Adventure in Himalayas- Transversing the Tehri.

It was an adventure which Alok/Mendi would not be aware of .

It was 1997 i think ..Mayank should correct me if wrong, my Bike still qualified as 'Cheetah' or black panther to be precise.

Evening we started on my Bike towards Rishikesh, we stayed put in a lodge ..still is there and i hope still charges rent of Rs 300/- quite steep for that era but it was very clean ..i mean furniture too was sparse but back view was panoramic with mighty Ganges flowing stealthily and far away temples of Muni ki reti merging with low hills of Himalayas, we had a royal thali for dinner at 'Chotiwala ' it was the time of year when Rishikesh nights are very quiet with very few Desi tourists and only firang hippie couples with their ' Hare ram' lungis /sarongs walking aimlessly , laughing hysterically swaying under influence of 'weed' , we came very late to the lodge, cool breeze by the side of ghats was very soothing.

Early morning we started for New Tehri, drive was just faboulous... its straight national highway towards Chamba and than onto Uttarkashi ..but we decided to turn towards New Tehri, It was freshly made town still and had very artificial looks , trees were yet to catch up and Ganges still flowed unbrindled, My freind Kailash Uniyal was there, he had made up arrangements for us to stay at Guest house of THDC ( monolith which controls everything connected with Tehri Dam) and than we took a jeep towards hill Campus of Pantanagar University- my Alma mater, its a better place than any commercial hill station, thickly wooded with Deodars and blue pine , it is known for its orchards of Apples, Apricot,Plum etc.

Evening it was party time with chicken prepared by a Garhwali cook who had worked in Russian embassy and we washed it down with Old monk Rum , sleep was peaceful.

We again started early towards Old Tehri..This area is totally submerged now..i remember it was bustling town still..hot and dusty,from Tehri we took upturn towards Agrakhaal or kaddukhaal ..Mayank would tell correctly we passed Old town, i still can vividly recollect the ' Clock tower' and ruined palace of Naresh , transverisng snaky roads and not so green hills we reached temple of ' Chandrabadni Mata', Temple is uphill and when you reach compound you find there is steep flight of stairs to reach the Devi, Pujari was local Garhwali Brahmin and infact he performed little Puja for us.

We were at last lag of journey and by afternoon we reached Devparyag, confluence of Alknanda and Bhagirathi..visited temple of Lord Ram build by Shankracharya..have had hearty meal here and than started towards Rishikesh.

(...to be contd)

Mussoorie, one summer

All I remember is it was summer. The memory is not that sharp any more. It was customary in those days to spend a night in Mussorie when ever we guys got together, mostly either during summar vacation, and later during Diwali breaks. It wasn't that cold yet, so it must have been summer break, when we were still in college. It was Mayank, Dinu, and I to be exact; that much I am sure of.

That morning, we reached the Musoorie bus stand near Doon railway station early, and decided to take a cab. Not that we were rich those days; pocket money was limited, but they had the system of cab sharing both up and back from Doon to Mussoorie, so it didn't turn out that expensive. Buses were old and oveloaded. But newly weds enjoyed them since they got to get cozy naturally.

I am using past tense here, because it's been a while I have been up there, so I don't know if any of this has changed. We strolled and chilled along the Mall road the whole day. Arcade games were big attraction in those days. I think they still have those machines up there. We wasted away some money on those. And we did all the usual stuff -- check out shops, ate corn, ate softy, etc. Mussoorie’s softies were just way too good and a must have any time you went there.

By dusk, we decided to look for a place to spend the night. We coundn't afford fancy hotels on Mall road in those days, and decided to go for a cheaper alternative. I don't remember any more, but somehow I knew of a Jain dharamshala not too far from Mall road. We hunted it down, and I mustered enough courage to talk to the attendant there. I wasn't sure if he would allow non-jains to stay there. But he didn't complain and gave us a single room. The room wasn't all that great. It was a single bed where three of us could hardly fit on. The toilet was attached, but it smelt badly, and there was no light. We spent the first hour just trying to adjust on the bed. Mayank was the first one to start snoring.

We got up, next morning, fairly fresh. The window provided a nice view of the valley. It was chilly out. We sipped on hot tea, and looked down at the fog rising up. The morning sun shone bright on the green mountain peaks, and with our eyes feeling fresh from good sleep, we felt as if we were reborn in a new world that had no pollution or chaos. It felt perfect.

We left the dharamshala and started walking towards the taxi stand. But before we left, we decided to go for Chatpate Paranthe (spicy potato bread). These were the best at Mussorie. In fact they were so popular, that there was a restaurant on every block. They were perfectly and evenly filled up with spicy meshed potatos, fried just right, and round in shape like the morning sun was. Hungry as we were, we ate like dogs. A hot cup of tea served as a perfect companion.

Rocking on, Sunday

We started off the day early with a tennis date. My current domestic partner (his family also went to India) joined us as well. This guy descended on the court as an underdog; in fact we decided to server him slow in the beginning, but he played real well and beat me in the best-of-3-games gig. After that, I played a regular set with my regular tennis partner, went down to 0-4 but beat him 7-5 in the end. Our bodies were aching by the time we were done.

Later in the morning, I decided to dump myself in the jacuzzi for a little while followed by a hot shower, and I emerged as a new man. With still so much time to kill, we decided to go for a movie. 'Rock on' was running at AMC 30; we decided to go for the 4PM show. We loaded up the suitcases with fresh supplies for the week and drove down to Schaumburg to my friends place. After unloading some stuff over there, we remembered that we almost forgot to take lunch, so busy we were. While on our way to lunch, we stopped by Office Depot to pick a laptop; we got a great deal on an acer. Laptop prices have dropped enormously. In fact, most of the electronic items are being sold like vegetables these days (but the junk they produce do not disintegrate as fast as vegis, sadly).

By the time, we got out of the shop, it was 3:15. We headed straight to the theater area and decided to check out the eating places in the new strip mall there. Subway, we skipped; Quiznos, we settled on, but then they were closed Sunday. Next to that was Jimmy Johns sandwich place. I had heard great things about this one, but never got a chance to try it. So in we went. It was a classic American style club & sub sandwiches place; even the interiors were still set the old way. It reminded me immediately of 'Grease'. Having gotten used to the spicy and oiled sanwiches that the modern sub shops now offer, we thought the sandwiches were really dry, and thought this was our first and last time for us over there.

By 3:40, we were out of there and heading to the theater across the road. On our way, we noticed men clad in whites playing cricket (must have been one of the league matches). There weren't too many people in the theater. This one has 30 theaters and is typically very busy, but this being Sunday evening, it wasn't. We noticed only just the Indians purchasing tickets for Rock On.

After getting in, I decided to go for a soft pretzel. The sandwich wasn't good enough for me, or may be all the workout is making me hungrier. If I continue like this, you guys back home will notice my physical growth immediately. It was just my bad luck, but the pretzel tasted equally bland as well. I ate only half of it.

The movie was not so bad - a reminder that a secure & traditional lifestyle might keep you breathing and paying bills, but the real living is when you follow your passions. The movie lacked depth, but I was still able to stir up my emotions esp because of the rocking music. I would recommend Jerry Maguire (my all time favorite) though if you really want to touch on this topic. All the characters were well suited and the performances good. I never thought much of Arjun Rampal before, but I thought he stole the show in this one, and Farhan looks dashing as well both in the rockstar and the businessman avatars. The lead guitar mesmerizes and gives you goosebumps. The concerts are well shot, esp the last one is dazzling and worth experiencing in the theater.

By the end of the day, we were pretty exhausted, but I was hungry again. We decided to go the Chipotle, the mexican fast food place. After coming back home, I chatted with Manisha for a little bit, and then dumped myself straight into the bed. Subconsciously, I thought the movie stirred up my creative side a little bit that eesulted in this entry this morning on Monday.

It's almost 9, now. I better get ready for work. Later.

Guys Please check this out and come up with some idea.

Brief Conceptual Note-
Development of Delhi – Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)DELHI-MUMBAI INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR (DMIC) CONCEPTUAL OUTLINE
BACKGROUD
Government of India has announced the establishing the Dedicated Freight Corridor between Delhi and Mumbai, covering an overall length of 1483km and passing thru the States of U.P, NCR of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, with end terminals at Dadri in the National Capital Region of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai. This Dedicated Frieght Corridor offers high-speed connectivity for High Axle Load Wagons (25 Tonne) of Double Stacked Container Trains supported by high power locomotives. The Delhi-Mumbai leg of the Golden Quadilateral National Highway also runs almost parallel to the Freight Corridor.

DELHI-MUMBAI INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR
The proposed high-speed connectivity between Delhi and Mumbai offers immense opportunities for development of an Industrial corridor along the alignment of the connecting infrastructure. A band of 150 km (Influence region) has been chosen on both the sides of the Freight corridor to be developed as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The vision for DMIC is to create strong economic base in this band with globally competitive environment and state-of-the-art infrastructure to activate local commerce, enhance foreign investments and attain sustainable development. In addition to the influence region, DMIC would also include development of requisite feeder rail/road connectivity to hinterland/markets and select ports along the western coast.
INTEGRATED CORRIDOR DEVELOPMENT APPROACH FOR DMIC High impact/ market driven nodes- integrated Investment Regions (IRs) and Industrial Areas (IAs) have been identified within the corridor to provide transparent and investment friendly facility regimes. These regions are proposed to be self-sustained industrial townships with world-class infrastructure, road and rail connectivity for freight movement to and from ports and logistics hubs, served by domestic/ international air connectivity, reliable power, quality social infrastructure, and provide a globally competitive environment conducive for setting up businesses. An Investment Region (IRs) would be a specifically delineated industrial region with a minimum area of over 200 square kilometers (20,000 hectares), while an Industrial Area (IAs) would be developed with a minimum area of over 100 square kilometers (10,000 hectares). 24 such nodes - 9 IRs and 15 IAs spanning across six states have been identified after wide consultations with the stakeholders i.e the State Governments and the concerned Central Ministries. It is proposedthat 6 IR and 6 IAs would be taken up for implementation in the 1st Phase during 2008-2012 and rest of the development would be phased out in the next 4 years. The nodes identified for Phase-1 are: Short listed Investment Regions:


List of Proposed Investment Regions and Industrial Areas in the DMIC Region
PHASE I
S.No State Proposed Location Category of Region
1 Uttar Pradesh Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region
2 Uttar Pradesh Meerut-Muzaffarnagar Industrial Area
3 Haryana Faridabad-Palwal Industrial Area
4 Haryana Manesar-Bawal Investment Region
5 Rajasthan Kushkhera-Bhiwadi-
Neemrana
Investment Region
6 Rajasthan Jaipur-Dausa Industrial Area
7 Gujarat Bharuch-Dahej Investment Region
8 Gujarat Vadodara-Ankleshwar Industrial Area
9 Maharashtra Dighi Industrial Area
10 Maharashtra Nahik-Sinnar Investment Region
11 Madhya Pradesh Neemuch-Nayagaon Industrial Area
12 Madhya Pradesh Pitampura-Dhar-Mhow Investment Region
PHASE II
S.No State Proposed Location Category of Region
1 Haryana Rewari- Hissar Industrial Area
2 Haryana Kundli-Sonepat Investment Region
3 Rajasthan Ajmer-Kishangarh Investment Region
4 Rajasthan Rajsamand-Bhilwara Industrial Area
5 Rajasthan Pali-Marwar Industrial Area
6 Gujarat Ahemdabad-Dholera Investment Region
7 Gujarat Surat-Navsari Industrial Area
8 Gujarat Valsad-Umbergaon Industrial Area
9 Maharashtra Dhule-Nardhana Investment Region
10 Maharashtra Pune-Khed Industrial Area
11 Madhya Pradesh Shahjapur-Dewas Industrial Area
12 Madhya Pradesh Ratlam-Nagda Investment Region

Check out Plan

Hi,

I want you to take a look at : Plan

Bourne supremacy-- Book Vs Film.

I would say..Ludlum's writing was tad better.
I bought this CD from Reliance Mart, its a dubbed version released in India and its certainly marked improvment of dubbing of yesteryears when some firang would look into your eyes and say"....aagah kiya heh tumeh.." making do for "... I warn you...".Now Reliance mart is bit of dissapointment in new retail chains coming across India, Spencers is the best of lot and of course Big Bazar is golden oldie.
Initial action happens in Goa ( In Movie version) and than Bourne goes beserk-- Matt demon is faboulous as Borune but did not fit in the Image I had developed over last 15 years of how Borune should be! but now when i go through the novels again I can fit him for sure.
I would say Bourne tri series is a thriller masterpiece churned out by Robert Ludlum and Movie version although almost deviating from original plot is still fitting tribute to Ludlum and Matt demon reminds of Amitabh bacchan in Zanzeer.

Pokka: the breaking up

People can fall out of love, I guess. Even though I continue to be committed to Pokka, some of my other colleagues (hiding identity on request) have decided to call it quits. The love affair with the Japanese culture continues, though. In fact, the feeling is that the indifference to Pokka is a natural progression towards our absortion into the eastern culture. Certain amount of at-home comfort is quite visible as we explore mitsuwa further.

Already, I have walked thru' all the aisles of the grocery area looking for fortune cookies. Within the bakery itself, we have discovered the cream cake, which is very similar to our own cream roll, only a little more sophicticated. It's a diamond shaped crispy shell with just the right amount of cream and berry extract inside. It was love at first sight as well. Then, we also have been exploring the food court on the other side of the mall. The first time, the stalls and food are totally baffling, but then for people like us, they have nicely taken pictures along with ingredients posted at the counter.

Special mention of Re Leaf Matcha Cafe is required. This was considered as one of the alternatives to Pokka. Matcha is Japanese powdered green tea. So this stall has various kinds of innovative drinks based on matcha, and then they also offer regular coffee drinks including latte & cappacino. The person on the counter was very patient with us. Showing off his perfect hair spikes, he explained to us in his deep voice & perfect english what matcha was. In the end, we ordered latte, which was quite expensive for a small glass and no match to Pokka, obviously.

So, the search continues.

Belonwala as seen thru Satellite

The place marked 'A' is Belonwala. We plan to trek in this area during my India trip in Oct.
(Courtesy: Google)

3 days to bachelorhood....

In 3 days, Manisha & kids will leave for India. A flurry of activities are happening in the Jain household. Suitcases are being packed and weighed. Shopping is being done. Kids' food in India is being considered. I leave on Oct 17 and that gives me 4 weeks of bachelorhood.

With small kids, the spare time can be limited, and with them gone, I will have plenty of time for myself. I have been planning several activities. One of them is going back to working out. Last time I worked out was a long time ago. I maintain a little gym in my basement but I still didn't have time to use that. This time, though, I plan to use the gym in our office building. It's hardly used, so I will have everything at my disposal. I hope to go there after work. After gym, I plan to go for swimming. It's been years since I have been trying to learn how to swim. Last time the family went to India, I made some progress, but I hope to finish the training this time.

It's a little weird to be living without family since I have gotten so used to them being around all the time. I am really going to miss the little ones. But then this gives me a little time to take care of some personal stuff, and hopefully, party a little bit. Also, this will increase my appreciation for the family. So looking forward to it....

Travels and travails in West UP.

West UP is misnomer actually, its not cowboy land of Meerut,Muzzfarnagar or Baghpat..but more of playground of Lord Krishna ..the Brijbhumi..the Radhey influence is all pervading .
It was travel done by yours truly(hereafter referred as DEFENDANT) and area incharge(hereafter referred as PLAINTIFF)..in between OPS incharge UP/ops incharge West UP/hub incharge/centre incharge makes appearance( All clubbed as 12th MAN) and we use Hollywood titles again.
PLAINTIFF and DEFENDENT agreed at the onset to Disagree on every topic under sun!!!!
Heat and dust
PLAINTIFF reminded DEFENDANT of being a softy infact whole of his kinship in Gurgaon were softy, PLAINTIFF being the son of soil was a fieldsman..'Field ka Aadami', PLAINTIFF ate , drank , breathed , dreamt soil ,the DEFENDANT wallowed in his misery affected with self pity..alternately visualising himself as spoilt rich brat, a blood sucking capitalist..and in his depression and anxiety he managed to wonder with so much soil in your system..how do you manage essentials of life.
Guns of Navarone
Etah is the original Wild west of India, mans life revolve around there Shotguns or Rifles, man can go wout food for two days but would not step out without the this ornament, Corn arrivals are still down but would increase within 7 -10 days time.All the socialist talk had made PlAINTIFF flushed with exhaustion and after catching the breath he instructed driver to put on the AC on full blast and stuffing the mouth with wads of Pan PLAINTIFF managed a smile of self satisfied , contended man.
How green was my valley
Farrukhabad is the biggest potato belt of india …………………. Who cares even if it is not still you manage to see potatoes everywhere but my purpose was to see the Corn which was still a absentee but arrival would start with Bang when whole central UP throws out Corn, so we dropped Farrukhabad like hot potato out of itinery after visiting Mohhmadabad.
It’s a mad..mad world
12th Man managed a room for PLAINTIFF in Etah which was upsurped by the 12th man after discussion with 12th man and than started making his evening report for the 12th man , the 12th man tried to reterive the room for PLAINTIFF but 12th man resisted it and 12th continued to stay put on the instructions of 12th man and managed to complete his report for the 12th man, now that's a bit confusing isn't ..well same happened and PLAINTIFF like a real 'Son of soil' spent the night on the soil….mind you not the 'night soil'.
All the president's man
Completing the journey through Mainpuri and Bewar, Defendant tried to emulate the 'Son of soil' and conducted impromtou interviews while on the way asking a bunch of farmers who was the president of India..few replied "..moko nahi pato hain…" but smartest of them managed a reply "…weh to Mulayam he honge…".Yes this real 'son of soil' manages the show in this area .
.
Hats off to the team..working hard,running like horses (tied to a single load) in every direction manage to stay at same place.
Yours truly
Dinesh rawat

Parallel Universe !!

Sometime this morning (GMT time) when the big bang atom smasher was turned on, a microscopic black hole was created that sucked the entire universe into it, and we all bubbled up into a parallel universe. This marks the beginning of a new era. The transition was so seamless that very few people are even aware of the fact that they are now living in a relatively different world that may seem the same but it's not. Interestingly, the makers of 'Equals & Opposites' (game for children) captured this moment in fullest detail. You can clearly see the black hole through which the penguin passed and his surprise at how the water turned into ice all of a sudden. Evidently, the problem of global warming has not engulfed this universe, yet. With our knowledge of catastrophe caused by global warming, this gives us another chance to do things right and treat not just the four walls of our house as home but the entire planet and possibly the universe(s).

(P.S. This picture is being released for the first time ever.)

Restaurant Review: Chowpatty, Arlington Heights IL

I came across this place about 8 years ago and always thought I should write a review for it. With the blog, I finally got that opportunity. When you think of Indian restaurants in America, you think of a buffet. If you mention Indian food to non-Indian, he will immediately talk about samosa, tandoori chicken, lamb, and that bread (naan). Chowpatty doesn't offer any of these delicacies but follows its own offbeat menu. They dont even offer non vegetarian items and yet they have dedicated customers who just keep going back. Talking of menu, you better be a book worm because it has got 20 pages. They offer various kinds of dishes including Mexican, Middle Eastern, Thai, etc. But these are to be better had somewhere else. The family that runs this place are Gujaratis from Bombay (and hence the name). And they will mention this outright that they specialize in food from Bombay. There are 2 items that I would especially recommend - Ragda patties & Pav-bhaji. They are absolutely out of the world. One of the nice things about them is that they have several spice levels to choose from ranging from non-spicy to very spicy. Dont even think about very spicy. I have tried fair level of spice, and it just bit my tounge. I would also recommend salted lassi with jira to go along with it. End your meal with masala tea no matter what you eat.

A very important note - make sure you eat something before you go there. Since it's a family run restaurant, the service can be really slow, and the smell of the good food will make you even more hungry. On top of that the size of the dishes are relatively small but expensive nevertheless. If you go there for a full meal, you might easily end up spending a fortune. Last time I went there was just a few months ago with a few friends. They were all hungry, so I tried to stop them, but they didn't listen. They just kept muttering oohs and aahs during the entire lunch and poked fun at me as to why I didn't want to go there. In the end when the bill was delivered, there was a moment of silence followed by beads of sweat on the forehead (which could be from the spice or masala tea whose each sip they had savored). In the end the conclusion was that you could only go to Chowpatty on your wedding anniversary. That's Chowpatty for you - a must-visit restaurant.

एक कउवा आग लगा देता है

यहाँ refinery में एक कौवा नीचे पड़ी तार उठाकर उड़ रहा था .रास्ते में हाई टेंशन लाइन की तार मिली। दो तारों के बीच से गुज़रते हुए चोंच वाली तार से शोर्ट सर्किट हुआ। स्पार्क हुई ।
नीचे उगी सूखी घास में आग लग गई और कव्वा मर गया ।

यह घटना सच्ची है । फोटो मिलने पर वोह भी अपलोड कर दूँगा ।

ek

Book Review- "The tristan betrayal"--Robert Ludlum

Well after long time i finished a fiction in flat 4 days, reading in the evenings Robert being one of my favorite author and this taut thriller was real dishy.

The review is bit late ..maybe after 6 years when book was first released but that happens if you buy the book from Salvage yard which is 'Kabbadi bazzar' or 'Old book' centre for you.Yes...i have found version of it in Gurgaon infact it just lies on border of Delhi-Gurgaon if you move through Mehrauli road, sunday traffic are sparse and so last week i made it a point to visit this guy, spread out over big compound were books in good shape all hard back shiny like new one, after search of an hr or so-- i managed to pin down three hardbacks one by Ludlum with above title , other of Stephen king and third i miss author name right now all for Rs 200/=.

So coming back to Mr Ludlum..i am being fan of his after 'Bourne series' and i have completed maximum of his novels..i'll put up a movie review of 'Bourne ultimatum' next week.

This is usual Ludlum style espionage thriller set in Nazi era and running across continents( paris/Moscow/Berlin/berne) tells ordeal/heriosm of Stephen Metcalfe..the casanova with a purpose in life.

Overall a must read for all fiction lovers.. a good weekend companion.

Belonwala

Its Ethreal..although they have uprooted all mango treess lining the road to make way for Highway to Mussorie..still its most beautiful place, matching aesthtical sense of best managed peoperties in anywhere i have seen in Gurgaon or Delhi.
Its worth settling and which i intend to do in few years, people poke fun at me when i invest in land there, they think rather i should be buying in NCR ....anyways.

I still remeber summer of 1982 , it was a trip made with Alok my Fauzi cousin( He's Colonel already).. Nanajee was still there..nani was most active women(she passed away last year..nanajee went to god in 1991) ..we were there for a week .

Mornings in rural doon in highsummers still are very cool.. and over hot glasses(we did not have bone china) of tea the millet cakes(Mandua roti) of last night sprinkled with paste of different herbs was eaten with relish, than it was time to take out cattle for grazing ,weekly our household had one turn and to upkeep the cattle was a collective village effort.

After leaving cattle in pasture , it was time to visit the stream down the passage Alok you have mentioned..the stream is big monsoon river called SWARNA a bath in same (I remember it had a small GHRAAT ..water chakki!! wherin villagers brought grains for grinding and paid in kind)and than we were hungary as only kids can be.Waft of freshley grounded lentils made of TOR(Tuar) and real ..real and mind you the real doon basmati rice came from afar...alongwith freshest buttermilk we slurped our Lunch.

Village had a big seista time..we totally differed and it was time to take round of forest nearby ..thickly poulated with Sorrhea robusta (SAL for you) and BEL trees..it was so dense that afternoon sun had to sneak in through leaves to make its presence felt..rest of afternoon was spent in tasting wild BER, raw mangoes and ADDOO.

(..to be contd)

Trip to Dinu's village - Oct 2004

Trip to Dinu's village during my last Doon visit was a revelation. Even though I am born and raised in Doon, I realized how little I had seen of the valley. Nestled far away from the noise & toxic pollution of the city, it was a beauty that strengthened your bond with Doon further. Then, you realize why you are not able to let go of this town even though you have lived outside more than here.

Another revelation was how bad my scooty had become. It became immediately apparent that it was a very bad idea to take it up there. The road is not that steep, but uphill anyway, and with Dinu on the back seat, it almost needed a leg push every now and then to keep it going. When it went, it went, but then it went dead many times on the way. We gave up hope of any revivial when the next kick eventually started it again and we got going.

It was partly cloudy that afternoon and the wind was just cool enough. Once we reached the village, we headed straight to Dinu's plot. The road to the plot was really narrow - good enough just to hold a small car. It was fun driving a scooty on it, though. On one side of the road were petty shops run by the locals.

By the time we reached the plot, the sun was out in full bloom. In the distance was a beautiful mountain peak.(Dinu, can you please share the name of the mountain) An image arose in my mind. It was that of a nice little holiday home with a sun room overlooking the mountain, and with lights just turning on at twilight, a bunch of old friends are just sitting over food and drinks, talking about life. After taking some pictures, we moved on to a little walking trail that opened up to a beautiful valley. We could see several flower plantations down there. We sat there for a while and let the serenity of the moment sink in. It worked much better than $30 massage in an American mall.

The trip back home was trouble-free. We glided down the slopes, bending the scooty around the curves, and speeding it up on flat roads somewhat. We embraced the cold wind on our faces; our hair flying; our shirts fluttering. Somewhere behind the trees, there was a stream of sparkling fresh water. Young women filled their pots and put them on their hips. As they walked back home, the sound of their anklets resonated through the air. A melody arose in the heart ....

Ek Rasta hai zindagi, jo thum gaye to kuch nahi.....
Yeh kadam kisi mukam par jo thum gaye to kuch nahi.

(Dinu, I have sketched this out from faint memories. Please correct and elaborate if you have to.)

Champion inhouse- web listing a start.

http://www.kshitij.org/olr-kshitij-int-5th-2007-a.htm
While Google searching , i found this link wherin JOSHITA RAWAT won a merit certificate in a different art competition, we got the certificate at home but did not know its listed on website as well.

Kids' birthday bash: The D-Day

Boom........... !! Surprised faces. Silence for a split second. And then cries. Splatters all over. Smoke. More splatters........ Smiles on the faces. Laughter. Claps followed by Happy birthday wishes. Another year ends. A milestone achieved. Some sadness that we are getting old. Lots of happiness that the kids are growing up. Above all, a sense of appreciation that we all sailed through the year, whole and healthy.

Champion inhouse.

Joshita won this Art and painting comptt, Salient points

• Tough competition around 60 participants.
• Won a prize of Rs 1000/=
• Main feature 95% of participants girls , tells you about changing priority.