Tag Archives: travel

Mood Indigo 2011

What is IIT Bombay’s Mood Indigo? Is it really as big as all the hype surrounding it? I decided to find out along with some buddies from college. This is an account of my first visit to a college fest outside my college. I feel that experiences should be big – so I decided to make it no less than the biggest college cultural fest of Asia (at that time). I had a rather interesting train journey from Bangalore to Mumbai.

Day 1 – The Panga Day

There were three of us on this trip – NPK, Ku and I. We reached Thane at 6:00 AM from where we took a local to Kanjurmarg station. Even so early in the morning, the locals were jam-packed. After a lot of roaming around in an auto (we were lost :-/), we reached our hotel. The hotel was a good 4 kms from IIT at the far side of the Powai lake. We freshened up and decided to leave the hotel as soon as possible (and find an alternate accommodation).

We reached the campus, got in (Mood Indigo Panga No. 1 – Ku’s ID panga – Ku had forgotten his college ID and they wouldn’t let him enter without it. We had to sneak in finally!), got registered (Mood Indigo Panga 2 – Ku’s MI no. panga – all participants had to register in advance and Ku didn’t have his registration number on him), had breakfast and we were good to go. What is a trip without some adventure, right?

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Trains and Nostalgia

Travelling on trains always makes me nostalgic. It’s like that reset button. Brings back perspective into life. Today I’m travelling from Chennai to Bangalore. I’ve been to Chennai Central a lot of times. The first time I was here was at the age of 10, travelling from Patna to Alleppey. I think it was Patna to Howrah, Howrah to Chennai and then Chennai to Alleppey. Knowing the delays in trains from the east and north, we’d kept a gap of around 15 hrs between trains as a buffer and still missed our train from Chennai! I remember it was the time of the Sabarimala season and our train was full of black clad, bare footed swamis. I’ve been to Sabarimala twice and it’s an amazing experience.

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Delhi in a Day

If you have one day to explore Delhi, what would you do? Explore the history of the city, visit monuments to enjoy the splendid architecture or find out places that showcase the amazing food? I would love to say – everything! But if a day is all you’ve got, you need to pick your agenda. This blog explores the historical monuments and major tourist attractions of Delhi – all covered in one day.

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A Train Journey

(The rhythmic sound of the train)

Here I was, on yet another train journey, but on a new route this time. I was on my way to Mumbai from Yeshwantpur (Bangalore). The reason for the trip – Mood Indigo at IIT Bombay (Read Mood Indigo). It was a 24 hour journey. So I pick up my Nokia 2700 and start writing. A lot of thoughts rush into my head looking at the landscape rushing by. I decide to pen them down (or in this case, type ‘em down!).

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Ranipuram & Bekal Fort, Kerala

Kerala is a really beautiful place in terms of natural beauty. You get to see pristine beaches, misty mountains, valleys, forests and backwaters – everything in that tiny strip of land along the south Indian coastline! I’m sure you’d have heard of Alappuzha, Fort Kochi and Munnar. But this time, I’m going to take you to two lesser known but beautiful places – Ranipuram and Bekal Fort in the northern district of Kasargod in Kerala.

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Hanumangundi falls, Karnataka

The first really exciting thing to happen in the fourth semester of engineering was the trip to Hanumangundi Falls. This one is in the Kudremukh region in Karnataka. It was only the first weekend back from home and I was expecting a quiet one. However it wasn’t to be.

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