Old travel experiences to Uttaranchal and Kashmir

I had been travelling to many places in Uttaranchal and other places, starting my journey in 1973.I wonder whether anybody will be interseted to hear about that.I have already posted this in another site.

definitely I'll...........I'm a dumb fan of Uttarakhand........please share

Me too - would be really interested to see some snaps (if you have) of those places as well. I have been a regular traveler since 2003 and things have changed drastically in the hills - would be a very different story in 1973. Pls share ...

Amit.

I am also a fan of Uttarakhand..please share your travel experiences...we'll all love it...

YES!

@ narayanvee

but where you Sir vanished raising our expectation high

OH!Never. Ishall start my travelogue immediately.

The first part is an introduction to our fascination to the Himalayas.
India for an outsider is not just a country-but almost a continent. But for us it is our country; the country we love most. I have heard many of our people who had been to many developed countries finding fault with many things here- the dirty cities, the traffic blocks the narrow roads etc. and wondering how nice it is to be there where everything is in order; the cleanliness and so on. We forget the fact that each one of us is responsible for the state of affairs- we without enough social awareness or respect for simple rule of law.

I have not been to any other country; but I have read a lot about many countries seen films and met many persons from other countries. Some of them had been awestruck by India; our rich and varied culture, the geographical features, the languages and the sublime as well as the absurd nature of this vast country and her people. I have heard them wondering how this country survives with so much of diversity and contradictions. I agree that we have our problems and limitations.

But I am in love with this country with so much diversity, so much of cultural richness, so much of natural beauty, splendor and variety. I have felt like killing those who exploit the poor people in the name of religious worship and those who call Ganges 'mata' and throw tons of wastes into this beautiful river. But yet I love this country and the people with all their limitations and contradictions and I will live here only and travel where ever I can, in this country sharing everything with those I meet.

I have traveled to almost all the states of India except a few. But for the last several years I have been fascinated by the HIMALAYAS. The mystery, the splendor, the awe inspiring beauty draws me to these ranges- the ice clad ranges as well as the green, green forests. Humbled by the splendor I almost worship these ranges as I feel that it is the symbol of everything in nature- the beauty, the splendor as well as the fury. I try to understand these mysterious ranges, but till now I have not.

It was way back in 1973 that I started my real journey to discover India. My friend Mr. Mohan and I had planned our travel so that we could cover central and north India within 2 months.The states we planned to cover were Maharashtra,Gujarat,Rajastan,D elhi,Punjab, ,Hariyana,Uthar-pradsh,Jammu-Kashmeer and on our way back Madhyapradesh. The East we decided to cover in our next trip. South we felt we could cover by short trips from home whenever we wanted.

So we got a detailed circular ticket from the railways which had our destinations-stations-mentioned in it in detail. We were not supposed to use the same route more than once, if we had an alternate route, as it was a strict circular tour ticket issued as per the route submitted by us in detail. The cost of ticket was a little less than Rs.200/ for more than 10000kms. We decided not to rent rooms anywhere staying at railway waiting rooms or on platforms in case we did not get free accommodation in Dharmashalas or places like that. Thus there was this small element of adventure in the journey. We had to eat the cheapest available food as we did not want to spend too much. It was a sort of discover India journey, enjoying the variety in diversity of our great country and something of discovering ourselves was also involved.

So from Calicut our first stop was at Wardha – Mahatmaji’s Ashram and we wanted to visit Vinoba Bhave’s Ashram on the banks of Sabarmati. Jayanti Janata express from Mangalore to Delhi was a new train and from Calicut we traveled by sleeper class. Our advance reservation ended there as we could not have any specific date of travel from one place to another after that. Our ticket was valid for 90 days and we could break our journey anywhere after this first stop.

The journey was really lively; sleeping on platforms was a new experience. At first the roar of the steam engines woke us up. But within days we got used to that. We used the upper class- there were first, second and third class tickets in those days- waiting rooms where ever we could get away with the facility.

Ajanta and Ellora caves made us spell bound and so did Khajuraho, The Taj, Fatehpur Sikri and the edifices built by the Moghuls and the forts of the Rajputs But what got deep into our minds were the Himalaya of which we had a glimpse at Rishikesh and Haridwar and later the beautiful sights from Jammu and Kashmir. The man made edifices are of course great but the Himalayan ranges out did everything. We had seen enough of wonderful architecture and sculpture, but these magnificent mountains called for further attention and we decided to explore more of these in our next trips. The gurgling and sometimes roaring Ganges were imprinted in our minds. The sight of these majestic mountains on a full moon day while traveling from Srinagar to Jammu was breath taking. So we fixed our priority- The Himalayas. We had to cut short our trips after 40 days as we had to return home because of some family matters of Mohan.

We had been to all the states as we had planned but a few places were left out. But on the whole we had seen a lot of India. We were surprised to know that many people in the North including college students had not heard about our state, Kerala. They had heard only about Madras and to most we were just Madrasees.

Excellent start Narayanvee. That must have been some adventure. It is the age - I can't guess how old you were, I think late teens?

Cheers

Nattusbs

PS: It amazes me to think how my Mother went from southern India to BHU (Benares) back in 1951 to do her M.Sc and Ph.D. More importantly, how did my Grand Father allow this .

Excellent start Sir...the introduction has whetted my curiousity regarding the things to come.

If it is possible, please break sentences at regular interval. It will become more readable. I am going to read it anyways

narayanvee,

Sir you planned and did it in 1973!!! Fabulous!!
Enjoying every line, every moment, sir.

One thing to ask, have you written this anywhere else earlier?

And, narayanji, please consider Photofreak's suggestion.

wonderful writing I'm reading a traveling experience before I was born AMAZING! eagerly waiting for the next installment Sir

Excellent start Sir - you definitely knew how to engage people in your writing. Eagerly waiting for the next installment - nice build up to the pieces to come. I may be repeating but I would request you to post photos as well if you have - just want to see places how they look at that time.

Amit.

agree

Very well written Narayanvee & that's just the introduction. Nice to have you back,wondered where you were?? KK

Great start Narayanvee! I look forward to reading more

I have added some spaces between paragraphs for ease of reading, and would echo the others' requests to do that with your next instalments. Thanks!