[sanjaykaul]

I live in Noida and my Office is also in Noida (Lucky Me)

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1600 hours: 2 tasks in office pending.

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1630 hours: Called the Taxi wala for booking a taxi to New Delhi Railway Station. With his usual nakhra (No Taxi for New Delhi available Sir), he asked to call back after 5 minutes.

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1645 hours: Taxi to New Delhi booked. Cost INR 350 + MCD TAX

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 17:54 hours: All done. “Out of Office” message on outlook set.

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1755 hours: Laptop hibernated

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1805 hours: stepped Out of office, security check at gate done (we are ISO2701), drove home.

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1815 hours: 10 minutes of drive and I am home

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1830 hours: Sipping Tea. Society security called “Sir, taxi is here”

Tuesday 9th Nov 2010 1845 hours: Checked the baggage (primarily weight) and started journey form home.

Zipped through the Noida – Delhi connection (Sector 51, Shashi Chowk, Atta underpass, sector 16A, Noide Delhi border, Mayurvihar Phase 1, Akshardham, Lakshim Nagar Grade separator, ITO, Minto Bridge red signal) and was at Ajmeri Gate of New Delhi Railway Station in sharp 50 minutes. Commonwealth games have done at least some good to New Delhi.

Dragged the suitecase to Platform 14 (used the escalator to go up the bridge. Yahoo, we have escalators running in “Gov’t run -- heavy rush” public place).

Suddenly, I realized that I had waiting list ticket which though confirmed, didn’t show the final seat/birth allocation as charts were not prepared. The chart display stand was far away. Resorted to GPRS on phone. Took some time to get to page and subsequent info but was successfully able to spot information on irctc.co.in (Phones have become lifeline).

In a few minutes, Rajdhani express too dragged itself to the platform and I took my seat.

Things to come

[lordofgondor]

A log on Dharamsala coming up I guess. I was expecting some snow on those Dhauladhars, but it seems there's none!

[sanjaykaul]

The Train was dirty. As I was traveling alone (not with my family), I had to adjust myself with 7 strangers. Infact 8 strangers as the side birth had 2 people on RAC. One of the guys was busy combing his oily hair (he seriously looked funny), one guy was busy listening to some music on phone and 2 soldiers were busy talking to each other about how they spent their holidays (I think they were going back to duty in Rajouri sector).

The Train started and so did the rituals. First it was Rail Neer (water). I got my bottle too and placed it in the holder provided for the same (above the window). After a minute or so, when I looked back at the spot where I had kept my bottle, it was nadarad. Enquired about the same and everybody pleaded ignorant. Some blamed it on a fellow passenger’s friend who had come to visit him. Some said it was voodoo. The waiter refused to serve replacement saying “Sir, gin kaie aata hai’ (They come counted, we don’t have extra). 10 rupees and he has extra:-). Rituals continue. Breadsticks were OK OK. Didn’t taste the butter. It was amul and am assuming that it too would have been fine. The soup (Vegetable) came and it tasted awful. Had to throw it away. By now, I was already quite scared of next item and was cursing myself for not carrying the meal from home (my wife did advice me to carry but I was confident of irctc). The food tray came and my worst fear came true. The chapatti was stale. Daal was OK and so was rice. I borrowed more rice and kept on reciting “On Namah Shivai” with each spoon. Tummy filled, decided to call it quits. Ice-Cream came next, said humbly not to him and climbed to upper birth. Well, the Rajdhani saga continued. The sheets provided were wet and were unusable. I was happy that they didn’t wash the blankets.
Thinking that “eak rat ka sawal hai”, I consoled myself and went to sleep. Probably because of the experience by then, I couldn’t sleep the whole night.
One Uncle Jee next added salt to everybody’s wounds by snoring funny sounds. His one “snore set” comprised of three sounds. Breath-in sounded like a Jet Engine, then some middle stage produced the burp sound and the final stage like a whistle (it did sound like the different stages of IC Engine). This 3 stage cycle continued all night.

The train reached Jammu at 0545 hours in the morning. There was some nip in the air and it was refreshing. I had plans to go to my uncle’s place, which is about 9 KM from station, pick a Maruti Suzuki Alto from there and then go to my home (another 5 KM from there).

Though we live in Noida (whole family), we have built a small home in Jammu to cater to our staying needs when we visit the place. As we have most of our immediate relatives there, we (atleast my parents) visit the place quite often. I went to Jammu after a gap of more than a Year.

Well, I know most of the people on this forum are “Leh Lovers” and avoid Jammu City when driving to Ladakh via Srinagar but the city for sure is worth a visit.
Founded by Raja Jambu Lochan in 14th century, the city is famously known as "City of Temples" as it has good number of temples and shrines. I had thought of clicking some pictures of city but unfortunately; most of the temples in Jammu do not allow photography. You have to Visit and see them. Ragunath temple in Main city and Shiv Mandir (Ranbireshwar Temple) near secretariat are must visit.

(Next Post, after a few hours)

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by sanjaykaul

Well, I know most of the people on this forum are “Leh Lovers” and avoid Jammu City when driving to Ladakh via Srinagar but the city for sure is worth a visit.
Founded by Raja Jambu Lochan in 14th century, the city is famously known as "City of Temples" as it has good number of temples and shrines. I had thought of clicking some pictures of city but unfortunately; most of the temples in Jammu do not allow photography. You have to Visit and see them. Ragunath temple in Main city and Shiv Mandir (Ranbireshwar Temple) near secretariat are must visit.

Yesterday, i was thinking about Jammu, Katra and Vashnodevi and here is your logue about same region.

Looking forward!!!

[lohithrao]

Nice, am sure will get to know Jammu in this logue, lookforward to it

[sanjaykaul]

A little about City of temples.

Among the countless temples in the city, the Raghunath Temple (Mandir) takes pride of place being situated right in the heart of the city. It is about 130 years old and I suppose it is the largest complex in Northern India. Maharaja Gulab Singh, founder of the Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir started the temple work in 1835 AD and was completed by his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1860 AD. The Temple is dedicated to various Gods and Goddesses connected with the epic Ramayana which make it a rare site to behold.

Ranbireshwar Temple (My favourite) of Lord Shiva is located opposite Jammu & Kashmr Civil Secretariat, on Shalamar Road. Other than main lingam (which must be about 5 feet tall), the temple has twelve Shiva ‘lingams’ of crystal measuring 12" to 18" and galleries with thousands of ‘saligrams’ fixed on stone slabs.
Panchbakhtar Temple -is one of the oldest Shivalya in the city. Old tales and oral histories state that Adi Shankryacharya visited this site and stayed there; while some believe that it was discovered much later, during the reign of Raja Mal Dev, in early fourteenth century. The Lingam in this temple is self manifested (Aap Shambu). This temple was also connected with Shri Amarnath Yatra in past and it was a Padayo (camp) for Sadhus visiting the Holy Cave of Shri Amarnathji

Peer Kho: This is a cave temple overlooking the Tawi river and is well known Shiva temple in Jammu. Peer Kho cave is located on the bank of river Tawi and it is widely believed that Jamvant (the bear God) meditated in this cave. This used to be a place that had only monkeys surrounding it for a radius of 1 KM. now the complete neighborhood is a concrete jungle. Last time I visited this temple, I had to search for the way.

Bave Wali Mata (Temple of Goddess Mahakali): The temple is in the middle of the Bahu fort which is situated on the left bank of the river Tawi. Historians believe that this perhaps is the oldest fort constructed originally by Raja Bahulochan over 3,000 years ago. Bave Wali Mata is the presiding deity of Jammu. The famous temple of Bawey Wali Mata inside the Bahu Fort is also known as the temple of Mahakali Goddess.

The city (Winter Capital of state) is about 21 square KM in area and has population of more than 400000. I have heard that the city boasts of male literacy rate as 82%, and female literacy rate of 74%.

The city is in proximity of other polular religious destinations like “Shri Mata Vaishno Deviji”, “Shiv Khori Cave” , “Kailash Kund”, “Budha Amarnath” etc.

[sanjaykaul]

Now, why in the first place did I go to Jammu. I had to attend couple of functions (engagement of my cousin and Yajnopavit Cermoney of brother in Law) and (un)fortunately both of these functions were on Wednesday and 1 week apart (10th and 17th November 2010). Now, how do you manage this? Either you travel and come back and then travel again or you negotiate a long holiday. I negotiated a long holiday. I was planning to take this as an opportunity to meet people that I had not met since many years. Friends, Class mates, relatives, some old, some young and some I had never seen (Born after we moved to Jammu). My wife and son were expected to join me on Saturday 13th November 2010 morning (She was traveling same Rajdhani and I had already informed her of horrendous food and vanishing water bottle. Somehow, the bad experiences are especially stored for me only).

After freshen up at my home (we call it guest house as we hardly spend more than 25 days a year there), I headed towards the place of function 1 (Cousin Sisters engagement). It was supposed to take place at one of the Jammu’s good hotels named K. C. Residency.



(Both the hotel pictures are from internet)

Though I have been to the hotels banquet and coffee shop once each, it was first time I had a good feel of the property. My 1st reaction was “How did they manage the fire safety certificate” if they really have one.

The floor that have rooms for guests have corridors not more than 3 feet wide (OK, they might be a little more but not more than 2 people can cross each other and they have to be careful not touching each other).
The hall where party was planned didn’t give the greatest of the vibes. Chairs looked a little old and a dry clean would do them good. I asked the Manager for the chair covers and he pleaded lack of availability.
There was a stage for the boy and girl. They would exchange the rings there.

Some of us turned early to look into the arrangements


After some time, people started arriving and in few minutes the boy and his family came. The function started on time (as Planned) which is a good sign. I like people who live by timelines.

Khana Peena started. Waiters with Mutton Kabab, Chicken Tikka, Spring Rolls, Paneer Tikaa etc started making the round. Ofcourse there was some multicolored cold drinks and traditional Kashmiri Tea (Kahwah) too.



With the traditional rounds of introductions, the food bonanza continued.

Let me take the opportunity to introduce to one of the Kashmiri Traditions.

On auspicious occasions (I have seen this on marriages especially), Kashmiri Ladies pick a pinch of “izband” (rue seeds) touch the same to forehead of a person, say few good things like “you too get married soon – if he/she is a bachelor” etc and then put the seeds in the firepot (Kangri). I am not a big traditionalist but I can tell you proudly that popping up of few “izband” (rue seeds) in Kangri (FirePots) is much more effective than lighting perfumed candles. The fragrance it emits is tremendous.




We also have the tradition of “heads of the families exchanging the bouquet of flowers” and hugging each other on the occasion of their children’s engagement.



Rings exchanged, photo shots done, food eaten; the program of the day came to end.




It was time to go home.


This evening, I didn’t have dinner. Presumably, it turned out to be a good decision.

[sanjaykaul]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

A log on Dharamsala coming up I guess. I was expecting some snow on those Dhauladhars, but it seems there's none!

I was told that the mountains had snow few days back but it melted soon. It will snow in early december.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Yesterday, i was thinking about Jammu, Katra and Vashnodevi and here is your logue about same region.

Looking forward!!!

Most welcome AP. IM me incase you need any info or help.

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Nice, am sure will get to know Jammu in this logue, lookforward to it

Will try my best.

[sanjaykaul]

When you don’t live at a place permanently, it is difficult to get help resolving petty issues. We needed a Gardner to cut the lawn grass and a plumber to correct the leakages in couple of connection pipes. Well, the Gardner issue got resolved soon and the plumber issues didn’t get resolved at all. I found the Gardner in the evening and he agreed to do the needful for Rs 50.00 next morning. I believe he did a good job for that small amount of money.





Next day was reserved for buying stuff for my other Uncles new vehicle (WagonR) he had purchased a month back. It was on a temp registration and needed ICE. While we were preparing to go to market, we received the registration documents of the vehicle as well. The number plate got added to the TO-DO list.

I was surprised that Maruti has stopped supplying the Boot Tray (where you typically put speakers) with new Cars. One has to purchase it from market. Silly but strategy.

We went to “NU-LOOK” in Gandhi Nagar (Jammu) and zeroed in on a Sony Xplode (with a pen drive interface). Speakers of JBL were finalized (Sam, I deserve a commission). Number plate installed, ICE exploding “Munni Badnam Huie”, we drove back home by mid day. The remaining part of the day was spent soaking in the wonderful sunlight. Its been ages since I spent some time in sun like this. I got my quota of sunlight to generate enough Vitamin D. While lazing in the sunlight, I had slept and was woken by the call from wife. She was Reaching Jammu Saturday morning and wanted to “Go Somewhere”. Now, when you reach Jammu, with so many relatives waiting for the Bahu and Beti, where can you go?

I made a Plan. The plan was to receive them (Wife and Son) at railway station at 5:45 AM Saturday and proceed from there and then. Coming home will waste time. The only thing that I needed to decide was “Where to proceed”. I checked my list of “Places to go” and the corner of my lips reached my ears in the form of a big smile. I had found the opportunity to visit a place that I wanted to go since quite some time. It is difficult to go on a weekend drive to lower sides of Himachal (Touching J&K). With Uncle’s WagonR available for 3 day’s ride, I made my plan to go to a wonderful place in Himachal. Any guesses.

Day 3 was spent in doing some mundane chores.

Evening was spent meeting a very good old friend of mine who had come from Srinagar to attend a marriage.

Slept early as I had to get up early and receive my wife and son at station.

[MX6]

Do i see SanjayKaul with a thick mush again? Nice to see that.
Your logues are always different dude.
Nice to see the heads of the families photo!

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by sanjaykaul

I made my plan to go to a wonderful place in Himachal. Any guesses.

Ummm, was it Dharamsala/Macleodganj? Or a bigger circuit like Chamba/Dalhousie/Khajjiar?

And those words about Kebabs & Tikkas are making me hungry, real hungry!

[sanjaykaul]

Phone rang at 5:00 AM. It was wife. She had called to ensure I had got up (she probably was ensuring that I remember them and had not forgotten).

Freshened up and started for the station. Reached station in about 20 minutes (in evening, it can take upto an hour) and found them waiting outside the station building. She didn’t believe that we actually were skipping “Going Home ritual” and were running away from station itself. It actually looked like running away. We took the Byepass from station to get to NH1A (there is a nice road that connects Nagrota to Bari Brahmna and bypasses Jammu City. It is at a distance of about 2 KM from railway station.

The road till Kathua is good. With some diversions in between, it is still better than rest of the NH1 to New Delhi. As we were driving in the early part of the morning, we were able to maintain good speed.

While driving, I saw something interesting. I overtook (or came across) atleast five cars that were taking brides to Punjab from J&K (Morning is the best time to spot these transactions). Is it that skewed sex ratio (because of female feticide/infanticide) has started showing its effects or as always, JK & Punjab are good neighbors and keep on finding ways to increase relations? I don’t know the reason.

We got stuck in a massive traffic jam at Lakhanpur. I coulden’t find any reason for that jam existing there. There simply was no reason. Lakhanpur is the only place in my state that I am ashamed of. Somehow, the authorities need to find ways to not to harass commoner by keeping them stranded there for no reason.




Jam Crossed, rupees 70 paid (again, I can’t understand why would a Government take excise toll on exit. Is it article 370?) we started towards Pathankot.

We stopped just a fraction (less than 100 meters) before left turn for Pathankot on NH1A for our first Dhaba break. I had no idea about the place but it turned out to be good. The view was fantastic and Gobi and Aloo paratha were good. Couple of paratha down the esophagus, a full glass of “less sugar” chai consumed, I pumped the paddle and headed towards McLeod Ganj.





The Road to Dharamshala is good except couple of places (Chakki and Rait) were bridges are being built on NH20. The drive to Dharmshala took about 3 hours (from Pathankot) including a 25 minutes Dhaba break somewhere after Nurpur.





We reached McLeod Ganj at about 12:30 PM. We had taken the longer route (of about 9 KMs) through cantonment rather than the steep narrow 2 KM route through internals of Dharamshala.

[sanjaykaul]

Originally Posted by MX6

Do i see SanjayKaul with a thick mush again? Nice to see that.
Your logues are always different dude.
Nice to see the heads of the families photo!

That isnt me MX6 (he is my maternal uncle)

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Ummm, was it Dharamsala/Macleodganj? Or a bigger circuit like Chamba/Dalhousie/Khajjiar?

And those words about Kebabs & Tikkas are making me hungry, real hungry!

Dharamsala and Macleodganj is correct (I wanted to do Dalhousie also but couldn't)

[MX6]

Oh Man. The person eating the kebab is your uncle? I had to look back at your paris log to recheck. There's a resemblance..
Thought that was you actually and for a moment was happy to see the mush on your face.
So before I cause any further embarassment, let me clear this.
The kid near water - Is he your son?
The lady holding the phone - Is she your wife?

My apologies for such dumb queries.

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by MX6

Oh Man. The person eating the kebab is your uncle? I had to look back at your paris log to recheck. There's a resemblance..
Thought that was you actually and for a moment was happy to see the mush on your face.
So before I cause any further embarassment, let me clear this.
The kid near water - Is he your son?
The lady holding the phone - Is she your wife?

My apologies for such dumb queries.

Please excuse me for my !

Initially even I'd thought that pic was of Sanjay, but checked with the profile pic to confirm.