Lahul an Spiti

So i've pretty much slowed down my travels. I'm in Patna right now (where they have ESPN!) but I head of to Bombay on a 36 hour train ride...no don't say "ouch"...I get to see the Indian country side, which is so different in different parts of the country.

Anyways, sometime back I told you about Matty, from Canbera. Well, he's now in the Lahul and Spiti valley in Eastern Himachal, and some of the pics he's taken are awesome. I feel I should have gone there instead...check it out...

http://mattythej.blogspot.com/2006/06/spiti-valley.html

Who's Going to be the New Sect-Gen

Kofi Annan is due to complete his term at the Sect Gen of the UN at the end of this year, and candidates have already thrown their hat in the ring. The latest is India's own, Shashi Tharoor. At the moment, he's the Undersecretary for Communications and Public Information.

Along with Tharoor, are other more favored candidates from Thailand, South Korea, and Sri Lanka. Then theres Pakistan. Cos India now has a candidate, there are reports (and don't laugh!) Pervez himself may throw his hat in the ring.

A more realistic occurance, which has been widely reported in the local media here, is Pakistan influencing China to vote against any Indian candidate (permanent members make a final selction - complete with veto powers and everything - which is then put to the General Assembly). To this Tharoor has said, in his upper class Anglo accent, that China has a "sophisticated" view of the world and will not be influenced by other nations. Nice one.

What are his chances? Tharoor is widely regarded as an insider, someone who knows the UN system. He's worked under and is quite close to Anaan which many analysts regard as a negative.

Anyways, here's a couple of links about other possible candidates, by the UN, who also catagorise the potentials in terms of "The Candidates", "Serious Speculation", "Others Suggested", "Politically Remote" and "Populist Longshots"...
http://www.unsg.org/candidates.html

And Shashi Tharoors personal site...
http://www.shashitharoor.com

We're through!

Actually I was expecting we'd get through :p, so this was really no surprise!!!

Varanasi is on some anti-ESPN thing, so I didn't actually see the game...so, thanks heaps to Rahul and Jigglypuff for sending me msg's with updates of the score, and in the case of Rahul, even commentary complete with expletives...made me feel like I was actually at the game!

Expressions of the Tiranga III

Randoms...

Played around with my cam, and finally cameup with one "these" pics...15sec exposure and an ISO of 50. There was also a blackout which really helped!

And with the last pic...yeah, flygirl, thats a barbed wire...i thought it was harder to guess!

And finally, my bit on the World Cup...watched the Aus-Japan game from Aus Consulate in New Delhi (which incidentally, is right opposite big brother, the US) with a bunch of 15-20 expats, complete with VB's, short, and thongs...btw, love this from flygirl...Go you good thing!!!

Taj Mahal

So I wanted to show some pics of the Taj you may not normally see, so heres a take of a few...

A silloutette from a roof top restaurant...


From behind the Taj, just before the banks of the Yamuna...

Ok, this more ordinary, but yeah, its the Taj...

Bet you haven't seen one with a particularly grizzly looking Me...

Taj Blue...

Post script: its really quite easy to just see the entire monument through the lens or screen of a camera, and I almost did that. I had to literally say to myself, "stop, and look!" and when you do, the wonderment which washes over you is quite amazing. You stop look, turn around, and then trun back, just to make sure its really there!

That said, I also felt that this was such a unique opportunity that I didn't want to miss out on anything, and kept racking my brains for any other picture opportunities. And so tom, I hope to be there for sunrise...

Don't mean to boast...

...but this time tom, i'll be standing in front of the Taj...for the 4th time!

Space Filler V

What is this?

Whats been happening...

So, as you all may have guessed by now, I'm quite far from the foothills of Himalayas...for the past couple of weeks, I've been to a Chyk Camp at Sidhbari, which took me to the Rotang Pass (at almost 4000m above) and then white water rafting ont he Beas River. I was then fortunate enough to bike it (not riding, but sitting on the back) back to Sidhbari.

I then went to Delhi and then to Dubai and Muscat (we used to live in Muscat back in the 80's) and am now back in Delhi. From here I'm off to Agra, and generally speaking, will follow the Ganga and sneak in a trip to part of the North East: Gangtok. Then to Konark, Puri, Hyderabad (Prassanna, I think i'll be there by the 5th or 6th of July) Thirupati, Pune, Bombay and then Bangalore...

So the end is in sight, i'm on the home stretch, the fat ladies warming up her vocal cords...call it what you like...

I have to admit I have quite a few pics and laziness is the primary factor preventing me from sorting and uploading.

Arun, to answer your query, I passed through Tehri but did not get a glimpse of the dam. Prasanna your ans is above.

Rishikesh

So finally to Rishikesh...i feel these are some of my best pics of the trip so far, so i hope you enjoy them....

Ram Jhula, or Sivananda Juhla..

The eastern side of Rishikesh just after sunset...look at this pic full size and check out the guy having a dip in the Ganga, bottom left of pic...

Again, from Swarg Ashram side...the lanes are very commercialised...surfed the net on flat panel monitors, had lunch at a nice Italian joint, and afternoon tea at a German bakery...

...but just when you think its all lost you come across this...

And so to the sound bite of the year! Hrishikesh in Rishikesh! For those of you who don't know me well, Hrishi is my version of Hrishikesh, especially after the horrified looks on the faces of my school teachers back in Aus, on the first day of years 2, 3, 4, and 5...imagine 10 letters staring you in the face and you don't know where to begin...

And so if i'm not mistaken this is how to write Rishikesh in Hindi...

Btw

Shout out to Som and CK who headed of to London via the US, for a couple of years, maybe more - they decide the game plan when they get there. I envy what you guys are doing and hopefully some day I will be able to emulate your feat...

So good luck, God speed, and we will have much to talk about when we next meet...

Uttarkashi

So next was Uttarkashi after Gangotri...not much to see as such, but I stayed in the CM ashram there, and this was the view from my room...over two days I saw the mountains various moods...


No, this ain't the same Morning Star pic as before...just have thing for em...

Gangotri to Rishikesh

Even if you don't believe in the Ganga or are a pure atheist, I can guarantee you'll fall in love with nature after this drive between Rishikesh and Gangotri.

Next time, I want a car (these were mostly taken from the front seat of a share jeep, meaning there were two other ppl between the driver and I), and want to be there at dusk...the colours and scenery would be stunning!