Bhubaneswar in the Summer of '09
April 21, 2009, Bhubaneswar
We arrived in Bhubaneswar early yesterday morning by Howrah Puri Express from Kolkata. This was the shortest rail journey of our entire trip this summer and the only one on which we had a coupe to ourselves. All of us were thrilled with that and also lamented the the lack on our other, longer journeys.
Bhubaneswar is hotter than I can tollerate. I am running up my father's air conditioning bill. He has a very large house in Sahid Nagar, his retirement home, and has lavished enormous care on it. He is an avid gardener and the house is teeming with plants of all shapes ans sizes. Just a few minutes ago he was showing me a cocconut tree that he saved from sort of large bettle that bores into the trunk and kills the tree from the inside. He, my father, effectively operated on the tree, drilling two holes into the trunk, saturating it with some sort of organic insecticide and bandaging the wounds to prevent water loss. The tree seems to ne responding to his ministrations.
Today I have to chase down a number of odd jobs like visiting my bank here, checking on my flat etc. The thought of having to go out in this heat is enough to give me a headache but do them I must.
Sigh.
Such is life.
Summer Break – Kolkata!
April 19, Day 9, 11.00 pm
I am lying in my second AC bunk on Howrah Puri Express enroute to Bhubaneswar from Kolkata. We arrived in Kolkata early this morning from New Jalpaiguri, returning from our visit to Gangtok. Mandal-da, my uncle's driver was waiting at Sealdha station and took us to my uncle's flat in the Queen's Mansions, Park Street. We had gupchup for breakfast and then lounged around till 11.00 am. Then Padmaja and I were driven to Gariahat by Mandal-da. It was hot, humid and sunny and decided to leave the kids behind.
Gariahat was kind of deserted. At least I don't remember it being so empty of shoppers. Maybe because it was a Sunday morning and the housewives were at home. I was of course rather disapointed. A lost opportunity. Bengali girls are rather good looking and I like to look. Sad. Maybe next time.
Padmaja was not her usual self too. We hardly did any shopping, only about 800 rupees. Well, what can I say? Women are strange. Champing at the bit to get to Gariahat and when you take them there they hardly buy anything! Or maybe it was my sighs for the missing Bengali Girls. I haven't a clue.
We went back home about 1.00 pm to lunch and a afternoon nap. I woke up at about 6 pm to find myself sweating and only one the three ceiling fans working. And it wasn't doing much more than stir the hot & humid air. I lay there for some time gathering the resolve to expend energy to move and generate more body heat. When I finally did, cursing whoever had switched off the other two ceiling fans, Padmaja walked in and told me that there was a power failure and the fans / lights were running on an inverter. Inverter immediately started sweating a bit more
Anyway we had dropped the plan of taking the kids to see Victoria's Memorial and they were still sleeping. I woke them up and we joined my uncle and aunt for a cup of tea. We sat around chatting for an hour or so, waiting for the power to be restored before realizing that the power failure was a big one. Maybe equipment failure of some sort. Padmaja and I decided to complete our packing while the inverter still held out. My aunt was putting together dinner, chapatis, fish finger, fish in mustard sauce, orka fry, sweets etc. A typical Odiya dinner with three or more curries and plenty of sweets.
The inverter failed while we were at dinner and we finished by candle light. By 9.10 pm we were ready to leave. Mandal-da was waiting with the car and drove us to Howrah station in little over 20 minutes (Park Street to Howrah). Our train was to start from platform number 22, one of the new platforms that have car parking right next to the platform. Also the coach numbers were displayed even though the the train was not in place yet. That helped Mandal-da park the car right next to our coach's expected position.
The train arrived soon after and we boarded. For this, the shortest journey in our Summer of '09 Odyssey, we had a coupe to ourselves. If only we hd similar berths on the trip from Hyderabad to Kolkata last weekend!
We will arrive in Bhubaneswar early tomorrow morning, about 5.30 am. My father will be there to pick us up. I have set three different alarms on my phone to ensure I wake up before we reach Bhubaneswar.
Gangtok Trip – Day 8 – Return To The Plains Of Bengal
April 18 - Day 8 - The Return to the Plains
Today we return to the heat, dust & polution of the plains. Gangtok was pollution free most of the time.
We had asked the travel agent in Siliguri who had rented us the cab on the journey from Siliguri to Gangtok to send us a car at Gangtok. The car was to arrive at 12.00 noon. We had planned to stop mid way to go river rafting in the Tista (spelling?) river (Cost - Rs. 325/- per head, adult or child). You can opt to go rafting over various distances, e.g., 11 km, 7 km etc. The price varies with distance.
Noon is aslo the check-out time for Mintokling. I paid by credit card. Pema, the manager put a 10% service charge on everything. Also she told me very clearly that she wanted rhe room vacated by noon. This is the first hotel i have come across that is so insistent on the check-out time. All this happened at a quarter to 12 and one of the hotel waiters / bell boys was waiting outside to take my luggage out. I told him to come back at 12. Rather childish but I was put off. I have often stayed in my hotel room after check out and since Prma insisted on the time, so would I!
So we were tossed out of Mintokling at noon. Pema did not offer us the hotel lounge to wait for our cab. The bell boys just dumped our luggage on the street outside the guest house. That earned them no tips.
Then the secobd nightmare started. We kept calling the cab driver's mobile phone and he kept telling us that he was stuck in traffic and would be there in another half hour. We waited outside on the street till 2.30 pm when finally the driver showed up with another passenger. Then it struck me that the travel agent in Sulliguri was taking me for a ride. He had no intention of sending an empty car to Gangtok though he was charging me for both legs of the trip. The driver had met the 9.30 am train from Kolkata, picked up passengers and driven to Gangtok to arrive at about 2.15 pm, the same time we had arrived three days ago. He had no doubt charged those people double the fare claiming that he would have to return with an empty car.
Anyway we pilled in and drove off, leaving Gangtok close to 3.00 pm. This driver wasn't a good one and gave mw a few tense moments on the mountain roads. I had to keep shouting at the idiot in Bengali to slow down. Padmaja and the kids fell asleep in the back seat and slept through most of the journey. I stopped the car ouside Gangtok to buy a loaf of bread, some potato chips, and a couple of packets of biscuits. Mamli & Bablu practically devoured the lot, having missed lunch. I dared not stop anywhere for a bite to eat as we had a train to catch at New Jalpaiguri at 8.00 pm.
We arrived at Siliguri at 6.30 pm and stopped at the LIC guest house on Sevak Road. I called the travel agent (Raju & Tarun) and told them flatly that I would only pay half the agreed fare and they should come and meet me to discuss it. There was a lot of spluttering on the other side and indignant muttering which changed into abuse at which point I disconnected.
Tarun & Raju arrived about 10 minutes later. There was more shouting but I stood my ground. I was the customer and paying for a service with which I was very dissatisfied. Secondly that idiot Tarun of the travel agency was abusive from the first. I would have paid them the whole amount if they had but apologized for their grossly deficient service. I finally left for the station at New Jalpaiguri leaving Rs. 800/- lying on the ground where I dropped it as the idiots refused to accept it. I think this is the first time a customer has stood up to these idiots and refused to be brow-beaten.
We made it to the station in time to catch the Darjeeling Mail to Kolkata which left New Jalpaiguri at 8.00 pm. We will arrive in Kolkata early tomorrow morning, about 6.00 am.
Thus ends our Gangtok Trip in the summer of '09.
Gangtok Trip – Day 7 – Walking In Gangtok
April 17 - Day 7 - Walking in Gangtok
Today, the last day of our 3 full days in Gangtok, we had kept aside for the city of Gangtok itself. We haven't seen the Flower Exhibition, the Handicrafts and Handloom Museum and a few other places.
We had a leisurely breakfast in the Mintokling Guest House restaurant. The service was bad, the prices high and the food passable. We had stayed away from the guest house restaurant on purpose because these places are typically low quality high cost. I will post a separate review on Mintokling.
I carried my back pack with a bottle of water, some biscuits and other snacks, along with my camera bag. Everything went over the shoulders leaving my hands free.
Our first visit was to the flower show which was less than half a kilomter from Mintokling and one streer higher. We had crossed it on our way to Enchyen Monastery the other day and I was fairly certain that I could find it again. We used one of the many staircases connecting the various streets in Gangtok to reach the street above Bhanu Path. From there it was a short walk to the park abutting the flower show. Admission to the Flower Exhibition was Rs. 15/- for adults with Bablu going free. The Exhibition is housed in a 50 by 30 feet hall, with moss covered galleries on the sides and artificial pond in the center. The galleries on the sides have burried pots with a wild profusion of flowers, orchids predominating. I am no poet and will not try to describe their beauty in words. I will let my photograps speak.
We spent about an hour at the Flower Exhibition. On the way out is a Sales Counter selling seeds, bulbs and Orchid cuttings. Padmaja bought some for my father. The share a common love for growing things.
From the Flower Exhibition we walked down to the Handicrafts and Handloom museum, a part of the Institute of Handicrafts and Handlooms. The museum is about a kilometer away, at the Zero Point of Gangtok, next to the Governer's Palace. This too is a must see. The walk from the Flower Exhibition is picturesque and safe. Gangtok seems to have pedestrian walk-ways along the major roads.
The Handicrafts Museum is a small hall containing some excellent exhibits of the artisan's work, some older than a 100 years. We spent about 30 minutes in the museum proper before walking around the rest of the Institute, to see the students at work.
After that we went to the attached sales counter. Padmaja bought some trinkets for Mamli and to give away as gifts. The sales emporium has a decent mix of handicrafts and handloom articles, including wool carpets, Sikkimise Paintings and wood carvings.
From the Handicrafts Museum we walked down to M. G. Marg, a distance of about 4 km. The walk wasn't as pleasant as the one from the Flower Exhibition because of the heavy traffic and resuling pollution. At M. G. Marg we decided to try 'The Taste of Tibet' for lunch. A big mistake. It is a low end eatery and everything other than the Chicken Momos was bad. The fried rice was under cooked, the chicken curry looked and tasted bad. We ended up ordering cold drinks to take away the bad taste. Cheap enough and I think we made a mistake by not ordering the local dishes like Ghatak (spelling?), a broth with noodles, vegetables and chiken (or other meat or just plain vegetabless. I also noticed people make a meal of a plate of Momos which are served with a spicy cabbage salad and a clear vegetable soup.
After lunch, we took a cab to the Gangtok Ropeway, a cable car that links 3 of the Gangtok hills. a round trip costs Rs. 60/- for adults and Rs. 35/- for children above 5 years of age. The view from the cable car is spectacular! I have taken many photographs and hope they will come out okay. The ropeway is also a 'must see'.
After that we walked back to M. G. Marg and spent some time just loitering around till it started drizzling. I found a Kodak Express and gave them one of my film rolls for development and printing. They don't do 1 hour jobs but promised my the prints by 7.00 pm (it was then about 3.30 pm). Bablu and Mamli wanted icecream and Padmaja as usual was most agreeable to any idea involving icecream. There are a few 'Softy Icecream' shops on M. G. Marg and we selected one at random. I had a cup of coffee, priced outrageously at Rs. 10/- for a small cup of vending machine coffee.
After that Padmaja picked up another loaf of bread and a 100 gm pack of Amul Butter. I have never seen packets of Amul butter stored on shelves rather than refrigerated 
We went back to Mintokling Guest House by cab and collapsed into sofas and beds. I don't remember walking so much since my college days at IIT Kharagpur, and definitely not in hilly terrain.
It started raining very heavily about 5 minutes after we arrived at the guest house. The rain kept up till about 6.30 pm. I left to walk down to M. G. Marg for rhe photographs and something for dinner just before 7 pm. The roads were clean after the rain but the stairs going down to Tibet Road from Bhanu Path was a mess and smelled of shit. M. G. Marg glistened after the rains and I immediatly regretted not insisting on Padmaja and the kids accompanying me. I tried calling Padmaja's cell without success (both our cells are AP BSNL, Cell One, post paid, on national roaming). I gave up after a few tries and went to pick up the photographs thinking that I would go back to Mintokling and bring them back with me. This was our last evening in Gangtok!
I then went looking for that 'Rolls & Momos' shop I had seen the other day. They only have veg rolls but I went ahead and bought some for our dinner. The rolls were good but not great.
I went back to Mintokling but could not convince the tired kids to go back with me again. I gave up and had a shower bwfore dinner.
Tomorrow we leave the Himalayas and Beautiful Gangtok to retun to the sweltering plains of Bengal and Kolkata. Then on to my home state of Odissa and the temple city of Bhubaneswar. The city our parents have made their home.
Gangtok Trip – Day 6 – Tsomgo Lake
April 16 - Day 6 - Tsomgo Lake:
We left for Tsomgo Lake a little later than planned, at 9.30 am. We had booked a Mahindra Max on Monday and the Driver arrived at 8.30. He was a grouchy chap whose first words were 'you are late' in tones that reminded me of my old Maths teacher.
Anyway, we had packed far a day in snow - extra socks for everybody, a change of pants for Mamli and Bablu, extra shirt for Bablu and a top for Mamli, scarfs for Padmaja, Mamli and Bablu, sweaters and jackets etc. We also had a good quantity of finger foods, juice and water.
I should have bought another pack of Duracell for the digital camera. I am using it a lot and the new 4 Gb CF card I purchased on eBay seems to be a power hog. Also I have to keep switching off the LCD viewer otherwise I would have even bigger power drain. Anyway suffice to say that I didn't find Duracells anywhere. I ended up paying an atrocious Rs. 60/- for 2 alkaline AA cells. I haven't used them yet but won't be surprised if they peter out after a few shots. I have managed so far by shifting the 4 cells in the camera and taking them out to cool down. Just allowing the cells to cool down gave me another dozen shots with the LCD on for about 5 more minutes.
We didn't stop on the way other than the mandatory stops at the police / military check points. At the first near Hanuman Tok I had to buy 4 tickets for Rs. 10/- each. The tickets claim that the monies collected is used for conservation in the area.
The road after the first check point climbs steeply. It is in very bad shape in a good many stretches particularly in the upper regions near the lake but is well maintained for most of it's length. There is a large military presence and the huge army trucks have churned the road into a muddy quagmire in places. Traffic is disciplined and nobody tries any tricks. No doubt with the kilometer deep drop to the river bed, none of rhe local daredevils try anthing on this road.
The second check point is about 5 km from the lake and the road from there is pathetic. Lots of construction with earth moving machinery and very heavy car, jeep and military truck traffic. But our driver was up to the task.
As a result of all that traffic the so called clean Himalayan air was conspicuous by its absence. Diesel fumes predominated and made the air foul to the extreme. The natural beauty was also somewhat marred by all the shops, at least near the lake's approach. Further afield nature reasserted herself and I cannot begin to describe the beauty of the landscape.
We were expecting to rent rubber moccasins at the shops near the lake and as soon as we parked and disembarked we were accosted by one of the shopkeepers. We took up his offer, Rs. 35/- per shoe initially but Rs. 20/- after bargaining. We already had warm clothes and just rented shoes from him. Leaving our own shoes and the food / water basket in his shop we walked up the short flight of stairs to the lake level, to be immediately surrounded by Yak drivers offering their services for a Yak ride to 'Point Zero', an outcropping of rock that jutted out into the lake.
This point zero is about a about a fourth of the lake's length from the tappering end. The lake itself resembles a sperm cell wearing a round cap. There is a narrow walkway around one side and it is narrow! About 4 feet wide and snow covered. And the Yaks use the same trail, adding their dung and urine to the snow or rather slush. At places the snow is more than a foot deep and the Yaks have churned it into a freezing slush that can catch the unwary and tip some of the cold dung laced water into shoes. Bablu and Mamli's shoes weren't very high and they got their feet wet. Padmaja and I gave them our socks to make sure they had dry feet. By this time we were about half way to point zero and after a small snowball fight Mamli, Bablu and Padmaja refused to go on. I wanted photographs and walked on alone. Within 10 feet of where I left them was a small stream flowing into the lake and the Yaks had churned a wide swath around it into foot deep slush. I stepped into one in spite of being careful and got a shoe full of freezing water and snow. The stuff literally froze my foot and I had to put down my camera bag on a small rock sticking out of the snow while I hopped around on one foot trying to pull the other shoe off and empty it before putting it o again.
I finally made it to point zero and it was worth the effort. The place was full of snorting Yaks and their rude handlers, with more dung and urine but at least that was isolated to one area in the center of the land mass jutting into the lake.
I took my photographs and seeing me alone with my cameras a few young couples roped me in to take their photos posing in the snow..
I also noticed two army men keeping an eye on the idiots who were capering too close to the crumbling, snow covered shores. They had whistles and used them often. I suppose there were many idiots around.
I walked back to Padmaja, Mamli and Bablu and we started back to the shop where we had left our shoes. I had Bablu by the arm but he slipped a number of times and got his feet wet again. That is when I started shouting at the Yak drivers and pushing the placid, plodding beasts away while I tried to walk as fast as I could. Bablu was crying by this time from his freezing feet and I was desperate to get him back to the shop.
The shopkeeper immediately understood the problem and quickly put some water to boil. I asked him if he had any mustard oil and he immediately brought some in a plate. I rushed down to the jeep for the bag of spare clothes after pulling off Bablu's shoes and wet socks, leaving Padmaja to massage his feet with warm water and then mustard oil. In the meantime Mamlu had taken care of her feet and was ready for the dry socks I brought back.
The shopkeeper offered us hot Maggi and we gratefully took up his offer. The Maggi was hot and good! Rs. 25/- per plate.
Padmaja bought some souvenirs from the shop and we left after finishing our Maggi.
By then the cloud cover was lowering and visibility was shrinking. Our driver was careful and drove sedately down the mountains. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall we had skipped on the way up. By then the clouds were drifting into the car and the temperature was dropping. We took a few photos and left. Soon visibility was down to 50 feet and on a mountain road that was a frightening experience.
We made it safely back to Gangtok and it started raining 15 minutes after we reached the Mintokling Guest House. And boy did it rain! It was like the cyclonic storms we get in the Deccan Plateu. Luckily it stopped raining long enough for me to go down to M. G. Marg for a packed dinner-to-go, channa batura and masala dosa. Yes I know. But we are sick of chow mien.
It is still raining. Hopefully it will stop by tomorrow. We plan to see some of Gangtok city tomorrow before returning to the sweltering plains on Saturday.
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