I fail to understand the logic & purpose behind this rejig. If Performance was the criterion to shunt out a few, then hardly anything has been done except in the sports ministry. The non performers, and let me assure you there were many, were left untouched. It may b e because they were either heavy weights or because of political compulsions.
If it was to punish some then how come TMC railway MS continues in the council of ministers, in spite of the fact that he rubbed Dr. Manmohan Singh on the wrong side.
I do not know how come Jairam Ramesh's new position can be termed as elevation. If he was a performer, then he could have been given a cabinet rank in the same ministry and given additional responsibility of rural development. It certainly smells of industry pressure.
Hardly any new faces and young blood have been inducted. Gurudas Kamat's repositioning does not give any signal. Thankfully he resigned.
All in all it is like using the old ambassador car with 4 flat tyres and a flat spare tyre being interchanged for the heck of it. The car still is in bad shape. The driver to is a dummy because the car is remote controlled.
Born Free
Live Life Your Way
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
stupendous feats
My nephew, Sudeep went biking from Mumbai to Leh via Manali - Rohtaang Pass with 13 of his colleagues. They returned back in about 2 weeks. A couple of them had to abandon their mission halfway through due to failures of their bikes and some other reasons. rest of them made it, and made it well. They all were first timers to such a long biking trek and hence it makes it special to them all.
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Sudeep on his bike
Similarly my Friend Kedar went cycling from Manali to Leh with half a dozen younger enthusiasts, including his teen aged daughter. It is nothing new to Kedar as Adventures like Cycling, Trekking, Mountaineering keep the blood flowing in his body, but for the other youngsters and my friend Pawan it was a first major cycling trek. 
Kedar with the camera
Both these feats are highly commendable because I had been to that area very recently, albeit on jeep. But I have seen the terrain and the difficulties you face as you travel at those heights.
I salute their spirit and will power. It is nothing but alchemy of chaning common human being in to special ones. These are men of Gold turned in to Steel. So it is reverse alchemy of sorts as far as their spirit and will pwer is concerned.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Shrinagar - Leh a Jeep Safari
Preparation for the trip:
Though acclimatization helps as you start climbing up the hills, be it in jeep or on cycles or by trekking, you are better placed if you take diamox125 mg - twice a day - 3 days before you start the climb. Similarly you should take coca - 30 ( a homeo drug ) - 4 tablets - twice a day - 3 days before you start the climb. Subsequently you can take 1 diamox and / or 4 pilss of coca 30, on each day as you climb above 13 / 14 k height. You must also carry other first aid medicines like paracetamol, dispirin, d - cold, some cough syrup, and ciproflox ( 250 / 500 mg ) tablets.
Precautions:
Take as much of water / Liquid diet like soup as you can during the trek / trip
Don't spend too much time if you are feeling giddiness / getting vomiting sensation / head - ache at high altitudes
Don't get over excited or walk briskly or do higher activities like running etc at high altitudes.
Our Trip:
Our Leh – Ladakh trip started from Shrinagar, at our behest, on May 29 th, a day ahead of our other group members, because we wanted to experience the life on the House Boats and move in Shikaras on the famous Dal Lake. Well !! it was a big disappointment. Dal Lake and Shrinagar are no more the heavenly places on earth. An illusion was broken. So was my experience in seeing those three Mugal Gardens in the city. The Shalimar Garden was built by Jahangir for his queen Noorjahan, and is the best in my opinion. The Nishat bag is the largest garden in the city. The Third one built by Shahajahan is called Chashma Shahi or Shahi Bag. May be, this time around the tulips at Siraj Bag and many rare varieties of flowers were not there to welcome us.
Though acclimatization helps as you start climbing up the hills, be it in jeep or on cycles or by trekking, you are better placed if you take diamox125 mg - twice a day - 3 days before you start the climb. Similarly you should take coca - 30 ( a homeo drug ) - 4 tablets - twice a day - 3 days before you start the climb. Subsequently you can take 1 diamox and / or 4 pilss of coca 30, on each day as you climb above 13 / 14 k height. You must also carry other first aid medicines like paracetamol, dispirin, d - cold, some cough syrup, and ciproflox ( 250 / 500 mg ) tablets.
Precautions:
Take as much of water / Liquid diet like soup as you can during the trek / trip
Don't spend too much time if you are feeling giddiness / getting vomiting sensation / head - ache at high altitudes
Don't get over excited or walk briskly or do higher activities like running etc at high altitudes.
Our Trip:
Our Leh – Ladakh trip started from Shrinagar, at our behest, on May 29 th, a day ahead of our other group members, because we wanted to experience the life on the House Boats and move in Shikaras on the famous Dal Lake. Well !! it was a big disappointment. Dal Lake and Shrinagar are no more the heavenly places on earth. An illusion was broken. So was my experience in seeing those three Mugal Gardens in the city. The Shalimar Garden was built by Jahangir for his queen Noorjahan, and is the best in my opinion. The Nishat bag is the largest garden in the city. The Third one built by Shahajahan is called Chashma Shahi or Shahi Bag. May be, this time around the tulips at Siraj Bag and many rare varieties of flowers were not there to welcome us.
We could however visit the Shankaracharya Temple on a hillock. This temple was built 200 years BC. You can have a beautiful view of the whole city from the top. It is unfortunate that cameras are not allowed there, so we had to leave them behind in our jeeps. Some lost Opportunities for the shutter bugs, I must say.
Our jeep safari started really on June 30th, when our other group members joined us. Our first stop was at Sonmarg. Kedar had strategically chalked out our itinerary to ensure that we had stops at right places to get acclimatized as we move ahead on higher altitudes. We went trekking to Tajiwas Glacier in the morning. Almost everyone slid on wooden skates from the glacier and it was difficult to differentiate the aged ones from the youth. I was excited like a child to see & feel the glacier and the melting of snow that forms the origin of small rivulets finally taking shape of scary rivers as these join each other down the hills. And yes, one of the items from my wish list of treks, that of seeing the Glacier, was fulfilled.
We stopped for tea at Dras , on the way to Kargil and stayed in the night on the next day. Dras is the 2nd coolest inhabited town in the world. Oh !! yes, we crossed Gozila pass too. It’s at about 14K Feet height. We also saw the Tiger Point and the peak at point 5304 which were recaptured by our magnificent army during the Kargil War.
We started early in the morning for Leh via Mulbek, Namika – La, Fota – La & Lamayeru. You get to see the Mulbekh Chamba – a lovely 8 / 9 mtr high statue of Matraiya ( Future Buddha ), the two passes – Namika la & Fota la, Called La in their language and the lovely monastery at Lamayeru on the way to Leh. The moonscape site was breathtakingly beautiful. We also had fun at the magnetic field. Kedar showed us how the vehicles move against gravity. It is really an optical illusion, but still every one of us had fun there, and had photo shoots.
The next day was again a day for acclimatization and local site seeing. We saw a couple of monasteries around the city of Leh.
Then one day we visited the Pangong Lake and passed through the Changla pass. The whole journey was breathtaking as we curved through the mountains up and down and again up before descending to the lake in the valley. The lake is just out of the world experience, and only seen to be believed. The different hues of mountain ranges surrounding the lake add beauty to the whole landscape. The saddest part to know is that the Chinese hold almost 75% of the lake, even today – some 50 years after they invaded our boundaries and captured the area.
Alas !! our government turns a blind eye on all such happenings, like the POK, the areas at Batalik, Kargil and Pengong. Be it China or Pakistan, we just accept. Thanks to someone who gave orders to recapture some of our lost territories.
We also visited the Nubra Valley passing through Khardungla Pass, the highest motorable road pass in the world. There we stayed in the tents which had all the amenities. We went for a small trek cum walk at a sacred lake ( for locals ) in the evening. We also visited a hot water spring at Panamik and also went to nearby desert dunes at Diskit ( on our return to Leh ), where some of us enjoyed the camel ride on double hump camels. It was an amazing sight to see desert sand dunes at such heights.
Sadly our journey was to end here as we started back to Leh . A day was kept for a lovely visit to the Army museum at Leh. It is a must see place for all to see and know about the valor of our armed forces. We also had river rafting. It was a great experience for the first timers. But, unfortunately there were hardly any rapids. The most memorable part of the day was spent in spending time with the locals in their home. The experience of their lovely kitchen, the prayer houses, their culture, their tea - called gud - gud and above all their hospitality was heart warming.
The remaining half of the day was for emptying all our pockets and for swiping our credit cards and cursing our fates at seeing the ladies getting wild and wilder at each stop or a shop. This, for me is the most painful sight to all men. But we can’t do anything, can we ????
We were lighter when we landed at Leh and came back heavier when we left the next day for our return journey. Thankfully no one had to pay for extra baggage at the airport, and we all men had a wry smile.
There is not one single moral of the blog. there are a couple of them ( In Lighter vein of course ):
Don't marry if you love travelling
If you can't help - then don't take her along
If you can't help that either - Travel Light on pockets too and yes, don't forget to keep all your credit cards back home.
And if you can't help that either then relax and curse your luck !!
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