Thursday, February 10, 2011

Home Sweet Home .....

While going back home from Noida, 

Me : Kuch bhi kaho, maja aa gaya

Shobhit : Haan woh to hai, mujhe to drive karne main maja aa gaya. Bareilly jaane ka experience bhi kaam aa gaya. Papa ne mujhe highway driving pe kaafi tips diye.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, that I was constantly navigating Shobhit on the highway. Though, I'm not very good at it, but still gave my best shot and it helped him a bit. 

Me : Ohk, sahi hai.

Apart from that, another task that I was doing is I was constantly updating Shruti (our dear friend) about our location and condition. As soon as we reached Gurgaon, me and her were on  a constant SMS exchange spree and I was updating her about every move that we made.  When we reached Noida, she was at peace and I don't know if she slept after that or not. (LOL)

Soon, we reached Ghaziabad, and Shobhit dropped me home. It was around 0115 Hrs and we both were dead tired. I asked him to SMS me once he reaches home. Around 0130 Hrs, I got a SMS from him that he has reached safely. 

So,  that was our short trip 18-19 hour trip. We learned many things from the trip and we are gonna take care of all the things and little stupid things that we missed this time. 

Again, I would like to thank Shobhit and Jeetu for taking me out of the dilemma by planning this trip and I look forward to many such trips in the near future with some more friends and some more experiences. 
I would love to have your feedback about this travelogue. 
I hope you had a good time reading this. 
Signing off till the next one.

Yatin.

Pollution Check Certificate ....

All three of us were having eagle eyes on every petrol pump that was coming on the highway. We didn't realize that we were still in Rajasthan and according to the owner of that BP petrol pump, we would surely find one in Haryana. We kept on driving, crossed the Rajasthan bored, entered into Haryana, but we couldn't find a single pollution checking unit.

Jeetu : Yaar uncle ne 25 Km pe bola tha ki aa jayega but abhi tak to kuch nahin aaya hai.

Shobhit : Hmm, chalo dekhte hai. Waise, Delhi main panga hona nahin chahiye. Press Card hai, thoda chala ke bach jayenge.

Me : But, still milega to karwa lenge. 30-35 Rs ke liye kyun tension kare faaltu ki.

Jeetu : Haan, theek hai.

So, again the search for a pollution check unit began but no luck.

Then near Neemrana, we found the first pollution check unit and I went all crazy because of the fact that at least we are out of one trouble. Quickly jumped out of the car and started a conversation with the concerned person,

Me : Bhaiyya, pollution check ho jayega kya ?

Guy : Haan ho jayega 

Me : Superb ! Kar do yaar. 

Guy : Hold this camera and focus it on the number plate of the car.

Meanwhile, Shobhit parked his car in the right orientation. I helped the guy with focusing camera on the number plate. He didn't perform the test properly, handed over the certificate in my hand and asked for 30 bucks. 

Me : Aapne check to kiya hi nahin ?

Guy : Arre bhaisahab sab theek hai, aap tension free hoke jaao.

Another guy : Ab 3 mahine tak khoob ghoomo isko leke, Koi tension nahi hogi.

Me : Hmm, theek hai.

I gave him the money, punched Shobhit 2-3 times as I was all cheered up having that certificate in my hand. Silly me.

Again, we hit the road and this time all we cared about is reaching Ghaziabad in the minimum possible time. I was sure that once we crossed Manesar, then everything would be smooth. No jams nothing. Well my guess was slightly wrong. With too many diversions on NH-8, it was a chaos but somehow Shobhit and me managed to get out of those while Jeetu was dreaming. YES, he actually slept on the back seat. Lucky Dog !

Me and Shobhit were sure that once we reached Gurgaon, then it is hardly going to take 1:30 Hrs to reach Ghaziabad and hit the sack. We entered Gurgaon around 0015 Hrs and Shobhit's sister called me up 

Didi : Kahan pahunche ? 

Me : Didi, Gurgaon main hai.

Didi : Tab to kam se kam 1-1.5 ghanta aur lagega tum logo ko

Me : Haan didi, kam lagna chahiye but itna to maan ke chalo aap.

Didi : Achcha, Shobhit se baat karwao

I handed over the phone to Shobhit, he had a small conversation with Didi. He was already superb pissed off with the traffic jams and now he was like in a very bad state of mine. But, it has got nothing to do with the conversation he had with his sister. 

Me : Ab delhi main enter hone waale hai 

Shobhit : Iss Jeetu sale ko jagah, I don't want to take any chances with the directions now. Delhi and flyovers near AIIMS confused me. 

Me : Sone de, Dhaula Kuan pahunch ke jagata hoon isko.

Soon, we reached Dhaula Kuan. I asked Jeetu to wake up and help us with the directions. 

Jeetu guided us with the directions to reach Ashram and soon we were on the DND flyway which is an eight-laned 9.2 km (5.7 mi) access controlled tolled expressway which connects Delhi to Noida, an industrial suburb area. The entire flyway was empty and soon we reached Film City, Sector - 16 Noida where we droped Jeetu and we headed towards Ghaziabad.

F.L.A.T

It was around 7:15 P.M and we were much behind Kotputli. The entire NH was in a bad shape and too many diversions lead to chaos and long traffic jams. Somehow, Shobhit was managing to listen to our non-sense talks and was keeping a keen eye on the highway in order to not to stuck in a jam. 

Suddenly, a sound came and the car started misbehaving. The steering went out of control and Shobhit said its a FLAT. The first thing that came in my mind after listening the word "FLAT" was another very popular F word that ends with K and is considered as the most popular word under the mentioned set of conditions. (F**K).

Shobhit : Sala, kismat hi kharab hai
Me : Jo hai, so hai. Chalo karo tyre change.

Jeetu : Aaja chal, jaldi se karte hai.

We were already running behind the schedule and this FLAT screwed the situation royally. Luckily, there was a tyre shop near the place where we stopped. Shobhit and Jeetu had a tough time changing the tyre and after replacing the tyre Jeetu went to that puncture shop to get the puncture fixed. 

While, jeetu was getting the tyre fixed.

Shobhit : Sala, koi plan banao to usme bhasad pehle hoti hai.

Me : Abey chhod na, abhi ho jayega theek, phir bhagao gaadi tum.

Shobhit : Mera to dimaag kharab ho raha hai.

It took more than expected time for Jeetu to get the tyre fixed. He was around 200 meters away from us. I decided to go to him and checkout what is wrong. 

Me : Kya hua be ? Itna time kyun lag gaya hai ?

Jeetu : Abey yaar, tyre phat gaya hai ??

Me : WHAT ?? 

Puncture waala : Yeh dekhiye bhai sahab.

Me : Shit man. Now what are we gonna do ?

Jeetu : Kuch jugaad karwa rahe hai, bhaiyya bol rahe hai ki chal jayega, bas road road pe chalana hai agar yeh waala tyre lagaya to. 

Me : Hmm, chalo, lets get it done. 

While I was waiting for the puncture waala to finish his job. I recieved a call from Shobhit's mom. 

Aunty : Beta, Kahan pe ho ?

Me : Aunty bas chal chuke hai, raaste main hai, bahot traffic jam hai.

Aunty : Kitne baje chale the wahan se ?

Me : Aunty chal diye the 4 baje ke kareeb. 

Aunty : Aur kitna time lagega ?

Me : Pata nahi aunty, 2-3 ghante aur lagne chahiye, but bahot jyada traffic jam hai.

Aunty : Theek hai beta, dhyan se aana tum log.

As a matter of fact, I knew that the deadline given to us is gonna get violated. First of all, this FLAT, then the condition of NH-8. By the time, the puncture waala set us free with the Jugaad tyre, it was already 8:00 P.M. Me and Jeetu reached near the car. 

Me : I have an idea.

Shobhit : Kya ?

Me : Lets sit in the car and roll first. Will tell you on the way. We are getting late.

Shobhit started the car and we were again on the road. This time more careful.

Me : See, Papa's factory is near Rewari which is around 90 Km odd from here. 

Shobhit : To ?

Me : I think we should spend the night there in the guest house and then we'll start early morning. Suppose, if something went wrong in the middle of the night on highway. What are we gonna do ?

Shobhit got lost in a thought process. His mind stopped working. Again Tension took its toll on him. 

Jeetu : Nahin yaar, chalte hai. Jo hoga dekha jayega.

Shobhit : Behror aana baaki hai na abhi ? Wahan pe bhi to room leke reh sakte hai

Me : Haan, but kya fayeda, thoda aur aage chalke free main rahenge. (Spoken like a typical baniya)

Jeetu : Chalte hai yaar, jo hoga dekha jayega.

Shobhit kept silent for a few minutes.

Me : Tujhe kya hua ? Kuch to bol.

Shobhit : Chhod yaar, ghar hi chal rahe hai. Jo hoga dekha jayega raaste main.

Me : To lo bhagwan ka naam aur bhagao gaadi.

Jeetu : Pollution check karwa lenge raaste main, pata nahin warna Delhi main kuch bhasad ho gayi.

Me and Shobhit both agreed to his statement and started looking for a pollution checking center on the highway.

We were about to reach Behror, where suddenly Jeetu shouted 

Jeetu : Oye, woh raha pollution checking centre.

Me : Chalo, karwate hai jaldi se.

Shobhit turned his car towards that BP petrol pump but soon we realized that the checking center was closed. The owner of that petrol pump was there. He was around 50-55 years of age.

Jeetu : Uncle, pollution check karwana tha.

Owner : Beta, woh to band ho gaya hai yahan. Woh aadmi ghar chala gaya hai.

Then, we realized it was around 9:15 P.M. 

Jeetu : Uncle, dekh lijiye kuch ho sake to, humain Delhi jaana hai aur pollution certificate nahin hoga to challan ho jayega

Owner : Bete, yahan to possible nahi hai. Hota to main karwa deta. 

Jeetu : Uncle aage aur koi padega ?

Owner : Arre haan, bahot saare hai. Jaise hi Haryana main enter karoge, bahot saare pollution checking units mil jayenge aap logo ko.

Me : Chalo theek hai uncle. Thanks.

We hopped in the car and left the petrol pump.

Contd.

The Shahpura Incident.....

NH-8 was badly traffucked that day. The entire highway is in bad shape because of the six lane project that is going on. Too many by-passes and utter chaos out there made difficult for Shobhit to drive down to Delhi. I was expecting a smooth run on the highway but its condition said it all. Pathetic is an underrated word to be used for it. 

Another thing is patience. Indians keep "patience" at home when they move out of their houses on their vehicles. Every one is in hurry as if Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor are giving away free kisses on first come first serve basis. You would find very few patient people on the highway. 

So, we crossed the Manoharpur toll and headed towards Shahpura. The entire highway was traffucked as I mentioned earlier. In between we had delicious lunch cum dinner at some hotel The food was good and reasonable. The tea served there did not please both Shobhit and Jeetu and they had a bit of an argument over the payments to be made for that lousy tea. Jeetu grabbed a coffee from Cafe Coffee Day and we moved on.

Shobhit's car is registered with an Uttaranchal number. At Shahpura, while we were stuck in a traffic jam, two policemen came near our car and asked us to park on a side. All three of us were like what the F***.

Jeetu : Kya hua ?

Thulla 1 : Side main aa jao.

Thulla 2 : Kahan se aa rahe ho ?

Me : Jaipur se.

Thulla 2 : Achcha, side main lagao gaadi

Me : Shobhit, laga yaar side main.

Shobhit parked the car on a side, went inside and asked me to wait in the car itself. After a few minutes he came back and asked me to give him the Registration and Insurance certificates from the dashboard. He took them with him went inside and came out again and asked for the Pollution Certificate ...... I was like DAMN, now from where do I give that to you ????

We were not having a Pollution certificate and that gave rise to our chances of getting royally screwed by Shahpura ke thulle. 

Shobhit went inside the check post office and told the officer that he is not carrying pollution certificate with him. Jeetu is very good in dealing with policemen. As, Shobhit and Jeetu both are media people and always carry their press cards with them, it was easy for them to manipulate those policemen and soon they set us free without any bribe. With our screwed minds, it took us some time to get normal and we again got busy into our usual bakar. But, another thing was waiting for us .......

Contd.

The Missed Call ....

If it was a missed call on phone, it would not have affected us. But, it was a missed call from Jeetu's stomach that was full of shit. (LMAO). If you remember, I told you in beginning, both Jeetu and Shobhit didn't receive nature's call in the morning. So, its adverse effects started coming out from Jeetu. 

A.C was blowing cold air in full throttle and we were busy in usual bakar. Suddenly,

Me : Yeh ajeeb si smell kahan se aayi ?

Shobhit : Hey ram , kaun hai yeh ...... chi chi 

Me : Uff .... Put down the windows. let the fresh air come in.

Jeetu (woke up from silence) : It was me who did that.

Me : Screw you sale, tune to humain maarne ka full program set kar raha hai.

Shobhit : Sale, tu abhi jaa aur halka hoke aa.

I think that was the teekha Gol Gappe's effect that Jeetu started bombarding us with his silent missiles. He had already declared that he was going to supply some farms with his manure. He wanted to do the entire task in an open ground. I remember this dialogue from the movie Ishqiya : "Peepal tale paadenge aur Nadi kinaare haggenge , Pichwaade pe kya thandi thandi hawa lagegi" (ROFLMAO, I just can't stop laughing). The same dialogue must be going in Jeetu's mind when he declared that he is gonna shit in a farm.

Jeetu grabbed a bottle full of water, as Shobhit stopped the car after a heavy discussion about the perfect place to download his stuff. Jeetu went and got back after half an hour. Meanwhile, 

Shobhit : Yeh sala kar kya raha hai itni der tak ?

Me : Pata nahin bhai, lagta hai maamla gambheer hai.

Shobhit : Main to open grounds main kabhi kar hi nahi sakta. I don't feel comfortable because I never tried that. 

I was literally laughing like anything listening to all this.

Well, Jeetu came with a sign of relief on his face and hopped in and we began our journey back home. The roads were good and Shobhit was enjoying the drive. Soon we left NH-11A and joined NH-8 which headed towards Delhi. Crossed the Manoharpur toll and headed towards Shahpura where another incident was waiting for us.

Contd.

From Bhangarh to NH-8 ....

We started from Bhangarh at around 3:00 P.M. For a mere 1 hour trip to Bhangarh, we came all the way from Ghaziabad to visit the place and now it was time to head back towards home. All thanks to Anukraman Sir for guiding us to escape out from those silly stupid F'ed up roads and telling us another route which was amazing. We enjoyed every bit of our drive and suddenly before Raisar a beautiful patch came up which made us stop and click some pictures. The place was beautiful and Shobhit and Jeetu both went crazy seeing that. I had been there 2-3 times while doing recce for The Monsoon Ride - 2009 so I was OK with everything. Here are some pics.
















Soon after clicking the pictures, we realized that we have to run now because of the promise that we made to Shobhit's mom that we would be back home by 10:00 P.M.

As we started from this section, we were busy chatting and abusing each other and discussion various philosophical and practical things about life, a missed call came that shook all of us.

Contd.

Our encounter with Langurs ..

Langurs and Monkeys are some of the nasty creatures on earth. No wonder, they are our ancestors.

Jeetu was carrying a bag full of his bananas (The Monkey Effect) , Grapes and Ber. He sat near us, opened his bag and started hogging on bananas. We were all relaxing out and didn't realize a whole troop of langurs were waiting to attack that plastic bag. There was an uncle with his grand daughter that were sitting near us. They also had to get up because those langurs acted really nasty to grab that bag full of fruits.

Somehow, Jeetu didn't leave his FRUITS and those langurs took away his Bananas. (Stop running your wild horses of imagination, its the fruit that I'm talking about here :P :P ). Jeetu managed to save grapes and ber inside the bag. I  kind of feel fattu when monkeys are near me. I grabbed my phone and managed to run away from the site and was constantly abusing Jeetu for bringing that bag of fruits with him.

Shobhit and me got up from there and parked ourselves at a place far away from the previous one. Jeetu, who fought with langurs over his packet full of fruits came near us  hiding that packet inside his jacket. He opened that packet again and Shobhit started popping grapes with Jeetu. But, they were not lucky enough.

Suddenly, 3-4 more langurs came and grabbed the entire bag again. This time they were in no mood to leave that packet. Our bag, mobile phones, camera everything was lying there. 

Shobhit : Abey sale, mera bag aur jacket to utha le. 

Me : Mere bas ki nahin hai, main to bhaag raha hoon yahan se (Spoken like a true Fattu). 

Jeetu : Abey kuch nahi hoga. Tension mat le.

But, Shobhit and Tension are insaperable.

Shobhit : Abey yaar, utha laa be jacket, please.

Jeetu : Arre kuch nahi karenge yeh log. Tu aaram se baith.

Shobhit was very concerned about his bag and jacket. He went near those langurs who were busy hogging on those "Free ke Fruits" and slowly got hold of his bag and jacket, snatched it away and came back. Jeetu was all sad because the langurs didn't offer him any of his fruits. 

Me : Main jaa raha hoon yahan se. Main aur nahin jhel sakta hoon.

Shobhit : Haan yaar chalte hai, gaadi main baithenge. 

Jeetu : ( was constantly staring those langurs and was abusing them to the core.) Chalo chalte hai.

So, all dead tired souls tracked back the same path that got us inside the premises of Bhangarh palace. Our most awaited visit to Bhangarh came to an end as soon as we stepped out of the main gate.

I called up Anukraman sir to ask about the route which we should take on our way to back to Delhi. In the middle of discussion I proposed Jeetu and Shobhit about going to Jaipur as it was around 100 Kms away from Bhangarh, but they both said no. Anukraman Sir is very good with directions and he told me another route which would connect to NH-11A and then straight to NH-8 at Manoharpur via Sainthal and Raisar. 

So, we parked our asses in the car. Switched on the A.C as it was really very hot and started moving back home. 

Contd.


Wednesday, February 09, 2011

L.O.S.T

I kept walking inside the palace without thinking where Shobhit and Jeetu were. Landed inside a stranded room and felt a bit dizzy. When I looked around, I could see no one else. It was me all alone there. I traced my steps back and came out of that room and started looking for both of them. 

Found out that they were busy shooting each other(not with the gun, but with the camera). Here are some pics.




They both were busy making each other's portfolios and I decided to leave them behind and move ahead inside the palace as I wanted to explore every corner of it. 
Once you reach at the top of the palace, you feel like you have conquered the world. The view is so beautiful that it would force you to sit there and enjoy the strong winds along with a mesmerizing view and you would think about the heard history of the place.





That is what I did and the camera was with these two buggers who were busy posing for it and getting clicked. Here are some illustrations :P










I was sitting at the highest point of the palace and could see both of them busy clicking each other like the newly weds do. After sitting there for 15-20 minutes and gulping a lot of water, it was the time I go down and relax myself in the grounds in front of the palace. So, I started stepping down carefully. Some of you might think that I'm exaggerating the situation when I stepped at a lower level, the entire place seemed like alien to me. I just could not figure out where to go and tried various exits in that chamber. After failing 2-3 times, I was able to figure out the right way that brought me on the main entrance of the queen's palace. 

Both Jeetu and Shobhit was still busy clicking each other. I gave a shout out to them

Me : Abey salo, bas karo be, main jaa raha hoon neeche, wahan garden main milta hoon.

Shobhit : Abey, bas hum bhi aa rahe hai.

Me : Ok, aa jao, main chala, wahi pe milte hai.
 
So, I stepped down from the queen's palace and started moving towards the main gate from where we entered the Bhangarh palace.


I came back and parked my ass on the grounds of Bhangarh under a tree. I was dead tired and it was hot. 

 Soon, shobhit came back and the first thing that he asked for was water. 

Behind Shobhit, Jeetu came with a plastic bag full of fruits which I asked him not to bring along because of the following facts
1. You won't feel that hungry because we all hogged on Gol Gappas
2. No need to carry that extra baggage with you. Who would carry them.

And the third untold thing were the Langoors out there that gave us a tough time while we were sitting there in those gardens.

Contd.

The B.H.A.N.G.A.R.H

Well, so much has been heard about the place in recent times, that is intriguing and makes people think about it. We were about the step into the domain of Bhangarh palace, but before that we thought to click some pictures.




So, as soon as we stepped inside, the gatekeeper saw the camera in our hands and straightaway he slashed a receipt of Rs.25 as the fees for taking the cameras inside the palace. AFAIK, you cannot use tripod inside the place. As we started moving towards the site, I saw a board saying that Bhangarh has been declared as the place of national important by A.S.I (Archaeological Survey of India). I was happy to see that and continued to move on. Shobhit and Jeetu were busy seeing the place and clicking. Here are some more pictures.







And passing by various ruins we reached the gate of the main palace.



There behind both of them, you can see the Bhangarh palace. As you go inside these gates, you get to a beautiful temple with mesmerizing carved stone work. Jeetu showed his photography skills and clicked some pictures of both the temples that are in the area on opposite sides of the palace. 











Personally, me and Shobhit are not very satisfied with the photography skills of Jeetu, but now we have no other option but to use these pics in this travelogue. I wish I had the camera in my hands. Never mind, one must learn to adjust.

So, after seeing both the temples, it was the time that we enter the palace. But, before that something very interesting could be seen there. Showing it in pictures. 





You can read about Kewra here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kewra

So, after seeing these Kewra gardens, we headed towards THE HAUNTED PALACE OF BHANGARH. Here are some more pictures of the way that took us inside the palace. 





It is a hard job to traverse the path, that takes you inside the palace. The angle of inclination is around 40-50  degrees which makes it very tough for a monster like me to go uphill and see the beauty.

This time, Bhangarh was bustling with people. So many students and families could be seen visiting the place. Some students were shouting at the top of their voices and were disturbing the whole mood of the place. I got very furious seeing the condition of the place as visitors have littered around the whole place. You can see beer cans, plastic bags and many other things dumped here and there. We Indians, we have this habit of screwing up every heritage site and it was very evident there. Well, nothing can be done regarding this. So, we started moving on and after sometime , I could see that I was all alone in the palace and couldn't figure out where Shobhit and Jeetu were. 

Contd.