Hum saath saath hain..

Teamwork pays..at office and at home!! :-)

Glimpses of Darjeeling

The outskirts of Darjeeling is pretty nice filled with rows and rows of tea gardens. Feels very calm. Wish the same can be said about the city. Lots of litter and chaos everywhere. Roads to get to the city are also not that great.

The bright and not-so-bright spots:
-- Tiger hill view point - Where you get to see a magnificent view of Mt.Kanchenjunga and the entire Eastern Himalayan Range, also Mt.Everest, at sunrise. It does come at a cost though - waking up at 4.15 and enduring the cold. Unluckily, there was mist covering the entire place and we could barely see 10ft ahead of us! To catch a glimpse of the mountain range, best time is after October.

-- Ghoom monastery - well.. i do have a soft-corner for monasteries, so it will be on my must-watch/best enjoyed list any day (yeah..even at 5.30 am!) The rows of hawkers trying to sell their merchandise around the place was not impressive (you would probably find them around all popular tourist centers)


-- Himalayan Mountaineering Institute - One word: Awesome!!! and that also would be an understatement. A visit to this place is a must and is truly a very humbling experience. The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological park, near this Institute, can be avoided.


-- Japanese Peace Pagoda - Pleasing. The temple's architecture, prayers, instruments (for the lack of a better word) used are quite unique.

-- Tibetian Self-help Center - Nothing much to see except a museum which contains some nice facts about Tibet's rulers and their family; a shop with tibetian clothes, paintings, purses, bags etc. The handloom center was nice, with weaving machines and women actually knitting!




-- Ava art gallery - Quite nondescript gallery of paintings by the late Ava Devi. But after the initial resistance, once you enter the place, its a world of its own! Mind-blowing paintings ( very different styles) and the human profile pictures are just too good.

-- Bhatasia loop - A train track or loop surrounding a War memorial. Best avoided if the crowd is too much. Add to that, the hawkers comfortably settled on the loop itself. Very chaotic.

More snaps:

Khil rahi hai kali kali..

Woh bheege pal

Ta ra ra ra rum..ta ra rum pum..

This song is from the movie 'Ta ra rum pum'. One of the many motivational, never-give-up kinda songs. Shreya Ghoshal's soothing voice. Simple lyrics. Easy on the ears. Gets me going when I feel dull.

Listen to the song here: Ta ra ra ra rum
One peice of advice, if you have not watched this song already, then please refrain from doing so! It sucks bigtime.

Music: Vishal-Shekhar, Lyrics - Jaaved Akhtar

Lyrics:
-------
Ho agar kabhi koi gham to bilkul na tum ghabraana
ta ra ra ra rum.. ta ra rum pum..
Bas rahe yakeen yeh tumko khushiyon ko to hain aana
ta ra ra ra rum.. ta ra rum pum..
raat hain to savera bhi hoga
hain safar toh basera bhi hoga
gham ke aage muskuraake gaaye hum
ta ra ra ra rum.. ta ra rum pum..

Zindagi mein koi bhi kami ho
Palkon pe jo zara bhi nami ho
aansu na bahana tum dukh na uTaana tum
haar na jaana duniya se...
Darna kabhi na tum rehna na gumsum
haske bataana duniya se..
aayenge phir se din khushiyon ke badlega yeh mausam
ta ra ra ra rum.. ta ra rum pum..

koi aandhi jo aaye to aaye
dil mein hain jo diya bhuj na paaye
kaali kaali raatein ho chaahein jaisi baatein ho
humko hain chalte rehna
jo bhi aaye mushkil Dare nahi kabhi dil
apna to hain yeh kehna
lamhe bhar ko chaayi ghaTa to dhoop na ho maddham
ta ra ra ra rum.. ta ra rum pum..

Survival

This is one end of the Rebdantse (ancient capital of Sikkim) ruins. The walk to this place is very nice and the entire area is neat and well-maintained.