Route #13 Trip to Dalhousie

Landsdowne, Kulu, Manali, Dalhousie, Goa, Kashmir...all these places came up on the drawing board. The aim was to make a trip of the Route #13 gang to one of these places in the month of September, 2010. Well, finally Dalhousie hit the bull's-eye. Thus started the planning, packing and discussions on the Dalhousie trip. The final trip members (name initials) were - KM, RP, BK, YS, SG, SM and PD.

Day-1 (Friday, September-10-2010)

Today we had the train (Malwa Express) at morning 6:00 AM. The initial plan was to have everyone depart from home and meet at the railway station. But, as luck would have had it one of the trip members (YS) had a grave-yard shift in office. Well, a baby-sitter was assigned (KM - was 'volunteered') who could accompany the trip member from Gurgaon to the railway station in the earlier hours of Friday.

Thus Friday, at 3AM in the morning, in some of the apartments alarm-clocks started ringing. Last minute packing was done, folks refreshed and started giving updates (SMS) to get the other folks to hurry-up. Not to forget SG had tucked into her baggage a torch with new cells (mind it !) at the last moment - in case required. Gladly, we also accepted SG bro's offer for a lift to the railway station :-)

Finally, the gang (KM, RP, BK, YS, SG, SM and PD) came together at the Railway station. The train, as usual was around 50 min(s) late. While we waited, snacks and fruits were packed up at the railway station. A slight drizzle followed, but could hardly dampen down the enthusiasm of the Route #13 gang on their way to Dalhousie.

Thus started the train journey to Chakki Bank (nearest rail station to Dalhousie). Off course there were Rummy, UNO [well, need I say that out of the initial 10 rounds of UNO - PD won 8 rounds ], dots-n-dashes. Then off-course there was the getting off at pit-stops and trying to take a few snaps here and there.

As we approached our destination, the greenery of the nature greeted us. The pollution, dust and honking of the city were no more there.

The quite and peaceful surroundings greeted us.


Reached Chakki Bank, and hired a Innova till Sunday. The gang piled into the Innova and off we started for the 4 hrs drive uphill to Dalhousie, via Chamba.Off-course, there was a stop-over for chai-pani (and also to stabilize YS - who seemed to be having rounds of motion sickness!!).

Near the chai-pani (tea) stopover, a steam was seen and everybody ran away to the stream (well, and photo session followed). After photo-shoot and snacks, we continued with our drive to Dalhousie. Reached there around 7pm, and check into the Dalhousie Circuit House (near Ghandi Chowk). Accommodation arrangements, courtesy of KM :-)

We refreshed a bit, and went down for a stroll to Ghandi Chowk (~2 kilo-meter from Circuit House). Did a bit of window shopping, had sizzling bread-omlette, chilled Khulphi and smoking hot tea. Finally, we walked back to the Circuit House following the Figure-Of-8 from Ghandi Chowk to Subash Chowk, via bear trail to the Circuit House.

Off-course, to pep-up the moment there we discussions of Bear, Leopard and Monkeys all the way ! Not to be forgotten even in the city (bear trail) stroll, at least 3-4 of the members had their fear-factor fall flat on the ground. Also, to be mentioned SG's torch (with new cells) which failed to light up even 1 cm of the path !!

Came back to Circuit House, had fresh home-made dinner (made by the Circuit House cook), gossiped a bit (about ghosts, ghouls and the super-natural) and packed up for the day. SG even spotted a light-bulb flickering on it's own (with no power on) at mid-night in one of the rooms !! Boooooo...

Day-2 (Saturday, September-11-2010)

RKP, BK, SM and PD were up and awake in the early hours. They were ready and waiting for the lazy sleepy-heads (read KM, SG and YS) to get ready. The ready folks went for a stroll to watch the Dalhousie morning. Once all were ready and waiting for the Innova to arrive, photo shoot followed in-n-around the Circuit House.

The Innova arrived and we started of for the day's sight-seeing, trekking and hiking adventure. First was a quick stop for breakfast (after all, as the saying goes - an army cannot march on empty stomach !!). A forest trail was spotted (trekking site) was spotted near the area, but for greater good to cover the day's itinerary we finished breakfast and went ahead.

First stop was the Kali temple, and as per our driver it was a 1 kilo-meter only. We all started off fresh to cover the distance in a wink of an-eye.

Later we came to know that it was 1 kilo-meter distance apart in altitude and not by distance. BK got the first shock ..when he kept walking on and on, and there were no signs of the temple. He gave his golden remark.... "Oh Bhaisaab !! we should present distance measuring equipment to these local folks" :O . On the way, we met areas of echo-point and SM and SG shouted out to listen to the echo from the surrounding hills !!

Our next stop was Khaijjar - the meadows that are called the Switzerland of India. It is a low lying meadow surrounded by conifer forests and hills. The view is quite amazing. Off-course to add to the scenery, there are horse-rides, balloon-rolls and para-gliding !

The group had a lazy walk in the meadows (off-course with continuous photo shoots) and had snacks of bhel-puri, chilled milk and bhutta (corn). Here in the romantic meadows of Khaijjar, KM also have induction to SM on some specific herbal medicine he was inquisitive to learn about !! :-)

Had a late lunch at Khaijjar, and around 5pm we departed for Kala-top. After reaching Kala-top and the initial refreshments, we started the hike to the hilltop. Kala-top is a forest reserve and is a dense forest infested with bears and other wind animals.

It was a 3 kilo-meter hike and we reached the hill-top just in time to view a eye-catching breath-taking sunset. Well, post sunset came the issue of returning to base...in the dark, through the forest with bears and leopard (here at the hill top, at sunset we came to know that the forest also had leopards!!).

The wild-animals scare did not dampen the spirits. We had our quota of hot Maggi noodles, sizzling bread-omlette, tea and coffee at the hilltop. By the time we started the trek down, it was pitch dark. The path was hardly visible and the trees and shadow's created illusion of wild animals to the eyes.

With no light, out came our cell-phones - with whatever light we had from the displays/LEDs of the cells and lots of singing of "po po po po po po" (no time to dance !!), we marched down the hill. The path was now slushy and some of the areas were pitch dark...when even the person walking in front was hardly visible !

What took more than 1 hour to climb up, we climbed down in 22 minutes flat ! Down-hill climb was accelerated with a sprinkling of fear-factor as everyone was expected a bear or a leopard to spring out from the next turn or from the dense jungle. Courage was put to test - finally we reached base (but not without a few hair-rising yells here and there from YS !!!), where BK delivered his million dollar outburst - "Yaar, Koi mere ko ...(call of nature)" .

After reaching the base and on our way back, it was a remembrance of the fact that - A Cat has 9 lives, wonder how many a human being has ?- We reached Circuit House, refreshed and had dinner.

Then the general gossip started remembering the adventured we had today. SM and BK packed up for the day - too much excitement in one night was enough for them !!

The Kala-top adventure had made the sleep of rest of the members vanish...so late mid-night we decided to take a Dalhousie stroll. The mid-night nature was quite refreshing (stroll went on till 2am in the morning) and then we called it a day.

Rumor has it that SG and YS made an attempt to scare the others in the middle of the night ! But it was a flop-show as the 'others' did not get scared !!

Day-3 (Sunday, September-12-2010)

Morning all folks were refreshed and ready. A quick check was done to ensure everyone was out of the Kala-top hangover. BK was still heard chanting "Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram.....". Breakfast was at Circuit House and we started off for the day. The plan was to visit Panjpulla, come back to Circuit house by 3 PM and leave for Chakki Bank for the onwards journey to Delhi.

We reached Panjpulla - known for the waterfall, Ganji Top (hill top with only grasslands and no trees) and a temple. A moderate trek (in slight drizzle) took us to the waterfall. A photo shoot ensured that all remembrances were captured digitally. , with the fun-n-frolic over, we started the trek to the temple ~2 kilo-meters (or so we thought !!).

After 30-45 minutes into the hike (a steep climb), we came to know that we had been climbing the wrong hill !! The temple was on the other hill, and the current path will take us to Ganji Top (~8-9 kilo-meters). On hearing this, BK almost made a dash downhill !! We decided to make it to Ganji Top.

With renewed energy and fervor, we marched on the hard steep trail all the way to Ganji Top (we were also in a time-bound limit, as we had to return, pack-up and leave for Delhi). B K gave up in between and decided to spend some time idling and watching "wild" bulls grazing !!

The rest of the gang moved on for the final push to reach victory - Gangi Top. The top was breath-taking. One would watch the surrounding hills, the clouds giving the fly-past and the green pastures at Ganji Top (this top derives it name from the fact that it has no trees here). A Photo-shoot ensured.

Will all places covered (the final place that we covered been Subhash Bowli), we raced for lunch. Post lunch, we packed up from Circuit House and left for Chakki Bank (for the journey back to Delhi).

A quite memorable trip of Dalhousie which had it's own dose of trekking, hiking, scenic beauty and off-course not to forget the pitch-dark trek in the wild forest of Kala Top !

But then again, we decided to also meditate for World Peace :-)

Cheers !

It's The Time to BINGO !

The clock ticks as the hour hand nudges towards 1800 hrs. We wait as the seconds fly past, so that we can sign-off from a hard day's work. Then goes the hour gong, at the hour - ding ! dong ! ding ! dong ! (in the earlier days it used to be factory blow horn that would signal the end of the working shift).... well, this is the IT-industry and we have evolved. As the clock strikes the last gong, we are already out and gunning for the exit. After all it is 6pm in the evening...

Outside the office premises, we wait anxiously for the shuttle to arrive, sincerely hoping that today will be a lucky day and that the by-lanes will not get jammed by some rookie driver trying to pull a fast one to get home early. The usual scenario is a vehicle barging in from one of the side-lanes, and causing a perfect traffic grid-lock that consists of buses, trucks, autos, rickshaws, cars etc.

Finally the shuttle's start arriving. As we keep a sharp lookout for our shuttle - Route #13, few wonder why shuttle Route#22 is always the first one to arrive (will surely give the guru's of Probability Theory a run for their money!) ? Well, as the rumor goes - this is the route that has esteemed passengers as the building admin, IT support. Now who would like to up against the probability theory !!

Finally, our Route #13 shuttle arrives. We board and pick out our cosy corners. Some starting reading "management" books, others can be overheard attending "client" calls, general gossip on how to bring world peace can be heard and some are lost in their turmoil of thoughts. Mr. X stretches full length on the three seater and dozes off ! If it was a lucky day (for the Route #13 passengers), hot sizzling samosa's or bread-pakora's will be passed around. A whiff of the tempting samosa/pakora's is enough to get anyone hungry ! Well fed with the on-board snacks, the calories now start burning. Well, we did hear Mr. X snoring now !!

Then suddenly a distance voice can be heard "Bingo tickets ! Bingo tickets ! Bingo tickets !". Well, that's Ms. Y marketing bingo tickets. Fortunately there is only one option - buy the ticket or else :-)

That's inside-the-box (bus) marketing ! Thus starts the bingo ticket sale and fund collection. Once the funds are collected the Fund manager and Bingo coordinator (Oxford defiation: someone who is not eyeing the cash prize/saab moh maya hai ;-) are identified.

The prize money is decided and announced. The first full house has a cash prize of Rs 20 and the second full house has a prize of Rs 15. Off course, there are consolation prizes too. These are Rs 10 each for the first-diagonal, first any-row, first any-column and all-corners. The lights dim, lenses are cleaned, seating positions are adjusted. Pencils are sharpened....and the magic gadget makes an entry. Let the Fun begin.....

As the numbers roll out, with bated breath the Route #13 bingo players check the numbers flashing on the screen. Some exult in joy as favourable numbers come up, some give a glazed look as suddenly the numbers start looking Greek-n-Latin (at least not on their ticket) and some curse the ticket Then there are those, who peek at other's tickets and compute their chances of winning the Full House prize.

Then someone shouts 'Row' (well, that effectively means we have a player claiming the consolation prize for first any-row). As the fun proceeds, follow-up shouts echoes of 'Column', 'Diagonal' and finally 'Corners'.

The enthusiasm mounts as everyone now targets for the "Full House" (Rs 20 cash prize). This is the biggest Return On Investments (ROI - 400%) - best returns comparable to even the Switzerland bank. Balls keep rolling out, numbers keep getting cross out, the silence is deafening as folks keep a sharp watch on the Bingo numbers.

Then comes the shout...."BINGO ! BINGO !". A few jealous looks are passed at the winner, as the cash prize is dished out.

But then, all is not lost ! The second Full House is up for grabs. The count down starts again. This time it is a fight to the finish, as this will be the last cash prize and a chance to get a 300% ROI. Then the magic words are heard again..."BINGO ! BINGO !". This time a few looks does say..'well ! there goes my money!' :-)

All in all, a very entertaining game that has Route #13 travellers energized for the next group activity (to be discussed in next blog). Quoting a few lines from something I had read somewhere...

Going to play bingo

Not to do anything-o

To win me some cash

And go home in a flash

So now I can dance-o, sing-o and say Thanks BINGO !

Cheers!