Starting midnight on 8th of November, all currency denominations of Rupees 500 and 1,000 ceased to be legal tenders in India in a surprise move by the government of India. The move is supposedly a part of a crackdown on black money.
The purpose of demonetization is purportedly to restrain the shadowy economy of India i.e. a parallel economy, counterfeit currency in circulation and terror financing. Although I agree that this is a good move and a bold one at that by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one needs to consider the fact that it is not cash where bulk of the black money is stashed. Most of the black money – over 95% – is kept in the form of land, buildings or gold or kept abroad.
However in this post, I won’t comment on the politics or economics of it or will this move will bring out the intended result. This post is intended to illumine to fellow travelers – especially the travelers from overseas on how to cope with money matters if you are traveling to or traveling in India.
Many stories have emerged recently of international tourists facing currency problems. Many measures were announced by the government of India to allay their fear and inconvenience faced by the international travelers. One was that archaeological survey of India (ASI) – which take care of the protected monuments like Taj Mahal in India and charges entry fees – will accept the older currency note of 500 and 1000 denomination.
However, even as I writing this the date of acceptance is now over. Only new notes of 500 and 2000 denominations and the older valid denominations of 100, 50, 20, and 10 will now be accepted. Government also announced that airports as well as railway stations will accept the older notes.
As I am writing this, things have stabilized with the re-introduction of new 500 rupees note. New notes are also available but not all ATMs are functioning. It is because the ATMs needs to be re-calibrated to dispense the newer denomination currency notes. This is a cause of inconvenience to not just Indian citizens but also to international travelers.
So how do you cope up with demonetization in India if you are an international traveler?
Not all businesses in India accept cards. If you are a budget traveler than this is truer for you as guest houses, home stays, buses and taxis/auto rickshaw don’t normally accept app or plastic payment. Even if you decide to withdraw money from ATMs, it will take hours in the queue before you get to withdraw cash. If the queue is longer, more chances are that ATM will run dry before your turn.
Another thing to note is that currently the withdrawal limit set by the government is Rupees 20,000 per week which works out to $300 per week. It is supposed to last for fifty days from the date of announcement of demonetization that is 08th of November.
Note: From today onward (24th Nov 2016), the discontinued currency notes of rupees 500 and rupees 1000 denominations cannot be exchanged but can only be deposited.
Tips for money matters in India post demonetization for international travelers
One could bring in up to rupees 25,000 of Indian currency notes issued by the government of India and Reserve Bank of India.
One could also exchange the foreign currency they are carrying at the airport or at authorized forex counters. However, tourists arriving in India can only exchange their foreign currency up to a value of rupees 5000.
Use plastic money as much as you can at the restaurants, for transportation and to pay for accommodation. It is widely accepted in all major cities especially if they are popular tourist destinations.
Recently, many small businesses – even chaiwallahs – have started accepting money through apps like PayTM. With PayTM, you could make instant mobile recharge, bill payment, data card recharge, utility bill payment and even metro card recharge in Delhi.
Whenever shopping or buying anything or even paying for bills in hotels or restaurants, insist on rupees 100 or the newly introduced rupees 500 currency note. You might find it difficult to dispose of rupees 2000 currency notes for small purchases
Withdraw as much as you can while you are in city. Also remember that daily limit is just rupees 2000 which might be increased to rupees 4000 in coming days.
Try to make most of the payments in cities using cards. That will help you accumulate some cash before you head out for remote or rural areas or the Himalayas where there is much lesser ATMs and banks connectivity.
Only travel to small town and rural areas if you have enough rupees 100 and rupees 500 notes. Rupees 2000 could cause trouble due to lack of change.
If you are wondering whether there is an SEO benefit of SSL migration i.e. moving your website from HTTP to HTTPS, then the answer is both yeas and no. Despite Google’s announcement last year that HTTPS encryption is an important factor in Google search engine ranking, there is no dramatic change in search position even if you do move your website from HTTP to HTTPS.
But there are more good reason than bad to switch your website to the secure version of web. Google as well as other major search engines are pushing hard to make web more secure. While offering secure surfing over Internet is one reason to switch to HTTPS there are other reasons as well as to why should be migrating your site – if you haven’t done so already – sooner than later.
Being secure is foremost reason and then there is the performance factor as well as SEO ranking. Secure sites also mean you get better referral data in Analytics. As an SEO or digital marketer this is one of the major benefits as the referral data from HTTPS site to HTTP site get lost and are recorded as direct traffic in the Google Analytics.
Google recently rolled out mobile-first index. What it implies is that Google will now prefer the mobile version of a website/page and will rank its search even for desktop users based on mobile experience/performance of your website. It is said that nearly 50% of the web users abandon a site that takes 3 second or more to load. There are many ways to increase your site speed which include optimization of images using lesser CSS and Js or combining multiple CSS and Js. Then there are server side techniques like enabling browser caching and compression.
However even doing this doesn’t help as much as switching to the accelerated mobile page (AMP). AMP is an open source initiative to make web working lightning fast by taking advantage of various technical approaches. That is how Google wants the web to work.
If you work on a large website or use a CMS other than WordPress, you will need a developer to implement it as it requires a lot of coding. I have implemented AMP on several large websites that I work with, it’s a tedious process and on top of it you need to have a secure domain i.e. SSL certified site. Before implementing AMP I also had to do the https migration of some sites.
However if you use WordPress, like I do for my personal block, implementing AMP is as easy as pie. All you need to do is download the AMP plugin by Automatic. Yoast offer yet another popular plugin for AMP in WordPress but I had trouble using it especially the Analytics part.
Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) for WordPress
Do I need to implement AMP for my WordPress site?
There are a few questions you should ask yourself and depending upon their answer you’ll know if you need AMP or not.
My site is mobile friendly and attracts good amount of traffic and I have also monetized my site
If yes then you should go for AMP
I am a news/blog site with loads of mobile friendly pages and I have monetized my site
Yes, you do need AMP
I am a very big publisher but my site is not mobile friendly
You need to get your site mobile friendly first. It’s easy on WordPress as you have a wide variety of responsive themes available in different categories.
So how do you implement AMP for WordPress?
Step 1. Simple, log in to your site, click on add new plugin and search for AMP. You will most probably find AMP plugin by Automatic on top of search results.
Step 2. Click on install and then activate.
It should be working now. You can check so by opening any URL of your site except for the homepage and then appending the URL with /amp/
If it is not so then click on view source (Keyboard shortcut for the same is CTRL+U). There perform a search to look for: amphtml. It should guide you to your AMP URL.
Now comes the validation part to check if it is working correctly or not. You can do so using Chrome Browser Console or the easier way to do it is to visit this link: https://validator.ampproject.org/
Remember you need to paste the AMP version of your URL.
Also Note: Don’t forget to compare your webpage performance before and after implementing AMP using either Google Pagespeed Insights, GTmetrix or Pingdom to get a picture of where your site stand post-AMP.
Now that easy is done, comes the fun part.
Now you gotta play with a little of coding. Hey wait. No need to get scared. As I said earlier, it is as easy as pie.
First and foremost of all, you need access to your website’s FTP.
AMP plugin doesn’t give you option to do any setting or editing through WordPress.
If you don’t have it talk to your developer/server/hosting guy. You need just your server path, username and a password along with port number to make it work. Download free software like Filezilla or AceFTP and install it and configure your site’s FTP.
Now once you have logged into your FTP server, you need to be very cautious for any change can make or break your site. Never use Overwrite command to upload file at the first instance, use Rename command. And for any further changes that day only use overwrite command and not the rename command. Or better still take a backup of the files you would be making changes in.
For our task at hand, we require only three and thankfully they belong to plugin folder so no harm done anyways.
Now here are the things we will do to make the stale AMP version a bit lively. Three basic things that you will need for our WordPress AMP.
Google Analytics
Social Sharing
A Cute Header Menu with Sitelinks
Let’s start with Google Analytics which I believe is the most important tweaking to be made. You don’t want to lose out on Analytics data which will further offer valuable insight into user behavior and your site performance.
Here are the steps to install Google Analytics for WordPress AMP
Create a new property by logging into Analytics. I believe you are familiar with it; if not here’s how to do it.
>> Log into Google Analytics
>> Click on Admin and you will see three heads namely Account, Properties and Views
>> Click on Property dropdown and click on Create New Property
>> Name Your Site e.g. Example AMP and enter your URL, select industry and time zone and click on Get Tracking ID
>> Copy the UA-XXXXXXX-X part which we will need later.
Connect your FTP server and then navigate to public_html, then wp-content folder, then plugins folder, then amp folder, then templates and download single.php
Open single.php and just after the <head> tag paste:
Replace UA-XXXXXXXX-X part with the code that you generated in last part of Step 1
Save the file and upload it and lo and behold you have your analytics part done.
To check it open a page of your site and then go to the Reporting tab in your Google Analytics, navigate to Real Time Overview and you should be seeing 1 visitor. It’s the confirmation that your code is working.
Integrating Social Sharing Buttons on WordPress AMP
You want your visitors to share the great content that you are publishing. Right?
Here are the steps to integrate social sharing button for WordPress AMP so that visitors could share your great content.
Step 1. Once again, download your updated single.php or better don’t close it till you are through this post and just before </head> paste this:
Note: Replace app id with your own if you use it or generate one on Facebook.
Step 3. Now search for <footer class=”amp-wp-article-footer”> and just above it paste:
The above code again. Whereas the above code will render at the top of your post, the below code will let the social share button render at the bottom of your post.
Step 4. Now save and upload the file. Refresh any of your post’s amp version and now you will see some cool social buttons through which your visitors could share your great content. Bravo!
Now comes the beautification part of your header which is too bland with just the name of your site. We are now going to add a menu at the top right corner so that visitors get to navigate to our important categories and can also read about me 🙂
Here how it goes.
Step 1: Open updated single.php file and just above or below the social sharing script in the header that you pasted in the header; post the following code:
What this code will do is it will add a nice Hamburger Menu image. Replace the http link inside amp-img src with the image of your choice or as a bonus you could use the one I am using by keeping the code intact.
Step 4. Now to render the menu we will have to create a <body> tag and add the links that we want to display in our menu inside it. Just paste the below code after the </header> part at the bottom of the file:
Step 2: Find <div class=”amp-wp-content”> line. And below the line paste the the code below
<amp-ad width=350 height=100
type=”adsense”
data-ad-client=”ca-pub-95675557XXXXXXXX”
data-ad-slot=”170XXXXXXX”>
</amp-ad>
Step 3: For ad to be displayed below the post search for do_action( ‘amp_post_template_footer’, $this ); and paste the adsense code before the php starting tag which we used in the previous step.
I am flabbergasted so are some of my friends…Here how one of my friend feels…This is Ravish and he is ravishing to say the least
As a working professional, I want to ask our revered Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who changed your notes Modi? Did you get your “notes” changed before portentous 8 pm announcement? Or did you once again lead by example and convert all your notes beforehand? Perhaps I am social media dumb and missed your twitter photographs. But why aren’t we seeing a twitter post with you waiting for hours in an unnecessary bank queue? Maybe you are too busy, and have five PAs to change your notes, but neither have we seen any other cabinet minister or Mohan Bhagwat ji or for that matter any of India’s esteemed industrialists the Tata’s, Ambanis or Adani stand in queues anywhere.
As I write this, I remember the bank operator telling me, only people with their own identity proof can change their money. So how did you all manage? I am sure the Ambanis, both the brothers, need more than Rs 4000 a day to run their palatial apartments. Excuse my foolishness, but I forget living in Digital India that even their domestic helps, security guards, gardeners, and vegetable vendors may all have Jan Dhan accounts and their salaries are wire-transferred directly into their banks. And such is the case with all vegetable vendors from Delhi to Chennai, for most of them carry card machines, don’t they?
I am against Black Money, but this policy doesn’t seem to restrict it . In fact all the people with the real black money are still laughing maybe as they see little fish being caught in your net. Please don’t fool us with Bollywood style imaginations of “black money mattress” and “black money pillows”, your finance minister has already told us the real intention of this undemocratic, furtive move. “Demonetisation decision was a logical step in journey towards cashless society” said Mr Jaitley. “Cashless society” well why use euphemisms simply call it a ‘MasterCard’ society? Why are you allowing for the Mastercard-isation of the Indian economy. With a single stroke you have given Visa and Mastercard access into every household of India. You have sold thousands, maybe millions of hours of our hard work and labour only to profit foreign banking corporations. Why was this necessary?
Plastic money is technological racism. Think of millions of your country people who have no access to banks; forget banks they are not even literate. You can suddenly steer them to have no access to food or medicines because the money in their pockets has no value. Millions of us are in this dilemma, Why don’t we have the right to use the money we have worked hard to use? And even before you enforce this upon us, why were we given no choice to debate this? Why have you still not made donations to political parties more transparent and only possible through cheques before you took this step? Why did you introduce this at 8pm in the night after Theresa May left India? Did she have something to do with this? Arnab may have quit, some of us Indians would really want to know.
We know why you picked November 8th, is it because this is the day you lost Bihar? Maybe this is also your way of revenge and punishment to the nation. Did you know that farmers, at least all over North India, are waiting to sell their crops and but no one has the money to buy it. Were you thinking for them? How will they sell their crops? This is the last harvest of this year, how will they get money to plant again or even payback their loans? But maybe 60 percent of India is expendable.
You built your campaign on Black money, after which you started to restrict gold, further tried to get maximum number of rural people into the banking system but when nothing worked, you took this jump. I see only a handful who are the beneficiaries of this move. The banks, Mastercard, Visa, and the BJP-UP office.
This move is anti-poor, anti- farmers and undemocratic. This is not about black money, but to strengthen corporate and MNC control on India. This is the reason Walmart India CEO is congratulating you on the Front page of TOI. You have killed the small vendors and made sure India will beg for FDI in retail. Your bosses have killed the Indian vendor and currently replacing them with giant super stores through FDI in retail.
But revenge or not, we know you have rigged the foundation of economic democracy in India. Your move is a slap on your swadeshi voters and subtly heralds the final takeover of India by the new economic world order. As a patriotic citizen of India, I urge my sisters and brothers to think about this move, see beyond the black money rhetoric before it is too late and we lose our sovereignty and our money to a new “Banking Raj” .
It is an account of my weekend trip to Uttarakhand by motorcycle. Summer months in Delhi always give me an itch…an itch to travel and get away from the sweltering heat and also from the din of the city and my routine 9 to 6 existence. With so many long weekends around this time I along with one of my colleague and his two friends planned a bike trip in the last weekend of June. We planned to visit Dhanaulti. The trip was as much for getting away from the hot humid weather of Delhi and have a breather from the our busy work life as for getting away from the cacophony and clamor of our lives in Delhi. In some ways it was good but as always it turned out to be unexpected.
A magical day in Chamba and a spellbinding view of Tehri Lake and floating cloud above
Well I was expecting a few things as I have been to Dhanaulti during my college life twice. It was around 10 years ago that I last visited this secluded off the beaten path paradise. Back then even 10 people in the park were surprising. There were a few hotels only and a few food joints. But oh boy! How things change.
We left for Delhi at around four in the morning to avoid the traffic but were stuck in a traffic jam in UP despite being on motorcycles. We took it as excuse for breakfast. Soon we moved ahead but one of the bike started having trouble. At Dehradun we had to stop for more than 2 hours as the bike went under maintenance.
80KMPH on the Highway
A few words about Dehradun: I wonder how people call it a weekend getaway. It is nothing less than Delhi. Too much crowd, hot weather and too much traffic. It might have been better a decade back but my first experience was not that impressive. It is – in my opinion – as good as Delhi.
As soon as we left Dehradun and neared Mussoorie, things began to look better. Traffic was less and the weather was getting gentler. The road were in very good condition and I was having a rollicking good time on my Man O’ War.
At Kurukshetra
The scenery too had changed. It was mountains and valley and lush vegetation. And soon we entered Mussoorie. With the benefit of hindsight, I could say that it is a sin to travel on weekends to destinations such as these. It appears as entire Delhi and nearby places are in these otherwise less visited escapes from Delhi. Once again too much crowd and traffic greeted us in Mussoorie.
Most of the hotels were sold out and there was not even space to ride our motorcycles. After long hunting we finally found a hotel and checked in. A hotel in name only but after all we just had to spend the night for we were off to Dhanaulti the next day.
In the evening we went out promenading. The weather was cool and we had great time but since it was night there wasn’t much of a view. However it was relaxing and calm as the tourists were mostly settled down.
At overrated Lal Tibba
We woke up early the next day and decided to visit the famous Kempty Falls before riding towards Dhanaulti. At around 8 in the morning we were at Kempty Falls, yet another overrated place. Don’t get me wrong but when I venture out of Delhi my foremost concern is to get away from the crowd and cacophony. That is why I prefer Mandi over Manali; Narkanda over Shimla or for that matter Ilaqa over Triund.
To my disgust I was in the middle of a meena bazaar even in Dehradun, Mussoorie and now at Kempty Fall. So many people vying for space inside the pool. The place is highly commercialized and way too crowded. There are all kind of people, the attention seekers, the shrill shouters, the merrymakers and the selfie experts.
Whereas my companions decided to give it a go and jumped in the pool I decided to stay back. After half an hour their excitement abated and they came out whereas I guarded their belonging and took some pictures just to remember I was here.
The crowded Kempty Falls, Mussoorie
After we had a hearty lunch comprising of aloo paranthas, we moved back towards Mussoorie and onwards to Dhanauli. As we moved on the weather only got better and the views scenic. We halted a few kilometers before Dhanaulti where some kids were selling berries. It was a good place to halt. On one side there were mountains and on the other was the undulating valley interspersed with deodar, oak and rhododendrons.
Even the winding highway looked surreal vanishing up beside a cliff. Oh how I love to ride. When the roads is like this who wouldn’t fall in love with his motorcycle and road trips. I mean that is why we own RE don’t we…to commune with the Himalayas.
Winding road near Mussoorie towards Dhanaulti
To let ourselves commune, rediscover and reclaim. A ride in the mountains truly moves your soul as you feel the nature not from the confines of your window seat in the car but as oneself, the cool breeze brushing past your face as you ride along truly one with it.
Near Dhanaulti
Digressions apart, soon we arrived in Dhanaulti. It was a 10 year hiatus but I was not in for this much of shock.
Yes it was shocking.
Dhanaulti has transformed. I don’t know for better or for good. But I believe this would be my last trip for the only thing that comes to my mind after visiting Dhanaulti is the name of a book. It is called ‘Paradise Lost’.
It truly is. There are hotels and shops and crowd filling what was once a serene sleepy hamlet. Way overpriced accommodation, too much commercialization and raucous crowd is all it takes to ruin a paradise which was once comforting, tranquil and would soothe your soul.
The park is littered, calm is gone and you have to vie for space. May be this is a long weekend phenomena but I was here on weekends too way back in time. The place has become popular. Very popular indeed.
We decided then and there that it was no use spending time in the park. It would be as good as spending time in the Lodhi garden sans the tombs.
Dhanaulti Eco Park
Wrapped in Fog, Dhanaulti Eco Park
Most of the rooms were full hence I suggested my companions that we should try for Chamba. That is where I have stayed quite a few time when I visited Chamba. And the hotel where I stayed has perfect view. So once again I was back in the same hotel in Chamba. It is the first one you will come across when you are riding there from towards Mussoorie.
A view of sleepy hamlet that is Chamba from the hotel room at night
It has cozy rooms with hot running water and TVs. The rooms are well turned down and clean and the view are just amazing especially on misty days a regular phenomenon I was told due to the Tehri Dam.
Next day it was Tehri Dam visit before commencing towards Delhi via Rishikesh.
Leaving Chamba
At Tehri
That’s when shit happened. I mean nothing terrible but something worse which I found out after I returned. All the photos of my camera which were shot at Tehri got messes as the knob of my DSLR got accidentally turned from AV mode to Manual. Every single one of them ruined and that is where we took most of our photo. I mean visit to Tehri Dam and the boat ride was highlight of our trip but I have not a single picture to remind me of it. That I was not taking the pics didn’t helped the matter.
After spending more than an hour, it was time to ride back for we had to reach Delhi and in my heart I knew we were going to be late. Very late.
It was around 3 in the evening that we arrived in Rishikesh. There my companions decided to take a dip in Ganges near Laxman Jhula. We spent close to an hour there.
Boy…It was getting late. When we arrived in Haridwar there was a massive traffic jam which took us close to 2 hours to negotiate despite the fact that we were on two wheelers. It was a crazy off-roading experience when we had to like ride down a hill and climb back. One of the three vehicles in our group got separated and I along with my colleague Sandeep were left behind.
I was a bit worried in the beginning as I was riding alone but when I found Sandeep I relaxed. After tackling the traffic jam we rode together and it was already dark. My helmet was not helping either as the visor was scratched. I couldn’t see ahead at all so had to keep it opened and man there was a lot of dust that my eyes were taking. It was like crying all the way back to Delhi.
Looking back it was hell of a ride. Not as fun as the Ladakh or Dharamsala trip but memorable and painful nonetheless. I made it home 3 in the morning. It was a ride to remember.
I even thought to name this blog as Teen Jat, Ek Bihari, Karne Nikale Bike ki Sawaari 🙂
It has been a long time waiting. I have been meaning to tell the tale of my recent trek to Triund Hill. It was my third time and it was supposed to be easy and I even thought a bit monotonous. But then nothing goes according to plan. Not when I plan a trek and decide to go footloose in Himalayas.
On a sultry evening in May this year, I reached the Kashmiri Gate International State Bus Terminus (ISBT) along with 4 others to catch the bus to Dharamsala. Two in our groups were already in Dharamsala. We had to meet up there and from there it was supposed to be off to Triund Hill where we would spend the night and return the next day to catch our bus back to Delhi from McLeodganj.
In between, I had called the Divisional Forest Office (DFO) in Dharamsala weeks in advance and had two rooms booked in the forest guest house that is located on the top of Triund. It is a comfy place and offer good shelter during rain and thunder storm which is very common in May.
Arrival at Dharamsala Bus Stand in the Morning for Weekend Trek to Triund
We arrived early in Dharamsala and reached the room of colleagues where we rested and got freshened up. After relaxing a bit we decided to leave for McLeodganj early so that we could start early for Triund. Rain and thunderstorm was predicted for the evening. But did I knew it will get as tough and chilly as it did.
Ah we were only beginning.
In hurry, we didn’t even go to the DFO office in Dharamsala from where we had to collect our paper for the rooms that we had booked at Triund. And little did we knew that it would cost us dearly.
We boarded a bus and left it at St John in the Wilderness, one of the oldest church in North India. It is also one of the few structures that withstood the devastating earthquake that hit the region in 1905.
History of the St John in the Wilderness Church
Cemetary inside St John in the Wilderness
If you are in Dharamsala, you should definitely visit this beautiful church located exactly where it says: In the wilderness. It’s a tranquil place and I love to spend some time here whenever I visit McLeodganj or Dharamsala.
There’s a liquor shop nearby in case you need to tank up. But I tell you that’s not the reason why I love this place.
After spending some time and tanking up, we left for Mcleodganj walking. And thus began our long, arduous, thrilling and bone chilling (literally) trek to Triund Hill. We arrived in Mcleodganj and had some steamy momos. Not that tasty I tell you but the chutney was really spicy. I loved it.
After that we started to walk towards Dharamkot and in the meanwhile we were also looking for some place where we could dump our bags so that we could travel light. Most of the people in my group were trekking for the first time. Trek to Triund is one of the best treks for beginners in Himalayas.
Yeah its there 🙂
There are only a few better for initiation to trekking in Himalayas and Triund trek is almost up there. So we found a room near Dharamkot where we could leave our bags. The cost was 300 for a day (and night). After leaving our bags we started towards Gallu Devi Temple.
I left many things behind in my bag including raincoats. And boy! Was that a mistake? It was a huge one as I was about to find out soon.
It was already late when we arrived at Gallu Devi. After walking for so long every one was nearly exhausted already. It was an alarming sign. And that I had a beer or two wasn’t helping either.
Near Gallu we had a hearty lunch. Aloo paranthas and maggi. After that everyone wanted to relax a little beat to catch their breath. As I said, for most of them, it was their first trek.
Cafe near Galu Devi Temple before the trek to Triund begins
A little bit stretched to hours and it was 2:30 in the afternoon already when we hit the trail to Triund.
There were so many changes along the route this time. First of all, there were too many people trekking to Triund. Then there were too many taxis at Gallu Devi which were almost non-existent when I did the trek next time.
Then there was a check post where we had to enter our details before the beginning of trail to Triund.
Too many Punjabis with their phone blaring with songs some even carrying small speakers. I mean it felt like it was a mistake to come here.
I have been reading the reviews in TripAdvisor and many have been complaining of how the peace and calm of Triund has been ruined by such unruly trekkers. I never in my dreams believed it would be that bad but as I started to climb, the worst became true.
Triund has become too crowded with casual trekkers who have ruined the tranquil ambience of this once beautiful and secluded trail.
Beginning of the Trek to Triund Hill (Me in blue bandana)
But rain came to our rescue.
Soon I was walking alone. Leading from behind. I have always loved trekking in Himalayas. Those silent moments when though rushes in. Being footloose in the Himalayas is one of the greatest joys that I have found. Walking silently, observing is all you can hope for; wish for. Mostly, treks in the Himalayas or for that matters any hike in the woods especially when you are walking uphill is like a frenzy of internal monologues.
But it soon ended as heaven poured.
Not even 1/4th in the trail, rain caught up with us. And it was with a vengeance.
Five in my group were ahead and I stayed back with the slowest two. After all I was supposed to lead the group.
We took shelter inside a monolithic rock and the rain got heavier. It lashed, soon it became a hailstorm and soon we were drenched to our bones.
Didn’t I say it was bone chilling!
After like raining for an hour the storm abated and we started to climb again. The sound of songs blaring on the speakers and mobiles have stopped.
Thanks to the weather! Many have returned already and more were planning to return as the weather was looking more and more ominous.
I caught up with the five that were ahead near Magic View Café, the oldest one on this trail. Many three more have come up along the trail. Two of which weren’t there when I trekked last time to Triund.
The slower two were getting even slower. We all were wet and we all were shivering. The weather was getting colder by the minutes and it was also getting dark. I was worried is to say the least. I had to ensure that everyone reached the top sound and safe.
The fast five again took the lead and the next I met them was on the top.
For the rest three of us it was quite a story.
By the time we reached the last café on the trail, it was again raining cats and dogs. The wind was frigid and we were all drenched and had our teeth chattering. We took shelter in the café. There were more than twenty person who also took refuge there.
Even tea was not able to keep me warm and I was shivering with cold wet to the bone as I was. And the horror story that the shopkeeper was narrating was not helping at all as the two with me were the first timer. They were exhausted, cold and now even terrified.
What was I to do? I waited for an hour for storm to pass. The wind was ferocious and the rain lashed in all its fury. It was getting very late and I decided we have to make a dash through the final stretch. It was close to 7:30 in the evening already and it was already pitch dark. In the distance thunder roared which also provided the occasional sight.
Let me be frank. The last stretch to Triund Hill is considered the toughest to trek. The gradient is steep and after rain it becomes slippery too. In the dark; one wrong turn could lead you away from the trail. It was a huge risk which I took and we set out towards Triund. Other people taking shelter in the café also decided that they had to move now as it was getting really late and the storm was not likely to stop.
I took the lead now and the two followed. With more than twenty people in tow. I was breathing easy. I also knew that the two were taking it too easy (even though they were frightened) and that they needed a push. Something more to scare them, to make them hurry.
So what do I do?
Frankly I was freezing by now and I wanted to make it to the warmth of the forest rest house at Triund as soon as possible. So I hurried. Soon I was walking alone. There were no one in sight. Neither ahead nor behing and it was pitch dark with occasional lightning from the sky showing the way.
I wasn’t even sure if I was walking the trail or if I was lost. It was frightening to be honest. It was first experience of something like that in my years of trekking. Those moments when you almost think that you will turn away and go back for you could walk no more. There is nothing left in your power you think that could make you go on anymore.
You cry to yourself silently. Ah no more! These mire, and forests and sounds and light make no sense anymore. You are numb to everything that is physical. If you can’t walk, you are ready to crawl but towards the unknown not to the comfort of the bed you had left somewhere behind.
So I keep moving on.
Stopping and turning back was not really an option anymore.
After for walking like 20 minutes or so, I saw a shop up ahead. I relaxed finally as I knew I was on the right trail and I was about to reach Triund Hill.
As soon as I arrived on the ridge, I felt I’ll be blown away. The wind was lashing against my body, threatening to carry me away. It was very strong and I needed a shelter. I took refuge in the shop. More trekkers were huddled inside. It was like fifty more people were normally even fifteen wouldn’t fit.
The wind was so strong that I was afraid to even go to the rest house which was some 50 meters away. After spending 10-20 minutes which seemed like hours I made it to the rest house.
The Forest Rest House at Triund in the Morning
On my way I saw something alarming. There were no tent pitched anywhere along the ridge which is normally full of them.
I opened the door of the rest house and I was greeted by a shocking sight.
There were more than 50 people huddled inside the common area. There was no space even to walk and make my way towards the room. I couldn’t see a familiar face and suddenly it had me worrying.
I wondered then if the five who were ahead on the trail were there or not. We were not carrying the paper from the DFO and I worried if we will be provided with the rooms or not. What will happen to us tonight? It was one of the scariest situation I have found myself in during my years of trekking.
Somehow I made my way towards kitchen and saw five familiar faces. Ah boy! Wasn’t that a sight? A sigh of relief and with tension released I met my friends. Now it was the matter of rooms. Baisakhi Ram the caretaker of the room was reluctant to give us the room without permit but after some cajoling and looking at our sorry state he agreed to give us room but only one.
Ah! Even half a room in weather like that would be more than welcome. We checked into our room and with mind at ease I started to shiver. Yes I did. Now I realized how cold I was. I was soaked to my bone and the shiver was uncontrollable. There was no clothes to change into. I had left everything in the backpack that was back in a dusty room near Dharamkot. I got out of my pant and tees and took refuge in the blanket.
Our Room at the Forest Rest House
It took a while before by body stopped to shiver. After half an hour or so, the last of the two also arrived. By this time we had settled down and everyone was breathing easy. Everyone recounted their experience and the scare that the weather gave them. How some thought they wouldn’t reach and how some thought it’s better to be in Goa or Kerala than trekking in Himalayas.
To be honest, for the first timers, such weather could really cause fright. Even deter them from ever trekking again. Trekking, honestly, is not for the gentle souls. It could get really tough especially when weather plays spoilsport. But after all has been said and done trek to Triund hill is a relatively easy trek that I’d definitely recommend to beginners.
Anyways, after settling down it was time to relax and unwind. In frigid weather like that, the best thing that goes down the throat is rum. A few pegs and the warmth finally returns in all its vigor. There are 6 of us settled down in the room meant for two. 6 of us are on the double bed and one is in the sleeping bag that I carried.
Baisakhi Ram nods on the door again. He asks us if we could accommodate 3 more people. They are looking for shelter and that there aren’t any available as all rooms are full overcapacity. We agree. Two guys and a gal walks in. Baisakhi Ram provides them with sleeping bags and then nine of us settled in that tiny room. When the mountains show you kindness, all you can do is give back. There is no turning away on the mountain; only togetherness and bonhomie.
We woke up the next day to a beautiful morning and endearing views. It is time to sit back and relax and soak up the surrounding. To talk our talks, to reflect and rejoice.
Guides setting up tents in the morning
Disconnected with mobiles, we were in the happiest nirvanas in our existence. Not yet out of rock n roll world but it was just in the middle of it. Words were frequently exchanged. Commitments were made. For future adventures.
Time to leave now. For the bus is waiting to take me back to my own prison cell. The place I call my home, to Delhi.
That’s me looking over Mcleod and the breathtaking panorama
Practical Information:
Phone no of DFO (Dharamsala) for advance booking: 01892-224887
Rest House Rooms: 500 per room per night (Total 6 rooms)
We ate rice plate, each one costing INR 130. A bottle of mineral water was INR 50 and maggi was INR 60 and a cup of tea INR 30. (These are rest house rates other cafes may cost +10 for each item)
Bus ticket from Delhi to Mcleod: INR 570 per person
Bus Ticket from McLeod to Delhi: INR 575 per person
If you hire a taxi from Mcleod to Gallu Devi, it will cost approx INR 400 (one way) and an auto rickshaw will cost approx. 200 (One way).
I leave you with a few more photos:
Early morning at Triund
Dharamsala Cricket Stadium as seen from from Triund
