Travel Tips

Land of Rana Pratap, the tough Rajput ruler

Statue of him on his favourite & loyal steed Chetak, a horse that jumped across an impossibly wide obstacle to protect his master, and sacrificed his life.

Spectacular palaces, especially Lake Palace in Lake Pichhola, where the film Octopussy (007) was shot!

The bunch of langur monkeys 'sitting' to attention!!

The awesome 'Sahiliyon ki baadi' - translating as Garden of the girlfriends, is an amazing set-up, for those days. All the fountains were supplied abundant water. Grand setting & aura...

This place has a great romantic feel to it..

The Pink City; the State capital

Loads of palaces, and superb hotels

Tonnes of jewellery stores selling a vast range of precious & semi-precious stones.....

Hotel Mansingh, the 1st Five-Star Deluxe I stayed at as an adult!
Named after the tough Rajput Commander-in-Chief and confidante of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir (Salim)

Unparalled & outstanding service; superb selection of meals & drinks.

My 1st Elephant ride ever!!

Hanging Gardens (1992) - with it's superbly cut & maintained hedges

Nariman Point (1992), where you'll find many top hotels; it's also the financial district.

Joggers Park, Bandra West (2004), can see the houses of some film stars from here...

Churchgate station at night! A main hub for the trains, lots of offices here

Bombay Gymkhana, well-renowned; very exclusive, can't get memberships anymore!!

Inside a local train carriage. Only in 2004 did I deiscover that they have separate compartments for 'Women only'! Quite good, eh?

A major financial city

Very pleasant, yet high tech; has a new technology park, where you'd find Wipro, Infotech, Symbiosis, I3T, etc

Pancard Hills 'sign' during daytime; it's said this sign is larger than the Hollywood one!!!!

Many beautiful beaches here, offering a range of settings and sand...

A one-time hangout for hippies & 'junkies'; also a favourite resort of John Kennedy Jr!!

The Leela is the top hotel here, can cost over 1100UKP for the top suite!

Cathedral of Saint Ignatius Loyola, the altar the all gold-gilted.

The world famous - TAJ MAHAL!!!

Built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, took over 14 years to construct.

Housing the tombs of the royal couple.

The 4 minarets are constructed such that they lean slightly outwards, to protect the main mouseleum in the event of a natural calamity.

Beautiful & intricate work on white marble; also several coloured stones are also used, including lots of mother-of-pearl.

Four false gates that form a perfect symmetry..

The front walkway with it's fountains; where everyone gets photographed!

RED FORT

This is where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb; he spent his last years catching this sight across the river Yamuna, of his cherished brainchild - the Taj Mahal (meaning Crown Palace)

Fatehpur Sikri
A former capital, where Akbar was granted a son by the holy man - Salim Chistie.

The 'auspicious' wishing well... I wished for something very sweet & innocent here.. with a very pure heart.. but it didn't work for me!!

The breathtaking hill station in the Himalayas, with Dehradun at the foothills.

It snows here every year without fail, locals were surprised when I told them that it rarely snows in London! In mid-September everyone is wearing jumpers... the weather is cool & very fresh.

Can find Buddhist temples here, and many Tibetans.

The Grand and majestic Kempty Falls.

At the origin of the river Ganga (Ganges).. it was freezing out here..

From Gangotri we were encouraged to have a heavy meal (money in their pockets!) before taking off in the searing mid-day heat, and well-advised to buy pakets of glucose powder - instant energisers!

My first ever serious trek.

Silly me, I was ill-prepared, with a heavy, clumsy bag, that caused severe cramps in my obliques as we ascended...

It s a 19km, 12500 foot climb. At nightfall we crashed out at camp 14 (at 14 kms from Gangotri), and early in the morning we climbed the rest.

Was well worth is though.

The change is climate was drastic, it was freezing cold in the evening, and pitch dark.

almost fell over the cliff edge 6 times (fatigue & sleepiness, I was actually walking with my eyes shut! Madness??? Tell me about it!) !!! I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for my buddy Auva, who decided to climb behind me, grabbing me each time I was falling off!

But in the end is was well worth it!

Some people ride up on mules, but I'd insisted we rough it.

Auva's lips had all cracked, so everytime I made him laugh his lips would bleed; hence he used to squeeze his lips tightly together whenever he could sense one of my wisecracks!!

Can u imagine that? Some1 not wanting to have belly laughs!! It's all abt circumstances, right?