Sick friend/family member...be on their side..they need it the most

To do when visiting/meeting a sick family member/friend/acquaintance.

1. As soon as you know about a friend/relative/family member/acquaintance is sick, understand, this is the time they and their family, need you the most. So, make sure to visit/meet sick acquaintances/neighbor's/friends/family members. Take pain, put in the required efforts and go out of the way to visit them. Good people around you, and saying good things about the life ahead is an all time must for the patient and his/her family. Go ahead.
   
2. If you or your family member is sick, feel free to call out to people. Tell them you need them, that this is the time, even if you haven't met/spoken to them in 10 years, it doesn't matter. All of the people feel glad you remembered them during your time of distress. 1 out of 10 might not respond, not because he/she doesn't want to, but because he/she himself/herself is in a more difficult situation. Make sure to touch base again and ask, about how is life going on for them.
   
3. When  meeting any sick friends/people, make sure you are always talking about the best of the stories, the happy stories and anecdotes that make a person think, it is possible, life is good and impossible is nothing. the patient should feel, I could do it and I will do it. Say it loudly with him while you are there with him/her.
   
4. Make sure, you meet the family of the patient as well and give them the much needed mental support at least. Tell them, you are there always and could come over for anything they need. Be ready to fulfill your commitment as soon as you get an opportunity. And make their mind as positive as possible. They are their with the patient whole day and how and what they think does matter.
   
5. If you have some hunch in mind, since you haven't spoken to someone in your life for longer than normal, make sure to call or visit at the first thought. Not everybody shares there situation, even if the times are tough for them. You need to do the needful. Go ahead, take the first step of calling up, visiting them. And don't worry, in the game of life, no marks get deducted because of the first step you took. :-)
    
6. Be happy and grateful with the life you have gotten, its not boring and normal, its a blessing that you are without any ailment, sickness that you are able to lead life normally and conduct yourself.

7. Live in today, tomorrow is not certain. Fulfill your wishes, dreams. What is today is what you have. make sure you enjoy and live life today.

8. Make a list of people you want to talk to. Take that list and pin it up your desk and tick each one, when you call them. And as # 8 says, do it today.

9. And, now that you have come back home after the visit, revisit your health insurance coverage. Make sure you have a good and solid health insurance plan for self and family, i.e., medical insurance for self and family. Buy it as early as possible in life and continue it.

What a long strange trip it has been.....LADAKH

My story about my ride to the roof of the world.

This was one long awaited trip of my life. I think if not everybody,most of the people while growing, would at least have once or more dreamt of one such trip.

Riding to Leh-Ladakh on motor bikes. Bikes........mountains.....snow all around....heaven....

This time when I was thinking of life as a passing thing, had thought of many things which can be done to rejuvenate myself. A long 10-12 days trek to explore the Himalayas on foot. A long 4 week mountaineering course in the Himalayas. A group organized trip to the Himalayas, Leh-Ladakh in SUV's , etc.

Nothing materialized for me, trekkers with whom I wanted to go, didn't want to take me along, as I had no experience. Almost 2 months ago, I was able to zero in to going to Ladakh on motor bikes. This got into my mind as Shail, my younger bro, who had now shifted to Jodhpur, had last year only bought the new cruiser in town, the Bajaj Avenger. I had ridden it, and me and my wife, both loved the ride. It was extremely comfortable for ride, is a heavy bike, at 152 kg unladen weight, the curves used to feel very smooth with a pillion as well.

So, the final decision was, that I shall be going for the the Ladakh region on the motor bike. I applied for 2 weeks leave in April itself. The leave was to be during the June'08 month.

The route to Leh region is generally closed for around 8 months. The snowing in that region is heavy and the BRO(Border Road organization) maintains the roads, clears the snow off them, opens the roads around June 1st-2nd week and maintains them upto 15th Sept.

Vital stats for the ride :

Riders
Prem Arora on Bajaj Avenger 180 cc, 2007 model from Delhi
Atul on a Honda Unicorn from Benaras
Haider on Pulsar 150 from Kanpur

Travel Duration : 14 days

Total Distance Covered : 3027 kms

Major events : One bad fall in a river near Srinagar.
: Firing near Hazratbal dargah, while we ere there

Night Halts : Hoels, tents, town houses, govt guest houses, etc.


Total Fuel expenses : Rs 3600/-

Rest all(food, hotels,bike repairs,etc) : Rs 4400/-

Trip preparation : Rs 25000/-

Trip Fun : Infinite

While you go through this, all the photographs are in small size. This is because, the first page doesn't take too long to open up. To show enjoy the photographs, you would need to click on them. Cheers...

Day 1 : Delhi - Chandigarh

Day 2 : Chandigarh - Simla

Day 3 : Simla - Bhawa Nagar

Day 4 : Bhawa Nagar - Pooh

Day 5 : Pooh - Banjar

Day 6 : Bajnar - Sissu

Day 7 : Sissu - Sarachu

Day 8 : Sarachu - Leh.

Day 9 : Thiksey, Hemis and Bike repairing

Day 10 : Leh - Mulbekh

Day 11 : Mulbekh - Sonamarg

Day 12 : Sonamarg - Batote

Day 13 : Batote - Chandigarh

Day 14 : Chandigarh - Delhi.

Proposed ride plan I to Leh - June'2008

Proposed plan to Leh II - June 2008

I was still thinking about the rest of the days...when new plans sprung up. I had time this weekend and so I thought about covering Spiti Valley as well. Atul and Haider were also thinking of covering Spiti Valley this time but told me to so on the way back and when I spent some time reading and looking at the maps and trying to create the travel itinerary, it seemed a perfect thing but the other way round, i.e., on the way to Leh and not coming back from Leh.

The spiti valley side would allow all of us to acclimatize better, as almost all the places are between 3000-3500m en route and by the time we reach Sarchu, we would be staying at 3000+ for many days. The thought looks good, on paper as well.

So here's what we have thought now :

Day 1, 14th June, Saturday : Me riding from Delhi to Chandiagrh, Atul and Haider in train, starting from Jodhpur for Kalka.

Day 2 : If the train is on time, which generally is not more than an hour late, we should be ready to go by around 10-10:30 AM from Kalka. If so, our destination for the day would Jeori. If the train gets delayed, and we are starting at 12 or 1 in the noon, then also we would plan to atleast cover till Narkanda which is around 5 hrs from Kalka.

Day 3 : If we have made it till Narkanda only, start early and go to Sangla valley, may be to the last point ahead, Chitkul villabe before border and then go towards Rekong Peo and sleep if possible in Kalpa. The Kinner Kailash manjar from there is out of the world. En route, don't forget to fill your tank at Powari, as that is the last filling station for the next 200+ kms till Kaza.

Second Take
If you somehow stay at Chitkul, stay at Raj Guest House, shouldn't be hard to find.

Day 4 : Kalpa to Tabo : Ride safe, reach Tabo, if possible, via Nako , try to stay at the Tabo Monastery.

Day 5 : Tabo, start early, go to Ki Monastery and Kibber village, high up diversion from Kaza. Then come back to main route, ride till may be Losar or so. Rest for night, tomorrow is a big day.
Second Take
Do visit Dhankar, am hearing a lot about it these days. I don't know if a short stay at Kaza would be possible or we would have to devote a complete day there, lets see how it works. Ki must, Comic, the highest inhabitation village also looks very appealing, all on this route.

Day 6 : Leave Losar, cross Kunzum La, keep your eye focused and you would see the road(so called) to Chandertal, go thru the rough terrain of 12 kms and back after having the fantastic vies of Chandertal, leave towards Gramphoo. Hope everything is fine with everyone's bike, if not we will have to go towards Manali from Gramphoo. Else keep riding towards Keylong from Gramphoo, and take the night halt on the need basis. Probably we shall be at Sissu when the day breaks.

Day 7 : Sissu to Sarchu, After Sissu, the route is already discussed below, it would remain same. We shall cover from Sissu to Sarachu, around 141 kms for the day.

Day 8 : Sarachu to Leh.

Day 9 : Rest Day at Leh, also apply for permits to visit inner line areas, well its a Sunday, so we have to see, if thats possible or not.

Day 10 : Considering, we didn't get permits on Day 9, we shall be applying for them today, also we might go to rafting on Zanskar river. I want to do III or IV rapids and not II or I.

Day 11 : Leh - Khardungla - Diskit - Hunder

Day 12 : Hunder - Panamik - Khardungla -Leh.

Day 13 : Leh - Sarachu

Day 14 : Sarachu - Manali

Day 15 , 28th June 2008, Saturday: Manali - Delhi

This leaves us with a buffer day, during the whole trip, might decide to halt at Chandigarh and come back on Sunday.

Proposed plan to Leh I - June 2008

It seems, there is a vacuum in the life, with a sense of doing nothing for long kind of feeling. This is where am trying to do something to say to my self and look up in the mirror with some pride.

Well guys, the ride of a life time is going to start on 14th June'2008 as per the plan as of now. The leaves have been sanctioned in the office and the preps have started, although a lot of prep is still remaining, but am pretty much hopeful that I shall be able to complete most of it before leaving.

This trip of a life time is a motorcycle ride to the most magnificent place on the face of earth, Leh, the capital of Ladakh region. The route to Leh is the most remarkable in the earth and has the highest roads in the world, so if everything goes fine, I shall be riding on the worlds five most highest roads.

Just for the sake of understanding, Nainital, Manali etc all are around 6200-6300 feet high above the sea level, while the roads which we are talking about here are at the height of 17000-18000+ feet from sea level, so you can understand.

The problems that happen at such height : primary one is that oxygen is less and the body requirement is not fulfilled so the body is uneasy. If you take it coll for a day or two, the body gets acclimatized to the less oxygen intake and then you would be good to go running around.
Initially, they say, if you see a fantastic cliff, stand on a mountain top and want to shout "I am the king" from there, or just want to run away for nature's call, don't do it. Shouting, running, getting excited and pretty much things you wouldn't want to do at those heights. Be it a fantastic situation or be it your motorcycle is down, keep your cool and that will see you through.

Do prepare carefully and comprehensively, this is where I am doing the same - my preparations.

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And of course these are the details of the riders...

1) Prem Arora - 34, Bajaj Avenger 180 cc, 16.5 bhp, First time hill rider from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

2) Atul Mishra - 30, Hero Honda unicorn, 150 cc, 13.5 bhp bike, had been to Leh on the same bike once in June 2007 is from Benaras(modern day Varanasi). Check his photos at http://atgemini.spaces.live.com

3) Zeeshan Haider - 30, Bajaj Pulsar , 150 cc, 14 bhp bike, had been to Leh in June 2007, is from Kanpur. Check out his photographs at http://picasaweb.google.com/haider.vogue

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So the current plan is :

	Day	Height	Place	Distance	Total
	Sat 14/6		Delhi
			Chandigarh	280	280
	Sun 15/6		Chandigarh	0
			Pinjore
			Mandi
			Kullu
		2,050	Manali	290	290
	Mon 16/6		Manali	0
			Palchan	10
		2,530	Kothi	5
		3,320	Marhi	24
		3,980	Rahtang Pass	12
		3,200	Gramphoo	11
		3,140	Khoksar	5
		3,130	Sissu	13
		3,160	Gondhala	15
		2,573	Tandi	10
		3,350	Keylong	8	113
	Tue 17/6	3,350	Keylong	0
			Gemur	18
		3,142	Jispa	7
		3,400	Darcha	7
		3,820	Patsio	14
		4,892	Baralach-La	31
		4,253	Sarachu	32	109
	Wed 18/6	4,253	Sarachu	0
			Brandy Nallah	20
		3,950	Takh	13
		5,065	Lachlung La	20
		4,630	Pang	24
		4,703	Moorey Plains	24
		4,500	Debring	30
		5,360	Tanglan-La	10
			Rumtse	32
		4,100	Gya	3
			Miru	14
		3,384	Upshi	14
			Karu	11
			Thiksey
		3,505	Leh	36	251
Rest Day- Permits, etc	Thu 19/6	3,505	Leh
	Fri 20/6	3,505	Leh
			Khardungla	40
			Diskit	38
			Hunder	8
			Sumur	40	126
	Sat 21/6		Sumur
			Hunder	40
			Diskit	8
			K-Top	38
			Leh	40
	Sun 22/6		Leh
			Chang La
			Pangong Tso	150
	Mon 23/6		Pangong Tso
			Spangmik
			Leh	150
	Tue 24/6		Rafting on Zanskar River
	Wed 25/6		Leh
			Pang
			Sarchu	251	251
	Thu 26/6		Sarchu
			Keylong
			Manali		222
	Fri 27/6		Manali
			Chandigarh		290
	Sat 28/6		Chandigarh
			Delhi		280

14th June 2008 : Delhi - Chandigarh ( 280 kms) The first day of the ride, it is still plains, so we plan to leave early in the morning and reach Chandigarh before noon, 12 O clock.

15th June 2008 : Chandigarh - Manali (290 kms) We plan to leave again early in the morning by 5 am, so that we can enjoy the landscape en route to Manali, the hills I guess start around Swarghat, and its a fantastic ride after that. If we are able to leave as per plan early, I think, we should be in Manali by 2 O clock. My heart
is to find a place for night stay outside the Manali city, towards the Rohtand pass, and if possible towards palchan or Marhi, which would cover half the distance between Manali and Rohtang pass.

16th June 2008 : Manali - Keylong (113 kms) This is wherw the real ride starts, the route, to start with where we cross the Rohtang Pass, which means , pile of dead bodies. It is something around 13,400 ft, we cross over and after feilling up at Tandi, the last petrol pump before Leh, which is still 365 km far, we take a break at Keylong, the largest town in route to Leh.
I plan to complete this Manali-Leh , 471 kms stretch in 3 days, so as to be able to enjoy the complete ride at leisure and click photos whenever I feel like. I hope, I shall be back to this region many more times in future, but none of those trips would be like this first one and so, I do not want to run hastily and cover distance just for the sake of it.
So, leisure and enjoy the beauty of the route every step is the ultimate plan.

17th June 2008 : Keylong - Sarchu (109 kms) This would again be a leisure ride , not much distance to cover, a lot of beauty to be nestled and kindled along the route for this part as well.

18th June 2008 : Sarchu - Leh ( 251 kms) This as I have heard and read is a fantastic ride. Pang, the fantastically looped Gata loops, the most exciting Moorey plains, where you feel like ripping, although it is still dangerous. Hopefully would reach Leh before the sun sets, the last 60 kms is almost plain where you can maintain 60-80 kmph.

19th June 2008 : (Rest Day, apply for permits, look for rafting tour operators) So, now living at 3500+ m, take it easily, don't rush around for anything. Take the complete day easily and only go and get the permits for Khardungla, Pangong Tso, other inner line places.

20th June 2008 :
21st June 2008 :
22nd June 2008 :
23rd June 2008 :
24th June 2008 :
25th June 2008 :
26th June 2008 :
27th June 2008 :
28th June 2008 :

Visit to 18th World Book Fair, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Well, another world book fair in Delhi, same location, Pragati Maidan. The last one we visited was last year in September, a little different one, named as Delhi Book Fair. This one, the World Book Fair is organized by the National Book Trust of India and in fact NBT organizes a lot of book fairs in India, from Goa to Jodhpur to Meghalaya and Assam, its trying to propagate the reading habit and trying to make the books available to one and all in all corners of the country.

Well, we thought, the earlier the better, so Saturday would be the first day. But as per Nannas wishes, we sailed towards the National Rail Museum on Saturday for a fantastic fun-filled day.

And so we were there at Pragati Maidan on Sunday , 3rd Feb 2008 and to our relief, it wasn't crowded at all. In any case, the book fairs are far less crowded than the Auto Fair.

Just for the stats, the Auto Fair had around 1.8 million visitors this year in Jan while this World Book Fair had less than 1.2 m. Well the numbers don't tell the whole story, this despite the fact that the ticket for book fair was just Rs 10/- each all seven days of the week, while the entry for Auto Fair was Rs 150/- for weekdays and Rs 300/- each for the weekends. Well, doesn't matter, am just trying to vent the disgrunt I have for this, as all these books available there such huge knowledge for anybody and everybody, but we are not able to understand the value of them in our lives.

So, this World Book Fair, wasn't any different from the earlier ones. This time, Russia was the Guest of Honor for this fair, so there were a lot of activities going outside hall # 7, some nukkad natak, or enacting a kids story from Russia to make people aware of the culture and life there. A drawing competition for the kids, the kids were drawing some unbelievable art and the whole wall, I think around 25-30 feet was covered with the paintings up to a height of 6 feet, so if you calculate, a lot of paintings.

So, we kept on roaming the Pragati Maidan, but Nanna was very tired, and it was tough for us to carry her and then freely browse the innumerable books there. How I wished, we had brought the stroller with us. But well, nothing can be done now. So, moving ahead, there were a few things in our list already, the first was, to buy a black board. And soon we reached there, and got a good black board, which on the other side is a white board. And it has already started coming to use at home, that I can't tell you.

Alright, there were a lot of publishers, which many of us know about. There are two which I found the most fantastic and new discovery kinds. One, Indus Publishing House, which specialises in the books of Himalayan terrain, be it the forest, wildlife, herbs and horticulture , trekking, rock climbing, natives, migrants, culture, festivals, life on mountains. It was an amazing collection they had. Earlier I already had a few books from the Outlook gallery on travel, but I think this is a class apart. Although I still have to read one from them, but the sheer collection is too good. In fact, now Outlook, has also started coming out with their own series of travel for many countries, after covering the whole of India. I also have subscribed to the "Outlook Traveler" magazine, and I like it very much, Marco is the best thing in it, if you know.
Second, was Parragon Publishing, they had some fantastic books on display, about oceans, history, science, polar regions, wildlife, Ferrari's, bikes and they were all with fantastic photographs. Something, which I highly appreciate in a book of information providing kinds, as it makes it readable for kids as well. I don't know their Indian outlet or website, but they mentioned and I have seen myself also, their books are generally available at all good book shops, Crossword, Om Books, Oxford Book Store, etc.

We got a few books from many different stalls and we are all set to go. It has been a good day, but somehow we missed the Stationery fair. We always like to go to Stationery fair, which is also on there along with the Book fair. When in US, you get good shops with everything related to stationery, and you like to go and shop there, but here its difficult to find any good stationery shop, which caters to all your requirements, so we wanted to visit it, but couldn't help. Although, I have recently heard, that Reliance has opened up a huge stationery shop in a Gurgaon mall, just like there Reliance Digital or Reliance Footprint and am looking forward to visit it soon.

I appreciate and applaud the National Book Trust for doing such good efforts.

Visit to GOONJ office

Well, its been many months, since I had been thinking of going to the Goonj office in Sarita Vihar, Delhi and so today it was
It was a perfect eye opener, the way they have been functioning and are managing the staff of more than 40 people and the values and behavior they have inculcated in them is extra-ordinary. It made me think, about the corporate trainings we go through time to time, to generate the motivation and belongingness feeling. I could feel that belongingness and motivation in the people working over there in the half hour or so, I spent over there. The guy Imran, who had shown us the work area primarily, was working overtime and that too on his own zeal to work rather than the pressure to show something. And I think the responsibility and authority he had was the primary motivations plus may be working with Anshu Gupta or being able to work at the grass root level and see the beneficiaries in front of your eyes and see and make the whole channel working in front of you in unison for this to happen are also the reasons. He is from Kashi. I was trying to understand the reason he chose this as his primary full time vocation but still am not fully satisfied.
But along with them, I intend to understand their modus operandi of choosing the local NGOs and sending the truck load full of material to them, then to another one, then look forward for reviews of their work. Hope am not being cynical, but still its a mammoth task to do. They have grown and are now sending a truck load full of material almost every 4-5 days, that makes it approx 90-100 truck loads in an year. I wish to be associated and be visiting villages and see/meet the beneficiaries in future.

And I must say, in their own manner, Goonj is working in the most professional and organized manner that is possible and in the most dignified manner for all the employees there. They have slowly expanded the work areas while there office is still situated in Sarita Vihar for people to see who are visiting.

Hopefully, I shall be paying more visits to their office and would make these visits more worthwile for them in the coming times.

Earlier in my carrier, I was associated with "World Vision India" (PartnerID- 1020731) and was sending them regular monthly payments. But later, I felt a need to be associated directly and see whats happening or if its happening the right way or not and since have stopped those monthly contributions.
Later I was also associated with a small team working on the education for poor children in Ghaziabad and Noida, and that was the best grass root level work I had witnessed till date. Going in the slums or labour colonies, watching the kids study in the rugged platform or dingy abandoned building floors, but they definitely looked happy. And you know what, those slums or the make shift labour colony, whatever you say, would generally have a small jhuggi, which acted as a cinema hall, where some enterprising guy would show movies through VCR/VCD on a TV, and the people used to spend money on that. But when they were asked to shell out Rs 20/- only for their children education for a month, they had many problems & excuses. So, it was both, non-willingness and attitude problem I guess.

But I sincerely appreciate, what they were doing without any help, almost independently. They had hired teachers at some places, erected shelters for schools and at a couple of places in Noida, they were helping and working in unison with the Govt schools. I had also sent them monthly contributions. But later when I stopped, I guess a year ago, I am not doing anything at all, and thats pinching me. Am forgetting the name of this institution, shall post it when I recall.