Journey to the center of the Earrrrrrrrrrrth - the final cut

Part II completed a greater part of our trip and now, we speak of the last and most beautiful part of our day trip.

Then came time for lunch, and Srisailam is a small place. So no chance of finding any swanky place of any sort. We managed to find a comparatively clean looking Udipi place, grabbed a quick lunch and headed out again. By now, the sun was pelting down on us, and we were thankful to the cool confines of our car as we headed out to our next destination. This one, was Shikharam. As per what we'd read up, this was a Shiv temple up on a hill top, from whence we would be able to get a panoramic view of the whole Srisailam town. This temple was a tad different, in that the Nandi bull idol was on top of the Shiv temple! So, we'd pay our respects to the Shiv temple down, then go up some more steps to the top of the temple, and as per Hindu customs, we would need to look at the oversized Shiv structure made of iron rods through the two horns of the bull. There was a fair crowd there, waiting to do this, and we scampered up the steps afraid of getting our feet barbecued again. But surprisingly, tiles seem to be the next best thing since sliced bread! We went up, looked around, took a couple of pics, typical tourist style and came down again.

The gang got tired and decided to get some shut eye time, while I caught up with my music. On the way to the next stop, Mahelle Teertham, a waterfall, we crossed the dam from the other side. And it was an awesome sight indeed. The depth, the steep fall, the dam standing up there majestically, all added up to a pretty picture.

Around 4 PM, we reached Mahelle Teertham. This stop was indeed the icing on the cake. What we had found when we read up about this place, was that this place housed a beautiful waterfall. Certainly nothing like Niagara, but beautiful, nonetheless. There was a steep climb down, I reckon close to at least 100 rough, unsophisticated steps. We started the descent in the sweltering sun, and mid way, Random remarked that the steps we were descending with such gusto would need to be climbed up again! The prospect of that was rather painful, but we went on.

We reached the bottom, and there was a dirt track that veered to the left. This track apparently would have led to the waterfall. The waterfall in question was a sheet fall, that fell beautifully down a smooth rock cut surface. But when we looked to the right, we saw a lovely glade. It was super cool down there, under a canopy of trees. The whole area had a lovely green hue. We couldn't see the ground, since the whole place was covered by a blanket of leaves. We trudged across this blanket to a brooklet. The water from the falls came gurgling by and there were some rocks, placed in an opportune manner giving us a place to sit, such that we could just about put our feet into the water. This we did, and mannnn the water was coooool. It felt so good to put our feet into the water especially after a day of trudging through heat, dust and grime. And we sat there, opened up our sandwich packs, and sat with our feet in the water, yapping, singing, and basically having an amazing time.

After spending close to an hour or perhaps more there, we had to leave, to get back to Hyderabad. We were scorched, burned, tired, exhausted, but very very happy indeed. Even now, I can see vivid images of that glade, the tall towering trees there, the thick roots that stood through the brooklet, the tiny insects that flitted over the water, the random leaf that gently fell upon the water and went gliding past our feet, and of course us, singing away to glory, as if there was no tomorrow.

Thus ended our journey to the center of the earth. Absolutely ethereal. Absolutely beautiful. But all this fun couldn't have been possible without the company of the gang. Ren, M, Random - tooooo good. Together we made a temple visit fun. Together we made a simple dam a thing of beauty. Together we made a simple day trip a time to savor and remember indeed. Thanks a lot!!!

Journey to the center of the Earrrrrrrrrrrrrrrth Part II

Long overdue. Journey to the Center of the Earrrrrrrrrrrth part II is finally here. You see packing up, bidding goodbye to your home of one year is a tall ask indeed. Less of a physical task and more of an emotional drain. The thought that all those relationships you had built painstakingly over the whole year, through numerous conversations, the occasional fights, make-up coffees, gossip sessions, hanging out, lounging over an assignment, and so on, would finally be coming to nothing. Well, not really nothing, but certainly not exactly the way it all used to be. But then again the reason why we collect all these memories is so that one fine day, when we sit back, listening to an opportune song like Yanni's Nostalgia, all those vivid images would come flashing by.

So, I'd left off last time with the bare mention that M got us into a bowl like boat at a steal. Well, later when we asked other groups of people, it turned out that we had gotten ourselves a deal at almost 25% of what the others paid. Or, let me put it this way, while other groups of 8 people went for the ride at Rs. 1000, we, a group of 4 went at barely Rs. 250. Put together! A steal? I'd rather call it a LOOT! So, fresh from a perfect deal that could scintillate any bargain-lovers instincts, we stepped into the boat and went rowing. It was around 9.30 in the morning and it was beginning to get sultry. You can just imagine how hot the day would probably get, right? So, our deal was to go in the boat till the mouth of the rapids, stop there for a few minutes for our photo op and get back. We started off, and a gentle breeze began to blow. People like me and random, who were used to the fishy smell (pun unintended) of Mumbai, thanks to the proximity to the sea, didn't really mind the weird smell that kept coming, but Ren and M got a bit peeved by the smell, and when I, typical water body ride style said that I wanted to put my hand down into the water as we rowed along, I got a resounding NO. I was told in no less words to keep my hands well on board, and judging by the tone, I reckon they might have well and truly thrown me overboard had I even so much as touched the water!

Our boatman was another sample. while we went rowing, he went on and on about how he was just an apprentice. How our negotiated deal was very less money, and how he desperately wanted some more. This, along with the lapping sounds of the choppy water, formed our continuous piped music in the background. But, we knew how to cut off background noise and enjoy what we had for what it was, and in the midst of our boatman's ramblings, we thrust our camera in his hands and made him take a picture of us, glares, caps, scarves et al. And then we also took turns taking the oar from the boatman, and posing with it. Although, we hoped to row for a while as well, that didn't quite happen. But at least we got to pose :)

Then we embarked on the next leg of our journey. We decided to head to the temple. Srisailam has one of the 12 Jyotirling temples, and is considered one of the key temples for devotees of Hinduism. Besides, this is one of the temples in south India, where people are allowed to touch the idol. Touching the idols is typically not allowed in temples in South India, and this is one exception. We reached the temple, left our footwear and headed to the temple complex. The heat was building up, and we looked up at the queue of devotees and we were stumped. Those from Mumbai would perhaps have seen the length of the lines at Siddhivinayak, one of Mumbai's most renowned temples, on a Tuesday. The queue here was almost of that length, and it went through tortuous alleys, staircases, caged enclosures and so on. Luckily, we spotted a place to pay for a temple-sponsored ticket and enter, and we were spared the pains of waiting in the long queue.

We had a good darshan, at the Shiv temple, the other allied shrines and it was time to leave. As it turns out, the heat was now too much. And we were literally stepping on a barbecue. The exit was on the side opposite to where we had left our shoes and we had to go round a semicircle, halfway round the temple to get to our shoes. And this is where we got our feet royally baked. I am sure that if we were indeed captured by cannibals, they would have had some really tasty heels and toes as starters! M remarked that this was perhaps a small punishment for taking a shortcut to see God. Couldn't agree more, M!With this, I'll conclude part II, leaving the best part of our trip for the last installment of Journey to the Center of the Earrrrrrth... Watch out for part III...

Congeniality in Mumbai

The people you interact with while commuting, to a very great extent make or break your mood for the day. So, a grumpy cabbie or a rude bus conductor has the potential to keep you grouchy throughout the day, and you wouldn't even realize why you're cranky all day. So, a pleasant demeanor honestly means a lot.

I, for one, swear by the friendliness of Mumbai's support system. Be it bus conductors, cabbies, guys at the ticket counter in railway stations, auto drivers, everyone. I remember, once, several years ago, I had forgotten my purse at home and had boarded the bus to college. I hunted frantically in my bag, for my purse, but couldn't find it. I told the same to the bus conductor. As per rules, he could have told me to get off. But instead, he let me go on to my destination and gave me a ticket and paid for it himself! I was honestly touched by the gesture.

Again, cabbies in Mumbai are very very mild mannered. If you seem interested, they engage you in a conversation about their cars, the weather, perhaps even their kids! Like the other day, one cabbie told me that the heat in the city was going over the roof, and so, several cabs were stalling midway! Then came a lengthy discussion on the flipsides of global warming!!! Another cabbie, once spoke about his kids, and how he educated his daughter such that she then went on to work in the UK! And by and far the best thing about autos and cabs in Mumbai is the fact that you can travel in peace, without worrying about a prospective bout of haggling. The numbers shown by the bright LED lights, defines what you pay. No one-and-a-half, or 'Pathu ruva potu kudungama' (10 rupees over and above the meter), or even haggling for a 10 minute auto ride.

Not meaning to be disrespectful or biased towards any particular city, but one thing I've noticed in smaller cities is the gross lack of respect towards a customer. So, once, I was commuting a short distance and as was wont in that city, we were haggling over how much we'd be willing to pay. The auto guy literally lost his temper and screamed at us saying, if you can't pay 50 bucks, walk the distance! Don't chew my brains. Being the thoroughbred Mumbaikar, I was shocked at the remark, since I could not imagine being spoken to like that in Maximum City! And that was when I realized that when a place grows from being a town to a city to a metropolis to a megalopolis, one, the people need to grow as well, and two, the support system needs to grow and understand the intricacies of people skills and dealing with customers! Perhaps Mumbai is wayyyy ahead on that learning curve and I thank God for that!!!

Journey to the center of the Earrrrrrth - Chronicles of a day trip - Part 1

Friday marked the end of academic pursuits at ISB. Which meant that Saturday would mark the beginning of fun pursuits post ISB. And true to expectation, we decided to kick start our week of fun with a ... wait for it... day trip to Srisailam. So after a day filled with fun, I sit down with aching calves, legs refusing to move, my back in love with my pillow, and even my thumbs and fingers groaning, to recount our exploits. So here is the story of our JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARRRRRRRTH as Random would say. A sneak preview - it involves rock sightings, a boat ride, a drive through a forest, a temple, tap dancing in the heat, a beautiful forest, rivulets, waterfalls, pleasant chats and a broken shoe.

Now Srisailam is rather far from Hyderabad. All of 240 km, with most of the route under forest cover and over hills. Look at the pic alongside -
So, being inspired by pictures put up by some friends on Facebook (talk about web 2.0), we went. It felt good buying goodies that evening - bread, cheese, Sprite, water, chips - basic sustenance. Reminded me of our midnight shopping trip to Hanamasa prior to the Fuji expedition! So, armed with goodies, a printout of the places we wanted to see around Srisailam, and the enthusiasm of a 5 year old going on board a ferry, we set off at 5 am (yes, we decided to leave at 5 and all 4 WOMEN left at 5. Hah! to all those trip groups with men and women who plan to leave at 4 and leave at 6 instead!!!).

We left before the crack of dawn, and were aided by empty roads. Some decided to catch up on lost sleep, and some others like me, aided by a small caffeine shot in the morning, chose to keep awake and catch up on my recently added songs. Holiday mood, you see. The road was long, there were mild winds, and soon enough, the sky cracked and a smiling sun showed its mild orange face. It was gorgeous. This was when we, rather, Random decided to call our trip the JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THEEE EARRRRRRTH. I wish I had that pronunciation button that comes up on Wikipedia. Speaking of wikis, we realized where the makers of wikipedia got the idea for meta.css. Look here - Yup, you do get to see quite a few beautiful things if you wake up early in the morning. But in our case, I guess our dreams are prettier and so, we maximize our utility and sleep longer, since the marginal utility of waking up early is losing out on better looking dreams, which we'd rather not do. Yay! so done with the rambling for this post. Back to the EARRRRRTH now... So, on we went, playing music of DCH, Lakshya, and singing along nice and loud. The key word is LOUD. We thoroughly enjoyed the morning. It was a simple loooooong drive, and as we went on, the rock formations just kept getting better. At times we wondered how those boulders defied Newton and balanced themselves so perfectly up there. Pretty soon, we decided that it was time for our dose of caffeine and typical road trip style, we stopped at a nondescript tea stall. Tiny tapri that served some perfectly delicious tea in tiny cups! And the minute we took out our cameras, the people in the shop - owners or otherwise felt obliged to pose...

Soon, it started getting hot, and we approached the Rajiv Gandhi Tiger reserve area. If only there were more than 1411 tigers, we might have seen the occasional tiger as well, as we drove Safari style through the forest area. The roads were phenomenal. Trees were a sober brown, heralding the start of the hot season. But altogether, they made the picture look very beautiful. Pretty soon, we entered the ghat section, and I must say, the Eastern Ghats are a lot less punishing than their Western counterparts. They do go winding, but not many sharp hairpin bends, and a lot less painful!

And then, we reached our first spot of the day! Patala Ganga - a small river-like water body, that comes out of the dam on the Krishna river at Srisailam. The USP of this spot is, the boat ride that one can take in a round basket-like boat, from the steps to the place where the rapids begin. Clearly this place is not frequented by several people and so, there were hardly any crowds. Random had suggested that we do this first, else the sun would begin pelting down on us like no one's business and ostensibly, she was right! Thank God we did the boat ride between 9.30 and 10.30 am! We needed to bargain our way here and who better than one with the subtle seasonings of Saddi Dilli??!!?? So M got us a deal we couldn't refuse. She actually got us the ride at one fourth the usual price and the four of us set sail. I say set sail, since it sounds sweet and I know I shan't use that phrase anywhere else, EVVVVER!

The ride was beautiful, and the round boat goes bobbing up and down, directionless, and you can go swiveling on it, whenever you want! All of us, also got our photo op with the oar and we could take a number of pictures of the dam, the bridge and beyond, from this perfect vantage point. And from the water, the upturned boats on the shore looked like giant turtles, as M remarked. The only flip side was the continuous chatter of our boatman. Every 2 minutes, he'd start his plea for more money. It started with stories about how he was starting afresh, to how he was a helper in a greater game. At one point I was tempted to rattle off Shakespeare's 'All world's a stage' dialogue to him, and had to try real hard to refrain from doing so. So, a serene and not so quiet boat ride later, we got back, had our pictures taken and were ready to start leg 2 of our trip.

And this is where I'll pause part 1, for fear of making this post toooo long. Watch this space for the section on the temple, tap dancing, glades in a forest, waterfalls, rivulets and the broken shoe... Yes broken shoe...

Indian tourism - Screaming for help

I happened to read a ToI editorial today by architect and author Gautam Bhatia today. What he said there from an architect's perspective is actually true of India's modus operandi when it comes to maintenance of heritage sites. Not just that, India does happen to have a very rich history and heritage. And the ability to generate a lot of revenue through tourism, according to me is being squandered by us! Take for instance a place like Murud - on the Konkan coast. How do I know of its existence? Extensive Googling led me to a blog by a foreign visitor who was here on a 'discovery expedition' of sorts. Post a trip to the place, I realized that Murud has one of the most pristine beaches on the west coast. Imagine Goa without the clamoring tourists or salesmen! Plus, surprise surprise! A rickshaw guy there told me about a fort which can only be accessed by boat! Sounds exciting doesn't it? Well, it looks even better. You go by boat to the fort, and then you can actually explore the fort yourself! The fort is in a state of disrepair, screaming to be rescued. What really pained me, was the fact that such an amazing experience was not exploited to the max!

Simple stuff - Google up places to see in Mumbai. And trust me, you wouldn't come up with half the list of things to see in Mumbai. You'd perhaps now be directed to the morbid alternatives of terror tourism or slum tourism. But Mumbai also has a bunch of forts on the sea coast, some wonderful places offering shopping experiences you can find nowhere else, cuisines, churches and what not. But do we have a method to find these somewhere? Can a foreigner chart her own sightseeing trip around Mumbai?
Take Hyderabad now. We have the Chaarminaar, and Salarjung museum. How many of us who are not localites know of the beauty of these places? How many of us have even read or heard about such places? Or know about the history of these places?

Tourism in India is grossly underdeveloped, but can offer a whole host of options and opportunities. If only India's rich cultural heritage was given its due! I clipped the editorial for posterity here.

Green at the time of Global Warming....

Oh yeah! Global warming is a reality! News and the works go on and on about melting glaciers, polar fissures and so on. Sea levels are rising, and just the other day, there was a mention about tremendous water levels in Venice!!!!!

Can't blame anybody! The heat is everywhere. Global economic meltdown, Terrorism, explosions, violence, anger! The effect has to find an expression somewhere. And so the environment is taking the hit, I mean heat!

Emphasis is moving to greener energy and ecological conservation. One analyst had remarked that reformed banking and manufacturing as also sops for internal investment helped the west tide over the Great Depression. Innovation, and new ideas helped break the gloom loop. And now, in this molten economy, the analyst noted, the world looks to the West for innovation, for something new to tag on to. And the answer may lie in the 'Green Revolution' of a new kind.

Obama spoke of revolutionizing government buildings the other day and making them more energy efficient, more green. And now, British Airways has a section at the bottom of the booking page - Offset the carbon emissions for these flights
You can help minimise the impact of your flying by offsetting your carbon emissions. The total carbon emissions from your itinerary are X tonnes and the cost of offsetting your emissions is Y.
Your money will go towards UN certified emission reduction projects.
* Please be aware that once your carbon offset contribution is paid, it cannot be refunded.

Go Green???? Indeed!!

Trends on Tuesday : Tacky Traveling

I know the aviation industry is being hit big time. But tell me one industry that has not been hit by the recession? Ok, the underworld, you say. But maybe the media fills enough pages with horror stories of the economy, and so, is left with hardly any space for covering gruesome stories of the underworld. Think about it! Anyway, speaking of aviation, the past 3 - 4 years have been the age of diversification in airlines in India. From the usual Indian Airlines and Jet Airways, we expanded to IA, Jet, Sahara, Kingfisher, to low cost airlines like Indigo, SpiceJet, Air Deccan and again shrunk to IA, Jet, Jetlite, Kingfisher and a couple of other carriers who could stay afloat. Economically and literally.

Yes, low cost airlines. Once upon a time, not so long ago, low cost airlines were a boon to India. Till the Laloo revolution in Indian Railways, and the OPEC revolution in international crude politics (pun unintended), the prices of air tickets and train tickets were truly comparable. And a Surf Excel ad could actually show a father choosing to go by train instead of a flight just so that he could give the experience to his son. Wow! Anyone could travel by an airplane. Legends flew out on all sides, about how Air Deccan was similar to the regional buses, and people would throw handkerchiefs to block seats! No one has ever confirmed this ridiculous legend, but yes, people have spoken about travellers carrying food aboard and sharing it all around just like they did in good old trains. Sandwiches and drinks would be wheeled in, but no one would scream - 'Chaaayaaaa' or 'Soooooopay'. The marketing and sales pitches would be discreet and the prices of the merchandise - exorbitant. The whole travel method received an 'upgrade' so to say. What didn't change however, was the mentality of travelers. Screaming aboard an airplane, blocking the passageway while 'hanging out' with fellow passengers, and annoying show-off habits - these characteristics got upgraded in terms of degree and extent. They just got more amplified. The net result - airline security check tags dangling from the zippers of handbags. If one could open and close the purse a million times, couldn't they just pull off the tag during one such effort? Didn't they notice this obscene tag dangling in a totally unwieldy fashion? At least I did! Aha! the tag made me notice. Mission Accomplished indeed!

Fuji - An anniversary and an experience

They said, no trip to Tokyo in summer is complete without climbing Mt. Fuji. It is the highest point in Japan. A volcano that is dormant since the 1700s. But climb the behemoth? And well, given the fact that the only thing I have ever climbed is a staircase, (and fallen and twisted my ankle a couple of times over there as well,) I was of the opinion that climbing and I were poles apart. I mean, I’d ask, of what joy is climbing? You subject your body to physical stress and strain, and at times even pain, to reach the top of a mountain, and then what? Subject yourself to more pain and start coming down!!! But somehow, on account of inputs from a brother, a couple of colleagues, my boss at work and my sister, (who had gone hiking in the Alps…. Later she told me that she had only climbed down and had taken a cable car up!!) I was intrigued by the idea of climbing Mt Fuji. But I was a little apprehensive, since my level of exercise was almost zero, on account of work pressures (oh yea, I know, it is the standard excuse!!!). And the last thing I wanted was for the people in my group to get held up because of me! But somehow, it seemed as though the fact that I was in Tokyo in summer, and that there had been a couple of weekends with no rain, was more than co-incidental. I took it as a sign that maybe I must climb after all. Besides, it can sound pretty momentous if I started my climbing escapades from the highest mountain in Japan. (Maybe culminating in climbing the highest mountain in the world…. I immediately imagined!!) So I thought, maybe I must give it a shot.

Then started multiple levels of research. The internet. People describing what they did, what they saw, how they went up, what to expect, what not to expect and so on. It was worth a great read. In fact those transcripts were the primary motivation for me to pen my experience as well. The first thing I came across, in most places was that one is a fool if he comes to Japan and doesn’t climb Fuji, and he is an even greater fool if he climbs twice. Hmm, interesting indeed. And then there were the endless lists of do’s and don’ts. Carry water, since water in the small stalls up the mountain can be pretty expensive, a 1000 yen as well. Carry light food, energy bars, a good jacket, a rain coat and so on. So we made a nice plan. We found a long weekend. 14, 15, 16 July. Great! Middle of summer, plus, we leave on Saturday (14th) and come down on Sunday. Rest all of Monday tending to all the sore ankles and backs. And off to work on Tuesday. To begin, we wanted to test our forbearance. So we set off on a mammoth sightseeing spree on foot. We decided one Sunday to take off to the Meiji shrine, and walk from Meiji, through Harajuku, Omotesando all the way to Shibuya, stroll in Shibuya, and then take the train back to Akasaka. We survived, with no painful joints! Yippee, we were not that old yet!!! So the plan stood. WE WILL CLIMB FUJI ON 14TH JULY. But the weather played spoilsport, and there was a typhoon alert, and to complicate matters, we had a massive earthquake at Nigata, and I felt that maybe I was reading the signs all wrong.

The subsequent weekend was again lost in poor weather, and we kept wondering whether the skies would clear at all! And then came the week of 28th and 29th of July. On Friday, the 27th, we realized that we would not have any work over the weekend, and the weather forecast had been good as well. So the wish to climb started growing in us again. We were Mansi, Neha, and I. We then caught hold of another chap, Siva and convinced him to come along as well. All like minded crazy enthusiastic people. Mansi and Neha had enthusiasm that was sky high. Given a choice, their enthu alone could have launched them to the top of the mountain. Mansi said that she knew a chap who had climbed Fuji before and he was ready to come along with us now as well. Almost instantaneously the words I had read off the internet in relation to Mt. Fuji flashed upon my mind. We nevertheless went to meet him to know what the experience would be like and what we should and shouldn’t expect. So off we went, and met Arun at Miami Garden, and over pizzas and beers, (I still think that maybe the beers convinced Arun to come along with us!!!), discussed his previous experience of climbing Fuji. He described his attempt and to say the least it was intriguing. We decided that we were not leaving Japan without climbing Mt Fuji.

After dinner, Mansi and I went shopping to get some essential reinforcements on the khaana front from Hanamasa! We bought cookies, bananas, chocolates and water. The plan was to meet Arun and Mangesh at Shinjuku station around noon on Saturday and the follow the leader for the rest of the way. So after a good sleep, we set off in the morning to Shinjuku station, met the guys and from then on, the journey began.

From Shinjuku, we took the Fuji Limited Express to Otsuki. This was like the Via Rail in Canada, where you could turn your seats to face one another, and there were large glass windows on either side, offering you a lovely view of the rich Japanese countryside. This took close to 45 minutes. Thereafter, from Otsuki we took another train to Kawaguchiko. Over here, by paying an additional 100 yen per person, we could get into a special coach that had only one huge set of sofas. The sofas faced a large window, and all of us settled on the couch watching the lovely countryside go fleeting by. We sat and took tons of pictures. And soon, we caught our first glimpse of THE MT. FUJI. A weird sense of anticipation came over us as we crowded around the window cameras in hand to capture the mountain we would be climbing soon. We soon reached Kawaguchiko station, and from there, we took a bus that was to take us to the 5th station on the Yamanoshi prefecture. We were to start our ascent from there, all the way to the top… hopefully. We reached the climbing point around 5 pm, and again took numerous pictures while standing down at the 5th station, and all these pictures have us smiling with glee!!!! (Oh yea, we had no clue of what was to follow). And from there began the experience.

At the base camp, we bought gloves, and the climbing sticks. There is a small bell tied to the top of the stick. Apparently that bell is for fending off bears!!! However, as you start climbing the constant clang of the bells on the sticks of the enthusiastic climbers tends to get to you. So, we all untied our bells and put them away. The initial part of the climb was like climbing a staircase. The sun was on its way down and we got a chance to savor the lovely surroundings. There is a lovely wooded area; fully green, smaller hills reside in adjoining areas, all in all making the sight very pretty. As we started climbing, the lack of exercise began getting to me, and I had to stop to catch my breath. What happens is that as you climb, your heart begins to beat faster, and you encounter a dropping level of oxygen in the air. If the situation goes out of control, you fall prey to what is called altitude sickness. Symptoms. You get dizzy, feel like throwing up and generally make a mess of the climbing experience. Yes, I mean it literally as well. I was in no mood to let that happen. The key? Stop every few minutes, and regain your breath. As we started climbing, I was anxious to know whether we had made sizeable progress. And as we climbed, we thought we had crossed the 6th station, which might have been a tiny stop somewhere in between. So filled with a sense of achievement, in spite of the fact that I had begun creaking in places, we climbed for nearly 2 hrs, only to be met by a huge sign, saying that we had reached the 6th station! That was the first time I felt a slight sense of despair. (The first in a huge series!) But the enthusiasm had not yet begun to flag. So we continued after a small stop. We called it a Sutta stop, since the guys would be busy stopping for a smoke, and we’d stop to catch our breath, senses, and maybe rest our aching legs a little bit. As we ascended towards the 7th station, the sun had begun to set and a lovely moon came out. It then occurred to us that we were climbing on a full moon night, that too, unwittingly chosen. Then we went on further to the 7th station. This climb took comparatively lesser time. Once at the 7th station, we stopped for a while longer, and this is where the cold began to hit us. Coming from tropical countries, all of us were cold; at least I was and add to it the fact that I couldn’t fill my lungs with hot tobacco smoke to keep warm. Only then did we realize that we had managed this far without actually feeling cold, only because of the calories we were burning! The minute we stopped, we shivered. Whew!!! Soon we got moving, and started off towards the 8th station. This was a fairly routine climb, with chain-link fences bordering the climbing route. From down below, we saw a red Tori, further up and we felt that this was the top. But, when we came to the 8th station, we got a rude shock, and realized, rather despondently that Japanese put Toris everywhere!

We then went from 8 to 9. The climb got a bit arduous here and hence exciting, as we tried to move on further. It was getting colder, steeper and windier. As we moved on further, we noticed that the moon was now on the other side of the mountain. Also, the climb was getting rocky and steep. The gradient was almost 80 degrees! We couldn’t climb as effortlessly on two legs as we had climbed previously. This portion of the climb had to be executed on all fours. We literally crawled, gripping rock crevices and finding foot holds in the rocky mountain face. There were signs here and about notifying climbers that it would get pretty windy as we went further, and true to the signs, it got really windy. As we glanced to the side, we noticed a huge patch of snow on the mountain slope. And we realized that the worst was yet to come. And sure enough, it started to rain. It was so cold! SO SO COLD! Add to it the fatigue of having climbed for so long, on all fours. So we had to stop, and when we did, we shivered, BIG TIME! The rain, the wind, and the sub-zero temperatures made it really difficult to keep strong. There was a shack at the 9th station. All of us bee-lined in front of it got in and went to a coal fire there and warmed our hands. Man that place was divine. Given a choice I would have preferred to be there till sunrise! But the shack owner was one step away from throwing us freeloaders out of the shack! So we sadly moved on! Sigh! For the first time, (again the first in a long series) I began to wonder why people climb! Braving the cold, the wind, the rains, and the glaring question was…. WHY DO PEOPLE CLIMB????

By now, our energy had begun to flag. We were on the sunrise face of the mountain and suddenly, WHAM! Up ahead, we saw almost 9 zigzag rows of people snaking their way up – all the way to the top! This was where all of us sighed in unison! NO! We’d climb; stop, almost as if we were in a queue. We saw the sun come up behind us, but we had not yet reached the peak. We were however not really too bothered about that fact. We were actually happy that the sun had finally come up. At least the weather would get a little warmer, if not anything else! For the first time in life, I welcomed the sunrise, (since otherwise it is always ‘Jeez why is it morning already!!!’) By the time we reached the top, final, white Tori at the top, it was around 7 a.m.

The guys went off to eat something but I stayed back to ….. SLEEP! I woke up after a while, and went off in search of the Fuji post office to post the cards I had brought with me. On my way, I passed the crater. I had read in the internet accounts that people generally walk all around the crater. But, in my case, I neither had the enthusiasm, nor the energy to walk around a gaping hole! Let alone walk around, I was having trouble walking on level ground! So I stood at the edge, and peered down below. Not a very pretty sight!!! I checked in some stalls, and they said that the post office was a good half hour away. Whoa! I didn’t have the time or the energy to walk so much, so in true Indian nature I bartered 2 of the vendor’s cards for two of my own and asked him to post them for me. He agreed and sure enough, they have reached their recipients! Marked ‘Mt. Fuji’, making them a very special collectible. I then got back to our group, and Siva, Arun and Mansi took our sticks for stamping, and soon thereafter we began the second leg of the journey – the downhill climb.

To begin with, we all started coming down together, and then, unable to maintain pace, we split into 3 groups of 2 each. Siva was my climbing down partner, and I am really sorry about that. I am by and far a very poor climbing down partner, with the capability to drive away all semblances of sharafat and gentility from a decent person! Arun had told us that coming down would be easier and faster, since the volcanic mud would be loose, and we could easily slide down! That is soooooooo not true… and I realized it only after I had gone all the way up and was forced to have to come down! What happened was, we began rather effortlessly, again fuelled by will power, with a 20 degree gradient and a mild wind for company. In just a few minutes however, it began to rain and it rained hard. We were engulfed in clouds, and felt the sudden coolness as a cloud wafted past us. So the wet mud was not conducive to sliding and whooppaa… plop.. plop… I landed on the ground at least 6-7 times, twisting my ankle (which has had a history of soreness) at least twice. My gloves were wet and I could barely grip my stick, since my fingers were getting numb. But climbing sans gloves was tough, since volcanic soil can be abrasive, when you fall, and so my palms got scratched a good many times. So there I was, cold, distraught and my ankle was in agony. Poor Siva – he had to put up with all these delays – tremendous patience indeed. I still remember the gentle exhortations – ‘Just one more lane – one more’ all in an attempt to jagao the dead adventurous spirit in me. Sorry man!!!

At one stage, I was really frustrated, since I had no idea how much more had to be traversed. We had a feeling that we had actually covered a decent amount of ground, and I felt that we would have not more than around 2.5 kms. We stopped some people, and asked them and they said that we still had around 5.5 kms left. I was in despair, downcast, down in the dumps, down everywhere except down at the foot of the mountain. I wished for a helicopter to appear out of nowhere and take me back to Kioicho. I wondered about the people I hadn’t said bye to before leaving and remembered the movie Cast Away. But leaving the histrionics aside, we had to move on. And move on we must. Determination kicked in – having to get over the frustration and physical pain to move on. My knees shook each time I stopped, thanks to the cold and now my calves were acting queasy as well. And I sooooooooo wanted to sleep! But we moved on and finally managed to reach the sixth station. After this, we took a detour and came through a forested route, which, for the record was lovely. The weather was now dew-fresh. And the prospect of soon reaching the base was even more enticing. Presently we reached the fifth station. We then washed up, posed for pictures and finally left the mountain after bidding adieu to the great Fuji san.

Once out of there and on the way back home, we all spoke of the experience and after I reached my apartment, I had the opportunity to sit back and reflect. I felt happy that I had decided to ‘go for it.’ It was something I had never tried before. Something adventurous I had never done. So what if it isn’t as precarious and life threatening as an Ethan Hunt climb in MI-2? It was nonetheless pushing my body to the frontiers. To the edge of forbearance and tolerance. It felt good to know that I had taken the plunge to put myself through this to experience the exhilaration that is the ‘I am at the top’ feeling. If someone were to ask me what I gained through the climb, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them then. Because I didn’t see the lakes, thanks to the clouds, didn’t walk along the crater, since it was too tiring, didn’t catch the sunrise at the peak, and the downhill trip was painful. But somewhere, a some other level, there was a certain weird sense of accomplishment and happiness.

So today, one year later, I do nothing but look back at the experience fondly, and wish I could climb another mountain soon!

The group - Arun Bhutra, Mangesh Ambetkar, S J Sivaraman, Mansi Dalvi, Neha Grover, Sindhu Subramaniam - A rocking team who made it all possible.....

Pictures courtesy - Arun, Mangesh, Mansi, Neha, Siva and I........

Beware of India..........

Don’t you dare to come to India man, we leave manholes open, all in order to catch the unsuspecting tourist. And did you know? In the monsoons, sharks from the Arabian sea come out to the land, via the gaping manholes. We let out king cobras and other deadly animals and allow them free movement on public roads.

Ok, maybe last part was stretching things too far. But as a person living in Mumbai, I must say that the directive issued by the US government is extreme to say the least. India is a civilized nation, where a greater part of the metropolitan population is literate and can communicate in English, rather fluently as well! So many people have an idea of India being a land of tigers and snake charmers. But sorry to shatter your dreams guys, India is a country with a variegated culture, but whose basic civilization has been wrested away from tribalism.

Much as I may like to keep glorifying ourselves and how wonderful we are as a country, I must accept that there are some failings on our part as well. Don’t they say that the first step in solving a problem is to first accept the fact that the problem exists? Why don’t we all, before pulling out our guns against the people issuing such directives, look at ourselves, and how we project ourselves?

First, Indians as a class are perceived as being people lacking a general civic sense. I wouldn’t deny it, since we see spit laden railway tracks, roads, walls. The motto seems to be - have surface, will spit. If someone behaves in such a manner in his own country, what can you expect them to do outside? There has been an instance wherein someone who boarded a flight at Riyadh in the most civilized manner, lands in Mumbai and the first thing he does is spit on the tarmac here. No point blaming him. Maybe its in the air!!! And the saddest things is that if we, as aware, educated citizens were to try and reason out with such people, we would stand to be ridiculed, spoken to in a brazen, crude manner, which we as genteel citizens might not be able to digest. There is a saying in Hindi ‘Laaton ke bhoot Baaton se nahin maante’ meaning it is futile to reason through words with people who only understand the language of the rod. So, when such simple words fail to elicit the desired response, why can’t we have laws that prohibit such people from defiling their environment? Lashings or hefty fines a la Singapore?

You are what you project yourself to be. Indians are perceived to be boisterous, uncouth free loaders. How many of us have not seen Indian flyers (first time or otherwise) getting drunk on a plane, begging, commanding the air hostesses, who are bound by duty to be polite, to get them more booze? So when a plane full of people sees this, what an image of India do they carry with them? There was once this instance of a person traveling from Germany, and he seemed to be relating his complete life story to his co passengers, who were desperately trying to sleep. He was loud, crude and his behavior was very unbecoming. All through the 7 hour flight, believe me, he kept talking, inebriated thanks to the cartload of free booze he kept asking for. He asked his co passengers not less than 5 times for their contact details in India, although they clearly were not interested. Now those Europeans were rather decent and they merely dismissed his behavior as immaturity, I guess. But such behavior was being witnessed by a whole crowd of people in the plane. As an Indian, in spite of knowing that some Indians can be rather quirky in their manner of behaving, my immediate mental reaction was ‘BACK OFF MAN’…. I also know that Indians are not so clingy by nature. But people seeing such behavior first hand, and not knowing what they are to expect will assume that Indians as a class are the ‘Peeche padoo types ’ as we say in Mumbai Hindi. People reading this may think I am a person who is completely anti-Indian. But no. I just find the whole manner of behavior appalling! Some may say that Indians have grown prosperous too fast. The graduation from the three-tier sleeper to the economy class of an airplane has been precipitously fast. Therefore, the practices of striking up conversations with the people next to you in the train, sharing food, being loud in the train on account of background train noise, seem to have perpetuated into their new mode of travel as well. The picture alongside has been taken in the waiting lounge of Bangkok airport, where we were waiting for the flight bound for India. In that case, why don’t we have an etiquette session for people somewhere? I mean rural Indian population still does not undertake overseas travel. It is the urban population with sufficient media exposure -enough to tell them about the newest English flick running in theatres, or the names of Angelina Jolie’s rainbow children – who undertake such trips. So whether their behavior stems from new-found money and lack of exposure or an underlying sense of defiance and abrasiveness, is a question we need to sit back and think about and hopefully find an answer to.

In all such behavior, our Government doesn’t seem to lend a helping hand either. How do we advertise tourism here? I speak from personal experience. On the onward leg of my journey to Bangkok, there was an in-flight video talking about ‘Beautiful Bangkok’. The Buddha temples, the elephant rides, pristine beaches and the like. In stark contrast, my return trip featured an in-flight video discussing tourism in Nagaland in HINDI….. Now how many prospective tourists would know Hindi? And the ones in the plane who know Hindi don’t need a Nagaland ki Jhaanki!!! Plus, the video shows the life of one poverty stricken poor inhabitant of Nagaland, his awe at the sight of a train, how he herds cows and sheep. Just what was the point they wanted to convey here?????? Let us sit back and think, just how tourist-friendly are we? If a tourist were to come to Bandra station, would he know how to get to Churchgate? Do we have any train map available at all stations a la London or Tokyo or NY or Toronto? The answer is a resounding NO. Do we have tourist guiding booths outside key tourist spots? NO. As an inhabitant of Mumbai, I myself do not know all the lovely places to see here! They say that there is a tourism office in some corner of Churchgate… Oh yea? I didn’t know and I have lived in Mumbai since sooooo many years!

What kind of India are our authors portraying? A country riddled with poverty, flies, muck, and the morbid suffering therein. Oh yea, I am interested in visiting Somalia as a tourist! Don’t chide me, such writings may earn critical acclaim. But what does it do to the image of India? Let us ask these authors, whether this is the true India where they live? As a fellow Indian, do you not feel that by portraying India to be the proverbial – ‘poor, third world country’, you are pandering to the developed world’s rather morbid wish to see suffering in all other nations but their own? Doesn’t this qualify as cheap publicity? Whatever happened to Mumbai being one of the safest cities in the world, why not portray that? What about projecting the culture of Rajasthan or the North eastern states? How aware are people about the culture of India? People outside India, when asked about our country, generally know the Taj Mahal. They believe that Diwali is a celebration of the Taj! Well, this is not an exaggeration, a person in Canada actually made this statement!

India is rising, growing like never before. We are becoming citizens of the world, and the whole global population is beginning to sit up and take notice. In states like Rajasthan and also the North eastern states, where tourism is the main source of income, why can’t our tourism department actually start looking into these matters more seriously? Instead of worrying about cheap local politics that are worse than those portrayed on the regressive Indian television, why don’t we as a nation, led by our government, concentrate on taking India to the world? So open manholes may not be true. But unless we show the world that we are not a bucolic country, vacation photos of tourists visiting India will continue to be those of a cow in the middle of a road in Mumbai city or of weeping children sitting homeless in the rain.