Tsomgo, Yak, me and the SNOWSTORM !!!

................Tsomgo lake...baba mandir, yak ride ......all this is routine tourist activity....but what happened next was a life changing experience for me.....all of a sudden at about 3.30 while returning it started raining snow, and the whole landscape in 1 hr changed from black to white...all the cars got stranded and this continued till 6 in the evening...there was ankle deep snow and about 1500 tourists and 150 vehicles were stranded at various points.

My gracious host said that i have got two options - to stay overnight in the car, or walk in the snow for about 5- 6 kms till we reach the check point. Well i definitely chose the later...as this was going to be my first trek in the snow at night and who knows i may never get the opportunity again....and it was fun. Initially i kept slipping and stumbling but once i learnt the trick of walking on soft snow with my heels and at times slip on the ice while maintaining my balance. i along with four other c0 -travellers walked for about 2 hrs in the snow till we reached the point where a taxi had come to pick us up. Back in my resort i had a hot soak in tub with lemongrass oil and salt ........Well i guess i am ready for a ski course now....
.....next day there was a news item in local and calcutta newspapers.....

....and the Hoogly flows on

21 April, 12.20, Arrival in Calcutta
.....twenty years ago, that was the last time i came to calcutta and twenty years later i get to visit the city where i spent the most formative 10 -12 years of my life. In a whirlwind tour in 24 hrs i see calcutta in a fast forward mode.....this slow moving and leisure loving city. No trip to Calcutta is complete without paying homage to the Guardian goddess at Kalighat and Dakhineshwar. It was an uplifting experience. Whether calcutta has changed in all these years or not is difficult to say but i definitely have.....

View from SIndhudurg Fort

..............This fort in the sea at Malvan....is a must see.....

Snorkelling at Tarkarli

...............some 500 kms away from Mumbai.....is a place - Tarkarli...where the sand is talcum powder soft and white and the beach a dream......it feels that one is living in a boat that has drifted ashore....and to add to the excitement is Snorkelling in the sea.....and viewing some interesting corals and life under the water......

Grace at Ganpatiphule

..............my favourate gods favourate beach at Ganpatiphule is a place full of charged vibrations and grace........

Cooling at Matheran

.................Verandah in the Forest was a cool place to chillout after all the stress.......deep in the forest....

2010 - My New Farm(house yet to come) !!!

.........there was a death in the family on 31st december, hence the new year began on a sombre note of mourning and restraint.......but on the happier side we bought our new farm at Vare village near the river..... the first time i saw that place.....it really spoke to us.......and both of us felt that it was what we both wanted.........surrounded by river on two sides, with mango and teakwood trees........