Memoirs of a Wandering Nomad

Route: Gurgaon - Jaipur - Tonk - Devali - Hindoli - Bundi - Back Now this is what you should do: find yourself an extended weekend, where the skies are cloudy and north wind blowing across the plains. Then get your vehicle out on the Gurgaon - Jaipur highway and head towards Bundi - that tiny exotic teardrop (lit; Bundi means drop) of Joy, held in the palms of the mountains. Not camels, not folk songs, not the traditional and oh-so-boring Rajasthan; but a completely new and fresh look at the magnificent state of India - the Hadoti region that is Bundi - and a haven for the bag-packing and adventurous tourist. DAY 1: You will go through the usual Jaipur highway, crossing Behror and Kotputli, straight towards Jaipur. Some 20km before Jaipur, you will see the bypass that leads to Ajmer. Do not take it. Just keep going towards the city of palaces. You will reach a junction (about 3 hours from your starting point in Gurgaon), where to your right is the old road to Ajmer, and to your left i...

Spice Court Restaurant, Jaipur (This is a review of the Spice Court restaurant in Jaipur - which has appeared on TripAdvisor.com ) I remember the last time this happened to me was in year 2002, when I first tasted the mutton seekh kebabs at Karims in the old Delhi near Jama Masjid. Today, as I lick the last bits of Kulfi at Spice Court in Jaipur, I think I am in love again. Hua yun ki we were returning from a short trip to Bundi - near Kota. We had a lovely trip - about which I will write shortly - but food-wise the experience remained very ordinary. So we decided to hit Jaipur before 3pm, and try out one of their famous restaurants - maybe Copper Chimney or Niro's or Spice Court - about which we had only read - never been. So we drove and reached Jaipur in time. After some search and wrong turns and then right turns, we finally found Hari Bhawan Palace in Civil Lines - where you have the Spice Court. Spice court has the old British architecture, with large windows and walls painte...

The times have remained crazy ... So here is one more from the attic --- This was published in year 2006 on the 60kph (group I ride with) website: Earlier Published as : "Sun and Sand - Murud Alibagh With 60kph" This is the story of my trip to Murud and Alibag with 8 others in year 2006. The narrative may not have captured everything of the trip. Just like that lot of pictures that the camera's lenses cannot capture, for the mind's eye sees more than it can narrate. Also, the story barely tells you what a terribly good time we had. But it is more or less in totality the impressions of my bike ride. It is about the ride where my bike clocked 10,000km. It is also about the ride which made me change my clutch plate the third time ... It is now more than two weeks that I got my 500cc bike from Noida to Mumbai. I am dying to take her out on a long ride. One ride for half a day to Lonavala is exciting and fun, but not enough. So when Gaurav calls me on a Friday and says th...

The times are crazy. I have had hardly any time to clean the bike, forget about riding it. I feel guilty and depressed, and claustrophobic. The one outlet that I have - writing these blog posts - also takes some time to bake the posts, make them brown to perfection. So I decided to take the easy road - recycle and reuse. Here is one I found in my attic ... one of the earlier published posts (appeared on RE website earlier under Imran's name):. Happy Holi! ... Hope you will enjoy this as much as the recent ones: Memoirs of a Wandering Nomad - Chail Kufri Shimla Here's to the third absolutely crazy madcap bike ride of the three Nomads. This time, the distance is the greatest ever. The terrain we scaled is equally great in beauty and the fun, unimaginable... There's nothing like unplanned trips. Correction, there's nothing like trips planned for one thing and which materialize into something totally different. This is about a trip planned to Mussoorie, which went right ou...

Surviving Colombo - Kandy - Bentota ----------------------------------------------------- ------ The sun is getting rather too much for my eyes through these windowpanes even as I sit in the waiting lounge at the Negambo Airport, about 45km from Colombo - officially Sri Lanka's largest airport - waiting to take my flight out to New Delhi. So I have put my shades on and that is how I am writing this to you. I suppose that this is reason good enough for any oversights and faux pax that may continue to remain in this post, like the last few fish that remain in the nets after one has unlo aded the lot on the deck of the trailer. I have been hibernating for too long on this blog site. The reason is not the lack of substance, no sir, in fact my nomadic lifestyle is as intact as ever and gives me enough fodder for thought. I have been in between vacations, and travels - Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Indore, Saat taal (twice), even outside the country to Bangkok and Pattaya (second time). But it was...

I have not been able to move further after day 5. But the dictaphone is still there, and with it the memories of the expedition. I will try and complete the 15 days in a while from now. Meanwhile, publishing some of the Leh photos ... Just to ensure that I am alive along with this blog. Will be adding some more posts soon. Here is the first glimpse of snow: 1 km before Rohtang Pass. Then the second one is a special photo taken at Anu's garage in Manali: The third one is the magnificent Sarchu valley. I will add some more in time. This just takes way too long ... Best - Shreekant 10 May 2008

Ladakh 6. DAY 5 – August 08, 2007 Wed Bharatput City – Killing Sarai (Sarchu Sarai) – Sarchu – {Gata Loops} – Nakeela – Lachlung La – Kangla Jal – Pang – Moray Plains – Tanglang La – Rumtse – Miru – Upshi – Karu – Leh By the time it is 6am and the tent owner comes to wake us up, we are already awake with pounding headaches that the height, the rare oxygen, the cold and disturbed sleep have given us for free. We pack as quickly as possible in our condition (actually in record 20mins) and head towards the river. Thankfully there is truth in the locals’ statement and the flow is very small. It is still an effort, but we manage to drag our bikes through without much incident. The downward climb from here on towards the Sarchu valley is eerie – the landscape resembles that on Mars. There is no sign of civilization except the road we are on, that too is broken in most places. We are glad we did not attempt this last evening – when it was already dusky. We climb down this bumpy and often scar...