Visit to London from 2nd July to 15th July

 2^nd July

The generative summary of our trip to London indicated that our flight would start at 11:15am from Delhi and land at Heathrow airport at about 4:30 pm local time in London. Before the flight could take off, some technical snag was detected which delayed departure by about 3 hours.

Earlier we had queried the travel agent as to whether we could take Gangajal in our baggage. He had replied that we could take it in the checked in luggage. As regards the charger etc. these could be taken in our hand luggage. We had taken TATA AIG Travel Insurance for both of us, my wife and myself.

 We arrived at Heathrow Airport at about 9:30 pm instead of 4:30pm – delay of 5 hours. At the airport, we were not allowed to take fast track of check out as our airlines, Virgin Atlantic, had not given us fast track slips; this further delayed our arrival, coming out of the airport on way to our son’s place at Bathgate Road Wimbledon. Ultimately we could retire to sleep at about midnight, opting to take light dinner.

                                            

                   With Amolika on inauguration of the out-house on 2nd July

                                We inaugurated the new out-house on 2nd July

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Photograph taken of the out house in Bright Sunshine on day

Getting down from the out-house to main house 

3^rd July

We got up quite late in the morning at about 9:30am and met our grandchildren, I told my son, we should inaugurate the outhouse, it has been very well made with all the facilities and comforts. A garden is added to it as well as lawn.

As we had not slept for long and tired, we look an early lunch and slept for over 6 hours and woke up at about 7 pm. We had a good chat with every member of the family and after dinner, slept early.

4^th July

Although Venita continued sleeping, I got up at 4:15am, the sun was just rising. This is the time when I do meditation. I felt as if I had been woken up by some force at that time to do meditation. While watching the sun rise in the east, I was reminded of my days with my father who used to wake me up early morning. I had to sit along with him and watch the sun rise, recite Gaitri mantra. The new generation of children are not used to doing this in present times. They rise quite late and start their work. I felt fresh in my mind and had a heartful chat with grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law. We had lunch together, in the evening I walked in front of the outhouse and after dinner, I retired to sleep at around 11pm.

5^th July

We went out to Southfields and had coffee along there with Venita. Amitabh dropped us there and picked us up in the afternoon. We slept for sometime.

6^th July

We got up early morning, the sky was overcast and could not see the sunrise. During meditation for an hour, and even after that I couldn’t see the sunrise. It was chilly and breezy.

Dalia Lama was in the news. He declared that he would soon announce his 2^nd incarnation, as there was no information about Panchan Lama his younger brother, whom he had been declared to be his incarnation. However this had not been accepted by China, according to a news item in the Daily Telegraph.China had announced that incarnation would have to be approved by the government of China.

Another news item, was that future weapons of war would be the Interceptor Drones.

We went to Southside shopping centre, with Ruchi & Amitabh. We had scrumptious lunch at Wagamama’s. I had Ramen with noodles & soup, very delicious. Venita did some shopping, and we returned back around 5pm. We came back early as we were expecting guests to come and meet us. Dr. Rushmi and her husband came around six o’clock. Dr Rushmi is the cousin sister-in-law of Sungita. We had dinner together with Mohan and Sudha. Mohan is course-mate of Amitabh at Chetna Institute Bombay.

Emma Raducanu, british favourite got defeated by the women’s number one Aryna Sabalenka.

7^th Julyi

It was again an overcast sky today, with no sign of the sun. Even after my meditation I could not see it, but the weather was good, slightly chilly and airy.

We went to Wimbledon Elys, and moved about in Wimbledon Sunday’s farmers market. We went to Elys after to buy a gift for Amolikaa, and had delicious food with sandwhiches, avocado, cheese toastes. We returned back at 4:30.

Cameron Norrie & Carlos Alcaraz proceeded to the quarter finals where they face each other. The oldest women playing in the tournament Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova proceeded into the quarter finals, beating the last british womens player in the fourth round.

8^th July

For the third time in row, it was a rainy day, no sign of sun. Even during my meditation, I could not see the sun. It was drizzling during my meditation and only stopped around 7am.

We went to Wimbledon village and had a cup of coffee in Café Nero. I had Camomile tea, Venita and Amitabh had coffee. Venita did shopping in the village. We returned by lunch time.

The grand-daughters have grown up, helping their mother in kitchen. There are critical of old attitudes of their parents and tell them about new things. I enjoyed the conversation among them.

My daughter-in-law is quite involved with the garden of the house. She has planted beautiful flowers, some fruit trees and also maintained lovely lawn.

Cookie has become quite old, while Winnie has become lazy.

The Keir Starmer labour leader, who leads the labour government, were considering to tax the wealth, but there was an opinion against it, as it said that it would harm the growth of the country. The latest Economist magazine wrote about the tragedy of labour, and that Sir Keir starmer is losing ground.

Djokovic, just managed to scrape through into the quarter finals after a tense match with Alex De Minuar.

9^th July

Hu Venita returned from Birmingham at about 8 pm. She had gone at London ‘Euston Station’ at about 9:45am to catch the train to Birmingham.

Venita with Khyati at Birmingham 

President, Macron of France was given warm welcome by the King, a banquet by the royal family. He spoke in English, and thereafter in French. Similarly, the King also spoke in French the first instance and later on in English. The object of President Macrons was to soften the blow of Brexit as it could not be undone. However the effect could be altered as far as possible.

10^th July

Today was a clear sky. I could see the sun rise from the east and gradually go towards the west. This process started at around 21^st June. This also announces the arrival of winters gradually. The huge oak tree in front of the outhouse was hiding the full view of sun.

Amitabh and I went to Starbucks at 1:30pm, he could not go earlier as he was waiting to help the guests to park their vehicles in the compound of the house to watch the Wimbledon Tennis matches.

Ruchi has changed the face of garden. She has put pretty flower pots & lovely cherry tree, tomato and basil plants. She has endeared herself much more by these activities.

Anna Stobart came and spent over 3 hours with us. We talked about her parents who were our very good friends. She was quite emotional during the talk. She is quite well informed. It was pleasure talk to her.

The lawn at the out-house

11^th July

It was a bright sunny day. 

Earlier during the day, we went for coffee at Starbucks near Elys. Curiously there is no Starbucks outlet now in Southfields (although there was one before). I used to go to it after a long walk in Wimbledon Park. Now the nearest outlet is near Elys. We had an early dinner after Anna left and retired to sleep.

12^th July

I could see the sun rise well at about 4:15am, a bright sun moving towards the southern side of the horizon. Its movement started southern side on 21^st January.

We went to Southside along with Amitabh and Ruchi, it was a hot day. We returned late from there late and had lunch around 4 pm.

13^th July

Wimbledon Men's Finals were played today and results as follows :

Watching the Game at Wimbledon on 13th July

                                            In Center Court Wimbledon on 13th

Watching with Amitabh the finals at Wimbledon on 13th 

Venita watching finals at Wimbledon on 13th alongwith Abhishree

14^th July

Men's singles final: Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.

15^th  July

I watched the sun rising till it was in it's full glory. I felt its blessing. I did not think it would be setting for Alcaraz who was the defending champion. On 13^th  he lost to Sinner by 3-1 sets. I felt as if he had lost his mental strength to fight with which he started his game and won the first set. Anyway it was the day for Sinner who won the game. I managed to climb down to my seat in Centre Court of the match with tremendous effort. There was no difficulty in  climbing up the stairs later. I left just before the end of the second set so that Venita could come and enjoy with my grandaughter Abhishree to watch the remaining games. I spent the remaining day  in watching on Tv and relaxing as I had not gotten a good sleep during the night.

Visit to Kashmir from 07th to 10th Jun 2025

Amitabh arrived in Delhi on 3^rd June 2025. He wished to visit Kashmir for 3-4 days. Accordingly, we planned it from 7th to 10th June. We also accompanied him. Security arrangements for our stay were made. Amitabh arranged Air tickets thorough his Travel agent. He wished to stay at Taj Srinagar. We did not stay in government accommodation this time.

7^th June 

We boarded to Air India and at about 11:00 hrs and landed at Srinagar at about 13.00 hrs. We were received at the Airport. We checked in Taj hotel. The Coffee shop of the hotel was closed as there were few guests. The corner of the then Vivanta, now Taj, where we used to visit earlier and had coffee during last year was not available now. We had lime cordial in Vista restaurant. Booking of the accommodation in hotel was done by travel agent. In about 100 rooms in the hotel, 83 were occupied on any date earlier. Only 20 were occupied on the day. It has lovely surroundings with flowers in numerous beds. We had dinner in the restaurant. There were colourful lights and not many people.

8^th June

Amitabh was of great help to us. There was lovely weather cool and comfortable. We had breakfast, filling and delicious. While we were having breakfast in Vista, an unusually  huge Eagle flew over, probably in search of food. Someone said citing of the Eagle was auspicious. It is also known to be ride of lord Vishnu. 

                                               Peep into Houseboat

                                                        Relaxing in Boat

Amitabh in Boat

Then we went to the Dal-lake and moved about in a boat for about one and half hour. Amitabh wanted to peep a houseboat to see its paraphernalia. The movement in the lake was cool and pleasant despite bright and hot and sun in the sky. We went to Chasme-sahi and Pari Mahal also. Amitabh did not wish to go Nishat Garden and Shalimar Bagh as they were more a less like Chasme-sahi Garden. He wanted to visit Pahalgam but could not as it was closed for public after the attack by terrorists at that time. For lunch we came to hotel Lalit. It had huge green campus. Its occupancy was only 2-3 against capacity of 150 rooms.

                                                     In Chasme Sahi Garden

                                                            In Chasme Sahi

                                                         Lunch in Lalit hotel

After return from Lalit, we cut big size Kashmiri apple provided to us in the our rooms. We were impressed by its fragrance and sweetness. It was about 7 pm then. The sun was bright on the horizon and gradually going down about to set, the beautiful sight. Our accommodation was of duplex type. We were the first floor and Amitabh the ground floor. There was balcony in each floor, comfortable for two to sit. A number of local people apart some guests of the hotel had joined in the outdoor sitting of Vista for EID. We had continental food in the hotel after having ice tea as appetizer.

9^th June

The sun had risen. We could see sun light in human habitation far away. We could not see sun directly from the balcony as it was in our back behind the hills. It was chilly. We put on a sweater.

                                                 In the campus Hazrat Bal

We visited Hazrat Bal mosque. Amitabh was keen to visit Hazrat Bal. We spent about half an hour there. Earlier we used to have a passing view of it. After visit of Dargah we went for darshan of Panchmukhi Hanuman at Lal Chowk. Amitabh was thrilled to walk along the Lal Chowk for quite sometime. We had lunch at a 100 year old Adoo restaurant there.

                                                In Panchmukhi Hanuman temple

                                                           In Lal Chowk

10^th June

We checked out from the Hotel after breakfast in the open sitting of hotel. We also had full view of Dal Lake, cool weather and massive green hills all around. On way to Airport Venita some bought excellent dry fruit at half Delhi rates.

Arrived Delhi at about 3 PM.

Amitabh insisted that we should have full rest that day as well as well next day as we had hectic schedule of movement during the week.

Kumbh 2025

8^th February, 2025

We had planned to visit Kumbh and have dip at Sangam of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati during the auspicious month of Magha.

We left Delhi for Prayagraj on 08^th February, 2025 by Indigo flight No. 6E 6386 at 18:55 hrs and arrived Prayagraj at 20:20 hrs. We checked in at Aurum Heritage (Super Deluxe) Airbnb. The booking of the accommodation had been done by our daughter-in-law Neha. She had also booked a taxi for us. We were received at the Airport by Brijesh Kumar and Anurag Singh. At the time of arrival there was no difficulty in travelling on the road to our Guest House. We reached it at about 10:00 PM. After check-in we went out for dinner. Not many restaurants were open at that time. We had a thali each. It was the only restaurant of Haldiram open in the market at that time. After dinner we returned at abouth 11:00 PM and retired for sleep.

9th

We left Guest House at about 05:00 AM for Kumbh. On way we came across big crowds of people heading towards Sangam for a dip like us. But we could steer our way to the Boat Club where we were supposed to hire a boat for Sangam. But we noticed there were about 50 boats and 10,000 people struggling to hire them. We decided not to wait there anymore and proceeded to the VIP Ghat on the river Yamuna to board a boat to Sangam. It was then about 07:30 AM. We reached Sangam before 08:00 AM and had dip at the auspicious day. The Sangam was quite crowded. All three of us me, wife Venita and her younger sister Sunita had a dip. I had two dips so also Venita. Sunita had dip on the right side of the podium and we had dip on the left side. The bathing was over by 08:00 AM. The ladies changed their clothes in the enclosures provided for them. Some photographs of the Kumbh taken by us are given below.

“Pracheen Nagavasuki Mandir”

At Chaudhary Guest House with the owner

With Brijesh Kumar and Anurag Singh

After the ritual of dip at Sangam we left for the Tent City. We had our tent there arranged by our relations. It was a big tent for comfortable stay. We were given some breakfast of curd and jalebis after we arrived there at about 12:00 noon. The drive from Sangam to the Tent City took about an hour and a half. The location of our tent was at “Pontoon Bridge No. 26, Chakra Madho Marg, Sector-24 in front of NTPC camp and Foreign Flag Point”.

 

As I had not taken enough water as I am used to everyday in the morning I felt dehydrated and tired, I lied down about 2 hrs and sipped a couple of bottles of water (about 2 ltrs) to enliven me. Venita also took rest while Sunita continued talking to the Balaji and his family, owner of the tent. We had lunch about 02:30 PM followed by tea and left for “Chaudhary Garden, Gate No. 3, Near Kalyani Devi Temple Attasruiya” at about 04:30 PM for night stay. On way to Chaudhary Garden we visited “Pracheen Nagavasuki Mandir”. Chaudhary Garden accommodation was quite comfortable and after dinner we retired to sleep.

10th

We left Chaudhary Garden on way to Airport at about 11:00 AM through a safe route so that we can avoid traffic jams due to restrictions on movement of traffic on arrival of President of India to Prayagraj for a dip in Sangam. On way to Airport we had lunch in a restaurant. As our flight was at 07:45 PM, we had enough time. We boarded the flight No. 6E 233 for Delhi and left about 07:45 hrs. We arrived Delhi 21:20 hrs.

 

04.01.2025

 04.01.2025

Some more details of the Ram temple at Ayodhya are quoted as given in a recent issue of India Today:

"A towering  edifice in the old northern Nagara style of temple architecture, with eclectic 'pan-India' touches. 

Intricately carved pink Rajasthani sandstone leads up to a black granite Ram idol, done southern style.

The temple's foundation stone contains soil and water contains soil and water collected from numerous pilgrimage sites strewn across India." 

I could not get details of the Ayodhya Kashi Corridor. The construction of Lord Ram Temple is nearing completion. The Central and state governments are making efforts to develop Ayodhya on the pattern of Varanasi’s Kashi Vishwanath Dham.

The renovation work and widening of the roads leading to the Ram Mandir are going on at a brisk pace.

The completion of the Ram temple and its premises with network of roads is likely to take few years. 

Met the daughter of Late Hazarika who was civil surgeon at Goalpara, when I was SP there. It was pleasure to meet her. We spent about a couple an hours with her and her husband.

Visited the location of SP's house at Guwahati. It is now a world class park. We could recognize its location thorough some old trees. The DC's house is also not there. It has been converted into park / museum. As we had limited time we could not visit it. A couple of photographs taken at the old site of SP's Bunglow are given bellows: 

Met Mrs. Chakraborty wife of the DFO, Dhubri who was posted there during our period. We shared with her memories of her late husband. 

A photograph taken with her and the family is given below.

We met Mrs. Buzerbariarh also at her house, a photograph taken with her is given below. We shared memories with her of her late husband.   

Our batchmate NK Singh invited us for lunch at his new house in Vasant Kunj. A photograph taken on the occasion is given below.