I had written the following two travelogues in 2007 for my grandchildren. As I did not have a blog then I could not place them in the blog. Now I am placing the same for their perusal when they grow old.
Holiday in Spice Village,
Thekeddy, Periar Tiger Sanctuary,
Kerala from 07.04.2007 to 10.04.2007
Travelogue
07.04.07 : Left Delhi by Sahara Airlines for Cochin at 0730 hours. Arrived Cochin at 10.45 hours. Left for Thekeddy by road. On way we had lunch at Ajay International hotel in Cochin. Further, on way we had coffee at one and later tea at another place. We reached Thekeddy Spice Village at 6.30pm. It became an over 5 hours drive. At Spice Village Hotel we were greeted jasmine garlands and shown our rooms. Rooms were spacious. The hotel has a number of rooms which have thatch as roof. The weather is pleasant. There is a swimming pool. After settling ourselves in the rooms, we went for the dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was mix of continental and South Indian cuisine.
Kosi had joined us at Cochin. He is a good friend of Pilku. Ruchi, Abhishree, Amolikaa were missing Pilku. For me and Venita it was a good retreat from the polluted Delhi. There is a smell of cardimum in the village. We retired to sleep at about 11pm.
08.04.2007: We went for breakfast at 9.15 am. The children and all of us had good sleep in the night. Breakfast was continental as well as South Indian. After breakfast we went for elephant ride. The elephant was quite fatty, young and about 25 year old. We sat on it but found legs overstretched and could not ride. Children and Ruchi had a ride. All of us visited and had a look at Spice plantation before the elephant ride. The guide showed us plants of Elaichi, Badam , Pepper, Dalchini, Coffee, Coco, Cashew nuts etc. Venita collected leaves of most of the plants. We gave melon, bananas and pineapple to the elephant. Her name was Badra, after the name of the Italian lady who had donated it to the company.
We returned hotel around 12.30pm. Amolikaa and Abhishree had a good swim and around 2.15pm we had lunch, 3.30 pm we left for the boat ride point. It is about 10 Km from the hotel inside the Periar Tiger Reserve. The boat ride on the lake was for over 1.45 hours. We saw herds of bison, deer, wild pigs and a number of birds, kingfisher being one of them. We returned hotel around 7pm. Abhishree remembered Pilku very much. Somehow Venita and Ruchi cajoled her, diverted her attention. She went to sleep. We had dinner and retired to sleep.
09.04.07: We got up early. Had a round of the Spice Village hotel in about 10 acres. It has all variety of flora mainly local and well kept 68 rooms. I heard the chirping of birds of different kind. I had Pranayam and some asans. We went for breakfast at 9.20 am. We visited Ayurved center. After breakfast we went about 10 kms by car to another elephant safari. We saw a baby elephant sucking milk from the udders of mother elephant. Ruchi, Abhishree, and Amolikaa had elephant ride. Thomas, a common friend of Kosi and Pilku brought Easter eggs. Children were excited to break them. These were full of small chocolates. They enjoyed it. Children also fed elephant named Maria with fruits. Abhishree and Amolikaa had a swim in the pool. We had lunch and thereafter relaxed. Ruchi went to curo shop and I was told to do baby sitting. I enjoyed it. After she returned I went for a walk inside the village. At 7pm Venita and I joined in watching a demonstration of cooking fish and vegetables, Kerala way. Venita talked to Ayurvedic doctor Mrs. Rekha about certain boil-type eruptions on the legs/hands/forehead of Amolikaa and requested her to look up the child. She saw her and said that the same were due to heat. Our suspicion of chicken pox was ruled out. As she had no chicken pox so far we thought it could be that. I went to billiards room and had a game of billiards. We had dinner and retired thereafter to sleep.
10.04.07: We left for Delhi at 9am after breakfast. This time we took a different route, though we had to travel a little over 10km more, say in all 185 kms. But the route was picturesque. We passed through a row of tea gardens, pineapple, spice, cultivation besides rubber plantation. The entire road side had a number of mosques and churches and few temples. On way Abhishree and Amolikaa vomited. The route was circular on a hilly track. We had to stop a couple of times to give them some fresh air and walking. We reached Airport at about 2pm. The flight was late by about an hour. Venita and Ruchi shopped around in the shopping arcade in the Airport. Our plane took off at 4.10 pm. We landed at Hyderabad at about 5.15pm. Left Hyderabad at 6.30pm. During the flight we saw sun setting with all its glory. Will our sun get that glory when it finally sets? We landed at Delhi at about 8.30pm and reached home at 9.15 pm.
Visit to Amarnath
Travelogue
During our visit to Kashmir valley we remembered our Grandchildren wherever we saw a big span of ground, springs , rivers and lakes. They are fond of running and playing in water. We give them a travelogue of our visit to the valley.
30.06.07, Saturday: We left Delhi by air for Srinagar, capital of Jammu & Kashmir, at 12.15pm. The IA flight no.825 was late by one hour. The DGP J&K had made the arrangements for accommodation and journey in J&K. We stayed in Police officers mess, an exclusive abode of touring Police and other senior officers in the 2nd floor. The floor had 2 rooms. We were accompanied by Subhash and Sunita. Venita was of course there. We stayed in the room, meant exclusively for the officers of DGP rank and the other room was occupied by Subhash and Sunita. After a cup of tea we went to Sh.Shankar temple, which is at a height of over 100 feet at Srinagar. Srinagar itself is about 5500 feet above mean sea level (MSL). Road to Shankar Dev temple is along the world famous Dal lake. On top of Shankar Dev temple is famous Shiva temple, which is said to have been constructed by the Pandavas about 5000 years back. Sh. Shankar came here in 8th century AD and did penance. There is a cave like structure where he meditated. Sh. Shankar was a great Vedic philosopher and has written a number of books, mainly commentaries and Vedas and Upnishads. He established 4 dhams, which are considered pious by Hindus. These are located at Badrinath, Dwarkadhish, Puri and Rameshwaram. You have to climb 120 steps to reach the Sh.Shankar temple.
We went to chasme shahi, a beautiful garden constructed during Mughal times in mediaeval India, with water flowing down from the mountains. The flowers were beautiful. Particularly we liked yellow lilies and small roses of the size a flower known as 6 O’clock. The valley looked magnificent, surrounded by green hills and lakes. We took dinner at 8.30pm and retired to sleep.
01.07.2007, Sunday: We got up at 4am and drove to Baltal, for about 90 kilometers from Srinagar to take a helicopter flight to Amarnath, the Holi Cave, where Shiva narrated a story to his consort, Parvati, to make her immortal. But she slept when Shiva was narrating it and could not become immortal. A baby parrot heard it and it became immortal. Although we reached helipad by 8am, but could get the flight at about 5pm only. We reached Amarnath in 10 minutes. It is at a height of about 14000 feet. The temperature was about 5-6 degree centigrade, very cold. We visited the Holi Shrine at about 6pm. Here we saw Shiva Lingam in ice form. It was about 4 feet high. We prayed and did Puja. As Parvati had slept during the Amarkatha, she is seen in the form of a big slab of ice. The entire surroundings are rocky with no vegetation. There were a good number of pigeons who stay there throughout the year. We felt a bit giddy for lack of adequate oxygen. But later we got used to it. There are ice idlos of Sh.Ganesha and Nandi also. As we could not get return helicopter flight to Baltal, we stayed at Amarnath in improvised accommodation. There are no permanent structures at Amarnath. From September to May the whole area is covered with ice. It is approachable just for 2 months. The foot journey (14Kms) from Baltal is covered by Pilgrims in about 7-8 hours. It is difficult trek. Hundreds and thousands of Pilgrims visit the Shrine on foot from Baltal. Many cannot afford helicopter ride. There are a number of free service kitchens which provide you free food, tea, snacks and drinking water. We had food at about 7pm. I had not taken any food during the day, took Prasad first and thereafter some food. We retired to sleep at 7.30 pm. At about 3 am I got up as I had some headache, probably due to lack of adequate oxygen. Subhash gave me a disprin tablet. Thereafter I could sleep for a couple of hours and got up at 5am. We slept putting on clothes which we had put on at Srinagar.
02.07.07, Monday: In the morning Venita and Sunita again visited the cave and did Puja. It was a Monday, a day devoted to the worship of Shiva. The ice Lingam had increased by about a feet. The Lingam in ice form increased and decreased with the warmth and coldness in the weather. We left Amarnath by helicopter at about 10 am. And arrived Baltal after 10mins. As the free kitchens are setup with the devotion and a feeling of charity of the providers, the food there is quite clean and delicious.
We left for Srinagar by road at about 10.30 am. As during inward journey, we passed through Sona Marg. On way you see snow clad glaciers, dense forest and rows of pine trees. You have pine trees at high altitudes. In Srinagar you have Chinar, Poplar, Willow trees adorning the landscape. Chinar is respected by the local people. Its cutting is prohibited. It gives immense shade and cools you enough removing fatigue. Poplar wood is used for packing purpose, Willow for making Cricket bats. Apart from these trees you see Apple, Badam, Pears trees also. People grow different kinds of vegetables. Paddy is grown in abundance. In the Dense forest you have enough fauna too, such as bears, deer, leopards etc.
At Srinagar Venita and Sunita went shopping. Venita bought suit pieces, sarees and a shawl. In the evening we had dinner at Ahdoo’s restaurant ordering only Kashmiri cuisine. We retired to sleep at 10pm.
03.07.07, Tuesday: Venita and Sunita went shopping again. We also called on the DGP J&k, Sh. Gopal Sharma. He informed us that 2 persons had died near Amarnath cave due to accidental falling of a big stone from the mountain. Another 4 persons had been injured. Earlier one boy had died as he slipped when he was treking on foot from Baltal to Amarnath cave. Three others were also injured. Venita bought some dry fruits.
We also had boat ride on the Dal lake. Some persons were surfing. Venita bought some local jewelry from a floating shop. The floating shop travelled along with our boat. While Venita was preoccupied buying local jewelry, we were enjoying boating and beautiful landscape with green mountains. We reached Srinagar Aerodrome at 12.30pm. Our flight IA 826 was late by 45 mins. We arrived Palam at about 3.15 pm & home at about 5 pm.
Holiday in Spice Village,
Thekeddy, Periar Tiger Sanctuary,
Kerala from 07.04.2007 to 10.04.2007
Travelogue
07.04.07 : Left Delhi by Sahara Airlines for Cochin at 0730 hours. Arrived Cochin at 10.45 hours. Left for Thekeddy by road. On way we had lunch at Ajay International hotel in Cochin. Further, on way we had coffee at one and later tea at another place. We reached Thekeddy Spice Village at 6.30pm. It became an over 5 hours drive. At Spice Village Hotel we were greeted jasmine garlands and shown our rooms. Rooms were spacious. The hotel has a number of rooms which have thatch as roof. The weather is pleasant. There is a swimming pool. After settling ourselves in the rooms, we went for the dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was mix of continental and South Indian cuisine.
Kosi had joined us at Cochin. He is a good friend of Pilku. Ruchi, Abhishree, Amolikaa were missing Pilku. For me and Venita it was a good retreat from the polluted Delhi. There is a smell of cardimum in the village. We retired to sleep at about 11pm.
08.04.2007: We went for breakfast at 9.15 am. The children and all of us had good sleep in the night. Breakfast was continental as well as South Indian. After breakfast we went for elephant ride. The elephant was quite fatty, young and about 25 year old. We sat on it but found legs overstretched and could not ride. Children and Ruchi had a ride. All of us visited and had a look at Spice plantation before the elephant ride. The guide showed us plants of Elaichi, Badam , Pepper, Dalchini, Coffee, Coco, Cashew nuts etc. Venita collected leaves of most of the plants. We gave melon, bananas and pineapple to the elephant. Her name was Badra, after the name of the Italian lady who had donated it to the company.
We returned hotel around 12.30pm. Amolikaa and Abhishree had a good swim and around 2.15pm we had lunch, 3.30 pm we left for the boat ride point. It is about 10 Km from the hotel inside the Periar Tiger Reserve. The boat ride on the lake was for over 1.45 hours. We saw herds of bison, deer, wild pigs and a number of birds, kingfisher being one of them. We returned hotel around 7pm. Abhishree remembered Pilku very much. Somehow Venita and Ruchi cajoled her, diverted her attention. She went to sleep. We had dinner and retired to sleep.
09.04.07: We got up early. Had a round of the Spice Village hotel in about 10 acres. It has all variety of flora mainly local and well kept 68 rooms. I heard the chirping of birds of different kind. I had Pranayam and some asans. We went for breakfast at 9.20 am. We visited Ayurved center. After breakfast we went about 10 kms by car to another elephant safari. We saw a baby elephant sucking milk from the udders of mother elephant. Ruchi, Abhishree, and Amolikaa had elephant ride. Thomas, a common friend of Kosi and Pilku brought Easter eggs. Children were excited to break them. These were full of small chocolates. They enjoyed it. Children also fed elephant named Maria with fruits. Abhishree and Amolikaa had a swim in the pool. We had lunch and thereafter relaxed. Ruchi went to curo shop and I was told to do baby sitting. I enjoyed it. After she returned I went for a walk inside the village. At 7pm Venita and I joined in watching a demonstration of cooking fish and vegetables, Kerala way. Venita talked to Ayurvedic doctor Mrs. Rekha about certain boil-type eruptions on the legs/hands/forehead of Amolikaa and requested her to look up the child. She saw her and said that the same were due to heat. Our suspicion of chicken pox was ruled out. As she had no chicken pox so far we thought it could be that. I went to billiards room and had a game of billiards. We had dinner and retired thereafter to sleep.
10.04.07: We left for Delhi at 9am after breakfast. This time we took a different route, though we had to travel a little over 10km more, say in all 185 kms. But the route was picturesque. We passed through a row of tea gardens, pineapple, spice, cultivation besides rubber plantation. The entire road side had a number of mosques and churches and few temples. On way Abhishree and Amolikaa vomited. The route was circular on a hilly track. We had to stop a couple of times to give them some fresh air and walking. We reached Airport at about 2pm. The flight was late by about an hour. Venita and Ruchi shopped around in the shopping arcade in the Airport. Our plane took off at 4.10 pm. We landed at Hyderabad at about 5.15pm. Left Hyderabad at 6.30pm. During the flight we saw sun setting with all its glory. Will our sun get that glory when it finally sets? We landed at Delhi at about 8.30pm and reached home at 9.15 pm.
Visit to Amarnath
Travelogue
During our visit to Kashmir valley we remembered our Grandchildren wherever we saw a big span of ground, springs , rivers and lakes. They are fond of running and playing in water. We give them a travelogue of our visit to the valley.
30.06.07, Saturday: We left Delhi by air for Srinagar, capital of Jammu & Kashmir, at 12.15pm. The IA flight no.825 was late by one hour. The DGP J&K had made the arrangements for accommodation and journey in J&K. We stayed in Police officers mess, an exclusive abode of touring Police and other senior officers in the 2nd floor. The floor had 2 rooms. We were accompanied by Subhash and Sunita. Venita was of course there. We stayed in the room, meant exclusively for the officers of DGP rank and the other room was occupied by Subhash and Sunita. After a cup of tea we went to Sh.Shankar temple, which is at a height of over 100 feet at Srinagar. Srinagar itself is about 5500 feet above mean sea level (MSL). Road to Shankar Dev temple is along the world famous Dal lake. On top of Shankar Dev temple is famous Shiva temple, which is said to have been constructed by the Pandavas about 5000 years back. Sh. Shankar came here in 8th century AD and did penance. There is a cave like structure where he meditated. Sh. Shankar was a great Vedic philosopher and has written a number of books, mainly commentaries and Vedas and Upnishads. He established 4 dhams, which are considered pious by Hindus. These are located at Badrinath, Dwarkadhish, Puri and Rameshwaram. You have to climb 120 steps to reach the Sh.Shankar temple.
We went to chasme shahi, a beautiful garden constructed during Mughal times in mediaeval India, with water flowing down from the mountains. The flowers were beautiful. Particularly we liked yellow lilies and small roses of the size a flower known as 6 O’clock. The valley looked magnificent, surrounded by green hills and lakes. We took dinner at 8.30pm and retired to sleep.
01.07.2007, Sunday: We got up at 4am and drove to Baltal, for about 90 kilometers from Srinagar to take a helicopter flight to Amarnath, the Holi Cave, where Shiva narrated a story to his consort, Parvati, to make her immortal. But she slept when Shiva was narrating it and could not become immortal. A baby parrot heard it and it became immortal. Although we reached helipad by 8am, but could get the flight at about 5pm only. We reached Amarnath in 10 minutes. It is at a height of about 14000 feet. The temperature was about 5-6 degree centigrade, very cold. We visited the Holi Shrine at about 6pm. Here we saw Shiva Lingam in ice form. It was about 4 feet high. We prayed and did Puja. As Parvati had slept during the Amarkatha, she is seen in the form of a big slab of ice. The entire surroundings are rocky with no vegetation. There were a good number of pigeons who stay there throughout the year. We felt a bit giddy for lack of adequate oxygen. But later we got used to it. There are ice idlos of Sh.Ganesha and Nandi also. As we could not get return helicopter flight to Baltal, we stayed at Amarnath in improvised accommodation. There are no permanent structures at Amarnath. From September to May the whole area is covered with ice. It is approachable just for 2 months. The foot journey (14Kms) from Baltal is covered by Pilgrims in about 7-8 hours. It is difficult trek. Hundreds and thousands of Pilgrims visit the Shrine on foot from Baltal. Many cannot afford helicopter ride. There are a number of free service kitchens which provide you free food, tea, snacks and drinking water. We had food at about 7pm. I had not taken any food during the day, took Prasad first and thereafter some food. We retired to sleep at 7.30 pm. At about 3 am I got up as I had some headache, probably due to lack of adequate oxygen. Subhash gave me a disprin tablet. Thereafter I could sleep for a couple of hours and got up at 5am. We slept putting on clothes which we had put on at Srinagar.
02.07.07, Monday: In the morning Venita and Sunita again visited the cave and did Puja. It was a Monday, a day devoted to the worship of Shiva. The ice Lingam had increased by about a feet. The Lingam in ice form increased and decreased with the warmth and coldness in the weather. We left Amarnath by helicopter at about 10 am. And arrived Baltal after 10mins. As the free kitchens are setup with the devotion and a feeling of charity of the providers, the food there is quite clean and delicious.
We left for Srinagar by road at about 10.30 am. As during inward journey, we passed through Sona Marg. On way you see snow clad glaciers, dense forest and rows of pine trees. You have pine trees at high altitudes. In Srinagar you have Chinar, Poplar, Willow trees adorning the landscape. Chinar is respected by the local people. Its cutting is prohibited. It gives immense shade and cools you enough removing fatigue. Poplar wood is used for packing purpose, Willow for making Cricket bats. Apart from these trees you see Apple, Badam, Pears trees also. People grow different kinds of vegetables. Paddy is grown in abundance. In the Dense forest you have enough fauna too, such as bears, deer, leopards etc.
At Srinagar Venita and Sunita went shopping. Venita bought suit pieces, sarees and a shawl. In the evening we had dinner at Ahdoo’s restaurant ordering only Kashmiri cuisine. We retired to sleep at 10pm.
03.07.07, Tuesday: Venita and Sunita went shopping again. We also called on the DGP J&k, Sh. Gopal Sharma. He informed us that 2 persons had died near Amarnath cave due to accidental falling of a big stone from the mountain. Another 4 persons had been injured. Earlier one boy had died as he slipped when he was treking on foot from Baltal to Amarnath cave. Three others were also injured. Venita bought some dry fruits.
We also had boat ride on the Dal lake. Some persons were surfing. Venita bought some local jewelry from a floating shop. The floating shop travelled along with our boat. While Venita was preoccupied buying local jewelry, we were enjoying boating and beautiful landscape with green mountains. We reached Srinagar Aerodrome at 12.30pm. Our flight IA 826 was late by 45 mins. We arrived Palam at about 3.15 pm & home at about 5 pm.
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