Awesome Himachal

We had planned for a 10 trip day to lahual-spiti starting from chandigarh. The original Itinerary was: Day 1: Chandigarh to Ramgarh (stay at circuit house)
Day 2: Rampur to Sangla Valley (stay at PWD guest house)
Day 3: Sangla to Pooh(stay at PWD guest house)
Day 4: Pooh to Sumdoh(stay at Army guest rooms)
Day 5: Sumdoh to Tabo(stay at PWD guest house)
Day 6: Tabo to Kaza(stay at new Circuit House)
Day 7-8: Kaza to Spiti (stay at HPTDC hotel at Spiti)
Day 9-10: Spiti to Manali (stay at Manali resort)
This is a very famous route which has amazing natural beauty and color of mountain ranges changes after every 100 km. Total circuit is about 900 km from chandigarh. We planned this trip in end July. Normally it does not rain in Kinnour and Spiti during this time but this year weather gods had something else in mind. We went as per the plan till Pooh. But the Maling nala ahead of Nako was overflowing and was blocked. We waited there for one more day. It was raining. We got a news that Maling has been opened for traffic. We started for Sumdoh. The surroundings were amazing and we crossed the merging point of Spiti ans Sutluj. We went ahead till village called Ka and found that a waterfall(very common sight) had washed away the road(NH 22 :P ). we tried to make the road stable by putting stones but then decided to abide by nature's call. We decided to approach Spiti from Manali. We started to move back on NH22 to Sainj which had a connecting road to NH21 to Manali. Enroute we stopped at Rekong Peo and stayed a circuit house Kalpa. Kalpa is another very scenic place with a view of Kinnar Kialash.
Next, we started for Manali but could only move till shoja becuase of rain ....very bad roads...and trafic jams...We crossed Jalori pass in route. Jalori pass had undoubtedly the best natural beauty on the route. Next day we came back to Jalori pass and trekked to Jalori nature camp which is abt 750 mtrs from Jalori pass. Later in day we reached Manali and River Beas looked very calm as compared to ferocious Satluj. Manali was a disappointment as the town has been commercialized big time. Met Govinda and his 19 yr pld heroine at Manali Resorts where we were staying. Next two days we spent in Manali roaming on 'The Mall' and waiting for Rotang pass to open. Rohtang didnt open and cloud brusted in Leh causing flash floods. We took a wise decision to cut short our trip and return to Chandigarh. The scenic beauty was a treat for eyes and we intend to do this route again next year because we missed Pin Valley and Chandratal in Spiti valley.... People with weak heart must not try this route as roads are real bad....good things are hard to get holds good in this case ;)

Indo - US nuclear deal... deal or no deal

Almost everybody who is sensible enough to understand a little about Indian economy would be able to apprehend from recent rise in fuel prices that demand of all sources of energy is rising across the globe. Needless to mention that India's capability to consume fuel is much more than its capability to produce. Everybody is talking about alternate sources of energy and the irony is that India's initiative on nuclear energy deal with US is sinking. Its really unfortunate that political egoes have been exposed and there seems to be no meeting groung between the two major allies of govt. I would like Congress to take a stand and risk the govt for the interest of the nation. If this happens the congress will generate so much of confidence in the country that it's chances of emerging as single largest party in early elections will be very bright....

Arushi.. who killed her

Who killed Arushi? thats the question which is haunting every Indian today. Whoever killed Arushi, i just hope its not her father or mother who is involved in it. If they even have knowledge of how it happened it'll be inhuman and another taint on human race... a carnivore will never ever kill its child even if its dieing of hunger! Whatever motive media or UP police is quoting are in my view too little for a father to get involved in killing of her own daughter and remain absolutely calm after that. Atleast i hope that Dr and Mrs Talwar have nothing to do with it as parent ward relationships will change across the country.

Young Indian Brigade

MS Dhoni and co. seem to have gained a lot from IPL. Young regional players rose up the level of international cricket during IPL and the quality and quantity of bench strength has improved considerably. Players like Manpreet Gony, Yusuf Pathan, Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel, Andoskar and Abhishek Nayyer have made their presence felt. Existing players like Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Balaji, Sehwag, Gambhir, Piyush Chawla and Ishant have also matured as they played roles of senior players in repective teams of IPL. The team now appears to be so well balanced with explosive batsmen like Yusuf, Sehwag, Gambhir , Raina, Yuvi and Sharma out of which four are useful part time bolwers. MS being the pillar and Patel as stand by having fire power of Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan and likes of Ajit Agarkar, Balaji, Gony and Zaheer Khan raring to make into final eleven. IPL has done a lot of good to cricket in India which was evident from 140 run thrashing to Pakis and i hope good show continues...

Why can't Afzal be hanged?

The man who was the master mind behind the attack on Indian Parliament ..in other words he put the entire nation to shame. The judiciary did thier bit and convicted him. Where is the delay? Afzal has now challeged the govt by by saying only Advani can hang him. What is govt fearing? Loosing minority votes or making an impression on janta that NDA is a strong govt. The option two would go a long way to send message across to oppsition and all others speculating.