August 2008, Dehradun.

As our plans to visit Mussoorie kept getting put off day after day due to the weather we decided to explore Dehradun. We walked around the center of the city for a while and suddenly found ourself wanting a drink. After talking to a local we were pointed to a pub, a part of which you see in the above photo. Apparently, this was one of only two pubs in town (we ended up going to the second one as well later).

(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)

August 2008, Dehradun.

Another one from FRI. As we came earlier than planned to Dehradun we had a lot of time on our hands. So we decided to visit Mussoorie, a popular hillstation about an hour and a half away by bus. But the weather as usual was bad. It was raining almost every day and therefore we cooled our heels in the IMA guest house watching the Beijing Olympics and cheering the few Indians who performed well there.

(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)

August 2008, Dehradun.

Upon reaching Dehradun on Independence Day, through my brother’s help (he is in the Indian army), we managed to find accommodation in the impressive Indian Military Academy (IMA) which is an elite military training college that trains officers for the Indian army as well as some officers from ‘friendly’ nations. IMA has been functioning since the days of the Raj and so still retains some traditions from that era. Eating in the Officer’s Mess is quite an experience with stuffed Ibis heads and Tiger skins staring back at you (in fact I had to puchase a set of formal clothes just for eating in the mess as entry into it is not possible while dressed casually).

Unfortunately, photography is not permitted on the IMA campus due to security reasons. But right next door to the IMA is the FRI (Forest Research Institute), another impressive building from the Raj era. As can be seen above it is a mix of a different architectural styles and the whole complex is nicely framed by the mountains behind it.

(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)

August 2008, Somewhere between Uttarkashi and Rishikesh.

Sorry for the lack of updates for a long time to the mini-travelogue but there has been no net access at home over a bill dispute with my ISP and to add to my run of bad luck my Mac also crashed! Regular updates should start pretty soon. And now going back to the travelogue…

We left Uttarkashi late afternoon for Rishikesh in a shared taxi. This was not a good idea as ver few travel across the mountains in the night. And this would be an eight hour drive at that. But staying back meant wasting another day so we decided to take the risk. The initial half of the ride was uneventful if a little exciting driving along ghat roads around and across mountains, the complete darkness in front of us only illuminated by the lonely beams of our taxi. Just when I was beginning to nod off we blew a tyre at the halfway stage. It was around 9pm, which is pretty late in the mountains.

Fortunately, this happened as we were passing through a small town and even more fortunately we found a shop that fixed tyres close by. It was closed though and the guy who owned the shop, who was talking to his friends nearby, was not too enthusiastic about reopening his shop in the night. But his resistance crumbled before the pleas of my fellow passengers and he got to work as can be seen in the photo above. Tyre fixed we resumed our journey and reached Rishikesh late in the night. We crashed in a hotel for the night and decided to head for Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, the next day.

(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)

The nuclear deal refuses to go off the news. Just when India thought that two of the three key hurdles – defense of the deal in the Indian Parliament, a clean waiver from NSG, and ratification of the deal by the US congress – had been accomplished, came word about the White house letter to a Congressional committee in Jan 2008, and Bush’s covering letter referring the deal for ratification to the Congress. The Bush letter shows, irrespective of its content, the extent to which the US government has gone to get the deal approved, as did the Indian government on its end. Why such hardsell? because the nuclear deal isnt about nuclear fuel supply etc anyways. Given that nuclear non-proliferation has been the biggest irritant in Indo-US ties since the 1990s, this deal was about removing the roadblock to building a strategic partnership with US. The Indian communists were right in what they say the deal entailed. They were wrong in opposing it. Because it’s time india moved out of shadows of the Cold War and took an interests-based approach to foreign policy rather than an ideology-based one.

Having said that, we cannot ignore the Bush letter’s content altogether. After the letter was revealed, people wondered if India had been naive in expecting the US to honor the 123 agreement’s guarantee of uninterrupted supply of nuclear fuel. Under the cover of “interpretation” of the agreement, was the Bush administration trying to have its cake and eating it too?

Actually, both India and the US have displayed some naivete in estimating the other side in this deal. India thought it could get a clean waiver with no strings attached. The US thought India could both be made an ally and a confirmant to non-proliferation laws through the deal. Neither side has achieved much in terms of these expectations.
Trust has always been a difficult element in Indo-US ties. American critics think India’s self-righteous posturing cannot be effaced by strategic benefits from the US and that therefore, India will remain a pain. Witness India’s duplicitous dealings with Iran despite American protests. American diplomats believe in reciprocity – willing to give as long as there is something being given. Indian skeptics on the other hand, say that reciprocity difficult when the odds are so heavily in the Americans’ favor. They also feel that the US will never shed its one-sided, self-centered way of dealing and will walk away from any deal it feels uncomfortable with. Witness the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the ABM treaty with Russia. In other words, Americans sees Indians as Machiavellis while Indians see Americans as Vito Corleones.These perception defects would have to change if the real aim of the 123 agreement viz. strategic relationship, is to be fulfilled. And that can only happen through relentless dialog at all levels between the India and the US. But whether the relationship triumphs is something that only time can tell.

As one of the architects of India’s strategic doctrine put it to me recently, “We’ll have to wait and watch if the relationship works. The US has never had partners, only allies. And India’s never had neither partners nor allies”. In some ways, this deal is like a marriage between a male chauvinist and a feminist. Let’s hope it lasts.

August 2008, Uttarkashi.

The landslides could not be cleared even on the second day and no one knew when exactly the road would be open again. As we were just wasting time and money in Uttarkashi we decided to forget the trek and move on to Dehradun. It was a disappointing decision to say the least but could not be helped under the circumstances. So in the afternoon we set off to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM, one of the premier mountaineering institutes in India, a similar one started by Tenzing Norgay is in Darjeeling) to return some of the camping equipment we had rented from there. It was another steep climb up a hill, across the river, on the other side of town. I tell you the govt. offices in Uttarkashi are involved in a conspiracy to make potential trekkers walk and climb as much as possible by situating their offices in as out of the way places as possible 🙂 This scene was visible on the way to NIM. The mountains are situated behind the town.

(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)

August 2008, Uttarkashi.

Our plan was to head to Gangotri from Uttarkashi and from there attempt the 18km trek (one way) to Gaumukh where the actual glacier from which the Ganga starts is located. Only 150 people per day are allowed to trek to the glacier for which permission needs to be taken. When I went to get the permission from the forest dept. (an office which is located on the edge of town, on top of a steep hill, it is as if they want trekkers to test their stamina before an actual trek!) I learnt that there had been major landslides along the route to Gangotri and in one place a section of the road had been completely cut away. Apparently, vehicles had been stopped on either side of the landslide and even people on foot were not being allowed to cross over. Luck was not on our side. We decided to wait for another day and were taking a walk around town when I found this little fella.

(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)

August 2008, Uttarkashi.

After a seven hour bus ride we made it to Uttarkashi. Uttarkashi is a small town nestled on the valley floor with the Bhagirathi (which later becomes the Ganga further downstream) splitting the town into two parts. It is a also the starting point for many expeditions/treks to the higher reaches of the Himalayas (which was what we also wanted to do, more on that tomorrow). In the evening, we made our way to one of the ghats by the river to marvel at the roaring river flowing past with such force. Hindus believe that taking a dip in the holy river washes away all your sins and even liberates you from the circle of life but I decided to live with my sins for some more time as I did not dare risk getting washed away by the swiftly moving waters! The two in the photo had come to make an offering to the river.

In spite of the immense importance this river has for Hindus and the delicate ecosystem it supports the govt. is going all ahead with projects in Uttarkashi and elsewhere up and down the river that would lead to this powerful river being shackled behind dams. Once the projects are finished and go online the river might not even flow at all for most part of the year! Something that will be unthinkable for thousands of Hindus who travel every year to pilgrimage sites along the river Ganga to take a holy dip. For more on this issue go here.

(To read this mini-travelogue in sequence from the beginning please go here.)

August 2008, Somewhere between Haridwar and Uttarkashi.

After spending a night in Haridwar we started off on another long bus journey for Uttarkashi the next morning. The road was carved out of the mountain sides as you can see in the above photo. Even though the adventurous driving of the bus driver added to my already intense acrophobia I could not help but marvel at the spectacular scenery on offer as the road wound up, down and around innumerable mountains.

August 2008, Somewhere between Delhi and Haridwar.

I returned yesterday after 20 days of traveling in the north of India, mostly in the state of Uttaranchal. Although the trip was something of a disappointment as I fell sick halfway through and had to cancel onward travel to amazing places such as Manali and Ladakh (something I had been looking forward to for a long time) I still got to see some beautiful and interesting places. So starting from today I’ll present a selected (visual) travelogue of the places and people I saw.

Today’s photo was taken halfway through a long, dusty and tiring bus journey to Haridwar from Delhi. The bus had stopped to fill up on diesel. As I look back now it feels as if the whole trip was a series of endless bus journeys. But that is something that could not be helped as the state is home to the mighty Himalayas and therefore mostly mountainous terrain abounds. More on that later as we were still on the hot and dusty plains at this point.