Rajiv Arvind

Our journey started with a trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. Hot, humid and sticky, we found our way through the urchins, touts and roads to the Taj Mahal after a 4-hour drive from Gurgaon. There is much to appreciate of the Taj Mahal if you are an architect. If you are an ordinary tourist, you just gasp in amazement at the fact that this structural marvel was built centuries ago and still stands perfectly tall, while various real estate builders in and around India try to find the secret ratio of cement to sand mixture.

At Delhi, a visit to Connaught Place or CP as it is popularly known, and travelling in the Delhi Metro from Rajiv Gandhi Chowk Station to Karol Bagh was an experience in itself. The metro trains are clean unlike what we see in Mumbai and is proof of the fact that given the opportunity and taught the discipline, we can actually keep a place clean. Kudos to Mr. Erapalli Sreedharan who is in charge of the Delhi Metro. He has a big challenge on hands to get the new routes from Gurgaon to New Delhi ready before the Common Wealth games for now.

There isn’t much to speak about the Delhi airport in its current state. But, if Sheila Dixit has her way, the Delhi Metro, Tata Marcopolo buses for local commuting, the Delhi International airport and more should be in complete shape by the Common Wealth Games in 2010.

Next stop - Leh. Our flight to Leh was in the wee hours of morning from Delhi. There is ample security on the Del-Leh sector and there is the process of “identifying your baggage” even after check-in to ensure that they board the bags onto the flight.

The view from the aeroplane as you reach the destination (Leh) is simply breath-taking. We had 60% foreigners travelling on board with about 40% Indians, and all of us were equally astonished by the view that Leh provided us. The air strip is the world’s 2^nd highest air strip (or so we are told) at 11,500 feet height above sea-level. At the Hotel, I was excited to just take a look around the place, but I was met with a stern “Don’t get excited, you are about 3,200 meters or 11,500 feet above sea-level. Take some rest and don’t take a bath”, from the Hotel owner. The latter we were OK with, since the temperature was hovering around 18^o Celsius. We spent the rest of the day sleeping, lazing and strolling around the market place at Leh. 

A couple of things strike you immediately about the place - most of the Ladhakis follow the Tibetan tradition and religion and two - the people are friendly, helpful and nature & peace-loving. “Julley” (pron: Julay) is a word used as a form of greeting at Ladakh. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the person across the road, you still smile and greet so. The shopkeepers are always ready to make a quick buck of the tourists around the place (foreigners and Indians alike); so if you aren’t sharp at bargaining, you better not shop around this place.

Sarita experienced the first signs of altitude sickness (locally and commonly termed as ‘hi-alti’) when she felt dizzy for a few minutes. We had read that high altitudes could affect a person differently – nausea for some, dizziness for some, bleeding through the nose for some, and a weight in the head for some – the latter was what we were in for, for the next 4 days or so.

We visited a couple of monasteries on Day 2 of arrival along with a tour of the Leh Palace. Now, Sarita and I are not the kind of people who like monuments and history too much. We were more of the geographical kinds, so while the monasteries and the palace were appreciated by our foreigner friends alongside us, we seemed to just want to get away from the sun and go back to the hotel.

A word about the weather, which is the most unusual here. Ladakh is like a small bowl surrounded by the mountains and falls in the rain shadow region. So, it barely gets any rainfall in the entire year. It goes under by snow from Oct-Nov onwards through February, when the snow gradually starts to melt. The tourist attraction is during the summer months of June-September. The weather is pretty hot during the day if you are right in the way of the sun, but you will have cold winds blowing as well. So, while you may not break into a sweat and may not get tired, you are sure to get a sun tan or a heat stroke, if you spend too much time in the sun (and if you are not used to it).

Next day, we left early for Pangong Lake, which is around 150 km from Leh and about 4-5 hours drive from Leh. You have to get across Chang La Pass (the world’s 3^rd highest pass at 17,800 feet) and a naala called “pagla naala” to get there. The story goes that this seemingly harmless and small stream suddenly seems to come alive and has water gushing through it rapidly at times during the day, which makes it difficult to cross. There is nothing pagla about this actually. As the sun gets harsher towards noon, the snow in the mountain starts melting and the little stream starts developing into a rather rough water bed.

The lake itself (Pangong) is an awesome expanse of blue water with two-thirds in Tibet and a third in India. The sky cannot get bluer here and the water complements the sky with its own hues of blue. It is so peaceful and calming out here that the one hour we spent out here made our 5-hour drive worth it. It was soon time to turn back, before pagla naala got in action and it became difficult for us to cross the rough river.  But, not before we promised M/s Pangong that we would be back here soon, and this time for an overnight camping experience.

Day 3 was action in the form of trekking. We knew it would be hard. What we didn’t know was that it would be hard as hell! Our trek guide, Rinchen, mentioned that the first base of the trek was 7 km up and if we were ok we could proceed further through another steep 3 km. I was the eternal optimist here and said, hey, we need to go up 10 km! So off we went, watching wild asses, dzos (a cross between a yak and a cow) and horses carrying trekkers’ material up the heights. Trekking is the main adventure sport here. Foreigners visit Ladakh to do 3 / 7 / 10 day treks where you walk for 5-6 hours in a day and camp overnight. So while we puffed and panted our way up the steep and rocky mountain, there were others who would just walk past us calmly. Apart from the steepness that you encounter, the other challenge is the lack of oxygen at those heights. You tend to breathe heavily and the harsh sunlight and the cold weather are all unassuming evils that you face as a trekker. It took us 3 hours (normally a 2 hour trek) to get to the 7 km base. And all my tall claims of going for another 3 km just vanished away quietly. After a good hour’s rest and some lunch, it was time to turn back. This time it took us just an hour and a half to get back. Tired as hell when we reached back at the hotel and with massive headaches due to the weather and hi-alti, it took us the night to recover for our next day’s expedition.

Day 4 and we were looking zonked with heavy legs and weary eyes; but we were up for the next challenge – river rafting. I thought this one would be easy. I assumed that we would have a main rower and my wife and me could just laze and enjoy while he/she rowed. We were to start at a place called “Phe” travel through the Indus River, pass the point where the Indus meets the Zanskar River and continue for around 25 kms till our last point – “Nimmo”. At Phe, realisation dawned that WE were the rowers - 7 in a raft plus the main rower/guide.  We had 3 Italians and a couple from Denmark for company apart from the main guide or mentor. The guide taught us the basics of rowing and the various commands of rafting which we were to follow for the next 3-4 hours. It was amazing fun and the best experience we had at Ladakh. The rapids that we had to encounter along the way were quite a thrilling experience. It was topped by some amazing Indian lunch arranged by the adventure tour operator at Nimmo, which was a perfect end to a most enjoyable event of a lifetime.

Day 5 was about visiting the world’s highest motorable road and about some pain in the hands after much rowing the previous day. Khardong La Pass is 39 kms from Leh, and while that may sound pretty close, it’s a steep 2 hour climb up the mountains. We were tired by day 5, but couldn’t help, but, get some hot Maggie made for us up at the army canteen at 18,380 feet. A few photos later we were back to base camp at our hotel reminiscing the past 6 days of our travel. We had an early morning flight to catch back to Delhi and later, an evening flight back home to Mumbai.

Ladakh is an experience of a lifetime if you love some adventure, nature, peace and quiet. We have promised ourselves that we will go back there someday. Till then, we carry forward the amazing memories of this wonderful marvel of nature.

We couldn’t help but, smile and put down some of the milestones that we encountered during our travel and stay at Ladakh. These are original lines written by the BRO (Border Roads Organisation) – the people who are in charge of creating and maintaining the roads in these areas.

·         I am curvaceous. Go Slow.

·         Peep peep. Don’t sleep.

·         You drive like hell and you’ll be there.

·         On my every curve, check nerve.

·         Better late than dead.

For one, they love money (who doesn't?!)
2. They love being on TV
3. They love parties
4. They love victories
5. They love people taking their interviews and mentioning their names on news channels & news prints.
6. They love mixing and mingling with other celebrities (read: cricketers)
7. They love making MORE MONEY!

 

Why the viewers love IPL...
1. They love celebrities (read: cricketers, filmstars and anybody who is hyped by the media)
2. They love music
3. They love cheerleaders
4. They like dancing
5. They don't like daily soaps
6. They have vacations
7. It gives them a reason to meet friends have a beer or 2.

8. IPL's the hottest topic of discussion amongst their peers, friends and colleagues

 

Er... by the way, the franchisees and viewers also love the game of cricket and the keen contest between bat and ball.

 

Coming soon... "Why the media loves to cover IPL" and not the "China Earthquake"
 

 

Yes, and so this other day, I was at this five-star hotel and brushed past a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who shares his birth date with me. Later, when a colleague apprised me about this very crucial peiece of information, I ran behind him to get an autograph and maybe a message saying we could celebrate our next birthday together. Alas! no, not Allahs! I didnt have a piece of paper or pen on me and felt rather ashamed to go to him and stand there without these 2 critical objects without which you cannot write.

 

But the fact that he was shorter than me and older than me gave me a lot of solace. Maybe next time I'll just trip him as he brushes past me and say, "Your footwork needs some improvement"!

It's been a long time since I blogged on cricket. And considering everyone is on the IPL bandwagon, I thought, I need to make my presence felt as well!

 

Everybody has their own views on IPL, but interestingly everybody who is against it and for it are all in some way or the other connected to the IPL - as a coach, a commentator, as the CEO of a frachise, as a marketer of the franchise, as the PR agent of the franchise, as the event manager and what not.

 

IPL is ensuring that everybody is making money.

 

But what will it do to International Cricket? After watching Ricky and Ishant in a team; I wonder whether it would take the fizz out of an international contest when Ishant bowls to Ricky Ponting. Thats the worry I have. I have nothing against IPL. Its fun to come home after work and watch a 20-20 game instead of a movie or a serial or a reality show. But I would never follow a franchise. More cricket is good, but if it will hurt international cricket, it is not good. That's my worry. I may be proved wrong. Only time will tell. Every body is waiting to do their analysis post the first season of IPL. I'll do mine after the Aussie tour to India and after watching Ishant bowl to Ricky. That's what will give me my answer.

 

 

Local train travel in Mumbai has Rajiv Arvind, product executive, Account Planning, Tata Infomedia, boogying away! 
 
We locals have another localite to contend with – the Mumbai local trains. Just the other day, I was gyrating in some pub in downtown Mumbai, and found a few inquisitive people very fascinated by some of the moves I made.

 

Well, these were just some of the steps I learnt when I started my journey into the dance alleys of Mumbai – the local trains. The approach to most of the local suburban or town stations in Mumbai, morning or evening, is chaos. The problem remains the same. Too many people and too little space. Obviously, everybody is always in a hurry. So when everybody’s rushing and there’s a space crunch, you pretty well make sure that your body is flexible enough to avoid crashing or bumping into anybody – a total no-no, however big the crowd is.

 

As I waited for my 7:50 local (nobody could ever be as accurate about time as our Mumbai local train time table), I notice an unusually big crowd at the platform. Trains were running late that day. It was already 8:24 and there was still no sign of the train. Finally at 8:26, I see my 7:50 local labouring into the station.

Getting into the train is the second hurdle. I immediately notice the restlessness around. Sarees being tucked tightly, bags being held firmer, fists clenched, and people getting ready for war – the war to get into the train. I take a deep breath and get ready for the push fight. And then it starts. A push here, a jostle there, a kick here, my bag somewhere else. And in a while I find myself still on the platform, unable to get in. Okay, who wanted to get into this crowded train anyways? There’s always another train on its way.

 

Enter the 7:56 local at 8:34, making its way slowly into the station. Sarees are tucked tightly, bags held firmer, fists clenched, and people are ready for the second war – a push here, a jostle there, a kick here, my bag somewhere else. The train’s started moving and I’m still out on the platform! Déjà vu? No, it just happened to me all over again.

 
I’ve had it with these trains and the crowd by now. I have decided to get into the next train, come what may. Sometimes you wonder how the platform can get so crowded in three to four minutes and then you think…one billion!

 

It’s the turn of the 8:01 to arrive on Platform No. 1 at 8:45, and the routine starts all over again. Sarees, bags, fists, but this time I dive into the train even before it stops. I’m happy for a split second until I realize the blurred feeling in front of me. I feel faint. I seem okay, but something is wrong. I wipe the sweat off my face only to realize why I felt the blurry feeling. My spectacles. They are missing!

 

Only God and I know how I spent the next two days travelling, working and journeying back home without my spectacles. But there’s one thing I am grateful to the Mumbai local trains for – a little push here, a little shove there, a knee bent here, stand on your toes, and you no longer need Shiamak Davar’s expertise. What you discover are innumerable dance steps and a way to a fit and healthy body. The local trains will always be my gym and my disco, and the approach to the stations will always be my warm up exercises.