tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90400001213280995842024-03-13T10:23:40.939+05:30ChintugiriThe adventure of being you.Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.comBlogger207125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-88825104680218692612020-05-14T14:17:00.003+05:302020-05-14T14:17:40.044+05:30वो टूटा फूल कहा जाता है?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJ-aiBpIUWNRBoiHhp1uRbOOzQP5_IQPJOHJtfAZGORA7xFe-DdIL3xQ0eVVeT71d3rZ03Di3Nh-Qbqv6ycHZYJ2BO0LbnxoqBNNV6bV8sCP-RiRIMWQwfiDcNfnA4O6MbtYMMXJ5s8hZ/s1600/89927260_534721344085630_8094624503412087052_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1340" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJ-aiBpIUWNRBoiHhp1uRbOOzQP5_IQPJOHJtfAZGORA7xFe-DdIL3xQ0eVVeT71d3rZ03Di3Nh-Qbqv6ycHZYJ2BO0LbnxoqBNNV6bV8sCP-RiRIMWQwfiDcNfnA4O6MbtYMMXJ5s8hZ/s640/89927260_534721344085630_8094624503412087052_n.jpg" width="514" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">क्या फूल के टूटने का,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">एक पौधे को पता चलता है?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">क्या उसके हमसाथी पत्ते को,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">उसकी याद आती है?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">क्या उस से रोज़ मिलने वाला भंवरा ,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">उसके खोने का शोक मनाता है?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">क्या इन्हें कभी पता चलता है,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">की वो टूटा फूल कहा जाता है?</span></div>
Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-78187234704157742432020-05-14T14:14:00.001+05:302020-05-14T14:14:33.863+05:30Chintu Travels| Mcleaodganj Cycling | Day 7, Mcleodganj Exploration <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2M7Df3cHOHElIUVFCOzq6c71Mju-bU071-Xj4KrJ_pm_OAS3HarGBNevufy6Uq21HjguHBKGanpQsaBWU_uYC9-HF4sfWQwL2glzGROeVzO1KavoHi7VbEj_9cYTdygYrmY4_lHys-gC/s1600/IMG_20200101_164413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2M7Df3cHOHElIUVFCOzq6c71Mju-bU071-Xj4KrJ_pm_OAS3HarGBNevufy6Uq21HjguHBKGanpQsaBWU_uYC9-HF4sfWQwL2glzGROeVzO1KavoHi7VbEj_9cYTdygYrmY4_lHys-gC/s640/IMG_20200101_164413.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /><br />I woke up at 11, I had slept at 2 AM, everyone else had slept at 4 AM.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">All the people were checking out today, and I was the only one remaining in my dorm, I went for breakfast at 12 and then came back and prepped for a ride.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I started with going uphill to Dharamkot, I had heard from a few people at the dorm about a few cafes in there, I went searching for Big Mamma's Shop, someone was saying they have a coconut-chocolate ball, it did take a while to find it as it is secluded and you have to take a few stairs and a trail to get there.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Big Mamma's owner is the Matriarch of the family and the shop is named after here when I reached she along with her entire family was soaking in the sun and were very excited to see the cycle. They asked me a lot of questions and told me about their experiences in Calcutta, The chocolate ball was essentially a chocolate laddu rolled in coconut.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I then rode to Dal lake and Naddi Sunset point, while looking for a good place to view the sunset, I ventured into the village but felt uneasy and came back to the main square, where I met </span><a class="notranslate" href="https://www.instagram.com/solotraveller195/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">@solotraveller195</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> and we sat at a Dhaba and watched the sun go down.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">While exiting the Dhaba, my jacket got stuck in a tin shed and got torn, I came to Mcleodganj square talked to a tailer on a fix, he suggested in getting a sticker, and he'd stick it. I went to the main market and got a sticker that says "World Flag association" and has a few flags to cover the holes. For 50 Rs my jacket was again good as new and now had a bit more characters.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I walked around a bit after parking my cycle at the hostel, and had dinner at another Dhaba, and then came back to the hostel. The food was needed after 23 Kilometres of riding today.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">After taking a hot shower and doing my laundry, I end my travel here.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">For the next two days, I will be getting a lot of pending work done, and declutter my mailbox, and I will most probably take a bus back to Delhi on Friday night.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-84135251894023155852020-05-14T14:11:00.001+05:302020-05-14T14:11:45.274+05:30Chintu Travels| Mcleodganj | Day 6 Plogging<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK-jGqju1twtFR1ahbhAyqA6_PBb27tS6uL9jqfBm2WYOAFNqEgSNRpJVC7FhIaLZnAV3WqxIplV4A0jZjVcwXFXmIzRZFqKYzwq4q0abFzj26s5i2e-72hsrfDeLjh1zEB_orx_bvg_yo/s1600/IMG_20191231_161224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK-jGqju1twtFR1ahbhAyqA6_PBb27tS6uL9jqfBm2WYOAFNqEgSNRpJVC7FhIaLZnAV3WqxIplV4A0jZjVcwXFXmIzRZFqKYzwq4q0abFzj26s5i2e-72hsrfDeLjh1zEB_orx_bvg_yo/s640/IMG_20191231_161224.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I didn't ride today, legs need rest, I have done about 280 kilometres in the last 5 days, and the legs need rest, the roads here are anyway too steep.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I woke up at 10, stayed in the bed till 12, there is finally a hostel feeling in the hostel, Bir was quiet with me being the only person in the dorms, and most people staying in private rooms.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I didn't have any plans today, went for a walk to Bhagshu Waterfall, after having a couple of paranthas, despite the constant reminders there is still too much trash, I found a large plastic bag while collecting some alcohol bottles thrown in the waterfall, and while coming down kept filling it up with plastic bottles and plastic bags, and alcohol bottles, Must have cleared about 7-8 glass bottles, 15-16 plastic bottles of all sizes, and about,1-1.5 kgs of plastic packets and deposited them in collection bins, will take another walk on a low crowd day and plog more.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">After walking around for a while and visiting the Dalai lama temple, I came back to the hostel around 8, and sat for a while with the crowd here, and then went back for dinner, found a few drunk people getting crazy on the roads, some fighting, some shouting, so didn't venture out much to search for Dhaba, and had a thali at a typical Punjabi restaurant.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The hostel had set the mood for the New Year, everyone was lodged into the common area and talking, the hostel had arranged for a cake, and we did a count down to 2020.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now I am hanging out in a Dorm writing my log, everyone is here and it feels like a house party.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-17882746233311275632020-05-14T14:09:00.001+05:302020-05-14T14:09:44.968+05:30Chintu Travels| Bir - Mcleoadganj Cycling | Day 5, Cycling to Mcleodganj <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNolcn-tjy9_wtZnLFJ3Zbovk3PKJph_1-SO8CoYt8c9niXznOPJMK8xOEW9JlnIFc0pW1QgCD0rinx0tdlNvLkqZTFtyczCVM_enZdKSPcaDa8BX_0-upFNbgUUpBoiUxtXC_hqpodRCT/s1600/IMG_20191230_125904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNolcn-tjy9_wtZnLFJ3Zbovk3PKJph_1-SO8CoYt8c9niXznOPJMK8xOEW9JlnIFc0pW1QgCD0rinx0tdlNvLkqZTFtyczCVM_enZdKSPcaDa8BX_0-upFNbgUUpBoiUxtXC_hqpodRCT/s640/IMG_20191230_125904.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /><br />The plan was to start riding at 7 AM today and to reach Mcleodganj before sundown.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I woke up at 8:15, thankfully I had done all my packing last night and only needed to put the bags on the bike. I was ready to ride by 8:30.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I didn't have breakfast before starting the ride, because it was mostly downhill till Baijnath, I wanted to have breakfast at Baijnath.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I reached Baijnath too soon, 12 Kilometres covered in about 25 odd minutes, I delayed the plan for breakfast and kept riding for another half an hour.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Then I stopped at a Highway Dhaba, and have the usual Paranthe and Coffee, and then started riding again at 10. The last 8 kilometres to Palampur were mostly uphill, and then from there it was an easy ride till a few Kilometres before Dharamshala, The last 5 kilometres of Dharamshala was a steep climb, I reached here around 2 PM, had my lunch, and then started riding towards Mcleodganj.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There are two roads for Mcleodganj from Dharamshala, one a 10 Kilometre highway, with mild climbs, another a 6 kilometres steep climb. I chose the 6 kilometres one because my definition of steep was one where you could easily ride a bike in the easiest gear ratio, but it was too difficult. The gradient for most of the route must have been 15%. It took me another 2 hours to cover this.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">My total riding distance came to about 72 Kilometres.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I walked for the last six kilometres and reached my hostel which is quite isolated and difficult to reach. It took me</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They had messed up my booking by giving my bed to someone else and then had to adjust me in another Dorm. I'll get this sorted tomorrow.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">My dorm has a lot of people from Bombay, we did some usually exaggerated cribbing about Delhi and Bombay, and then sat at the bonfire for some time and then, later in the dorm.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-44103811760325725642020-05-14T14:07:00.000+05:302020-05-14T14:07:03.423+05:30Chintu Travels| Bir Billing Cycling | Day 4 | Bir to Billing 2.0<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4OiukaIldgSiQE61s1XjzgeRNhoYl41PDR8hVeQP24mDwEVZpi-AF0ipPyCTPKZCsUqyIbQriMNtq9eN5eP7KXLB1TVIDe4Ry2V8nrk8HwIPQQ-63YQjW0MWS1E472zpAQnX8yREhmNiK/s1600/IMG_20191229_154007-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1600" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4OiukaIldgSiQE61s1XjzgeRNhoYl41PDR8hVeQP24mDwEVZpi-AF0ipPyCTPKZCsUqyIbQriMNtq9eN5eP7KXLB1TVIDe4Ry2V8nrk8HwIPQQ-63YQjW0MWS1E472zpAQnX8yREhmNiK/s640/IMG_20191229_154007-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When I woke up almost everyone was off to paragliding, I met Mr Pargat Singh, who was here with a few guests as a driver, he told me about how he prefers being an Independent driver and works on a daily pay basis, his food is almost always covered by the customer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He had a broken hand, and told it broke while trying to mediate between two other people fighting, he fell when one of them pushed him without seeing him. He still drove the Next day to Dharamshala and said "No one believes me that I drove single-handed in the hills", I told him I intend to take a train from Pathankot, and he told to call him in case I need any help.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">While I was prepping for the day's ride, and putting my stuff on the bike, I saw him running to me out of breath, " I forgot to give you the number", we exchanged numbers, and then we went to a Dhaba and had two paranthas each.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I started my today's ride aimlessly, and after a couple of Kilometers of going uphill, sat at a Dhaba to have some coffee. The extra sugar milk coffee has always been a good source of energy in Himachal. It's a huge glass with too much sugar and a good amount of caffeine.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">While having the coffee I started looking at Maps to figure out where to go to, and I decided to go to Billing. Last time it took me 4.5 hours to reach the top, the 18 Kilometers of the climb isn't steep, but for someone used to riding in the plains, it's painful. Last time, the last 5 kilometres, I would cover 1 kilometre in 5 minutes and then would rest for 10 minutes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Today, I didn't stop at all, I kept pushing, at steepest, on the easiest gears, but didn't stop.</span><br />
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I reached billing in exactly 2 hours, reducing my personal best to half. I am sure I would have done it faster had I not done 60 kilometres yesterday.</span><br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/U41RG4F3EoE/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U41RG4F3EoE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The ride downhill was effortless, and scary at some points because of black ice. It looks like mud, but the tyres skid like crazy, I had to be quite vigilant. Another pain was the crazy driving of the paragliding bound to pick up trucks, often one would pass me by only a couple of inches.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I came back, ate at a Dhaba, went for a walk, and then came back to the hostel and packed for check-out tomorrow.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-17740709286694950072020-05-14T14:04:00.000+05:302020-05-14T14:04:00.181+05:30Chintu Travels | Bir Billing Cycling | Day 3 | Mission Impossible <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipZagBjVZzsEBOWqTngK9osNq_mE0wKgPhKRIMCPTPuJuxOhc-S6U7wBmP6Z5t554Hu6Bfb-TpYnM-D0xxKDLByWXuYlq0mkrhboZXxqDiBCUXIVt0WmPptvE_0IVAjYmH09OkpwS67NeS/s1600/IMG_20191228_115756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipZagBjVZzsEBOWqTngK9osNq_mE0wKgPhKRIMCPTPuJuxOhc-S6U7wBmP6Z5t554Hu6Bfb-TpYnM-D0xxKDLByWXuYlq0mkrhboZXxqDiBCUXIVt0WmPptvE_0IVAjYmH09OkpwS67NeS/s640/IMG_20191228_115756.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Mission Impossible?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">3 years ago, when I was in Bir I had tried to ride to this mystical hot spring that a few locals told me about, it is supposed to be isolated and at a great altitude. I got lost and returned as it was getting late.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Today I wanted to ride there again. I started around 11, had a couple of paranthas, and a chai. And started riding, I remembered most of the route.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">First, you ride to Sahel, and then take a right to the road going towards Deol, and then reach a new bridge, and take the road to Upper Deol. I had gone slightly further than this last time. My total ride distance was 44 kilometres then.</span><br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-KNV1srDA0E/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-KNV1srDA0E?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">After reaching the point of last return in about 2.5 hours ( 23 Kilometres) I kept pursuing for tattvani, the good road had ended about 6 kilometres back, and it was all riding uphill on gravel, every kilometre I felt I should turn back, this tattvani doesn't exist. But I kept riding.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">After 2 hours of a grueling climb I reach the end of the road, tattavani was another 1.5 hours of hike on a steep single trail, it was already 3:30, and I decided to turn back. I was hungry and I had 30 kilometres to go back, the first 15 downhill, then 8 kilometres of uphill, and then 7 kilometres of flats. But since I had already done 15 kilometres of uphill on extremely challenging terrain, the 7 kilometres climb felt neverending.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I reached back Bir in 2.5 hours, and it was dark, I had my lights on and I rode at a slow pace to make sure I don't skid or hit a pothole.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I had done 60 odd kilometres, on two paranthas and a chai. As soon as reached my preferred Dhaba, I ordered two paranthas, a bowl of Thukpa with half a plate of momos in it, and then rode up to the hostel, and took a hot shower, and then sat for a bonfire they have here every Saturday. I don't have a plan for tomorrow, maybe just some short trails.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-84294038293943358592020-05-14T14:00:00.001+05:302020-05-14T14:00:14.078+05:30Chintu Travels| Bir Billing Cycling | Day 2, Warming Up <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKqJZGbcz6elc-bXiki2x0hF-ldtEi-7ba5ETBaPgeSRCdBBjLtniOrOQgPMpPfcp0K9pvRKYidPUxy9AS-Z2Lc5_CFjpi_ugAXzzsWMRWW-3vfbY2wPqg1R0DyAl-vkJNzEwreTdpKkSj/s1600/IMG_20191227_162447.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKqJZGbcz6elc-bXiki2x0hF-ldtEi-7ba5ETBaPgeSRCdBBjLtniOrOQgPMpPfcp0K9pvRKYidPUxy9AS-Z2Lc5_CFjpi_ugAXzzsWMRWW-3vfbY2wPqg1R0DyAl-vkJNzEwreTdpKkSj/s640/IMG_20191227_162447.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Warming up</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I slept like a log last night, not sleeping for 48 hours does that I guess, I woke up around 11:30 AM, and then took another 40 odd minutes to get things in order.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I had no plans for the ride today, I took a short sprint till Landing Site, had 2 Paranthas and a coffee, at the same Dhaba I had them yesterday. A tall glass of coffee with extra sugar is the perfect dose of energy I'd need to start for a ride. I was regularly doing this on the Spiti ride, and sticking to basics here too.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I reached Sherabling monastery in about 40 minutes, They have stopped allowing cycles till the Main Monastery, now you have to park about 500 meters before at a barricade. Cars still go inside. I was told that in the last couple of years cycling has boomed a lot, and people had started doing stunts in the Monastry campus. Someone fell into the valley while doing stunts.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I wasn't surprised, I had already encountered a few loud tourists who while riding were playing music in huge speakers or were making TikTok videos and shouting.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When I reached Marher, I couldn't find the trail I had taken in 2016, I asked a few people, but they had no clue, so I turned back and took the main road.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I entered Gunehar, and decided to go to the waterfall, but I may have taken a wrong turn somewhere between small lanes of upper Gunehar, and then on a hiking trail to the source of the waterfall instead of a reservoir which I intended to go to. I parked my bike, and started to hike, halfway I realised I won't be able to come down before sunset if I go all the way, I turned back, and started riding towards Bir, it gets dark as soon as the sun sets, and I was still about 6 odd kilometres away when it was pitch black. Thankfully I carried a front light!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">At around 7:30 I had my second meal of the day, the two paranthas had given a mileage of 15 kilometres, while I sat there and talked to the Dhaba owner about riding to Mcleodganj and </span><a class="notranslate" href="https://www.instagram.com/amit_sejwani/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">@amit_sejwani</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> dropped in, he heard cycling and Spiti and was interested.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We later talked about cycling a lot over chai, and some over-friendly dogs.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-7459135661149952332020-05-14T13:57:00.001+05:302020-05-14T13:57:40.241+05:30Chintu Travels | Bir Billing | Day 1 | It Ain't it Chief. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivYBDAkXmuWNbbfmBL3-1iSpvUY-xq-HEz15AFnX6yuqWiqtAgXHmLDZ8OeDlFDKzcKESZVskZ4aO7PgNRa2Hl9J_ClAJ56C-73u1kwRDdEzl86mFwn72JKs6UvMzXj7rKX2hv0wsLHb9/s1600/IMG_20191226_172529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivYBDAkXmuWNbbfmBL3-1iSpvUY-xq-HEz15AFnX6yuqWiqtAgXHmLDZ8OeDlFDKzcKESZVskZ4aO7PgNRa2Hl9J_ClAJ56C-73u1kwRDdEzl86mFwn72JKs6UvMzXj7rKX2hv0wsLHb9/s640/IMG_20191226_172529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It ain't it chief.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />I didn't sleep at all last night, The constant thought of paying money to the conductor for the ticket and the front row seat with beams of vehicles moving in front of the bus made it difficult to shut my eyes. I finally paid for the ticket at 6 AM, after reaching Kangra.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The bus dropped me at Bir Chowk, which is about 3 kilometres away from Bir. The climb to Bir from Bir Chowk is all steep uphill. A gain of approx 300 metres over 3 Kilometres, I rode it in about 20 minutes. It was certainly faster than the last time I had done this.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">After reaching the hostel, I figured this place used to be Zostel, where I had already stayed twice and made a lot of friends. But it wasn't it. There are no backpackers here, a few people are checking out all of the self-contained groups.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Zostel did bring the backpacking culture to India, but ironically people now book dorms in groups, and it isn't the same. There is no conversation happening.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I rested almost the entire day, walked a lot (About 20k steps!), tried to find a few old faces, had some good yet cheap food at the local dhabas. I hate the cafe culture, It is a hypocritical hatred. 3 years ago I wanted to open a cafe here, but today there are so many, the place doesn't feel the same.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A few locals I talked to tell me that unlike other places like Manali and Shimla, there is no experience people want to repeat.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Paragliding is something most people only do once and are content. Cycling is a new thing, the first time I was here, there was one cycle rental store and I remember I had rented my cycle from a local kid sitting and then from Zostel as they received new bikes the day after. Now there are more cycles than I assume there are people, I also saw a few electric cycles zooming around.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Tomorrow, I'll also pull my cycle out and get some good riding under my belt.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-66754623886620549782020-05-14T13:55:00.002+05:302020-05-14T13:55:22.330+05:30Chintu Travels | Bir Billing Cycling| Day 0 | Murphy's Law 2.0.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEqjVdKuAOLmmdp_u9NwV8Xd3TSyKK61-mHh85MJC8YDXZAkVeo-gjFyQV5q7L0GXZzuEsrFNe86Rj0A_0IiT-6mZWOYq9LSUGPOZCSoQ6eUmuW286Tjo8637dqmdR2TqJCtBnxbqfT2po/s1600/IMG_20191225_212106.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEqjVdKuAOLmmdp_u9NwV8Xd3TSyKK61-mHh85MJC8YDXZAkVeo-gjFyQV5q7L0GXZzuEsrFNe86Rj0A_0IiT-6mZWOYq9LSUGPOZCSoQ6eUmuW286Tjo8637dqmdR2TqJCtBnxbqfT2po/s640/IMG_20191225_212106.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Murphy's Law 2.0.</span></div>
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">If things can go wrong, they'll fucking go wrong.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">I made a last-minute plan to take a trip, booked my yes yesterday, my bike had a couple of minor issues, gave it for servicing assuming it would be 15-20 minute thing.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>10:00 AM:</b> After all the alarms have gone bonkers, I am still in bed.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>10:30 AM:</b> I finally get up, brush, take a dump and a quick shower and arrange the house a bit.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>11:15 AM:</b> I unhook the bike, ride it through somehow crazy traffic on a holiday to the bike shop.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>12:24 PM: </b>I leave the shop after telling the technician about the fixed that are needed to be done, and leave for Rajiv Chowk, to meet my friend who is here from Germany. We are meeting after two years, I last met her in Varanasi.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>12:45 PM:</b> I am at CP, we go for lunch, I haven't eaten a thing till now. I have to my best friend too in a couple of hours, so I eat light.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>2:30 PM:</b> My german friend has to book her tickets but she doesn't know how to do it, IRCTC doesn't allow booking in Foreign Tourist Quota, We go all the way to New Delhi Railway Station, after running around to ask where the foreign tourist office is, we cross the railway station to go to Paharganj.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>2:50 PM:</b> She hasn't brought her passport and Visa, which are mandatory. She takes an auto and leaves for her hotel, I cross the railway station and reach New Delhi Metro and then Rajiv Chowk.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>3:20 PM:</b> I meet my best friend and we go for a quick lunch, and then some shopping.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>5:15 PM:</b> I reach the bike shop and find that one of the issues has been fixed, but to fix the other issue we'd have to try out another chain, which isn't in stock.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>6:00 PM:</b> After scanning their godown for another chain and not finding it I start riding for home.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>6:58 PM:</b> A 30-minute ride takes 58 minutes because of unexpected traffic jam, and google maps rerouting me through a route which is about 3 kilometres longer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>7:14 PM:</b> I have done my packing in record time, my hands are numb from the cold outside. I start riding the 27 odd kilometres to ISBT, my bus is at 8:29 PM.<br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>8:35 PM:</b> I reach the bus stand and my bus has left 5 minutes ago, I. drained and cramped. I call a colleague who is also on the bus, and she tells me that it has left. I talked to the conductor and he says I should get on to any bus and can catch it at the usual Dhaba Stop at Murthal.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>8:55 PM:</b> No bus agrees, as there are no seats, I go to the HRTC counter, and an old man tells me that I should book another ticket for a later bus. I am told that I'll get a bus around 9:27, and the ticket for that would open at 9:14.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>9:14 PM:</b> the bus arrives, the conductor tells that the bus would not take the route I have to get down on. The bus I should take would leave at 9:46, and tickets would open for that at 9:25.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>9:25 PM:</b> I walk to the counter, I try to pay with my card. I see that AM ng everything that is happening today, I have forgotten to withdraw cash and only have 20 Rs in my pocket. I try to pay by card, but the card machines don't work. I tell the ticket counter guy that I'll get the money from an ATM, and ask him to reserve the ticket.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>9:35 PM:</b> Both the ATMs are out of cash. I try at a few shops telling them that I will pay them via UPI and if they can give me cash. One guy says he'll give me 2000 but will take 2300 Rs. I just walk away.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>9:42 PM:</b> I am still looking for cash, and walk back to the ticket counter, and try again on the machine, and the machine doesn't work, I now ask people around, if I can pay them the money via google pay, and can take some cash. They are all amused at a guy wearing a high visibility jacket, and none of them agrees.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>9:46 PM:</b> I go back to the counter, the counter guy tells me that I should get on the bus, and pay the conductor at Chandigarh or Baijnath. He sees the clock and says but the bus has left. It is 9:50 now.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><b>9:52 PM:</b> I hurriedly unlock my bike, mount the bags and rush behind the bus, as I feel It couldn't have gone far, lo and behold, the bus is hardly 300 metres away stuck in a traffic jam. The conductor opens the dikki, I put my cycle in and get on the bus and grab my seat. I finish both the bottles of water I have and hope that the cramps would go away. I am still starving and dehydrated.</span></div>
<br />Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-69973399189460752982020-05-14T13:49:00.003+05:302020-05-14T13:49:47.540+05:30Delhi Drama Act 26, The Electric Post Master<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpcrxwpX9nmwH2IcxNI-PhIqIm_60EG9LbzgSB2JR4xWu2NwAMlcfp3IZGYBPMHp-osuIGhHBnaOSyRbVwb8hkiYMF5rRL078Ay8WW5dvS7c4yiXL0-M6ApR0Zc1IuhmlaGLyBVtLzKwM/s1600/IMG_20190927_084839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpcrxwpX9nmwH2IcxNI-PhIqIm_60EG9LbzgSB2JR4xWu2NwAMlcfp3IZGYBPMHp-osuIGhHBnaOSyRbVwb8hkiYMF5rRL078Ay8WW5dvS7c4yiXL0-M6ApR0Zc1IuhmlaGLyBVtLzKwM/s640/IMG_20190927_084839.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPeqPabQBX1wW9HOjghMhHhggyecudLjPvNvtgEG3exLob2JP9BqZV9qh1pdBbcyDZUoB4nyb28y_h3BRQsQgmOIgYAovSNPvsOIEIv5IhAuJfucnQt_L0T2nKJu9fZjLJGiOe_3sWj7Jg/s1600/IMG_20190927_084845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPeqPabQBX1wW9HOjghMhHhggyecudLjPvNvtgEG3exLob2JP9BqZV9qh1pdBbcyDZUoB4nyb28y_h3BRQsQgmOIgYAovSNPvsOIEIv5IhAuJfucnQt_L0T2nKJu9fZjLJGiOe_3sWj7Jg/s320/IMG_20190927_084845.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">On my commute to the Metro Station, I saw a guy on a roadster ( <i>Ghoda cycle</i> or <i>Dudhwala cycle</i> as pe decoratively call it) cruising through traffic, almost at pace with me on My Scott. While I was labouring through, and pedalling, he wasn't!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">I noticed a huge box on his carrier and a controller on the handlebar, with a key attached in it. I asked him if this was an electric cycle, he gave a huge grin and nodded his yes, I requested if we can stop and talk for a minute. "<i>Thoda aage chalke rukte hai, yaha jaam hai bohot</i>"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">(Let's stop a bit ahead, there is a traffic jam here)</span><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">We moved alongside for kilometres and found a stretch with relatively less traffic. He stopped I parked my cycle and was moving towards him, I heard a thud, some idiot coming from the wrong side had brushed against it, and it fell. Both of us glared at the idiot, and he rushed away, I reparked my cycle on the sidewalk this time.<br /><br />"<i>Sir, iska kitna kharcha aaya aapka?</i>" <br />(How much did it cost?)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i><br />"Cycle to purana tha mere paas, par ye sab lagwane ka 10,000 ke aaspaas laga"</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">( I had an old cycle, the electric conversion cost me about Rs 10000 more) <br /><br /><i>"Kitna dur chalti hai ye?"</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">(How far does it go?)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i>"Arey bahut dur chalta hai, Gaziabad se Amity aate hai roz, 22-25 kilometre ek taraf to hoga hai, aana jana to roz ho hi jata, agar jarurat pade to 7-8 kilometres aur chala lo" </i><br />(A lot, I commute every day from Gaziabad to Amity University, it must be at least 22-25 kilometres one way, a days commute is easily covered, I can also do 7-8 Kilometres more) <br /><br /><i>"Abhi to naya naya sab aa gaya hai electric cycle, kai dukan mein dekh yaha mila nahi, ye jab banaye they tab kuch nahi tha aisa"</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">( There are a lot of new electric cycles now, I have tried searching for them at a lot of shops but none of them have it, when I got this one made there was nothing like it )</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUB2-w5nq4QsWSvuZXzjvOHSwROzP7eznkepHBiSGgY5sEEkJS-DKxYauihaDtDhq3Eygup0VAiRH3y1uZNG4l12ELO7CKPQruk7EdFrpmuCj9t-XFNa0QpXwmG-jeh7EgXGdgRCzDEF-/s1600/IMG_20190927_084914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUB2-w5nq4QsWSvuZXzjvOHSwROzP7eznkepHBiSGgY5sEEkJS-DKxYauihaDtDhq3Eygup0VAiRH3y1uZNG4l12ELO7CKPQruk7EdFrpmuCj9t-XFNa0QpXwmG-jeh7EgXGdgRCzDEF-/s320/IMG_20190927_084914.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I ask for his permission to take a few pictures and he agrees, and continues. <br /><br /><i>"Isme 3 gear hai, ye button upar karo to 1, beech mein 2nd, aur neeche 3rd, abhi 3 pe chala raha tha. </i>( There are three gears in it, you press this up it is 1, 2 in the middle, 3 when down, I was riding on 3rd)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I take a detailed look at the setup, the box on the carrier contains a battery pack and a roller that moves the tyre, quite an interesting setup. <br /><br /><i>"Naya cycle sab mein battery beech mein hota hai to balance bana rehta hai, isme peche rehta hai to thoda balance banana padta hai" </i><br />(The new bikes have the battery in the frame so they have a better balance, this one has a battery at the back, so you have to work a bit harder to balance)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Smitten by the bike, I ask him if I can take a picture of him, I write about cycles, and will be writing an article on his bike, he laughs and allows.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I shake his hand and we start to move, 10 seconds later I realize I forgot to ask for his name. I rush to him. <br /><br /><i>"Aapka naam puchna to bul hi gaya main"</i></span><i><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">( I forgot to ask your name) <br /><br /><i>"Hamara naam hai Devnath Gupta, yaha Amity University mein postmaster hai ham"</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">( My name is Devnath Gupta, I am a postmaster at Amity University post office)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And then he suddenly speeds up and moves ahead, I have to take a turn at this point.</span><br /><br />Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-61262521450626124162020-05-14T13:42:00.001+05:302020-05-14T13:42:13.788+05:30पतझड़<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtoBd0bD2qnBBNKnM6I7TmpG-E7k60Cf7qQyH0BHXbN0_MtmPPd21e6-ZkETMl6sTrgmgHTMKiBgAKZhbSRoABpitmDPFkIim25KSUJvb0yNNpymLmIEkfjwPOWthR-yhtqZVJf06gqWPG/s1600/IMG_0072-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1087" data-original-width="1600" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtoBd0bD2qnBBNKnM6I7TmpG-E7k60Cf7qQyH0BHXbN0_MtmPPd21e6-ZkETMl6sTrgmgHTMKiBgAKZhbSRoABpitmDPFkIim25KSUJvb0yNNpymLmIEkfjwPOWthR-yhtqZVJf06gqWPG/s640/IMG_0072-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">पतझड़</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">मैंने पिछले पतझड़,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">सूखे बागीचे में,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">पीले पत्तों के बीच,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">सूखी हवाओं में लहलहाता,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">एक गुलाबी पीपल का पेड़ देखा,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">बोगनविलिया की एक बेल</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ने उसे अपना घर बनाया था,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">खूबसूरत नजारा था,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">दोनो साथ अच्छे लग रहे थे,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">गुलाबी फूलो व पीले पत्तो से,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">पतझड़ की निरसता भी रंगीन लग रही थी,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">आज फिर उसे बगीचे से गुज़रा,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">आज फिर वो पीपल का पेड़ देखा,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">पर ना उसपर पत्ते थे,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ना ही गुलाबी फूल,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">बस कुछ सुखी शाखाये थी,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">और पतझड़ की उदासी।</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-19117996123694114112020-05-14T13:40:00.003+05:302020-05-14T13:40:52.732+05:30क़यामत<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxd6MHDnKPjG5JZbSb9pKv0CfTKosOxkDQIz9YdeXDR3_72bOQc3suUFxhk4ZdO7g1XdSH28_sMF3A5wddqW9wK80wpOOcnS_KZdXixr-fWWb9EhZC2tY6AGF4K3CRFPW8396DlQYRW4o/s1600/IMG_0074-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxd6MHDnKPjG5JZbSb9pKv0CfTKosOxkDQIz9YdeXDR3_72bOQc3suUFxhk4ZdO7g1XdSH28_sMF3A5wddqW9wK80wpOOcnS_KZdXixr-fWWb9EhZC2tY6AGF4K3CRFPW8396DlQYRW4o/s640/IMG_0074-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">क़यामत</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">मुझे कहीं दूर हटा दो,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">हर आेर तुम ईंट लगा दो,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">या इटालियन मार्बल बिछा दो,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">फिर रंगीन ग्रानीइट सजा दो,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">याद रखना,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">बस एक क़यामत की दूरी है,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">मुझे वापस आने में,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">और तुम्हे छुपाने में।</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-1865470714921161772020-05-14T13:39:00.001+05:302020-05-14T13:39:18.376+05:30My tomb<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQVAjlu9Mu_SJhdEFapUH5GMEGgbZAjYa8JWuP3CDJWPlxuxoqxjGgS1VIiw1rLd7dfRAADfgacAeDQfIRB9Qz-e_lXxSeqvX0qy3x5c92zg5Woek_PMOIW7h3AsyQ-aydUHMAUyGhyphenhyphenZIk/s1600/IMG_9731-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQVAjlu9Mu_SJhdEFapUH5GMEGgbZAjYa8JWuP3CDJWPlxuxoqxjGgS1VIiw1rLd7dfRAADfgacAeDQfIRB9Qz-e_lXxSeqvX0qy3x5c92zg5Woek_PMOIW7h3AsyQ-aydUHMAUyGhyphenhyphenZIk/s640/IMG_9731-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With walls of anger and guilt,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I built myself a temple of doom,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And locked me up in a room,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I Furiously yelled,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">At people who helped me bloom,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Cried for help in foggy gloom,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Who would listen?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And why would they?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I was the one who pushed them away;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">As I sit here alone,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">My temple is now my tomb.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-33570914193603162692019-07-05T23:28:00.000+05:302019-07-05T23:28:26.143+05:30Delhi Drama Act 25. e-rickshaws. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGWZgVw7tK5eLc1zc82UEm6MRVUbeWWf8R69iXABNzUvUDgkfY57ImDdZs6Pe3sCx6vDGwVeEiAJz6ETBfrHphyphenhyphenpOi6dfJsd6gAn9D39DVaVIRSnQHNDmeGyhEkNPbB9rmD57BjbGeOo3/s1600/65907967_10216783120067551_8492628354107703296_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGWZgVw7tK5eLc1zc82UEm6MRVUbeWWf8R69iXABNzUvUDgkfY57ImDdZs6Pe3sCx6vDGwVeEiAJz6ETBfrHphyphenhyphenpOi6dfJsd6gAn9D39DVaVIRSnQHNDmeGyhEkNPbB9rmD57BjbGeOo3/s640/65907967_10216783120067551_8492628354107703296_o.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<b>Scene 1:</b></h3>
<br />
I stood outside Trilokpuri metro station for an e-rickshaw to Mayur Vihar Phase 1 metro. After none came for 5 minutes, I walked a bit and asked an e-rickshaw at a junction about going to Mayur Vihar Metro.<br />
<br />
<i>"Yahi ruk jao, aate honge"</i><br />
(wait here, they keep passing this place)<br />
<br />
A couple of e-rickshaws passed and he stopped them and asked if they were going to Mayur Vihar Metro, they weren't.<br />
<br />
<i>"Hamko jana Noida hai, warna le chalte" </i><br />
( I am actually going towards Noida, otherwise, I would have carried you)<br />
<br />
<i>"Jana to mujhe bhi Noida hai waise" </i><br />
(I need to go to Noida too)<br />
<br />
<i>"Main sector 8 tak chorr sakta hu" </i><br />
(I can drop you till sector 8)<br />
<br />
I sat in his rickshaw, and we waited for another 5 minutes, an old lady probably in her 80s came and started looking at the rickshaw. She walked as if every step took a lot of strain on her.<br />
<br />
<i>"Kaha jaogi amma?"</i> he asked,<br />
(Where do you want to go mother?)<br />
<br />
<i>"Jaana to yahi thoda aage hai, 14 ke saamne" </i><br />
(A little bit ahead, near 14)<br />
<br />
<i>"5 rupaye dedo, le chalta hu" </i><br />
(Give me 5 Rupees, I'll take you)<br />
<br />
<i>"Paise to nahi hai beta, isiliye to pucha nahi"</i><br />
(I don't have any money, hence I didn't ask) .<br />
<br />
The driver says nothing and the old lady continues to walk.<br />
He continues to look at her.<br />
<br />
No other passengers come, he moves and stops beside the old lady, who at this point has stopped to take some rest, only after a few meters. He asks her to sit.<br />
<br />
<i>"Par paise nahi hai mere paas!"</i><br />
( But I don't have any money )<br />
<br />
<i>"Koi nahi amma baith jao" </i><br />
(No problem mother, sit)<br />
<br />
she tries to get on to the rickshaw but her feet don't seem to rise even as high as the pedestal of the e-rickshaw.<br />
<br />
I and get down and help her.<br />
<br />
<i>"Dua dungi tumko" </i><br />
(I'll pray well for you)<br />
<br />
We start moving, and the old woman looks like she is sleeping, After only a couple of minutes we stop right where she said she had to go.<br />
<br />
We help her to get down.<br />
<br />
<i>"Allah Talah tumhari sarri iccha puri kare" </i><br />
(May god fulfill all your wishes)<br />
<br />
<i>"Suno amma, paani peeti ho na jo, usko ubal ke piya karo" </i><br />
( Mother, drink your water only after boiling)<br />
<br />
and we start moving again, he keeps smiling and in another 5 minutes, we reach my stop.<br />
<br />
I get down and catch another e-rickshaw for Metro.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>Scene 2:</b></h3>
<br />
Me and three other people sit in the e-rickshaw that moves towards sector 15 metro.<br />
<br />
As soon as the e-rickhshaw gathers speed a biker take a rash U-turn, the e-rickshaw driver pushes the brakes hard and barely avoids a collision. The driver curses under his breath, I am unable to control shout.<br />
<br />
"<i>Dhang se chalaya kar chutiye" </i><br />
( Driver well , asshole)<br />
<br />
The biker takes another turn aggressively moves towards the e-rickshaw and starts abusing me.<br />
<br />
<i>"Bhaag ja yaha se, galti teri hai hai" </i><br />
(move away, it is your fault)<br />
another passenger shouts at him.<br />
<br />
He still rides aggressively beside the e-rickshaw staring at me. The driver stops the rickshaw and starts cursing him.<br />
<br />
<i>"Madarchod, na tune helmet pehna, upar se Chaudhry banke chalayega, fir koi bole dhange se chala, to chadega aur. gaadi thukti meri abhi" </i>( motherfucker, you neither wearing a helmet, and you're driving like you own the road, and when someone tells you to drive better, you get aggressive, my vehicle could have been damage had ai not applied brakes in time) he says in a single breath.<br />
<br />
He says in a single breath.<br />
<br />
A traffic cop passes by on his bike.<br />
<br />
<i>"Ruk police wale ko bulata hu, helmet kaha hai tera?"</i><br />
(Wait, let me call a cop, where is your helmet?)<br />
I shout after the support from other passengers. He throws in another abuse and rushes ahead.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Chutiye ke phatt gayi, char logo ko dekh ke" </i><br />
( Asshole got scared after seeing 4 of us)<br />
The other passenger says, and everyone laughs.<br />
<br />
and in a minute we reach my stop, and I get down.Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-5179052015554293362019-06-13T11:23:00.003+05:302019-06-13T11:35:58.314+05:30Delhi Drama Act 24: The Asshole. <div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXZuKck8a_B10FN0QwgybNdftk5U6B9MgC57ayA1p0pwpCurMLO6R-z48KmaZbboBlEUu-FAeNiTErqmxBME-iDHO9p9JdmVfltjqCgd2IVcnMLXkQVuZVQ0gFWJtVKOAfq3xD8j2DEM3/s1600/IMG_20190611_193830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXZuKck8a_B10FN0QwgybNdftk5U6B9MgC57ayA1p0pwpCurMLO6R-z48KmaZbboBlEUu-FAeNiTErqmxBME-iDHO9p9JdmVfltjqCgd2IVcnMLXkQVuZVQ0gFWJtVKOAfq3xD8j2DEM3/s640/IMG_20190611_193830.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I came late from work last night and today woke up late and tired, thankfully I was sane enough to do prep for lunch last evening, after the usual cleaning up and breakfast, I make my morning coffee ( it's cold in summers and hot in winters), but accidentally poured a bit too much coffee. The last time I had extra strong coffee, I had severe anxiety all day and, some random muscle twitching, against the common sense of having half of it, and putting the rest in the fridge, I drank it all, and as expected in 15 minutes the anxiety started.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I hurried up the shower and ran for a shared auto ( No cycling today because the body needs rest), I enter the metro station, stand as the first person on one of the yellow arrows to enter the metro, and within the next minute there two queues on both the yellow arrows. ( The yellow arrows are an indicator to enter the metro and the red arrows are an indicator to make space for people deboarding)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A man slightly shorter than me, looks like in his late 30s, wearing brown wayfarers, come and stands on the red arrows. Everyone in the queue stares at him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Excuse me, sir please line mein aa jaaiye" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Excuse me, sir please get in the queue)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Tu pehle chadh jaana, main baad mein chad jaunga" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(You board first, I'll board after you)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Sir, baaki sab log bhi khade hai line mein, aap line mein aao, ye utarne ke liye hai" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Everyone else is in the queue, you also get in the queue)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Abe, ikka dukka koi utragea" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(barely anyone will deboard)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Line mein fir bhi sab khade hai, aap bhi line mein aaiye" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Everyone is still in the queue, you please follow too)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"10 saal se jaa raha hu metro mein, zyada niyam na sikha" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( I have been traveling in the metro for 10 years, don't teach me the rules)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Main 15 saal se jaa raha hu" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( I have been traveling for 15 years)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Technically that was true, we got the metro in Calcutta in the 80s, and I first used it when I was a kid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Umar kya hai teri?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( How old are you?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"500" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( 500 years)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Mental hai kya? Piche hi pad gaya" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( Are you mental? )</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Tu chutiya hai kya? Sunta hi nahi?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( Are you an asshole? )</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Helloo, ye kya language hai, chutiya kaise bola, mind your language" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( What kind of a language are you using? mind your language)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Tu na mujhe khilata pilata hai, na salary deta hai, suna mat zyada" He continues. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( You don't feed me, you don't pay me, don't tell me what to do)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At this point, I lose my cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Agar khilata pilata, ya salary deta to sharam ke maare metro ke aage fenk deta" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(If I way feeding your paying you, I'd have thrown you in front of the metro)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Fir andar jaata 10 saal ke liye" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( The you'd be in prison for 10 years)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Duniya se ek chutiya kam karke jata, koi gam nahi hota"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( After removing one asshole from the world, no issue at all)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He then starts arguing about how a lot of other people in front of other doors are standing the same way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Wo sab chutiye hai, par you are breaking my queue"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(They too are assholes, but you're the one blocking my queue)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Main sahi jagah khada hu" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(I am standing in the right place)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Aapko utarna hai metro se? wrong side dekh rahe ho"</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(You want to deboard the metro? You're facing the wrong direction?)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He says something I didn't listen, I just repeat the above every time over his voice.
</span>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The metro arrives, all the queues converge into one single queue, I move in front of a gate that allows me to quickly change at the next interchange, put in my headphones, and start a calming song.</span></span></div>
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Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-42328731891867939382018-12-23T16:02:00.000+05:302018-12-23T16:02:00.405+05:30मिडिल क्लास<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpi_-Ub9ZyU_tWvFxSQWiCRaKDem-SWiuSjJxViqYrudOmuOj7lOlZHn42TAlFw0juftKS3QsYyA8YZe41MZmr1-HNp1hnI819KLGJQBMeo__h7mQhjJftpM4w_fiWfw_MY6v06ygoObtf/s1600/46988089_2373810322690704_325132957922328649_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="937" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpi_-Ub9ZyU_tWvFxSQWiCRaKDem-SWiuSjJxViqYrudOmuOj7lOlZHn42TAlFw0juftKS3QsYyA8YZe41MZmr1-HNp1hnI819KLGJQBMeo__h7mQhjJftpM4w_fiWfw_MY6v06ygoObtf/s640/46988089_2373810322690704_325132957922328649_n.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">मिडिल क्लास</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ना इधर के,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ना उधर के,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">बस अधर में लटक रहे है।</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ना लोन वेवर,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ना बैंकरप्सी डिक्लेरेशन,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">बस ईएमआई भर रहे है।</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">महँगाई की मार में,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">सामाजिक कतार में,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">बस उम्मीदों से लड़ रहे है।</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">हाल पूछ लीजिये कभी भी,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">हंस कर कह देंगे,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">बस चल रहे है।</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In picture: Crowded Streets of Varanasi.</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India25.3176452 82.97391440000001225.0879947 82.651190900000017 25.547295700000003 83.296637900000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-22304819277384596992018-12-07T12:27:00.000+05:302020-05-30T13:11:06.445+05:30जीवन<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foggy winter mornings, Varanasi</td></tr>
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जीवन</div>
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कश्ती पर बैठे कुछ ज्ञानी<br />
ज्ञान की बाते करने लगे।</div>
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एक कहने लगे,<br />
जीवन एक संगीत है,<br />
गाते चलो, गुनगुनाते चलो।</div>
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दूजे कहने लगे,<br />
जीवन एक कहानी है,<br />
पढ़ते चलो, पढ़ाते चलो।</div>
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लहर आयी,<br />
कश्ती हिली,<br />
शोर मचा।</div>
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मल्लाह बोला,<br />
जीवन ये कश्ती है,<br />
पकड़े रहो।</div>
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Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com1Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India25.3176452 82.97391440000001225.0879947 82.651190900000017 25.547295700000003 83.296637900000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-20566709273050849672018-12-06T18:02:00.000+05:302018-12-06T18:23:25.997+05:30फुर्सत<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A himalyan beautiful rosefinch resting in a village near Manali</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />फुर्सत</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">उड़ते उड़ते थक गया हु,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">फुर्सत किस चिड़िया का नाम है?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ये तो बस दो पल का विश्राम है,</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />फिर जल्दी पर बिखेरूँगा,<br />वो कहते है ना,<br />आराम हराम है।</span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India32.2396325 77.1887145000000632.18591 77.108033500000062 32.293355 77.269395500000059tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-30671687712767070512018-12-05T14:22:00.000+05:302018-12-05T14:22:15.813+05:30Amritsar Diary, Day 3<br />
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Amritsar Day 3.</div>
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I woke up late, around 9:30, there was a queue for the shower, just hostel things, while I waited for my turn to shower, a couple of Australian guys were laughing in a corner on how they got scammed while buying a powerbank, one of them had a powerbank with it's cover on one side removed. The power bank har clay putty filled in, and a couple of small batteries in it to make a sale. The guy bought for 250 Rs for a claim of 32000 MaH. 250 Rs is too good a price<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><span> </span>for a story to tell.</span></div>
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After my shower and breakfast, I walked 3 kilometers to Maharaja Ranjit Singh's museum, which was supposed to be at his summer palace. The palace was under renovation, and I was told that the museum has been moved to panorama, I walked towards the direction I was told ( going with the advice of maps not being suitable for Amritsar) and I got lost in a park, I think I took a wrong turn somewhere, after asking a couple of cops and not getting a sufficient answer, I gave up and came back to Hall Road, where I had a Kulcha for lunch and booked a open roof bus to Wagah border.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mile Marker for Lahore, Pakistan at Wagah Border. </td></tr>
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I was closest to an international border today, a few metres from a fence on whose otherside I could see farms, nothing different from farms on this side of the fence, the ceremony was a noisy affair with a lot of Bollywood music and an a excited BSF jawan taking the role of emcee, and directing the crowd shout at the top of the voice towards the otherside. A few people were invited to dance, and a few to run around a 20 metre stretch with the tricolor in their hand.</div>
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Fun fact, India erected a 360 Feet tall post to Hoist a giant Indian flag, in retaliation Pakistan hoisted a 400 feet tall post to hoist a Pakistani flag, two of the tallest flag posts now are only a few 100 metres from each other.</div>
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Using my zoom lens, I could see bits and pieces of what was going on the other side, the crowd shouting similar chants, people buying chips, and icecreams from vendors, and waving tiny plastic flags. The scenery was eerily similar to the Indian side.</div>
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At the end of the ceremony, I walked back to my bus, the open roof bus feels like a bad idea when coming back, with heavy traffic and cold winds, and dust from the under construction roads making things difficult.</div>
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As soon as the bus reached hall road, I had a hot cup of tea, and a couple or kulchas for dinner, and ran to the hostel to pick my backpack, I rushed to the vageuly described private bus stand, losing my way, and then giving up and taking an auto and reaching the bus stand right in the nick of time after multiple calls from the conductor.</div>
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As I end this, I am on my way to Delhi, via GT Road which extends till my house in Calcutta.</div>
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Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0Wagah, Hardo Rattan, Punjab 143108, India31.604757 74.5741359999999536.0827224999999991 33.265541999999954 57.126791499999996 115.88272999999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-86162876805426362482018-12-02T20:28:00.000+05:302018-12-02T20:29:30.904+05:30Amritsar Diary, Day 2<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
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Amritsar day 2</div>
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I woke up early again today, made another attempt at a time-lapse for sunrise, I was late again, though I did make one for moon-set, and then went back for slumber.</div>
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By the time woke up again the sun was over the head, though it wasn't hot. Today's agenda was to cover the city, I walked towards hall road, stopped for a cup of chai and a parantha at a stall. .</div>
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The partition museum at the end of hall road, located inside the town hall building is a must visit. Rarely are museums this detailed and dedicated, with audio and video interviews, it carries the pain of partition in each and every exhibit and often succeeds in moistening your eyes.</div>
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After a good unexpected 3 hours at the museum, I walked to Gobindgarh Fort, though via the narrow market lanes of old Amritsar, following google maps I almost entered someone's backyard, and ended up with a lecture on how google maps doesn't work in small towns like Amritsar and is only apt for countries like US/Canada.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Volunteers feeding people during <i>langarseva</i>, Golden Temple, Amritsar</td></tr>
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Gobindgarh fort was disappointing, no camera are allowed inside, they aren't needed either, the fort complex is less maintained as a historical heritage and has more of a Mall/Picnic spot feel, with restaurants, shopping plazas, and a couple of poorly maintained museums ( Though there was an interesting turban museum, with detailed dioramas and descriptions), there is also a 7D movie about Maharajah Ranjit Singhji, which is followed by a 7D movie about a boy and his pet cat using a jet pack to reach school via sewers and skyscrapers. I used the 3 hours I was here to get some rest for my legs.</div>
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Next on stop was Durgiana Temple, a Hindu shrine with design similar to Golden Temple ( a gold plated temple in the middle of a lake and a walkway on the sides of the lake), I roamed around for a while in the temple complex and then walked back to the hostel, took some rest till evening.</div>
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For dinner I walked towards hall road, and walked through a lot of famous dhabas, but seeing the crowd they had, I entered the Golden Temple and went for Langar. The crowd this time was twice the size of what I had seen yesterday, the volunteers were working twice in number and were working harder too.</div>
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During my way back to Hostel, I stopped for some hot flavoured milk and a choco-dipped softie, and went straight to bed.</div>
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Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0Amritsar, Punjab, India31.6339793 74.87226420000001831.5258238 74.71090270000002 31.7421348 75.033625700000016tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-38305650218377538722018-11-29T14:22:00.001+05:302018-11-29T14:22:21.775+05:30Amritsar Diary, Day 1. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A last minute decision to not be at home for 3 straight days, got me on a Punjab Roadways bus to Amritsar, I have been trying to be here for a year now,but the trains never have seats on a weekend. This being a long weekend, the case was similar, I moved to buses.</span></span></div>
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After a night of only vague attempts at sleeping in a surprisingly cold Volvo, I got down at Amritsar at 5:30AM, and<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> walked towards my hostel a distance of about 1.5 kilometers. I wouldn't get a bed till 1PM, a usual practice at all Dorms/hostels, and since I am traveling at my lightest, I am not carrying anything warm except a down jacket.</span></div>
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The rooftop common area had good beds to sleep, but the open nature and the windy weather made it a tough place to sleep, I discarded the idea altogether and went on to make a time-lapse of sun rise, which I'd have to do again because the interval was too small between each shot in this one.</div>
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Around 8 AM I took a shower and left for the Harmandir Sahib, stopping for a Kulcha and Lassi for breakfast.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Candles lit for Gurupurab</td></tr>
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Harmandir Sahib, better known as Golden Temple is one of the holiest places of Sikhism, and today being Gurpurab( Guru Nanak's Birthday) is full of colorful people from all over, a lot of them are volunteering, it's amazing to see a place so big, well maintained and managed when majority of its workforce is voluntary.</div>
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After walking a couple of rounds along the Holy Lake, I went for Langar, and then sat in one of the corners, and fell asleep. When I woke up, I had been asleep for 40 minutes in a public place! I came back to my hostel slept for another 3 hours and woke up by the sound of fireworks from the temple. A lot of people had gathered on their rooftops to watch them.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harmandir Sahib on Gurupurab</td></tr>
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When I went back to the temple, I went via Jallianwala Bagh, a memorial of the Massacre committed by General Dyer, and now a memorial of random names on walls, mostly lovers from the country.</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kl_bSEJLtiU/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kl_bSEJLtiU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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The temple is even more beautiful at night with shining lights all around, and a candles and lamps on the side of the lake adding to the glory.<br /><br /></div>
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I later walked to <i>Kesar da Dhaba,</i> apparently the best place for dinner in Amritsar, lost in crowded narrow by-lanes, it took me 15 minutes to get inside, 30 more to get a seat, and then another 30 to get a meal, a delicious<i> parantha thali</i> with <i>daal fry, chole, and raita</i>, and two parathas dipped in ghee, a bit on the expensive side though. I walked back to my hostel, and at time of writing this my total walking for the day is 14.75 kilometres, I'll hopefully get up early to get the sunrise timelapse, and the cover the rest of the city tomorrow.</div>
</span></span></span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-32390734759341949952018-11-14T16:59:00.002+05:302019-06-19T23:33:40.022+05:30Delhi Drama: Act 23, Ticket Please.<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Delhi Drama Act 23</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">(Read full for the twist at the end)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I get out of the airport and wait for the airport shuttle bus to Magenta Line metro station, it makes life easier as I don't have to go through the long process of changing the metro at New Delhi and again at Rajiv Chowk.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The shuttle arrives, I get in, a guy with a bag half my size tries to pick his bag up, and ends up braking the handle, the younger of the two conductors shouts at him to hurry up and the guy pushes the bag into the bus using all his force and a long grunt. The bus is packed and the the younger conductor closes the door, telling other people to wait for the next shuttle, a family of three shouts to hurry up to Terminal 2, or they'll miss their flight. The conductor shouts back that they are going as fast as they can.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">T2 arrives, the shouting family gets down and runs with their trolley's to the departure gate, a few more people get in, querying if this will go to the metro, the younger conductor nods and they get in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The older conductor, a short thin old man with glasses which make his eyes look zoomed in, comes to the middle of the bus and starts asking for transfer coupons ( For connecting flight transfers the service is free) or tickets.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">A middle aged man with a typical balding hairline and a tight blue shirt shows his boarding pass, followed by another three people, the conductor asks for coupon,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"What coupon?</i>", </span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The bald middle aged man shouts.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The conductor says that, the doesn't see boarding passes, they to collect coupons by showing tickets to the counter on the arrival lounge and he issues a coupon, which he collects, otherwise there is a ticket of 25 Rs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"Nobody told us this, we talked at the counter and we were told that this a free service to other airports" </i>The bald middle aged man shouts louder.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"Stop the bus and call 100"</i> the old conductor shouts, </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"Yes, call 100"</i>, the bald middle aged man shouts too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The younger conductor moves towards them, asks what's going on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The old conductor agitated explains everything.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The bald middle aged man is still shouting, at this point he asks for a slip saying that he was charged for ticket despite having a boarding pass, and goes on to threat that he'll file a complaint, and even go to consumer court if he has too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"Go where ever you want, but you won't go free in my bus"</i> The old conductor shouts back.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The younger conductor says that if they have a ticket they can talk to the coupon guy on T1 and get a coupon and give to the old conductor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"I either need a coupon or a ticket to be purchased"</i> says the old conductor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The bald middle aged man agrees to this solution, and the old conductor moves ahead for other tickets, I get my ticket, and soon the metro station arrives, I get down.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I have been at the metro station for 15 minutes now, the metro is 3 minutes away, I see the bald middle aged man, and his companion on the metro station.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I walk up to them</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"Sir, if you had to come to the metro, you fought for no reason" </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I assume he'd go aggressive, he just stares at me, and asks for a reason</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I explain to him that the free service is only for connecting flight transfers, and you have to collect a coupon, and then you give it to the conductor, otherwise you buy a ticket, I show him my ticket.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>"But nobody told us this"</i> He says in a low pitch.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The metro arrives, we get into different coaches.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ticket you need to buy in case, you haven't got the coupon.</td></tr>
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Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-34748579928364040912018-10-26T18:03:00.000+05:302018-10-26T18:03:08.292+05:30Cycling To Spiti, Day 12, Chattru to Manali.<br />
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Distance Ridden: 87 Kilometers</div>
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Eeco Friendly. </div>
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We woke up around 6:30, the plan was to start at 7 but then when in the hills the plan is usually the first thing to go for a toss. We had a breakfast of Paranthas and chai, did some hunting around for a proper place to poop, settled our dues, I eventually started to around 8. I was sure Eeco would be following me soon, they have been my pseudo-support group for the last three days.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhW9wz24_evqhOyaeGWhNEqfcuKvHlYSs6H7_gH7RJ8r5e2Qj-0R-caGuUeTnbJsrtTySqqkltDWo4mm-51BSKJSaTHFo4esXjqp66jLqEHJYjxFrZY9TT5djT_mZa0co8GftVOFT-oOJD/s1600/IMG_20180622_202527_988.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhW9wz24_evqhOyaeGWhNEqfcuKvHlYSs6H7_gH7RJ8r5e2Qj-0R-caGuUeTnbJsrtTySqqkltDWo4mm-51BSKJSaTHFo4esXjqp66jLqEHJYjxFrZY9TT5djT_mZa0co8GftVOFT-oOJD/s640/IMG_20180622_202527_988.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rest stop near Gramphu</td></tr>
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About 4 kilometers later, I was stopped by a group of bikers, they had a flat but no puncture kit, I shared a few puncture patches and some solution and moved ahead.</div>
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The eeco crossed me after 3 odd kilometers, and I met them again after 10 kilometers, Ravinder told me that there was a landslide ahead, and I should wait; He offered me some fruits, I felt there was no need and I had fuel till rohtang. I waved at people as they laughed and crossed the JCB machine working on fixing the road with ease.</div>
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An hour and 10 kilometers later all the vehicles crossed me, except the eeco, they met me after another hour, this time I ate some fruits as I figured that it was going to be a steep climb. After a few pictures and conversations later, we left. I didn't see them for the rest of the day.</div>
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I climbed for the next 90 minutes and reached the top of snowless Rohtang. It was quite funny to see people wearing ski suits in a lush green surrounding, and crowding a microscopic patch of snow. I didn't stop at Rohtang and made my way to the downhill ride, I was hoping to complete the downhill ride in 90 minutes.</div>
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I stopped at Marhi after descending 18 Kilometers in 25 minutes, and then got stuck in a never ending traffic jam.</div>
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My ears, eyes, and nose had this irritation from all the honking, pollution, and people. It took another two hours to come down, and went straight to my friends hostel, helped him manage it for two days, and now I am in a bus back to delhi with visuals I'll never forget.</div>
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Total Distance ridden: 740 Kilometers</div>
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Days: 12</div>
</span></span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India32.2396325 77.1887145000000632.18591 77.108033500000062 32.293355 77.269395500000059tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-14545593922037028342018-10-20T23:58:00.000+05:302019-06-19T23:33:14.264+05:30Delhi Drama Act 22, The Singer. <div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: justify;">
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"Chattarpur Metro?"</div>
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"60 Rs"</div>
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I get in, a minute later the driver starts a devotional song on his phone, the lyrics and the music are lost in the noise of the auto and the traffic.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vMz8JbPo_XcySq34c1XoGlo6EA46cI0LvLhbh5BQRY_d5oDbhSVzAPQpbevbMvr4VqnWNhHLNA18qjRPXywHb1JXVQg_zDbvRwYf_WRqhtwsZQ_iLdRM2_-YVB7kfIH2shXhkobDZYDX/s1600/IMG_20181020_185927_812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vMz8JbPo_XcySq34c1XoGlo6EA46cI0LvLhbh5BQRY_d5oDbhSVzAPQpbevbMvr4VqnWNhHLNA18qjRPXywHb1JXVQg_zDbvRwYf_WRqhtwsZQ_iLdRM2_-YVB7kfIH2shXhkobDZYDX/s400/IMG_20181020_185927_812.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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"I have sang and written this myself", he says loudly.</div>
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"What's that?"</div>
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"I have written and sung this", he repeats.</div>
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"The song which is playing on your phone?" I ask.</div>
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"Yes! It is a bit out of key because I got nervous, and hungry just before the recording, plus the studio guys weren't into it much"</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Can I hear it up close?" I say pointing to the phone.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Sure, he restarts the song and hands me his phone"</span></div>
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I hear an extremely modified popular track, and his autotuned voice, he is indeed out of key. The thumbnail has him in a devotional attire.</div>
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"Have you put this on youtube?" I ask.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbrWzPIh3Q09OgGxxW2ryE_65u0tUUmAOoqdCpcmJeqMSiH8rnJwgljBoUSRABX7e1fkwgojwj8ofnnuLK7N9F7PL2fAYz-qCichevOmjEADdlpR5RJeKZa3OxNFAHYRduVGiVHM2NdbFb/s1600/IMG_20181020_185927_814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbrWzPIh3Q09OgGxxW2ryE_65u0tUUmAOoqdCpcmJeqMSiH8rnJwgljBoUSRABX7e1fkwgojwj8ofnnuLK7N9F7PL2fAYz-qCichevOmjEADdlpR5RJeKZa3OxNFAHYRduVGiVHM2NdbFb/s400/IMG_20181020_185927_814.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Yes I did! Search for KBC Services Vijey, that's V I J E Y, the studio guys put my name wrong"<br />
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I search and see two videos with his description, I add them to my watch later list.</div>
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"Sir, do a like and comment please"</div>
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I oblige.</div>
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"You should get a harmonica/synthesiser and make your own music, these studio people didn't do a very good job" I say.</div>
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"Like the one they have in an orchestra?"</div>
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"Exactly, but not as expensive, maybe a second hand one with good features" I suggest.</div>
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"How will I create my own videos on it?"</div>
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"Simply using the front camera of your phone, you play and you sing while the camera records, and then you upload"</div>
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"That sounds brilliant!"</div>
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The second song starts, another heavily modified version of popular tracks, but with a lot more beats against synth.</div>
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"This one went a bit better, I was more confident after recording the first one" He laughs.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We reach Chattarpur Metro, h</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">e takes out a piece of paper with words written in hindi, there are a lot of cuts.</span></div>
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"This is a bit crude, but this is what gets maximum views, tell me how this sounds"</div>
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He goes on and recites the lyrics like a poem, with rhymes thrown in just for the sake of it, then looks at me.</div>
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"I think the rhyming is a bit off on this, maybe because this out of music"</div>
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He nods.</div>
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I give him a 100 rupees note, he starts looking for change.</div>
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"I'll buy a new synthesiser, and learn and make original music", he says while he gives me my change back, I smile, and ask him if I can write about him on my blog</div>
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"Do add the links to the videos" He says laughing.</div>
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I laugh and move to the Metro Station.<br />
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Song 1: <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FlICv6iPIER8%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0hMRtbuhfAClecIGRTb-d9MwVLTtr43zAj1Ru7yO9YfHmzYkYG3o5oz30&h=AT3sFgh1EYNgr7o_UzOoELTF6Vk7jMxUJ0ucZt3N2taBvzveyoUqnCytMeZmvLzf0PhnRXURg6hl6QgVsnVoEGEVH0b9ZmwwlrCdVjEJWX-8lOKBHioMzjJCQG7VxKXvW-IikqMMOoF_dqsNAdWfCDFE" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/lICv6iPIER8</a></div>
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Song 2: <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FYaz6TloJbAg%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2vlMlcyvrmnQ4e_6w3EZuP8BgXilZ2zIh1N2SwOBgtCbvdlF7AZbJvtaY&h=AT1zhc6g-vpS6ZNUSGft9Dqy9-oIwofsx7f9CbmEeWMeqS9QUawDj9HD46cDBXIpmts0VQlvTG2CIj841OVgV8Ly2C27IRVxCaJSTEjpk_sj25XJ8fS5Y1pkBtz1D49Zy2yPC2biYpQrdBHUlkiGB5d2" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Yaz6TloJbAg</a></div>
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Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040000121328099584.post-66570267147065398772018-10-15T14:10:00.000+05:302018-10-15T14:10:53.986+05:30Cycling To Spiti, Day 11, Chandrataal to Chattru<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Day 11, Chandrataal To Chattru. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Distance ridden: 56 kilometers. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Taal - Nalas - Bump</span></div>
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After a night of turning and twisting around for warmth, I could hear people talking outside the camp. Everyone else was up around 5, me and Ravinder woke up around 6, Avinash and Sowmya had to reach manali today as they had to pack their bike and ship it back to Bangalore, I had to leave for Manali too, a 130 kilometer stretch of what people call roads.</div>
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Everyone else left in the Eeco around 6:30 for the lake, they'd drive the 4 kilometers to the parking site and hike for another kilometer, I had to pack all my stuff as the freezing weather had finally allowed me to empty them and wear all my clothes and use the sleeping bag I had spent so much money on.</div>
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I cycled to the lake, a mild climb and then a milder trail to ride on. When I reached the lake there was no one else except the Eeco people ( I prefer calling them Eeco-friends now), Avinash clicked few pictures of me on demand while I was on top of the hill. As I reached down, Avinash and Sowmya prepared to leave, while Monu and Aradhya left to get some water and cigs to smoke in the cold.</div>
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My helmet had a thin sheet of ice when I woke up, and as I rode it melted and dripped onto my face as if I was sweating. After spending a few hours around the lake I rode back to the camping site, and started a ride towards Manali. After crossing the most terrible of "roads" and a few ice cold "nalas", and a lunch at Batal, I reached Chattru around 6 and decided to stop.</div>
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As I talked to the Dhaba owner about accommodation, I surprisingly saw the Eeco again, I wasn't expecting it to make it till here.</div>
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I had to hike for about 2 kilometers via hilly farms and make a couple of satellite calls while the owner creepily stared at me, he laughed when no one in ky family picked up the call. It had been 3 days of no connectivity and I was pretty sure they thought I was dead. The entire thing of walking to a std booth and paying ridiculous amount to pay for a minute of talking made me feel like I was still in the 90s.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since it was our last day, we camped again and decided to splurge on dhaba food, instead of cooking as we all were tired.</span></div>
</span></span>Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10969562259849324446noreply@blogger.com0Chandra Taal, Himachal Pradesh 17514032.4823581 77.61566419999996932.4689636 77.595494199999976 32.495752599999996 77.635834199999962