NIRVANA RISHIKESH

RISHIKESH! A word that had no importance in my life until I visited it. Now this word itself brings NIRVANA, serenity and peace within. 

Hello there, Its me Siddhesh your Pantha Parivrajaka - The Linking Traveller, brings to you my new journey to peace. Yes, this place is pure. Like I am really sorry but I have no words to express my love for this place. I can say every time I visit a new place I love it but this has embedded and touched my soul that made a tattoo on my soul. While writing this blog I can still feel the fresh air and can see the humongous river body, our own GANGA MAA, those melodious tunes during Aarti, etc. I am confused what all and what not to express, from where to start. Better we start from the beginning as I have to keep up with the momentum of my blogs or else you people will stop reading it. 

So I began from Delhi. Got my tickets and landed to Dehradun. As this was my budget travel so I skipped taking my usual bike on rent. I had done some research before travelling that here you can get local govt. buses and rickshaws for travelling to your destination. So I thought why not to give a try. So after walking for around1-1.5 kms I finally came out of the airport area and was walking in the direction of Rishikesh as there were guiding boards. Took a glass of sugarcane juice to pump myself in this roaring heat and asked the boy there by what time the bus would come. He told that you better finish the juice early or might miss it as it can come anytime now. And he was damn accurate as my glass was half he finger pointed towards the bus to show that it has arrived. I hurried and by making sure that it was going to Rishikesh I boarded. It was an 18km ride from that spot and so I took a seat and was excited to see the route to my destination and it didn't disappoint me. The curvy roads and trees around it made it soothing. But I was very saddened to see the river Chandrabhaga dry as Rann of Kutch. Literally there were JCB's inside it don't know why but they were layering something in. It made me feel low that why am I even a part of this Kaliyug where we couldn't do much for our Mother Nature.

So after around half an hour I reached to Rishikesh Govt. Bus Depot. From there you have to either enjoy the spot by walking or by rickshaws. After night shift, travelling here was a real hectic thing but travelling itself brings a KICK and hence I still decided to walk and experience the local life of Rishikesh and I was shocked. Cleanliness within gullies was there utmost priority it seemed, as there was no pot holes and no garbage on the road or any such thing that would make you feel eww. 

After walking for 25-30 mins and covering almost 3 kms I heard a sound of flowing water. It got me excited and I could feel that vibe of positivity. I reached my hotel, took the key, changed into something that would make a good photo near the river over my swim pants and marched towards the river.  As I was nearing the river the sound was increasing and so did my heart rate. There was a good bridge made beside the river so that you could just sit there and attain internal peace. So it was at a height the reason why I had to climb before getting a glimpse, and as soon as I got one I was mesmerised. My eyes popped out on capturing the huge river all at once in my eye sight and that was not possible. It was huge, the first ever in my life. The much hyped river in any Hindu's life. They said it right, its the most humongous river you will see yet feel peaceful around it. I was hypnotised by its beautiful view. And for a perfect shot from that point I had to walk a bit to the end of the bridge and get down near the shore.

I got undressed and was stepping into it. The moment I kept my leg in I literally jumped as it was too cold and hit my spine. Such a long travel yet so cold. Its pure magical. I took the name of Almighty Shiva and started entering the river. The flow was such that it could easily take all your sin away because it can take you with it (SO NAA RAHEGA BAANS NA BAJEGI BANSURI). I held the stone for support and stood firm inside, took a holy dip and stood in sunlight to have some warmth, but the breeze added oil to the fire and I was feeling very cold but the water did its magic. I could sense how amazing I felt and hence even after drying, I just couldn't stop myself from going back again to take a dip.

Finally after three rounds of freezing dips I controlled and dried myself on the shore and sat there for a couple of minutes. That sound, that breeze touching my soul, I felt as if I was directly getting blessed. Then I went to my room, changed and went to Triveni Ghat, where there is a union of three holy rivers in Hinduism, The Saraswati the Yamuna and the Ganga, for the Ganga Aarti. It starts at 1800 hrs and goes on for around 30-45 mins. Even if you aren't spiritual, you will feel the spirituality due to the rhythmic singing of Aarti by the Pandits and Bhakts. After the Aarti I was high on spirituality that I literally had tears due happiness. People Enjoying and dancing on Mahadeo's rhythm and songs live played by the Bhakts. 

Later taking these moments with me, I went to my room had supper, and slept. I wanted to getup early as I wanted to go and meditate near the shore and hence next morning by around 0600 hrs I got up and went for meditation. I came back by around 0900 hrs, had my breakfast on the way back to my room, had bath and checked out of hotel for my day trip. Now here in Rishikesh there are spots like Mahadeo temple that are deep within the forest and requires a jeep or car to travel. It takes around 1-1.5 hrs to reach the spot. So I skipped it as it was not possible for me to come back within stipulated time as I had my flight back in the evening. So all I can do was to visit the Ram Jhula , the Laxman Jhula and the Triyambakeshwar Mandir. I made the most of it.

The Triyambakeshwar Mandir has all the gods related to Hinduism and is a 13 floors temple, and on the top is the Triyambak Mahadeo Mandir. It is said that this temple was built in remembrance of Lord Ram as he did his Mahadeo Pooja here near the shores of Ganga during his Vanvaas. 

Finally after visiting the spots around, it was time for lunch and after lunch my return journey started. I took a rickshaw that directly dropped me to depot. After long waiting for the bus, finally I had to hop in a Bolero that was going in airport direction as I had to rush for my flight. Good lord that he didn't charge me more and now I had to walk more 1.5kms to reach the airport but lucky me, a cab driver was going that way so he dropped me till the entrance and here my Journey of Rishikesh ended.

I felt bad that I was going back to the same MOH- MAYA WAALI ZINDAGI. So I decided that I will come again and if possible every year for this peace, but surely I will bring my parents and Grand parents to experience this lovely place. I also have planned for Haridwar lately and will soon post about it. 

About the cost, I hardly spent Rs.1000-1500/- in Rishikesh for 1night/2days. Travel locally and feel the beauty is all I can say about this. See you until next time. Keep a watch on the blog channel.

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*NOTE - All the photos are copyright of The Linking Traveller.
                All photos taken from iPhone SE.

MESMERISING MEGHALAYA

Hi all, here I am with my new post on MESMERISING MEGHALAYA. Mesmerising because there are a lot of things I will show you here and also provide you with the links. So lets begin our ride to the Scotland of the East.

I started my journey from my usual spot Delhi. Took my flight and landed in Guwahati. Now here I had to pre-plan my trip whether to go by car or take a ride by bike as I was short of time and days. I had to complete the trip in 2nights and hence the best thing I will suggest is to go by bike. 

After checking out from the airport I took a cab, after an hour of ride we reached the spot from where we took the bike on rent for 2 days. After taking the bike I had lunch nearby and was starting my journey of 170kms. 

My aim was to reach Dawki, I started the journey at 1300hrs(01:00pm IST) and had an aim of reaching the spot by 1700hrs(05:00pm IST) as I was told that it gets dark early here in the Easts. Now for a rider like me who never had his own bike and use to ride only on such adventures it was a task at hand and obviously challenge was accepted. My adrenaline was high because of the roads, it was not a straight road to have it easily, the roads here are very curvy and challenging and thus for a driver its amazing as well. 

Cutting through such mountains and beautiful curvy road was a delightful moment and at the same time tiring. Not being habitual to long drives give you tough time during such rides. But views like this are just to motivate you as you keep on exploring. I was doing this trip after my night shift so please bare me with my pain. I took gaps to stop aside and click some fotos so that I can also get relieved by pain. 

"The biggest cliche in photography is Sunset and Sunrise" - Catherine Opie. Unparallel phrase, this view is like no other. But it also warned me to ride faster. You won't be able to guess the time here, its just 1600hrs(04:00pm IST) and its this dark. I got my head straight and didn't stop after that. My power bank and mobile both got drained and I was left with nothing to show you after this. But as I reached the spot it was complete darkness. Dawki was deliberately kept natural in that aspect. No light at all. No street lights as well and narrow roads made it more difficult to ride. For now the only source was Moonlight and Stars. They guided me to the boat and I had to kayak myself to the Island. This one was a memory to cherish for lifetime. I was craving so much to have a DSLR that could capture this moment. I reached the spot and they showed me my tent. They also provided me with Emergency light and that helped through the night. The best part was that they gave me their power bank on request and I could click some for you'll but I would post one here. I could click it because of the light from the borne fire. There was a guitar as well and hence it was really a memorable thing to do. Plus the best thing happened was the dinner. It was all prepared on Chulha and thus the smoky Chicken took the soul out from my body.

I got up early in the morning to see where I have been to and the view was eye popping. A tent just besides the river and in between the mountains is amazing. A destination that can never ever be forgotten, even if you wish to.

It was something like I was blessed by the almighty himself, you don't believe? See then... 

After a typical breakfast of Maggie, omlet and chai(tea) I left for some boating, saw some spots went to Indo-Bangla Border and was ready to leave for one natural beauty, but before that just see what I have for you. The best view of Umngot river, the crystal clear water.

I left Dawki and headed to Mawlynnong, cleanest village of Asia. Reason was different, THE LIVING ROOT BRIDGE.

As jaw dropping as it looks, this bridge is handmade from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees. It gets stronger as it ages and hence is beautiful and a must visit spot here, thanks to the local Khasi and Jaintia people for being this creative.

I left from here and this ended my trip to Meghalaya. This was one half as the other half 'Cherrapunji' is still to be explored. I had to take a stop in Shillong, as my power bank was not charged and my mobile was drained as well, it was very difficult to look for a hotel and hence stayed in a villa. 

Also clicked a pic in between as I couldn't stop myself from capturing it.

The other day I again started riding, my Day 3 here in North-East. I had to return the bike and take my deposit and leave for the airport. Getting on to the flight is next big task for me as belonging to one of the leading airline in the country has its own perks. Somehow got the seat as it was Sunday because of one passenger who did not show up at the gate. ThankGod!!!!

The mighty Himalayas also made my flying worth it.

So this is how I wrapped the trip in 2 nights 3 days. Following are the expenses for the stay :-

Cab from airport to Bike Renting spot & vice versa :- Rs.500/- pp

Bike Deposit ( Fully Refundable) - Rs.2000/-

Petrol - Rs.400/-

Lunch - Rs.150/-

Campaign plus boating - Rs.1500/- pp ( Including Dinner plus breakfast)

Only Boating - Rs. 1200/- per boat

Living Root Bridge Entry Ticket - Rs.10/- pp

Villa stay - Rs. 1250/- pp ( Inclusive of Dinner & Breakfast) 

Total Cost - Rs. 3530/- pp ( Budget is for *per person* for 2 travellers)

Best Time to Visit - October to January

Things to carry :-

1) Camera plus proper Battery backup.

2) Camera stand

3) Warm clothes

4) All riding gears if exploring by bike.(Gloves, Helmet, Jacket is a must thing due cold air )

Note - This itinerary was basically for riders as other travellers travelling by car couldn't enjoy this in 2 nights 3 days due heavy traffic in Shillong and hence won't let you reach Dawki on time on Day 1.  So for such travellers do contact me for proper itinerary if planning to visit it. Below are my mentioned sites where you can keep an eye on me being PARIVRAJAKA.

CONTACT DETAILS - Pantha Parivrajaka

EMAIL - panthaparivrajaka@gmail.com

FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/panthaparivrajaka/

INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/siddheshganve08/

YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn1Vhzme_qiTsSce4Z0m1LA?view_as=subscriber

BLOGS - https://panthaparivrajaka.blogspot.com

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JAIPUR NAMA

JAIPUR NAMA

Jaipur, known as the pink city of India is the capital of Rajasthan. Today, in this blog I am going to tell you about my trip to Jaipur and how did I managed my expenditure for this architectural trip.

Jaipur was considered to be 7th best place to visit in Asia, due to its enormous forts and two UNESCO World Heritage spots like the Jantar Mantar & Amer Fort. The rich culture and beautiful artistic sculptures take you to another level. The Art galleries, bangles, bedsheets, sculptures are too good. Jwelleries made of gems & stones widens your eyes so much that your eye balls may pop out. 

So from the next page I will provide you the details about my travelling to Jaipur from Delhi. How I managed to cover Jaipur in just 2 days and take some great photos and memories back with me. The plan was to explore the best of Jaipur in just 2 days as I had time restrictions. I work for India’s best Airline and working their have its own pros & cons. One such thing is getting leave for your trips and hence you have to manage it in given time. I had night shift the day before leaving for my expedition and I knew its really going to be hectic for me, but going on a trip drives me crazy and I forget all my tiredness to explore the best of the place. So after the shift I left in the morning and had a cup of tea in the Arrival hall at Delhi. Later I ran to get my boarding pass and boarded my flight. I thought I might get to sleep for sometime in flight but travelling to Jaipur from Delhi is like going for a joy ride in plane. I couldn’t even complete my breakfast and the pilot announced already that we are ready to land. Soon we landed and got a cab to our spot where I was going to pick my ride.

 Yes, I was going to explore the whole of Jaipur by bike. After completing the procedure I took the bike and headed to my hotel for check-in as I had too much load in my bag and wanted to drop some. So after driving for next 12 km I reached my hotel, did all the formalities and finally dumped my BOJA on the bed. Take a look of my room. 

I managed to get it only in Rs.700/-pp. 

I took a break and packed my backpack with necessary things like my camera stand, camera, water bottle, power bank, usb chord & mobile stand, took my key and by around 1300hrs I left for lunch. I went to one of the most famed hotel in Jaipur called the Rawat Hotel for the best Onion Kachori and Daal  Bhati Churma. 

The ambience was good. They were busy decorating for an event. It was air-conditioned with red velvet sofa’s and proper waiters with fluent Hindi and quiet a good knowledge of the food and speciality they serve. When you get such servings you feel good enough to order by believing them. Now after having lunch I was heading to Nahargarh Fort. In my first day of itinerary my plan was to visit the Nahargarh fort and the Jaigadh fort as they were close to each other. 

The Nahargarh Fort was built by the founder of JAIPUR.

 The walls are extended to form fortification with the Jaigadh fort. You can visit my youtube channel for its glimpse. I had my gala time and exploring the fort was much fun. The best part is of riding the bike to the top of the fort. The road is slippery and is inclined at an 30-40 degree angle. It really is a challenge and a fun ride. The road is connected to Jaigadh fort as well from inside. After Nahargarh I went directly to Jaigadh took a view of the same asap and returned to Nahargarh for dinner. The famous ONCE UPON A TIME hotel was waiting for me. This restaurant was built on the top spot and gave a hawk-eye view of the city. The Ambience was pretty good but the rate was too much compared to its taste. But yes you the taste was too good compared to another hotel within Jaipur.

After dinner I rushed to my hotel and had a good night sleep. On day 2 I planned to cover the most of the historic places. So the very first place was the City palace then the Hawa Mahal and also the Govind Temple. 

So I did my breakfast in the hotel and checked out. The breakfast was very delicious. After check out I went to City Palace, Haha Mahal & Govind Temple and then had a long drive for the Amer Fort. The road was too smooth and had a fun ride through the mountains. 

This one is huge, really huge and you ought to stretch your eyes to have a look in one go. Beautifully maintained and yes it is a heritage. Amer Fort is the cherry on the cake spot of Jaipur. 

To see the detail view of Amer fort visit my Facebook page. I will mention all my profile links soon below. 

After 3 hours of roaming, I left Amer and headed to Malviya Nagar to return my bike and leave for Airport. 

This is how I ended my trip.

My expenditure were as follows :-

1) Bike - Rs. 400/- pp (for 31 hours)

2)Room - Rs. 700/- pp (one night)

3)Petrol - Rs. 500/- pp

4)Food - Rs. 1300/- pp(2 days including Lavish Dinner)

5)Other - Rs.100-200/- pp(cabs, rickshaw, etc)

This excludes journey trip to & from Jaipur. The total goes to around Rs. 3000/-pp.

Below are my profile links  :-

Facebook :- https://www.facebook.com/panthaparivrajaka/

Instagram :- https://www.instagram.com/siddhesh_sanjay_ganve/

Youtube :- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl1DMVA9OQe1IDhwaw7WzlA/

Blogger :- http://panthaparivrajaka.blogspot.com

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ROADTRIP TO SHIMLA

It all started with only a wish from my senior, “Kaash hum Shimla jaa paate yaar ! (Wish we could go to Shimla).” And it struck hard, real hard and so hard that we decided that yes we are going to Shimla. We stay in Delhi working for the no.1 airline of this country. After giving the departure we were relaxing and getting ready for our night halt aircrafts and suddenly all of this happened. It was our 2^nd night and after that we were having 2 off’s, and so the plan was on. We were 5 people(2 engineers 2 Technicians & myself) who decided to bang on and started preparing.

Siddesh sir(engg) booked a Swift with the help of his local friends and it happened in no time. We ended that night somehow and left to our places for getting ready and decided would meet at Akshay sir’s(engg) place @12pm. But as usual we all were late and the one who was giving us the Car was also late. But then happened a magical thing, we got a call from the person from whom we rented this car that they are not having swift with them and that they are upgrading the car to none other than XUV500. We jumped in excitation that the trip started with a bang and all were happy. Soon we gathered, the Hunk Car came and we started our journey by 3pm. It was all smooth and we were enjoying the Delhi National Highway. Driving as there was no end to this vacation. We were hungry as well as we did not have any food so after 2 hours we took a halt at one of the finest hotels I have seen here named as ‘Amrik Sukhdev’. The very first thing we did was to empty our bladders as it was too cold, so that was totally natural. After that we went through the menu and to my surprise the rates at this hotel were equal to roadside food. I was shocked like they are giving this great quality with such reasonable rates. You just could not believe as the hotel ambience was totally rich and after seeing only I had decided that I would only take a cup of tea and one Lays packet, but eventually ended taking Pav bhaji and that was yummy. Others took Chola Bhatura and different styles of Samosa. 

After taking some selfies we soon took off from there and now had decided that we won’t stop for the next 3-4 hours. So we drove with loud music, fun and every little boy things that made that time really memorable. After some time we reached near Chandigarh and took a halt again to empty our bladders and took a cup of tea and raced to Shimla. Now it was dark and very cold as well. We had to reach Shimla on time so that we could get a room in one hotel for night but due to darkness and improper roads we reached the spot @12 am. We started asking for room but the hotels were full. With the help of Google Maps we started driving. The roads were covered with ice and the car was not getting proper grip. The car was slipping while we drove the car on the roads with 30 degree elevation. We somehow managed to drive through but then happened a nightmare. We were driving on a road were only one car can go or come. And that we reached a dead end. It was a gate of school which was closed. Now how are we going to turn this hunk in such a short distance. But our prayers  were answered and one security guard came out to see what was happening outside his school gate. We asked him to open the gate so that we could make a turn and leave. He opened one gate and the car went inside. As we were turning the car the other gate was coming in the middle so we told him to open it more to that he said it won’t open more. Now we got stuck because there was no space for the car to come out. Somehow we managed to turn the car but it was not at all possible to remove the car from that gap as there was not much gap to turn. Even it was not possible for us to go in the school and make a turn as the ground was covered all by snow till knee length. During this skillfull process the brakes did not support us and the car glided back while removing the car and ended with bonet fairing breakage. Now what should we do? After sometime an idea strucked and that was to dig some part near the gate that was not allowing it to open. And we did that, managed to open the gate fully and we took the car from there without any further damage.

  We got some nerds telling us that they will give a room in 2500/- but their rooms were not hygienic and this night turned to be more adventurous as @3am we gave up looking for rooms and decided to sleep in our hunk in Victory Tunnel. There was a loud thud near my window as I was sleeping on the driver’s seat, to which I got up fast to see a hawaldar knocking. He saw me moving and opening my eyes and told us to leave. I saw what was the time and it was 7am. I shook my head in positive and again closed my eyes. We did this mom-son thing for an hour and later finally @8am we got up  left the tunnel as it was not allowed to park in the tunnel. My seniors had an idea of the next stop and so we left for that place and it was none other than TARA DEVI’s Mandir. It was an 12km ride away from Shimla back in the direction of Delhi. We drove and reached the spot by around 9am. The road was too adventurous as its slope upwards was in 60-70 degree with snow all over the road. Yet we managed to come up the hill, all thanks to Akshay sir’s driving. This temple was approximately 7200 feet above sea level. As we went towards the parking we were happy to notice what we were here for and that was a bed of snow. We dint even locked the car and started taking selfies, pictures and playing in the snow. After an hour we went into the Mandir(temple) and had darshan. The man over there suggested us to go towards backside of the temple as he said we will love it. We agreed and by God, we went speechless. It was nothing but a mountain of snow. For the first time in my life I had seen this natural snow covering whole of the mountain. It was like I am in heaven. There were stairs for some distance to go down as there was a Temple of Shiva-The Mahadeo. So we decided to go down and look for it. It was slippery we fell we rose but did not stop and went on walking and enjoying through the snow. We were totally mesmerized by the sight. The whiteness of that snow got me so happy from within that it is still glimpsing through my eyes. My eyes were wide open in excitement to observe this beautiful part of nature. How amazing it looks. I am just not able to express my feelings, this really needs to be experienced and felt. Even though we were feeling cold we did not stop ourselves to engulf in that snow and had our most amazing time in it. We climbed back trying to gain our breathing rhythm with beautiful memories. It was one amazing moment I would never forget ever in my life.

Soon we left from there and were going back to Shimla and also looked for rooms and got one as well. At around 1pm we checked in and decided that we will leave for the famous Mall Road by 3pm. We got fresh and left, had lunch and then started to roam. The time I entered the place it was not at all looking like I am standing in India. The construction, the environment, the cleaniness, the beauty all were like amazing and people over here took a very good care of their own place to keep this tourist place as it should be.

My seniors took some things for their parents and we returned to our hotel. We had a plan taking Hookah and soon we left for it, we roamed a while but got nothing in return. We were disappointed and hogged in our supper and went back to our hotel to have a good night sleep. While sleeping I had this big smile on my face, as it was the new best trip of my lifetime. Thank you Madhur sir, Mahaprabhu sir, Akshay sir and Siddesh sir for making this trip happening and looking forward to go for the next one very soon. 

The next morning we cleared the bills and left for Delhi as on this day we had to join the company on our normal schedule of night shift. We reached safely by 6pm and reported on duty at 8pm. Suggesting you people to go to Shimla and have the best time of your life as it really has an amazing weather (T&C apply).

Keep looking for my next blog, do like, share and comment on the blog below, your feedback will be looked upon seriously and I surely will try my best to improve. Suggestions are welcomed always and if you want me to write down on anything, please write down your topics as well in the comment box.

CONTACT US ON :-  PANTHA PARIVRAJAKA

M NO. +918779294700

EMAIL :- siddheshganve2605@icloud.com

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