There has been activity galore in the last ten days. While the Goa plan could not materialise yet another time, I did check two other trips that were pending.
Mother had been wanting to go to Chintpurni, HP since last summer. We finally managed to go there during the 19-20 November weekend. The highlight was the fact that Dad agreed to come along. I don’t remember the last time the entire family took a trip together. So, Mom, Dad, Bhai, the bhabhi, and me started by taking a long walk towards the Amritsar Shatabdi on 19th morning. As always, I was excited to get on to a train. But after having travelled by the Bhopal Shatabdi earlier this year, I was disappointed to see the uncomfortable seats and the badly maintained coaches. Maybe it was just an old coach of an old train, but I liked the Bhopal Shatabdi more. Nevertheless, the view of foggy mustard fields into Punjab made up for it all.
We took the train till Ludhiana, and then took a cab up to the hills. Highlights:
- Lunch at Baabe da Vaishno Dhaba by the state highway in Hoshiarpur was to die for!
- I saw the process of making jaggery at a small setup in the fields near the dhaba, and the smell & taste of the freshly made sugar was absolutely delicious.
- Our driver, Amandeep was hard of hearing and did not use his rear view mirror for driving. I think the gods did know that we were making the trip only for them.
- Evening is a good time to visit Chintpurni. At least you can breathe. Things were bad when I visited in the morning in 2006.
- The HP Tourism hotel at Jwala Ji is decent to live in, but wouldn’t recommend eating there. Their kitchen sucks.
- The evening aarti at Jwala Ji, on cold nights, is heart warming.
- Matar kulcha on the road outside Jwala Ji is also worth a try.
A goof-up on Sunday night led to a long, unwanted drive from Ludhiana to Delhi, but I did enjoy the little chill in the air and oh-so-amazing paranthas at Sukhdev’s in Murthal!
Some mobile uploads:
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| Processing sugarcane juice |
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| Drying jaggery |
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| Sadda Punjab 😛 |
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| Mother and Sis-in-Law |
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| A flat tyre in the middle of nowhere |
I had to rush to work as soon as we got home. And I worked, fell ill, and attended several meetings until Friday evening arrived and I rushed to pack again for the next trip.
Fuchsia 
:))abb kithey???
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Your post made me smile on a grumpy Tuesday morning.P.S. I see Fuchsia has been redone. Like!
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Swati,:D 😀 I'd gone to Bombay. Next post soooon! :)Shreya,:) I am glad it did! Thanks for the 'like'. Had done it on one of those boring weekends when I did not have anything else to do.
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