Ayodhya Hills Trek, Purulia.

After my regular hikes every weekend for the last 4 years, I was starting to develop itchy feet. I needed an adrenaline rush and was browsing the Indiahikes site (https://indiahikes.com/documented-trek/ayodhya-hills-trek/)  when it caught my eye. Ayodhya Hills Trek in Puruliya - a weekend trek close to home. That was perfect!

I set out with two of my friends on a long drive to the district of Puruliya. Long drives generally start with chitchats, excitement, snacking, tea stops and then moves on to loud music ultimately toning down with everybody feeling hungry and tired. This was no exception. We took the highway via Arambagh but unfortunately couldn’t find a single place to have lunch. So, with a starving tummy, we reached Baghmundi at around 4o clock in the evening.

We were staying in the Sonar Tari Hotel. The hotel room was decent, nothing fancy but suited our purpose. We could see the entire Ayodhya Hill range from the terrace in the hotel. I was dying for my cup of tea after the long journey. The friendly cook asked us to wait for 10mins for the tea but our afternoon cuppas finally arrived at 8 in the evening after a wait of 2 long hours and on top of that there was no milk. This felt like a norm here. Food or drinks never arrived on time but I must say, when they did arrive, they were hot, fresh and extremely tasty. So, after the much needed drink and a large homely meal that evening, we went to bed early because a good night’s sleep is good idea before a big hike.

And I couldn’t sleep. Not for a second that night. Partly because of my friends’ persistent snoring and partly because of my sleepless stupidly busy mind.

We had our local guide, Mr. Sudarshan waiting for us at 7o clock in the morning and we were ready to go on time. The path started from right behind the hotel we were in. We tweaked our trail a bit from the one in Indiahikes as we wanted to do a single day hike instead of 2 days. Sudarshan lead the way. We started with a very rocky path that climbed up along the Turga falls. This path was full of boulders and the most challenging part of the entire trail. I loved it. There was one particular part where one would have to pull their entire body up by hanging on to a side of the rock with your hands. That was fun with all of us pulling our weight up in the most unconventional ways. My panda-loving friend climbed/rolled herself up here just like a panda would. Next, we continued to climb our way  through Sal forest. This part of the forest didn’t have any path to follow. We just had to follow the direction we were heading in which ran alongside a stream. We arrived at the top of Bamni falls. From here, you had to take about 100 rocky steps down to the base of the falls and get a full view of the cascading waterfall. This was nice. We sat at the bottom of the falls and had a few snacks from our backpacks. After spending some time here, we climbed up to the top of the falls again and had some eggs and ice cream before continuing our walk. The hills here were approximately 600m high and had interesting features. It was rocky and foresty, at places it was a little difficult but more or less an easy hike route. 

We then entered into another forest full of Sal trees. The forest didn’t seem as dense as we had expected and our guide mentioned that this was due to the local people cutting down trees as a means for their survival. People use the leaves of these trees to make plates and fuel for their cooking and also to get some warmth during the winter days. The forest opened up to an empty undulating area. This would have been a nice view but the amount of garbage that had been thrown out in the open was shocking. These were the two things that bothered us the most on this hike – 1. what seemed like random cutting down of trees and 2. unbelievable amounts of garbage left on the hill top. We hoped, the government would do something about this. People here were extremely poor, the place had an arid and dry climate but at the same time, it had got its own beauty. So, with a little more effort on educating the locals and providing them with necessary means for disposal of waste as well as cleaning up the environment, this place could be so much more appealing. As we progressed, we went through some villages and farmlands. The lush green and yellow mustard fields were an instant delight. We also saw 'mohua' trees and surprisingly, a big area of pine trees – quite odd in this sort of climate. We reached the Ayodhya hill top where we found nothing but a few lodges and hotels and places to eat. We had some hot rice, daal, veggies and fish and rested our legs for a while. Next we walked up to the Upper dam where there is a big lake and the dam  generates electricity for the district. A few kilometers down from the Upper Dam is the Lower dam. By this time, our legs were pretty tired and we called our driver to pick us up.

In the evening we went to a local fair near Khoirabera falls. When I say, we went there, I mean, we tried to go to the fair but didn't succeed. It was quite late and my friend’s knees were hurting. We still kept our enthusiasm up and started marching down the narrow path by the fields that lead to the fair ground. Possibly we timed it badly but there was a huge rush of people coming out of the fair from the opposite direction. We were literally lost in what felt like a sea of people coming at us. In that crowd and chaos, one of our friends got separated and we couldn’t find her. We waited on a side lane. By this time, the other friend of mine had her knees all swollen up. We didn't have our phones or torch with us. Scared and worried, we decided to go back to the car where we also met with our other friend whom we lost earlier. 

With the plan of having a bonfire that night, we came back to the hotel. After hiking for almost 20KM on a variety of terrain and with very few stops, we felt completely drained. The moment we slouched on the bed, the plan of having a bonfire seemed like a distant fantasy. We got some local drink called ‘mohua’, the smell of which was so overpowering, we couldn’t bring ourselves to drink it. So, we just stayed in bed chatting, drinking tea and Biskfarm chatpata masala biscuits! It was around 11o clock at night that we had our meal of tasty chicken and roti and rice and instantly felt our bodies slipping into a deep slumber.

The next day we woke up to the noise made by the over-excited boarders in the other room. We checked out of the hotel and stopped to have tea in a nearby stall. The person who was selling tea here was possibly the kindest person we met on this short trip. He was very soft spoken and smiley and didn't charge us for an extra cup of tea that we had. We exchanged a few words, bid him goodbye and set off on our long drive back home. This time, we took the highway via Durgapur and ensured our paunches were happy by topping them up with bread-omlette for breakfast and tarka-roti for lunch. The short hiking trip came to an end but definitely marked the beginning for many future hikes!    

On the Silk route, East Sikkim

The trip begins - 

The journey started from Kolkata station which is the newest of all five railway stations in Kolkata. It was opened in 2006 but the maintenance of the station is shocking. I'm in the train now with my mum and dad. A few co-passengers are sat opposite to us and have started chit chatting. It feels nice the moment the train starts moving. Good old train sound reminds me of childhood holidays. Looking forward to NJP.

New Jalpaiguri to Rolep -

After a frustrating 2hours delay by the Haldibari express and a quick stroll in New Jalpaiguri yesterday, we are on our way to the famous Silk route of Sikkim today. On the way, we first stopped for breakfast and had one hot Alu paratha each. People in the mountains in North India make the best Alu paratha ever. There's absolutely no competition. With a happy tummy, we continued our journey. Leaving the busy hustle and bustle of NJP, we crossed some military base camps and training sites located just outside the township and then on to the winding up and down hilly roads alongside the meandering Teesta river. On the roadside, there are many monkeys, very keen and alert, looking out for food. I also saw few little pigs straying around. The street dogs here are much wolfy but calmer with longer hair and bushy tails compared to the ones back home in Kolkata. We crossed the Kalijhora barrage, a big mountain waterfall, stopped at a dhaba, pottered inside a random wood full of Sal trees, soaking in the beauty of the Himalayas and the Teesta river. Destination - Rolep, a little village in East Sikkim.

Rolep -

Village might be a big word. it's basically few little homes scattered in a valley by the river - Rangpo. This place is just amazing. It is literally like what we say living amidst nature - the river flowing by makes a restless noise, the big boulders and rocks on the riversides make it perfect for trying out some monkey-style rock climbing, the few homes perge on the slope of the mountain and little hilly paths take you to the woods. The house we are staying in is very basic - clean rooms, no heater, limited electricity ,no phone connectivity. It is owned by a local woman and her husband. They live there with their younger daughter and son and also two dogs and a cat. Friendly local host took me out for a wander. We went to a hanging bridge nearby through the hills this evening. She has been telling me many stories of her life in her broken Nepalese Hindi and also been cooking homely tasty meals for us. Right now, the smell of oniony chicken has filled the dark valley. The white fluffy dog is very sweet too and he followed us all along the way. I climbed all the rocks and boulders by the river and trekked a bit with the local woman and her son until sunset. 

There is a waterfall here called Buddha falls that's about 4hours trek from where we are staying and some 30minutes drive. You climb down some rocky steps and cross some boulders to go to the falls and get sprayed on. It's like a cozy canopy everywhere. Once the sun goes down, it's pitch black dark. I'm in love with Rolep. The restless noise from the river, the chirpy birds (a beautiful red and black bird particularly caught my attention), the colorful butterflies, the dim lights in a distant house, the occasional dog woofs and no digital metropolitan disturbance - serene solitude. Love it!

Padamchen -

After the cold shivery nights in Rolep, we drove up higher to even colder area of Padamchen. It's a hilly village perched on one of the slopes of a mountain at about 9500ft. We had to make a permit for going up the mountains in Rongli, a small town full of shops selling anything ranging from clothes to food.

Before getting into Padamchen, we spent some time in Quekhali Falls - some more rock climbing and boulder hopping followed by accidentally getting my shoes wet when I misjudged one jump. Once in the village, we went out surveying the neighborhood surrounded by high mountain peaks and different types of plants and bushes. The family with whom we are staying has a big garden with various flowers in it. Lots of birds I don't know the names of are chirping around. Just beside our cottage, there is a nursery growing Chinese apples, tomatoes and salad leaves. From the balcony of our cottage, we get a view of the beautiful peaks turning blue in colour as the night creeps in. And its very cold. With no heater in the room, all the evenings are now being spent chitchatting inside the duvet.

Upper Zuluk -

We started early in our Bolero from Padamchen which is in lower Zuluk to go higher into the snow clad peaks of Upper Zuluk. The Zigzag road is a delight and our local driver cum guide, Nava Tseng had his full focus on.  You follow the road up and reach a turn which is very subtly named guess what? - the Zigzag view point! You keep going higher to the Thambi view point from where you get a full view of this swirly road that's cut through the slope of the mountains and also can walk down to the Thambi valley. Added bonus - you can get hot momo and soup here. A piping hot soup with some momos at the top of a cold mountain is a precious opportunity never to let go of! 

From Thambi view point, we kept driving higher up and it started getting snowy all around. We stopped at kolepakhari lake where the water in the lake was frozen to solid ice and visited Gnathang valley next. The valley full of snow is amazing. It just automatically brings out a different kind of energy and excitement in everyone. Pure white snow and clear blue sky effortlessly put a smile on your face. Our next stop was for a hot coffee at Laxman chowk which is a memorial to an army officer. What a heavenly place to have a memorial - on top of a mountain with nothing around but white snow and the Kanchenjunga peeping behind! I went to one of the most luxurious toilets up here. It's a makeshift box made of four tin walls, a bucket full of freaking cold water and a floor made of snow. This is definitely going into my list of unforgettable experiences! 

We drove up to 13900ft to a place called old Baba Mandir - a memorial for Harbhajan Baba. The road further up was apparently not accessible due to heavy snow which means we couldn't go to Kulup and my most awaited Elephant lake. Well, ce's le vie. We spent some time walking around in the snow and then turned back downhill. On our way back, we stopped at the sunrise point where you get a top-notch view of the Kanchenjunga range. We did think of coming up here to watch the sunrise next day but that didn't happen. I have seen sunrise on Kanchenjunga before though and it's definitely the best sunrise I have ever seen in my life. Undoubtedly it is so popular.

As we started driving down the mountains,fog and cloud took over. Cloud in the mountain valleys is a stunning sight. As the fog started setting on the peaks, we came down to 9k ft back to where we were staying. I went around walking up and down all over the hilly village, getting barked at by hairy street dogs, making conversation with local strangers, discovering old burnt houses and unused cemeteries, taking some good snaps in the golden dusky light and finally ending the day with the beautiful sight of the yellow sun setting behind the dark blue mountains.

From the foresty hilly Rolep with rivers and woods to the hilly village of Padamchen in front of a valley to the snowy peaks in Zuluk, the trip was one with extreme variety and nature at its best. To top it, I loved the homestays where the living was basic yet with an atmospheric touch to it. I got to interact with the local people and a little opportunity to dive into the lives of these real men and women of Sikkim momentarily. I have always felt that the people in the mountains are very humble and down to  earth. And this trip was a reconfirmation of the same. The people here are grateful for whatever they have and they respect nature truly. Plus with no heater or hot water and no digital noise, the experience was very elementary. I loved it.

Kolkata.

I know this is meant to be a travel blog but this is more to my homecoming, this one is for the City of Joy – Kolkata.

I am born and brought up in Kolkata and I am proud of my city. But these last 3,4 years of living outside Kolkata gave me a different perspective. I have realized more and more that Kolkata is all about its people, its history. A place shapes personalities. And that’s the key to this city. Liberal, forward thinking people, people with courage to stand up to the society, people who are brave to go against the norms, people who have explained traditions in their right meaning, people who have defied rules and redefined structures adorn Kolkata. And I’m so proud and fortunate to be a part of this ever-changing dynamic city.

However, I have come back to my city of charm but also to a city of chaos. I realize, to me and many people like me, Kolkata is nostalgia. It has all the bitter sweet memories of your first kiss, first drink, first night out and so on. We are proud of our history, our courage and intellect. We shape good individuals. But the moment we grow up and as glorious as it is in our memories and was in the past, there is very little promise for future. Political confusion, low infrastructure, ridiculously slow pace of development are gradually overshadowing the city’s heritage.

Sadly, I have come back to a city of dust, noise and more chaos. It still has the warmest people, the world’s best food and the charming memory lanes. But it is struggling with its stranded agendas and stagnant avenues.

Kolkata today feels like the greatest city to come back to for the heartiest laughter with your friends and family, for comfort and support. But it feels crippled with socio-economic and political bureaucracy if you want to go beyond and over.

Well, like they say, live the moment. So, I’m going to go out now, cross the street and gorge on some ‘fuchkas’. Thankfully, no place can beat Kolkata when it comes to food and easy access to simple things in life. J

Watching Squirrels @Wynnstay

Wynnstay was my home in the calm, quiet neighborhood of Burgess Hill in England. Just in front of my balcony stood a big ash tree. (I could never remember the name ash and the word ‘shy tree’ would come to me every time. For some reason the name ‘Ash’ is still a mental blocker). The branches of this Shy err Ash tree almost touch my balcony rails. Every morning I get visitors tapping their little wings and feet on those branches. Black and white magpie, tiny yellow tits and blue tits are pretty regular. A fluffy black cat is seen pottering around the tree too.

Among other regular visitors, the most energetic ones are the squirrels. Four of them run up and down the tree and all over its branches. They do acrobatics against the apartment walls taking help of any edge and corner that they can find.

We drive back home after a fine day, park our car in front of the ash tree facing my flat and sit there for half an hour watching these brown energetic rodents. They are always up to some menace, as if a big game is on or a big plot in play. Looks like this one is chasing the other to get his nuts. They climb around the trees in circles, pause and sprint, pause again, very still and then shoot off. Whilst these two carry on their find and fight, the other two are busy foraging the ground in search of nuts, busy and alert and extremely flexible!

It's such a bliss to take a break from your own rat race and watch the wonders of nature. 

"Hindu meal" in a home-bound flight

Recently, I was flying from London to Kolkata in one of the well known global airlines. I had opted for Hindu meal. Now, I'm not a very religious person and there was no religious intention behind this choice. I was simply curious.

So, there I was sitting in my preferred aisle seat and the flight attendant arrives with my Hindu meal. Curious, I unwrap the little plates and bowls and uncover some pulao rice, paneer with peas, bread, salad, sweets - a sumptuous meal but all veg. Fair enough.

It just dawned on me how we always related Hindu meal with vegetarianism. And how flawed that stereotyped thinking is. Can I not be a Hindu if I eat non-veg? There is no mandate on food habits in our holy Gita. Then why the presumption? I have spoken to many friends of mine from different parts of the world and they are also victims of this misconception. Hindus are believed to be vegetarians all over the world. But Hindus in different parts of India eat meat and fish everyday. These are even treated as bearers of good luck and used in multiple religious occasions. Then how come we Indians (or someone else) are spreading wrong notions?

Its like when we know only a little bit of the big picture and breed a global misconception that gets reflected in silliest manners.

Maybe the option in the food chart should read - Hindu meal (veg) / Hindu meal (non veg). 

I agree, I'm a bit over the top but I do have a point.

I'm a born Hindu and this thought in my over-critical mind makes me chuckle whilst I sit with my family and crunch on a fish head and chew the last chicken leg on my plate.

Chanctonbury Ring, England

I lay here on my bed watching fluffy clouds move against the clear blue sky following the direction of the wind. This side of my room is a glass wall looking over the South Downs in the distance. So when I lie here in my bed, I get the illusion of lying under the open blue sky and over the horizon, in the distance, the bushy top of Chanctonbury ring plays peek-a-boo. 

It was a warm sunny day. We went to Carat’s café (https://www.caratscafebar.com/) for a full cooked English breakfast in the beach, went paddling in the sea in Shoreham (Blog Post on Shoreham-by-Sea) and then drove up to the top of Steyning Bostal. From this top, you get a panoramic view of the Downs along the South coast of England followed by the sea. If you further strain your eyes on a clear day like this, you might be able to see the white cliffs of Rottingdean following the coastal curve to Eastbourne. The Brighton eye with its dome like structure (I refer to it as the Brighton doughnut) stands tall in the distance.

From here, a narrow bridleway takes you up the hill following a gradual but steady climb. We come to a cross-road where the road markers show three different ways. We chose the path marked as ‘The South Downs Way’ (SDW) and make our way through blackberry-bushes that line up the narrow lanes, occasionally opening up to open green farmlands trodden by horses, sheep and cows – a typical English countryside. This time of the year – August-September, the country side in England is full of sweet bitter blackberries. We picked some and continued our walk munching these fresh fruity snacks. Following the SDW for about 3-4 KM, we come on to a big open hill. The climb gets steeper and steadier now and then it finally opens up to this rolling hilly land with what looks like a bunch of trees on top of a mound.

It is a sort of circular hill top full of tall shady trees (Warning- There are lots of stinging nettles. Got bitterly stung by a bush while trying to role-play an ancient Saxon king on top a rock) with a ditch cut out around it. It is supposed to be a pre-historic fort dating from late Bronze Age or early Iron Age. The story goes – after the fort was abandoned in some fourth century AD, this hill fort remained un-used except for grazing cattle until around 18^th century lots of beech trees were planted around the ditch shaped like a ring for beautification. (Ref: Wiki on Chanctonbury_Ring) The local story also says, after the Great Storm of 1987, trees have been re-planted on several occasions to acknowledge the beauty and the history of this site.

What I personally loved is the peace and quiet that the place offers along with some incredible views of many of my known hills of the South Downs hill range, including my favorite Wolstonbury Hill (Blog Post on Sussex South Downs).

After a good stroll and some relaxing time, you can follow the same way down or if you are stupidly adventurous like us, you can follow down a longer winding path through the downs. But whatever you do, definitely climb up to this ancient Chanctonbury Ring if you get a chance and if you love nature and hiking and hate crowd J

Trip to Croatia

Imagine you are resting on the turquoise blue water of the Adriatic ocean, your back on the water, bobbing up and down, your toes hitting a few mossy rocks along the coast and then you floating in midst of nothingness but overhanging rocks on the sides and the clear blue sky above you. It’s the best feeling ever! 

No, I am not saying you have to go Croatia to get this feeling. But this was one of my most treasured experiences which happened to be during this Croatia trip. We were in the Lokrum Island which is about 20mins ferry from the old town of Dubrovnik where we had started our trip from. The Lokrum Island is a small island full of olive groves, rocky coasts, little coves and sandy beach, a dead sea, an old monastery, a nice shady café trotted by peacocks and rabbits who run around in the open without a care for anyone. The peacocks are at times so bolshie I had to walk away from my table in the café as the peacock was trying to steal the food literally from my grasp. We knew that Lokrum is a lovely place for swimming and snorkelling, etc. But we somehow hesitated and didn’t carry our swimming gear with us. But when we reached this little cove by the Triton cross, we couldn’t resist the temptation. We went in the water anyway and I had the float of my life :D It was amazing. We sat on the rocks after coming out of the water until the strong sun scorched our clothes dry, salty and crispy. We set off on our foot again to conquer the rest of the island.

Back in the mainland, the old town of Dubrovnik is pretty amazing as well. The town is surrounded by high city walls and the floors are all stony. From the central area, you can climb up few steps on all directions to get to the next upper level and so on and this structure circumvents the town along the walls. We walked all along the city walls in the scorching heat of midday. When we climbed down into the shade of the centre, we soothed ourselves with some ice creams. The ice creams in Croatia are really good and so are the chocolates, especially the dark chocolates with dried figs and almonds. I got box of that from the Croatia airport with the leftover kunas (or kumuknus as my friend calls them :D) and it all just vanished in one evening L We sat in the port and watched the little fish fidgeting around in the water. The sea water is very clear in this area.

The evenings in the old town was really rice with a soft warm breeze, dim lights against the stony town, the bands playing randomly at some corner or in some restaurant. Not sure why, but we chose to dine in one of the most expensive restaurants by the port. The location was pretty cool. You sit outside in the open, looking at the boats and ferries go by, the city walls lit up by your side and the pianist in the restaurant then entertain you with nice tippy-tappy music for the entire evening. Pizza and Sea food is Croatia’s speciality. And when I have that tempting option to try fish, my Bong antenna goes zing! So there I was having a sea bass and a red scorpion fish! I must say, even though costly, the fish was just superb!

From one old town to the next, we went from Dubrovnik to Split by bus. Both me and my friend hate long bus journeys but surprisingly the coach journeys in Croatia is not that bad. We went to Plitvice lakes by bus as well and that journey was equally good. Though it’s another question whether the journey was worth it or not. I really wanted to go to Plitvice lakes as I have read so much about it in Google and it is one of the most featured places to go in the country. But I was disappointed. Plitvice is nice with its waterfalls and green and blue water around the country park but it felt artificial. There was nothing natural about the place and it felt like a forced man-made effort to draw tourists and make money. My friend funnily called it a procession as there were so many people, we were literally walking in a line to get from one place to the other. Not recommended if you hate crowd.

The old town in Split was more appealing to me. Both the places are very touristy but the Old Town in Split seemed less commercial, more yeldy oldy than that in Dubrovnik. It has numerous very narrow lanes that take you to the main squares. The narrow lanes are laid with tables to eat in various places, making them even narrower and you would have to squeeze yourself along the way. In some places, you would find a sudden open area, mostly again laid with tables or little shops. My favorite was a juice shop just by one of the gates. It had every possible fruit forming a wall for the shop. And the juices were very refreshing as well.

My favourite evening in the Old Town in Split was the one when we had a few drinks in one open courtyard in the town (discussing world problems I think!!!), strolled down the lanes to find a place to eat and then after dinner, walked to one of the main squares to find some open live music being played by one of the pubs. They had thrown a few cushions around and people sat in the steps listening to the musicians, sipping their drinks. As the ambience got better and better, people got up and walked into middle of the square and started dancing causally with their partners and friends. No pressure, No hype, a simple free-flowing evening. Just the way I like it.

Apart from the Old Town, Split also has a really nice seafront. You can walk all along the coast by the docked boats and the harbour. They have lots of palm trees lined up along with benches to sit on. We sat their every morning having a cup of really bitter coffee (that’s how the Croatians like it) and a version of pain au chocolat (can’t remember what it’s called in Croatian). We strolled along the seafront right to the extreme end where a smallish hill waves a flag on top.

We climbed that hill up (it had around 320 steps towards the end, it mentioned) and found ourselves pleasantly surprised with the beautiful views of the city, of the sea around us and of the big Croatian mountains in the distance. I’m so glad we did this instead of getting lost amidst tourists again.

There is never a shortage of place to go and you can never experience a country or even a city within a week. But you do the best you can. So did us. And the week went by in a flash in the old towns of Dubrovnik & Split, in the little coves and under the shady plants of Lokrum Island, along the seafront of Split and port of Dubrovnik, the hilltop of Split and so on.