October 2013

October is a big month for me. It is full of Birthdays, Anniversaries, Ravana and preparing for Ram.
In my academic world I needed to ensure that the courses assigned to me were completed, student projects marked and Exam Papers set.

 Early in the month I went to Nift Rae Bareilli to conduct a workshop on Entering the Workplace.
Several students decided to opt for a Fest at IIM  Lucknow instead. In a way it was understandable. Their past experiences had assured them FUN..whereas I was only going to talk about The Future. did it need preparation?it would come anyway..the present was promising  ..and it was "now".
The majority of the students  however did attend. They thought I was "cool" and an "adult' that"understood."

I came away happily with my titles.

Beverly Park 2 where I live installed Ravana  without his multiple heads and his two brothers just outside our gated community. All of them were huge. Just as we were going to destroy evil a police van came and stopped us. The objection was to the height  of our effigies A.carpenter was called and  the legs just upto the knees of all three were sawn off..so first we tortured them and then set fire to them!

Oct 26th was our Diwali Night. Many are not aware that somewhere on our premises is a mine to which only the lady residents have access.
The Mine is uncovered only on Diwali day and is full of "Bling"
The evening of  our party is lit with tiny electric bulbs in trees and bushes, with diyas around the fountains...and The Ladies.
The colours are all shades of red ; there are some blingy black and whites but frankly they are drowned in the fiery tones.
The female predominance of the event is wonderful ; their leadership role in seeking each other out, exclaiming at the transformation from the everyday jeans to the six yards wrapped around whatever the shape..the ear danglings...and the total assurance at 1,2,3,4 on  the dance floor .
The men are just a dark shadow, a wall around the bar.

Leh, Nubra, Pangong

Ladakh - 2013 July 21 - 27

Ladakh…2013 July 21 –July 27.

Map Courtesy - Motor Tour Company

My impressions of most places that I visit for the first time fall under

Colour, People and  Feel Good Factors.

Ladakh is predominantly grey and brown with a reddish tinge. The mountains are majorly rock , with  a dusting of a kind of red gravel which comes off if you touch it. I was told that it was sand from the rivers..

In the far distance you can see snow covered peaks.
 If you happen to drive through Khadrungla Pass or The Changla Pass you can touch ,feel and walk on solid sheets of ice. You can slip and you can get frozen feet…And you realize the importance of headgear.

Add caption

     There is green too. ....Lots of Armed Forces...

 ...and the most beautiful, tall, graceful  poplar trees.

 Their branches grow upwards maintaining the vertical line.

LEH - REENAM HOTEL

ORGANIC FARM - NUBRA

Inspite of the green, you are enveloped in a beauty that is rugged, stern and shows no sympathy to the unfit.

The Ladakhis are a direct contrast to their terrain. They are pink cheeked ,friendly with smiling faces

In some parts of Delhi and in many of our UP, Bihar villages I have been stared, giggled and pointed at. In Ladakh, it is a "Julley"....good day....from the youngest to the oldest, from kids rushing out of school to the shoe maker on the street. Wonderful  courtesy.

I must make a special mention of the Ladakhi drivers. They are young, sturdy, cheerful and extremely disciplined.   The roads are treacherous; often there are landslides, but  they are good handlers.

The best for me was that I seemed to have escaped the population explosion of the rest of India. I felt space.

For some reason Ladakhi homes, buildings,express no individuality in their facades. They all look the same..Rectangular shapes , large windows framed by lacquered carved wood. A puzzle that I could not get unraveled for fear of offending.

The Feel Good Factors came from my visit to two Gurdawaras..Datun Sahib and Kala Pathar.

Both have wonderful stories that relate to how they came to be.

Datun Sahib had at a stones throw away from it a Masjid and a Hindu temple…and this is a Buddhist country.

Gurudawara  Datun Sahib

I continued to feel good at the Monasteries at Alchi,and at Diskit

….and at the amazing beauty of the Pangong Lake which goes from grey to sky blue to turquoise depending on the time  and weather of the day.

The double humped camels were a disappointment. Somehow I had imagined that I would see them walking single file in a visible distance or just grazing..but there were less than  a dozen  and all of them  were  being used for joy rides by a group of tourists…singing Hum Saath Saath Hain…
 I almost overlooked the gentle sand dunes.

Fact : The high altitude....Leh is 9000  feet ....requires  acclimitisation .

Fiction : Its all barren and stark. 
              There are apple and apricot trees and the fruit is delicious.

Kamal Kapur PHD

To date all my degrees,certificates, have been awarded by an institute, university,a body.
They have been someone else's assesment of me.
I am now working towards a PHD...the award criteria  I have created..and rest assured  I have not made it easy.I have always been a tough task master..more so with myself.   
My topic is TRAVEL ....it is something I really enjoy and have always loved..

Even before I start on the criteria ,credits are due . 
First to my father who was an officer in the Indian Army.
Almost every third year the household was packed,crated and took off for his new posting. 
We did Kanpur,Shahjanpur, Barielly and Nainital in UP;the capitals of West Bengal,Tamil Nadu;Jalandhar,Pune, Hyderabad , Pathankot and then finally Delhi where he retired. 

With him I learnt that there was a merit in every new place . It was challenging to meet new people and make new friends all over again.

Credit is also due to a blog I read written by a school girl who lists 50 places that must be  visited before you die.

My list has 20....ten of which  must be visited before I can award myself a PHD.

My second criteria for the award is that I must document with photographs the places visited..and this must not be done immediately on return..when it is all fresh,but several weeks afterwards which would testify to" Impressions Retained."

Here below is my  warm up ..and it will not count towards the thesis.

Sikkim -  The drive from Baghdogra to Gangtok was mostly along a still angry Teesta River...
 muddy in color from the various landslides that had made many homeless 

Peace and Tranquility

The road had lost most of its metal and repair work was underway resulting in huge traffic hold ups.

None the less there was no queue jumping ,no honking..everyone waited for their turn.
The calm of the monasteries  was reflected in the people.



Color
Almost all homes were painted in shades of either turquoise, or pink  or green. The door and window frames were white  It was unusual but not  bizarre..just cheerful and happy.

It was spring and I was struck with the many shades of green; the moss the  innumerable varieties of bamboo trees ,interspersed with floral brights.

Could I live in Sikkim ? No I do not think so..I am used to my mess and muddle. Could I visit again? Absolutely...The beauty and the peace is very therapeutic.

Siem Reap: It was rushed and I need to go back . 

I am still not over the feeling of amazement..the experience of seeing what I grew up with The Ramayana, The Mahabharata..all of which I considered mine in another country..and existing in the most beautiful  environment....

My guide was well informed .Knowledge wise I could have matched him...having had both the epics read to me several times by my mother.. As a human being I think he had some great qualities starting with simplicity ,sincerity and no short cuts to the task assigned.


Ho Chi Minh,  Hoi An,   Hanoi.

War is ugly...such cruelty..and what extraordinary methods to survive. 
The Cu Chi Tunnels and their stories , are hard to forget,even though HCM as Saigon is now known is a pleasant enough city advertising their coffee but with  all hotel rooms still offering  nescafe  sachets

 An anthill camouflaging a complex labyrinth of tunnels

I love the legends of Vietnam.
Halong Bay  has  more than a thousand islands..which really were pearls that the dragons spat out in fighting a war with attacking  enemies .

My name will live for a thousand years. 

I touched  the crane.
My cult will live for 10,000 years.
That is what the tortoise will ensure.

The Game Parks of Kenya

The Game Parks of Kenya

An Excerpt from Kamal’s Travelogue

If there is an experience that is unforgettable it is the Game Parks of Kenya.

Lake Nakuru – Pelicans in the forefront with Flamingos in the background

They are a visual treat, awesome and breath catching.

I could see many chapters from my geography book had been written sitting there.

Impalas in Savannah Land co-existing with Zebras (in the background)

Last but not the least there was a message of co existence from the animal world that roams freely uncaptivated in its own environment.

Rhino and Buffalo – Two of the Big Five grazing companiably

Giraffe

There are 19 Parks, and I visited 5 of them, including the Kenya Safari Club, which had William Holden as one of its founders and continues to be the Mecca of the jet setters.

Amboselli was my first stop. A four and half hour drive from Nairobi..392 sq.  mtrs. Dry, scrub  sprawling in front of Mount  Kilamanjaro.

Amboselli Mount  Kilamanjaro

The park is strewn with black rocks, solidified lava, bearing testimony to the once active volcanoes that was Kilamanjaro.

In the distance you can spot mini twisters which  are dust, volcanic  ash ,and salt crystals.

There are patches of green that are nourished from a natural underground water supply funneling into clear water springs.

Amboselli is elephants; herds of them; families.. with the young nestling upto their mothers; long curved ivory tusks, the fathers at a distance, all constantly grazing…moving from one patch of green to another.

You can spot them at a distance, you can see them at an arm’s length…and then the entire herd crosses the track right in front of your vehicle with no fear or curiosity..taking you into their world of co-existence.

Amboselli is home to the entire deer family, zebras ..both varieties with their little tails swishing like a metronome…and the magnificent Ostrich.

Zebras and Impalas (in the background)

The ostrich is a bird that is an amalgamation of beauty and power. The male is black in colour and the female tan. The big body rests on spindly legs and a fragile neck. The power is in the big clubbed feet and their long stride.

A first for me was the wildebeest ..best described as a cross between a horse…they have manes…and a buffalo…they are a kind of steel colour, with horns and their stance is aggressive.

Buffalo

Once again hordes of them…many arrived from Tanzania looking for greener pastures in Kenya.

Another first was being taken for a nature walk by a Masai Warrior dressed traditionally with a spear in his hand but with impeccable English..both accent and grammar..

There was also the charm of the Serena Lodge..where you are met at the gate with cool wet towels after every safari sojourn ; the clean, comfortable cottage style rooms, lots of baboons..who do not bother you..if you do not bother them.

A great start for the next stop…Sweet Waters.

Here is where I met the entire Big Five- the lion, the rhino, the elephant, the buffalo and the leopard.

Lion

Rhino

Sweet Waters stands on the equator. You could be having dinner in the Northern Hemisphere and sleeping at night in the Southern Hemisphere.

At the Equator

By –

Kamal Kapur

Beverley Park – 2,

Gurgaon

E-mail – achieversconsulting@yahoo.com