Agra trip

Since it was the last weekend for some of my friends in our project, we decided to go to Agra over the weekend. I had booked the Indica on public request thru the cab driver I knew. Last Saturday, I joined Srikant, Babu and Ujjwal at 7:15 AM from Green Park and left for Agra. These people stayed in Gurgaon, and so I had arranged the cab from their place only.

I was taken aback by the sound of the car. And, more so when the driver said that the horn's didn't work and there were no lights. We were just hoping that nothing goes wrong for the day. We had breakfast at around 9 in some dhaba. We entered Uttar Pradesh, and our driver stopped to pay the state entry toll fee of Rs. 300. We waited for 15 mins and then he came back saying they are not asking for toll today. We wondered. After that, at around 10, he took us to a village claiming that the number plate was broken. We had to wait for an hour, and then the golmaal happened. Our driver got the number plate changed, from yellow to white! So, the taxi became a private car in an hour! We were shocked by the proceedings, but couldn't help much as he was not listening to us. What a daylight illegal activity that was!

We moved on after the 1 hour delay to Fatehpur Sikri as per original plan. I was the show runner this time :) We reached Fatehpur Sikri at around 1 PM and hired a guide. He told that parking, slipper stand, travel from parking to the fort and all other expenses would be covered in Rs. 350. We got into a rick from the parking and went uphill to the entry of Fatehpur Sikri. The guide went on to tell the history of the place. Akbar, inspite of having 3 wives each of different religion, didn't get a heir to his kingdom. He then went to sait Salim Chisti in Sikri, with whose blessings he was blessed with a child. To commomorate this, he shifted his capital from Agra to Fathehpur Sikri and built the fort and monument on the hill top and also named his son Salim. The mausoleum of Salim Chisti is also a part of the fort complex, and anyone who goes there, their wishes will get fulfilled.

We entered it and he took us round the 4 sides of the complex. We entered thru the Agra gate, and the first thing we saw was the Diwan-I-Aam, or the hall of public audience. Its a huge rectangular walled-in courtyard. Straight was the Jama Masjid. There were 83 small rooms around the square, in which there were students from madrasas living, but its now closed. He also told that this was the place where shootings of Pardes's 'do dil mil rahe hai' song, and few shots from Jodha-Akbar were shot. The guide also showed us the underground escape tunnel (surang) which connects to Agra Fort thru which the legend has it that Salim and Anarkali escaped thru this. There were some tombs in the corner and he told that these were of Akbar's family and explained how to distinguish between a man and woman's tomb. He then showed the place where Jahangir was born, and took us to the Diwan-I-Khas, which lies behind the Diwan-I-Aam.

He then took us to the tomb of Chisti. He told us not to go empty handed, so we got a bedsheet from a nearby vendor. We went to he tomb and handed the chadar to the person there, and went round it. The outer wall of Dargah was very beautifully carved in artistic style, fanciful jali work. The guide showed us one wall, which had the most carvings, and he told to look it from a distance inside, and it appeared like a mirror. But from the outside, the view was completely different. Opposite the tomb was the backside of Buland Darwaza.

He explained the tomb structure and told that water collected on top of roof due to rains would flow down thru the hollow pillar and would get collected in the underground tank. We then went to the Jama Masjid, where pillar structure was very beautiful.

We then came outside the Buland Darwaza. This darwaza was so huge, that it couldn't fit in my camera in one go. The guide mentioned that this celebrates Akbar's conquest of Gujarat. The towering portal has the height of 176 feet from ground level and 134 feet over the top step. The grand recessed central arch is the most magnificent of its kind in the entire range of Mughal architecture in India. It was truely majestic. It was so hot that we couldn't step out beyond the spread carpet.

For more info on Fatehpur Sikri, click here and here.

It was 2:45 when we completed Fatehpur Sikri and we paid the guide, and left for Agra at 3. The guide asked us to visit Agra Fort first and then go to the Taj, at sunset time. Agra Fort was around 45 kms from Fatehpur Sikri and it took us an hour to reach. At Agra Fort, we entered Jahangiri Mahal and once we entered there, it seemed like all the rooms in the building were interconnected and we lost track of where we came from. We saw the Sheesh Mahal, Shahjahani Mahal, Diwan-I-Aam, and also the Taj. Here are a few pics. As we didn't have much time, we just had to rush thru it.

Bengali Mahal: View of Taj from Agra Fort:
Muthamman Burj and Jharoka: Khas Mahal: Sheesh Mahal: Diwan-I-Aam where once the peacock throne was kept:



The place where Jodha-Akbar was shot:
For more info on Agra Fort, click here.

We left Agra Fort at 5 and came to Taj parking. By the time we got out of Agra Fort, our driver got the horn and lights corrected. From the parking, we took a battery operated vehicle who drove us to a small handicrafts market where there were saris made of banana leaves, and other fruits. We then stood in the long queue for the Taj tickets, where the guides came and pestered us to hire them. But we rejected them. Who doesn't know the history of Taj! And, what else was there in Taj to see!
We entered the Taj complex thru the West gate. There were 2 other gates in each direction - South and East. In the North, was a huge gate.

We passed thru the North gate and saw the Taj. The Taj. One of the new 7 wonders of the world. And I just kept seeing it.. Couldn't take my eyes off it. What a lovely 'Monument of Love' had Shahjahan built.

As we stood near the North gate, some photographer came to us and started telling the history of Taj Mahal. Apart from the normal story that Shahjahan constructed this in memory of his wife Mumtaj Mahal, he told that it took some 12 years to construct this, and a ramp was used to reach the top. The height of the topmost trident like thing was itself 35ft. And that, the four pillars around the Taj were earthquake resistant. Even if an earthquake happened, the four pillars would protect the tomb. On the right of Taj was the mosque and to the left of it was a guest house. And all the monuments here were in perfect symmetry. He also told that the Taj changes it colors during the course of the day, especially during sunset. On the full moon day, its not possible to describe its beauty.

On the left of the North gate, there was some exhibition in which there were some paintings of Indian history and culture. We didn't see much of it and straight proceeded to the tomb. The floor was cold enough. There was some queue to enter the tomb. We entered and saw that entry to the actual tomb is near the gateway. Inside was a very dark room, where the fictious tomb resides.

We came out of the tomb and went around the area. We took some pics for matrimony ;) Here are some pics of the Taj. Behind the Taj, Yamuna flowed. The view of the garden was lovely.
It was already 6:45 PM and we started to leave the Taj. I took one last photo of the Taj in the dark. My long standing wish of visiting the Taj was fulfilled.
For the best reviews of Taj, click here and here.

We came out of the Taj complex and suddenly a heavy wind blew. In just a few seconds, rain started, and we just managed to get into the car, after a small tonga ride. Agra traffic was bad in the rains and we moved slowly. Midway, our driver stopped at a famous Petha shop and we bought kgs of Petha. Agra is famous for its Petha sweet. We had dinner at around 9:30 PM close to Mathura in a dhaba. This was the first proper meal of the day. We continued at 10:15 PM, but the driver told that he was very sleepy. So, we took a 45 min break in between at a dhaba and again started at 11:45 PM. Finally, I reached my guest house at 2 AM and hit bed. The other folks reached their places after half an hour.

Wholly, this was an incredible trip. Finally, made it happen!


P.S: Today, I came to know that we had missed the best places to visit in Fatehpur Sikri - Diwan-I-Khas, Panch Mahal, Birbal's place, etc. :(

Uttarakhand trip

Last week, my friend Rajan, who was my roomie in London, currently in Noida called me up and asked if I would be interested in joining them for UK (UttaraKhand) trip, to which I instantaneously said 'YES'. And so began my trip to another state in India.

Deepak and Ambrish, friends of Rajan, came to pick me up from Green Park at around 11 PM on friday and we left for Rajan's place by their bikes. We reached his place at 12 and there we were joined by his roomies - Kunal and Ballu. We slept for some time, had Maggi and then all the 6 of usleft for UK at an unearthly hour of 4 AM, as we thought traffic would be less and we can reach UK faster, by Rajan's Baleno. We drove thru Ghaziabad, Meerut, Roorkie and finally to Shivalik Nagar, which is 10 kms away from Haridwar, and taking breaks in between, having custom chais in dhabhas. On the way, at Roorkie I saw IIT, and further saw Patanjali Yoga centre, which is run by Baba Ram Dev (the Astha TV guy).

We reached Shivalik Nagar at 8:45 AM and went to Abhishek's place, who is another friend of Rajan. We had a tough time locating his place, as the area was grouped as clusters from A to Z and there was no sequence in the clusters. We slept and took some rest(2 hrs!) at his place and in the meanwhile Ambrish went to his house at the same place and got his car too. After rounds and rounds of discussions, finally we agreed to go to Dehradun in the afternoon and while coming back visit Haridwar. We finally started for the only place to be seen in Dehradun - Sahastradhara at around 11:30 in both cars.

We had to pass thru Haridwar to go to Dehradun, which was about 45 kms from Haridwar. At Haridwar, I had the first look of Ganga river and the various Ghats on its banks. There was also a temple on a hill and ropeway service was available too. I got excited about the ropeway, but we had to cover other places first. We took regular breaks thru out journey to Dehradun, as it was on a hilly region and roads were curvy. On way to Dehradun, a guy told that there was a bypass for Sahastradhara, which was 15 kms from the bypass. We followed instructions and finally reached Sahastradhara at around 3:30 PM.

We parked the vehicle and did a little long trek on the sides of the stream. Sahastradhara is a very small 1000 fold spring, which is on river Baldi, and which itseems has great medicinal value since the water has sulphur. We reached a place where finally there wasn't much crowd, changed our clothes and lied down on the bed of the spring. The water was so cold that I shivered. But it was damn fun in the water and the views from the place were exotic.

We spent around 1.5 hours there and returned to the car, but it started raining heavily all of a sudden. The temperature cooled down drastically. And our guys then decided that we go to Mussorie and come back as the weather was so pleasant. Truely, they hadn't planned anything, and any planning was on run-time. And, I wasn't the show runner.

We started our drive to Mussorie, which was 25 kms from Sahastradhara. But since it was again a hilly area and it started to get dark, we thought we call it quits. Approximately after 14 kms, midway to Mussorie, we took a break at a tea stall and started our return journey to Haridwar. However, the view from that place was awesome, and I thought it would be the same from Mussorie, but at a higher level. And friends also told that there was nothing much to see at Mussorie. I had to accept.

We reached Haridwar around 8:30 PM and by that time the famous Aarti to the river was over. Also, it wasn't much crowded as expected. As we were damn hungry, first we went to the famous poori shop behind the ghat and ate them. Later, we came to Har-ki-Pairi where I had been told that this is the most sacred place to have bath in the Ganga. There were 2 temples on the banks of the river and a number of steps. We all changed clothes and dipped into the river. And thus, I had my first bath in the most sacred and holy river of India :). The water was chilled, and was flowing with great force. I was expecting it to be not clean, but the area was pretty decent. Many people were easily swimming and crossing to the other side steps. I thought I will also test my swimming skills after a long time, and tried to swim, but the force of water increased suddenly and it carried me for a long way. I just couldn't reach the other side and as it was very slippery in the middle, I couldn't even stand, and I tried to swim against the flow, but in vain. I thought, this was the end of me. But I dont know how, I managed to come back to the same side of the steps and I came to life again! What a thrilling experience that was!

After having bath at Har-ki-Pairi, we went again to the poori stall behind and had a proper dinner this time. I couldn't take any snap of this place, as it was very dark. But I always wished to come back to Har-ki-Pairi the next day to atleast take a few snaps. We had dinner and left for Shivalik Nagar to Abhishek's place, and there decided that Rajan, myself and Ambrish go to Ambrish's place to sleep. We 3 reached Ambrish's house at midnight and just crashed.

The next day, as decided, all the rest 5 came to Ambrish's house and we left for Rishikesh at 6:30 in the morning. Aunty had prepared poori rajma for us to have for breakfast and we got it packed. There were 2 ways to reach Rishikesh as told by Rajan, one thru the normal highway and the other thru a jungle. We decided to take the jungle route as we thought it would be exciting. On the way, in Haridwar, we had to cross a bridge over the Ganges, and there I took this snap of the river.

We entered the jungle area and paid a toll of Rs. 100. But thru out the route, there was only a canal of Ganga which was for the dam and nowhere could find the forest. It was very disappointing.

We had been given the time of 9 AM for river rafting, and we managed to reach Rishikesh at around 8:15, as the roads were bad and curvy. From Rishikesh, the starting point for our rafting was still 25 kms uphill, at a place called Marine drive. This drive took around 45 mins. All thru the road, beatiful scenic places were there. We finally reached marine drive at around 8:45 and again drove back some 250 mts as there was no parking available at that place. We there then had pooris and changed and walked upto marine drive. Here are some pics.

At Marine drive, I was prepared for my first ever white water rafting experience. We were given life jackets, helmets and paddles. The insturctor gave some training on how to row on a raft, how to hold the paddle, how to save ourself in case of capsize and all other safety instructions. He told that its a team work and we got to collectively do it. The distance was approx 10 kms, from Marine drive to Shivpuri. He told that there are 4-5 'rapids' in between varying in the range of 2 to 4 grades. Rapids are those areas where waves occur in middle of the river due to rocks and causes the raft to move very haphazardly, if not rafted properly. I had seen them in some ads, and I was now ready to experience it.

We started rafting and before the first 'rapid' came, we were comfortable to row and we had tried out helping others, and swimming in the river. The flow of the river was moderate and it was damn chilled. I was feeling like being in heaven, after the tiring summer in Delhi. The first rapid with the name 'Good Morning', with grade of 1.5 came and we rafted thru it successfully. It was a thrilling experience, and we wanted to have more. Subsequenly, we rafted thru another 4 'rapids' and it was just good. We dipped in the river after we crossed every rapid. It was a super feeling being in the middle of the river and getting carried by it. Risky though, but whats life without risk ;)?

We finally completed our rafting of 10 kms stretch (Rs. 400 per person) and wanted to have more, as the instructor told that there was a rapid with grade 4 in the next stretch. We then decided to continue our raft for another 10 kms and took a small break at the banks. We started again, though we were little tired. The rapid with grade 4 arrived and it was just too good to raft over it. The raft was about to turn upside down due to the heavy waves and winds, but we just managed to pull it thru and cross it. Damn awesome stuff. After around 4 kms, there was a small cliff and the instructor took us there. There was a long queue to the cliff, but he moved everyone aside and took all of us. From the cliff, we all jumped to the river, which was approx 10 mts in height. One look down from the tip of the cliff to the river scared me, but I just jumped without thinking much. In 1 sec I was under water and with life jacket, I came to water surface quickly. Another super exp!

We completed the second stretch, which had 4-5 rapids and we were hardly 200 mts from Lakshman Jhula. Me, Deepak, Ambrish and Ballu stayed back at the banks, while the other 3 left with the instructor in their cabs to get back our cars. We 4 then spent some time in the river and went to the main road. There, we waited for more than an hour for those guys to come. They finally came after the long wait and again there were confusions and discussions about where to go next. They all decided to go back to Ambrish's place and back to Delhi, but I told them that I was from south India, and would rarely get a chance to visit north again, and I wanted to see Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula and again have a dip at Haridwar. Rajan agreed to this and so we 2 and Ballu drove in another car to these places while the rest proceeded to Haridwar.

We 3 reached Lakshman Jhula and the view was amazing. There were many small temples here and there all thru the path. Its a hanging bridge over the Ganges with no pillars in between. The sight was just pleasing. There was the Triambakeshwar temple opposite side and many Yoga centres all over. We walked thru the bridge for some distance and returned back. No more temple visits.

Further down, on way back to Haridwar, I saw the Ram Jhula. This also is very similar to Lakshman Jhula.

Further down the road, I could see the entire Ghats of Rishikesh.

We began descending Rishikesh and took a break at a hotel on the highway and had some food. Over ther, the other 4 folks also just had completed their food. It was already 4 PM or so. Then, we 3 again left by the same car to Haridwar, and the rest 4 left to Shivalik Nagar by the jungle route. On way to Haridwar, I saw the entrance to Rajaji National Park. We reached Haridwar at around 5:30 or so, and changed and again had a bath at the Ganges. This time, I was able to take a few snaps of Har-ki-Pairi. It was crowded like hell. It was almost Aarti time and I could see some diyas on water.

After the bath, we came back to car and left for Shivalik Nagar. We reached Ambrish's house at around 7:30 PM, dropped his car and left for Noida at 8. 3 hours behind schedule :)

Rajan and Kunal drove the Baleno and we took very minimum breaks, as we had to reach Noida early, to go to office the next day. We finally reached Rajan's place at around 2 AM, and crashed on bed. On Monday, Rajan dropped me back to guest house just in time and from there I went to office by 11 cab with someone.

Thus, came the end of this great Himalayan tour in Uttarakhand. The memories of this trip, especially the rafting part will not be lost. Looking forward for more these kind of trips.