Life in the slow lane – actually faster ;)

Aaah the build up to a Diwali barely being celebrated… Life slows down to a crawl as everyone around is in a celebratory mood… But as a self certified work-a-holic of course I’m supposed to be at work :)

But the incessant partying got to me – I slept late, got up later – Plus the weathers turned chilly, so need to wait for the ole geezer to warm things up ;) – The net result I was a full 20 minutes late by the time I left home… But I was relaxed, not much to do today – so I decided to drive slow, with the windows down and the music playing.

For once in my life I kept the revs below 3k and the speed below 60kmph – all the way – quite a feat by my standards…

And guess what – coasting along through generally empty streets – I covered the 27 kms to my workplace in 50 minutes – and boy was the drive a revelation to the benefits of taking it slow ;) I normally take anywhere between 65-80 minutes – burn 30% more fuel and raise my blood pressure a couple of points…

Perhaps I’m growing old…

Perhaps it’s time I did slow down…

Perhaps it’s got something to do with the cold…

Perhaps it’s just the lack of traffic around town…

The Pub Quiz – Delhi Version 2

A Delhi Special on the weekend leading upto Diwali – The three of us landed up as aloof as before – quite unaware that there were three Mughal Emperors called Shah Jahan (So what if one of them ruled for just under 6 Months) – But a Delhi Special surely we could do better than last time?

We looked around – This place was a whole lot brighter than the previous venue, we could make out a few familiar faces from last time… seems we were finally in the groove…

Damn we were late – not much place to sit – But a Delhi Special was something we must try our hands at – The Questions seemed one up from last times – but we were more familiar – we got some by luck missed others out of laziness…

The result a decade + four – gives us the same score as last time around… But the averages were down – the highs were at a much more achievable 21 versus something like 37 last time around – we’re getting there – with a bit of divination and a bit of ritualistic magic we should be well on our way to the top soon enough :)

Dinner at Qutab Institutional Area – Chicken Parantha and Keema Parantha – living up Delhi Belly – though we did miss out on the “sexy paneer/chicken” saving those for a later Adventure in the Megacity Called Delhi ;)

The Hanted Jaunt – Pratapgarh, Ajabgarh, Bhangarh, Tehla

After a night of light spirits interspersed with random questions from unknown souls, four of us in an i10 (making that total to the score we managed in the quiz – whatever) bravely drove of into the night surrounded by smoke belching monsters (the truckers of the Indian Highways) – we were in the chase for the spirits of Bhangarh :)

A 4 am departure, we were hopeful of making it by 7 am – still twilight – the weather would be pleasant and I suppose somewhat more conducive to ghost spotting than the scorching afternoon heat… but the spirits held us back

7 am – We were still on the very much civilised NH8 – a couple (ohh I’m sorry – a quartet :P) of kilometres from Shahpura – the point where we turned off into the wilderness - South Indian Breakfast in the heart of Rajasthan/Haryana and we rolled onward… GPS systems came on fairly soon as we were unsure of the route from hereon – it was a competition between Ovi and Google – but this was trivial stuff the Battle of the GPS systems is something we’ll discuss closer to the evening…

8 am – the road ended – quite literally there was an under construction bridge which did not seem to be quite complete – We looked hard and scouted a bit on foot for alternative routes – there was a faint hint of a dirt track barrelling steeply down the hillside (yes we had hit hilly territory) it look to steep for s little hatch like ours – a few minutes later a M800 (India’s go anywhere pocket rocket – a hatchback even smaller than ours) honks loudly and rolls straight down the track without breaking a sweat – I suppose our i10 could follow – we decide to give it a go – slowly I edge the car of the tarmac – there’s an imperceptible drift as the wheels lose grip – I let of the clutch and carefully manoeuvre down to the base of the bridge – but now what – the road doesn’t lead anywhere – another survey on foot doesn’t reveal much – meanwhile it seems that even though under construction part of the bridge can take the load of a small car – Now you tell me – anyway so gingerly as ever I take the car to the top of the dirt track and across the bridge with exposed girders upturned every 10 feet or so – 30 minutes later we were across…

9 am – the road was broken and the terrain undulating – we seemed to be driving down the road to nowhere – after a while we see this beautiful silhouette – of what seems to be a mountain but looks kind of manmade – the lines were to straight and there seemed to be hint of a fort atop.. We drive closer and in the rising sun, we see the most beautiful of forts – with a “Bangaldar” roof – and a single fort rampart climbing the ridge of the hill – probably enclosing a staircase within. The hill was lush green and serene, the fort looked stunning, framed against a blue sky, bits of sunlight filtered through some broken Jaali walls – the effect was surreal… This was Pratapgarh – we had arrived – “Padhaaro Maaare Des”

But we were on a Ghost hunt – After a brief halt we pushed on to Bhangarh – the terrain became even more desolate – next stop was a little watering hole tucked amidst a grove of trees, the passengers decided that a purifying dip in the water was the order of the day :) A quick swim – in a very very beautiful pond – edged by a stone bund over which water trickled down – this was one of the most stunning infinity pools I have ever seen – a few kilometres later we crossed the Aman Bagh – but after a swim in the most serene of natural pools who would want the artificial (and expensive) luxuries the Aman would thrust onto us… We drove on…

Ajabgarh came and went – seen briefly from the car and marked by the GPS confidently announcing “You have arrived at your destination” when we pulled up alongside a desolate abandoned high school building – The spirits were affecting the satellites as well :D

11:30 am - Bhangarh was approaching and it was closer to Mid-day than Mid-Night – our plans of hanging with the ghosts seemed quite unlikely – We drove upto a fortified citadel – and walked in through a double fort wall and lay our eyes on the abandoned city of Bhangarh…

It was a bright sunny day – In the midst of the Thar Desert – we left the airconditioned comfort of our car and walked in – The ruins here could give a world heritage site like Pompeii a run for their money – Clearly laid out ahead of us was complete city – Bazaar Streets, Residential Quarters, The Palace Complex, Temples – All clearly identifiable – It was indeed an eyeopener in terms of architectural and archaeological treasures – But alas no ghosts – only friendly families and school children here on a picnic…

1:00 pm – We needed a good lunch – and what could be better than fresh chicken (vegans read ahead at your own risks) – We spied this roadside “dhaba” where we could see a hen coop with a dozen or so hens – we stopped and asked if he could cook us some lunch – in 5 minutes a deal was struck – this has to be the fastest live chicken to cooked chicken I have ever had – within 30 minutes the chicken was chopped skinned and cooked – the details are quite gruesome so I’ll skip – the meal maybe because of the horror that lead upto it was something I could barely gulp down – it was laden in Rajasthani spices and quite unlike anything I have eaten before – for next time – we stick with daal/aloo… But an experience worth remembering indeed…

2:30 pm – we had taken a long time for lunch – time to rush back home – so that we could make it back before dusk…

The routes changed – we would drive to Tehla, Alwar, Firozepur Jhirka, Sohna and then Home…

Tehla fort came up, it is one of my personal favourites and I would have liked to stop for a bit but we were on a tight schedule so we drove on, we missed checking out the Resort Site in the shadow – would have liked to see it once again but that’s another trip…

Once in Alwar we followed our trusty GPS systems to guide us to the road to Firozepur Jhirka – we reached an under construction flyover and a blocked road – The GPS instructed us to go straight – We could’nt so we asked for alternates – but we kept ending back at the same point – we must have wasted a good 45 minutes figuring out our routing with the GPS and Human Navigators pointing fingers at each other :D Finallly we were rerouted by Human Help to reach Tijara – from where we then took the NH8 at Dharuhera – the drive home was uneventful – finally making it back to Gurgaon by 9:30pm.

It was indeed a strangely random trip – quite unplanned – breaking the boundaries of the minimalist outlines we had defined – yet most memorable and enjoyable… Let’s do it again Boys!!

And all because of a ritual in the making – lets see what happens in the next Pub Quiz

The Pub Quiz – Delhi Version 1

A quarter dozen college buddies suffering from the quarter life crisis… decided to take some action before lifepassesby – this blog has stood witness to inaction for far too long now…

A need to socialize in new quarters, a need to gulp down a few quarters…

An aborted road trip to the hills proved to be a blessing in disguise, we decided to make the most of our bonus weekend – schedules had already been tweaked to make room for our mini vacation so there were no excuses to give – we sauntered off to start what we hope will develop into a ritual :)

Saturday evening we drove a quarter century kilometres to reach the venue of the pub quiz – we were a little lost – but went in and sat resolutely on the last available table. The drinks were cheap – so the whisky was ordered, we probably downed a quarter amongst us… So far it seemed like a fairly regular weekend – 3 lost guys sitting in a dimly lit pub and downing quarters ;)

Well then the questions started rolling – our lack of preparation for this kind of academia could’nt be hidden away for too long – we struggled with the answers managing a few – some out of luck, some from the gut … but we managed a semi-respectable score of a “score less half a dozen” … meanwhile our quartet was completed – we were joined by a fourth…

Slightly annoyed – We took a walk to inhale some smoky air and grab some grub… while eating we decided on the spur of the moment to take a midnight drive – this time a quarter of a thousand kilometres away – to the haunted and ruined fort of Bhangarh – according to some India’s most Haunted…

A 3 am departure was delayed till 4:15 – but we were still hopeful of reaching by dawn/early morning – but the spirits – both real and paranormal decided otherwise…