The North Indian Diary

So talking about our journey, we took a direct flight from Mumbai to Delhi, we were lucky enough to get free breakfast at the airport lounge.

From the airport we took self driven Myles car Toyota Etios, which was our companion for next 5 days. The unlimited kilometers feature gave us the independence to plan on the go.

We visited India Gate and Qutub Minar in Delhi, we were lucky enough to visit this place during the day, as there was less crowd, but yeah the sun above was draining us. By noon, we started our drive towards Haridwar.

We were able to cover 200kms distance to Haridwar by evening we reached the “Har Ki Pauri” ghat where the evening arti takes place.

At 10 pm we checked in. The manager suggested having dinner at a newly opened Pure Soul Café. It was an Organic Café, with a splendid view of the valley and a beautiful swimming pool. Light breeze, cool atmosphere, and great ambiance created a very warm atmosphere.

We ordered Chef’s special Himalayan rice and club Sandwich. The garnishing was mundane, but as soon as we had the first bite of it, we went crazy, we were able to experience the depth of flavors. Each bite was mouthwatering, and it craved for more. We called the chefs and appreciated the delicious food they had prepared. By the time, we ended our meal, Bandi was so happy that he came up with a business plan to open a similar café in Mumbai with the help of these chefs (He kept on pestering me for next 2 days to open this café in Mumbai). I don't know when was the last time I had such a good appetizing food.

Next day we went on to experience one of the most adventurous activities of our lifetime, “The Bungee Jump”. After the 1 hour drive from the city, we reached the site, Jumpin Heights. After the documentation procedure and the safety briefing, we went on to the bridge.

I'll tell you my part of the story, untill this moment I was very calm and relaxed. I felt there is nothing to worry, it is just another activity which has to be completed. So I went on the bridge, harnessed myself, asked Pooja and Bandi to jump first, cheered them.. untill this point no issue. no problem at all.

But when the moment came when I had to actually walk to the edge and lean over the bridge, My God, I lost it.

I don't know how to say, but I had no control over myself. One can see the mountains, one can see the valleys, but dare not see the ground, which is 83m below.

There were goosebumps all over my body, I became blank for a moment, the instructor was giving instructions on how to jump, etc but I was not able to even able to focus. "You should keep your feet together, knees should not bend, etc".. but I was not even able to absorb it.

The moment came in, the instructor asked me to jump on the count of 3, and there it was "3… 2…. Bungggeeee" lol.. I was not able to jump. Pooja and Bandi kept on encouraging me for the jump, but I was not getting the pulse of it. I calmed myself down, closed my eyes, took deep breaths, leaned forward one more time, just allowed my body for a free fall..... and done that was it.

Somehow I managed to jump. The freefall was amazing, you go down, then get pulled up due to elasticity, again down again up for few iterations. Though this activity is for a short duration of time, but standing on the edge to prepare oneself seems ages. That moment is fresh even today.

Post the Jump, we went for India’s most popular White water river rafting activity, in the River Ganga. The water was very chilled, it was ice cold. We inched ourselves in it, step-by-step. Somehow we managed to go through the water and enter our raft. After the safety briefing, we were taken directly into Class-5 rapid. It was definitely amazing but risky.

Hits & bumps from here and there, water coming continuously in the raft and the joy of eating hot Maggi near the banks of the river when we were completely drenched was amazing.

We also jumped into the river and swam along with it. Technically our sins are washed off too.

For dinner, we were looking for a quirky place where we usually would not have dined, if we were in Mumbai. Somebody suggested “Freedom Café”. So we started searching for this place. It was around 10.30 pm, the walk to the cafe through Laxman Jhoola was a bit of a scary experience. The lane towards the restaurant was very narrow and seemed creepy, but the recommendations given by others gave us some courage. The restaurant had an Indian style sitting, on the banks of the river. The view of the river from the restaurant was very pleasant. The place was conquered by hippies who were engrossed in playing and singing Bollywood Retros on the Guitar. It was an amusing experience to enjoy the music on the banks of the river. The crowd joined in for the music too, well, who would miss on Sayonee and Maaeri.

Next day we started our drive towards Mussoorie the roads were very beautiful. The drive was more enjoyable as the weather was cloudy. We took a halt at Dehradun and saw a signboard stating Guchhupani 3kms inside, with a shady photo on it. Pooja insisted that we should go and check out this place. I and Bandi were quite skeptical on this. Never heard of this place, nobody ever mentioned this, should we go inside or no was the question. Due to Pooja’s insistence, we went inside. It was a 3km narrow road drive to reach to a place captured by families. I murmured “this is a family picnic spot, we seem to be out of place”, the insistence was collaborative now, "let's go inside since we have come untill this point". The place proved our apprehensions very wrong. It was a river cave, which had been formed due to a crack in the mountains. One feels excited while walking in the river and going through the mountain passage. The passage is small and narrow and two huge mountains on both sides makes it ok for 4 people to pass through at a time. It was like a mini Grand Canyon which one can explore through. One would be sad to have missed it. Later on, my friend Poojan pinged, did you happen to see the robbers cave I said Indeed. PS - Later we realized it was #1 Things to do Place in Dehradun. Sometimes accidents are pleasant too.

Mussoorie’s ghat is one of the most challenging ghats, I have driven. it's around 25 kilometers long ghat but its fun to drive. The challenge with this ghat is, though you are a good driver but people over here are nasty; they will not Honk on blind turns, they will overtake you on the risky roads and to top it all they will abuse you for driving slow. I was like what the hell :-|

If you want a more challenging road then one must take the route via HaathiPaao. This seemed to be a newly built road, without any traffic, without any barricades, without any signboards, absolutely nothing except sharp and risky turns. Pooja and Bandi turned off the music, were mum and just hoping to move out as soon as possible. The beauty of this road was epic; mountain peaks covered with clouds, roads foggy, and mist in the air. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

We reached Kempty Falls by evening 6 o'clock, as expected it was quite crowded. The area seemed a good outing for families staying nearby. They have also set up a rope-way, which takes you to the bottom of the fall, where one can enjoy more. Though overall things seemed bit commercialized.

Though we didn’t spend much time over there as it was getting dark. We came back to the city and visited Company Garden. This garden was full of flowers, the size of each flower was more than the size of a full open hand, and hundred’s of such flowers were seen in this park. We were in awe of seeing such flower-full park, this reminded me of Shalimar Baug at Srinagar.

Since it was Friday night Mussoorie was jam packed; my friend Shubham Sanghal was generous enough to host us in his beautiful property, Hotel Shiva Continental. It was very near from the Mall road, busiest street of Mussorie, and had a very hospitable staff. The view from the windows was one of the terrific scenes of mountains covered by clouds, and the apparent mist which had covered the overall area.

Next morning we started our journey towards Chandigarh, took a halt at the Gurudwara at Paonta Sahib. This Gurudwara Paonta Sahib has linkages to the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikh leader Banda Bahadur. Its original name was Paontika. "Paon" in Hindi means feet and "tika" in Hindi means became stable. Gurudwara was huge and quiet peaceful with a divine atmosphere. The food provided at the Langar was also very tasty. Bandi who was planning to skip lunch ended up eating the most.

We reached Chandigarh by evening. We had heard about Chandigarh being a beautifully planned city, Also it has been awarded as the cleanest city in India, and indeed it was. The city is very very spacious, as a person who stays in the congested city, Mumbai, felt Chandigarh be a Ghost City. Along the 6 lanes 100 ft main road, there is 25 ft of pathway consisting of 5 ft of cycling track, and then 50 ft of parking space, before the residential complex starts. The entire city is geometric in space divided into rectangular shaped sectors. You can reach anywhere in the city by taking 90-degree Left-Right turns. This reminded Bandi of Harappa Civilization, the level of planning Chandigarh administration has done is commendable.

We visited Sukhna Lake and Rock garden, both were typical tourist destination spots. Sukhna Lake has a promenade where people can sit along and enjoy the beautiful view of the lake. There is a 3 kms walk one can take along the lake to enjoy the beauty. One can just sit over there and experience timelessness.

Rock Garden was a newly build unique concept which was built by Nek Chand, a government official who started the garden secretly. It is completely built of industrial and home waste and thrown-away items. Though we found it difficult to absorb the concept.

Next day we started at 4 a.m. from Chandigarh to reach Delhi, if one has enjoyed driving on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, then Chandigarh-Delhi is nowhere to miss. With wide roads and flat surface, it is definitely a drive one can't miss. Unlike Mumbai-Pune expressway, on this route you’ll get ample of food options at Dhabas coming up at regular intervals, a majority of them being named as Haveli We covered 250 kms distance in 3 hours.

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President Estate, is the official residence of President of India. This property is covered in 320 acres which consist of 340 rooms, offices, Mughal Gardens, the residence of Office bearers. In terms of area, it is the second largest residence of a head of state in the world.

After the security checks, as soon as we entered the main complex, the feeling was ecstatic. It was an amazing feeling to be at the forecourt, the place where PM Modi took the oath 2 years ago. Seeing the Designation of office bearers, entire history and civics chapters started to reflect.

We were given a tour of Rashtrapati Bhavan. First, we were taken to Durbar Hall, Leaders of India gathered at 8.30 am on 15 August 1947 to witness in the Durbar Hall the swearing-in ceremony of the new government, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, by the Governor-General of the newly declared Dominion of India, Lord Mountbatten. This also happens to be a place where PadmaShri and PadmaBhushan winners are felicitated. This hall is beneath the main dome of Rashtrapati Bhavan.