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Things to do in Auli and Places to stay

A polar bear or sloth bear will enjoy all that snow in Auli to roll around or simply hibernate! The Homo Sapien can do more! Having scaled up those Himalayan heights, you would not want to snuggle underneath fleece blankets, the whole day! The majestic peaks would taunt you. The resounding cheer of spectators and participants at the ski resort would spring you up! It is not just about skiing here! The many things to do in Auli is just these listicles away! We have drawn out a few. If you venture out on the snowy trails and bump into something mysterious- (a fossil of a woolly mammoth, probably), earmark the place and let the world know about it! · Of highs and heights -Trekking : The trails may not be even. Rocky paths diffusing into slippery ground, then a stretch of level ground, would make you traverse a mix of terrains! While gaining altitude, you will see the valleys, the meadows, shrinking under a bird’s eye view. The great Himalayan peaks would not seem that far or beyond reach!...

Places to visit in Auli

The majestic grandeur of the Himalayan peaks, the deep gorge, alpine forests, the dizzying heights make Auli a coveted tourist destination. Into the many folds of the world’s youngest mountain ranges – the Himalayas, would there be a secret cave, a shrine, or a quaint tribal settlement?  Explore to find out what makes it to the bucket list of the places to visit in Auli.   .        Auli Ropeway : A close brush with the Himalayan peaks sounds like a daring encounter? It would be close but not close enough! The Auli Ropeway that is about 3.9 km long starts at Joshimath and ends at Auli.  Reaching an ascent of 1110 metres, the ride takes about 15-20mts. Enjoy the views of the alpine forests, as you take a chair-lift or ski-lift and capture a snapshot of the skiing competitions, which can be viewed from the ropeway. .        Joshimath: About 14 km from Auli, this is one of the places to visit in Auli,...

To the sea in the beckoning, in Kovalam - Kerala

  It was an impromptu travel plan as usual. Even though the yearend holidays are earmarked in the school and office calendars and rolled out well in advance, we as a family, are abysmal planners(at least I am, and the rest of the members kind of get towed into my shadow - wonder why? Where I have failed to wield a positive influence on my family with regard to veganism, spirituality or others of the like, it is attributes such as "zero-planning", which have been imbibed. At this instant, my family seemed to me like blind bhakts, who take to following a con guru). So, with a last-minute booking in a beach resort in Kovalam(Kerala), we hit the roads. Believe me, it was the at the 11th hour we decided about whether the road journey would be within the next couple of hours or the following day. So, we got our caravan-sized luggage ready(it was just for a 3-day trip, but even then bound by habit, we ended up building a giant jenga of holidaying essentials - Here too, I fail to wie...

In the silence of a river, I found my voice ! At Neyyar dam, Kovalam, Kerala

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  We buckled ourselves up for a short trip from our resort(How I landed up here? Take a trip to my Curtain-raising blog -->), with lemon sodas and starchy foods to contain any gut-retching tendencies(we did not want motion sickness and vertigo to strike us at the wrong moment- Imagine feeling like a bat hanging upside down, and being made to witness the panorama of nature in fast forward or in shifting planes - not a spectacle to behold, right? ). Much to our dismay, the initial stretch of our trip involved battling through traffic chaos - on the arterial roads. Well, so much for trying to escape the madding crowd of the urban-scapes, Kovalam hustles like a city during holidays, thanks to the hordes of tourists, who proliferate like hyacinths on a crystal clear water body! But the clamour did not flank our trail for long. For, the signboard indicating Neyyar popped up , indicating a diversion to the left and we heaved a sigh of relief.  And boy, was it a relief of sorts! T...

A lacy, paper-thin dosa, a witty, hand-written note and a sci-fi movie - a birthday wish come true?

  As each year rolls by, with one momentous occasion to celebrate your being older, there are a zillion things to ruminate about. No, I am not talking about dreaming of your favorite things on the lines of 'Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens' which might have been Julie Andrews' favorite(considering her character Maria had a teeny escape window from the looming nuns at the Abbey, it was but natural for Maria to break into a song at the drop of a hat, and think of kittens, white copper kettles and mittens (Sound of Music), and about the idyllic Alps which beckon many an adventurer - For those in the closets of a chapel to the open spaces of the majestic mountains). But much as we love to hibernate for as long as we can, the wintry mists dissipate one time or the other. They rise to bring in those shafts of light, to let you see life in a different spectrum. That is when you take your head out of the clouds to get a true blue picture of reality. That is when while pic...

A letter to US English.

  Dear #US #English Though I am so jet-lagged traversing across the Atlantic a zillion times, and hopping time zones,  to meet up to your standards, I have pulled my socks up, to write to you. Could you ever imagine the endless loop you put me into with your native bearer - not only did my content trip to your land, but also experienced misadventures galore(as if seated on one of those thrill-rides in Disneyland, with no seat-belt on). So, it was long due, to finally have a heart-to-heart talk with you, I mean, since the last decade or more, you have been glorified, rhapsodized and even patronized as the de-facto English that must be adopted by those who provide services to your country. Has it gone unnoticed that you have grown to the largesse of a burger king -indomitable and unconquerable(like the rampage of water hyacinths on Indian water bodies). Outpacing even the native #UK speakers, with your 'supposedly 'simple' 'grammar...