My Pictorial Travelogue - Part 1

They say, if you do not travel, then you tend to read only the first page of the book, and it is so true, when I actually got into the habit of traveling, and thanks to my better half, I thoroughly enjoy it today..and has become one of my passions...yes traveling can be a passion, be it alone or with family, or with friends, it gives you an opportunity to look inside yourself, and analyze your life....as it opens up new dimensions in your life which you may have not got to explore earlier...

The reason I say this is, its only when you travel, you get to experience the vastness of this beautiful, elegant planet that we are placed on, and your head surely bows to the amazing and magnanimous creator of this planet, i.e. God....coz its only during our journey, we experience the beauty of nature, and the vastness of the same...and get to meet wonderful people, learn about their lives, their culture..traditions, practices..belief systems...and it then gives us an opportunity to widen our own limited horizon, which we so egoistically promote sometimes as being know-alls, but after visiting various places, and such difficult terrains on which people happily reside we realize how content they are with the minimalistic of things, it makes us realize, how ignorant we are towards nature and its natural beauty....

Hence this being a huge topic, I've decided to split it into two, so here goes the first part....from My Pictorial Travelogue - Part 1...whereby I'll take you on a tour to North of India towards the beautiful city of Lakes...Nainital...the first time ever we took a trip of such epic proportion, whereby although we flew to Delhi from Mumbai, but after which we did some slight seeing in Delhi, visiting the India Gate while en-route to Nainital from there onwards...passing via U.P...and finally touching India's U.K (hehe Not the United Kingdom, but Uttarakhand...)...

So here goes...enjoy the virtual site seeing...

First Stop Delhi..so here's a tribute to Delhi...visit to India Gate..

Then comes the fun that we had, en-route to Uttarakhand, whereby we saw tracter like vehicles run with the help of the engine of a sugarcane machine....and where else can you get to see this, than our dear old rustic Uttar Pradesh...and guess what they call them.Indian Ferrari....I mean this was an classic example of incredible India, and the phrase coming true..."It happens only in India..."

What a pleasure and sight it was to see fellow Indians proudly hop on this unique vehicle, no worry of safety whatsoever, open from all ends, does not even have a engine, but is run on sugarcane juice making machine, and a attached seat on the behind...it was something that could happen only in India...

This is when I realized, the vast culture of India, besides seeing this unique creation, we also saw houses made out of mud or small bricks, and women in traditional attire...passing through the various small towns in U.P....and ofcourse also enjoyed the traffic jams, caused due to...behold your ear now..for the reason I'm going to disclose for the traffic jams on A HIGHWAY...were THE BUFFALOES....yes the buffaloes..and that too on the highway...

After passing through such a memorable state, we finally started enjoying the cool breeze as we were approaching the beautiful hills of Uttarakhand...although it was late in the night, but the driver made sure we enjoyed our ride, by making us hear the 80's hindi songs...oh such good old days....

And after reaching, I could not believe the hotel where we were staying, it was right opposite the beautiful Naini lake, but of course, over a hill....god...the ascend to the hotel gate over a hill was a nightmare..with steps as big as 2 steps in one...but it was commendable and applaudable, as to how humans can construct any difficult structure being in the harmony of nature....as there were many in that row, the place was called Mall Road....

And in the morning we saw this scene right from our room...it was the beautiful and scenic Naini lake, after which late night we did visit the same..and also a near by shrine..Naini temple...

Then we embarked upon the beautiful tour of this exquisite Hill Station...and saw wonderful, breathtaking scenes...which included view of the Naini Lake from top of a hill, scenes atop of the hill we reached via a cable car, and scenes of the lake and a cricket ground while coming down from the cable car, Raj Bhavan...the Security in Raj Bhavan, which was taken in the movie Koi Mil Gaya....

Other sightseeing places, a park, boating in other lakes, visit to a local temple of Mata atop a  hill, a giant Idol of Hanumanji...

These pictures may not totally depict the kind of beauty that we witnessed at this heavenly place..as there is no tool in the world that can capture any scenery, as vivid as our imaginations....so the journey, the people we met, the scenery we got to experience...all these divine feelings can't be put into mere words...as such is God's creation...vast and unending, for which one can experience this divinity if only one begins to travel, still one can't proclaim to have seen the world, as there is so much to see, but so less time....and every place we see, tells us a story...so the next time you travel, don't forget to relish the most precious gift that god has given to us, this Mother Earth in all its glory....

If you liked this part of the travelogue, keep watching the space for the next.....

Cheers!
Seeta