Tag Archive for 'anuvrat'

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Anuvrat vs Anuvrat

Published on January 3, 2010 in Anu. 0 Comments

Warning: This is an extremely boring narration on Anuvrat. It is only me, me and me. So you might want to skip right over it. :)

The story of my life! I need not look into more than 4 years into my past to compare the boy I was and the guy I have come to be. I remember vaguely declaring to anybody who would care to listen, before going to IIT Kharagpur, that I shall come out as a man unchanged in habit and manners. Times Change, People Change – I know. Yet, there was this belief in me that I shall remain the same person that I had always been at school. I was happy then. I had just realized the then biggest dream of getting into an IIT. What else did I need? No reason to alter myself I thought.

And my first year friends will acknowledge the fact that I remained the same shy, introverted person throughout the first year. Slept at 10. Would keep my room clean. Cared a lot for my possessions. Avoid anything unfamiliar. Rather stay in the background than try to get noticed. This was Anuvrat Singh, JEE404, in the year 2005.

I was fortunate enough to make an amazing group of friends – Ketan, Naresh, Ritej, Akhilesh, Akshit, Rohit, Ved, DC, Srinath, Gyanendra. Each of them unique in a special way. They started influencing me. But did I know back then that they would completely overhaul my personality? No is the simple answer. I still missed my school friends a lot.

Then came the dreaded second year – The Orientation Period, as it is called. I was boarded at the Radha Krishnan Hall of Residence. This was the year I started becoming more confident of myself. I was learning to say No. There was this painting on the walls of my room. The caption said – What are you waiting for, Reveal Yourself. I made new friends this year in Ratno, Siddhartha, Raunaq, Shadab, Nitin and Arpan.

But I remained the honest introvert. In fact, also confused.

The third year came along. A few more people became important to me. Birinder Tiwana and his brother Birjodh. The two were the complete opposites of me. This was the year when all the people would be trying to land a foreign internship. And I did! I remember the date – 7th December (only because it coincides with the birthday of a friend) – when I received the mail. I was selected at EPFL!

And this was the point from which I never looked back again - or so I feel. It all happened so suddenly and magically. Time seems to have sped by swiftly since then. So many eventful days. I think this is when I started changing. I no longer missed my school friends. I completely got over them.

Arpit, Vinu and Varun became friends – we were all headed to EPFL. The 6th semester was spent planning the great vacation at Switzerland. Rohit too was accepted at a university in the same country. We got ourselves schengen visas. We were going to tour Europe!

And the three months at Switzerland was like some surreal dream. It was the first time I went shopping alone. I wasn’t afraid to be myself anymore. I could openly express my opinions. I was way more confident of myself than I had ever been. I was happy – a happy which was different from the happy after clearing the JEE. And I liked it. I wanted more of it. I wanted to be happy. I did not want to be bothered with future anymore. I wanted to live the present. This was the time I actually started dreaming. I wanted to live up my dreams.

Back at Kharagpur for the final year, I could feel my Swiss enthusiasm to have been carried over here as well. I was smiling like all the time. I had become overly energetic. Half the time I was jumping around in my room. I was happier than I had ever been in my lifetime. I was chatting with people more than I ever did – just so that you know, I hate socializing. I was spending a lot of time with my friends. Akshit’s careless attitude I liked, Naresh’s dedication to work I appreciated. We had lots of parties – like almost every other weekend.

I got back in touch with more than a couple of school friends – thanks orkut. I had a facebook account! I was starting to interact with people in public chats. I made a few online friends – people I have never met but have chatted to.

Come January and I had a job. Life couldn’t have been merrier. We bunked classes and went to a trip of Dehradun. We were white river rafting while our classmates were busy solving homework assignments. March and April was literally like the month of parties all around. This was Anuvrat Singh, o5CS1023, graduating in the year 2009.

Those two semesters completely changed the person I was. It’s like a feeling of being rejuvenated. I probably still am an introvert, but I make a sincere effort to interact with people. I try to influence people all around myself with my enthusiasm and excess energy. I don’t like to sit at home anymore. I want to hang out. Any place will do. Bike trips – bring it on. I am game for any adventurous activity you can come up with. It’s like I have discovered someone within me, someone totally different, and he wants to reveal himself.

This is why, of late, I have been feeling more at home with my friends at Bangalore than in Hyderabad. At home my activities are curbed. Also, at Hyderabad, I go back to being the old Anuvrat which I do not want to any more. Its like alter ego taking over me.

When at Bangalore, it is I who decides what to do with my time. I sometimes go to office at midnight. I sometimes go for coffee at 1 am. Sometimes, we are just making noise the whole night, watching movies or playing cards. Security guard calls on us to cut down the volume, but we don’t care. On more than a couple of occasions we have spent over 1K on just dinner! We are quite spontaneous in what we do – never planning ahead, just doing whatever pleases us.

And then I come to Hyderabad, I am with my parents – civilized and mannered. Then I go back to being a prick at Bangalore. Then once again I am at Hyderabad, where there are so few friends – all of them working, none of them has time to meet me during the weekdays. Then I am back at Bangalore, having a jolly good time with my flatmates on a Wednesday evening. Another weekend, I am in Hyderabad and spend my night surfing the net and doing nothing productive. I am now in Bangalore, working late night on a piece of code. I am at Hyderabad, bored and nothing to do. I am at Bangalore, all the friends just 10 minutes away, never alone, never bored and always happy.

I do not know what gets into me when I come back home. It’s like two people entwined into one, controlled by an automatic toggle switch which controls the dominant personality. But I want to get rid of the old me completely. People often stare into infinity and with a smile assert that school days had been the best time of their life. I am at loss at how to explain people that perhaps those years were the most boring ones that I have ever had. I love the friends I made back then, but I detest the person I was in school.

It’s become too long now. I just want to declare now that I have indeed changed a lot. I just know one thing now – I want to make all my dreams come true. No matter how unreasonable they are, I don’t care what I have to do for that, I don’t mind being a rebel, the society does not bother me any more. I am selfish now, and it is this passion of being happier than the happiest person I have ever met which drives me. And as always, I want to remind myself -

What good is money if I have no family and friends to spend the fortune on.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Rejuvenation 2

Published on November 26, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

Never ask me what the word means. I had not heard of it until Khaja mailed me with this word in the subject. And this mail was about a grand getting together of lots of people from Johnson Grammar School – the 2002 batch.

Excited though I was upon receiving the mail, I was a little apprehensive about attending it. I am not really fond of meeting new people everyday, and not tons of them on the same day. Khaja’s mail had names which I had never even heard of. And these were supposed to be my schoolmates. Not only would it be awkward not recognizing them, it could become embarrassing if the other person recognized you.

Another reason that I did not want to attend was that none of my close friends from my section were coming. Almost everyone is in the USA, doing their masters, except perhaps two who are concentrating on their phds.

And a third reason was that if they start talking in telugu, I would be left all alone. Somehow, almost 16 years in Hyderabad, and I never managed to learn the language.

I tried talking myself out of the reunion, but I must admit, some part of me wanted to be there, to meet the people, to look at those faces which always brought a smile on my face. I perhaps wanted myself to miss the school and relive all the memories once again. The decision to go was thus finally made!

But amidst all these things, with the emotions gripping me, not letting me think properly, I forgot one basic factor – there were going to be lots of people, and that I would not know how to interact with so many unknown people!

Well, in my case, company matters a lot. I am not the same around everyone. I prefer small groups of people, with mostly known faces. That is when I am myself, being silly, childish and naive. But you include me in a group of 20 odd grown ups, who present themselves with dignity, with an aura of educated men and I’ll be confused. This was exactly the case on that fateful day. Shaking hands, greeting each other formally, introducing themselves, and I was wondering if these were friends meeting after a long time or me attending some Alumni meet.

Now the place chosen by Khaja was the school. The school! Its far away from anything remotely interesting in Hyderabad. But his intention was to meet our teachers first. So, we entered the school and started hunting down our teachers.

Anybody, anybody you find, just attack !! We are here for blood. There’s Shauri .. don’t you let go of him … Round him up .. See there Shivalingam .. Bug him … Gods of war arise … Ooh .. we have our new Principal in sight .. err .. but since she doesn’t know us, let her be .. The haunting Annapurna ma’am here .. But where’s Malathi ma’am .. ohh wait .. what did you hear .. has she moved out of the city ? .. so sad … but where are our other teachers .. dont let anyone escape .. we the tyrants are here … charge into the next building .. smoke out everybody … There comes Surya Kumari teacher .. we need more men .. reinforcements .. please .. But who is to deal with Vijay Gauri teacher .. we are split .. the divide and rule policy of teachers working again … and here comes Shanta ma’am .. now we are really stretched thin … Help !! Help !! Tattered banners and bloody flags … 21st century breakdown …

Production at any price
Admiration of those who earn
With blood on their hands
We will never learn
A gift of today’s world
Heroes to us, heroes to us, heroes to us
Heroes to us, heroes to us, heroes to us

Tired from our assault, we decided to climb up the stairs and rest our aching bodies. Into the classrooms we escaped. Photos we merrily clicked, playing out a scene from a classroom.

All the merry making had tired everybody. A lunch buffet was voted and we started for the place on bikes. Luckily, there were more seats than people. A mister Karthik Sharma took me to the 100 Degrees on his Pulsar. I must admit here that he drives very safe, not at all how you would expect a guy with Pulsar 150 to ride.

And this is again where we slip into the grown up costume. The lunch for me was a subdued affair. I was already half desiring to run away. A few scoops of ice-creams later and we were all done and ready to leave. There were lots of photo shoots then. People got busy saying farewells. Hmm .. I did not see anybody cry. Well, people have matured atleast.

Well, I don’t really think this was how I would have liked to meet my friends – ever. I am hoping to meet them again, but few at a time, and certainly without any formality. I want the meetings to be fun, fun like freaking out crazy. This is how I have always imagined a get-together with friends from school. Till that day, I wait.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Crushing On Chess

Published on October 30, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

I have had a very strange relationship with the game of chess. At one time I loved the game, and my wins led me to believe that I was almost unassailable. The over-confidence obviously led to my fall, and this was the first lesson in modesty for me. But then, those defeats brought with them shadows of doubt. Confidence rapidly faded and gave way to defiance. I started avoiding the game. And so it was for almost 6 years, until a guy named Anshumali helped revive those feelings once again. But with a difference. This time, instead of being a boasting arrogant fool, I am going to a humble student. I have decided to re-discover the beauties of chess.

My association with chess goes back so long that I cannot remember my first game. I do not know who taught me to understand the moves of the pieces. The earliest memory that I have of having played chess is because of a photograph of mine. I was 7 then, and my brother 4 years younger to me. And in the photo we were joined by a friend of mine from school in a game of chess.

The best guess that I can make is my mother being my teacher. During those times, we were in Germany and she used to take care of my mathematics. I do remember being made to solve problems. Perhaps she is the one who taught me chess too. Also, I do faintly remember playing against my mother.

Now obviously even my brother played this game. So most of the time we played each other. Now during those earlier days, since we weren’t taught properly how to think in chess, Thus our games against each other used to be too boring. We had the exact same opening, which we always stuck to. And later found the middle game too repetitive and boring. After a time there was a tacit understanding between us that we would better not play chess.

One of my first motivators was my uncle, chote mama we call him. He is one of the best chess players in our family, and our family is huge. I remember a game against him. I had managed to trap his queen, and there was no hope for him to be able to save it. And since his queen had been playing an active role, its removal would have given me a huge advantage. Instead of giving up on the queen, he used his knight and bishop to attack my king, and I was forced to remove my pieces attacking his queen and defend my king. And it goes without saying that he went on to win that game.

Yet, since my learning had not been proper, my flaws always remained. I did not learn any thing from his brilliance. I continued playing the same way. In fact, those days when calculating my opponents move, I used to assume that he will not play the best move. And when I think back to how I played in those days, I realize myself to be very lucky indeed to have won a few games.

My dad settled in Hyderabad, and one of his colleagues, Dr. S. B. Gupta, enjoyed the game too. He would come over to our house and play chess with me. It took him just a few games to understand my weakness and the cause for it. He was the first person to really educate me on the intricacies of this game. He was the first person to tell me what my motives should be during the opening and the end games. He used to frankly express his opinion about my game. This was the first time in all these years that I started thinking.

Things were looking up. Alas! My studies got in the way. I had completed my schooling, and was preparing for the JEE exams. My parents felt, and they were right in doing so, that studies and career came before chess. I played fewer and fewer games in my first year of preparation, and it became almost 0 the next year.

The two years of preparation took their toll on my game. I felt distanced from the game I once loved. Also there was no one to play with. Saddened, I went to the university for another 4 years of engineering studies. Luckily, my neighbors played chess too. Ketan, Ritej, Akshit, Saurav all were good chess players. Excited, we went to the market and bought a chess set. We were like the crazy guys sitting around the chess board all day long. At first I thought I was good. But pretty soon, the truth was before me. I wasn’t able to think. My game was in disarray, and my confidence crushed. With a heavy heart, I bid adieu to the game.

I never thought I would play a game of chess again in my whole life. I just did not want to face my worst fears. I did not like losing.

But then I met Malli and Theja. Joining FICO after my graduation, my team mates were chess enthusiasts. They would talk about it all the time discussing theories and games of former greats. They would argue the merits of each move and were fanatics, well almost. Amidst them, I found myself wanting to play chess again.

But this time, it was different. I was prepared to face the truth which is that I do not know how to play chess, that my education had been stopped at a very beginners level. I needed to learn properly this time. I was ready to give up my old habits and to learn the subtleties of it from the beginning. It was the Chessmaster game I turned to for help.

And I was surprised to learn many basic things that I had often neglected. I learnt the importance of my pawns, of their structure, of the relative importance of Bishop and Knight, of the importance of activating the King in the end game, and lots more. Now when I play chess, I try to incorporate most of these teachings in my game. Thinking is an element added into my game now, Also, I am not afraid of losing any more. Only by analyzing my losses can I discover the fallacies in my game.

Well, all I can say is that once again I am enjoying chess and this makes me happy, very happy.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Checking Off My Wishlist

Published on August 27, 2009 in Anu. 1 Comment

Yesterday I was going through a few old posts when I came across a one wherein I had listed my wish list. I had planned to buy a few things after moving to Bangalore. This post is an update to that one.

Now that it is 3 months into post-graduation life at Bangalore, I have finally started ticking off things from my wish list. I had mentioned 4 back then -

  • A Dell XPS laptop
  • An iTouch to go with my Xperia
  • A domain name for myself
  • LastFm subscription

Here’s the update to the list -

  • I have a domain for myself now. Yay !! I have purchased this domain from justhost.com and have a hosting deal for the next two years.
  • I have subscribed at LastFm. Doubly Yay !! !! :) And I totally enjoyed their radio once again. God ! It feels so good listening to LastFm radio once again. Just to think of the number of songs available to me, chosen by LastFm makes me musically happy.

Things I have yet to do -

  • I have been given a Dell Latitude D630 from FICO and so have postponed any plans of XPS.
  • iTouch is the big question. Do I go for this gadget now or wait till a later time. I do not really need it right now, so probably I will put it off for some time.

Additionally -

  • I have an awesome bike – CBZ Extreme. Yipee. And I am totally in love with it. I have already driven ~1100 kms.

Additions to the wishlist -

  • Biking gear. This is of highest priority to me now. I need a pair of leather gloves, preferably leather jacket, a cool helmet. I am yet undecided on knee pads. :P

Hmm … Not much yet. Shall keep updating this list.

Popularity: 1% [?]

My Plans/Wishlist After Moving To Bangalore

Published on April 24, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

Well, everybody has plans regarding what they would want to do with their first salary. I have mine too. Here I list them in no particular order. And most probably, I sill do most of the things. So here’s my wishlist -

  • I crave for a Dell XPS. And the machine needs to be powerful enough to render all of the eye-candy effects of compiz. It goes without saying that I shall be using ubuntu as the operating system. No windows for me. I think a 4 Gb RAM should do. It would help if I could get a graphics card. Hmm .. lets see.
  • I want a domain of my own. Not like this one. Here I am required to show ads from the people whose server I use. I want a reliable ad-free domain and hosting. Also this one’s a bit slow and always has some sort of problems. The latest being a problem with WP Super Cache plugin.
  • I want to become a subscriber of last.fm. And this is something I will definitely do as it is the cheapest thing. A subscription costs only some Rs. 500. The positive of becoming a subscriber are lots. Mostly you can make many playlists. Also you can listen to your loved songs. And as it is, I am starting to like the last.fm radio. I dont care for 500. In light of recent events, this has become a necessity rather than luxury.
  • I want an Ipod touch. Nothing else will do. Just imagine … Sony Ericcson Xperia X1 + Ipod Touch … awesome :D :) .

Can’t think of more now. Shall keep adding here :) .

Popularity: 1% [?]

Lull After The Storm

Published on April 12, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

Yabba Dabba doo !!! My Grand Viva is finally over. And I cannot express my happiness over it in any definite words. This is the one time professors get to mock at their students, though I must add a few are very helpful, and try their best to point the students to the right answers. Although I did not do as well as I was hoping to, but no regrets over there. As it is, I have never cared for my CG. Marks are for the lesser mortals :D .

So now with the grand viva out of the way, it is time to resume working on my BTP. But not without a well deserved break for the weekend. Yeah, a well deserved one, really. Only the BTP presentation is between me and my graduation :D .

The last 40 days at Kharagpur ! I am glad to be leaving this place. Not because I got bored of it, but because I want to start a new chapter of my life – a different story, a different person, a different place. I am eager to move into Bangalore, and start afresh. There was a lot I could have done at Kharagpur itself, but my introversion prevented that. It shall not any more. I am determined to present a new picture of myself, a changed self. I am deviating from the topic.

Well, to sum up, now with the grand viva over, things have really calmed down. There is not much to do, except BTP and chilling out with friends. Its time to make the last few days at Kharagpur memorable. There shall come a day when I’ll feel nostalgic, and wish these days – the best of my life – never went away, but it is not that day yet. Today is the time for party.

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BTP Update

Published on March 29, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

Yay !! Finally I have definitely made some progress in my BTP. I have ironed out all the bugs. As I write, a bash script is running my program over and over again with different parameters as input. The loop will execute some 6*3*100 times. And within each program, there is a time counter which counts forward to 30,000 units.

I have left the whole thing to run in development mode, instead of the deployment mode. Printing out details on the screen is slowing down the generation of results though. Perhaps I must go and sleep while the script does its work. I have been awake for more than 24 hrs now, and sleep is very much welcomed.

I do hope to get some pretty good graph. I am making this siulation for a multi-processor system. However, there is this small issue when it comes to division of work between different processors which I need to discuss with Arnab da. Once done, I should be able to wrap up my project in a matter of day or two.

Fingers crossed. I shall put up the result, provided it is what I expect.

Popularity: 1% [?]

My Paranoia Self

Published on March 27, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments
I’ve always been this paranoid guy who never trusts the people he cannot see. It was the primary reason that I avoided the social networking sites and was reserved while chatting with people I hadn’t met in a long time. However, things changed the last year and I started opening up. I did the most foolish thing of publishing my contact information over online. Contact information includes my phone number and email id’s.
Due to my foolishness, some unknown person has managed to forward all his calls onto my cell phone, and now I am being annoyed by someone I do not know. Damn ! This is the second case of my foolishness, of my letting the guard down over the net. Never again shall this happen.
I have decided to once again revert back to my paranoia self – never trust a person you cannot see. I am removing all my contact information, setting up strict privacy filters and actually pruning the friend list. The whole operation might take a few days to complete as I’ll have to scan all the places where I might have left any information whatsoever. If you are a friend who knows me, then you’ll find some way of contacting me.
Phew ! Some work to do during the weekend.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Case Of The Forwarded Calls

Published on March 27, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

An interesting event occured to me yesterday. I do not know if it is the sheer genius of the other person or an honest mistake on his part. Either way, I have had to deal with an angry sales person the whole evening. The whole affair is described below.

It all started in the evening. I returned back to my room after the evening snacks. As I sat down to work, my phone rang. An unknown number – +919334461925. I pick up the phone. The conversation was in hindi.

‘ello. Who’s this?

When will you return my money?

Excuse me, but may I know who am I talking to?

******, when will you return the money you owe me !

I suppose you have dialled a wrong number. Which number do you think you have dialled?

I got a call from you on this number, asking me to recharge the number +9198——– (I do not remember the other number) for an amount of Rs 3500, with your word to repay me today. When do you intend to pay me back.

I am sorry. I repeat once again, I think you have got the wrong number. I am not the guy you are looking for.

*******. I dialled your number +919002341426. This is the number you called me with. Now ****** tell me your address so that I can set you straight.

I hang up. But immediately the phone rings again. The same number. Damn, he redialled

Hello?

******. Why did you hang up. Afraid of telling me your address are you?

So eager for a fight are you, come on. I am in RK Hall of Residence. Wanna set me straight. Come here. I shall be waiting for you at the gate.

Who the **** do you think you are.

Afraid are we now, huh?

Pay back my money and I’ll let you go.

Dial the correct number first and you’ll get what you want. My number starts with 99, not 90.

Smart chap eh? Tell me, how did you tweak the connections of your mobile phone, that I dial your number on 90 and it goes to your phone at 99.

Am I expected to laugh at your joke, because believe me, I’m not in the mood for it.

I’ll complain to the police.

I’ll thank the gods for putting some sense into you. Please go on and do so.

I just want my money.

Can you talk properly first? ‘Coz I do not see this conversation heading anywhere.

[a few minutes silence]

When will you return back my money?

As I have already told you, you have got the wrong person. I am not the guy who asked you for a recharge. Please redial and check with the right person.

How can it be? I dialled the correct number.

May be a cross connection. You might perhaps want to try after a few hours.

Or a simpler solution is for you to return my money, ******.

Mind your language.

I hang up again. He called me again and again, but I let the phone ring.That was all for yesterday. In the morning today, I got another call. A different number – +916542325507. Again the guy was asking for someone else. Something is definitely wrong, I thought. I told him the same thing, that this is a different number and hung up. But something came back to my mind immediately. I thought I had seen an arrow mark on my screen beside the number of the caller. This never showed up before. Something is definitely wrong.

I went to my neighbours room, Rohit. I asked Rohit to call up the 90 number. The call was on my mobile ! But there was no sign of the arrow mark. Was it my mind playing tricks on me? Was I imagining things? All my screen showed was Rohit Calling. Unless …

I went to Dhangi’s room. Now Dhangi is not added in my contacts list. I made him call up the 90 number. And voila ! There it was, the arrow beside Dhangi’s number. And it immediately occured to me what the whole thing was.

The other person has set up call forwarding on his mobile. Whenever you try to call the 90 number, it gets forwarded to my mobile. All the time the sales person was dialling the correct number. I did not know what to do next. Dhangi suggested I call up the Airtel customer service and tell them.

I called up the Airtel customer service at 121, but I managed to get only one reply -

I am sorry sir. We cannot help you in this matter. Airtel is a service provider. All our customers are equally important to us.

Damn it fool, even after listening to the whole story can you not think out of the box and actually do something. I know you have been taught to blurt out the same response and you are doing a pretty good job as a bot. But don’t you see there could be something fishy here. I suspect a foul play. Can you not for a change use your brains and do justice to the money Airtel pays you.

I am sorry sir. We cannot help you in this matter. Airtel is a service provider. All our customers are equally important to us.

Oh my darling, this is India. Why do they even have call centers here, I wonder. The guy on the other side would have done a better service to the nation pulling a rickshaw. And to think that the Americans outsource all their work to be done by these damned creatures.

So be it. I am going to do nothing in this affair any more. If the sales person calls up again, I’ll tell him to go to the police. Let him fight for his money. Let Airtel value their customers so much that they annoy them. If only there was a way to block out all the forwarded calls.

So ends the Case Of The Forwarded Calls. I shall post any new developments below. But I do not think there will be any.

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The Doon Experience

Published on March 9, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments
Rafting

Rafting

The latest destination was the Dehradun. Our mid-semester exams had just ended and we were eager to get away from Kharagpur. The choice was between Gangtok, Goa and Dehradun. However there were quite a few constraints and we finally decided to go with a two night three day trip to Dehradun.

The time was limited and there was a lot to visit. Amidst a packed schedule were a list of places we wanted to visit. After consulting with an aunt of mine who lives there, we settled on spending the first day in Dehradun, the next in Mussorie and the final day river rafting in Rashikesh. I shall divide my tour in three separate posts, each one covering single day. This first post is about Dehradun.

The trip started off the wrong note with us chosing the Doon Express to take us to Dehradun. It was one of the worst trains I have ever had the misfortune of travelling in. Slow as it was, all the local passengers took it upon themselves to travel in this trian without any tickets. This only meant that a hot tuesday afternoon became worse, sweaty and with no pantry car, there was no quenching of the thirst. We toiled in the afternoon heat only to be relieved after the cool breaze started in the evening. Towards the later part of the night it became colder and we had to pull up our sheets to keep us warm during the night.

Next morning I woke up early in the morning to find the train halted at the Haridwar railway station. It was chilly and we were excited to finally have gotten to a colder place than Kharagpur. The cool breeze beat across our faces and made us shiver. The train started off for the last two hours to Dehradun. Hungry from the journey, we got down quickly and headed to aunty’s house. Refreshed and enervated, we were ready to plan out the next course of action – the fun was about to begin.

Since we had only half the day to visit all the places we wanted to, we had to decide quickly on our plan. We finally decided upon visiting Robbers’ cave first, followed by Sahastradhara, and then visit the city at night by the car. Yay, thought of a special kulfi had us looking forwards to the last part of the day.

We hired an auto rikshaw to Robbers cave. Not knowing what to expect, it was a pleasant surprise for what awaited us there. An entrance to a cave with water streaming out of it. And it was no ordinary cave. Huge rocky walls lined the sides of the cave, the top being canopied by trees. Water was flowing into the cave from above along the walls and also from the inside. It was a breath-taking view of such a beautiful place. We changed into shorts, put on rubber slippers and entered the ice cold waters.

At first the water was too low to only cover the ankles. The cold was something we needed getting used to. We ventured inside the cave wondering if it was a labyrinth or something else. Labyrinth it proved out not to be, but was good enough a place to visit. Towards the end though there was a pool of water whose depth was not visible to us. We dared not enter it lest we be submerged and unable to come up again by the force of the gushing stream. We were content watching it mesmerised from a distance. A few minutes later we were able to muster enough courage to go and put one leg inside the pool, but never dared to jump into it. Probably this is where the robber hid their treasure, inside the pool, and thus the name of Robbers cave.

We left the cave an hour later to visit the next spot – Sahastradhara, which is described as the combining of countless streams of water streams into one stream. What more, apparently its spring water, making it beneficial for body if you were to care to swim in it.

After half an hours ride in the local bus we were dropped at this parched place where not a drop of water was visible. We immediately realised that it was going to be a big let down. We walked a few distance to finally come to a rope-way. Hoping to find water streams above we bought tickets for ourselves and alighted the rope-way, only to be let down again. It lead tus to no where!! We were left at this elevated platform where there was a nescafe and a shelter to sit and rest tired aching feets while enjoying a breath-taking view of the valley, or so it was supposed to be, for neither were we tired nor was there enough water in the streams to make the view spectacular.

After enquiring about this apparently famous place we were told that in our way we must have passed a temple, behind which there is a pool where all the streams meet! That was the famed place. Dejected and disappointed we visited the said spot. But even in the month of March there was hardly any water. We decided against entering the water. A few clicks and smiles later  we returned to the bus to take us back home.

In the evening we visited this temple carved into a mountainous rock. Its a shivling upon which water drops from the roof of the cave throughout the year even though it does not rain outside. We went around the cave for a few minutes but left pretty early. Later on a trip to the city main market by car and a flavour of kulfi were the last things we did in the city. Tired by the afternoons expedition, we returned home once again for dinner. A happy meal and combiflam later we were fast asleep.

On the whole it was a pleasant place to visit. Robbers cave was the high point of the day, Sahastradhara being a big let down. It was also good to get away from the scorching heat of the Kharagpur’s afternoon sun. There’s one waterfall near Dehradun that we weren’t able to visit. Something to look forwards to in the next trip.

In later posts I shall write about our outings to the Queen of Hills, Mussorie and also my first river rafting experience in the glacier waters of the Ganges.

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