The year 2009 is gone. It was satisfying as far as travel is concerned. Except for one or two, all places were new to me. Not many to count but observed and learnt a lot during the course.
And all these trips were personal trips, not work related.
It was Ratnagiri and Ganapatipule to begin with. Temples, forts and beaches greeted us with stories of their own.

Then it was Bangaluru. solo trip. Somehow I felt more uncomfortable in going

On a whirlwind trip to Delhi. The flight back is delayed. As I type this sitting at the airport, one thought comes across. Has Delhi changed over these years?
A sweet girl asked me the difference between Delhi & Mumbai.

On a cursory look, yes, it has changed.
The chilly,

Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi is famous for these deep fried snacks.  Sweet Thekua, namakparas, samosas, kachoris, besan kaju and what not, with at least 5 varieties of each.
They are equally rich in taste and oil. The containers have holes in bottom and are placed on top of canisters for draining off extra oil.
They always use paper bags to pack and within

Another year. Another set of to-dos. And a time to take stock… Don’t frown for this late post, we are still in January month.
Year 2008 was a good year in terms of travel for me. I managed to balance between my work related and personal travels. All the trips were short since now I don’t go on long term trips.
In the year 2008 I have been to a few places abroad (USA & Europe) and in India. I am yet to write about my foreign trips mostly because …

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[I had mentally prepared to see three major landmarks in Amritsar before getting back. We reached Amritsar at 10:30 AM.]
The moment we got down, horde of rickshawalas and autowalas surrounded us to take us to hotels. New to the city, lack of direction and short on time forced us to take one rickshaw to one of the hotels from his list. Knowing well about the trap I asked him how much commission he gets. “Rs 20 for ordinary room and Rs 50 for an AC room” prompt came …

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[We too went to our sleeper berths and slept. I guess, the bus must have started at around one after filling up the rooftop and giving that family a double sleeper seat.]
I was in a tee and jeans. During night I felt cold, but didn’t have anything except for a filmsy cotton shawl. Hey we had not planned to go to Amritsar, where sometimes the temperature goes down as low as 0° C.
I was oblivious of how many times the bus had stopped but when I opened my …

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[We were asked to assemble at 9 PM at a place which was 1/2 kilometer away. By the time we finished booking it was past 8 PM. We had to have our dinner, refreshen ourselves and proceed towards the assembling place.]
We reached the assembling place sharp at nine. We were made to sit on stone benches under trees in a small triangular park along with other waiting passengers. The touts of different travel agents were bringing in many more passengers. It was fairly dark with lights coming …