ALOK RANJAN PRADHAN: 2011

In CP near Park Hotel

Ready for Rafting at Manali

To and fro by Kingfisher

Travelling to Agra from NewDelhi by Bus

In the Toy train from Shimla to Kalka

KATU'S VISIT :
          Katu, (KIRTI RANJAN PRADHAN) my youngest brother visited Delhi and its adjoining areas on a Raja Festival break from 12th to 18th of June 2011. He,alongwth six of his friends arrived by Kingfisher Flight from Bhubaneswar on Sunday, the 12th June at 11 am. As expected, I was waiting to receive my youngest brother to make their journey comfortable and easy.
Although he visited Delhi before quite many times for business purposes, this was his pleasure trip. He alongwith his friends wanted to see places, where they could find ice to chill around ! The one thing that always struck me was to send them to Manali, from where they could go to Rohtang Pass where there is ice / snow the whole year around ! I had booked 7 seats in advance with a tourist bus for their travel to Manali from a travel agent in Scindia House at Connaught Place.
      As the bus for Manali was supposed to leave from Majnu Ka Tila, near the petrol pump opposite the Gurudwara there, we had plenty of time. All the boys were very hungry as there was no free food in the Kingfisher flight supplied during their travel from Bhubaneswar to Delhi! Kingfisher normally provides free foood during the flight.
However , we all had some light snaks from the IAAI canteen and started our journey by the AC buses of DTC that starts from IGIA. We headed straight to Odisha Bhavan for lunch. Had a hearty non-vegetarian lunch of meat and Odia dishes ! Everyone was happy with the meal's quality and quantity. It was nice !
After resting for a while in the Odisha Nivas Lobby , we all moved to Janpath Market, to do any light shopping for the travel. After a while , we proceeded to Majnu Ka Tila for the tourist bus to reserve our seats for the travel to Manali .
The place around Majnu Ka Tila was very unclean and filthy. Never saw that before, even in my 26 years of stay in Delhi. Heard of it ,but never ventured to the place before ! The local contact person seemed to be a broker, who arranged unreserved seats in buses travelling to Manali! I was bit disturbed as the people travelling were very new to the psyche of these people and persons travelling with them, in the bus ! However since all of them were well built and all male , I was assured of their safe travel. I asked them to be extra cautious especially with their money, wallets and mobile phones. Each of them, carried around 3 mobiles (the latest gadgets) ! The bus started at around 6:15 pm for the travel to Manali. The 2/2
bus was full to its capacity. I bid them good bye for their happy journey to Manali. After seeing them off to Manali, I moved to my office, for my night shift duty. As expected I was very worried about their travel in the NON-AC bus as the AC buses were not available at that point of time, and the journey was of almost of 14 hours !
I tried to call my brother Katu , many times in between 8am -10 am ,the next day, but did not get thru because of poor signals in the mobile network ! At around 11 am Katu called me up . He was very upset with the travel in the bus that was very uncomfortable as they were seated in the back row with very less of space in between the seats. I could empathize with his experience as it was more than a 13 hours of journey! However as he said they got into a hotel to stay for the day at Rs. 1600 per day that they paid for 4 beds, I was relieved as I felt, it would give them some proper rest to relax. However at 4:30 pm he again phoned to say if there was anything else, to see except for Rohtang Pass as it was blocked, due to heavy traffic and road repair-works . He preferred to go to Dharamshala instead of visiting places in Manali. I suggested him to visit Shimla instead as its a better city as the capital of Himachal Pradesh with Toy train to Kalka for his return journey to New Delhi thru Chandigarh ! Asked him to see places around Kullu like Manikaran temple or some historical places along with the Hots pring there! They were so tired, that they slept the whole day. In the evening they went around the town to visit some nearby temples and market. I asked him to hire a Tourist car to visit Manikaran and some other place alongwith his friends and book a luxury bus to Shimla from Manali that would be comfortable. They hired a tourist cab for the next day and went to Manikaran in Kullu alongwith their belongings . They visited some temples on the way to Manikaran and took bathe in the hot spring at Manikaran. Then, they took a deluxe bus from Kullu for Shimla . As the bus was supposed to reach Shimla early in the morning, it was a very comfortable idea for them to see Shimla, during the day and return to Delhi by toy -train from Shimla to Kalka and then to Delhi by train from Kalka. However in the middle of the night it rained very heavily on their way to Shimla.The temperature fell to a very low level and it became very chilly outside. With the mountains and forests drenched heavily due to rain, it became a pathetic sight for visitors to venture out for tour.They planned against going anywhere and preferred to rest and freshen- up. It is very unfortunate, that the local businessmen and people around the market exploit the tourists very often, for money. I had told my brother before to be cautious about handling these people on money matters. A small asbestos house charged 700 Rupees for six hours (From 6am to 12pm) for them to wash and freshen themselves. Anyway, they lost all interest to travel around Shimla and planned to start their journey to Delhi as I had asked them to reach as early as possible to go for Agra, Mathura and Vrindavan on the next morning that is Thursday by 6 am. As one can not visit Taj Mahal on Friday on which it is closed , they headed for Delhi as soon as they could! They took the toy train at around 9:15 am from Shimla to Kalka. Its a very beautiful journey in the toy train as one travels through tunnels, jungles, mountains and streams. The train moves very slowly and the scenery is very majestic and serene ! I was in constant touch with my brother Katu through mobile phone. They were at least happy to travel by the toy train that had a grand view of Shimla and Solan on its way to Kalka. They reached Kalka by 4:30 pm and took another train "Himalayan Queen" as soon as possible for Delhi Sarai Rohilla , as it was to start its journey by 4:50 pm. The train reaches Delhi by 10:40 pm.
                     As they were supposed to leave for Agra, early the next morning, I had arranged a hotel for their stay near New Delhi railway station at Paharganj. The Hotel was a familiar one and provided friendly comfort. As the train was nearing to reach Delhi, I went to the railway station to receive them and get them to the hotel I had booked for them. I got in touch with my brother and came to know that it was right on time that is it was expected to reach by 10: 40 pm. A few minutes later, I received a call from Tubula , a friend and relative of Katu who happens to stay in Mancheswar , asking if everything was ready for their comfortable stay in Paharganj Hotel ! I informed him about the arrangement and asked him if they needed anything more to which he replied " If a bottle of Old Monk , Gold Reserve can be arranged, it will be great" ! I said yes and went to fetch one, in the near by area as I had around 15 minutes before the wine shops closed at 10pm. There I could not get the brand he asked and asked him again if any other brand can be OK. He asked for "Royal Stag" which was available and so, I bought one ! The train reached in time and so we left for the hotel after buying some food for dinner from a nearby Dhaba
I left for my home after leaving them at the hotel and having a patiala peg of "Royal Stag" with soda.I asked the Hotel Manager to wake them all, by 5 am as they were supposed to leave for Agra on the next morning. I reached my home at 1 am by metro . At around 5 am I called the Hotel Manager to wake the group up to get them ready for their going to Agra. The manager said he had already sent the hotel boy to wake the group up. I got in touch with my brother at 8am , the time at which they were on the way to Agra. I was happy that they were happy with the arrangement for the Agra travel. I kept in touch with the group and their movements through the mobile phone. As they were expected to reach the Hotel by around 3:30 am, I kept some bottles of Chilled Beer (Hawards 5000) in the Fridge for their refreshment and ordered dinner to be served at 3 am.(Rice and Dalma alongwith Salads). At around 3 :15am while a bit awake after coming from the loo, I was a bit thoughtful about their trip . At 3:45 am, I got a call from Tubula who was worried and a bit disturbed as one of thir group members had left his purse in the tourist bus which contained his ATM card , DL and 150 rupees in cash.They were very worried about the ATM card as it had a good amount of money in the account. As I was about to sleep again after coming from the loo, I got up to check the travel agent head's name and mobile number. He got in touch with the Travel agent who asked him to visit the bus shed where the bus was kept and contact the conductor and the cleaner of the bus. Fortunately, he got back the purse in the mornining from the bus. As a token of gratitude, he paid 100 rupees to the conductor.
As they were totally exhausted after their visit to Agra, I asked them all to rest enough till 12 :15 pm. I met them at 12:30 pm in their hotel to take them for some shopping around SN Market, Janpath and Karol Bagh. They shopped till 8pm after which we planned to visit Andhra Bhavan for Dinner and then to India Gate to stroll around. We came back to Hotel by 12 am . Then I left for my home, promising to return by next morning around 9am for the last day of shopping and Delhi sight seeing as they were supposed to leave for Bhubaneswar in Kingfisher flight at 7 PM.
The next morning when I reached their hotel, they were ready. We had South Indian breakfast of Upma, Idli, Vada and South Indian meal for Tubula in Paharganj. We carried the luggage in the two tourist AC cars that we hired for tourism and shopping purpose alongwith dropping them at the IGI Airport. We first visited Akshardham temple and then headed for Jagannath temple for Lunch as my brother does not take garlic or onion made foods on Saturday. All others were also interested in visiting the Jagannath temple at HauzKhas. We reached the temple at 1:15 pm , had lunch and moved to Lajpat Nagar Market for shopping. They all shopped till it was 3:30 pm! I was very worried as I felt we might miss, some of the places planned for their visit. We headed towards the Lotus temple in Kalkaji then. After spending 10 minutes there , we moved to Qutub Minar. As there was not much time left, we saw it from outside and left for the IGI Airport .By the time, we reached the airport it was already 6 PM. I asked them to enter and collect boarding passes as soon as possible, to avoid missing the flight . I felt relieved after seeing them off at the airport , while getting back an unused "Royal Stag" bottle, that was almost full which we bought the night before. I went straight to Ramanath Nayak's house in Malviya Nagar to celebrate for my brother's pleasant visit. We had our drinks and dinner there , when I received a phone call from my brother saying he reached Bhubaneswar at 9pm safely and in time. It was raining very heavily then in Bhubanswar . However from there , they headed for a marriage party at Adaspur in Cuttack before reaching home at 1:30 am.
A pleasant and a memorable trip , for me too. Hope all of them, enjoyed their trip.