The places that we could not visit.....

Lucky is the traveler who manages to visit all the places that he or she set planned to. We were not as fortunate. So here is the list:

1. Khalanga War Memorial

When we set out on our Dehradun sightseeing tour, the Front Desk staff could not find the location of this monument though they made a lot of calls. When I mentioned to our driver that it is located somewhere in the vicinity of Sahastradhara, he spent a good 15 minutes asking around after leaving Sahastradhara. But no luck. It is sad that even the locals do not know much about the places to be visited in their own city.

Tip for fellow tourists – when you do your research before the trip, be sure to collect all the information about the location of places that you intend to visit. Do not assume the locals will know.

2. Kasauli

I asked everyone and everyone told me that Kasauli lies along the Chandigarh-Shimla route and it would not be feasible to take a detour to go there when you are on your way to Dehradun. So we had to drop the plan. What worries me is how much this quiet village would have changed by the time I manage to visit. I seriously hope I don’t end up seeing a McDonald’s there.

Tip for fellow tourists – keep an additional day in the schedule for unplanned activities.

3. Daat Kali Mandir

Based on my research on the net, I was under the impression that this temple would be quite big. I didn’t inquire about it because it was clear that whatever locations we had planned on covering would take up most of our day. But in hindsight I should have asked about it.

The reason I am saying so is because when we were traveling back to Chandigarh on the last day of our trip, I happened to see a temple with a board ‘Daat Kali Mandir‘. But given the fact that the driver was driving like a man possessed, I didn’t have the time or the heart to ask him to stop.

Tip for fellow tourists – follow the saying ‘Ask and you shall receive’.

4. Morani

We were traveling from Chandigarh to Dehradun when the driver told me about this place. According to him, one has to go down a mountain to reach a lake and it is very beautiful. ‘But it is dark now’ he said ruefully. On our way back to Chandigarh I saw directions for the same. Though it was daylight I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get there. So we moved on.

Tip for fellow tourists – Ask the drivers if there are other places worth visiting and don’t hesitate to change your itinerary based on that.

5. Suketi Fossil Park

I had forgotten about it till I actually sat down to write this post. Its name had never come up during my pre-trip research but I saw directions for the same on our way back to Chandigarh – at least along part of the way. Then they disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared.

When I checked on the net just now, I found a review about this place on TripAdvisor. Not sure how I missed it earlier.

Tip for fellow tourists – when you feel as if you have all the information that you possibly could need, search a little bit longer. You might just have missed out on some ‘हटके’ spot.

6. Ancient Shiva Temple – स्वर्गकी दुसरी सिडी

This one goes down as my biggest regret of the trip. We had stepped in an eatery run by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department on our way to Chandigarh. It has a fantastic location but pretty limited menu. We were not in mood for sandwiches or chhole-bhature or prantha. So we got back into the car and were soon on our way. A couple of minutes later the car negotiated a sharp turn and to my left this board with words like ‘Ancient Shiva Temple – स्वर्गकी दुसरी सिडी' swept into view. I had a glimpse of a gate and a walk through the forest area before the car moved on.

I now know we should have stopped and visited the place. I searched the net for some information about this temple but couldn’t find any. It probably has something to do about the ancient story of the Pandavas going to heaven after winning the battle at Kurukshetra.

Since coming back I must have kicked myself a thousand times, if not more, for not stopping that day. I doubt if I will ever be able to make it there.

I am almost tempted to say ‘Someday’. Then I remember what Tom Cruise's character said in Knight and Day:

Someday. That's a dangerous word. It's really just a code for 'never'. :(

Door of a house near the monastery :-)

Mindrolling Monastery, Clement Town, Dehradun

We were on our way to the last destination in Dehradun. The original monastery in Tibet, built in 1718, is presently under reconstruction after suffering damage over the years. The work for this Monastery in Clement Town began in 1965. We had to travel considerable distance to reach it. On the final road, our car went straight instead of turning right. Just as it passed a shop for Tibetan handicrafts, I noticed two gentlemen standing at the door. They were smiling and gesturing for us to take the right turn instead. I smiled back, acknowledged their help and asked the driver to turn back. This was, and always will, remain my first-most impression of the monastery.

I am not sure what I was expecting as I never been to a Monastery before. But thanks to NatGeo, I have taken a look at some without living the living room :) I was, however, amazed at the immense structure that loomed in front us as we started walking in the general direction of the monastery. At the entrance itself you will see a couple of boards describing various aspects related to the religion and different religious structures. After that, there is an arrangement to leave your footwear before you enter.

But the first thing that strikes you is the fact that the whole area is very clean. Of course, there are more boards warning visitors about what not to do than I remember from my school days. But knowing what Indian tourists are capable of doing to a place, I think they are absolutely necessary. If the information on the internet is to be believed this temple is about 220 feet in height. The statues of Budhha – one on the ground floor and another outside the main temple – are huge. The first three floors have paintings and statues that are so intricately made that it can easily take half a day to observe everything in detail.

While the garden and shops are open to public on all days, the temple in open only on Sunday so we got lucky. The open circulat balcony on the 4th floor gives a panoramic view of the Doon valley.

The garden in the premises is well-maintained. There are 3-4 huge prayer wheels (you are supposed to turn them in clockwise direction only). I attempted to turn one of them assuming it will be easy to do so. But it was pretty heavy and I had to almost lean with my whole body on it before it moved even an inch. Surprisingly, I couldn’t think of a single thing to ask beyond ‘let there be peace and happiness in my life’. The whole experience was amazing!

Normally, when I am traveling, I avoid visiting the toilets unless I am in a reasonably good eating place. And this spotlessly clean area fulfilled the condition so I decided to use the toilet facility – only to realize that the cleanliness stopped at the entrance of the toilets. They were extremely filthy and smelly. :(

We roamed about the area that houses stores only to find many of them closed. Only one cafe was open – and sold tea made of teabags at Rs. 35! The shops stacked items that would have needed check-in during air travel. Nothing caught my fancy in the jewellery department. I bought agarbatti sticks for Rs. 20. Unfortunately, they are devoid of any fragrance so every time I light them up I have to console myself thinking that they are purifying the air. :(

I noticed two very disturbing trends in the visitors that I must mention here. One, there are clear instructions to maintain silence on the circular steps of the temple. And yet, people were talking – sometimes very loudly. Is it so difficult to remain silent for 10 minutes or so? Or have we lost any sense of respect for other religions?

Two, young people were giving poses that were very inappropriate against the backdrop of the Budhha statue. I saw the same devil-may-care attitude when a group of teenagers set about turning one of the prayer wheels as if it was a toy. Just then two monks happened to pass by. The older of the two took a look at them and moved on. The younger one stayed behind and stood watching them but said nothing. The youngsters got the message and stopped turning the wheel sheepishly. But then they proceeded to have a mega photo session at the steps – totally ignoring the people who were waiting to turn the wheel and click a few snaps. It was only when I loudly remarked that people are waiting, that they wrapped up and moved on.

I don’t want to sound sanctimonious but this was not a tourist place. It was a place of worship that a religion holds sacred. And it is our duty to make sure that we conduct ourselves accordingly. I remembered what a friend had said to me recently – these days people don’t stop to enjoy a moment, they are in a hurry to capture it so they can upload it. The ‘Kodak Moment’ of yesteryear has turned into a ‘Facebook Moment’.  Very sad, but very true. :(

It was getting dark as we were walking back to the parking lot – our last evening in Dehradun. A heartbreaking moment for any tourist who has fallen in love with the place. I don’t know if I will ever come here again. Most probably not.

But this sure was a perfect ending to our sojourn to this land of the Gods – the Devbhumi.

Being Indian – Pavan Varma

Stillwatch – Mary Higgins Clark

This is the story of Patricia Traymore. Pat is a known name in the television world. Her latest assignment – making a documentary on Senator Abigail Jennings, who is tipped to the next Vice-President – brings her to D.C. She is staying in a house that has a dark history of a murder-suicide but Pat knows that the house plays a very important role in her past.

As she sets about to do her work, Pat realizes that there are more questions than answers about the events that happened in the past – Did Senator Dean kill his wife and then committed suicide or was it the other way round? Was the plane crash that killed Abigail’s husband really an accident? What was the truth about the money that disappeared from Abigail’s campaign fund?

Needless to say, if you are not careful, you can easily find yourself rooted to a chair as you read this book and try to piece together the clues that the author cleverly throws your way. That said, I could do with a lesser number of beautiful women and handsome men :)

If you want to learn something new, check out these sites:

http://universitywebinars.org/category/education/

http://science360.gov/

http://unplugthetv.com/

It was shocking to read about the death of IAS officer D.K. Ravi. And heartening to see that people have taken to the streets to register their protest. I wish though that they would refrain from stone pelting and setting the vehicles on fire. While anti-social elements are always on the lookout to hijack such opportunities to foment unrest, it is equally true that we Indians, as a society, somehow tend to think that peaceful protests are not strong enough.

I am puzzled though – the cops are saying that prima facie this appears to be a case of suicide as if that excludes any possibility of foul play. Even if this turns out to be a suicide, the causes could be purely personal or related to his professional life. Harassing an honest officer to the extent of driving him or her to end life is not beyond the realm of possibility in this country :(

Here’s hoping that the truth will prevail and the guilty be brought to justice.

Haagen-Dazs – Crepe Blitz

My perennial problem at Haagen-Dazs is that when I open their menu, I feel like ordering everything that is on offer. :) So it was with great difficulty that I chose to have ‘Crepe Blitz’ when we ended up there over the weekend.

This dessert consists of 4 separate crepes, each filled with a different ice-cream flavors. You have the option of changing any or all of these four flavors but the default ones – Strawberry, Cookies & Cream, Praline & Cream and Caramel Biscuit – sounded so yummy that I didn’t want to change a single one of them.

The dessert was so delicious that I had to muster up every ounce of my self-control to keep myself from ordering it again. :)

So this one is seriously recommended for those with a serious sweet tooth.

Tapkeshwar Temple, Dehradun

We were done through Sahastradhara, Maldevata, Robber’s Cave, Tibetan Bazaar and Palatan Bazaar. Now the last two destinations on the itinerary were – Tapkeshwar Temple and the Mindrolling Monastery.

I was scared that the Tapkeshwar Temple would be as crowded as the Mansa Devi one but when we reached there I realized that I need not have worried. There were only a few devotees in sight when the car entered the parking lot. We walked to the Shiva temple near the parking lot and took our time doing the Darshan. After the disappointment at Mansa Devi, this was a huge relief. I would have very much liked to linger in the temple  but we were running on the tourist timetable and couldn’t afford to do so as we were yet to cover the main temples in the premises.

So we walked on. It must have rained recently because the ground was wet and muddy despite the tiled surface. Reluctantly, we removed our footwear and left it at the small stall at the entrance.

There are 3-4 temples in the main premises. To visit one of them, a Shiva temple, you have to descend a staircase and enter a cave-like room. The other one would remind you of the Vaishno Devi temple – at Katra or in Ahmedabad – because you have to crawl to reach the Sanctum Sanctorium.

There is a tall statue of Bajarangbali and an idol of Lord Ganeshji. In another corner you can see an idol of Lord Krishna lifting the Govardhan with the King of Gods, Indra, kneeling before him. There is a small shrine devoted to the Navgrahas or Nine Planets. And you can also see Sheshashayi Vishnu with Goddess Lakshmi (though I must confess that I wasn’t too happy to see that she was sitting at his feet!).

Our final Darshan was of the Shivalingam which is called Tapkeshwar because of the water that drips onto it from above.

As I exited the Tapkeshwar Sanctorium a stone idol kept in a wall recess caught my attention. There was neither any nameplate identifying it (Hindu religion boasts of no less than 33 Crore Gods and Goddesses. It is impossible to know all of them!) nor did its form resemble that of any well-known deity. It probably would have been a stretch to call it an idol. In all probability, it must have been discovered by someone somewhere and brought into the temple because it bore some resemblance to the Shivlingam. As I stood there watching it, I wondered who must have brought it and when.

On our way back, when I inquired about how much we needed to pay at the stall where we had left our footwear, I was told to give whatever I felt like giving. Perplexed, I handed a Rs. 10 note. Don’t know if I should have given Rs. 20 instead.

As the car left the parking lot, I looked back at the temple. I had immensely liked it – except the wet, muddy floor, of course. There was an ancient, timeless look about it. It felt like a temple, not like a place where religion and faith was for sale, because the devotees weren’t pushing each other to get into the temple. No one was shouting at the devotees to keep moving. And no one was pressurizing you to buy anything as an offering to the Gods.

I couldn’t help but wonder about the people who must have visited this place in the past, their prayers, joys and sorrows. I felt sad about the idols and photo-frames of Gods that lay grouped together, abandoned, under a tree or in a corner of the temple. I remembered the old sadhus sitting in various temples. There was a time when I was naive enough to assume they must have denounced everything to devote themselves to God. But these days the first thought that crosses my mind when I see these men in saffron robes is whether they are doing it because it saves them from toiling hard and dealing with the complexities of life. I thought about the stone that was kept in a corner – forgotten and unattended and wondered about what makes a stone a revered idol.

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.

Books For A Rainy Day

Deadly Waters - Jay Bahadur

The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World - Jay Bahadur

Gomorrah - Roberto Saviano

Crossbones - Nuruddin Farah

Robber's Cave (Gucchupani), Dehradun

Now you will agree with me that "Robber's Cave" sounds more adventurous than 'Gucchupani', won't you? Despite giving him the day's itinerary right in front of the front desk people when we left the hotel in the morning, our driver got confused when I told him that our next stop should be Robber's Cave. By then the name 'Gucchupani' had slipped out of my mind completely. So we called the front desk guys again who told the driver to set course for 'Gucchupani'. At warp speed :-)

When we reached there, we saw a couple of confused tourists who seemed very unsure of how far to go. That set us wondering till we saw, on our right, a board showing the way to an ancient Shiva temple. Without a second's delay we started walking in that direction. The path was easy enough in the beginning and required only a slightly tough ascent towards the end - totally negotiable if you have 1-2 young people to lend a hand. The temple was closed, no surprises there!

After Darshan, we saw another path leading up from the temple and started walking. At a fork in the road, we turned to the right - though I believe the left road would have been equally enchanting. Be careful on this road if there is moss because that can make it slippery. A slight ascent later we were reward with a panoramic view of the hillside. Totally worth the hike and more!

As we continued ahead, we virtually ended up in people's backyards. There were neat villas on both sides of the road but not a soul in sight. They have probably got used to the awesome view. :-( Two small dogs in a house started barking their heads off when they saw us though we were strictly keeping to the road. A small child came out to investigate but when he saw us, he turned on his heels and went back inside.

I wasn't too thrilled about descending the same moss-laden way back. At the top we saw another path going down to our right. While we were debating whether to take it or not, another dog started barking and luckily for us his owner stepped out of the house. He opened the gate when he saw the question marks on our faces. We asked him if the path to the right led to the parking lot. He said that it will lead us more than a kilometer away so he advised us to retrace our steps instead. And so we did, but not without going green - almost the same shade as the moss below our feet - with envy :-)

We came back to the board which had led us to the temple and saw a ticket window at a distance. We bought tickets at Rs. 25 each. I guess that's a steep price to pay considering there is little ahead except flowing water and an entrance to a cave. Maybe there is more if you dared to walk into the cave. We didn't. I took photos and we had tea in a nearby hotel. Some of the eating joints have set up tables in the water - an interesting concept - but I have no idea what was on the menu.

So, to sum it all, the temple and the hike beyond turned what could have been a lousy experience into some of the most cherished moments of this trip. Finally, that's what these outings boil down to - a treasure trove of memories that you can relive again and again, even without photos or videos, isn't it? In that sense, we found our treasure trove at Dehradun's Robber's Cave - it paid off handsomely!