Subi Travels!

January 2021, Waiting on the overhead bridge in Katra Railway station for the covid-19 diagnostic test to be taken, my thoughts drifted back to New year’s eve when I planned to go on a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu. The weather was harsh and cold which is usual for winters in Delhi. Ensconced in my comforter quilt, I placed my ice cold laptop on my lap and started browsing to plan my travel. It seemed that it was a climb that might take a whole day to reach the shrine. The temple is located at a height of 11,750 ft above sea level. Overwhelmed with the fear of accomplishing such a feat within a day, I researched further to find that people take at least seven to ten hours to reach the temple. The weather conditions were not supportive either. Eventually, the plan in hand was to climb up and down on the same day as the night stay near the temple became impossible with no vacant rooms available. What made me decide to go on this trip is something I will never know. On a whim

Haridwar is one of the very first places where the River Ganges emerges from mountains to touch the plains. Accessible from any part of India, Haridwar is located close to Dehradun and it mostly consists of highlands suitable for rivers to flow south. Haridwar is well-connected by roads and railways. The famous Shatabdi Express is available from Delhi (capital of India) to Haridwar. Travelling in Shatabdi Express to Haridwar, one can get a gorgeous view of the pastoral lands and terrains throughout the journey. On reaching Haridwar, you will be welcomed by the auto-rickshaw drivers, taxi-drivers and cycle-rickshaw drivers, who will badger you in the process of trying to offer a ride. Succumbing to their constant bugging, you can take a ride on any of those vehicles available. Mostly all the aforementioned vehicles are available for affordable prices, provided you need not travel long distances. Penetrating through the busy roads of Haridwar- which is filled with noises of life and unbe

Getting itchy feet has become common given the circumstances in 2020, the annus horribilis. Amidst the prevailing COVID 19 pandemic across the world and the resulting lockdown, the possibility of travelling has been bleak for the past few months. However, since June, the doors have been opening for places like Karnataka and other south indian states for tourism. To the relief of explorers like myself, the reopening of tourist spots nudged me to test waters. Alas, it was not the moment to explorer-flex as it was not merely me who was stuck at home in the lockdown period. My family was eager enough to escape the tormenting lockdown period by taking a weekend trip (at the least). After maintaining a stiff-neck and engaging in altercations and skirmishes, I decided to make it a family-trip and  brought out my atrophied travel planning skills into action and began planning the most-awaited weekend trip of the year.  Planning a weekend trip with your family is not an easy task. A family is a

December 2019, New Delhi Lately, my tours have all been about seeking peace and silence. I knew Jaipur was going to be just that. Or, all that i expected from Jaipur was that. With my grandfather passing away, a peaceful trip was exactly what i needed to get over the prevailing sadness. I thought it might help Amma as well. After all, we never forget things, we only distract ourselves from remembering them.   When my family decided to move to Delhi, we were more excited about the tours we could go from Delhi to the places in North India (which can be too expensive to plan when in Tamil Nadu) rather than being excited about moving to Delhi. And sticking to her word, Amma took us to places in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, (thanks to Shatabdi Express of Indian railways). This time we wanted to explore a little to the west of India and Jaipur was our first choice. Planning the trip: I took the burden of planning the trip this time and I started preparing the i

May 2017, Chennai   CHECKLISTS Readers, almost all of us have attended college and all of us have our own group of like-minded people who we categorize into hierarchy of friendship ranging from mutual friend to best friend. Simply, we all belong to a gang in college. The most common tradition of a gang is to keep a checklist of things that needs to be accomplished by them together before the end of their college life. And the most important of all the things in the checklist is to go on a trip with your friends. The friends’ trip is the perfect way to get to know your friends better, to have absolute fun and to be yourself. It is the rarest of occasions if all the stars align to give you the perfect plan for a trip with your friends at the right time, to the right place, that suits your budget and your friends are all available. This is when you should seize your opportunity. In May 2017, I was able to seize the opportunity to go on a tour to Kerala with my frie