Glimpses of Gangtok - Day 3 Continues !

True to my word, here comes the Gangtok post.

Gangtok, with its population of 50000, has a cosmopolitan flavor attached to it, with a combination of old-age charm, hospitality and Cyber parlors. I was fascinated with this hilly urbanized hamlet and its inhabitants.

We first headed towards Hanuman Tok and Ganesh Tok. Apparently one gets an amazing view of the Khanchendzonga from the Toks ;-).

As the name suggests, Hanuman Tok has a Hanuman Temple. The place was a humdrum of activity by the Army Junta .The next day happened to be Hanuman Jayanthi and the Governor was expected to visit the place. The zeal and fervor with which they were setting up the place was amazing. They really taught us what commitment and enthusiasm is all about .In addition to decorating the place, there was a small band of people singing bhajans and playing various instruments. I cannot describe in words, the ambience and the aura this place exuded.

Fortunately or unfortunately our gang, with all the Digital SLR’s and cameras, stood out completely, as tourists. So after all the initial introductions like “ We are from Bangalore “ – “Oh U have come ALL the way from Bangalore “ our gracious host threw a bombshell – Apparently one of the local channels was doing a piece on this event and they wanted the touristy Bangaloreans to share their exhilarating experience with the media .

Like always the guinea pig was chosen (No points for guessing) and the apparently media savvy me had to come up with a few lines! Needless to say I was horrified at the thought of doing anything remotely close to this!

So I scampered around the place pretending to take pictures etc etc. Somehow this was not to be my day. JK and I were asked to enact a dramatic ringing-the-bell entry into the temple! It was hilarious, to say the least, but thankfully the whole episode didn’t last for more than a few seconds! In the meantime the whole tourist interview was over and done with by the rest of the gangJ. We had some nice Kadak Masala chai and scooted from the place.

We went to a few other viewpoints but there were no signs of the mountains anywhere around the place and continuing to curse our luck we headed back to the city centre.

I have always wondered, why every city, not only has an MG Road, but it also happens to be the most happening part of the city. Gangtok is no different. But the MG Road in Gangtok is open only to pedestrians in the evenings and no vehicles are allowed. It felt weird and also blissful to walk in the middle of MG Road in the evening with no fear of being run over.

You would also find kids playing football on MG Road in the evenings! This was a sight worth watching especially to someone who is all too familiar with the likes of MG Road in Bangalore ;-).

Eventually we got around to discussing the itinerary. There was some trepidation regarding the itinerary because Nathu-La which was supposedly a must-see was not a part of the itinerary. After some local socializing we realized that a serious discussion with Mr. Mukhiya and itinerary-revisit was imminent.

We finally wound up on the third day with a nice walk back from MG Road to our habitat in Gangtok. There was some illusion of a glimpse of the peaks.

But it was too dark and we were too tired to decide if we were just hallucinating, or the peaks finally decided to bestow upon us the views we were longing for from the time we stepped into this land !( I know its too long a sentence ;-)).

This was just an appetizer of Gangtok. The main highlights of Gangtok will come in the next post

Ruins , Confusion and Gangtok Glimpses - Day 2 -Sikkim

By virtue of its location, mornings dawn early in Sikkim. After all the ravings and rantings about A.Tiptur, the previous night (We are indebted to JK for throwing so much light about such a worthy soul), the morning started on a lazy note. Finally we started off towards Rabdenste Ruins (For some reason the apparently phonetic me is still not sure how this is pronouncedL). Rabdenste was the second capital of Sikkim shifted from Yuksom. Presently the Rabdentse Palace in West Sikkim is in ruins.

The entry to the ruins is calm, enchanting place where it seems criminal to exercise your vocal chords and disturb the tranquility.

A walk of about 0.5- 1 Km leads us to the ruins.

There are many motivating boards enroute, which ensure that the lazy software guys don’t head back without getting a peek of the Ruins.

(The climb could be a wee bit strenuous for someone who is used to staring at the monitor 8-10 hours a day).

The ruins are on a small hillock and are primarily blocks of walls and a chorten. On a clear day (which we were not blessed with) one could get a very nice view of the Pemayangste Monastery! The ace photographers were exhibiting all the acrobatic skills they possessed by climbing up and down several of the walls :-P.

Our videographer a.k.a Kiran recorded some rather scandalous conversations and is shameless enough to use those as blackmail tools :-(( .

Our itinerary said we would be heading towards Temi Tea Garden and Ravangla! None of us had any clue about either of the places except that a couple of us had read these names in the itinerary. The mallu junta was not very enthused about the Tea Garden coz no Tea Gardens can compare to Munnar. Durga with his ESP sensed this, and decided to head straight to Gangtok. Unfortunately his ESP did not make sense to us and we had to sort out the confusion with our Mr. Mukhiya. And before we realized, we reached Gangtok by 4 in the evening.

An interesting piece of information – Every vehicle in Sikkim is generally registered in specific districts and the permits allow them to operate only these specific district(s). So , to my misery, we had to bid farewell to our dear Durga since he was the West Sikkim hero. After a tearful farewell we headed towards our hotel in Gangtok. The journey was full of mystery and we were curious to know our destination. We went through the winding roads, savoring this small hill capital and eventually reached a narrow dingy road. I was hoping against hope, this was not going be our destination! But Murphy being my close buddy, our hotel happened to be on this narrow piece of winding land called a street. The hotel was disappointing to say the least and we realized that we are possibly being taken on a ride by our dear Mr. Mukhiya and the ride had just begun!

But the hotel happened to be nice cozy place and it seemed like a cottage entirely for our group. DCM and I got the best room (I prefer to think so) with a heavenly view. But we were not yet blessed with the view of the mountains :-(.

Travails of Gangtok will follow soon! The good news is that I have decided to update my blog especially the Sikkim travelogue regularly and the bad news is that I am yet to implement them.

Keep visiting http://rashthedash.blogspot.com for quick(hopefully) updates ;-).

Placid Pelling – West Sikkim – Day One

Placid Pelling(West Sikkim)

At an altitude of 7200 Ft, Pelling was where our odyssey of Sikkim began. The hamlet was immensely popular for its view of the Khanchendzonga range of mountains. The pictures and travelogues promised us a breathtaking view of the mighty mountains at very close quarters.

After a tiring day of travel, we were looking forward to the glimpse of the mountains, next morning from the balcony! But the weather gods decided to play games with us.

All that we saw next morning was White Vacuum in all directions. The guessing game started and all of us started guessing which direction the mountains would be visible.

The morning was a disappointment for me (coz I was really looking forward to viewing the gigantic mountain).

Apparently Pelling is as close as u can get to the Khanchendzonga without leaving the material comforts of good accommodation.

Driving on narrow hanging bridges, through small gurgling streams, we got the first taste of Sikkim’s enchanting beauty. Our first stop was at the Rock Garden which is a small garden by the side of a very picturesque stream .The photographers got into action. Some of the poses/antics exhibited by JK, Sid were worth an audience. It was more like they were trying to ape different species of reptiles/insects!

We then headed towards Khanchendzonga Waterfalls and then towards this lake called Khecheopalri(Kanji Pinji lake in Kiran’s words) .This is supposedly a sacred lake and myths have it that the birds do not permit even a single leaf to float on the lake surface.

The lake is really calm and the surroundings are an epitome of calm and serenity! I had started having my mood swing (not so much a frequent visitor lately) by then and Chinki hibernation set in for a while! In the meantime, Sid’s latest obsession had set in – “SimplyMarry.Com”. For some reason the whole bunch of people (Sid, JK, and Kiran etc etc) started taking snaps of me with the purpose of publishing it in on SimplyMarry.com. They were trying to achieve the impossible – Help me get hooked on ;-)))!

We had a nice lunch back in Pelling after driving through a stream – Am not kidding when I say that Durga (our hunky driver) drove the Max through the stream. No points for guessing that this is a very convenient way of cleaning vehicles in Pelling ;-)

Post-Lunch we drove through the hills to this awfully long bridge called Singshore Bridge.This hanging bridge looks very nice from the road and the photography bonanza began! The theme of photography this time was – “Pictures through Holes”.Dont ask me what that was! The name says it all!

The last stop for the day was Pemayangtse Monastery, supposedly one of the oldest and most important monasteries in Sikkim .Its located on a small hillock and completely surrounded by Prayer Flags which look heavenly when fluttering in the breeze.Inspite of restrictions on photography , we could find tourists violating the law and taking pictures. I wonder when we ll learn to respect and obey rules atleast in a religious abode like monasteries and temples.

We also encountered a traffic hazard where our Max and a Truck (oposite direction) had a separation of few centimetres . The guys pushed the Max away from the Truck and got it going. One had to witness this scene to believe what was being done to move the vehicles :-) !

We had some nice momos in a small bar in the evening and savored the early sunset in Eastern India. The last thing in the day before sleeping was an extremely profound discussion on the architecture of buildings in Pelling. It took me a while to figure out that the discussion was about our very own Pelling abode. I have no qualms in admitting that the topic and the discussion was too profound for my liking. The Gyaani (He prefers to consider himself that - JK) had to intervene and put a logical end to the thesis and like he always does, he confused everyone so much, that people decided they had enough of architecture!

Thus ended Day One – A nice breath of Sikkim, Some Momos and some Architectural Discussions which was apparently Common Sense J but no KhanchendzongaL.

Some useful links for Pelling

http://www.sikkiminfo.net/pelling.htm

http://www.east-himalaya.com/sikkim/pelling.htm

The Start of the Odyssey – Sikkim

The planning started in December and we spent sleepless nights booking tickets, accommodation etc etc. And finally the day dawned, when we had to embark on our much awaited Sikkim Trip. Our Air Deccan flight was at 5:45 in the morning. Lemme introduce my co-travellers. There z Dhanya popularly known as DCM , a veteran traveler, the ever organized , process-oriented Sid ,veteran No.2 , Kiran, one of the Managers of D, JK aka Entertainment Unlimited ,Sandhya the other manager of D and Sandhya’s better half, Manoj.

The Herculean task ahead of us was to get to the airport by 4 atleast, with all our luggage (packed).Given Air Deccan ‘s reputation for overbooking , PARANOA was the word of the day !After all the initial hustle bustle we boarded the flight to Kolkatta !The flight was on time and uneventful except for the Coffee Making Process . We land in the hot and humid Kolkatta and start the hunt for restaurants! Found a horrendously expensive snack joint but had to make do with this place! The loooooooooooong wait for the Baghdogra flight seemed endless! Finally it was 2 PM and time to board the flight! Again the flight was normal and boring .Air Deccan earned more brownie points for no schedule variance.

We finally got to meet Mr. Mukhiya our tour guide/travel agent! The Mahindra Max seemed very comfortable and spacious and the driver – Durga was ahem ahem ;-)!
We drove to Pelling –our first destination in Sikkim .It was quite a long drive but the journey got scenic by the minute!

Some facts about Sikkim – Sikkim has four districts –West Sikkim, East Sikkim, South Sikkim and North Sikkim- Elementary wasn’t it ;-)?Pelling happens to be in West Sikkim .The highlight of Pelling being its vicinity to Mount Kanchenjunga – BTW The peak is spelt as KhanChenDzonga.Apparently the mountain peaks are very clearly visible from ay part of Pelling.

We finally reached our hotel and retired for the night after 2 flights and a road journey. Incidentally the Hindi spoken in this part of Sikkim is influenced by Bengali .So it takes a while (especially for people from South) to understand what the people speak.
Lots more on the Odysseys of Sikkim will follow

Bangalore - Haven for Rowdyism?

"Gandhigiri:" - This was one of the latest additions to the Indian Vocabulary in the recent times. "Entertainmet with a message" was a highlight of the movie "MunnaBhai- Part2".

Does Gandhigiri really work these days ?How many people here actually take this message seriously? - This is highly debatable !But one thing that seems to be working big time in Bangalore these days is "Goondagiri" .

There have been tons of articles and debates on how Bangalore, which was once a safe paradise,has evolved into a haven for criminals. And this is being proved time and again. Getting mugged on the streets ,robbery (of all sorts) etc etc has become a feature of life.

Just yesterday when I was having coffee in Indiranagar , there was some sudden activity outside the cafe .....Me ,being a normal curious homosapien, peeped outside. A couple of guys were beating up another one . This is quite common these days especially when it comes to accidents etc etc. But this went on for a loooooooong time. The story goes that the vicitm was just a normal being like us but with a little more social responsibility . The guys who were beating him up were local rowdies !!!Reason - These local goons were eve-teasing one of the girls in the cafe and this poor soul questioned them about it. And wat he got was a sound thrashing .....To top it all, the girl was trying to shield this poor guy from the a......------------This incident left me completely disturbed. One puny looking guy tries to question the basic flaw in the system,gets beaten up and the only protection he gets is from a victimised girl. Lets not forget that there were a group of spectators and onlookers including one cop !!!!!!!

And we know that this is a common occurence these days.And these goons get away (which I know has been happening for a long time) with anything and everything. But the scary part of the whole situation is how this kind of a behaviour is catching up on the entire youth community. There is no legal or social binding which discourages the spread of such unruly behaviour.

MIGHT IS RIGHT seems to be the "Order of the Day"

"SORRY-Phobia" - Is' Sorry' such a diffcult word?

I happened to come across a street argument in MG Road today. Something that we come across all the time these days in Bangalore. The whole argument was because one of the guys refused to say "Sorry".It was clear to every soul there, including our pal (sorry phobia infected), that he was at fault(one of the minor accidents caused because of sneaking.).But no he wouldnt utter the word "SORRY".

This got me into thinking !!!!!

Such an encounter is not alien to us, not just in traffic ,but in the everyday life. What is that , which really prevents someone from apologizing, when its evident to oneself that (s)he owes an apology ?Is SORRY so priceless ? Or is it the EGO ? Or is it the latest trend in our Silicon Valley?

Whatever is the reason , it just re-inforces the fact that the our Cosmo Bangalore is just getting from bad to worse .The latest trend in the city is to be an irresponsible and unaccountable citizen, who likes to live a life according to his whim and fancy . Whether its overtaking in the wrong lanes causing a traffic hazard , or breaking lines and queues and rules everywhere, Bangaloreans(I include everyone who has been in Bangalore for atleast 2 years in this category) are starting to set new standards for unaccountability!

I agree that if one goes overboard with "Thank You" and "Sorry", these words lose their value but when required we ought to rememer what courtesy is !

I just wish people here start thinking a little beyond software , IT , etc etc and start paying attention to some basics of being a responsible human being!In our quest to learn all the three-four-five lettered abuses , lets not forget the first few words we learnt!

This post, unlike my previous blog bug, is completely impulsive but its also an awakening(for me) which is so much needed in "Namma Bengaluru" (I still prefer Bangalore:-)).