well. During the course of the hike, one has to live pretty much like an herbivorous mammal. Camping in the tents all throughout without baths (unless u bear guts to take cold water baths in near 0 degC) and using nature for daily rituals, one certainly has an abundance of mesmerizing views and unforgettable banters with co-hikers to keep going...

Walk on a misty morning...

Need to walk high, higher and higher...

Jai Maharashtra - Jai Hind!!! Not sure if this was the highest point in the hike. Nevertheless after all the climb a deserving laugh...

Better late than never, we walk on the snow...

SP-26 on a roll on the snow...

Time for a quick pose...

Ahh....I have my jacket here :-)

And, here it goes off...

One step at a time and all mountains are scalable...

One just can't stop clicking only one...

This pass was tricky. Soft ice and a lot of sliding opportunities...

Landscape you do not want to take your eyes off... 

After sliding: an event (small sister of skii) I will always remember...

Young hearts from all over India join the hike and you meet lots of interesting characters around. In special chabbis (SP-26), we were led by a commendable Indian ex-International Hockey player in the 80s (when the Indian team must have been a lot better than it is now) Mr. Bhandari. Rizwan – an International Taekwondo player and Bronze medalist in Nepal World cup, PK from Indian air force along with a lot of adept shayars/singers from Lucknow lit up the campfires every evening. The common de-numerator across all the participants was the love for nature, endless enthusiasm for singing and preparedness to take the pain to achieve an optimal altitude gain. My to-do-travel-list (deserves another post on this) has grown at least a mile due to tips from all these well-traveled travel enthusiasts. Many of the items in the list fall from YHAI itself and time permitting; I am a hundred percent candidate on many more YHAI hikes year, after year, after years…

In fact, whenever I visit India, I would like YHAI hikes to be the re-union points where we all friends and co-hikers would keep on singing:

Yeh to bas angdai hein!

asli chadhai abhi aani hein!!!

Engligh Translation:

This is only a trailer (i.e. small hike)!

The movie (i.e. major hike) is yet to come!!!

Not Ganges, not Beas, still a roaring water flow!!!

Snakes in the form of flora; Never seen something like this before

Never found this earlier either :-)

For more photos please visit: https://plus.google.com/photos/110326084097379514065/albums/5889728420954931681

Sydney & Melbourne - Australia Sight Seeing

“Unless I have my Preity Zinta alongside me, I am not going to watch the Opera show”, I was confirmed in my mind as the scenes from Dil Chahata Hein (DCH) when Preity takes Amir for an Opera were flashing in front of my eyes and I was resisting the temptation from the Sydney Opera tour guide enticing the group to buy tickets for the Chinese Opera evening shows in the famous Sydney Opera House.  

Once when I was shown the spectacular picture of the Lotus temple in Delhi-India and I had misrecognized it as the Sydney Opera House. To me, any structure with a white tiled quarter-spheroids stacked multiple times signified Sydney Opera House.  It’s not then a surprise at all that the about 4 billion people in the world (i.e. 2 out of every 3 in the universe) do recognize the magnum opus Sydney Opera House in the frame and framing it from the Sydney harbor bridge during a quiet evening walk was one of the charming experiences… 

Sydney Opera House in front of Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney Harbor Bridge reflection in the Opera House glass

Equally splendid experience is to capture the glittering Sydney Harbor Bridge in the day and night times. It’s one of the popular places for nocturnal photography with a lot of flashes hitting the skyline. The area must be at its spectacular best during the new-year evening fireworks. However, on a normal day it’s good too…

Sydney Harbor Bridge - A night view

Sydney Opera House - a night view

Sydney skyline

A Museum or an art gallery in Sydney

The great thing about Australia is that the entire continent is not fragmented into fractions called nations. There are no fights/wars for the same resources, no political skirmishes, no man made border issues and seamless access to disparate cultures resulting in harmony*. With a total colonial stamp, the entire continent speaks a single language (a bit boring), eats the same food and drinks similar drinks. Taking a cue from Australia, it may not be a bad idea for other continents to reorganize themselves forming a Pangaea yet again. Well, just a passing thought... and a few more pictures:

Melbourne skyline - An angled view

Sporty Melbourne: Boating in Yarra River

Shrine of Remembrance - Melbourne

My first trip to the continent has focused only on the two cities (Sydney & Melbourne) and most the sports venues. With blessed nature all over the continent, the opportunities are aplenty. A few that readily come to the mind are:
n  Great Ocean Road
n  The Uluru (The famous red stone)
n  Blue Mountains
n  Entire west coast

And last but never the least...
n  World wonder “The Great Barrier Reef”

Time for next trip…

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^* I am not a geopolitical expert. However, the assumed hypothesis seems alright. 

Adriatic Croatia - My last PhD trip in Europe

My last trip in Europe during PhD was to Croatia* - a beautiful holiday destination with lots of Sea and the Sun and to add to that more and more beautiful people all around. Where else can you expect the host to come to receive you at the bus terminal and you reach ho(s)tel in chauffeur driven car at 6AM in the morning. The lady of the house then greets you with a traditional welcome drink -- honey and vintage liquor (may be) half as strong as Becherovka burning your throat -- What a way to start a day!!!

Ferpect (There is nothing perfect in this world) for a last minute travelers like me, one of the curious practices in Croatia is that you do not really have to book ho(s)tels etc. in advance. For one, you will have a lot of residents looking for travelers to offer them beds/rooms. Renting places and tourism is their major source of revenue. If you are unlucky to find none, I was informed that you are free to just knock on any door in the neighborhood and request them if they have a place to stay. Worse come worst, the residents will guide you to another neighbor and most likely you will get a bed at least.

With more than thousand islands, Croatia is one of those beautiful marvels that it becomes too difficult to imagine that the country was at loggerheads with neighboring Bosnia just a two decades ago and the war stories on the dinner table leave you shock shelled. 

For most prominent traveling destinations, there is a lot and lots to see. While The pearl of Adriatic -- Dubrovnik, described by G. B. Shaw as "Those who seek paradise on Earth should come to Dubrovnik and see Dubrovnik" should not be missed in any circumstances the tranquil park in Plitvice will certainly leave you far away from the mundane day to day routine that you will hate to come back. It's one of the decent places for adventurists too as there are quite a few water sports options to bask in. The passing beauty of the islands when you travel on roads close to Sea is simply mesmerizing and it would be a huge effort to give a break to your shutter. Here are a few shutter bugs...

Dubrovink - The pearl of Adriatic

Lokrum - An island close to Dubrovnik

Croatia - A country with more than thousand Islands

Pristine -- A natural cave in Lokrum

Plitvice Park water fall - small and sweet

   

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* By the way, Gary Kasparov travels to Croatia for vacation every summer. Not only he relaxes in the summer house with his entire family, he works on his Chess too. Being hugely optimistic, I was hopeful that an ounce of sand would be fly into my head to improve my Chess performance. Height of optimism :-) 

Glimpses of Bombay

A lot happens over Coffee and in Bombay a lot happens under the lights. Bombay - a city feeding thousands with a lively hood and millions with hope to make it Big, Bigger and Brighter. A vibrant place to say the least, has been viewed, portrayed and crafted by many many photographers, writers and artists with aplomb.

Here is me, capturing a few famous spots in my city with my viewfinder under the lights.

Mahim-Dadar region: Photo taken from Bandra Worli Sea link

The famous neck-less captured from Nariman point

Cuffe parade/Backbay region captured from Nariman point

The New Taj

The Victoria Terminus/Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus - Central Railway Train station

Bombay Muncipal corporation - A gathering place of rogues
deliberating how to loot to perfection :-)

The Gateway of India

Aerial Photography...

In Leuven-Belgium, you will encounter some guys who are crazy about "Aviation Photography". They travel all over the world to do nothing but the take closer and better pictures of airplanes, preferably fighter jets.

I love those pictures too and I also like "Aerial Photography", where you are in a cozy flight, sipping a glass of wine or munching on a mouth watering gourmet and let the shutter do the job. The sole necessary criterion for this kind of photography is the window seat and once you have it you have all the reasons to go berserk.

Here are some pictures from the recent Chicago - Brussels Journey, a journey that started with a marvelous dusk and ended up with an astounding dawn. Here are the glimpses...

Sunset Arial Photos

Dawn Arial Photos