Ajanta and Ellora

    We started from our home at 05:30 AM, and then we went on to the Samruddhi Expressway. We had breakfast in a shop near a petrol pump. The shop was only selling poha and tea. From there, we went to Lonar to see the lake. There we saw a temple. We had to go down a valley to see the lake. It required two hours and hence we saw the lake from there itself.

    We reached Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad) and first had lunch at Great Sagar Restaurant. We went to our hotel and we took a rest. In the afternoon, we went to Daulatabad to see the fort. We had to climb upwards. My mother was soon tired and then me and my father went towards the top. We went to the front of the fort and didn't go inside the fort. There was also a tower called Chand Minar that was made by a king who won a big battle.

    The next day, we went to Ellora Caves. There we first saw the "Kailash". Next we saw the Buddhist and the Jain caves. We had lunch in a small restaurant but didn't eat in the restaurant where Feluda had eaten.

    From there we went to see Aurangzeb's tomb. We also saw the tombs of his son, Azam Shah, and his guru.

    Then we saw Bibi ka Maqbara, where there was Aurangzeb's wife's tomb, which was made by his son Azam Shah. It looked like the Taj Mahal.

    The next day we went to Ajanta, where there were 29 Buddhist Caves which were made 2000 years ago. Some caves were made 1600 years ago. The caves showed Buddha's life cycle. We ate in the canteen there. Then we went onto the Samruddhi Expressway and came back home after a three-day trip.

Abhimanyu Chandra

Nameless Friends

There are so many persons we meet while travelling. We get acquainted and share our time with them. When we reach our respective destinations, we alight and disperse in different directions never to meet again! But the moments we spend with them remain etched in our memory for long. In the 25 years I’ve live on mother earth, I’ve undertaken so many journeys and met so many different types of people. Some have been pleasure to meet; some have been just co-passengers and some just pain in the ass. The second category people get erased from your mind as soon as you alight. The third category is deliberately erased while the first category remains in the memory forever. I’m chronicling a few of such meetings. In most of them, I don’t remember the names and in others we didn’t bother to ask each other’s name.

Howrah-Mumbai Mail, June 2000

I was coming back to Chikhla with my parents and my brother after a month long vacation. We had four berths reserved to us. In the 8-seat coup, the other 4 berths were reserved to 3 Mizo girls and their guardian. I was a boy all of 15 and they were older by about 5-7 years. Almost everyone is fascinated when they meet people from North-East and we were no exception. The girls were on an India tour and were now going to Nagpur. When they came to know that we were from a place near Nagpur, they started chatting with us. For the records, at that time, I’d not seen Nagpur at all. So, my knowledge was very limited. Another hindrance was language. They had very less knowledge of Hindi and I couldn’t speak fluent English. But still we spent a quality 16 hours together. When we alighted at Tumsar Road, they came to the windows to bid us goodbyes. I felt a lump in my throat as I was leaving a family behind. After that I’d many Mizo friends and it was because of them my English speaking improved.

Azad Hind Express, June 2004

I was travelling alone for the first time and hence this journey has a big importance in my life. My parents had given me a load of instructions of what to do and what not to do on the train. My co-passengers were a family of three including a 5-year boy named Girish and an affable Bengali guy from Chandrapur. Girish was a sprightly boy who kept his parents on toe with his antics. The Bengali guy, whose name I forgot, soon befriended all of us and we started chatting. He even bought Girish an ice-cream. Girish’s mother offered us food which I neglected, as instructed. But soon the other guy forced me to eat and I conceded. Girish and his family alighted at Tatanagar. I went on to Howrah. It was because of this nameless friend that I was able to travel without fear and since then I’ve travelled alone all around the country fearlessly.

Khurana Travels, August 2007

This was one of the most troublesome times of my life. I’d failed to gain admission in Pune for my masters and had thoroughly rejected Nagpur as an option. I’d no idea what to do whatsoever. I’d a job offer with Infosys Progeon (now Infosys BPO) and I decided to go to Pune to join it. When I started from Nagpur at 9 in the night it was cloudy but by the time I’d reached Chikhli in Marathwada next morning, I was amidst a flood. We were stuck and had nowhere to go. But then the villagers of Dahigaon came to rescue and we had one meal at their village. They showed us the way to reach Mehkar Fata which was at an altitude and had food. The two days that I stayed there is one of the most trying days of my life. All the co-passengers became one family and supported each other. Only Airtel coverage was there and my phone became the contact for all present there. I don’t remember anybody’s name now but will always remember the kindness and love they showered on me.

Azad Hind Express, August 2007

I came back to Nagpur and went back to Pune after a week. I went to Infosys for the first two days of orientation but somehow didn’t find myself suitable for the job and left on the second day itself. I came to Pune station at about 3 PM bought a wait-listed ticket for Nagpur and waited in the station wondering if I’d made the right decision. I was unsure of my future and even about my next course of action. I boarded the train hoping to find someone who would allow me to sleep in the alley between the berths. I was lucky to find one uncle who not only helped me but on hearing my story soothed me as well. I was tired, afraid and confused but because of that uncle, I was able to reach Nagpur in sound mind.

Prerna Express, May 2010

 I was going to Ahmedabad for a PhD entrance at PRL. My ticket was RAC and I was happy because I was to share it with a girl. But the TTE played spoilsport and confirmed my ticket. My co-passengers over there were going on a trip to Udaipur. They were playing cards and were all in their banians and shorts. At first I thoroughly disliked them. But seeing my discomfort, they stopped playing. We soon became friends and they shared their tasty food with me. They were really nice guys whom I’d mistakenly thought otherwise.

ST Bus, December 2010

I travel everyday from Nagpur to college in ST buses. I read my newspaper all along the way and if not reading I sleep. I seldom take interest in the scenery outside or in my fellow passengers. But this particular day was different. A beautiful girl had nowhere to seat as all seats were full. The auntie beside me offered her to seat in between me and her. The girl was a chatterbox and she started chattering. Soon she took out her laptop and gave me a thorough demonstration of how to use it. But the battery decayed and she resorted back to chattering again. Suddenly she said that she needed to vomit and I readily gave my window seat (I never do that). She was feeling nausea and readily informed her mother and then her boyfriend. She kept on informing small details to both of them every 5 minutes. In the passing, I inquired her about her college. She laughingly answered that she will give her 10^th in the coming March. I was stunned and disappointed. But it still remains one of the most cheerful journeys I’ve undertaken.

ST Bus, 26^th January 2011

After the Republic day function, me and my colleagues had gone to Paoni to see Gosikhurd dam. After coming back from there, I started for Nagpur. About 5 Kms from Mauda, the bus came to a halt. There were vehicles all in front of us. It was the longest traffic jam I’d seen. Soon the reasons were known. A religious organization called Parmatama Ek was having its annual gathering near Mauda and that had caused this trouble. I was tired and was looking forward to rest in my room at Nagpur. Everyone in the bus was getting restless and angry. A beautiful girl was sitting just in front of me. She was also getting restless and she started asking questions. She was from Delhi was mostly speaking in English. I jumped onto the chance and started talking with her reassuring that soon the blockade will be removed and we will reach Nagpur soon. She was a nice girl and started talking to the old man beside her. He was first afraid to talk to her but soon became friends with her as well. We kept chatting and I never realized when the 3 hour journey (originally 1 hour) came to an end.

Hope to find such people again in my life.

A Rookie's Journey Through Food

My brother plans to go on a road trip across Bengal. You may ask what’s so novel in this idea! The novelty is that he will only visit those places which are known for their famous sweets. So, he might have to start at Baghbazaar’s Rosogolla, make his way to Joynagar’s Moa and then Shrirampur’s Langcha. Move northward to Kandi’s Monohara, look for sweets in North Bengal (I’ve very less knowledge about them), come back to Kirnahar for its variety of cheap but delicious sweets. He may also cross the border for Deoghar’s Peda and then cross back and end with Barddhaman’s Sitabhog. There may be other stops and this trip may consume a lot of money and almost a month’s time.

I don’t see the prospect of such a trip in near future as he is really busy in Nagpur. So, he will have to be content with Santra Barfi and Sohan Papdis for the time being. Last academic year was a year when I travelled across most of the region south of the Vindhyas because of my PhD entrances. It’s another matter that even after travelling so much, I failed to crack a single interview. Dipankar Sir, my MSc project guide, once said that travelling helps. And I experienced it myself. Every month I would travel to a new destination. I generally stayed with my friends but ate outside, met such different human beings and got to see all kinds of places, modern and ancient. And these happened not only in the places I visited but all along the journey, in trains, in buses, in autos, in boats and even in the short airplane ride I undertook. These journeys taught me a lot. A lot which even books failed to teach me.

Before undertaking a journey I generally eat up the whole Wikipedia and Wikitravel page of the city I’ll be visiting. And as I told earlier, my hosts will show the rest of the things which wiki overlooked. Thanks to my studying at so many places, I’ve friends across the country (now across the globe). And I never discussed only physics with them. I intricately tried to learn the culture and food habits from them. I’m not a great cook and my taste buds have been spoilt by 10 years of hostel food. But, I still can distinguish good food. So, enough of patronizing myself! Let’s embark on the journey with this rookie.

In Nagpur, I seldom eat at restaurants. The best places are the unhygienic dhabas, chat and tapri wallahs . In dhabas our favourite is PBM (Paneer Butter Masala). I’ve found this dish to be a delicacy only in the dhabas. I’ve no idea why this happens but it’s true. Santra Barfi @ Dharampeth, Milk Cake and Sohan Papdis from Heera Sweets are the only sweets which I find good. Even though you will find so many chat wallahs at Yeshwant Stadium, my favourite place to eat Panipuri, Bhel, Ragda Patish and others will always be Bajaj Nagar. I may seem audacious but the taste is here even better than Juhu Chowpatti (I’ve eaten there). For dabheli you need to go to the guy who has his stall near the Agrasen hostel at Ravi Nagar. Another delicacy of Nagpur is ‘Shikanji’ and you find it best at Yeshwant Stadium. For ice-creams, I used to go to Haldiram’s. But of late the nicest place I know is Frozen Delights (A Dinshaw parlour) near the traffic park. Samosa is a popular eatable here and I just love it. There are so many places where I’ve eaten it but the best would be the tapri @ Shankar Nagar bus-stand. For poha, U need to go to Keshav in Deonagar or at Kasturchand park but our favourite is one on the Pratap nagar ring road. For non-veg, Babbu’s at VCA, Sadar has no parallels. Not even the Babbus at Dharampeth and Sitabuldi. Other seasonal favourites are Sugarcane juice and Lemon-soda in summer, Roasted Bhutta @ VNIT in rains and flavoured paans from Dhantoli. One more popular type of cooking in Nagpur is Saoji but I’ve never tasted it because of its high chilly content.

For MSc, I went to Pune. The mess food was utterly bakwas. Even the food at IUCAA which was a lot better got boring due to its periodicity. So, every Sunday we had to venture out for food. In Pune, I ate less at tapris and more at restaurants. Dragon @ Khadki was a place to eat cheap and tasty Chinese. Deep was for eating Bengali. Mostly the costly but good enough sweets and Alu-Posto. Art-Beat was our retreat when we used to get bored from other places and our pockets used to falter. The ice-cream parlour near it was our favourite when we needed thick-shakes. Just outside our university was Barrel’s favourite Patiswala. I got addicted to him because of Barrel. But my favourite was upma. Just along the road to Chaturshringi was the dabheliwala whom you can say to be the fellow who made me fall with this dish. But the one near Hongkong lane at Deccan is the best I’ve ever eaten. Then there is the momos and sweetcorn at Goodluck square on FC road. The fruit-dish along with a 5-rupee fruit juice glass at Deep Bungalow chowk was a respite in summers. Cold Coffee was another of my favourite all through the year. The one stall at Shivajinagar was nearer and good but my favourite will always be Durga at Paud Road, Kothrud. I don’t remember to stop at one glass ever. Another joint just near it offered another drink called Cadby. Pure Chocolate! Aniket and I used to go out for dinner almost every alternate Sunday. How much we tried to get into a different restaurant on JM road, we generally ended at Maharashtrian and ate our favourite Bajri bhakris, bharit and sev-bhaaji. We still haven’t been able to eat more than 2 and half bhakris! And when our pockets started crying, we used to go to Badshahi or Satwik on Tilak Road for a cheap unlimited meal for just 50 bucks. Pune has also got me addicted to another delicacy called as Bhakarwaadi. I’ve till now eaten kilos of Bhakarwaadi. Another favourite from Chitale is Amrakhand. For gujarati food, one must go to Sukanta near the Z-bridge. For Parathas, it has to be Chaitanya on FC road and for maharashtrian, it will be Durvankur on Tilak road.

These were the two cities which I stayed for a longer duration of time. But there are others where I just visited and happened to eat a variety of dishes. Some were really tasty and there were others which were just the need of the hour. I’ll try to chronicle as many as I can remember.

During the trip to Mahabaleshwar, we had drunk Strawberry shake with an entire strawberry floating in between the glass. On Sinhagarh, the bhakri with korda (jhunka) and curd was really awesome. On Duke’s nose, I ate so many things with so many others. I remember eating bread with idli’s chutney and baked potatoes with jam! Then there was the Masala Uttapam at Aurangabad and I remember Barrel and me gorging to at least 13-15 rotis per person at a Jalgaon eatery. The food was abysmal but we were so hungry that it skipped our attention that time. I’ve also enjoyed food at Daund, Durg & Bilaspur station just because of the hunger quotient.

Speaking of stations, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel in most of South India’s trunk routes along with my most frequented Tumsar-Howrah-Katwa route. All throughout South India, I’ve survived on Idlis, Vadas and Dosas. One peculiar thing about them is that they always sell 2 Idlis and 2 Vadas together for 20 rupees. The taste is obviously better than Nagpur but it’s sourer at Nellore, Tirupati, Jolarpettai, Coimbatore and Ernakulam. In Trivandrum, I ate mostly non-veg in the Thampanoor area. The one food that I liked was Kappa (tapioca) biryani. Chicken dishes had more chicken than anywhere but fish dishes were real cheating. The curry used to be spicy but there would be only 2-3 pieces of fish. In Kanyakumari, food is real cheap at least to a fellow like me from Maharashtra (costliest state). We gorged on Idlis, Dosas and Vadas with Filter coffee and later washed our throat with Coconut water. In Chennai, I missed eating Chettinad at Triplicane but ate good Tamil-veg at Saravana Bhavan in Mylapore. This was the first time anywhere in India that I was not given a spoon to eat. Everyone around was eating with their hands. I liked the ambience of the atmosphere there. But when I asked the waiter for a spoon for my sweet dish, he looked as if I’d asked for a moon rock!

In the messes that I’ve eaten, I’ve come across novel dishes. Shahi Tukda (Bread dipped in cream) at TIFR and IUCAA, Bhaturas of IUCAA which need ultimate human efforts to tear, Russian Salad (Cabbage cut into fine pieces topped with some red liquid), patodis at Suruchi, Nagpur, tasteless fish curry with fish bones at Holy Home, Serampore, Aloo-less Aloo ka paratha at IIT Bombay are some of the food items I remember. I also remember the Hot Rosagolla’s syrup, Chilli Chicken of Holy Home, Mexican & sweet dishes of IUCAA, Hongroises, prawns & different dishes of Chicken of TIFR as they were really tasty.

In Bangalore, I found more bakeries than any other sweet mart and in three days I gorged on a lot of bakery products. But my favourite will be the filter coffee at the shop at Amrutahalli where I used to go for my morning paper. In Bombay, we generally ate at Food-Inn in Colaba. But Suraj & I have tasted some kebabs and other items on different restaurants on the Colaba Causeway. But ice-creams at Naturals, Colaba are one thing which we got addicted to. We used to walk every Wednesday to Gateway and on the way back we used to try different flavours. Sunday, we had to go to Colaba for food and again the same routine. I got such addicted that on returning to Pune, I stopped having ice-creams anywhere but only at Naturals, Bal Gandharv Chowk!

I’m also fortunate to be friends with Kingshuk. He showed me Bangladesh (only the coastline), I travelled the cheapest (boats at 50p), ate fresh and cheap fruits. But what will always appeal to my taste buds will be the different fishes including lobsters fresh from the rivers of Sunderbans. And add to it that his mother is a fantastic cook.

Last but not the least is આપ્રો ગુજરાત (our Gujarat). I’ve visited only two cities Ahmedabad and Baroda but I relish Gujarati food. Fafda, khakra, thepla, dhokla are fantastic delicacies. I missed eating non-veg at Kalupur, Ahmedabad but gorged on veg food like anything. What helped me was Kiran jijaji (my friend Sudhanva’s jijaji) is a foodie. He loves eating and because of him I got to eat at good places in Ahmedabad. Golas at 1130 in the night was really awesome. This year I went with him for dinner party and the food was sumptuous and delicious. Ahmedabad is a dry city but the fruit drinks are labelled Whisky & fruit beer. I don’t know the real tastes but these fakes were superb. Himadri showed me the city of Baroda. This is a foodie’s heaven. Pyarelal ki Kachori, kathiawadi khadki, પેન્ડે (pedhe), ફરસાણ (farsan), Dabhoi’s bhajiye, aamras, cold drink (milk shake laced with ice-cream) and even ઉપવાસની લસ્સી (Lassi for fasts) were all there. I was unfortunate that I went on a summer afternoon. On any other cool day, it would have been a treat.

There’s so much to eat more. I’ve missed પાપડી નો લોટ (papdi no lot) in Gujarat, dosas at malleshwaram, মনোহারা (manohara) at kandi and many more. Will venture out again to satisfy my taste buds.

I take the liberty in posting this food map that I received in my mailbox.

Hope you enjoy.

Exam Tour : Phase II :- Pune

13th December is the day when I arrived on mother earth 24 years ago. Naturally, this day holds a special place in my life. This year, for the first time in my short span of life, I happened to write an exam that also of TIFR. The guys over there are known to be tough and this year was no exception. The exam was at the Chandrashekhar Auditorium, IUCAA (One of my favourite and frequent exam centres). I met many of my classmates and juniors. Gayatri almost scared the shit out of me when she said that she had prepared for an essay. I was put on ease when she told me that she was not giving Physics but Wildlife Conservation.
After the exam, I went for lunch with Anustuv and Avdhoot to the Old Canteen. Later that evening we i.e. me, Aradhana, Anustuv and Chiti went to Durvankur for a treat. The place was suggested by Aradhana and sponsored by me (Surprise!!!). After dinner we had cold coffee at Coffee Stop in Model Colony. I and Anustuv chatted late into the night as we used to do in our hostel days.
Next two days passed without much excitement. I was back at Aniket’s room and studying for INAT that was on 16th in Chandrashekhar Auditorium. I cleared the entrance but fared badly in the interviews. I have to do something that I don’t screw my subsequent vivas. The questions are not that difficult. It’s the interviewers who create a panic in my heart. My confidence reaches bottom low even before I reach the viva room.
I was so shaken up that I needed someone for support. Someone soothing and comforting. And the only name that cropped in my mind was Aradhana. Well she did just what the doctor ordered for me. We talked over all and sundry while walking through the streets of Pune with her punctured cycle as our solitary companion. We parked her cycle at Swargate and then went for a dinner at Girija on Karve Road. The dinner was a Marathi-Rajasthani affair and went well apart from an untimely intrusion by Aniket.
Two more days passed with books, Around the World in Eighty Days (Game) and Big Bang Theory. On Saturday night we met Kaustubh Akant with the idea of dinner but he seemed to have other ideas altogether.
Sunday the 20th was the day of the last entrance, NET. Wadia College was like a fair. I think the college was full upto the brim. I met all my friends here. This time the exam was tougher than last June but I did satisfactorily. Then we did the unthinkable to relieve ourselves from the stress. We went to play football in the university!!! And this indeed worked. I went to the university on the pillion of Barrel’s new Discover. He drove like he was reading a manual and driving. Yet he managed a decent speed and reached before others. (He broke a signal as well!!!)
After the match, we went to Subhadra for dinner. Aniket dropped me back at the station at midnight, where I embarked on Mahalaxmi Express for my next destination, Sangli.
Hope to go to Pune soon.

Exam Tour : Phase I :- Mumbai

This academic year was earmarked by me to give my best shot to the various entrances leading to a PhD. December 2009 was actually the beginning of the long season to come. IIA entrance was in Mumbai on 12th and INAT in Pune on 16th. So, I decided to give my other two entrances TIFR(13th) and NET(20th) in Pune as well.
As INAT was to pay to & fro fare, I chose Pune to be my base. I reached Pune on 10th morning. The journey was not quite exciting apart from the trouble caused by a family from Rajnandgaon who were travelling W/L. But at the Nagpur station, I had an unlikely interaction with a group of grandpas and grandmas going to Shegaon. They immediately recognized my TIFR T-shirt. They asked me whether I worked there. When I replied in negative, they immediately said that then the shirt comes from my wife who works there!
I was to stay in Pune at my friend Aniket’s room. The room is not only a spacious 2B but also is endowed with nice surroundings and a broadband connection with a 24-hour free download. To add to it, his roommates Tarang and Yatin are friendly as well as accommodating. I was left to myself most of the time and I enjoyed my time quite well mixing Internet, Studies and Big Bang Theory (Serial not the Astro one!!!) into a potent mixture.
This trip was not only to be an exam tour but a reunion with my friends as well. Apart from Pune Mumbai and Sangli were also in the schedule. The 14 days were to be of exams, interviews and sightseeing. Thus, it was a trip where pleasure was intertwined with business. So let’s start without delay. First stop would be Mumbai.
On 11th, I left for Mumbai. But before that I went to the university to meet my friends. I started with my sweetest she-friend Aradhana. After boring her for about half an hour, I had to leave her to her studies. I went to the department to meet Anustuv and to give my bag to him. There I met others as well and after having a gala time, I started for the station. Although I studied there for two long years, it seemed equally thrilling as I felt on the first day. This was the place where I had two best years of my academics and made friends with whom I shared moments of both joys and sorrows.
The journey to Mumbai in Deccan express was quite insipid apart from the mesmerizing downhill trip from Lonavala to Karjat. The slow descent of the train helped me to see the surroundings as well as allowed to click some photographs.
My friend, Iman, came to receive me at Dadar. I went to live in his room. I had brought clothing to prevent me from the cold but it seemed completely out of place in Mumbai. I slept in my minimals after many months (Nagpur has been cold for the last few months). My examination centre was in University Department of Phyiscs, Mumbai University. Apart from the fact that it’s somewhere near Santa Cruz I had no idea. Iman was no better. So, I started at about 0730 and reached the centre at about 0800 to find that I was the only living being to turn up there. The next entrants were my juniors from Pune. They had come even before only to find the dogs and had gone for a stroll! The authorities turned up at just about time. The exam went fine. (I can say that as I actually have an interview call from there. Though I applied for PhD, my marks have relegated my chance to an MTech-PhD.) The department is not what you expect from Mumbai. And after studying in Pune, it seemed like a disaster. Way to go Mumbai. You have the money. We have the knowledge.
My next stop was Bandra to see the newest attraction of Mumbai, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. But before that I was squeezed in the local train between Santa Cruz and Bandra. I have been squeezed before but this time the squeeze yielded liquid as well (The pressure opened my water bottle).
I had first thought that I would only see the sea link and come back. But after getting down at Lilavati, it seemed a crime not to go across it. So, I hired a taxi to cross it. The driver was a good-natured Jaunpuri and on his suggestion, I extended my journey to Currey road. I conceded as I was afraid to get into a Western Railway local again and I had to meet my friend Kaustubh at CST as well. I reached CST by 1415 (It can be five minutes here and there. An ardent Mumbaikar would have given you the correct time).
Kaustubh came within half an hour and we marched outside. I was meeting him after a long gap of three and a half years. The reunion was celebrated by a treat at McD (By him of course!!!). Then we went for a walk down D.N. Road. Those who have been to Mumbai know about its charm. Especially South Mumbai is just next to a wizard. So, we were lured by the charm and forgot about the 1710 train I had to catch. When we saw our watches (maybe because of a distraction), we were already at the fountain. We hurried back in time to catch our trains. He his local and me my DECCAN QUEEN.
Deccan Queen is THE train. It’s a heritage train with ISO 9001:200 certification and is the only train to have a dining car. It was on my wish-list for long. Last time I missed travelling in it because of Barrel. This time I had already pre-planned. The train stood upto its reputation and didn’t disappoint me. The chairs in the dining car chairs were a let-down though. I had expected plush and comfortable chairs but was disappointed to find plastic chairs. It maintained a great speed even when it climbed uphill from Karjat to Lonavala. I purposefully went to eat at that time and it was really fun. The speed was such that I couldn’t take a steady photograph! Although the train is great, Indian Railways might spruce it up a little more to give an even more elegant look.
It reached Shivajinagar in 3 hours while it takes nearly 4 hours and more by other trains (excluding Pragati). My sojourn to Mumbai came to an end and I retired for the night at Anustuv’s room.
The journey was a success as I gave a good exam and fulfilled my two dreams of going across the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and a journey on the Deccan Queen. More fascinating was that I did all of them on a single day within the space of few hours. Not to forget the bonus walk through South Mumbai.
12th December, 2009 is going to be etched in my mind for years to come.

Hot & Mystic Gujarat - Vadodara (Baroda)

Before I start my Baroda (Vadodara) travelogue, I must thank TIFR, Mumbai which made it possible for me to have such good friends like Sudhanva and Himadri. I must also thank IUCAA, Pune which made the reunion possible last December which cemented our friendship which if nothing goes wrong will be a long lasting one.
In Ahmedabad I had mixed pleasure with business. In Baroda, it was only pleasure and no business. I was to roam around in this historic city and taste its famous cuisines. We started from the famed Maharaja Sayajirao University in short MSU. If anybody sees the university buildings especially the Arts faculty building, he would never think it to be a college building. It is nothing short of a palace. The area the university encompasses is enormous and has campuses strewn across the city. It is the brain child of Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III and has produced prodigies like M. F. Hussain and Sam Pitroda. The whole city was totally reformed by the great king and you can find his imprint on every nook and corner of the city. Truly it is known as Sayaji Nagari. The city is also called the Sanskari Nagari of Gujarat (Cultural capital). I generally take a few days to like a city. But with Baroda it was love at first sight. And the way Sudhanva explained Sayaji’s works; I have become a great fan of him as well.
From the palatial University we went to Sudhanva’s house. I had a brunch there and then went to Pratapnagar station to catch the train to Dabhoi, Himadi’s hometown. In the station itself I met her parents. The train was late (First time in many days!!!) and we were a little late in reaching Dabhoi. Dabhoi was the biggest narrow gauge railway station in Asia before the broad gauge made foray into the lifeline of Dabhoi. The town immediately made me miss Tumsar. It is an ancient city and is guarded by 4 bhagols (gates). I visited three of them namely Vadodari Gate, Hira Gate and Mahudi Gate. All of them are rich architectural heritages but Hira gate is the most exquisitely carved gate. Story goes that the architect, Hiradhar fell in love with a royal maiden and as a punishment was buried alive in the very walls of the gate he built. The gate is named in his honour. (Is Neelkamal, Raj Kumar’s film, inspired from here???).
I had a fantastic Gujarati dinner at Himadri’s house. There was the usual Sabji-Roti along with Aamras (Yummy!!! The taste still remains) and Idra (A form of Gujarati Idli). We had a walk outside and had an ice-dish. I and his brother, Nakul, slept in the terrace. It was the first time in my life and the experience was exhilarating. Open air AC is better than any artificial one ever produced my humans. I had a peaceful sleep and was woken up by Nakul at 7. Another disaster occured after my arrival. Their 15 year old refrigerator stopped working that day itself!!! Was I a panauti or something??? Himadri showed me around the town of Dabhoi and then we had the Dabhoi famous Bhajiyas. We left for Baroda soon after. I was unfortunate for not being able to travel in the rickety GSRTC buses.
We started from Irfan Pathan’s old house near Mandvi. From there on we moved to Nyay Mandir, the district and sessions court. It’s another spectacular specimen Sayajirao’s vision. It is the grandest court I have ever seen in person. Opposite to it is one of the biggest markets of Baroda. Here we started our cuisine testing spree. We started with Pyarelal’s Kachouri. To me it was total Bhel with a Kachouri base. After that we had cold-drink in Samrat. Here cold-drink means milk shake laced with ice-cream. Opposite to the market is the Sursagar Lake which has a huge Shiva statue in middle of it. From there we went to Kathiyawadi Khadki for having our lunch. Although a foodie myself, I couldn’t eat properly due to the immense heat. So, we had to leave our half-eaten lunch there itself.
We left for Kamati Baug (Sayaji Baug) which is near the station and adjoining MSU. It is another contribution of Sayaji to the city of Baroda. The park has a small zoo, a mini train (The song Chakke pe chakka from Shammi Kapoor’s movie Brahmachari was shoot here), an aquarium and the Baroda museum. A monkey did give us a torrid time in between our relaxation time. Due to lack of time I couldn’t visit the museum. Also quite a few food items remained un-tasted for now especially different types of soda in Ahmedabad, Chorafadi and Papdi no Lot in Baroda. Also couldn’t take Duliram’s pendes (pedha). The area is full of interesting facts. There is this guy Ketan who is an Mcom but sells tea near Dairy Den circle in front of MSU (He is quite famous there!!!). There is a clock which has a small garden as its dial in Sayaji Baug. And now the most intriguing one. There are at least 6-7 Jagdish sweet marts in a stretch of half a kilometre on a single road of which only one is good!!!
Himadri left at about 4 PM and then I went into the station to wait for the train. The train was little late. The journey was uneventful and we reached Pune early in the morning. By tomorrow evening, I will leave for home leaving Pune behind at least for now. It is worthy to note that we three have met twice after leaving TIFR. Hope something will make us meet again. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks Himadri, Sudhanva and their relatives for this excited stay in Gujarat. A year ago, I had never thought about going to Gujarat in person but here I am missing those 4 exciting days of stay and keeping my fingers crossed to get another chance to go to Gujarat and hope I get to stay for a longer period this time around.

Hot & Mystic Gujarat - Karnavati (Ahmedabad)

18th of May was the last day of my Post Graduation. By 11 in the morning, I was done with my project viva and that ceremoniously ended two years of studies. Such a moment accounted for a celebration but that was not the case to be as I had to go to Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad for an entrance that very evening.
So, we (me and Chiti) left for Ahmedabad by the 07:50 PM Pune – New Bhuj Express. The journey was a pleasant one and we reached Ahmedabad 12 hours later. My friend Sudhanva came to pick me up at the station. I was to stay at his sisters’. Sudhanva was not able to get his way correct and after a slight trepidation we were able to spot Rahul B tower (Henceforth it was our landmark). It was easy to go from there to his sister’s house in the Anandnagar locality. His sister and Jiju received me warmly and for the next 2 days of stay I never felt to be in an unfamiliar place (Though I was afraid of his sister!!!).
His sister and Jiju went out for the day and we had the house to ourselves. We were to go visiting places in Ahmadabad but decided otherwise because of the immense heat. We slept the whole afternoon and it was only in the late evening that we went out to Vastrapur Lake after dinner. The lake is a beautiful spectacle and has a large following among the people from neighbouring places. Also being in Gujju-land it is surrounded by all kinds of eateries ranging from fast food joints to big hotels. We stayed there for almost an hour savouring the cool moist air of the lake and then went to see the famed IIM-Ahmedabad. We went back home and within an hour I slept to get ready for next day’s entrance.
Sudhanva dropped me at PRL in the morning. I was expecting Chiti to be early as she was staying with our senior in PRL itself. But she was late. As soon as I entered the lobby, I spotted a familiar maroon shirt. The shirt belonged to my friend from IIT-Guwahati, Shubhankar. He was equally surprised by my presence. Before we could properly exchange the hellos, we were ushered into the exam hall and the next 3 hours the only thought that crossed my mind was to crack the entrance. The entrance was simple and with the hopes of an interview call, I went to have the lunch. After lunch, we went to meet our senior with whom Chiti was staying. From there we went to the exam hall to find that the results were being announced. Both me and Chiti had cleared the entrance and so did Shubhankar. Even before we could get hold of the situation, we were sent for the interviews. Chiti and me were to face the same panel. Chiti was the second to go and she was the only one in the whole day to come back with an assurance of pursuing a PhD there. I was the last to go for the interview and had a so-so interview. Getting a call would surprise me more than anyone else!!!
I was again the culprit of spoiling the plan of roaming around (Last time I had done so during INAT). Now I was free to do the sightseeing. The first place we went was the ISKCON temple on SG highway. Though I am not a great fan of ISKCON, I did like the temple for its sheer grandeur and beauty. It was more beautiful than the one I had been in Mumbai. From here I went to meet Pinki, my friend of 11th – 12th whom I had not met for almost 6 years. Sudhanva and Chiti also accompanied me. I had a hell of a time with her. We had a bite at Wrappidos and then had Ice-cream. Sudhanva gave Chiti nice company which she surprisingly liked and hence I had more time with my old friend. We set out together for home and as soon as she took a left turn, the only thought that crossed my mind was that whether we will meet again!!!
The next day we left early for Sabarmati Ashram. The plan was totally mine and Chiti and Sudhanva came along. The new Ahmedabad was devoid of any architectural heritage. The buildings all looked alike to me and presented neither variety nor beauty at least to my eyes. But as soon as you cross the Sabarmati to the eastern side of the city, you start getting glimpses of the old city. We were to meet Chiti at the Lal Darwaza bus stand. This place itself has three beautiful structures in its surroundings namely Sidi Syed ki Jaali (Logo of IIM-A), a fort and the mosque of Sultan Ahmed Shah.
The transportation in Ahmedabad runs on CNG and hence has a far more clean environment than before. We reached the Ashram at about quarter to eleven. We were supposed to leave early as Chiti had to go to PRL and we two had to go to Baroda. But the quaint picturesque peaceful environment was hard to leave. No doubt in such an environment the great man could think about peace only. Even in these cool environs, we got politically charged and had one of those never-ending hot debates. Only one thing that I didn’t like in the Ashram was the shop in the museum. Bapu all his life advised people to lead a simple life but the shop didn’t seem to believe it!!! It had all souvenirs at exorbitant prices.
We bade byes to Chiti and left for Baroda. We travelled through NE1 which has only two exits at both ends. The journey was through hot Gujarat Summer and we both slept through the whole journey out of sheer tiredness.
We reached Baroda at about 4 in the evening. I stayed there for only 25 hours but those were one of the most enjoyable 25 hours of my life and my next blog will be dedicated to it.

Awesome Ajanta-Ellora (Part II)

Next day i.e. on 26th, we started very early (4:30 in the morning), to catch the earliest bus to Ajanta (Ajintha to the locals). We got the 5:15 bus to Jalgaon. The morning breeze was coming through the window which soon became a cold current which became quite intolerable. But alas, the window had only one pane and it was insufficient to negate the current. The route from Aurangabad to Sillod is dotted with hills on both sides of the road. The sceneries compounded with the cool breeze had its effect and yours truly slept immediately.
The driver got late in Sillod and hence he decided to make it up. From Sillod to Ajinthagaon, he drove as if he was Schumacher. We made to Ajintha in good time. The caves are actually at the foothills. But before that the bus had to go through a ghat which was quite long and have lots of turns. Seeing the ghat, I was afraid that we will certainly meet with an accident given our drivers penchant for speed. But he surprised by immediately transforming himself from Dhoni to Dravid and guided us through every caution he had in his books.
By 7:15, we were in the MTDC reception centre of Ajanta Caves. We were informed that, the caves will open at 9:00 AM and the only means to reach there are the buses plied by MTDC which will cover the 4 Kms to them. So, we started at about quarter to nine for the caves. The road to the caves is laden with scenic beauty which would have been more green and watery if we would have come after the rains.
After securing the tickets, we set out for the caves. Unlike Ellora, here all the 29 caves are in a horseshoe shaped half a Km stretch. Below is the river which unfortunately was dry. The whole area is surrounded by green hills which would become greener after the rains. The hills are dotted with marks from the Waterfalls. There are several of them but alas nothing could be done in April. We plan to visit Ajanta at least for the waterfalls.
In Ajanta, almost half the caves are unfinished. But the finished ones are specimens of the art and sculpture of greatest expertise. The caves here date back to 2nd century BC. Both Hinayana and Mahayana form of Buddhism are well represented in the caves.
The first two caves are important as they have coloured wall paintings. Even the roofs are well painted. Every Mahayana cave has a garbhagriha(sanctum) in which Buddha is seated in different forms. The walls around the sanctum are surrounded by sculptures generally yakshas and rest is covered in paintings. If looking from front, on the left of the sanctum in cave 1 is the world famous painting of Padmapani and on the right is Vajrapani. The Buddha in both the caves is in Dharmacakrapravartana mudra (preaching attitude). The wall paintings are all different Jataka Tales. You can get only mesmerized seeing the paintings and do nothing but appreciate the art.
Cave 10 is an important cave as this was the cave whose huge arch was observed by a British officer, John Smith in the April of 1819. This led to the discovery of all the caves. Cave 17 is the cave in which the paintings are most preserved. You can make out human faces in the paintings. Traces of the huge wheel of life adorn the wall outside the cave.
Cave 26 is the most preserved cave of the lot. It has huge sculptures and the pradikshana around the rock-cut stupa with an image of Buddha in the front has wall carvings depicting different times of Buddha’s life. The pradakshina culminates with the most striking and prominent image of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana on the right wall.
We were totally exhausted after our 3 hour voyage through the mesmerizing beauty and grandeur of the works of our skilled ancestors. Add to that the blazing Sun, we were in need of food and rest. We had already decided that we would make full use of our pass and get back to Pune through a roundabout route.
We first started for Jalgaon at about one in the afternoon and reached at about quarter past two. We had the cheapest and heaviest meal for thirty bucks there and started for Nashik. Nashik was some 250 Kms and about five to six hours away. I slept for the first two hours of my trip till Dhule. In Dhule, our bus conductor advised us to go in the next bus as it would skip Malegaon and we could reach about an hour early. But one of our primary reasons in boarding the bus was that we wanted to see the famed town of Malegaon. From Dhule to Malegaon, we again had a ghat section which was under construction and this reduced our speed to a nice extent. We were getting delayed but that was of no concern to us. We were just exploiting the riches of our long adventurous journey. Again in between Malegaon and Nashik, we had a ghat section which was equally beautiful in the fading Sunlight. On the curves two signboards caught my attention. One was, ‘BE SMOOTH ON MY CURVES’ and the other ‘JHOPLA KI SAMPLA’ (if you sleep you are finished). We reached Nashik at about half past nine after a six-hour journey.
We had our dinner and then started for Pune. We were told that we couldn’t board the asiad as our pass didn’t cover a conductor-less bus. So we had to settle for the Parivartan bus. The asiad’s driver had given an estimate of about 5 hours to Pune. The Parivartan bus’s driver just said that whenever we start we will reach Pune at 3 in the morning!!! So, we left at about quarter to eleven and reached Pune exactly 4 hours later. I just encountered his turbulent driving after reaching Pune. Barrel told me that he hadn’t spared the ghats en-route as well!!! We reached back to the hostel at about half past three and I slept within an hour.
I was feeling sad that such a trip had ended. Well every good beginning has an ending and the end was pleasant and soothing. The memories of the grandeur that I had seen in these two days will stay forever alive till I reach the final destination!!! Well now this has led to an addiction and my mind has started already wandering and exploring other beautiful and mesmerizing places spread throughout this great country of ours!!!
A final salute to all those sculptors and artists who worked day in and day out to make these magnanimous forms of artwork to see the light of the day.

Awesome Ajanta - Ellora (Part I)

Ajanta – Ellora was in our (Barrel & mine) tour itinerary for about a year or so. But some reason or the other kept us from going there. So, on 18th when Barrel suddenly sprung the idea we decided immediately that we were going there next Saturday. So, we started researching on the trip. Aradhana helped a lot in this and on her suggestion we got the 500Rs, ‘Like where you travel’, pass. This pass enables one to travel all around Maharashtra for 4 days without the need of any ticket!!!
We left Pune on 24th night at about 10:30 PM for Aurangabad. This was my first overnight ride in a state transport bus and surprisingly it was comfortable. We reached Aurangabad at about 3:30 in the morning. We waited for about an hour and a half and took our lodgings at Sai Palace. It was quite a costly place for the level of accommodation it provided. We left by 7 for Ellora. We were to take the bus to Kannad which goes via Ellora. The first bus was full even before it reached the allotted platform. It seemed next to impossible to board the next bus either as it was the only platform which was flooding with people. We were lucky to board the next bus and then we came to know about the reason for the crowd, a puja in Bhadra-Maruti temple near Ellora.
By 8:30, we were at the magnificent Ellora Caves (Verul Leni to the locals). The very view of Kailasha which is the first one to come in your view as you enter, takes the breath out of you. The magnanimity just awes you. We took an auto-rickshaw to see the caves from cave 17 to cave 34. These caves are spread over an area of 4 Kms and are difficult to cover by foot. We started with cave 29 (Sita Ki Nahani). When we entered the cave, we were spellbound and speechless for almost 5 minutes. These sculptures done in medieval India is just unbelievable and unexplainable. You can only feel if you stand in front of one. Even a photograph doesn’t give you the correct picture. A 2-D picture is just unable to hold these 3-D magnum opuses in them. I would try to give an insight but it is advisable to go there and visit in person.
The rocks are cut to perfection and figures of enormous sizes have been carved out of them. Even time and negligence has not been able to erase the beauty out of them. You stand there and lo you are beheld by the beauty. We are not connoisseurs but it was difficult for us to move from one sculpture to the other. It seemed that these rock-cut figures were pulling through an unseen strong force which made us glued to them.
The Jain caves are only two in number with 32 and 33 being the important ones. Incidentally both are double storey caves. Even though the numbers are less but the work done is no doubt as magnificent in the 18 Hindu and the 12 Buddhist caves. The caves are all dedicated to Mahavira. Traces of colour painting are also present in the caves. Among all caves these are newer and were built in around 11th century AD. Elephant is the most common animal in all the 34 caves. But the one in front of cave 32 (Indra Sabha) is enormous. It’s almost 15-16 feet in height (maybe even taller) and is the best preserved of all. After these caves, we went to the remaining Hindu caves and saw them quite quickly as most of them were empty.
And then we entered the largest monolithic excavation the world, KAILASHA. It’s hard to believe that the entire structure was built out of one single rock. If you come to Ellora and just see Kailasha, it’s as if you have seen the whole Ellora. Massive structures have been built around the whole temple complex dedicated to Lord Shiva. There are small caves and one of them has stairs leading to it which have never seen light ever in their lives. Various episodes from Mahabharata, Ramayana and Krishna’s life adorn the walls in the caves as well as the temple. To see it properly one needs to have around 2-3 hours in hand. We tried to absorb the beauty as much as we could. After about 2 hours we came out tired but exhilarated and mystified by the stupendous and magnificent beauty.
We were tired and took almost half an hour to recover. We again set into pursuit towards the Buddhist caves. They comprise of monasteries and chaityagrihas. Almost every cave had a shrine for Buddha. The worth mentioning are cave 5 (Maharvada) which is an enormously big monastery and cave 12 (Teen Tal). Teen Tal is a three storey cave full of carvings from Buddha’s life and has him in different mudras. We certainly couldn’t enjoy them in the same manner as before because of our extreme tiredness. This is one regret, I will carry from the tour.
After Ellora, we had lunch and I went to Ghushmeshwar, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. I went to pay my homage there. When I asked the purohit to do the puja, to my utmost shock, he instructed me to get rid of my shirt and vest before entering the garbhagriha. I obeyed him and the puja was done in matter of seconds. After it we went to Shahenshah Aurangzeb’s Tomb in Khultabad, some 3 Kms from Ellora. I was amazed to find that the dictator had a sense of evil and had instructed to make his tomb only from money earned from honest means. The only honest job he had done was writing the Holy Quran. Money from this proceeding was used in making his tomb. The tomb is a simple earth tomb which even doesn’t have a roof. What an ironical man Alamgir was!!!
From here we went to the Daulatabad fort also known as Devgiri. Three layers of walls guard the actual fort which is on the hill. The fort has Bhool-Bhulaiyas and dark dungeons and is said to be one of the most invincible fort of its time. Unfortunately, we were too tired to go up the hill and just had a look around in the foot of the hill only.
We reached back Aurangabad, had a light snack and hit the sack. Barrel dozed of immediately. I for that matter watched TV up to 10 and slept like something. It was going to be a peaceful sweet sleep initiated by the day’s tiredness but laced with the enticing things that I had seen the whole day. We were to leave for Ajanta in the morning and hence we had to get up early.
It’s time now to stop this tour report now.
About Ajanta ???
Well in the next post !!!!

Dukechi Nose

8th January came as a surprise holiday from our department. Anyways this being the first week of the semester nothing much was going on anyway. So, we decided to go out somewhere. It was decided that we were to go trekking on the hill called Duke’s Nose near Lonavala. Chiti informed me in the evening to be ready with my own food and be ready for the 6:30 train from Shivajinagar, Pune. I had my food and was at the university gate at 5:45 sharp. But there was no sign of anyone and so I just bought a newspaper to pass time. The day’s newspaper was storming with Satyam’s debacle and I was totally engrossed in it when the trek party appeared. The trekkers were Chiti, Chetana, Mubashshera, Nadera, Vrushali, Nalini, Aradhana, Siddharth, Sanjeev and Pranav. We were joined by the two Gayatris and Anagha at the station, Sandhya at Akurdi and Rajesh at Lonavala.
The journey was peaceful and we stood the whole time at the gate. At Lonavala we walked quite a bit in search of an eatery. But Lonavala’s eateries are lazy enough to not start at even 8:00 in the morning. In the meantime we went to see a temple enroute where we were mesmerized by the nature and more by the trees which had dozens of beehives on them. But an ill-tempered temple authority cut our visit short and we were back on track to Duke’s Nose. We ate Vada-Pavs at a roadside eatery and set out on our trek. After almost an hour of walking, we were at the foot of Duke’s nose in a village called Kurwande. Incidentally Duke’s nose is also called as Nagphani by the locals.
The journey upwards was not difficult but was tiring under the blazing sun. We reached the top in about half an hour or little more. The panoramic view from the top was just exhilarating. I personally was spellbound and became speechless at times. I was susceptible in sitting on the edges in the beginning but later on collected enough courage to do so. We spent almost an hour before having lunch comprising of bread, butter, jam, biscuits, sauce, rotis, sabji, idli and what else! I had a sumptuous lunch and was inclined to sleep there. But my friends had other ideas. They wanted to go and see the neighbouring hill as well whose entry was not as easy as this one. Well the less courageous ones i.e. me, Chetana, Nalini, Mubashshera, Nadera, Nalini, Sandhya, Rajesh and Vrushali stayed back while others went on the quest.
I tried to take a nap but it was difficult with the scorching sun overhead. Chetana and Nalini tried and were successful to certain limits. We then started our descent down and I was proceeding quite well before the end I slipped and almost had a rolling descent on the little rocks in the crevices. Well, fortunately we all came back safely. But a mention should be done of Chiti who came down in splendid fashion and when everyone were applauding it, she fell down and had a little abrasion in the foot.
We had water in the village and started our way back to Lonavala. On the way, Chiti suggested that we play Antakshari but with towns’ names. I and her started playing and soon were joined by the entire troupe. Even in between, Aradhana was playing from both the teams. We had ice-golas and jalzeera and set out for the station. We then went back to the station and soon our train left. On the way back we sang patriotic songs on the top of our voice and were so engrossed in it that we weren’t aware of the journey being coming to an end.
We reached back by about 7. These 13 hours had tired all of us and most of us had even their spare batteries down. But I fulfilled one of my most cherished wishes to visit Lonavala and had a fine day with my friends. This will be a day to remember for a long time.
Hope we have a trip sooner!!!!!!

Roaming Around

The Elephanta trip was organized as we were bored of the monotony of the TIFR routine life. One fine Sunday morning we (me, barrel, sujan, janu, ashim, dinesh (Madurai), harsh & harsh, pintu (IIT Bombay) & tanuj (IIT Bombay)) left from the Gateway of India towards Elephanta. The sea ride on the ferry was one nice experience. It was a first for me. So, it was very much special in my life. I have crossed the river Ganges before but a sea is a sea and the beauty of this part of the sea was just awesome. It was surrounded by hills on one side and Mumbai on the other two.
The island has the elephanta caves which are famous for their architecture about which further details can be obtained from the following website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephanta_Caves
The caves consisted of massive structures of shiva dating back to ninth century. Apart from that there was a hill called the cannon hill which had Navy cannons on it, though we saw only one. (Pintu was the smart aleck, he saw the others. Here Ashim didn’t wish to go up and tried hard to discourage us but later on followed the suit himself and hope enjoyed as well. The way back to Mumbai was great too but almost all of us slept like logs in the return journey.
The trip was a respite from the daily routine as we fell into the same routine Monday onwards. The next Wednesday in the night me, Sujan and Arun went for walk through Colaba in the pretext of having icecream. We saw Naturals on our way (Sujan’s favourite). We walked past it as we were to come back in a little while. But, as soon we reached the Strand market, Sujan challenged our fitness and jab mardangi!! ko koi challenge kare to!! We walked straight upto Gateway and came back. By that time well Naturals was closed and we had to settle for two ice-bars from another store. Well it earmarked the beginning of walks through Mumbai for us. I personally walked from hostel to Nariman point, CST to Gateway, Gateway to hostel (Quite a few times), walked through Dadar (Shivaji park & Sidddhivinayak), Churchgate to Gateway & of course Parel (went all the way wrong)………..
On another Sunday, we went to Juhu beach. Me, Sooraj, Arun and Dinesh went to dadar first and Harsh ½, Pintu and Akshay went directly to Juhu. It was for the first time, I boarded the fabled Mumbai local trains. We went from CST to Dadar in almost an empty train but a big crowd was waiting for us in Dadar and we had a little tough time getting down. We roamed around Dadar for a chemistry book (which we found at last). But in the meantime I bought two Kurtas (which I bet my mother won’t approve of!!!). We roamed around the electrical market searching for an ISI marked 1000 watt drinking water heating rod (Sooraj bhai !!!!!), but ended up with a ISI marked Prestige Water heating kettle (which came with a 15 A plug and we had only 5 A. This resulted in another trip to Dadar).
We boarded a Western local for Santacruz and experienced what crowd is !!!!!!. There was enough place only to put my feet. Someone told me that I was lucky to do so as it was Sunday. Otherwise I would be standing on my toes. I was worried about my getting down at Santacruz. But it was quite simple. We were thrown out of the compartment. While others resumed walking, we gasped for breath. First time in Mumbai, I saw a queue waiting for a bus. We jumped the queue and were in the bus to Juhu beach. The beach was bigger than Girgaun and this time bathed. The sand of Juhu beach is still in my Bermuda pockets. Harsh ½ and yours truly bathed like anything. We were turned quite a few times by the waves. I ventured quite a distance even though I don’t know swimming.
After that we had the taste of fabled Bhelpuri, Panipuri and Pav – Bhaji. They were overpriced but were not much greater than what I ate in Nagpur or Pune. After that on Akshay and Pintu’s insistence we went to ISCON temple. The walk was breezy and hot as we had the Mallu atheists with us who just debated on the concept of god and religion. Two were pucca dharmiks whereas Harsh ½ , Dinesh and I were to suffer. We went inside the temple while the mallus waited outside. Pintu had a jig inside. I didn’t like the place as such. But now came the trouble, none of the taxis or autos were ready to take us to Santacruz (Ulta padta hai, kaun 9 baje wahan se aayega!) and Ville Parle (rasta toota hai!, actually 100m leading to the station was broken). Four were lucky to get a taxi and we walked to Ville Parle without even knowing the route. Anybody you ask will say it will take 15 minutes. Well our 15 minutes ended in 35-45 minutes and at last we boarded a train to Churchgate. We ate just outside the station and came back tired.
This was our last trip to any tourist destination in Mumbai. Rests were only walks…
As promised my next will be on Satti………

FIRST WEEK IN TIFR

The next day, Monday the 19^th, we were introduced into the room AG-66 where we were going to have the introductory lectures of each and every department in TIFR. They were all one or one and a half hour lectures and most of the time the people outside that specified department were less interested which showed up extremely on the day of Biological Sciences lecture. Most were trying to evade it but were put there by Mandar Sir. But among these uninterested fellows was Janu Verma (Delhi University) who attended all lectures with utmost attention. He sometimes will ask for “THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION” for an experiment or “EXPERIMENTAL JUSTIFICATION” for a theory (even in biology).

But among these lectures were good lectures by Dr. Sudip Bhattacharya on X-ray Astronomy and Shiraj Minawala on “Introduction to String Theory”. Now here was a fellow without a ppt presentation and a topic which is quite difficult to understand but his energy and demonstration just kept me and the others through the seminar. Apart from this I was studying detectors and radiation for my project.

The time in TIFR was flowing like anything. We all VSRP guys had formed a good cammaderie and were seen together at the canteen, lobby and at the Sea Shore. At about 6:30 we will all reach the sea shore and stay there for about an hour and talk about almost everything. In these talks there were also the physics duels between Sooraj and Arnab. We used to enjoy these as nobody will leave his stance on that particular topic. Sometimes Ashim (BITS, Pilani) or Sujan (IIT Kanpur) will join and make it more enjoyable.

One more thing that we were enjoying was the internet. Everybody had computer at his disposal and we were enjoying ORKUT, GMAIL, YOUTUBE… It was like a project in the holiday mood. On Sunday, 25^th we all went to Elephanta which and more will be in the next post.

Here I will like to make a few references of Shanti Swaroop who was nicknamed SATTI because of his STUDSAT and of he being a satellite revolving around the girls. When we thought about starting a talk, he would have crossed the barrier and talked with almost the whole group. But he was a in a habit of spinning yarns and will do that about almost everything. We will get into it a later post…..

Feeling Mumbai

The very next day i.e. 16^th may, we started our VSRP programme. After almost 7 years I boarded a school bus although for a small trip of 5-7 minutes. We were assembled in AG-66 and given a brief intro and then our TA forms were accepted and we were allowed to meet our respective guides. I met many of my co-researchers there whom I would describe in the due course. Before coming to TIFR, I knew only two people Barrel and Aarti (IIT Madras). Well I knew her only by photos and as my friend Barrel and Avadhoot’s friend.

My guide was in CM-32 and hence I had to go there. I knew Prof. J. S. Yadav only by his photograph (Thanks TIFR website). He talked with me for about 30 minutes and made himself pretty clear that he is neither going to burden me nor allow me to have a free relaxing time. Very first day he gave me two papers to read on black holes and introduced to Amish and Suprabha who were to help me during my summer project. Well we had a gala time together for the next 56 days in D-314.

With the papers in my bag, we went to Colaba market for shopping. After buying, Sooraj, Arun and me came back to our hostels. It’s a paradigm of humankind that people absolutely unknown to each other come together when fate brings them near. So was the case with us. In the evening, we went back to TIFR to have our dinner (It was the nearest and the cheapest). On the way, I experienced the very first of Mammootty - Mohanlal tussle which was to continue for the next two months. Sooraj (Mammootty) and Arun (Mohanlal) were debating making me as a moderator for whom they were nothing more than names. I explained my ignorance on this matter but the tussle continued and the results are still awaited.

The next day me and Arun had the experience of Mumbai in an unexpected way. Avadhoot was in town and hence I went to meet him. Arun accompanied me as he wanted to feel Mumbai and buy some books. We met him near Regal cinema. He had also come for books and we were unable to find any of the books under the constraint of our prices and liking. I phoned my friend Maulik, a mumbaikar, for guiding us to bookstores. His father guided us and we started our “Padyatra”. We first went to a book store near Metro but couldn’t find the book. We were travelling without knowing anything about Mumbai beyond the fact that we were to walk North bound. We reached the book-store “Lakhani” near Girgaun church only to find it closed. But luckily, we found the book in the adjoining bookstore who promised to bring it to TIFR. Thus, ended our travels of almost 4 hours and cleanliness freak Arun had to sit beside me on the dirty Mumbai footpath. The next day, Sunday was spent mostly in knowing other fellows all around us. Well one thing was also experienced, the TIFR seashore, which was to play an important role in our stay in TIFR. Well rest for the next post…………

Off to Mumbai

Spending two months in the great city of Mumbai is a great experience for anybody. I had the golden chance of lifetime to do so in this summer. It was a trip spiced with great environs of Mumbai along with a research experience in TIFR (Tata Institute for Fundamental Research). I was among the lucky few in India to be selected for this summer project experience. Our project was called VSRP (Visitors Students Research Program).

I started from Pune on Thursday 15^th May at an ungodly hour of 5:45 am. Because of negligence on my part we (oh me and Soumyajyoti !) were not able to get a reserved ticket to Mumbai. We reached Pune station and cut tickets for Mumbai but missed Deccan Queen by a whisker and had to settle for 7:55 Pragati. We got seats to seat and I got a beautiful co-passenger whom I mistook for a school girl (She was a BA 2^nd year student). We had a nice trip to Mumbai having nice scenic view all around us.

We reached TIFR by 12 and were promptly shown to our temporary accommodations in Ramanujam guest house. I was put into a room with Arnab(University of Delhi) and Tanuj(IIT Bombay). I went to see barrel (oh soumyajyoti’s nick name, saves space) and there met a pucca keralian, R. Sooraj Krishnan (IIT Madras). He eventually became my room-mate and I had long debates with him.

We had the taste of west canteen lunch (do mahine yehi khaya) and by afternoon were in the permanent accommodation in Geomagnetism hostels. Our room was actually a kitchen having a proper kitchen sink and platform. Drinking water was 20 litres mineral water bottles which we had to carry ourselves after 3 days. One bathroom for seven people was a mess but we didn’t have any other choice as the other accommodation in Wadala was 1:30 hours away and in a messy area. At least we were 20 mins (walking) away from TIFR and near to Colaba which we roamed like anything.

In the evening itself we started roaming around in Mumbai. Tanuj was our guide and the travelers were Anirudh (NIT Surathkal), Arun (NIT Trichy), Harsh Tiwari (IIT Roorkee), me and Sooraj. We saw the famed Gateway of India, Old Taj and New Taj. Among them I saw the sea for the first time in my life. I was seeing all what I had seen only in films. From there we went to Marine drive and the Girgaun Beach. The beach was small as compared to the more famed Juhu beach (and cheaper). We ate somewhere in Colaba and then went back to the hostel. In my room the third roommate had arrived and he was K. Shanti Swaroop (JNTU, Hyderabad re!!!). He is to play an important character in these memoirs. Off to the next part…………..