Raja's Blog Space

Yeah! I was able to knock off one place in my checklist of places I would like to visit in my lifetime. I visited the Taj Mahal during my recent trip to India. There could not have been a more opportune moment and location for my brother-in-law's wedding. I visited Delhi to attend the wedding and also made a point to travel nearby places like Agra, Jaipur, and Mathura (the golden triangle). I have always wanted to visit northern part of India during my India trips, but for some reason or the other, could never do it until this holiday season. It takes a lot of planning to visit 3 of the 4 corners in India in 4 weeks time period. This posting is about my travel experience in north India.

Taking an afternoon flight was not a good choice, especially for the long haul from SF to Hong Kong. Both Suha and kids had jet lag for a couple of days after we landed in India. Before we could even unpack our 8 monster bags, we had to carry 4 of them to Delhi for the wedding. I haven't been able to reduce my luggage since my blog post about travelling heavy. Once we got through the security area in Chennai airport, we grabbed some sandwich and coffee from the snack shop inside the airport. I also picked up some children's activity book for Shreya to keep her occupied in flight. Chennai to Delhi flight was a relatively short one lasting just about 3 hours. Once we landed in Delhi, we headed straight to the brides place, had some quick bites followed by dinner and headed straight to Karol Bagh for the stay that night. Our tour operator, Panicker's travel is very prompt on timings, so we had to be ready for the 6 am departure of golden triangle tour. After dragging our bags to the bus, we got inside the bus with a hot cup of chai, sold by Chaiwala right outside the bus and then settled down for the 3 hour road trip to Jaipur. Then came the first adventure of the trip. We were about to sleep after an hour into the journey, but a highway truck driver had a different plan for us. A truck from the slow lane cut right into our fast lane resulting in a big thud and a crashed windshield on our tour bus. The truck lost stability after hitting our bus and was riding on just 2 wheels right on the center median with sparks flying all over. Half asleep, I wondered if people were celebrating Diwali in the middle of the highway. Luckily the truck did not topple in front of our bus. It got back on the road and as it happens in India all the time, the driver did not even bother to stop and check what had happened. Our bus passed the truck and forced him to stop in a gas station. Truck driver got down from his truck and try to flee out of sight. Some of the passengers in our bus chased him down and had their share of boxing practice.

Amber Fort, Jaipur

No insurance, no cops were involved. The truck driver was let go after he plead his way out of the situation. None of us slept during the rest of the journey.We stopped for breakfast at a resort where they served hot idli's, vada and coffee. We never expected south indian style breakfast up north. Amber fort was our first stop in Jaipur. Shreya enjoyed watching the snake charmers at work, while I enjoyed taking a short hike through the secret tunnel ways used by the Maharaja of Jaipur.

We made a quick photo stop by Jal Mahal and proceeded straight to the lunch spot at pink city restaurant. Food was typical spicy rajasthani food with lots of good selection. We had a sumptuous meal and watched a short but very enjoyable puppet show. We proceeded to the arts emporium to watch a demo of vegetable color painting.

Snake Charmers

Visited Jantar Mantar, performed some calculations ;) and went to the hotel for the stay that night in Jaipur.

Advait at Jantar Mantar

Had an early start the next morning at 4 am and headed straight to Fathepur Sikri.

This place is famous for its architecture during the mughal empire. Local guides take control of the tour as soon as you enter their territory. Guide added more spice to his version of history by emphasizing more on Akbar's secret relationships and wives than explaining about the actual monuments. It was like a bollywood

movie than a discovery channel documentary!

Kids at Fathepur Sikri

Our next stop was at Agra fort. We witnessed the places where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son Aurangazeb. Agra fort was massive and beautiful. As we walked through the fort we could feel the history behind it. We could see Taj from the fort but clear view was hindered by smog in the area. We finished our lunch and headed straight to Taj. We had an interesting experience at the entry. One of the passengers in our bus had fallen in the trap set by a local guide. The guide had promised to bypass the security line and take us on a fast track. We were highly skeptical of that as he had taken just Rs.100 for our entire group. We were taken through a narrow stairway and through alleys that reminded me of the movie 'Slumdog millionaire'. We navigated through the maze and ended up in the south entrance of Taj. Guess what? there was a security line in that entrance as well! Heavy security in the area prevented Suha from carrying some food items in her handbag. The beauty of Taj is, you can admire its beauty from a distance and also while you are close to it. It is too sad the precious gems on the Taj is missing now.

Taj in Close Up

Still the paintings on the marble are wonderful. We took a break the following day and finished our Delhi sightseeing after that. Of the places I visited in Delhi, I was most impressed with Qutub Minar. This place is rich in history and is a must see place for people with a penchant for history. The structure is amazing and the whole place is built on layers of historical structures and is an interesting blend of Hindu, Jain and Mughal architecture. Baha'i temple or the Lotus temple is also worth visiting. Of the other places we visited Rajghat (Mahatma Gandhi's tomb), India Gate and the Rashtrapathi bhavan (presidential palace) were nice.

Lotus Temple Iron Pillar at Sunset

After all this travelling, we did attend the main event, the wedding. The prime reason we visited north India!

Wedding Ceremony Kids at the Wedding

Overall a pleasant trip to India. During my previous trips, I have always wondered why India could not become like one of the developed nations, with broad roads, huge malls, big cars, grid layouts, etc. However, nowadays, I feel India should be the way it is to preserve its colorful character. With a blend of rich civilizations, rich and poor people living in the same neighborhood, modern and ancient set up abutting each other, there is immense diversity in India, the way it is today. And I am sure it will never change for centuries to come, even with the arrival of nano technology, uPhone, and Windows 7000! It is a vibrant land of rich heritage and everyone in this world should set their feet at least once in their lifetime on this beautiful subcontinent.

India Gate Qutub Minar

First of all, I don't want the readers to think this post is about some murder mystery or sniper shootings. After few weeks of inactivity, I am back to my blogging ways. If you are wondering why there were no posts from me for the past few weeks, I was too busy with one of my favorite pass time activities. Photography equipment research! Why spend weeks together for ordering a single camera? Shouldn't it take just a few minutes to click on the order button and wait for the camera shipment? Well, in my case, I was ready to spend more than a grand on a new SLR camera which has a lot of sleek features. I spent a lot of time reading online reviews about the new camera. I don't think there is a single review out there that has slipped my scrutiny. In this post, I will walk you through a flashback of events that has turned me into an 'obsessive photographer' that I am today!

Below are some pictures taken with my D40x SLR taken in Newyork City.
Below are pictures of my new D90 Camera





Pictures taken with my new D90 camera


 

I love to travel and explore new places. During my childhood days, if I had to travel. All I had to do was just hop on to a bus or a train along with my parents. I did not worry a bit about packing my bags, dresses, etc. However, things have changed now. These days I spend a lot of time planning and preparing for the travel ahead. I still remember seeing the sign inside the train coaches, ' Less Luggage, More Comfort: Make travel a pleasure'. I wish I can follow that now.


As much as I enjoy the places I visit, I should also admit, I certainly do not enjoy the pain I go through in getting to those places. Sometimes, planning for all the eventualities during the travel could be the primary reason for this. If I am traveling for a week, I carry dresses, clothing and other essentials for at least 10 days. I remember during my first trip to the US, I did not know the baggage count and weight limits. I stuffed every possible item including those heavy engineering books, training manuals in 3 jumbo bags and arrived in Chennai for my flight. Just before I left for the airport, I called up my travel agent to verify the baggage limits. I was almost double the limit! My brother who had come to drop me along with my parents, had to carry a 'spine-knuckling' 50 Kg bag all the way back to Coimbatore. That was the last time he accompanied my parents to drop me in the airport! Amidst all the drama, I still managed to squeeze a big fat chemical engineering handbook in one of my bags. Why did I carry that book? God only knows. Till date I haven't even opened that book!

During my student days, I shopped and accumulated tiny gifts for every single root of my 'banyan' like family tree. What was the consequence of that shopping spree? When I checked in my bags at Detroit airport for my flight to India, my bags were again overweight by 40 Kgs! However, I did not pull stuff out of my bag. I paid $160 baggage fine and decided to carry the entire load along. No wonder the airline was tilted on one side! All of a sudden, passenger plane became a cargo carrier. I landed in India with 6 huge bags and 2 carry-on duffels. Two cars were required to carry my 'cargo' from the airport. Did I learn a lesson from that trip? No way! On my next trip to India, if not so many bags, I still ended up carrying overweight bags. This time I was not prepared to pay the fine. I had become a pauper by then :( Instead, I pulled out the heavy chocolates out of the bags and stuffed them in my carry on bags. It is funny, 2 guys were required to lift my carry-on duffel bag to the boarding area. It was so heavy, at the end of the journey, I had an elongated arm ;)

I became conscious of the baggage weight after that trip and started weighing my bags beforehand to avoid opening my bags and showcasing my dirty laundry in the airport check-in area! Now that I travel with my family, the baggage allowance has increased. Because of this baggage weight is no longer an issue, it is the total number of bags. For a week long trip, we end up carrying things needed for 14 days. Right from the mini-rice cooker to the first aid kit and baby diapers, we carry every possible item for the trip needs. The problem again is because of planning overkill. I prepare a checklist for the travel and the checklist grows to a very long laundry list by the time I start packing for the trip.

It has become harder to travel with 2 kids and 5-6 big bags. If traveling within the US, on top of these bags, those bulky car seats! I am not sure how many times we would have dropped the car seat in the airport area. Thanks to Shreya, she has voluntarily become the 'designated person' to pick up the car seat and put it back on the luggage cart. They keep falling over and over, no matter what we do. I am just waiting for the day when these kids grow up and we stop carrying the car seats along with all the bulky bags. With the added security checks in the airport, it is even more painful. I am glad they opened separate security lines for families traveling with children. Else we used to create a big bottleneck in the security check area. I am hoping one day, I can start traveling light and easy. May be I should stop using those check-lists or at least prepare a smaller checklist.

Until then I have to live with the 'travel heavy' curse. The curse I probably inherited from my previous birth, during which I incurred the wrath of a rishi muni in deep meditation by knocking over his holy stick ('Danda') and water pot ('Kamandalam') with my big fat briefcase!

If you had the opportunity to read my other blog post about my first flight experience, you probably thought that I would be careful when it comes to flying..well here is a funny story about catching a flight in the n'th moment..

I am sure, this cannot happen with the tight security in the post 9/11 era. This incident happened back in 1998, while I was a student in Western Michigan. I had to fly to Mead Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, to attend an interview. I am not sure if I overslept or I totally forgot about the interview. I woke up at 5.30 am for a 6.20 am flight leaving Kalamazoo airport (in Michigan). I only had enough time for a quick shower and grab my paperwork to leave for a day trip. I rushed to my car park around 5.50 am. Then came the surprise, my car windshield was covered with ice (not snow). I started scraping the ice with the ice scrapper ..and realized I would be too late if I removed all the ice and only cleared a wide enough area for me to be able to see through the windshield..I started the car (my good old Toyota Celica) at 5.55 am, grabbed the icy cold steering wheel and started driving to the airport with my heads over the steering wheel, peeping through the small visible area on the windshield! I knew I could reach the airport in 8-10 minutes, as I had made numerous trips to pick and drop off my co-students in the university. I got to the airport departure driveway around 6.05 am and rushed inside to the ticketing counter. Kalamazoo airport is a very small one, so I could do this. The friendly agent in the counter, asked for my flight details. She told me, "Luck is with you this morning, the flight is delayed by an hour", I said, "Thank god, I can make it to the interview". When she asked for my tickets, I said, "Hold on, let me park my car and come back!", which left her gaping wide in disbelief!

When I got inside the small propeller plane, the flight was further delayed, as they started deicing the propeller blades. This time, I was hoping they clear the ice completely, and not like how I cleared it on my car windshield!

I am one of those who had to wait until I got to the 20s to get my first flying experience...I am not talking about flying fighter jets here..just being passenger in a commercial airline..Each of us would have gone through some unique experience but reflecting on my first one now ..I still find it hilarious..