Pangot.. nature trails

Even before i start this blog i probably can rate it as 'interesting'... after all its about mountains, himalayan birds of various colours and types never seen before (they call them species), tiring 11-12 hours drive, heavy rainfall, landslides and what not! A trip to Pangot. A small village near Nainital. Yes its the Kumaon Valley. A trip to remember.

12th Aug'11:

11:00PM - NA & DK arrive at Delhi.

11:30PM - We reach my home. Have a bottle of beer with Gujju farsaan. I love farsaan.

12:30 - Finally we go to bed as we plan to leave at 4:00am in the morning.

13th Aug'11:
We hit the road at 4:15am.. from Gurgaon.. Delhi, Ghaziabad, NH-8 as we leave NCR behind.

After a long tiring journey we finally reached Nainital @2:30 pm. Encountered a massive traffice jam at Garmukteshwar where we lost more than an hour. And we took a small break at MacDonald before Garjaula.

The route we followed was Gurgaon - Delhi - Ghaziabad - Hapur - Garmukhteshwar - Gajraula - Moradabad - Kashipur - Ramnagar - Kaladhungi - Nainital. (approx. 290kms)

Road condition between Moradabad - Kashipur is really pathetic. I would not recommend this route during rainy season as you would encounter patches where entire road is submerged in water. The road is constructed in low lying area and waters keep flowing across.

The route between kaladungi and nanital offerssome great views as the mountains played hide and seek,

Enroute Nainital

Enroute Nainital

We wanted to have lunch and we landed up at Kumaon Mandal Hotel on our way. The food was excellent.

And then we resumed our journey to Pangot which is 15kms from Nainital. As we approched pangot the forests become so dense that even during day time it was quite dark.

Nainital to Pangot

And finally finally we reach Pangot at 4:00pm.

 

And i am back!!

Well.. there's a distinctive feature in the way i start my blog which i noticed while writing blogs almost an year back.. which is starting a blog with 'Well'... and since then i have been making concious efforts to start my blog by using any other word..

In any case it has been quite a long time since i have written a blog.. in Oct last year...i wrote i am short of ideas and i am unable to complete my blog.. then while on a trek near dalhousie i tripped, twisted by ankle and eventually broke my leg..got operated .. went on a long 07 week leave.. and booked single largest order for Nasik Panels.. truely the most happening October..

things have changed drastically in past one year.. gained lot of weight, made new frds.. infact beer buddies..Scam after scam coming out.. Anna Hazare becomes the Mahatma Gandhi of this era from nowhere.. by his cursade againt corruptoin..and wannabe Gandhiji's turned to fasting.. eventually generating a lot of news as well as controversy..  political babus landing in Tihar Jail.. a media hotspot nowadays...kashmir valley observing the most peaceful summers in lot many years.. atleast this is what is claimed by CM - Omar Abdullah... Mayawati's noida part finally innagurated.. india hosting an f1 event.. India winning cricket world cup at Wankhede.. pertol prices being hiked amost every month..and RBI hiking interest rates..watched cult film 'Gunda' for the first time.. and there are things which will never change Mr. Advani embarking on another rath yatra..Mayawati being targetted coz she is dalit... Outspoken Digvijay Singh making controvertial remarks every alternate day.. and as usual congress party distancing itself from his remarks.. a bomb blast - home minister and PM among the first to condemn the attacks.. blaming it on intelligence agencies.. and the list goes on..

enough of writing.. probably next time i have to come up with something worth reading..!!

Writing a blog

from past few days.. i am unable to write blogs.. i start writing about something.. fall short of ideas.. n signout... i have somehow lost the patience of writing blogs it seems.. anyways Bhagwan (sachin) has created another milestone in cricket history today.. first man ever to complete 14000 runs in test cricket...

From Somnath to Ayodhya...

As i woke up today switched on TV.. i saw LK Adavni offering prayers at Somnath Temple..to mark 20th anniversary of his rath yatra to Ayodhya..This followed with a brief press conference.. 

Its hard to believe that Mr. Advani who belongs to karachi(his family moved to gujarat after parition) cant understand the sensitivity of religious sentiments.. and the implications of such Rath Yatra's.. Though i was too young then.. (i was 7 years old) to understand politics and religion, the relation between them and the Ayodhya issue..

The rath yatra (ironically undertaken in an air conditioned bus designed like a rath)... had a cause..Politics in the name of religion...So on the 20th anniversary of yatra as Mr. Advani says...that rath yatra raised few questions which effected our country.. lets try and understand the implications the rath yatra had...

Gal Mithi Mithi Bol

Hello..

from past 03 days i have been watching tv continously with an occasional nap every now and then... when you feel very tired...probably this is the way to go..

Having watched 'khatta meetha', 'once upon a time in mumbai' and 'aisha' in last few days.. i totally fed up of watching movies now.. but i am equally excited about Peepli live.. from the promos, the movie seems to be more than watchable.. Peepli live's songs have also created quite a buzz.. with its 'desh mera' by Indian Ocean and 'mehangayi daayan' in the voice of Raghubir Yadav...

A lazy Sunday Afternoon

Well its 14th of Feb.. Valentines'day...a day i have never celebrated till date.. but it comes every year.. wht a pity! and to make it worse.. its a Sunday...

I m stuck at my home today.. it has been a lazy weekend.. except for the fact that i had a hair cut y'day... we had plans of going to Neemrana (abt 125 kms from delhi on jaipur highway)... but rain played the spoilsport.. then we thought of going to Sultanpur bird scantury (abt 45 kms from delhi near gurgaon).. the plan got cancelled bcoz of my lazy roomie.. so here i am on a lazy afternoon..writing a blog after a long time....

As i am abt to write.. i notice the score of Ind-SA 2nd test match.. in the taskbar... its 218-2.. finally india manage to pick second wicket... breaking 209 wicket partnership between Amla and the new wicketkeeper batsman - Petersen.. as Zaheer gets 2nd wicket.. After the departure of Kumble from Test Cricket, our bowlers have struggled to put pressure on the batsmen by containing runs.. Spinners unlike the greats of Warne, Kumble & Murali are much more dependent on the help from the pitch... Its going to be tough job for Dhoni..

Well talking about tough job.. our Union Home Minister ..P Chidambaram has got a job on his hands..first the naxalities... and now another saturday evening.. another bomb blast.. this time its Pune... and as the blame game begin.. with Media blaming intelligence failure..Uddhav Thackarey very quick to target CM of Maharashtra.. It seems there is an intense competition between Shiv Sena and MNS.. as far as hogging the limelight is concerned... they can go to any extent to be in the news.. which was very much evident when they targeted Sachin and now SRK and his film MNIK. What would have Aamir told SRK during this whole controversy on his remarks on pakistani players and then Shiv Sena threatening to boycott release of his movie...ALLL IZZ WELL....ALLL IZZ WELL...

Getting back to cricket.. SA are 232 for 3.... and guess wht.. its Zaheer Khan again... He has real chance of getting 10 here.. No other bowler is close to getting a wicket.

Thats it for today.. have a great time!

Happy New Year 2010

Wishing you a very happy and a prosperous New Year...