North India Trip Day 1 22-12-2007

This is a travelogue of me & Giri’s trip to North India. We covered Manali, Shimla, Agra and Delhi during the 8 days of our North Indian Sojourn.

I. 22/12/2007 – Bangalore to Delhi by Indigo Air

Initial plan was to cover the entire trip by Train or Bus. But due to the insurmountable pressure put on us by Chetan, we were forced to book our flight from Bangalore to Delhi. This decision, in hindsight turned out to be quite a good one. We had to book the flight because Chetan wanted us to fit Manali in our schedule, which earlier included only Shimla, Agra and Delhi.

We started from Giri’s place near Kathriguppe at 4.00 AM for the Airport. The driver of the Indica which dropped us at the Airport was for some reason paranoid about taking the Outer Ring Road to get to the Airport. He kept muttering about Cabbies getting mugged by bike riding thugs.

Anyway we got to the airport by 4.30 AM. We dragged our luggage (2 Cabin Bags, 1 Suitcase and 1 Large Kit), and got them screened. The flight was scheduled to depart at 5.30 AM and reach Delhi by 7.55 AM. We boarded the flight at 5.20 AM and took off by 5.45 AM. I might add here that this was Giri’s first experience of flying.

The flight was captained by a gentleman named Carlos, and his co-pilot was named Roberto. Now all we needed was some Banana Free-Kick Take-off and Landing, which was not exactly our GOAL (Sorry, But Great PJ!!!!). The 3^rd seat in our row was occupied by an ISKCON devotee, who, by the way he was running through his prayer beads, we initially thought was suffering from FLIGHTOPHOBIA (Isn’t that fear of flying!!!!. BTW it is called AEROPHOBIA).

The flight was incident free and we safely got to Delhi, without any stunts by our above-referred pilot duo. Got down at IGI Airport and hired a Taxi to Faridabad to Achar’s place, the destination of our suitcase.

II. 22/12/2007 – IGI Airport to Faridabad – What the **** is going on???

Within 20 Minutes of boarding the Taxi, we knew that the denizen of Delhi do not deserve the roads that they have been given by their respective Governments. (For those not in the know, Delhi NCR is spread over 3 States i.e. Delhi, UP and Haryana). For someone who thinks not too highly of the way Bangaloreans drive, this was an eye-opener. The reason why I say this is that Delhiites have an uncanny knack of making a mess out of their traffic. Road Manners never seem to have been taught or imparted to these guys. If Bangalore had even 50% of the Asphalting that has been done in Delhi, it would be heaven. It was so bad that at a later point of time, Giri was actually stating that he needed time to mentally prepare himself for a Taxi-ride. We could have really made some use of the ISKCON guy’s prayer beads.

Anyway we got to Achar’s place pretty much in one-piece physically!!! Mentally was a different story altogether. We were truly SHAKEN & STIRRED.

III. 22/12/2007 – Stay at Achar’s place – Bisi Bisi Coffee and Upma!!!!!!!!

Shylaja i.e. Mrs. Achar cooked some fantastic Upma for breakfast and the coffee kept coming right through the day. We guys before starting from Bangalore had declared that the Coffee we had at 4.00 AM in the morning would be the last cup of pucca filter coffee we would have for the next eight days, and boy were we glad to be proved wrong, that too on the same day!!! We were in for some more surprises yet on the coffee front.

IV. 22/12/2007 – Lunch & Delhi to Manali by 2X2 Sleeper Bus

Lunch, consisted of Tomato Bath, Some kind of stuffed Brinjal, and Rice-Rasam. After Lunch, Achar dropped us off near the ISBT, from where we had to catch the bus to Manali. The bus was supposed to depart at 6.00 PM but we boarded the bus only by 6.45 PM.

The Bus was filled with a bunch of delinquents, who for some strange reason, even if they wanted to speak to their neighbour, were shouting at the top of their voices. Scary!!!

NH-1 is amazing. Saw a bunch of Honda Cars (Civic-2, City-3), absolutely flooring the gas and screaming past our bus, which was doing nearly 80+ at the point of time.

Passed Panipat at around 8.30 PM. Panipat is my colleague Ravi’s home town. Thought of calling him, but then felt too tired to even take out my cell. Saw a lot of shops advertising PACHRANGA Pickles. Made a point to ask Ravi to get some for me next time round.

Stopped for Dinner at a Dhaba near Karnal. Tasted authentic Makki-Di-Roti and Sarson-Da-Saag. And One Huge Tumbler of Lassi. Absolutely killer!!!

Meanwhile, Giri lapsed into deep sleep after the bus took off from Karnal, whereas yours truly was finding it difficult to sleep. So I just watched the proceedings from the upper berth window. Occassionally grabbed a few minutes of sleep.

Saw the serene backwaters of the Gobind Sagar Reservoir near Bilaspur. The reservoir was formed after the construction of the Bhakra Dam on the Sutlej.

The road to Manali is very well maintained, in spite of the inclement weather that hill roads generally have to undergo.

Stopped for Chai at 5.00 AM, some 40 Kms before Mandi. I Had to 2 Cups of Chai, and Giri was satisfied with one. The Chaiwalla did not have change and gave me a packet of Tiger Biscuits as change. Reached Manali at around 11.00 AM (Total Bus Travel Time:16:15 Hrs).

More to come.....