Mes Secrets Inconnus

Just like the one below, my mom also has lot of such things. I would not figure out these things as a kid, but when I now see her doing such things to my lil one, I understand. This means – I am now mature

Summarized below using Mind maps

The last day on our epic Journey. This day was reserved for Shopping. But since we could not make it to Taj, I decided to show her the famous Akshardhama Temple.

While we spent a few hours at the temple, dad & mom were looking at the lil one. After we were back we again got back to shopping ways. This time around – Meena Bazar and Dilli 6.

After an exhausting shopping we boarded our flight back to Bangalore. By this time, my lil one refused to sleep and kept every one on the flight on their toes.In particular she managed to impress the air hostess who more or less stopped being host for other passengers while my lil one became their VIP .

The cool breeze of Bangalore… Nothing can beat that.

This was the day of Delhi Tour. We hired a local cab to take us around Delhi. While Agra was on our list, but we figured out that it would jeopardize our other plans. And also the fact that the Taj is shut every Firday.

So , we just picked a few places in New Delhi. New Delhi was not new to us. I have sight seen Delhi a couple of times. This one was primarily for Wifey. So to make it more interesting for her we visited – India Gate, Birla Mandir, Jantar Mantar, Kalkaji Temple & Red Fort. We winded the day with some shopping at Chandni Chowk.

All the while, we feared the delhi heat waves, but fortunate enough that it was cool.

This was a quite day. We were slated to travel back to New Delhi later in the noon. In the morning we visited Dad’s friend resort. he was a proud man showing around the resort which he has built. He has no doubt put in a lot of efforts even for the smallest item. While we had a guided tour of the resort, my lil one roamed around the resort not as though she owned them, but rather did not care who owned them. That’s my lil one!!!!

Later in the noon, after a good lunch we proceeded to New delhi in the express train. We reached New Delhi late evening and retired to a hotel to spend the night.

After the Wagah Border episode we moved and settled nicely in Amritsar. Our next destination was Amritsar – Golden Temple( Harmindar Sahib Temple) and Jallianwala bagh.

The Golden temple is an awesome temple and I would any day recommend this place as a must visit. The locale is so serene, clean and makes you spend a lot of time there. We spent a solid 3 hours there. Mr. Amandeep Singh was courteous enough to guide us through the temple , it’s historic significance and it’s importance. After the guided tour we went to Jallianwala Bagh.

The very sight of the Jallinawala Bagh made me feel very bad. The inglorious basterds :-(. After seeing the bullet marks, there was nothing much to comment.

After this we again went back to the temple and decided to have lunch in the Temple’s Langar. The food was delicious and simple.

We still had some time and before we left for Ludhiana, we decided to shop around and as usual, the shopping was lil one centric. We got some nice clothes for the little one with some for wifey as well. While we were on shopping, the very thought of Bhagat singh doing rounds disguised in this very place gave me gitters.

Since we had seen the major attraction – The Lama temple yesterday itself , we were running ahead of the planned schedule. So i looked a few more places of interest and found that the Kangra fort was worth watching.

So we set for – Dal lake ( the largest man made lake in Himachal), since the lake had dried up , we just ended up watching the tall pine trees which otherwise would have made a very good back drop. Again we were ahead of schedule as i had planned for a boat ride and some quite moment’s beside the lake. We then headed to Bhagsunath. This place is located at the outskirts of Mcleodganj. The temple here is said to have great healing powers. Another attraction here are a serene spring and a small but majestic waterfall. The region offers breathtaking views of the surrounding hilly ranges and woody forests. The ambiance of the place is dynamic and the atmosphere is cool and pleasant. One can feel the cool breeze from the Himalayan ranges.

After this we had a good time at the Kangra fort. It was a very old fort and also scary. There weren’t any takers and looked like we were the only one interested in the fort. The fort was well maintained though. We then reached Kangra’s most famous temple – Brajeshwari temple. The temple is one of the shakti peeta’s.

Since we had time and as per plan we headed to Wagah border to watch the retreat ceremony. I must tell you, for what our jawan’s have sacrificed you must watch this ceremony and shed atleast your sweat. I was totally drenched with my own sweat and dripping. The ceremony lasted 45 mins and the crowd was uncontrollable. The PRO was the highlight who infused us with the required “Josh” to boo the Pakistani’s who were just a handful at their border. The sight was terrific, but we were sorry of our state. The great heat of Punjab was acting on us.

Sati’s tongue fell at Jwalaji and the goddess is manifest as tiny flame that burns flawless blue through fissures in the age old rock. Time and again scientists have tried to figure out the reason for this flames and even tried to douse the flame with thousands of gallons of water only to conclude this as a miracle by god. I was also spell bound by this. The complex as a whole is big one with Devi’s bed chamber across the courtyard and above the temple is the shrine of baba Gorakhnath. We are all still reeling under this beautiful scene while we left the Shaktipeeta to move to towards Chamunda devi.

Chamunda devi is another beautiful temple on the banks of Baner river. Though the river had dried up, there was enough for us to play and have fun. Chamunda devi is considered as the wrathful form of Durga. The word “Chamunda” has been derived from 2 words – Chanda & Munda who as per mythological legends were demons and Durga with her immense power made Chamundi to slay them.

My lil one as usual had enough fun for herself at the banks of Baner river. I get a feeling that she loves water sports.

Since we had some more time before the day ended, we decided we take a shot and move to Dharmshala. Once there, we stayed at the hotel for himachal tourism. The receptionist was courteous enough to give us directions and places of interest in the neighborhood. After quickly refreshing ourselves, we headed to the Dalai lama temple. I was flabbergasted when i saw the amount of foreign nationals. This place had more non- indians . The whole place looked gave me a feel that i was not in India – from the people, the restaurants, the shopping items for sale.  Some how we headed straight to the temple and had a good look. Some how i felt the Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe a much better place.

The trip to the temple turned fruitful to us as we got a chance to meet Dalai Lama himself who had come to address the monks. We were lucky to get a real close glimpse at him as he walked past us.

Alright , the whole night was the Jagaran night. But nothing different for me. I was sleepy as well. I now feel guilty for having faked ( i had a slight pain, but exaggeration took it’s toll) an uncontrollable ear pain and headed back to the hotel. My lil one had the night of her life – open space in the resort, fully cushioned and air conditioned by powerful industrial fans. And to give her company were other kids who seem to be already having a gala time.

By the way, the hotel I stayed was called – La Aditya….The french connection :-) Most of the menu items were chinese :-)

We started off to Himachal Pradesh –  visit Chintpurni Ma. The drive was close to 3.5 hrs but we stopped in between to catch the beautiful sights of Himachal Pradesh. I will post some pics at the end of this post.

“Chinta” Means worry ……Tension or worries act as a slow Poison.Maiya saves HER bhakts from it, giving elixir of life, by fulfilling their desires and hence rightly known as CHINTAPURNI.The sacred place belong to 'Chhinnmastika Devi ' i.e. the goddess without head. It is also know as the Abode of Chhinnamastila. But the most popular name is CHINTAPURANI, Some parts of the holy feet of Sati are said to be fallen here, while Lord Vishnu used His Sudarshan Chakra to cut the corpse into pieces. The Shrine of Chintapurniis situated in Una district of Himachal Pradesh in northern India is a very beautiful shrine which is on a hill top.We stayed at a small hotel there while we visited a shrine in the evening. Again, it was eventful for my lil one as some bhakts started performing kanya pooja on my lil one. It was a strange sight for us to watching people praying and taking blessings from my lil one.

The day started as early as 3 am. By the time even two of us were ready the cabbie arrived. We were late. We rushed to the airport with just a few minutes for departure. My lil one was the most excited as she was wondering where we are off in this wee hours. I had already learnt that Indigo was not going to feed us and so had some biscuits handy. The question of air pressure was back and I instantly stuffed some cotton wool in my ear. But the greater question was – how would my lil one act? What if she develops my traits? I was the most concerned as i did not want a cry baby ( i hated this during my bachelor days though i am very supportive now :-))

Fortunately, my lil one had a good flight. She did complain in between of some ear pain, but that was a very short phase. For most part she slept with her grand dad and we landed safely.

The catch now was to move from Delhi airport to old delhi railway station. The expected duration was 2 hrs including the traffic. I was told many stories about delhi traffic. But we got lucky, it is May day and most shops & offices were closed and what seemed to take 2 hrs was made up in 45 mins.

Old delhi railway station was not very clean. It’s one of the busiest junctions and so i guess it takes a lot of effort to keep it really clean. So we got into the waiting room and decided to move to the platform when the train arrives. I do not want to divulge more info here since i transitioned into a “coolie wala” for not trusting any coolies and my back still aches.

Finally after a 5 hr journey we reached the ludiana railway station and  guess what? – A chevy captiva was waiting for us :-) The drive to reach our hotel was cooool !!!!