speakingroads

Staying awake on a freezing cold night was never easy. My friend and I were crouched on a bench in Manali bus station waiting for daybreak. Finally, when we had a steaming hot tea at 4 am, it felt like drops of heaven. We waited for the bus in the newfound warmth.  When the second bus that touched Rohtang Pass arrived, I was still in conversation with a native guy about the possibility of visiting Kaza. However, the guy terrorized me with all kinds of news that I hated to hear. He told us that there was no way of getting to Kaza by bus and that Rohtang Pass was one deserted location.  I would have easily known these things if only I did minimum research about the place.   But ever since I started planning this trip, Rohtang Pass was never even in the equation. So, as usual, we decided to jump into the bus out of the same impulse that led us there. I can only remember having fallen asleep against the cold window glass of the bus. When I woke up, I was surprised by the sh...

Down the infinite lane. Dreamy road to the tip of  Dhanushkodi with Bay of Bengal on the left and Indian Ocean on the right. It was the hottest month of summer;March. And we were traveling to the very tip of the Indian subcontinent, Dhanushkodi. Along with my friends Salman and Chandu, I boarded the train from Madurai and reached Rameswaram very comfortably on the Rameswaram passenger. We sat down on the footboard and witnessed some heartbreaking scenes from the slums of Madurai; the utterly downtrodden state of things, where there was a very thin line of distinction between daily life and garbage. By passing the wonderfull Pamban bridge in its nocturnal beauty, we reached Rameswaram by 10:30 at night and started stuffing our bags with food items to be eaten the next day. So we stepped out and started walking towards the beach. It was my idea to reach the beach and spend the night there. The roads were being emptied slowly and there were only a few people on the streets. As...

Looking back at the majestic Chokramudi peak, shining from the recent rain College days were coming to an end. There were just a couple of final semester exams left to go. But, we had a week’s gap prior to the last exam . I'd been bit by the travel bug a short time before that and saw a perfect window for a getaway . The Chokramudi peak in Munnar was constantly in my mind, ever since my friends  trekked it in that year. And I didn't need a long time to plan it. I quickly found a like-minded maniac in Chandu who agreed to go with me . We packed a small pack and set off for a Chokramudi, Dhanushkodi trip. And as one of my first such travels, my excitement knew no bounds! The trail On the evening of the exams, we jumped on a train from Trivandrum and reached Aluva the following  morning. We caught the early morning bus to Munnar and reached there at around 10 am . After stuffing our bags with snacks, fruits, and water, we quickly boarded a bus headed for Madu...