Ghumakkar's Diary

Nothing to fear about, I don't show any symptoms.  One call, rush to meet someone, a Cab ride --- called it a day! Two days later, the Cab Aggregator called me with a news - Driver has turned positive.  That one clicked the panic button, aah for my wife at least. We as a family are sort of locked down in this place we call our home with a 1yr old kid and my mother in law. Except for me, none of my family members have been out of the main door more than twice since mid-March. My wife literally tried everything to cut off from the social-mingling, new mom's paranoia, and yesterday the one thing that she can utter was "irony". Anyways, I have done what's needed - informed authorities (advised to stay home, quarantined alone), locked myself in a room and living a life of King -- wife and my mother-in-law delivering all that is needed timely. But, let me tell -- it's no fun. Most of the time I have no one to talk to, no one to argue on a nonsense news running on TV...

Kalavnatin in clouds, as we looked at it from Prabalgad I have been to Prabalgad twice, but for some reasons (reasonable/non-reasonable!) I couldn't write about it.  So, going easy way - I am re-posting a very comprehensive post written by my fellow trekker Kranti . Also, I will update the post soon with trekking route for Prabalgad, which you can use with your Navigation app to "easily" navigate to the Top, else "getting lost and finding the way" is still the Best Way :) Prabalgad - A beautiful Day Trek in Monsoons :  “Pahad chadne ki kya Jarurat hai?” – Mom “Tumhara beta pagal ho gaya hai” – Dad “Mama/Uncle you are damn cool, man” -  Nephews/Nieces “Gaadi se jaana, bike se nahi” – Loved ones “Pahad chadna mere liye sirf ek trek nahi balki ek nasha hai, meditation hai” – Me #filmy Okay, so with all of these above, finally started our much-awaited Trek to Prabalgad/Kalavantin. We have been planning for this trek for more than a week n...

Known as the Knowledge city of Assam – Jorhat is a small town in the NorthEast India with a unique distinction of sheltering India’s only population of Apes – the Gibbons . Hoolangapar Gibbon Sanctuary spreads across an area of about 21 km sq and is named after Hoolock Gibbons . Not just the Gibbons, it also houses 7 species of monkeys out of total 15 species that are found in India, varied species of birds, spiders and squirrels. A morning walk inside the Hoolangapar Gibbon Sanctuary Gibbons are the Apes and are differentiated on smaller size, lower sexual dimorphism, no nesting habits from the Greater Apes. Hoolock gibbons are the second largest of the gibbons and spread from NE India to Myanmar, with smaller populations in Bangladesh and China. Hoolangapar Sanctuary provides an unparalleled opportunity to meet these gibbons in their natural habitat. Also, the sanctuary has India’s only population of nocturnal primates – the Slow Loris . With distinctive large eyes, every...

Julley! Second word that best describes me is procrastinator. You don’t need to ask me why, check the last date I posted something or in fact the fact that I am posting The Year it was on the fourth day of New Year tells it well. And, now when you ask what’s the first word, I promise I will write on it someday soon ( God promise it is :p) This year had really something I wish to have every year – lots and lots of travelling. It all started with solo Kutch ride and ended with a drive to Murudeshwar, I changed job – travelling played a big role in that too, I met someone and realized that there still can be a life (met momentarily, realized - well, perhaps on real terms), I almost touched all the corners of the country – chronologically Kutch in West, Leh (finally) in North, Imphal (yippy) in East and Murudeshwar in South. Only thing that I regret about the year was less of riding, though travelling did compensate it to a good extent. Also, that I couldn’t write, not that I ...

A good mood can always bring someone back to writing. After a tiring training (working) week at Oxford which happened to overlap with a changing mind, I finally had a day to devour the City of Palaces- London! I spent the hoping on hoping down the London underground/tube trains, visiting and capturing places in HDR and whenever had some idle – thinking about the coming week – what to do what not to do! Anyways, this blog is not about how to travel London, but to share the HDR London I saw… The London Eye I have always wanted to visit this modern wonder, and believe me it was as wonderful as it could have been to a solo traveler... The London Eye Modern Wonder in HDR Few moments at Big Ben and a walk on Westminster Bridge was another wonderful experience for me...

Finally, planned - postponed - planned - unplanned...series of Yes and No...year after years...finally a plan that took a shape to be executed...and finally it collapsed! Fourth year of Planning a Ride to the Top of the World( ly senses ), and it Flopped when the guy who planned it - booked a bed in Hospital for some unknown disease that turned out to 'fresh water worms' but killed his plan! When it starts to feel like cliche (like my life), I get to the point...I am leaving for Leh tomorrow morning! This time - NO PLANS! All I have got is a ticket to Jammu and a return ticket from Leh. What I will miss most on my ride is ofcourse you don't know and I won't tell, but Achtung!  will for sure be missed a lot; but it's his fault - he didn't start the day he was scheduled to be packed and leave for Jammu; perhaps he didn't want to start it alone! Epic ride it is! (Btw, to those who don't know, Achtung!  is my Bull - an RE TBTS 350. What next? I don...

It was not just another sunny Weekday, it was a day when we were scheduled to meet and have lunch with   non-other than the Jhakkas   Anil Kapoor. Well, it all started a few days back at around 11PM when I received this mail from Indiblogger to confirm if I would like to have an   Exclusive Lunch with Anil Kapoor   courtesy   Tata Storme and 24 – The Show . Not very much into Bollywood, I asked my friends should I go. And, it was like everybody had a single answer,   of course. (check out the the blogpost which led me to this meet) I was picked up at Vashi with another Indiblogger Deepti by Abhinav in a Bus bound to Pune from Dadar. There I met Ira and another guy (probably Varun) and also the other 3 bloggers ( Megahna , Nandini and Vaisakhi ). A group of   tweeples   was also there, who have won some twitter contest. As the journey took its course, I befriended with the Bloggers and few of the tweeples. With the day unfolding we came...

What have I noticed in all my not that frequent and extravagant but still give-or-take average air travelling hours? Definitely, I have learnt a lot through frisking, re-frisking, picking up thrice in a single day for (again) frisking, left and stamped bag tags, check-in queues, aisle, window and security door seats, hot and cold meals, coffee and a glass of water calls and what not. Then came to my delight this book “ Aisle Be Damned ” and I realized there’s still so much to learn about the   Art of Air Travelling ! Aisle Be Damned! Written by an   over worked and over traveled Corporate Executive Rishi Piparaiya  that too while waiting to catch the flights, clicking the tiny keys on his BlackBerry, the book talks about the nontraditional anecdotes to fly   safely ,   arguably intelligently   and   luxuriously . Though, I haven’t tried any of it,   and too shy to apply , some cheat-codes are reasonably tempti...

(It's a second post on Havelock in the series of posts on Andaman . For the teaser, click here .) Havelock is a beautiful small island situated at about 57 km North East of the Capital town of Port Blair in Andaman Sea. Named after Maj General Henry Havelock, it is the largest among the Ritchie’s Archiepelago islands spread across an area of about 114 sq km. En Route Havelock, On the government ferry - Under the Heavenly Sky This post is all about How to reach, When is the Best time and Where to stay in the Havelock. HOW? The Havelock Island can be reached by ferry or seaplane from Port Blair. Reaching Port Blair by Air There are direct flights to Veer Savarkar International Airport, Port Blair from Chennai, and Kolkata by Air India, JetLite, Jet Airways and Spice Jet. To get sweet deals, book the tickets at least two months in advance else booking tickets for Bangkok would be cheaper ;) Reaching Port Blair by Ships

Have always been wondering what this spit thing all around on the bushes, generally near the joint of the branches or leaves. Unable to get an answer ( and never realizing about Google'ing it ), I stopped taking pictures and perhaps started deleting whatever I had. SpittleBug - Shot at Matheran in 2010 Then few days back, I came across DesiTraveller's blog post on something called Spittle Bug ! Woot! It's something like a larvae secreting some foam (or spitting) around it as a protective cover. To know more about these Cercopidae Family bugs, you should visit here . [REBLOGed]  Spittlebug: The Soap Foam Bug A few days ago I wrote about our visit to the  Nature farm  where they grow organic food and do not use any chemical pesticides. While walking on the farm I noticed a small foam kind of thing on one of the plants. It was as if somebody was washing clothes and dropped some soapy foam there at best or somebody had spit at worst.  As it was jus...

What about receiving a Picture Postcard from Thailand? Follow me at twitter.com/PunitDubey and reply my tweet on the same (little search you have to do ;) Bad, just got one reply and yet to confirm if she received the card or not! But, let me tell you Thailand did offer me a variety of fascinating Picture Postcards and rejuvenated my love for those. Well, worth sharing is that I am reading  completed Rishi Piaraiya' s Aisle Be Damned here while waiting for flight on airports, and it's certainly a book worth reading, expect the review soon :) What could be a better book on airport than one written on airports #AisleBeDamned by RishiPiparaiya #Book #TSBC http://t.co/nwvrnZ80nW By the way, Ghumakkar is on first official abroad travelling trip and its my first smartphone blogpost :) cheers...

India is an exotic subcontinent with almost everything to offer to its tourists – right from lofty mountains, mysterious jungles to tranquil seas and colorful cities. Being a history enthusiast, I decided to opt for the capital city of India, which is popular for its wide array of historical monuments as well as interesting heritage. New Delhi is a beautiful combination of the modern and the ancient and I was amazed at every step by the kind of diversity it offers. The one day I spent in New Delhi was memorable in every sense of the word. A look at the lofty Qutab Minar I decided to start off with this well known historical landmark in South Delhi. Touted as the tallest brick minaret in the world, the Qutab Minar has five stories, each of which is covered with beautiful carvings of the scriptures from the Koran. There are various other monuments in the same site – some intact and some degenerated. I also saw the famous Ashokan pillar here – the wrought iron marvel. There are ma...

Have you ever appreciated that visiting few places becomes a religion for you? Like, visiting that particular chae wala shop around the corner in Kolkata or that old movie theater that has stopped screening new movies in Old Delhi since a long time or that particular CCD in Lucknow where you had coffee with your soul mate? Nostalgic, isn't it! I find this theory true to our travelling too. Just a view of Vishwanath Temple of BHU, idling at Assi and Dashaswamedh Ghats of Banaras, trekking every year at Naneghat, bathing at Nagaon - Alibaug are the few of the travelling things that I do almost every year. The new entrant to this annual travelling pilgrimage list is Kas Plateau. Just like the last year we rode to this place again and were happier than ever. Trivia Kas (Kaas) Pathaar or Kaas Plateau is located in the Satara District, some 30 kilometers off NH-4 (now NH 48) towards West. Plateau is about 300 kilometers from Mumbai via NH-4 and 375km via NH 17. We took...

What I like most about the cities we live in is the places we generally not aware about. Like the case of one of its own kind Butterfly Park of Thane, which is at stone throw distance from my place and I came to knew about it a few months back only. Then there is this Pagoda – another one of its own kind – world renowned and still not known to many city dwellers. We visited this place to take pictures and let me confirm it, we were stoned by the colors and the mystical sky (check out the Photo Story at the bottom of the post) Located at Northern most corner of the Megacity of Mumbai, across the Gorai creek, Global Vipassana Pagoda is a meditation hall built out of gratitude to the Buddha, his teaching and the community of monks practicing his teaching ( Wikipedia ).  The Global   Vipassana Pagoda - HDR The Pagoda is also known for being built on the world's largest stone dome without any supporting pillars, at height of ~29 metres and external diameter 94.82-9...

(It's a teaser post on my recent trip to Andamans (Portblair and Havelock), written mainly for LonelyPlanet Escape Express, you may also read and vote for it here . A series of Detailed posts on the Islands, Beaches, Places and Diving will be published soon) Yes, it was strange for me. The love for Road and Trekking was overpowered this time by the love of Beaches and actually - the Underwater adventure! Beaches have always attracted me, so a road leading to beach has always been what I would ever love to do. No thoughts, no  ifs-and-buts  just take a road that leads to Waters - and its ought to be a Real Lovely trip! But, this time it was different. Just the Water and only Water called me. This time after a long wait, and believe me the wait was well paid, I finally happen to take flight down to the heavenly Havelock Island of the Andamans for Scuba Diving! And what I met there, the waters, the atmospheric bars, nitrogen releasing from body, easing pressure by squee...

2 blog posts on CampNaNoWriMo   20000 words  CampNaNoWriMo  novella 37 posts 31  PADE  Entries ~7200 words Blogged ~ 4200 PADE words This month July 2013 would be remembered forever :) So much happened in last one month that I will have to publish am publishing it in a 2 posts series – PADE and CampNaNoWriMo. Part2: Camp NaNoWriMo What is Camp NaNoWriMo A sister-event to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), Camp NaNoWriMo is a virtual camping event where writers can attempt a novel or novella in a month with a bunch of writers (7-8) in a Cabin. That way they not only support each other but also get motivated to write and write! ( Wiki ) My Attempt to Camp NaNoWriMo It started just like that. While getting ready for PADE , I came to know about Ritu and that she is participating in the upcoming Camp NaNoWriMo. Motivated, though foreseeing a real tight schedule ahead , I committed for a 20,000 novella. Though it was an easy target...