Joshimath-Auli-Badrinath Road Trip Jun 2012

After a hiatus of almost a year and a half since our last road trip to Rajasthan and Gujarat and the travel bug hit me again. The aim this time was to plan something more arduous and adventurous. The aim was to drive, trek and raft. Driving on plain land was a been there done that thing...That set me thinking and when a friend suggested Auli, Uttarakhand...i almost jumped at it. The thought of how to reach Auli  was more exciting that what i would actually do at Auli. With minimalistic hill driving experience it didn't seem like a great idea. I had friends tell me the standard chicken and egg story...hey ...you cant do this unless u have hill driving experience and i was like...how the hell am i going to get hill driving experience unless i drive in the hills...So quite determined i gave these suggestions a pass and went right ahead with the plans. In this blog i would try to answer a whole lot of questions that i myself had and didn't find in any blog. I'm hoping the next time traveler to Auli and Badrinath would be good at least as far as information goes. So here goes some answers to start with

Q1: If i have never driven in the hills can i do this route?

Ans 1: I have more than 10 years of car driving and 5 to 6 years of bike driving behind me. My only experience of hill driving was to Mussourie and Nainital. And folks that hardly can be called as hill driving. But even with this experience i was able to do the stretch.. So stretch your minds kill the fear and step out into the unknown.

Q2: Do i need a 4 wheel drive to do this stretch?

Ans2: Absolutely not. I have a 2008 Honda Civic, manual transmission and i did this stretch comfortably. I know someone who did it in a Tata Manza also.The only issue in low floor cars is the danger of rocks hitting the car bottom. As long as you  manoeuvre  around and keep your eyes on the road you are good to go. I even climbed the 14 KM from Joshimath to Auli on mostly 2nd and occasionally 1st and 4th gears.

Q3: The Car interiors and passenger interiors..

Ans3: Service your car before you leave, this is a must. Carry enough spares, no mechanics for miles, so you got to do your own things. Carry a tow chain (if you don't get one carry a thick nylon rope). Carry warm clothing, blankets and a bag full of dry food stuff and loads of water. Landslides are common . I know someone who had a boulder hit his rear glass and broke it along with damaging his bonnet. He  covered it with Tarpaulin and moved on only to get stuck four days due to a landslide. The food, water and warm clothing will sustain you in the middle of nowhere. Don't let this deter your resolve to hit this route. Whats a route without all these challenges..

09 Jun 2012, Saturday - Delhi - Shivpuri:

Daybreak at Delhi, probably 0545 hrs

The car, Honda Civic, 2008. Family size, self, wife and son. The starting point Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Had an early start to the day at exactly 0508 hrs. It was daybreak but the sun was yet to come out. Got out of the city pretty fast. The tough part is finding the left turn after Nizamuddin bridge to hit the Meerut road. I chose to miss the left turn at Ghazhipur road and instead took the left a few km later which has a board showing CISF and Mohan Nagar. This road goes and joins GT Road (or Grand Trunk road) as its called, where you take a right. thereafter follow the road signs to reach Meerut road. The exit from Delhi always confuses me, but hoping to get a better handle on it the next time over.Thanks to staring early, i reached Meerut in good time and by 0640 hrs i was on Meerut toll road. this road is like a blessing after the 90 min of hell that one has endured. Fantastic toll road for the next 70 odd km from Meerut to Muzzafarnagar. Thereafter it shifts to single lane till Roorkie and then onwards contiunues in single lane.Roorkie is an important junction for Dehradun and Haridwar travelers. Those wishing to go to Dehradun should take a left at Roorkie and those going to Haridwar continue straight.  The drive from here on till Haridwar was still bearable. We reached Haridwar at 1000 hrs, thats just short of 5 hours. The sick part was the journey was from Haridwar to Shivpuri a distance of just 38 odd Km. There was a massive traffic jam and it took us almost 3 hours to wade thru the jam. We finally reached our hotel at Shivpuri at about 1300 hrs. 

My son river Trekking along the 
Ganges at Shivpuri

The last 3 hours was grueling. Total travelling time, 7 hours 50 min. including 30 min breakfast break and a total distance of 279 km. We stayed at the Riviera resort at Shivpuri http://www.theriviera.co.in/index.asp . Had 2 reasons to stay here. First its on the highway to Joshimath and out of Rishikesh and gives you a good head start if you wish to head for Auli and second he gave us a good deal. The resort is on the hill and a short walk down the hill takes one to the Ganges. My son and me went down to the river and did some great river trekking along the rocks of the river. I'm not sure how many of you have done this, but its a fantastic sport and can definitely give you the thrills. 

10 Jun 2012, Sunday- Shivpuri to Auli: 

This was the day i was both waiting for and dreading at the same time. Waiting because it was the adventure that my mind was dreaming of for the last year or so and dreading because one it was my first long drive in the hills and second it was likely to be the 10 hours of this drive. Nevertheless the enthusiasm was high and i was so looking forward to this. We decided to start early and left the resort at 0620 hrs. The destination was Auli. The route was Shivpuri-Devprayag-Srinagar-Rudraprayag-Karnaprayag -

Shivpuri to Joshimath

Nandaprayag - Chamoli-Joshimath-Auli. As you can see in the pic the route is pretty much straight and passes through some of the most beautiful confluences in  the world. That caters to 4 of the 5 prayags in Uttarakhand. I was terribly short on petrol and in my excitement to stop at Shivpuri yesterday after the long drive and bigger traffic jam i forgot to fuel the car. I finally got fuel just short of Devprayag. Devprayag is the first prayag on the way to Joshimath. Its the confluence of the two holy rivers, the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda, after this point the river is called Ganga.We stopped at Maletha about 70 Km north of Shivpuri for breakfast at about 0900 hrs. It was a quaint little place by the road. 30 min and we were on our way. The road from Shivpuri right upto Srinagar is narrow, but while going up, you are along the hill side so things are better off than by coming down. Just after Srinagar part of a bridge has collapsed making it a route for a single car. So traffic waits on either side with one side progressing slowly. Other than this an an occasional bad patches which are mostly the landslide areas, the quality of road was relatively good enabling me to manage a healthy 30 kmph till breakfast, which reduced down to 26 kmph post breakfast.From Rudraprayag, you can take a diversion for Chopta and Kedarnath. Rudraprayag is the second prayag on the route. At this point the Alaknanda meets the Mandakini river. The road gets bad, with stones and mud for 3 km short of Gauchar. I continued on the Joshimath route towards Karnaprayag.This is the third paryag, the confluence of rivers Alaknanda and Pindar (this river originates from the Pindar river). Nandaprayag was the next prayag, joining of rivers Nandakini and Alaknanda. We stopped at a placed between Maithana and Chamoli for lunch at about 1330 hrs. Quite a good place with little cottages and a nice open air restaurant. Don't quite remember the name but remember that the food was quite good. I always top up my post lunch food with 500 ml of coke always while driving. Keeps my sleep at bay, wonder what ingredients are in it, caffeine may be. Whatever it is, never fails to keep me awake. My initial plan was to stop at Karnaprayag for lunch. Considering the distance and hilly roads, that was a fair estimate. But reaching just short of Chamoli for lunch was a bonus.Devprayag (475 mtrs) and Chamoli (995 mtrs)are at a height difference of 500 odd mtrs, but the climb from Chamoli to Joshimath (1890 mtrs)is about 900 odd mtrs. This is evident from the roads, they are narrower but still manageable. We reached Joshimath at about 1500 hrs. Auli  to Joshimath is about 14 km during which you ascend about 900 odd mtrs. Quite a scenic drive. The road is narrow but in good condition. My Honda Civic climbed easily between occasional first and mostly second gears. So no need of 4 wheel drive, no scene of screwing up non-SUV cars (these are messages i read in many blogs). Its a cool drive and i did the up down twice (once when i drove later to Badrinath) with no problems whatsoever. I reached Auli at 1600 hrs. That was about 8 hours and 40 min drive including 2 breaks of 30 min each and covering a total distance of 243 km of hill driving.I was lucky not to get any traffic jams or landslides on the way. 

View of the snow capped mountains
from GMVN Auli

I strongly recommend you drive the Joshimath to Auli stretch only in daylight, i find it safer that way. Anyway i always drive in the day, never by night  anywhere in India.  The weather at Auli was fab and the mood within the family was great. I had booked the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) there. Had done an online booking at http://www.gmvnl.com/newgmvn/check1.asp?naam='trh' . You will have to register as a user before you do the booking. Carry your print out which you got to show at the reception. The rooms were good (cant say great), there were heaters and geysers in the room, all working. A corridor blocks your view of the hills, but you can always walk down to the corridor window and enjoy the lovely snow covered mountains. After a quick tea and resting for an hour, we were out on a short trek on the mountains just behind us.  

11 Jun 2012, Monday- Auli: 

Meadows of Nanda devi Bio sphere
reserve - Auli

Just above GMVN is the Nanda Devi Bio-sphere Reserve Park. We decided to do a day trek to reserve. At about 1000 hrs after breakfast we decided to start walking up the hill. We decided to take a guide, we got this guy for INR 500, not a bad deal eh!! We went past the Clifftop hotel, a good 20 min climb from our hotel. There is a separate mud route for cars to get to this hotel. I read in some blogs that you need to walk up to this hotel, not fully correct. You drive till about 100 mtrs of the hotel after which you need to walk up to the hotel. Another 20 min climb gets you to the ticketing counter, you got to buy tickets to enter the reserve.On the way we stopped at the Padiyar Devi temple. this temple is revered by the local villagers who have an annual festival when all neighbouring villagers gather here and worship the deity. We trekked till about 1300 hrs post which we decided to rest. Sandwiches and pepsi and we were off again. The entire route was scenic. The route that we took is a days walk in the 6 days trek to Kuari pass. The meadows are beautiful and make you want to stay back there for a lifetime, who knows one day i will, The trek lasted till 1700 hrs when we reached back to the hotel. It was a fab day, good trek, wonderfully scenic and fabulously tired. 


12 Jun 2012, Tuesday- Auli - Badrinath: 

Badrinath road (Hanumanchetti to
Badrinath stretch - 10 km)

After such a long hill drive 2 days back i was in 2 minds weather to drive or take a cab to Badrinath. Finally good sense prevailed and i decided to drive. If you love to drive then why be a passenger. Badrinath is 58 km from Auli. We left Auli at 0730 hrs. We were told that we would take up to 3 hours for the trip. There are many wonderful points along the way. the first was about 13 km from Joshimath, i.e Vishnuprayag. This is last of the five prayags in Uttaraklhand.. The Dhauliganga river meets Alaknanda river at this place. with this, i was fortunate to have seen all the five holy confluences. A blessing indeed. Another 8 km from Vishnuprayag is Govindghat. This is the point from where the trek to Hemkunth Saheb the holy shrine for Sikhs and the Valley of Flowers trek starts.Govindghat to Hemkunth Saheb is about 19 Km and Govindghat to valley of Flowers is 17 km. Don't get depressed seeing the pic. The road remains good and the route very scenic for another 13 km till Hanumanchetti, the next 10 km is pathetic broken road with stones strewn all across.From here on you do an average speed of 8 to 10 kmph. unless you want to screw up you tyres. I reached Badrinath at 1000 hrs. 2 1/2 hrs ride. The place had a certain serenity to it. The lovely temple surrounded by snowy mountains with streams running down. The Saraswati river joins the Alaknanda river at Mana and flows from Badrinath.There is a massive line for entering the temple. Local policemen told us that we will need to wait as much as 21/2 to 3 hrs to go inside the temple. We decided to pray from outside and move on. We spent about an hour and half there and decided to move off from there at 1130 hrs after a quick breakfast.

Badrinath (other than 10 km stretch rest of
road is of this quality)

I was pleasantly surprised to get a Gujarati place selling dosas and idlis for breakfast !We reached Joshimath by 1330 hrs, much quicker than the assent. The sad part was that schools get over at this time and we were stuck in a jam for the next 30 to 40 min and then on another jan from Joshimath to Auli where we encountered 3 army trucks coming downhill while we were going up. Thankfully after a loss of one hour we were up by 1500 hrs just before lunch. A short nap later was off on a trek, first up to Clifftop hotel and then down to the ITBP helipad and then back up. Was a fantastic trek, was tired like hell but loved it. 


13 Jun 2012, Wednesday- Auli - Gauchar: 
After quite an eventful 4 days since starting, it was time to head back on the return leg.We left the GMVN hotel at 0750 hrs. The drive down to Joshimath was quite peaceful and having done the route 3 times earlier it was kind of child's play for me. We had packed a few sandwiches for breakfast. We decided to do a working lunch and continue driving till we reached our destination, Gauchar about 104 Km downhill from Auli towards Rishikesh. We intended to stop at a small quaint place at Gauchar arranged by one of my friends who was kind enough to oblige at short notice. The downhill journey was almost as easy or difficult as the climb. The only care one had to take was to keep whispering to one self "go slow go slow". The car tends to have a life of its own on the downhill stretch and you need to reign in the engine in the interest of your own safety. Speeds were definitely slower than the climb but in and around 24 to 26 kmph. Though we intended to complete the distance in one stretch, the family decided in favor of a tea break and finally we stopped at 0900 hrs at a little place for tea, and my son downed some hot Maggie noodles, quite a delicacy in these parts and found in almost every small joint at any altitude. After a 30 min stop we headed for Gauchar. We were there at 1230 hrs or so, almost a 4 hour 20 min drive including the break. Gauchar is a small quaint town about 12 Km after Karnaprayag. After a quick lunch and a fast nap, we decided the explore the hills behind our cottage. There were some villages and the Alaknanda flows through the villages and the hills. We walked around for an hour or so and headed back to the room.After a quiet evening we were all excited to do the second last leg to Shivpuri.

14 and 15 Jun 2012, Thursday/Friday- Gauchar - Shivpuri: 
We decided to start early , left the place at Gauchar by 0655 hrs. We stopped at Maletha just after Srinagar for breakfast. It was a nice place called Riverside resort. Looks like a good place to stay also, though there is nothing around to do except trek.The road after this point especially from Devprayag onwards was quite difficult. Looked funny especially after having done worse stretches, no idea why this looked difficult. An afterthought revealed that the road was narrow and the down traffic was at the outer side of the road with a sheer drop. Finally we reached our hotel (The Riviera) at 1300 hrs covering 139 km from Gauchar. The drive from Auli broken in 2 stretches was comfortable but obviously less challenging than the Shivpuri-Auli stretch. We followed up the evening with another stretch of river trekking along the Ganges. Another quiet evening later we were looking forward to the rafting trip the next day.

The sun reflecting off the Ganga

The hotel had arranged our rafting trip with Red Chillies Adventures http://www.redchilliadventure.com/. The guide was good and safe and they had a Kayak following our boat for rescues if any. I strongly recommend them for any rafting expedition. They also undertake rafting in Ladakh, The website says it all. We chose the 28 km rafting stretch starting from a place called Marine drive (wonder why its called that).We got a safety briefing and were on the boat. The ride overall was safe we jumped in water at  least 8 to 10 times and once even during the rapids. the guide knew his job and the river well. He even stopped us from doing any touristy rowing and made us row with all our strength making it a true adventure trip. We even had a pleasant snack break, pepsi and chips!! The overall route took about 3 hours and was very well worth it. Highly recommended. 

16 Jun 2012, Saturday- Shivpuri - Delhi: 

The next day we has an early start left the hotel at 0700 hrs. We crossed Rishikesh in good time. thereafter there was a massive traffic jam. It took us almost 90 minutes to get out of Haridwar. The route till we reached the toll road was terrible with traffic moving at snails pace. The government needs to do something with the road if they expect people to visit Uttarakhand. Now people do not have a choice and need the damn road to get away from the mess that is Delhi. But with a good road the overall experience will get pleasant. Time lost in the slow stretch till Muzzafarnagar was taken care of by the fantastic toll road till Meerut. Post that too the traffic was thin so we could make it in good time. We finally got back home to Vasant Kunj at 1500 hrs. 
Overall it was a fantastic trip.For a guy who loves to drive all he can see is the road. The beauty of the hills or the river flowing past are just comments that you hear from fellow passengers. For the traveler all such images fuse together and you only see the grey/black background of the road and that itself is orgasmic enough to keep the traveler going. Driving till you collapse dead tired is a dream every traveler sees day in and day out. I had very long stretches of continuous driving and all i can sum up is with a quote by Lao Tzu “A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” This trip ends but i did sow not one but many seeds of possible future trips and a corner of my creative mind is furiously at work looking forward to the next trip. 
I hope a traveler on this route can use this blog for a safe and planned travel. Please mail me if you find errors or want me to add more details to this blog. So on that last note, my fellow travelers, Au Revoir.....


@Vasant Kunj
14 Jul 2012, 1828 Hrs

Facebook - The Evolving Face of Friendship

Facebook has been a revolution on the social media scene and has changed both the definition of a friend and that of friendship. For many of us Facebook has become a mandatory part of our lives. There have been various studies conducted on usage of facebook across the world. The results in real percentage terms vary considerably, but one fact is consistent that a majority of us are addicted to social networking sites. One study has pegged about 50% of facebook users would check their updates first thing in the morning.

This is strange is it not? While the advertizing world attempts to reach out to the world, this invention is something that keeps pulling audience towards it consistently. Social meeting places come very commonly to humans. Starting from royal baths of the ancient Roman era to today’s modern multiplexes and malls, they are all over the place. It was only a matter of time before someone explored the possibility of mimicking the living world into the virtual one. The creation of facebook today seems very natural but to be able to look into the social patterns of humans and touch a raw nerve to create facebook was a sheer act of brilliance. Facebook is unique in ways, normally as an individual you control your personal information and on no other medium would you tolerate anyone leaking you personal information without your approval. Facebook provides a subtle social pressure on every user to expose more and more of his or her personal information. Whoever would have thought that they would voluntarily post their last night party pictures in every gruesome pose the next day. Every unacceptable norm in the real world is flouted on facebook and is considered acceptable. The new “no” is “yes” in the FB world.

Facebook has taken an identity of its own. The $60 billion company has entered people’s households and it’s no longer surprising to see kids expressing their love for their parents and lovers expressing their love for each other on FB. The intense desire to go public with everything from your daily chores to milestones in your life to posting achievements has become the norm of the day. It’s no longer cool to make polite conversations, it’s smarter to update your profile and wait for someone to reply. FB is the new father of the world. FB decides that you can only have 5000 friends and no more and people are still left wondering, when you can have hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, then what’s the big deal with FB. You are as cool as the number of friends you have on FB. Sub-500 is passé, while above 2000 and you’re a living legend, well almost - you got to reach that magic figure of 5000 to be called god. Business enterprises had their internet proxies all set up to block social networking sites. This trend continued for the past few years. Now these very organizations have realized the potential that these sites hold as a strong marketing tool. Most organizations are moving towards opening access to social networking sites in office. This is seen as a motivational tool rather than a hindrance. Today radio shows, TV programs, daily soaps, business enterprises, movie stars and even political parties have their own FB pages.

For such a new business to reach $60 billion in just 6 years since inception is a wonder in itself and goes a long way to reaffirm our faith in the power of the internet and the social fabric of mankind. And all Mark Zuckerberg and Co. did was build something to network the objects closest to our hearts, our friends. FB is a virtual site with a heart. Facebook remains the living legend, till someone digs deeper into our hearts and hits the next gold mine…

Driving trip Dec 2010 - Delhi-Udaipur-Ahmedabad-Diu-Somnath-Jamnagar-Chittorgarh

In line with my annual target to achieve something which i can call a personally enriching i decided to embark on a family driving expedition. The planning was a challenge. Just deciding where to go can be quite intimidating. I prefer the hills but driving in the hills can be quite painful and cannot be called quite an experience. So decided to sort this for myself. Ill get driven to the hills and would always drive to the plains. since the north was out, the options left were UP-MP or Rajasthan-Gujarat. Decided to pick the latter. The finally planned route was Udaipur-Ahmedabad-Diu-Somnath-Jamnagar-Chittorgarh-Delhi, a planned distance of 3000 km. I personally thought of the trip as quite challenging, had never done something of this magnitude before. Friends too thought of it as quite drastic, but had made up my mind and decided for it. Convincing my family was a bit tight but eventually all went fine and we decided to go for it.
The car a Nov 2008, Honda Civic, the family self, wife and 13 year old son,  and the plan was to drive myself across. I had done this once in 2004 and its been 6 years, was a bit excited and a bit tense. Then started the exercise of reading numerous blogs on the issue. Happy to know that many had done this and more and my trip looked like childs play. That was a comfort.
25 Dec 2010, Saturday: Delhi-Udaipur (via Jaipur-Kishangarh-Bhilwara-Chittorgarh) 

Speedometer reading -  18232 Km

 - 667.6 Km
Stay at Udaipur: Evening 25 Dec 10 to morning 27 Dec 10
Started from Vasant Kunj, a south Delhi suburb at 0643 hrs, it was a fine morning cold but relatively clear. I was to hear later from my friends that it was a very foggy day and lots of flights were cancelled. But we managed to make a safe and clear exit out of Delhi. My milometer at start(ignore the dates in all the pictures, my camera has a date problem) reads 18232 Km.We started off along NH8, all was fine till we left Gurgaon, trucks started lining up from the second toll onwards. thereafter for the entire stretch till we stopped for breakfast at 0915 hrs at Hotel Midway Tokas, about 103 KM from Delhi. Then started a long session of parathas for breakfast which would go on for the next 9 days.Half hour break later we were on our way, the entire stretch till Jaipur was in a bad state with 6 laning of roads going on. I remember i did Jaipur by road in 2006 and again in 2009 and on both occasions it was a pleasure. Now its become painful to drive to Jaipur. It took me almost 5 hours at an average speed of 50 kmph to get to Jaipur, normally a 3 hour drive. I don't recommend anyone to go to Jaipur atleast till mid 2012 hopefully by when this road work would get over. About 357 Km from Delhi and about 100 km south of Jaipur is Kishangarh.From here on there are 2 routes to Udaipur. One is along NH8 via Ajmer and the other is via Nasirabad-Bhilwara-Chittorgarh, NH 79. Based on inputs from blogs we decided to take NH 79 and it was the best possible decision. The Kishangarh-Udaipur stretch was the best highway i have driven in India(obviously the Mumbai-Pune expressway comes close, but not anything like this). This is a nice 6 lane highway lined with hotels, small and medium restaurants and scattered petrol pumps. Check the pic for a preview.  

Kishangarh-Udaipur - NH 79

Birds eyeview of Udaipur from Karnimata Temple

Lunch was at 1425 hrs at Hotel Sahyog, a small nondescript place about 440 Km from Delhi. A quick bite later we were off at 1450 hrs. I wanted to reach Udaipur before sunset, hate to drive on Indian roads in the night. We stayed at Grand Sita bang in the middle of Udaipur, would give it a 2.5 on 5. Its an average stay over hotel, that i booked thru Make my trip. Was clean and nice.Being winter i had estimated sunset at 1730 hrs, so i had about 2 1/2 hrs to cover more than 200 Km, which seems like a stretch, but the roads were fab and we reached our hotel by 1730 sharp. That was some drive almost 11 hours in the car with an exclusion of 1 hour for lunch, 10 straight hours oif driving time. Hopefully once Jaipur roads come up the Delhi Jaipur stretch would come down below 3 hours, so Delhi -Udaipur can be done in 8 to 9 hours, with an hour stopping time.The plan was to spend 25 and 26th night at Udaipur and see around the place. Very wifey plan but decided to play on. a days break was nice after the long drive. Udaipur according to me is a very hyped up city. One has better places to go in India. Hired a cab for the day, did a 1045 to 4 pm scene. Udaipur has lots of boating and a ropeway to the Karnimata temple. Got late for lunch and our taxi guys takes us to this ramshackled place. The Rajasthani thali was good and also topped it up with Dal bhaati and choorma(i understand thats a Rajasthani delicacy).The next day was supposed to be a relatively easy drive compared to the one Udaipur, so decided to sleep late. We planned to leave the next day by 8 or so.

 27 Dec 2010, Monday: Udaipur to Ahmedabad  - 256 Km
Stay at Ahmedabad: Afternoon 27 Dec 10 to morning 28 Dec 10

After a 600 km drive, 256 km seemed like childs play, so we started the next morning at 0835 hrs from Udaipur. The road leading from the hotel led us straight to Udaipur bypass on to NH8 for our onward drive to Ahmedabad.The route is via Shamalji-Himmatnagar-Gandhinagar to Ahmedabad.Unlike the Kishangarh-Udaipur stretch this road is well maintained but winding which cuts the speed.The Rajasthan border is 117 km from Udaipur, with a simple fort like structure. Its Gujarat after that , green and beautiful. The roads continue to remain nice but winding as before. Lunch was at a Punjabi joint called Hotel Nilgiri, owner by a Sardarji. He got us nice hot parathas and tea.Quite a decent and clean place. Started after a 30 min stop and reached Ahmedabad by about 1130 hrs. We checked into Hotel Comfort Inn, Sunset , very close to the airport. This was a nice hotel, i would give it a 3.5 on 5. Very spacious with nice clean washrooms and a nice view of the road below.Post lunch we visited the Gandhi Ashram in the day. It was quite a humbling experience. Think about a frail man who spent all his life to the service of the nation, his requirements were bare his physical appearance was frail but he had the strength to move a nation the size of India that too on the principle of non-violence. Very impressive.Rest of the evening was spent in the room.

28 Dec 2010, Tuesday: Ahmedabad to Diu- 525 Km
Stay at Diu: Evening 28 Dec 10 to afternoon 29 Dec 10

I did not find too many blogs writing about travelling from Ahmedabad to Diu. There are 2 routes that you can take. One via NH 8E via Bhavnagar-Una-Diu and the other via NH 8B till Rajkot-Jethpur and after Jetpur split off to NH8D which splits off to Junagarh-Veraval-Somnath and thereafter NH8E to Una-Diu. I had no precedence nor any write up hence took this the latter route via Rajkot based on an advise by the reception guy at my hotel.But my advise to readers of this blog would be to try the Bhavnagar route also, as apparently all the state buses take that route and may be 150 km odd shorter(or so my hotel receptionist told me at the Diu hotel),  however i understand that is a 2 lane route all the way from Ahmedabad to Diu so your  driving might be much slower that route remains unproven till date.We started from  Ahmedabad at 0812 hrs on 28 Dec.The road is almost straight forward, we simply caught NH8B, we reached Rajkot, at 237.5 Km from Ahmedabad at 1130 hrs(was a 3 hr 15 min drive) and stuck on NH8B till Jethpur. The road thereafter goes on to Porbandar. Here is the terrible part. There are no roadsigns to mark the exit from Jetpur to NH8D to Junagarh. So at a particular point you split off from the Porbandar route and enter Jetpur town and exiting the town takes about 20 odd min and lo and behold you are on NH8D. No signboards at all for a long time, but asking people helps. The road upto Jetpur is 4 lane and is a beautiful drive. After Jetpur, NH8D is 2 lane with no median on the road.

The condition of the road is ok till Jamnagar, i mean not too great but you can do decent speeds. We were desperate to eat Gujarati food and in Ahmedabad all we got was a load of Punjabi food. I wonder why they dont serve authentic Gujarati food in many restaurants in Gujarat. Why copy others when your cuisine is so great. Take the bypass around Jamnagar and at the south gate of  Jamnagar, we finally caught a small lunch home serving authentic Gujarati food. The thali was nice, loved the sweet dal the most. Would have loved to take a nap, but we needed to go on. The road after Junagarh started deteriorating gradually. I was wondering that 2 main attractions of Gujarat are Somnath and Gir forest and a visit to Diu,  but unfortunately the road from Junagarh right till Diu (the road is 2 lane) is pathetic. You cant drive fast as you may hit a pothole and damage your car. 100 km short of Diu the road is in terrible condition and your speed reduces to about 30 kmph. The road is an absolute disaster. Mr. Chief Minister, please do something about it, if you really want tourists to reach Somnath and carry great memories of reaching that place.The view however is fab, green fields on both sides with coconut trees. The road is lined with huge trees which give nice shade to the entire road. You need to reach Una, before you see a broken sign showing a right turn off NH8E to Diu. From this point Diu is 16 Km. We reached Diu by 1700 hrs and checked into Hotel Cidade de Diu, the hotel is in Diu town. After dumping our luggage , we walked down to the town to catch some tea and watching the sunset. It was nice to see the sea after ages. Being in Delhi, had almost forgotten the look of the sea. After a quick shower we headed towards Nagoa beach , about 8 Km from the town. Diu also has a little airport. It was a nice scenic drive. The best hotel at Nagoa beach is Radhika Resort. There are others like Hoka Resort, Rasal beach resort and Suzlon beach resort are also near the beach. You would get the best view of the beach from Hoka and Suzlon beach resorts. If i was asked to rate by looks, it would be Radhika, Suzlon and Hoka in that order. Beer at Rs. 100 with loads of sea food at Radhika resort was welcome. Dinner at Radhika is highly recommended. The next morning after breakfast we visited Diu fort, i remember visiting the fort in 1993 and feels great to be back after 17 years. The view from Diu fort is fab.We drove thru the lanes of Diu and the feeling was very very antique. We loved it. We headed back to Nagoa beach and had beer and lunch, more sea food, prawns and pomfret.


29 Dec 2010, Wednesday: Diu to Somnath- 87 Km

Stay at Somnath: Evening 29 Dec 10 to morning of 30 Dec 10
After lunch  at 1400 hrs we started from Nagoa beach for Somnath. As mentioned above the road is in pathetic shape. On the way we came across this antique ford, being used as a taxi. Probably the owner was not aware of its worth and decided to use it as a taxi.The drive took me 2 hours, something that we could have covered in about an hour and some more.Since this trip was planned in almost 4 days, all hotels at Somnath were full. There are about 3 odd good hotels at the Somnath bypass about one km out of Somnath. The ones within Somnath are small ones including 2 hostels run by the Somnath trust. Its recommended that those planning to stay at Somnath should do hotel bookings well in advance. The evening aarti starts at 7 pm, lasts for 30 min, followed by a light and sound show that starts at 745 and goes on for about an hour.Now here is the catch. There is an extremely strict dress code to enter the temple premises. Also do not carry anything with you. The following are banned. Any type of footwear(obviously), there is a place to keep your shoes but that was full when we got there, so better to go bare feet from your hotel, else keep your shoes whereever and expect to find it at your own risk, no leather including purses, belts and leather watch straps, no ladies purses, no car keys; in fact enter only with your clothes on and nothing else. There is a dress code for women too, no skirts or anything that shows your legs. Good rules, but not allowing us to carry my car key is where i was stumped and could not go inside. Wife and son had good darshan and then we went for a nice happy dinner. Great end to a lovely day. Our hostel was quite bare with no facilities except an attached bath. Had to get tea the next morning in a glass from a local tea shop. But what the hell, for a traveller these things hardly matter, the fun is to keep the travel on. The next morning we were supposed to go to Gir for a safari. I was speaking to a family while having dinner. They were staying at Gir and had come down for dinner. Apparently earlier you could phone and book and the safari, now the person booking the safari has to personally buy tickets which means standing in a line for up to 3 to 4 hours and followed by a 2 hr safari. I decided on a change of plan and decided to skip Gir forest and instead head to my next destination. This is what makes you feel like a traveller and not a tourist. For a traveller its the journey and not destinations that is more important.

30 Dec 2010, Thursday: Somnath to Jamnagar (via Rajkot) - 275 Km
Stay at Jamnagar: Evening 30 Dec 10 to morning of 01 Jan 11

Since the distance was manageable, we decided to have breakfast at Somnath (the same restaurant where we had dinner, Hotel Sukh Sagar, for those wanting to stay this is a decent hotel). Finally we left Somnath at 0957 hrs for Jamnagar. The route was via Junagarh-Jetpur-Rajkot and Jamnagar.Rajkot is 185 Km from Somnath, you take NH8D to Jetpur then NH8 from Jetpur to Rajkot. Though our map showed a couple of routes to reach Jamnagar, we finally landed up in Rajkot city (which seemed the only way we could find).  There are no sineages on the way to Rajkot indicating any turns for Jamnagar.The only way is to leave NH8 at Rajkot and enter the city , travel within the city for 8 km before you reach the state highway which takes you to Jamnagar via Dhrol.This entire stretch of  85 km is 2 lane without a median which significantly slows down the speed. Surprisingly after turning left from Rajkot we saw a ChokiDhani on our left there was no time to visit so we let it pass. An interested traveller who has missed the same in Jaipur can visit the same. Aquick lunch later we were on our way, and by 1700 hrs we  were at Jamnagar. Our destination was an isolated Naval station in Jamnagar , INS Valsura, where we were to meet and stay with a good friend of ours. Valsura is a quaint and quiet place along the sea, very peaceful . 31st afternoon was nice with some great Gujarati thali at Hotel Aaram, which apparently serves the best gujarati thali in town. And it was well worth it, the best thali till date, highly recommended to all those visiting Jamnagar.We had a nice 31st evening, got into bed by 0030 hrs and was awake again at 0500 for the next days trip. .
01 Jan 11, Saturday: Jamnagar  to Chittorgarh (via Rajkot-Ahmedabad-Udaipur) - 670 Km

Stay at Chittorgarh : Evening 01 Jan 11 to morning of 02 Jan 11

We had a long long drive ahead and i was really looking forward to it. I needed to cross the entire state of Gujarat and move as much north as possible, this was a tight target considering that i had had just about 4 hours of sleep. The best part was we had not decided where we would stop, but it was estimated to be some place after Udaipur. Also luckily we had not calculated the distance so the enormity of the task did not hit us as we begun our journey. We started from Jamnagar at 0658 hrs, it was dark, the road from Valsura to Jamnagar was in bad shape, so we made a very slow exit. The road from Jamnagar to Rajkot was more or less clear, but again being 2 lane the progress was slow. The first target ws Ahmedabad, 302 Km away from Jamnagar. We reached the Ahmedabad bypass all fine, and got on to the ring road. The ring road brought lots of confusion with it, at times we would see boards mentioning Himmatnagar and then suddenly they shifted and started showing Vadodara. It was a ring and had i taken a wrong exit i would be heading south instead of north and with 470 km more to go before sundown that was no joke. We managed to find an exit (not sure of that was the right one but a good 10 km away we finally got on to the 6 lane highway leading to Udaipur. Ahmedabad to Udaipur is 256 Km and that was an ok target.We stopped at Himmatnagar for lunch , was quite a nice hotel but stuck to roti and dal to keep it simple and had Pepsi to drive the sleep away,which it did very effectively. We finally crossed Udaipur bypass at about 1600 hrs and we were very sure of reaching Chittorgarh by 5. That's when we encountered this horrific jam just outside Udaipur. Luckily some locals helped us take a village route and before we realized we were on NH76 heading towards Chittorgarh. But the Jam had costed us about 40 odd min and we were low on fuel and cash. Luckily we found a pump that accepts cards and tanked up.1645 hrs we were off  from Udaipur and we had 113 Km to cover before sunset which apparently happens around 1730 hrs. seemed almost impossible, i was bracing up for a bit of night drive something that i hate to do in India. NH76 is a drivers paradise and there was almost nil traffic on the road and we managed to reach Chittorgarh by 1800 hrs, 113 km in 1 hour and 15 min was not bad at all. With an hours break for breakfast and lunch , we had driven for 10 hours, felt nice.Could not see much of Chittorgarh as it was already dark. Some enquiries later we finally found a decent place to stay, Hotel Nandan Palace. Very clean and welcome after a real long drive. I would give it 3 on 5. I had clocked about 700 km on 01 Jan, and from a travellers point of view i felt nice to be on the road the complete day, may be that's what i expect to do this year, quite a welcome thought. Be on the road as much as possible. The next day was also not expected to be that easy, we were about 600 km odd off Delhi and was to be a long drive. I felt ok after driving the day not tired at all. That's what happens when you doing things which you love to do.

02 Jan 11, Sunday: Chittorgarh  to Delhi (via Jaipur) - 567 Km

Delhi, Vasant Kunj : Evening 02 Jan 11 and end of journey

The next morning we were up early with a plan to be on the road by 7 am, but by the time we finally made it , it was 0737 hrs. We got on to the same highway from where we exited to Chittorgarh without fully checking the google map that i was carrying(unluckily did not get a Rajasthan map before we started, so were relying on google maps). The highway in fact was NH76, which goes to Kota. After driving about 25 odd km i realized that we were on the wrong highway. Asked locals and got into the nearest village and 5 km of bumpy roads later we were back on NH79. NH 76 comes in from Udaipur to Chittorgarh and proceeds to Kota. While to go to Jaipur you got to change over to NH79 just before Chittorgarh, somehow we missed that turn and that costed us about 45 odd min. quite an expense when you got to do about 600 km that day. But issues behind us we were on NH79 on our way to Jaipur via Kishangarh. The road up to Kishangarh was fab and so was the road up to Jaipur. But i found that the quality of traffic was bad from Kishangarh to Jaipur (too many trucks and all over the place). We crossed Jaipur at 1200 hrs, which was good time and we expected to be in Delhi by 1600 hrs.But our horror was just about to start. Six laning of the highway was in progress and we encountered massive jams at 5 to 6 place (basically whenever the highway touches a village).Finally after struggling for about 6 hours we reached Delhi and parked my car at 1800 hrs. Was quite a trip, great memories, safe driving and almost no near misses too.In all we had covered 3120 km, spent about 9 days on the move and that exceeded my last driving trip Delhi-Bikaner-Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Jaipur-Delhi which was about 2000 km in 10 days. At finish my milometer read 21402 km.

The journey was over, or should i say this journey was over, many roads and many destinations becon, who knows when the calling is but the traveller waits and when the calling comes he just moves. My soul tells me to be ready and am all set to move...to see another distant sunset..Au Revoir.....

It’s raining in Delhi. Has global warming caught up?

It’s finally raining in Delhi. After being here for almost 10 years one of the few things I liked about Delhi was its lack of rains. Not to get me wrong it’s not that I hate rains on the contrary being a long time Mumbaikar I actually love the rains. But staying 10 years in a city where rain is a novelty has actually reset my expectations from the rain gods. I found a renewed sense of freedom to be able to move around the city almost year-long without the horrors that heavy rains almost always brought about in Mumbai. Whilst June to August spells monsoons south of Maharashtra, the same period in Delhi used to be warm and sunny. Slowly I started getting used to the freedom that was long denied to me by rain gods in Pune and Mumbai. These dry spells lasted for almost 6 years; however the weather has significantly changed over the last 4 years.

The rains made their entry into Delhi in 2006 and slowly over a period of time the so called ‘occasional shower season’ has matured to a full fledged ‘rainy season’ in Delhi. The human mind is intrinsically averse to change, as I got accustomed to a very dry Delhi, the heavens open up and its raining everywhere. Apparently Aug 10, has been the wettest August in 15 years and there have been only 7 such spells in the last 110 years in Delhi. That’s some statistics now.

The few questions that come to my mind are, what has caused this change? For once are the proponents of global warming right. Is the weather really taking a drastic turn, not sure if its for the good or worse. This article on the NASA site (http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/global_warming_worldbook.html) reports that over the past 100 and next 100 years together, the overall temperature of earth would have gone up by about 10.4 degrees ! Now that’s a scary thought, the only comforting factor is that I won’t live a 100 years to see that temperature rise. When we look back the winter of 2009-10 in Delhi was more severe than the years before, the summer was equally unbearable and now the excessive rains. Is this nature’s way of warning us that ‘all is not well’. But frankly are any of us listening or seeing these obvious changes. The Delhi government had done its bit a couple of years back by being the only state in India to implement CNG for 100% commercial vehicles like state busses, taxis and autos. Polluting industries have been asked to move out of Delhi to its outskirts. The quality of air has improved marginally but frankly like a friend mentioned a few days back after her trip to New York. You wake up with a much clearer head in New York as compared to Delhi. How many of us have woken u to realize that you do not feel as fresh commensurate to the number of hours you have clocked in the bed.

A few years back I used to wonder how someone retiring from his or her job can decide to settle in the faraway hills or a remote beach location. I had decided I would stay in the hustle and bustle of the city and be in the middle of all the action. But 10 years of stay in Delhi and I have concluded, no more cities for me as and when I retire. It’s going to be an idyllic location, where the air is pure, the sky is clear and there is no smog between me and nature. This brings back memories of ‘Jamaica Farewell’ by Harry Belafonte;

‘Down the bay where the nights are gay,
And the sun shines daily on the mountain top
I took a trip on a sailing ship
And when I reached Jamaica I made a stop’

It’s a race against time. First we were all in villages, then we created cities and then moved to cities for better jobs, now the cities get polluted and we are rushing back to villages. Its only a matter of time before the construction industry extends its claws to every village in sight. I sadly wonder would there be any Jamaica left on earth for any of us to stop?

Choose to Live Life in Sheer Bliss

Consider the image of any regular person living this planet. Their life is their family, their work, their dreams, and above all their worries. One sees people proudly proclaiming, that they have a thinking mind, which is generating thoughts by the second. But the question you need to ask yourself is, are you generating these thoughts or is your mind generating them. Many of us fail to distinguish the subtle difference between who “you” are and who “your mind” is. The first sign of caution is when you fail to carry out this distinction.


Do you identify with any of the following?
• My mind always generates a variety of thoughts.
• Most of these thoughts are involuntary and beyond my control.
• Some of them are good and some bad both generated due to the environment external to me.
• While I enjoy and nurture the good thoughts, the bad thoughts bog me down and I am unable to do anything about it until they get resolved or die down themselves.

If the answer to majority of the above is a yes, then “you” are a slave of your thoughts or better said your thoughts have complete control over you and has the capability to govern your mood. Remember incoherent collection of thoughts in your mind is not a symbol of a thinking mind. It’s a symbol of an uncontrolled mind. Let’s take an example of your hand. It does not continue moving when you have finished bowling a cricket ball or when you finish waving goodbye to your friend where as your hand stops moving once these activities complete. The brain controls this activity. But who controls the activities of the mind. Who would stop the mind from uncontrolled thinking? That’s what we are trying to achieve here.
So the question remains how do I free myself from this rut of uncontrolled thinking?

Here are some three simple tips that worked for me.

1. The first step is to be aware that you are separate from your mind. The best way to do this is to constantly put yourself into a habit of watching what your mind is doing. Initially it may sound a bit weird and even foolish. We have many occasions that can be used to build this habit, our most hated moments, when we are driving alone, driving and stuck in traffic jams, waiting for a friend or acquaintance, waiting at airports, bus stands or railway stations, long winding travels, the possibilities are enormous. In case these locales are too disturbing sit in a quiet room and watch your mind.

2. Once you are aware what the mind is doing, the next step is to pay attention to the contents of what the mind is processing. This step is distinct from the first step which just concentrates on watching the actions of the mind. Be aware of each thought as they come in, watch as they linger on and multiply, watch them as they die down or surge. At every stage of this step you should be aware of all the thoughts that are crossing your mind

3. Now that you are aware of all these thoughts, start off by segregating the good and bad thoughts. The interesting part is that there are no good or bad thoughts. It’s our reaction to each thought that makes it good or bad. For a human mind if the reaction to a particular thought makes us happy then it’s a good thought and if it makes us sad then it’s a bad thought. For the ease of writing and understanding, let’s still call these as good or bad thoughts. We obviously don’t want to remove good thoughts from our mind, as for the bad thoughts there are 2 ways to work around them.

a. One way is to watch the thought that invokes a sad reaction within you. Be aware of that thought, identify with it, watch it grow and fall. The power of this process is that the moment you become aware of a thought that makes you sad, and watch its rise and ebb, it starts getting weak. If you are able to do this replace this thought with a good thought, now that’s your key to bliss.

b. The second way and one that worked for me, is to write down that thought which invokes a bad reaction within you. The act of simply writing down this thought makes it weak. The good part of the writing process is that you need not replace the bad thought with a good one. The moment you write the precise thought, it vanishes. In short the moment you associate with a bad thought either by watching it intensely or by writing it , the thought dies off.

By consistently practicing these 3 steps you can rid yourself of what we call “persistent worrying” and so called uncontrolled thinking of the mind. With time we would be able to gain mastery over our minds and eventually replace the uncontrolled thinking of the mind with a free thinking mind. A free thinking mind, constantly searches for thoughts that depress us, and replaces such thoughts with nice and pleasant thoughts , leading to a an enriched life of sheer bliss.

Transformation from Human to Nerd - Is the Internet robbing us of our Social Life?

In the days of the yore we used to proudly display a letter from our loved ones. The greatest moment was to receive the letter and the next best to read it. The advent of the internet opened immense possibilities and a whole new generation of entrepreneurs emerged who made their millions from the internet. I restrict my discussion on this article to the social change brought about by internet.
From the simple e-mail to instant messaging to social networking sites to use of all these on mobile platforms, the social internet threatens to rob us of our real life social fabric. A typical teenager of today is suave about handling his or her email accounts, manages multiple social networking sites, measures their success by the number of friends they have online , buy movies and songs online and end up spending more and more time online. Slowly this “virus” has crept on from the youth to all age groups and now the intrusion is almost complete. The use of the word “crept” is deliberate, as it’s just a period of time when you transform from being a normal human to a nerd typing away vigorously at your keyboard. I’m reminded of the 1986 Hollywood flick "The Fly" starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. He is an eccentric scientist working on 'teleporting', a means of transporting objects through space. Geena Davis, a magazine writer decides find out more about his work. They start an affair, but Jeff believes she is still seeing her former lover. In a fit of rage he tries to transport himself, and his genes get caught up with a fly that gets into the machine. Slowly Jeff takes on the features of an insect, resulting in him slowly transforming into a huge fly.
You know you are transforming from a human to a nerd when, your personal letters already replaced by emails have now been replaced by social networking posts. Its cooler to hang out with friends on Twitter or FaceBook than to meet and chat up over cups of coffee, it’s easier to catch your favorite movie online rather than watch it with friends at a movie theatre. You’d play online games rather than a game of rugby or cricket with your friends. You rather would post a happy birthday post on FaceBook than post a card, would rather SMS a Christmas or New Year greeting than send a card. The good old photo albums have been replaced with Flickr or Picasa. Would you rather prefer a video conference with friends on Skype than meet them over an evening drink. Is the internet stealing a major portion of your family time? You claim to be spending quality time with your family, while in reality you are at home surfing away on the internet, assuming that mere presence at home spells quality. Do your spouse and you wish each other happy birthdays and anniversaries on Twitter or FaceBook? Whether you like it or not the internet is pushing deep into our lives, ripping apart every social norm as it penetrates deeper and its beyond our control. Well the transformation has begun for many and almost complete for the rest.
The latest internet usage statistics of world internet users show that almost 26% of the world population is on the internet of which North America has a 75% penetration, closely followed by Australia with 60% and India with just 7% penetration with a 380% growth to those figures over the past 10 years. At this rate we should be inching very close to the 100% mark over the next decade. So is that a sign to be happy or should it set alarm bells ringing for the social fabric of the world?
One of my mentors once told me about office etiquettes, if possible meet the person, next try to call him/her, next drop an SMS and if nothing works e-mail them. You’ll build great relationships and your work gets done smoothly. The same applies to your social life too. Spend time with your families, void of electronic media, take your son for a walk or go sporting with him, catch up with your daughters dancing classes, meet your friends over a drink or go cycling / trekking with them. Meet your dad/mom often (if you stay away), or talk to them often. Be around for their birthdays and anniversaries. We’ve all heard it’s a fast paced life and we got to catch up. Internet may be a means but not the end. We got to stop by and admire the flowers and if possible smell them too. The save trees campaign is in the right direction but the point is we need to use our online tools in moderation to strengthen our social footprint. Use the internet to boost your relationships, but remember nothing should encroach and replace “the real thing” not in the least by the “virtual”. Ironically the word “virtual” comes from the Latin word “Virtus Virtue” meaning : Possessed of certain physical virtues or capabilities. The real life is that which can be seen, felt, breathed, spoken to and heard and virtual is nothing but that, ”virtual” which Encarta dictionary defines as “hypothetical”.
So my friends go get a life………

Healing and Health Benefits of Solo Travel

Indians as a rule are used to travelling with their families; hence the idea of a solo traveler seems quite extreme to say the least. While the rest of the world has been enjoying the benefits of travelling solo, Indians are yet to come to terms with why someone would want to undertake a solo travel. Granted that we as a nation are obsessed with an intense affinity towards our families and this does trickle into our travel plans which is great, a happy family holiday leads to great bonding. But it is good for the mind and soul for one to travel alone at least occasionally.


Having personally undertaken 2 backpacking trips in India, I am a firm believer that one solo trip in a year is healing and can earn you rich health benefits. The standard benefits associated with solo travel are a great sense of freedom, ability to meet new people (which you would not like to do during a family outing), decide your own schedule, (decide what you would see and for how long), spend as much money as you feel like, the list is endless. There are numerous cons associated with solo travel. The loneliness can get to you, causing you to put your entire journey at risk by deciding to terminate it before you complete your route. You are responsible for your own safety so need to be extra cautious, can’t think of telling someone to watch your back. You need to plan your baggage and travel light, its you after all who has to manage and carry your baggage. Safety of your baggage is your responsibility, so letting it down for even a few moments may turn out to be disastrous. Despite all the cons the health and soul healing benefits of solo travel does not stop to intrigue the human mind. Many creative personalities like painters, poets, writers etc have known to take off to a solitary location where they found their creative juices flowing better.

One of the greatest gains from solo travel is your ability to absorb and retain what you see and hear. This is important, because travelling with a partner can cause you to spend time talking or more correctly acknowledging his/her presence around. Another key healer is it allows you to introspect on your life, on what has happened till date, what were the hits and misses in life. Some of the greatest ideas have occurred to me when I was alone, away travelling (on work mostly). Like Jim Morison of Doors said in one of his songs “People are strange when you’re a stranger, Faces look ugly when you’re alone”. When alone mind concocts strange ideas and some of them so oblique bordering on madness. But many of these ideas can be converted to reality and can bring huge benefits to our lives, be it work, business ideas or our relationships with friends, family, colleagues etc. Strangely these ideas only crop up when the mind is left alone and best when you’re travelling alone. Also a solo travel helps purge ones thoughts , helps better mind control and acts as a great de-stresser.

Human beings are social animals but in todays stressful times, it is important to take time off for yourself and to spend it alone so as to commence a journey of self-discovery. The best way to do this is to undertake a solo travel to an unknown destination for an unknown period.

Au revior ………