Airtel Delhi Half-Marathon

On Sunday, 1st November I went for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. It was a sea of people.

Adesh was running 21km, and he went off at 7.30am. I had two more hours to bide and I decided to make the most of it by visiting every single stall/ kiosk. It was a good opportunity to indulge in one of my favourite past times- observing people.

It was much more crowded than last year, and the weather was also hotter.

For the first time, I got a face-paint done, in tricolour, though very small in size. After all, how can a female take chance with her skin!

There was a live band, there were jugglers, there were long-legs.

There was a separate enclosure for senior citizens where they were being offered tea and snacks.

Sadly, there was no provision for water for those loitering around like me, waiting for our turn to run. I tried the refreshment counter, they expressed inability to offer help till the time counter opened. Only thing that kept me going, though I was dying of thirst, was the opportunity to see Shah Rukh Khan, in person. And what a crowd puller! He connects so well with the crowd...amazing!

Finally, I did catch a glimpse of my favourite actor, ran for Great Delhi Run, and gobbled down water at the first water stop!

Now I am waiting for the Gurgaon Marathon on December 6. I am sure it will not be crowded and weather will be cool enough to make this marathon a cooler one

If you happen to be in Gurgaon on December 6, do come to run, walk, cheer and have fun.

Moreover, you never know whom you may run into. You can find details about the run here.

Weekend in Shimla

The last weekend in Shimla was all fun and excitement. Adesh was a part of Shimla Half Marathon and completed the run in under 3 hrs.

On Saturday, 3rd October, we reached Shimla at around 12pm and after checking into Hotel Holiday Home, we went straight to the race expo at The Ridge. And then, we set off to do a recce of the route that Adesh was to take next day. For me walking on that terrain itself was so exhausting, I was just wondering how the runners will complete their 21km. Thank God I had decided not to run and be a volunteer. I clicked photographs of the route during recce and on the race day. I was trying to live up to the role of the photographer assigned to me.

Adesh has shared his experience here.

And, when it was time to start the return journey, we were already exhausted. Nonetheless, we carried back with us fun filled sweet memories. Looking forward to the Diwali weekend round the corner!

Chutti Time, Again

It's a long weekend starting tomorrow. Three days off and so we are also hitting the road.

Adesh is running the half marathon in Shimla, organized by Running and Living. And I am accompanyig him cheer him up and click some nice pics. It is going to be three days on hills, in Mashobra and Shimla. And I am going to have fun!

Run for India

There is a running group in Gurgaon, Running and Living. They organize runs on every first Sunday of the month. This month, on 7th Dec, they had the 5km run called 'Run for India', in the wake of unfortunate events in Mumbai. They had tied up with Red FM, Gatorade, Reebok. The Gurgaon Half Marathon of 21km was also on the same day.

It is always a fun to be part of such events and this time it was for a cause. It seemed that the entire Gurgaon has landed up there. There were school kids, old people, house wives, corporate honchos. People who had never run so much before were also giving it their best shot. There were placards with messages like, "I will not give bribes". In all, a very well organized event and definitely something to look forward to.

Manzil

I went to India Habitat Centre on Sunday with Adesh. It had been pretty long since we tasted Eatopia goodies and also wanted to check out a play by Vir Das, that was on. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the tickets for the play, but fortunately we witnessed the Annual Day of Manzil. We stumbled on it just by chance, actually more out of curiousity. While getting out of Eatopia we saw young guys and girls decorating the stage in the amphitheatre and it had a huge kite in the backdrop. That caught our attention. We waited for the event to start and eventually learnt about Manzil. Manzil is an informal school or learning centre, started by Ravi Gulati.

The function had children of all ages performing. And it was overwhelming to see the families of these children cheering them.

There was a short play, a band performance, solo songs and a performance by toddlers. There were 10 year old boys and girls dancing to the tunes of popular numbers, teenagers rocking the stage, and these can give reality dance show participants a run for their money!

By the time it ended, we were very much impressed, not just by the show put up, but also by the overall initiative of Ravi Gulati- Manzil.

Travelogue: Lansdowne and Rishikesh-II

After two days of rejuvenation in the calm and serene town of Lansdowne, we started for Rishikesh. We drove downhill to Kotdwar and then through Najibabad and the Rajaji National Park to reach Hardwar. From there we took the road to Badrinath, crossed the Rishikesh city and an uphill drive of 30 kms later, we reached our destination- Camp 5 Elements. It took us around 4 hrs to reach.

It is a camp on the beach of Ganges. From the road it looked so tiny. We had to trek down the hill to reach our camp. There was a suspension bridge over the river, and this swings when the wind blows! Our friends, Priyanka and Raghav were already there. This was my first time in any camp and the idea of living in a tent was very exciting. I must say that the camp staff was very friendly and hospitable. As soon as we reached, we hit the sand. Played volleyball, tried rock climbing and rappelling. Then just sat on the rocks with feet dangling in water. We even had a pebble throwing competition. This was like being back to childhood! There was another group of 5 people there who joined us for bon-fire and we exchanged anecdotes.

The most amusing part of the camp stay was the toilets. Each tent had shower and bathing place inside, but the dry toilets were all separate. They are all sand pits and the idea was quite repulsive. Anyways, next day we were gonna move out for rafting. The most exciting part of the entire trip.

We started next day after breakfast. There was a base camp for rafter around 5 minutes drive from our camp. We all had adrenaline running high. All strapped up in life jackets and after safety instructions we started our journey on the mighty Ganges. This was FUN!!! We crossed three rapids- Three Blind Mice, Black Money and Wall. We did body surfing which was akin to taking a holy dip in the holy Ganges. The professionals with us were encouraging all of us to jump in the water. They gave loads of instructions at all points of time, so that we enjoyed and we were safe. In all, a fun filled adventure, which we already planned to re-do next year.

After a tiring watery session we changed and headed towards Hardwar. The camp people had sent our car through a driver to our finish point. We stopped over at Hardwar for lunch. And then on the Sunday afternoon, we were headed back home via Rishikesh, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Ghaziabad to reach Delhi. The stretch of the road from Meerut to Ghaziabad was very bad and it took us very long to cover the short distance. We dropped Priyanka and Raghav at their home and headed for our abode in Gurgaon.

A fun filled trip of 4 days and 3 nights came to end. A lot of memories etched in our hearts. I recommend rafting in Rishikesh to everyone. It is a MUST-DO in your lifetime. By far, our best vacation. And, here I am already planning for the next one...

Travelogue: Lansdowne and Rishikesh-I

We went for a weekend trip to Lansdowne and Rishikesh. It was a four day trip from 2nd to 5th Oct. Lansdowne is the closest hill station from Delhi (250km approx). So, here is a brief account of our trip- Travelogue on Lansdowne and Rishikesh. This is the first part on Lansdowne.

We started on 2nd Oct morning at around 7.45am from Gurgaon. We crossed Delhi and hit Ghaziabad by 9.00 am. From there we took the road to Hardwar, we were supposed to go via Meerut but somehow took a wrong turn and hit Hapur. So, it was a detour of around 30km to Meerut. It was Id-ul Fitr and we could see a lot of men and young boys in white kurta- pyjama and skull caps going to Idgah and mosques. It was a holiday and we were able to avoid the morning traffic of school and office goers. From Meerut we took the road to Mawana (town famous for sugar). The National Highway 119 was in a pathetic condition, and in saying pathetic I am being very generous. There is a stretch of around 25-30km which is just stones and dirt. even a village road is betterthan this NH. Anyways, from Mawana we reached an upmarket dhaba- Monty Millions. This is the only decent eating place en- route Bijnor from Meerut. We reached there at around 11.30am. After having our Aloo Paranthas and Cold Coffee, we started our drive again. We crossed Bijnor, Najibabad and reached Kotdwar. Kotdwar is the entrance or dwar to the Garhwal region of the Himalayas. The view of the mountains from the city was so refreshing and encouraging. As soon as we hit the mountain area, the weather became so cool and refreshing. We stopped on the way for posing and clicking. There was tea stall in a hutment where the chaiwallah still cooks in coal fed stove.

We reached Lansdowne at around 3.00pm. It is atop a hill. The view from the hotel balcony (Blue Pine Resort) was awesome. Clouds floating outside, and then again sunny...

Lansdowne is a small, beautiful, picturesque hill station nestled in the Himalayas. It is in Garhwal region and home to Garhwal Rifles. Lansdowne is mostly Army area and is the regimental HQ for Garhwal Rifles. Everywhere you see jawans going up and down the roads. There are so many tracks in the hills for the ones with an adventurous spirit. We took the off-road path and trekked up for 3.5kms to reach the market place, through the Lansdowne Golf Course. After a tiring trek we had pakoras and tikki at Mayur Hotel. Diet plan gone for a toss!

The places to visit in Lansdowne are Army Museum, Bhulla Lake, Tiffin Top, St Mary's Church, St John's Church and the market place. There is a Shiv Mandir, around 35 kms from Lansdowne on another hill, Tarakeshwar Dham. The drive is very bumpy but its worth it. For the last 5 kms there was no road! But, by far the best place I have ever visited. So calm, serene, in the lap of nature with trees all around. It seemed like a scene out of a picture book. A must visit for everyone. Another interesting fact about Lansdowne is that there is no petrol pump. You have to drive downhill 45km to get petrol. So, we were mostly on foot. There are local taxis available for local sightseeing and they cost around Rs 400/-.

Our hotel, Blue Pine Resort, is supposedly the best out of three decent accommodations available. Though the food was not as we had expected, but still it was reasonable, considering that was our best option. After spending two nights at Lansdowne we started of towards Rishikesh. More of it in the next post.

Click here for photos

Visit to Wagah

During the month of March, I was visiting Amritsar and had a chance to visit Wagah Border. Though I have lived in Punjab for most of my life, but never got a chance to visit the border. For those who are not aware, Wagah border is the border check post between India and Pakistan. It is around 30 minutes drive from the Amritsar city. I was accompanying my boss, whose friend had arranged for seats in VIP area (One of the many privileges still available in India!)

As we were approaching the border side, I could see the fencing that had been done across the fields to mark the end of our country. I felt an unusual sensation and it was exciting! With grandparents who had immigrated from the other side at the time of partition, I have very mixed feelings about our neighbour country. Nonetheless, I was too excited to visit the check post. Well, it was Sunday evening and we were going to witness the very famous closing ceremony. There were hoards of people on every possible mode of road transport heading towards the border.

As we approached the border and alighted from our vehicle, I could see the BSF and Pakistani Rangers, standing across the fence. Our guide informed us that there were many farmers on the Indian side whose land was on the other side. They have a pass and they cross over every morning, till the land and return at sunset. I had heard and read about all this, but watching those farmers crossing back was something different.

Finally, after various points of checking, we were able to view the 'Point Zero', which marks the end of Indian territory. There is an amphitheatre on both sides of the border. As the time of closing ceremony was approaching, the rush of people kept increasing. I could feel goose bumps on my arms.

People were clicking pictures at the gate. There were loudspeakers blaring patriotic songs on both the sides. One of the many differences that I noticed, on the Pakistani side, there were separate seats for males and females. One side had women in colourful burqas, while the other half had men mostly in kurta-salwar. While on the Indian side there was no such demarcation!

The drama began when a man with a microphone emerged in the centre of the crowd and started urging the crowd to repeat the slogans after him. And he started, "Hindustan Zindabaad" The crowd went berserk (including the two of us!) shouting after him.
Then came "Bharat Mata ki Jai", and the third one "Vande Matram". We have all done that during our school days, but there at the border, my voice had a new enthusiasm. I was experiencing patriotism of a different kind.


Our patriotic slogans were followed by similar shouts from the other side, "Allah o Akbar" and "Pakistan Zindabad", with equal fervor.
After various such rounds, a few puzzled foreign tourists sitting next to me asked, "What are they saying?" I explained to her and with an amused look on her face, one of them asked, "But why do you need to shout that???"

I just could not explain that to her. I feel, no one else anywhere in the world can feel the same way as Indians and Pakistanis do here. I have known people from both nations to be at very friendly terms when together in any other part of the world, but here it all changes!
May be the feeling that comes while watching an Indo-Pak cricket or hockey match, can come very close to this.

Anyways, the wait for watching the very famous ceremony of gate closure and taking down of the National Flags, was worth it. As the sepoy blew horn, indicating the time, the guards from both sides came marching. There feet almost touched thier turbans!!!!!!!!!!! You have to watch it to believe it! And enjoy it!

As the guards shook hands for the last time for that day, and the National Anthem was played, the National Flags of both the countries came down in perfect harmony.

Our visit had come to an end, but something inside me had changed forever. I had heard about it from friends and relatives, who could not explain it, but now I know why they could not. All I can say is that each of the fellow countrymen should visit the place at least once. It is worth it!

Edible Experiments

Like most working females- my contemporaries- I dread treading into kitchen. But this Sunday, I chose to take 'The Road Not Taken'.

Though I used to share an apartment in Mumbai and dinner used to be cooked at home, I never dared to experiment with dal and sabzi, my role was confined only to Rice and Maggi!

But yesterday, I started my cookery sessions under Ma's supervision. Reality struck me then that cooking is not as easy as Sanjeev Kapoor makes it look like!

The day started with Pyaaz ka Parantha. Though personally I prefer to stick to milk and cereal for breakfast, but as a member of a hardcore Punjabi family, Paranthas in breakfast are a must!!! So, here I was, rolling dough and onions in quadrangular shapes, and finally I succeeded in my first experiment, and it was edible indeed.

Then, it was a little lengthier one, I decided to make Karhi Pakorha for lunch. (I know, a little tricky one, but had to take the risk). Again, under the same lab supervisor (read Ma), I started the process. And, after various stages of experiment, adding more water, then a little salt, some more besan, I finally did reach the desired result. Cooking rice was a cakewalk for me, so would not consider that as an experiment.

Dinner was the last but bitter experiment. Ma decided that I should learn to cook Karelas. Oops! Well, it was an experiment and experiments could fail. So, there was no reason to worry, and I again put on the apron. After rigorous peeling and slashing for half an hour, I could manage to take off the skin and slit to put in the mixture.

I remembered the experiments in Chemistry lab. Even Salt Analysis looked a lot more easier in comparison to this one. We never had to taste the salts ultimately and there weren't three pairs of eyes watching every move! And that too on a super hot, sultry day.

Finally, the experiments concluded. The report card said "Edible". Wow, was I elated!

I had had enough for the weekend, when Ma was already chalking out menu for the next Sunday!

A journey...

Monday morning I was returning from home and after a long long time had a taste of the legendary PRTC bus. Why I call PRTC buses legendary, ask any Punjabi who has stayed in Punjab.

Monday morning rush and I was running at the Bus Terminus platform... and was astonished to look at the number of people waiting for a bus from Patiala to Chandigarh.

After a wait of half an hour and missing 3-4 buses, I finally managed to get on an overcrowded bus... and I couldn't help but comparing it with the Mumbai locals! Believe me, huge similarity!!

No place to move even an inch...
The stench of sweat...
And above that,
Rash driving...
And, absolutely no courtesy by conductor or driver...

I guess they need a lesson or two in customer service!!

Just wondering how other State Transport buses are rated by travellers.
And I found some interesting information at a blog on busnews.






I must add here that the above two images have been shamelessly copied from the www and I do not have rights for these pictures.

As for me, my mission is to avoid the back breaking rides as much as I can!!!