Aagra

Being in love for so long, and not visiting the symbol of love, even when it is very close to you, would have been injustice to the life. Aagra was just 6 hours journey from Kanpur via rail. So one day I just decided that I will go there. The thought came in the afternoon and we left for Aagra in the night, on the same day.


We reached there around 7 clock. It was extremely cold out there, but we were prepared for it. I made a big mistake by taking a cycle rickshaw from railway station to Taj Mahal. Since it was open, we went shivering all along. By the time we reached Taj Mahal, sun rays started reaching us. The Taj Mahal looked beautiful from outside. The marble surface was shining like anything and looked very white against the blue sky.





We decided to hire a guide from the beginning itself. Guide could tell us many interesting things which would be difficult to understand or even observe by ourselves. There was one more benefit of taking the guide along, he could take as many pictures of you as you wanted. He did also tell us which are the top poses for photography. We roamed around for about 2 hours. By that time, the marble started getting hot. It became difficult to walk on the floor.


We left Taj and decided to see some other famous forts. We could finish everything in just few hours. So we returned back to Taj and sat there for few hours. In the evening, we left for railway station. Our ticket was not confirmed. We were walking on the road. After 6 o' clock I couldn't find the autos easily. The street lights were not working and it was dark everywhere. I was wondering, is this how we are managing a place where one of the seven wonders is located?


On the railway station, people were fighting. The station master slapped a guy! The entire scene was scary. We went to the station master's room and asked him to check if the ticket was confirmed. He looked through the register and said, NO. Wait, he said. I can confirm it, but then you will have to pay 600 Rs. I knew it was too high, but then I had no choice. After coming out, a foreigner couple came to us asking for the place where they can find out if their waiting is cleared. They were scared to go to the room pointed by me, because the station master was fighting and shouting. We offered that we could come along and help them. We went along with them and then got the ticket confirmed by bribing the station master or whatever he was. They spoke to us for an hour or so and then we went into our compartments ones the train arrived.


My recommendation: Do not take the risk of going to Aagra if you don't have confirmed tickets. It could be a horrible experience. Do go there, at least ones, to see the beauty of Tajmahal. 

Sun Temple, Modhera

I always choose what I should do on the weekends. However, this time I decided I will do something chosen by others. The element of surprise will add at least some spices to life which has otherwise become so monotonous. I asked for Megha’s opinion and she said Sun Temple of Modhera. Sun temple it was. 


The sun temple of Modhera was around 90 Kms from Gandhinagar. We left very late, around 2:00 pm, and boarded on a state government bus to Mehsana. We reached around 3:00 pm and enquired about bus to Modhera Sun Temple. The man at the enquiry counter babbled something, of which I could only understand 5:30 pm. I asked for the last bus to Gandhinagar and he said 7:00 pm. I was surprised that how could the last bus be leaving so early, i.e., at 7:00 pm. There are so many people traveling between these two cities every day and, I wondered, how come the transportation is so poor.  However it was not possible to manage to visit Sun temple between 5:30 to 7:00 PM, as people said it takes almost 1 hour to reach there. We got little depressed, mainly for the reason that even after coming so far we won’t be able to see sun temple. We went out of bus stand and asked some auto rickshaws about travel time and fare. One guy said Rs. 250 for to and fro and it will take only 30 to 40 minutes. I liked the deal and we immediately hired that auto. The road to sun temple was very pleasant and was surrounded by greenery on both the sides. While traveling, I was thinking about my life and was comparing it with other people. I was thinking that millions of people are out there who have got some or the other talent, but I have none. I never worked on cultivating a talent. I was asking a question to myself why I do not have any talent. The answer which I got made my journey a success. I learnt something very important that day. I realized that:

I have never lived for learning, but I have only been learning what is required to live happily.

That made many things clear to me. This made me happy even before reaching sun temple. We reached in 50 minutes to sun temple. 

The temple did not have any idol, it was just a structure of stones on which lot of carving was done. I have never been able to appreciate the fine work done on the stones, but I could appreciate the beauty of the structure as a whole. 

Surya kund, facing the temple

The journey took us total 7 hours, out of which we could spend only one hour in the sun temple of Modhera, and rest all went into traveling. 

Vienna, Austria

Vienna is considered as one of the world's best cities when it comes to the quality of life. I didn't know this when I was traveling to Vienna in the September of 2010. I took a flight from Mumbai to Zurich and then changed flight on Zurich airport. I was warned by my friends to not stop by any shop to explore anything, because the time available for transit is very limited. I realized it when I continued walking for about 45 minutes to get to another terminal. 

Vienna airport is a small airport. However, I couldn't find one of the baggage on the conveyor. After talking to the concerned man, I found that my luggage had been put on some other flight and they will return in on the mentioned address by tomorrow. The road to city was very beautiful and it took almost an hour to reach to the city. The city was beautiful, I think mainly because of its architecture and a river running though the center of the city. 

Road to Bulgarian Embassy in Vienna (L), Donna Centrum (R) Not sure abt the right one (Photography by Gaurav Shrishrimal)

We had rented a studio apartment at Karmeliter Gasse. The street, though narrow, looked very posh and beautiful. There were cigarette buds everywhere on the street, but still the roads looked better than Indian roads. 

I freshened up and went to office along with one colleague who was already staying at the guest house. We took the train this time. People seemed to be very courteous and organized. It was a pleasant experience traveling in those trains. 

The office was located at the center of the city, most importantly, opp. to International Atomic Energy Agency. I never thought that I will get an opportunity to be there, but my friend arranged for the visit and we went inside IAEA and had meetings with few people.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

PMD office

The office was small but was good enough for 4 people. The office building was called TechGate Vienna. There were few nice restaurant bakeries around the place. We did go to most of them during my stay. One thing that I always wondered was, why they never heat sandwiches or burgers or anything. They use to take it out from the freeze and serve as it is.

In the evening, we went to the market. There were people in different costumes, singing, dancing, showing magic tricks. Street was crowded with people, restaurants were full. It seemed people were really enjoying their life. 

No one worked late in the evenings, even grocery stores would close by 6:00 PM.

The best part of the Vienna visit was Prater. There were some amazing rides at Prater which took my breath away. And I would have definitely missed one of the best rides if I wouldn't have dared to get on this one at Prater, Vienna.

WonderLa

Ride 1

WonderLa situated at the outskirts of Bangalore, near Bidadi Industrial area, is an amusement park. 


How did we reach?
It took us almost 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach from Majestic, the main bus stand, to the amusement park. We could get a direct bus from Terminal 22 and had to get down at a distance of about 3-4 kilometers from the Wonderla gate. From there we took an auto which was the only mistake I made, because there is free pickup and drop facility to and from wonderla gate to the place where you get down from bus.


Tickets
The price of the ticket was about 700 Rs. and are different for weekdays, weekends and holidays. These prices are given on wonderla's website.


Riding Experience

Ride 2

We planned to start with dry rides, but got little depressed when saw the long queues. The first ride (ride 1) took us almost 40 minutes. We were little annoyed in the beginning, but ones we took the ride we realized that it was worth it. We rushed to another ride (Ride 2) which was nearby as we realized that everyone was running to that ride only. After standing there for 20 minutes, we found that it will not operated for sometime due to maintenance activity. We were really keen to get on that as it looked different from other rides in a manner that it was rotating slowly at its axis when compared to other rides which were moving at a faster pace and the rock music was being played in the background.


There were 1 or 2 other rides which were under maintenance. You can't do anything about it and that's what I didn't like. I was feeling cheated as I had paid 700 Rs. per person and many of the rides were not working. This should have been told at the ticket window itself. The dry rides were almost alike and had the same experience. 

Ride 3

Wet rides were more fun when compared to dry ones. The vertical ride, Boomerang and the one shown as Ride 3 were kind of real adventure. In ride 3, you lie down with your face looking down the slope and need to cross three bumpers with your bodies inertia. People who were thin were getting stuck in the middle and had to get up and cross the peak and lie down again. Sourabh, my younger brother had to do this 3 times. The instructors were not allowing people with weight less than 60 Kg to take this ride.


The vertical ride was as if you are jumping off the cliff. It was literally vertical. I didn't dare take that one, but when I saw my wife, Megha, enjoying that ride, I too tried it. I would have really missed the best part of wonderla by not taking this one. 

Ride 4

There were 2-3 water/wave pools which had water buckets (as shown in ride 4) hanging from a lean pipe. Ones the bucket gets filled up it turns upside down and floods water on you. On a hot day, this is a wonderful experience and will definitely send chills through your spine. We actually started with the ride 4 wave pool and the small slide shown in it and went through intermediate ones to the all crazy ones.


Returning back to the city was a bit tricky part. We missed a bus and were directed by someone to take a walk rather than taking an Auto. We walked for almost 30 minutes, but didn't find a single bus passing by. We had to finally take an auto and reach to the main highway. From main highway there were frequent buses to Kinneri and the connecting buses from Kinneri to city were also easily available. 

Ride 5

We missed one big ride, but I am sure we would have missed many other rides if we had taken ride 5. 


I would describe the overall wonderla experience as very adventurous, enjoyable with many heart throbbing moments. 


I must appreciate that though people were coming in huge numbers, the place was very clean and well maintained. You can definitely spend some quality time here, either with your family or friends.