Occasional cooking is fun!!!

Well, sunday the funday. Our maid is on a long holiday, and I had no mood to go outside for lunch as it is burning hot. So, I decided to cook something myself. Firstly, I planned to cook Rice, pulses and ladyfingers for two of us, Rahul and myself. But he decided to go to office and, I lost the mood to cook so many things.
After some thoughts, I decided to have Kulcha (a kind of bread) with ladyfingers and curd. Hmm, I had never cooked alone before and wasn't quite sure of what is going happen. Nevertheless, I kept my cool, did usual preparation of washing, chopping, etc. I remembered how mom used to make this dish at home. While chopping one should make sure to cut small pieces for better taste.
Put some refined oil in kadhai and heat at normal flame for 2-3 minutes. Add some heeng, Jeera, Methi and wait till it turns reddish. Put chopped vegetables and mix it well. Now, put Red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt according to your taste and again mix it well. If you wish, you may also add some Garam Masala. Close the kadhai with a lid and let it cook in its steam for 3-5 minutes. There is an easy way to find out if the cooking is enough by cutting it using a spoon. You definitely need some experience to for that. Now, let it fry in open until it becomes a little reddish according to your choice.
Voila!!! Within half an hour, I was ready with a homely indian ladyfinger dish. Well, I was quite happy when mom tried it and gave me full score for it. Well, cooking once in a while is lots of fun.

The first ride!!!

April 14-16, 2006 Noida-Nainital-Ranikhet-Bheemtal-Saattal-Noida

Since, March we have been chattering and planning for a motor-bike road trip to some place in Uttranchal. I will give all the credits to Rahul (one of us) for motivating me and few other guys to join this wild trip (thought earlier but turned out to be a cool experience). Initially, nine people showed interest and gave an affirmative nod, but as usual some gave up on the last moment due to one reason or the other. I want to be honest here that I myself wasn’t quite sure that such a trip can happen around me.

Nevertheless, the planning materialized for five of us (from left)

Raghu – cheesy, had done such ride before
Sandeep – he has some affection with his helmet, read on…
Vinu – calm and composite personality
Rahul – almost six-feet with a mischievous 5.5 kgs heavy and bulky lump of mass called brain
Myself – since, this is my memoir they will not get any chance to write about me



Travelogue

Day01 Noida-Nainital
Day02 Nainital-Ranikhet
Day03 Ranikhet-Bheemtal-Saattal-Noida

April 16 2006

Ranikhet-Bheemtal-Saattal-Noida

Rahul and I managed to get up at 4:00 AM and went through our daily routine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dabur Industries limited for making such wonderful little green gems of pudin-hara. Even after hogging so much the other day, my stomach was still with me and happy. As usual, we had to push the other guys to get ready asap. We finished taking some toasts and tea for breakfast by 7:00 AM and started descending for Bhowali. Somehow every one of us got diverted to different routes and lost whereabouts of each other, until I found them at a village waiting for me. Then again, I lost those guys. Simple fact, I was able to drive at 45-55 km/h and others around 60-65 km/h. Morning drive was simply awesome due to the freshness in the air and surroundings. We found a bike parked somewhere in trees on a uphill slope and started surmising the possible reasons but soon realized that we have plenty of other good things to think about. I am really thankful to Vinu for taking such good pictures. I seriously encouraged him to do some more serious photography.


We parked at Bheemtal by 9:15 AM. It was a big lake with a lone rock and rest-spot in midst. There was not much to admire as the mountains were brownish due to very less vegetation, but this would definitely look amazing during rainy season. Also, we did not feel like boating in the lake.


We saw a duckling enjoying swimming with its parents and the party grabbed a still. After some refreshments (lays, H2O etc.) we left for Sattal. As the name suggests there are seven different lakes, rather they used to be. Now, government has connected 4 of them for boating activities to promote tourism (money, money, money …).
The lakes are situated at a quite lower height. I felt the road was quite steep plus bit narrow. It was horrible to see some people drive rashly on curves without responding to honks. Some people just can’t get rid of their carelessness. The view from height was quite amazing. The vegetation around the lake was simply awesome as compared to Bheemtal. We were quite excited to get down and do some boating in this lake.


Mr. Joshi caught us while we were parking near the stalls. He was an outspoken guy speaking fluently with lots of guts. He promised to take care of our luggage and we decided to go paddling in the lake. He charged 120 bucks for the complete boat ride and he himself was paddling. He told us quite a bit about this place and how it is secluded from the mainstream spots near Ranikhet and Nainital. We believed the guy as the ambience was still serene. Others decided to hire a rowing boat for fun. I wasn’t quite sure whether the lakes we visited had clean or dirty greenish water until Mr. Joshi clarified that it is because of reflection from surroundings. One good thing about Sattal is that one can come here for camping, and also to get a taste of adventure sports and some wild life. We spotted a YMCA rest house close to the lake shore where we can stay for a night or two. He suggested that there is a nice trek of 18kms to Kathgodam, the nearest railway station. He mentioned about some river and round the year waterfall which lie in the way.
While we were relaxing in the boats, we saw a Bhojpuri film being rolled with some known actress (name I forgot). Families who were boating nearby were quite excited to see the actress and admiring her beauty, and I was wondering how much layers of make-up she might be having at this moment. We did not have any interest either in the movie shooting nor the “beautiful actress”. Sandeep was having a blast here rowing the boat, but unfortunately, this time he wasn’t wearing his antique helmet.


We were thirsty and hungry by this time and decided to have lunch in Mr. Joshi’s restaurant (he was keeping our bags). I had some rajmah and jeera rice along with fruit juices. It was almost 12:30 PM when we were on the road again heading back to Noida via Haldwani-Kathgodam-Rudrapur-Rampur-Moradabad-Ghaziabad-Noida.
Bheemtal onwards the descent was quite steep and the roads were hell smooth. I took one or two risky overtakes, but soon was in control. I wasn’t quite able to catch up with everyone, Raghu stopped at Haldwani to fill some air. Rahul was moving ahead of us but always keeping in touch through cell phones. The roads were wide and good as soon as we crossed Kathgodam. I could feel the fire in the sun rays but wind was helping in maintaining the body temperature. There were lots of trees on the either side of road filtering most of the heat. We again met 20kms before Rudrapur and somehow, I was ahead of Rahul. I had some water and others enjoyed sugarcane juice. We relaxed for 15-20 minutes and hit on the road again by 2:15 PM. This was the last time I saw Rahul before reaching Noida. We all had decided to drive real hard to atleast cross Hapur bypass before sun uncle says saiyo-nara for the day.
I could easily distinguish the dust and pollution in the air. This stretch was a little rough on tyres. I took one more stop to have some cold-drink and buy some water for the journey ahead. It was a small shop in some village. I was lucky enough to get the stuff chilled enough to give a good feeling. Raghu caught up with me at a police check post where they asked us to show all the papers. They were hunting for bakras to jugaadofy dough for todays liquor bill.

Me: Sahab delhi tak jaana hai kyon saaman khulwaa rahein hain
One: Wo to thik hai per jitna jaldi papers dikhaoge utna jaldi aage jaa paaoge
Me: arre sahib saaman baandhne main dikkat ho jaayegi
One: Dekho aise to jaane nahien de sakte. Aage bhi checking hogi, abhi nikaal lo kaam aayenge
Me (after fetching the papers): kahiye kaunsa kaagaz dikhaon?
Two: sub dikhao ek ek kar ke.
Me: aap bolo to sahi
Two (got frustrated of me): tum idhar laao
One: insurance jaroor se dekhna
Two: kya sub theek hain. Jaao abhi bag main upar rakh lo aage bhi checking hogi. Abe kisi ko (bikers only) mat jaane do.
Three: Arre sahib janaani hai saath main jaane dijiye..
Me (frustrated outside and smiling within): kya sahib der karwa di aapne.. keh raha tha jaane dijiye

Later I realized that someone stole my gloves while I was showing papers to those policemen. Well, I felt 40 bucks are insignificant to the distance and time ahead, so hit on the road right away.
As soon as I joined NH-24 again, the road was pretty good and it was lot easier to maintain a speed of 50 km/h. I kept bumping in Raghu once in a while and Rahul kept in touch through cell phone. I took one more stop at a dhaba around 5:00PM for some Lassi but had to manage with a Mango Frooti. I decided to go non-stop from here and reached Hapur bypass by 6:00PM. There onwards, I drove at a speed of 70 km/h until it was dark enough to switch on the headlights.
The closer I got to Ghaziabad the worse was the traffic. It was poles apart to what we saw in the early morning going to Nainital. Soon, I found out the reason for it. Some minister’s son or daughter was getting married that day and the reason of slow traffic. Traffic was running slow for almost a stretch of 2-3 km around the venue. I was wondering, why the heck such guys have to pain others even when there is a celebration time.
After, a continuous drive of 3 hours, I reached Gateway Apartments S-51 Noida where I met Vinu and Rahul. He surprised me by saying that it was not more than 10 minutes since he has the reached the apartment. Strange isn’t it!!! I was faster than expected.

Other snaps from the day

April 15 2006

Nainital-Ranikhet

We were ready in just an hour and went out for a good breakfast, aaloo-puri, paranthas etc. By 9:30 AM we were descending towards Bhowali for fueling and headed off for Ranikhet. I know it is dangerous to drive without your helmet on, but I dared to enjoy the clean air and picturesque surroundings. After fueling, Rahul asked us to park in the middle of the road, and take a snap quickly. Well, no one will ever forget that stop and the ride which followed it, especially the pillions. I am seeking others help here to describe the experience better, as I did not had the luxury to concentrate on anything else but road. You can compare it to a mix of Nevada and Pacific highway stretch in Roadrash (it’s a famous game by the way, so bang your head with the wall if you don’t know about it



We drove with an average of 40 km/h on the winding twisting smooth curves honking all the time. Rahul, the iPOD chap was ahead of all and I decided not to miss the trail this time. We biked for almost 20kms non-stop. That was something…”Loose Control – Be a rebel”. We took just one stop before Ranikhet and, then crashed straight into Parvati Inn. We got a two room suite for 900 bucks which has lot better. The owner gave us a 40% discount on 1500, which is the actual season rate for the room(s). We loved the room for its nice color and woodwork. I lost my presence of mind to click a shot but hope you believe me. You do right…?
I have not told you anything about Sandeep yet. So, here it goes, this guy was reluctant in taking off his helmet even when attending nature’s call. Whichever snap I look at now, he is wearing helmet. You won’t believe me, so find out yourself.


We planned to visit Chaubattia Garden, Bhalu Dam, Jhuladevi Mandir, Sun-set point and, Baba Harikhan Aashram (dunno why?). By 1:00PM we came down to have lunch. There were only two guys both for taking and serving the orders, which meant long wait. 2:30 PM and we were cruising the road again. The only way to reach Chaubattia garden is via the cantonment area of Kumoan Regiment. As soon as we reached the chowki, one of the personnel, Mr. Nair, did the usual inquiry and asked us to wear helmets all the way (I wasn’t wearing it). He gave some life fundaes on safety etc. I had every reason to believe him.
The vegetation was quite dense on these slopes and it was an eye-candy to drive through it. I enjoyed it a lot but with my helmet on of course. I was bit frightened with signs saying “Tiger has the first right on roads”. I am not sure if tiger still exist there but according to military guys, leopards were quite common. Rahul was quite excited and was expecting to spot one.
One has to park the vehicles and walk through woods to reach Chaubattia garden. Similar was the case with Bhaludam. Since, we were running out of time, we had to choose between the two. Mr. Nair has advised us not to go for Bhaludam suspecting we would be lost in woods searching for the way and won’t be able to make it before dark. Nevertheless, I insisted on trekking to Bhaludam. One of tourist guide told he knew a short route which would roughly take 3 minutes on bike plus 15-20 minutes of trek. After a small discussion we decided to go through it. He led us to the start and left to attend other tourists. After some struggle we realized that it would not be wise to go with bikes at this hour (3:30 PM). So, we decided to park the bikes and walk.


The woods were quite dense and it was tough to spot humans. Rahul dropped a bombshell pointing towards the current carrying barbed wires, which according to him was there to keep wild animals away. While writing this memoir, I realized that it might be a separation between army and government owned areas.


We met another party who was in search of this dam and did not have any luck. They were three, two guys and a gal. I only know this about them that one of them works with DRDO. Rahul and I were moving quite fast because we wanted to get our bikes back on road before sun sets. Sandeep was finding it tough to move on the terrain. The guide has told us to take a right from a tin shed hut. Unfortunately, we crossed it and after going quite far, some villager told us to go back. By the time we were back at the hut, the guide himself was there with a couple of other tourist folks (third party). It was already 4:00PM by now and we were indecisive whether to go ahead or not. I was quite determined to reach the dam and forced everyone to come. Rahul agreed easily. After 20 minutes of steep descent, we were at the dam.


There was only 5m water that too very close to dam. It would have been a good experience to move along the bank of the river for some distance but I gave up the idea without any effort. DRDO chap took our group photograph while we relaxed a bit. I was eager to leave some mark as a token of our presence. So, I signed the dam’s wall for everyone. We decided to go back fast as we wanted to visit more places. Sandeep found the terrain quite challenging and was moving slowly. I felt going non-stop till the place where we have parked our bikes. Rahul kept close to me but got worried for others in mid-way.
By 5:15 PM, everyone was back and we were driving again. We stopped to pray in famous Jhuladevi’s temple close to the army check post. While I was getting ready for the prayer, a beautiful woman came with her spouse (Rahul?). As usual, Rahul was quite excited to see a beautiful women and tried his best to capture her, of course in camera you pervert. All of us were amazed to see a “rose tree” in the temple.

Mr. Nair insisted Raghu and party to have some tea before leaving but we were getting late to reach the sun-set spot. On the way back we felt like having some refreshments. So, we dropped the sun-set spot from the wish list and stopped at Meghdoot restaurant. I managed to capture a glimpse of the dusking sun.


We saw a big group of foreigners enjoying meals at the restaurant. The striking thing was that each and every female without exception was wearing salwar-kurta, bindi etc. This stayed in our minds and we left Meghdoot by 6:30 PM for Baba Harikhan Aashram. As expected the aashram was located in a lonely area close to jungle. It was already dark and we were driving with our head-lights on. This was the first time when I drove on slopes in dark. I was bit uncomfortable initially but got used to it easily. The aashram was quite well constructed using modern methods. There were a couple of rules written on the board kept at the entrance, but this one is still in my head – “Drugs are not allowed in aashram premises”. We went straight up to the temple from where the chants were coming. All of us were shocked to see so many foreigners chanting effortlessly in Hindi. We sat down with them and I closed my eyes to relax for a while. The music was soothing and quite comforting to ears. The view from the temple premises must have been amazing as painted on a stone tablet. You can spot most of the Himalayan ranges from that place. Unfortunately, I do not have any photograph to share with you, but it was worth riding in night to visit this aashram. We still suspect that lot of money is pumped into it through foreign accounts.

It was almost 9:30 PM and we were feeling quite hungry and no one was interested in dining at Parvati Inn. So, we walked up to Alka restaurant located round the corner. We got chappatis with lots of butter, some usual paneer stuff, dal makhani, raita, pulao etc. We ate for almost an hour till we were exhausted. Meanwhile, we were also deciding about tomorrows plan, whether we would have time to visit some other places, and which could be a better route to Delhi. Some relative of hotel owner told us to go via Kathgodam-Rudrapur-Moradabad. But one thing we were sure of after dinner was that we will go via Kathgodam route. After lot of calculations (all wrong I suppose) for the time overhead, we planned to cover Bheemtal, Naukuchiatal and Sattal. The additional price we would have to pay is to leave by 6:00 AM. Meanwhile all these discussions, we asked the hotel manager to change the dirty bed sheets. He gave us hard time explaining that no one has changed it since afternoon.

Other snaps from the day

April 14 2006

Noida-Nainital

14th April 5:00 AM A201 gateway apartments “abe chalo na kya kar rahe ho tum”, cries out Rahul (typical of this guy). But this time he had the right to do it because we were supposed to start at 4:00 AM. Nevertheless, we met his failsafe buffer condition of one hour or so. We had three bikes, Rahul and Raghu on their Unicorn’s and me on my Passion. Rahul was supposed to take Vinu, Raghu was supposed to take Sandeep and I was glad to drive alone. I don’t like someone cracking behind me to drive carefully or fast or whatever. I decided to tie my luggage on the bike (good use of space and peace of mind). We got hold of Vinu from Kendriya Vihar and took NH-24 thereof.
Very soon, I realized that it would be tough for Vinu to carry a heavy luggage on his back all the way. So, I asked him to take on my bag pack, as it was lighter and less bulky. Engineers got down with there expert comments on how one should tighten the ropes. I was overwhelmed by their concerns for me!!! It was almost close to 6:00 AM by now and we were headed towards Hapur bypass.
We jugaadofied a digital camera, not just any but an Olympus C765 with 4M resolution plus 10x optical zoom (courtesy: Mithlesh). It is famous for its automated and advanced controls. I handed over the camera to Vinu as he can click some shots while we were enjoying the smooth ride. He was quite new with the camera but did a very fine job. I sincerely feel that he is a natural photographer. You don’t believe me right, just have a look.



It was heart-throbbing moment for me when I saw the sun rising from the horizon, and the road leading me into it. It is hard to describe but, I almost felt that something touched my soul in and out. I know I will live that moment all my life. Unfortunately, this is the best snap I have to share that experience. After crossing Hapur we made a stop at a road-side dhaba for breakfast. You wouldn’t believe but all of us unanimously said that the wind was bit chilling. We had couple of paranthas and dahi to satisfy our hunger. Everyone was happy with the quality and felt refreshed. It was almost 7:00 AM by now and the sun rays were soothing. Vinu grabbed some nice pictures on the bypass. I am putting the best one for you as I do not want to be a burden for your bandwidth. Looking at these wheat fields, I almost felt that beauty is all around us we just need to observe differently.


Till the end of Moradabad bypass, we rode effortlessly with very few stops to nourish the vegetation around. The drive was amazing and zillion thanks to NHAI for building and maintaining these roads. After crossing the Moradabad bypass (excellent again!!!) and before Rampur, we decided to go via Swaar-Baazpur-Chotta Haldwani rather than the usual routes.


I believe every one would agree with me that it was the worst part of the whole trip. It was a stretch of 40Kms approx. and took more than 2.5 hours for us to literally end it. Rahul felt being forcefully driven through a roller-coaster. I am not sure whether he has experienced the smoothness of any roller-coaster before but I can guarantee that these 40kms were hell worse. Throughout the stretch, I pushed myself to complete it non-stop and all of us knew it somehow. We took just one 2-3 minute stop to straighten our backs and inspecting the bikes a little bit.
We were quite relaxed as soon as we joined the national highway which comes via Moradabad-Ramnagar. We got Sandeep I little nervous with the thought that sugarcane juice he just had is not only good during jaundice but also the one which causes of it. After traveling for some time (too relaxed) we all assembled again for some water and swore a lot at the so called roller-coaster road. Hey don’t you think Rahul’s posture and personality resembles that of a typical neta? We were roughly 50 Kms away from our first destination – Nainital.
All of us got quite excited with the nice atmosphere along this stretch with plush green trees and clean air. It was a real treat to eyes that only see lots and lots of metal and concrete in daily life. There was a stream along the road but dried. It might get alive during rainy seasons. The hiss of the blowing wind was so absorbing that some of us really felt there is water flowing nearby. Rahul clarified that it is very common to misunderstand this sound.
As we started gaining altitude, the curviness of roads also started increasing. I was somehow able to manage a descent speed of 30 km/h but it was no where close to our wing riders. One could see the roads were being repaired with fresh layers of crushers and tar-coal. May be it is done every year as a part of preparation for the next tourist period. Tourism is a huge source of income for the Uttranchal government and community.


Whatever, I was quite happy, we were quite happy bending, twisting and turning with the roads. I could hear a song continuously in my head, “Loose Control – Be a rebel”. Look how happy Rahul is and why not he or rather anyone would be. Well, I was the slowest of the three, so they used to stop and wait for me. Vinu grabbed a couple of nice pictures looking from a good height which I have shared next. I love all of them, you know why, because I have lived all of them. Whenever I see them, they come to life as if everything is happening again. It is right to say, “Life without memories is worse than death”.





3:00 PM Nainital was packed with delhi-ites as everyone wanted to get away from the heat and this long weekend was a boon in disguise. As planned, we started hunting down a cheap hotel to crash in for a while. It was also decided to spend the night in here and would start early for Ranikhet. After some search we were able to get two rooms in 800 bucks for a night. It was right in front of the famous Naini lake, the main attraction here. Sounds costly huh, well remember that was a long weekend. Nevertheless, we felt this would be cheapest one we could get. The only best thing of this hotel was nice, big and safe parking space. The hotel name was “Sheela”, and for one moment, I almost felt it might be a typical bollywood dance bar.
As expected, I had forgotten to keep my shaving kit. It is a syndrome of 3 hours sleep at night which is just 1/4th of the usual. Official conference calls, damn I could not get rid of those. Hey, let me cut this crap here and continue with the trip story. So, I did some usual shopping and got ready to have a bath, he he… but guess what, water was ice chilled. Nevertheless, I did it with a bucket or two, jumped into bed and fall asleep for an hour or so. It was 6:00 PM by now and we started hunting for a good place to eat. You wouldn’t believe this, no matter which restaurant we went up to, the seats were full of dust. Probably, it was just the season start and tourists put life in those places. We had couple of dishes, the usual ones chola-bhatura, dosa, bread-toast, coffee etc. It took more than one hour for us to give up eating. It was quite refreshing by the way.
So, we started our next item on itinerary, bird-watching. As usual, I was indifferent to this activity and enjoyed the warmth of the place. It was a pleasure to see so many people who have come to relax for the weekend. I started ransacking the garment shops for a pair of gloves which I can use while driving to avoid extreme dryness. Meanwhile we saw the Sports Stadium of Nainital, which usually becomes a taxi-stand during this season to handle hoard of tourists. Rahul took us to enjoy the Tibetan market known for cheap stuff. I had the sole aim of buying a pair of gloves and everyone was like… huh! Grow-up kiddo. There was one shop which had purplish Puma painted cotton gloves. It was a nice fit for me. I visited that shop thrice in two hours while searching for some other option somewhere. Ultimately, I bought them for 40 bucks. Rahul was using Indar’s iPOD while I was hunting for gloves. Some tom-dick-n-harry saw him with it, and called loudly “ye mobile nahien iPOD flash karne ka zamaana hai”. Some people have time and mind to notice such things, and some people like me have time to not only notice but think about’em… crazy huh.
It was almost 9:00 PM by now and we were searching for a chain and lock for our bikes. Rahul and I finally decided to go for a deal of 180 bucks for both. Well, by this time some of us felt a need of deserts and Rahul took us to some shop he knew. We enjoyed some chocolate truffle pastry, chocolate chip etc. and went on. Next stuff – Ice-creams!!! I refrained from having one. We also visited a book shop where I bought Richard Bach’s Illusions, and meanwhile, these guys grazed through some of the travel books. I was quite touched with one scenic poster of Om Parvat (3,500 m) which is on the way to Adi-Kailash. I somehow felt connected to that place and took a dream of trekking it sometime. By this time we felt tired of walking and went back to hotel. We decided to go to the famous hill top next morning for the scenic sunrise view. “Good Morning you morons, it is already 7:00 AM”, cried Rahul. You see, true IST followers.

Other snaps from the day

Life is a quest!!!

The only motive of our lives is to keep exploring it and embrace "the ultimate sleep". Some people call it death, some call it nirvana. Its upto them. Some say you end up in hell or heaven or stay in between. Well, I believe it depends how you had let yourself explore the meaning of life, and in other words, sculptured its end. So, I believe in what Robert Frost has said and, its the theme of this blog and my motto of life.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

About my rides

Few people around me and on web have inspired me to travel on bike. With a busy work life, it is really tough to be with right people at right place and time, with whom such trips can be planned and executed. I will write about any ride worth memorizing, no matter how small the journey would be.

• Noida-Nainital-Ranikhet-Noida: The first one
• Get together in Gurgaon
  

Straight from heart

Some of my attempts to write poems.

• ये दिल - The heart
• इक गुजारिश - A request
• कुछ नाम - Some names
• कुछ यादें - Few memories
  
• ज़िन्दगी - Life
• इब्तदा-ए-इश्क
• जन्मदिन मुबारक - Happy birthday
  
• धर्म - Religion