An overnight bus ride from Kodaikanal to Ooty The bus journey from Kodaikanal to Ooty wasn’t particularly a pleasant ride. As soon as the bus descended to Palani, the heat and humidity made us feel uncomfortable. To top it off, the bus stopped at at least 3 places for over 30 minutes each time. The … [Read more…]
Our hotel did not disappoint us with the breakfast. We checked out at 10:00 am. Prakash was late because he had gone to get permission for our visit to Berijam Lake and was stuck in the traffic. Meanwhile, I went around clicking some photographs. A note about Hotel Sierra: The hotel was a decent budget … [Read more…]
The unrestricted area of Palani Hills Forest We hired a car for the entire day to roam around the forest. Our driver Prakash kept calling this trip ‘one-way’. I realised later that the trip was a round one-way trip. Maybe that’s why he called it so. Since this is the tourist season and today being … [Read more…]
Yesterday, it took us 122 minutes to cover a distance of 16 kms from my home to silk board. By the time we reached our boarding point, we barely had 15 minutes to gulp down some dosas and board the bus. The bus was supposed to drop us at Kodaikanal at 6:00 am today. Thankfully, … [Read more…]
A lot of my friends and some colleagues have asked me how much my past trips cost. I do not have data from my North-East trip. Back then, I was piggybacking on Nandi and kept passive tab on the expenses. I had computed the cost of my Kerala trip after I had completed it. For … [Read more…]
Ruskin Bond vividly recalls his last outing with his father in the essay, Remember this Day. His father had come for a day to meet him at his boarding school in Shimla. They went around and had fun. Since I had recently visited that place, I tried to picture the places he describes in the … [Read more…]
Meeting a friend, lunch in Delhi and heading back home The HRTC bus I took was really efficient. It covered the on-ticket distance of 370 kms in 8 hours time, including two breaks of 25 minutes and 15 minutes respectively. It dropped me at ISBT Kashmere Gate at 5:30 am. Delhi was still covered in … [Read more…]
I bid goodbye to Krishna (momentarily) I woke up at 7:30 am and clicked this photograph of Shimla from my hotel window. The Sun wasn’t out yet. However, the temperature wasn’t as brutal as in Kasol. Krishnavatar Gupta, a.k.a. Krishna, got ready pretty early. He wanted to utilise the daytime as best as possible. We … [Read more…]
Getting from Kasol to Shimla One reason why I wanted to get down to Shimla was because it is easier to get to Delhi rather than from Kullu or even Mandi. I would be catching a bus tomorrow. When I left Kasol at 8:00 am, it was freezing cold. Not to mention, the Sun had … [Read more…]
A walk to Manikaran Manikaran, a religious and transportation hub, is about five kilometres from where I am staying. The easiest way to reach there is to catch any Westward bound bus from Kasol. Instead of taking a bus, I decided to walk the entire road. This is the same road that leads to Baba … [Read more…]
