Indian Railways as a viable sleeping dock In Dimapur, we ended up spending the night at the railway platform waiting room. The actual sleeping time was spent in a 3-tier AC compartment of Intercity Express between Dimapur and Guwahati. We reached Guwahati at around 5:10 am. It was dark outside unlike Kohima which receives the first … [Read more…]
An identity card can be used as a cutting tool In Kharagpur, the collage competitions had a strange rule. No cutting instruments were to be used. That included scissors, knives or identity cards. The last example of a cutting instrument made little sense until today. We felt hungry and the breakfast wasn’t ready at 8:00 am[1]. … [Read more…]
A really cold night indeed Yesterday was a very cold night in Kohima. The blankets provided by our Hotel (Galaxy) were insufficient. By 2:00 am in the night, the temperature had fallen to about 5 degrees[1]. There was a time I was shivering underneath the blanket even with my hoodie, tracks and socks on. We … [Read more…]
A short walk around Dimapur’s commercial area We took a small walk around the New Market and Hong Kong market area of Dimapur. The market area is just like any other small city. The shops give away the fact the Dimapur residents have good purchasing power as compared to their neighbours. There are roadside, nondescript … [Read more…]
On the move Staying in Shillong was expensive. We had already decided to move to Dimapur. There were a few buses that could take us from Shillong to Dimapur but we decided to forego them in favour of a more comfortable train journey from Guwahati. For that, we had to leave Shillong early. We bid … [Read more…]
How much mod can a Maruti 800 take? I had written earlier that Shillong and Sohra practically commutes in Maruti 800. Gowri Sankar pointed out that the following vehicle, which belonged to Heprit, is actually a Maruti 800!!! Tourist spots in Cherrapunjee (Sohra) There are quite a few tourist spots in Sohra. These are well maintained. The access … [Read more…]
It was too much exercise for my knees I have been trekking non-stop since Day 4. First it was from Tyrna to Nongriat, then from Nongriyat to “Paradise” and back, followed by a trek to caves and back and finally the ascension from Nongriat to Tyrna. My knees were killing me. I could feel the … [Read more…]
The roads were paved by their ancestors The valley has an amazing network of concrete and stone stairs that connect distant villages. Today’s trek took us through two villages. Our destination was a small network of caves. The mean elevation of the trekking route is 60 degrees with small burst of regions having elevation of … [Read more…]
3000 reps to failure? A nice hand drawn schematic map of Cherrapunjee was given to us by the backpacker’s hut owner, Haprit. One of the places was about 18 km from Sohra (local name of Cherrapunjee) and required a descent into the valley via concrete steps. Gowri Sankar joined us for this leg of the … [Read more…]
And you thought Maruti 800 was dead? The entire Shillong runs on Maruti 800. Refurbished. Repaired. Re-repaired. But they are Maruti 800s. It appeared to me that all the Maruti 800s that had been decommissioned by the factory and disowned by their owners, landed up on Butcher Road in Shillong, and started their new life … [Read more…]
