Acceptance of Betrayal!!!

Her hands had the sweet fragrance of freshly applied Mehndi, her lips seemed to exude calculated smile but her eyes were certainly nervous!!

Image Source – Public Domain

While mostly she kept looking down (as the bride to be is expected to do) randomly she greeted all and was trying to enjoy the Mehndi and Sangeet celebration kept in honor of her wedding. In India, wedding is not just a day affair, it has prologue, the ceremony, the finale and after effects too. The celebration, traditions and the nitty – gritty vary depending on the community one belongs to and also the part of country one stays in. So, this one was scheduled to happen in Agra, UP. Uttar Pradesh is a state in northern India.  However, let me get back to the story.

I approached her and wished hearty congratulations; after all her big day was approaching!! Wedding is a life changing event!! Everything dons a new attire – your status, responsibilities and relationships to name a few. But most importantly the feeling of uniting with your love for the rest of your life is what makes the occasion eternal.

Travel Sickness :(

Travel Sickness is defined as a condition in which visually perceived movement and the vestibular system’s sense of movement are at disagreement. In simpler form, it is the feeling you experience when the motion you sense with your inner ear is different from the motion you visualize resulting in diverse signals sent and received by the brain. Travel sickness is more commonly known as motion sickness and also referred as sea / car / air sickness. In medical terms, the sickness occurs when the inner ear, the eye, and other areas of the body that detect motion send conflicting messages to the brain. One part of your balance – sensing system (your inner ear, vision, and sensory nerves) indicates that your body is moving, while the other parts do not sense motion.

If you experience feeling of sickness while traveling, it’s going to be associated with dizziness, fatigue, queasiness, breathlessness.

The easy way to tackle is – sucking a lemon, orange, peppermint candy, ginger and cardamom.

There are medicines available, so you can pop a pill every time (I use Diamox) but that doesn’t sound like a long term solution of the problem. If the intensity of your travel sickness is huge then reflect on other ways of eliminating the issue.

From Kashmir Diaries

One of our favorite pictures from the Kashmir trip adjudged as the best. This picture was contributed by Ashish at his office for the theme Women Power 🙂 and it won the contest.

Mandhavgarh – The City of Joy

Once known as the largest fortified city, situated amidst the Vindhya Ranges at a distance of 90 kms from Indore city, Mandavgarh (Mandu) makes the cut for the perfect weekend destination. This ‘City of Joy’ was originally founded in tenth century and boasts of fusion of Hindu & Afghan style of architecture. The tales of love story of Sultan Baz Bahadur & Rani Roopmati still adorn the city. Mandu has a total of 40 monuments & these are categorized as The Royal Enclave, The Central Group, Rewa Kund Group & other monuments. Unfortunately, today most of the monuments stand ruined. Go ahead and explore more here –  https://untraveledroutes.wordpress.com/offbeat-destinations-2/offbeat-destinations/

Interesting facts about Mandu

• Mandu houses the first known marble structure of India – Hoshang Shah’s Tomb. Hoshang Shah (originally known as Alp Khan) assumed new name after ascending the throne to Malwa.
• The architecture of the tomb is so elegant that it is believed that it made Shah Jahan sent his architects to study the tomb before construction of Taj Mahal.

Adventure Ride to Dainkund Peak

Things to know, before you go on a bike ride to Dainkund Peak

Our fondness for backpacking has taken us on lots of road trips in past five years and maximum of them have been to some location in Himachal Pradesh. Himachal is like assorted bouquet of exotic flowers, you just can’t have enough and can’t get over it, the more you explore, the hungrier you become 🙂

This Road Trip was part of our 3-days tour to Himachal Pradesh, India covering Mcleodganj-Dalhousie-Dainkund Peak and back. Time was certainly of essence as we had 4 days including travel from Delhi to the destination. We boarded HPTDC Volvo from Delhi to Dharamshala, then took a cab till Mcleodganj (the distance is ~9kms) and continued our journey on bike from there. We experienced incredible moments of wonder, adrenaline rush, excitement and peace and experiences shall always be shared, so here we are! There are certain things one needs to evaluate before taking a road trip by Motor Bike, particularly on this route.

• Fitness is Critical: ‘Healthy body and healthy mind are keys to blissful life’. This applies to road trips as well. Being fit has really helped us during traveling, we have been able to explore & test our limits on most of our trips – be it Srinagar, Rajasthan or Himachal etc. It gives you so much of confidence and mental strength.We follow a fitness regimen to the maximum extent possible & have tried to inculcate a routine in our lifestyle and that really helps to continue our grueling tours.

 

• Right Time of the Year: The climatic conditions are likely to impact your travel plans always. We planned this trip in April as the season from March – May bears pleasant climate & moderate changes in hill stations. Definitely a road trip has to be avoided in monsoons to hill stations as there is an impending danger of landslides & during extreme winters also it’s not conducive. It always helps to keep track of the meteorology of a particular place before your visit.

The beautiful views that you’ll witness will fill your heart with wonder 🙂