When you are at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on
--- Theodore Roosevelt
--- Theodore Roosevelt
Friday, March 13, 2015
Ellora Bakery, Dehradun
A toffee is a toffee is a toffee - I thought with a smirk when I read rave reviews about the famous Dehradun Stick Jaw toffee. The moment I tasted the first Stick Jaw, I realized that I couldn't have been more wrong.
We were on our way back from Robber's Cave and took a short stopover at our hotel for a quick bathroom break. Next on agenda were Palatan Bazar and Tibetan Bazar. The driver knew in advance that we wanted to check out the famous Ellora Bakery and so informed us that it is on the way to the Bazars.
There are two shops named Ellora side by side and that stumped me for a moment. The first one was heavily packed with ladies hell bent on buying everything in sight. I couldn't find even an inch of a space to move. Frustrated, I retreated and went into the next Ellora shop. Rows and rows of biscuits, rusks and assorted bakery products greeted me. I knew I couldn't buy any rusks - however good they may be - they were very likely to get reduced to a fine powder during the plane journey back home. So I asked for Stick Jaw. The smiling shop attendant handed over a pack. We bought it along with a pack of assorted cookies.
Over the years I have realized one thing - if you buy sweets or any ready-to-consumed food item during your travel, you should make it a point to taste it immediately. if you like it, you can then go back and pick some more of it. That is impossible to do if you wait till you reach home to taste it. So as soon as we were back in the car, I opened the pack and popped a toffee in my mouth. I think the article that mentioned that 'this magical toffee is addictive' was right on the spot. There simply is no other way to describe it.
By this time we were on our way to the bazaars but I told the driver to return to the bakery at the end of the day to buy more toffees. We sure did and the shop attendant beamed as he handed us two more packets. It's going to be a hard task keeping myself away from them. :-)
We were on our way back from Robber's Cave and took a short stopover at our hotel for a quick bathroom break. Next on agenda were Palatan Bazar and Tibetan Bazar. The driver knew in advance that we wanted to check out the famous Ellora Bakery and so informed us that it is on the way to the Bazars.
There are two shops named Ellora side by side and that stumped me for a moment. The first one was heavily packed with ladies hell bent on buying everything in sight. I couldn't find even an inch of a space to move. Frustrated, I retreated and went into the next Ellora shop. Rows and rows of biscuits, rusks and assorted bakery products greeted me. I knew I couldn't buy any rusks - however good they may be - they were very likely to get reduced to a fine powder during the plane journey back home. So I asked for Stick Jaw. The smiling shop attendant handed over a pack. We bought it along with a pack of assorted cookies.
Over the years I have realized one thing - if you buy sweets or any ready-to-consumed food item during your travel, you should make it a point to taste it immediately. if you like it, you can then go back and pick some more of it. That is impossible to do if you wait till you reach home to taste it. So as soon as we were back in the car, I opened the pack and popped a toffee in my mouth. I think the article that mentioned that 'this magical toffee is addictive' was right on the spot. There simply is no other way to describe it.
By this time we were on our way to the bazaars but I told the driver to return to the bakery at the end of the day to buy more toffees. We sure did and the shop attendant beamed as he handed us two more packets. It's going to be a hard task keeping myself away from them. :-)
Palatan Bazaar, Dehradun
I must confess that I had already lost considerable part of my shopping enthusiasm by the time we pulled into this market. But the hustle and bustle of the place lifted my spirits. A person selling wind chimes and a stall selling chunky necklaces and ear-rings looked like a promising start to a great shopping experience. but sadly up ahead the market looked like any other market for locals in a city. I wanted to check out the famous Dehradun Basmati rice but could find only one shop that had stacked it along with other grocery items like juices and biscuits. The rice looked (and smelled!) no different than the one found in Mumbai kirana stores. The jewellery that was displayed by the few street vendors also looked remarkably similar to the one that can be found on Mumbai's Linking Road. There were a lot of stalls for T-shirts, socks and other types of clothes. The market stretched up ahead but I saw no point in going further.
I turned back without buying a single thing :-(
Tibetan Bazaar, Dehradun
When the driver told us that we were at Tibetan Bazaar, I first wondered if there were two places with the same name in the city. The bazaar looked nothing like what had been described on the internet. Various travel sites had me believe that one can buy semi-precious stones, Tibetan jewellery and artifacts here. Yet, no matter where I looked, all I could see were hawkers sitting amid heaps of clothes.
I walked on till the very end in the hopes that the shops or at least vendors selling these items would be some distance ahead but no such luck. There was only one guy sitting with bangles that didn't look any different than what are sold outside Mumbai suburban train stations.
Totally disappointed, I got in the car and we left for Palatan Bazaar.
I walked on till the very end in the hopes that the shops or at least vendors selling these items would be some distance ahead but no such luck. There was only one guy sitting with bangles that didn't look any different than what are sold outside Mumbai suburban train stations.
Totally disappointed, I got in the car and we left for Palatan Bazaar.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Maldevata, Dehradun
Google had informed me that there are 2 picnic spots in Dehradun - Maldevata and Lachhiwala. When I inquired at the hotel Front Desk I was told that Lachhiwala is usually crowded so we decided to go to Maldevata instead. Of course, I had ascertained that the place was safe.
After we left Sahastradhara, the driver retraces his steps a couple of times. How typical of Indian men – they won’t ask for directions even if they know that they are wrong. I called the hotel and had them guide the driver. Finally we were on the right track, sorry road! And it was a pleasant one – we passed tiny squares of green fields (wheat, if the driver was to be believed!), small neat bungalows, locals going about their business. All around us bare hills stood guard in the distance - the driver even pointed out hilltop houses in Mussoorie.
Finally he stopped the car in front of an ancient temple. Instead of going there first, we walked for some distance up ahead and then sat along the roadside looking at the vast empty expanse, the blue sky, the clouds gathering along the horizon and listening to the sweet sound of silence (a luxury no longer affordable in Mumbai!) occasionally punctuated by the muted thunder somewhere miles away. A plump little bird with hues of red kept us company but flew away when I tried to capture it in my digicam. Perhaps it wanted us to remember it only in our collective memories. :)
It was hard to tear myself away from there. I could have happily sat there till the sun went down but we were tourists with a limited time on our hands. So we walked back to the temple only to find that the sanctum sanctorium was locked! I don’t know if it was because we were too early (it was definitely past 11am!) or because it was a Sunday. Whatever the case, it was a huge disappointment. We paid our respects through the barred door, clicked a few pictures and turned back.
After we left Sahastradhara, the driver retraces his steps a couple of times. How typical of Indian men – they won’t ask for directions even if they know that they are wrong. I called the hotel and had them guide the driver. Finally we were on the right track, sorry road! And it was a pleasant one – we passed tiny squares of green fields (wheat, if the driver was to be believed!), small neat bungalows, locals going about their business. All around us bare hills stood guard in the distance - the driver even pointed out hilltop houses in Mussoorie.
Finally he stopped the car in front of an ancient temple. Instead of going there first, we walked for some distance up ahead and then sat along the roadside looking at the vast empty expanse, the blue sky, the clouds gathering along the horizon and listening to the sweet sound of silence (a luxury no longer affordable in Mumbai!) occasionally punctuated by the muted thunder somewhere miles away. A plump little bird with hues of red kept us company but flew away when I tried to capture it in my digicam. Perhaps it wanted us to remember it only in our collective memories. :)
It was hard to tear myself away from there. I could have happily sat there till the sun went down but we were tourists with a limited time on our hands. So we walked back to the temple only to find that the sanctum sanctorium was locked! I don’t know if it was because we were too early (it was definitely past 11am!) or because it was a Sunday. Whatever the case, it was a huge disappointment. We paid our respects through the barred door, clicked a few pictures and turned back.
Sahastradhara, Dehradun
The moment I opened my eyes in the morning I ran towards the French windows of the hotel suite – half in anticipation, half in trepidation. The sight that greeted my eyes justified both feelings. There were houses in the immediate vicinity of the hotel but I could make out mountains in the distance – not a sweeping view of the hills but enough to make me believe that I really was at a hill station! :)
After a hearty breakfast at the hotel (and a curious sight of 2 burly foreigners filling their Tupperware containers with bacon, boiled eggs, ham and assorted bakery products!)I was ready to face the day. I marched to the reception armed with a list of tourist attractions culled from the internet.
Sahastradhara – check!
Maldevata – check!
Robber’s Cave (they call it Guchhupani locally) - – check!
Palatan Bazar – check!
Tibetan Bazaar – check!
Tapkeshwar – check!
Mindrolling Monastery – check!
Khalanga War Memorial – what’s that?
“Hmmm....it is a memorial built by the British for the Gorkha regiment after the 1814-1816 war” – I read from the printout.
I met with blank faces.
“It is supposed to be in the vicinity of Sahastradhara” I said helpfully. ‘Never heard of it” pat came the reply.
‘Maybe you call it by some other name like Guchhupani” I persisted.
The front desk people made a few calls but drew blank everywhere.
“We will inquire when we reach Sahastradhara” I said with confidence that I wasn’t actually feeling.
“Oh and BTW, will there be water at Sahastradhara this time of the year?” they all said ‘Yes’ in unison.
And yet when we reached the place, there wasn’t much of it and that too was occupied with a group of college kids who were under the impression that the whole place belongs to them. This definitely wasn’t any auspicious beginning to our sightseeing.
There is a ropeway here which promises a sweeping view of the hillside from the top. We briefly toyed with the idea but I had read about the Parvanoo cable car accident in 1992 and so dropped the idea. The place had some boards pointing to sulphur springs in the vicinity but the sight of a group of men (topless and not physically fit!) waddling about in the water nipped the whole idea in the bud. We walked back through the market – past stalls advertizing Chow mein (spelled in a zillion different ways and all wrong!), Maggie (for some reason this turns out to be a favorite item at roadside eateries across Dehradun), soup and other eatables. I stopped short at a shop selling glass bangles and bought 3 pairs for a measly price of Rs. 20 each. This turned out to be the only jewellery (!) that I ended up buying in the whole trip! Maybe I should have spent some more time looking through the pieces – could have snagged an unusual pendant or two :(
Next stop – Maldevata.
After a hearty breakfast at the hotel (and a curious sight of 2 burly foreigners filling their Tupperware containers with bacon, boiled eggs, ham and assorted bakery products!)I was ready to face the day. I marched to the reception armed with a list of tourist attractions culled from the internet.
Sahastradhara – check!
Maldevata – check!
Robber’s Cave (they call it Guchhupani locally) - – check!
Palatan Bazar – check!
Tibetan Bazaar – check!
Tapkeshwar – check!
Mindrolling Monastery – check!
Khalanga War Memorial – what’s that?
“Hmmm....it is a memorial built by the British for the Gorkha regiment after the 1814-1816 war” – I read from the printout.
I met with blank faces.
“It is supposed to be in the vicinity of Sahastradhara” I said helpfully. ‘Never heard of it” pat came the reply.
‘Maybe you call it by some other name like Guchhupani” I persisted.
The front desk people made a few calls but drew blank everywhere.
“We will inquire when we reach Sahastradhara” I said with confidence that I wasn’t actually feeling.
“Oh and BTW, will there be water at Sahastradhara this time of the year?” they all said ‘Yes’ in unison.
And yet when we reached the place, there wasn’t much of it and that too was occupied with a group of college kids who were under the impression that the whole place belongs to them. This definitely wasn’t any auspicious beginning to our sightseeing.
There is a ropeway here which promises a sweeping view of the hillside from the top. We briefly toyed with the idea but I had read about the Parvanoo cable car accident in 1992 and so dropped the idea. The place had some boards pointing to sulphur springs in the vicinity but the sight of a group of men (topless and not physically fit!) waddling about in the water nipped the whole idea in the bud. We walked back through the market – past stalls advertizing Chow mein (spelled in a zillion different ways and all wrong!), Maggie (for some reason this turns out to be a favorite item at roadside eateries across Dehradun), soup and other eatables. I stopped short at a shop selling glass bangles and bought 3 pairs for a measly price of Rs. 20 each. This turned out to be the only jewellery (!) that I ended up buying in the whole trip! Maybe I should have spent some more time looking through the pieces – could have snagged an unusual pendant or two :(
Next stop – Maldevata.
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