A Trip Through the Clouds

 You don't have to be in a plane to be among the clouds. These pics from a train journey between Indore and Pune (On October 22nd, 2024, early morning) via Khandala prove this- 

1987 Eurail Trip

 I first went around Europe with friends in 1987. Kind of DDLJ tour, by train, though Kajol was absent. There were 4 SRKs instead. We started at Frankfurt, and went around to Amsterdam, Belgium, parts of Germany, France, South of France, Pisa, Rome, Venice and passed through Luzerne and visited William Tell's hometown. The proof of travel..

European Odesseys

I had two of these. Some pics-

 The Eiffel Tower, and the Eurail Pass that got us there-

 Tintin country. And fooling around at a sandy beach in Europe (below).

 Gondola=Venice and on a train.

 Marseilles- that Bond-ish feeling! Heidelberg, below.

 Rome, and Chateau D' If, above and below.

 Leaning at Pisa, and straightened at Mt. St. Michael, France.

 The Roman fountain, and postcards..

 Mostly Greek, with mythology as the central theme. picture perfect, below.

Picnicking Around Indore

Picnic spots abound around Indore- not too far from here are many day-trips, which can be educational, fun or relaxing, or all three. One such spot and some pics. The waterfall is around 25 kms. from Indore via Mhow. A cute metre gauge railway line is an added attraction. The bhutta (corn, rosted) sellers can take care of small hunger pangs. The scenery is best viewed at this time (monsoons- July till September).

Romancing the Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i46jlVrrwdQ is the link to a song Gaadi bula rahi hai, from the film Dost. One of the songs I really like, shot on a train and about a train...and life.

Singing in a train is as good as singing in the rain..

Another one or two about romances that had one of the characters in a train, are these-

Jiya o, jiya o jiya kuch bol do..Rafi singing for Dev Anand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_xHTc6AP90

The same idea, later, with Kishore Kumar for Rajesh Khanna singing to Sharmila on the darjeeling mountain railway.

Mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu..I grew up watching this, and it's still a favourite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1MykK4u8U

Another old gem with Hemant Kumar for Dev Anand singing to Waheeda Rehman.
Hai apna dil to awara na jane kis pe aayega from Solva Saal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8TH8LBs-w

The Art of Holidaying

I don't claim to be an expert, nor am I prescribing ten best ways to holiday. I am just listing out different ways to do it- a Holiday Sutra, if you will.

1. Do nothing most of the time. Great for relaxing the grey cells that are taxed more than any IT dept will ever tax you.

2. Play Golf and don't look at the scores at the end, especially your scores. The second part increases happiness hundred-fold. Ask me!

3. Drive somewhere-anywhere. It can be a liberating experience. A Flight would do the exact opposite, with too many restrictions. Even a lovely smile from the stewardess can't compensate.

4. Eat well and often. Try local stuff too. At least you'll find out how bad it is-or not.

5. Do one unusual thing-whatever it might be. In a trip to Leh, we went to a local unbranded coffee store cum library that was educational.

6. Window-shop to find out what locals buy- it's cheaper than shopping, and has all the fun minus the expense!

7. Don't answer mails for a few days. No one will die, unless the mail is from a war-zone.

8. Do write about your experience, but only if you are the writing type- at least a few lines.

9. Take good pics, but don't die taking them- recent spine-chilling examples of selfie-martyrs are crazy!

10. Take a boat ride or a train ride if it is available. It brings out the child in you-in me, at least.

11. Try a new route to reach the same place.

But first and very important-take a holiday, as often as you can afford to.

Trip Down AP Memory Lane

A train journey that I went on two weeks ago brought back some memories of a life in my twenties, when I frequently went by the same railway stations and the views in between.

This was on the Andhra sector of the Nagpur- Secunderabad journey. We lived in Ramagundam and Bellampalli those days, and took a train to Hyderabad quite often. The train travels pretty fast (we clocked it at 120 km an hour at times) on the Kazipet-Secunderabad section, so you whizz past Ghanpur, Pindial, and on to Bhongir and finally Ghatkesar before you enter the Secunderabad terrain through Moulali.

There is a huge bare rock and a fort atop that in Bhongir (Bhuvan giri is the real full name) which looks inviting for a climb, if you are the climbing type, or the fort-visiting type.

The Kazipet station has a long platform where trains used to stop for quite a long time, sometimes to change the direction of the engine by detaching and re-attaching it. Vijaya dairy had just introduced buttermilk in pouches those days and it was a big hit in the heat which was huge.

Also met a friend from the Bhubaneswar days (circa 1991) after two decades in Hyderabad, adding to the rekindled memories.

View from a Window

I took a train journey after quite a while. And I had a window seat, that we used to covet when kids. Peeping out of your train window seat was one of the greatest pleasures of kid life, perhaps. The transitioning to adult life makes you forget sometimes, the small pleasures and aim for big ones. Like buying a large-screen TV.

Anyway, getting back to the present journey. What I like about train journeys is the fact that you can stretch a leg- or two. Without the passengers in front or back getting annoyed with you as in a plane, I mean. Because they are all free to do the same, without intruding into your space. There's also a relaxed air about how long you want to argue about change with your chaiwala. I saw a 4-5 minute back and forth happening about the price of chai AND the non-existence of small change. What entertainment. And both parties were quite cool about it too.

The train also was in a relaxed frame of mind, putting all thoughts of competitiveness out of your mind for the duration of the journey. Mostly, mobile phones did not ring-they CAN be an irritant if they work well. The loos were pretty clean, another positive. The platforms were not, but then that is to be expected when you take the stats of number of users/trains on them into account. Sort of like the garbage problems plaguing nations around the globe.

Best of all, the view from the window was refreshing.