Gulmarg: Mountain lover's and Skier's paradise

Having planned an end of winter trip to Kashmir, we immediately set off to Gulmarg from Srinagar airport after landing. For skiing enthusiasts and for those who are looking for a vacation in the snowy mountains, Gulmarg is the place to be. Enroute to Gulmarg The roadtrip from Srinagar to Gulmarg, seeing snow-capped mountains for the first time, will be etched in my mind for a long long time. The journey is via Tangmarg where you have to either...

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My most memorable Shatabdi journey

This is the unedited version of the story that won the 'Holidays by Shatabdi' contest by Lonely Planet in June 2013. You can read the published story here It was 1997, I was all of ten years, travelling to the great Indian North for the very first time. After losing myself in the fascinating Mughal stories my Dad told us while travelling around Delhi, we were headed to Chandigarh. Shatabdi was going to be our ride from Delhi to Chandigarh. I was excited about travelling in chair car for the very first time, but mostly it was because my mother...

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Andaman: Of Island hopping, underwater adventures and different shades of the sea - II

..continued from Part IHavelock Island  The next day we presented ourselves at the jetty at the earliest only to see a long queue of impatient folks waiting for the 8 am ferry to Havelock. The few policemen (and women) who were trying to control the crowd very often stopped to chit chat with the Islanders in the queue. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, evident in the way they were enquiring about family matters and kids’ studies, the kind...

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Andaman: Of Island hopping, underwater adventures and different shades of the sea - I

Andaman& Nicobar Islands, for a perennial beach lover like me, was like stepping into a dream – one made of white sandy beaches with the sea so clear and blue, it put the skies to shame. Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of around 600 islands (out of which only 38 are inhabited by humans) in the Bay of Bengal, which even though is a part of India, is closer to Thailand and Indonesia. Port Blair is the only Island connected via...

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Goa & the Art of Self-discovery

The Old Goa with the beautiful churches for admirers of Portuguese architecture, beaches crowded with families looking for a good vacation, beach huts on secluded beaches with soft sand for ones looking to get away from it all or if hippie crowds and a bit of ‘heaven’ that you are looking for, Goa showcases herself in whatever manner you expect her to be, and more. I have has been to Goa a few number of times, thinking of each visit is like...

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Gokak : Of mills and (water)falls

Gokak, a quaint little town, around 70 km from Belgaum is home to Gokak mills which is where my Uncle works. So that brought us here for an Independence Day long weekend trip from Bangalore. The car journey  from the railway station was spent playing hide and seek with the river and ooh- aah ing at the old world charm of the English style cottages inside the Gokak Mills compound. The mills which was started during the British Raj...

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Matheran: Of foggy woods, gurgling waterfalls and rains that painted the hills green..

Matheran, one of the most beautiful hill stations near Bombay, in my opinion is I guess what resulted when God dropped his green paint all over the canvas (Then again, so is Kerala). It is weird how my first memory of Matheran is...Well, not mine. My sister had gone on a night trek to Matheran a few years back and what I remember vividly is her saying how wonderful it was to look down from the top and see the valley all lit up with the many...

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