A rendezvous with NH1

An Indian who loves driving has a secret dream to drive in the Grand Trunk road once in their lifetime. I too had a dream to travel in the historical road (or a part of it) once.


We had planned a trip from Delhi to Amritsar via road (NH1). It was all so exciting. Traveling through a part of GT road, the oldest road, visiting so many places… etc. I have traveled through almost all modes of travel. Each one has their own charm, but I must say adventurous people enjoy the road travel the most.


Before sharing my experiences I would like to share some important and historical information and facts about NH1, as these were the reasons which clubbed to become my dream drive.


The Grand Trunk Road (abbreviated to GT Road) is one of South Asia`s oldest and longest major roads. For several centuries, it has linked the eastern and western regions of the Indian subcontinent, running from what is now Pakistan, across north India, into Bangladesh. The Indian section is part of the ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project.



Route of the Grand Trunk Road:


Today, the Grand Trunk Road continues to cover a distance of over 2,500 km. It starts from Peshawar in Pakistan and passes through Attock, Rawalpindi and Lahore before entering India at Wagah. Within India, it passes through Amritsar, Ambala, Delhi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Asansol and Kolkata. It then enters Bangladesh and ends at Sonargaon in the Narayanganj district of that country. Within India, the major portion of the road, the stretches between Kolkata and Kanpur, is known as NH-2 (National Highway 2), the stretch between Kanpur and Delhi is called NH-91 (National Highway 91), and that between Delhi and Wagha, at the border with Pakistan, is known as NH-1(km-long stretch).

Panipat, Karnal, Ambala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Phagwara and Jalandhar are some major cities that lie along National Highway 1. Of its total length, 22 km is in Delhi, 180 km in Haryana and the rest 254 km falls in Punjab.



History of the Grand Trunk Road:



Recent research indicates that during the time of the Maurya empire, overland trade between India and several parts of western Asia and the Hellenic world went through the cities of the north-west, primarily Taxila (located in present day Pakistan)(see inset in map). Taxila was well connected by roads with other parts of the Maurya empire. The Mauryas had built a highway from Taxila to Pataliputra (present-day Patna in Bihar, India).


In the 16th century, a major road running across the Gangetic plain was built afresh by Pashtun emperor Sher Shah Suri, who then ruled much of northern India. His intention was to link together the remote provinces of his vast empire for administrative and military reasons. The Sadak-e-Azam ("great road") as it was then known, is universally recognized as having been the precursor of the Grand Trunk Road.



The road was initially built by Sher Shah Suri to connect Agra, his capital, with Sasaram, his hometown. It was soon extended westward to Multan and eastward to Sonargaon in Bengal (now in Bangladesh). While Sher Shah died after a brief reign, and his dynasty ended soon afterwards, the road endured as his outstanding legacy. The Mughals, who succeeded the Suris, extended the road westwards: at one time, it extended to Kabul in Afghanistan, crossing the Khyber pass. This road was later improved by the British rulers of colonial India. Renamed the "Grand Trunk Road" (sometimes referred to as the "Long Walk"), it was extended to run from Calcutta to Peshawar and thus to span a major portion of British India.

Over the centuries, the road, which was one of the most important trade routes in the region, facilitated both travel and postal communication.


My experience:


We started from Delhi, following the route. The roads were beautiful. Trees both the sides, farmlands could be seen with ripe crops. It was all so beautiful, even the weather. As we passed by we could see the places which came enroute.
For lunch, we stopped by a place called Eagles Restaurant ( comes before Ambala cantt). I must say the food was amazing. I had a vegetarian meal. The quality and taste of food was too good. Though, we had to compromise on the ambience part. It was a clean place.
In Amritsar, we went to the golden temple in the day time. It was a beautiful experience. The temple was shining, gold in colour surrounded by the holy water. Later at night also we went to the golden temple to see the whole place sparkle with lights every where.I tried all the possible kinds of vegetarian dishes in Amritsar. Believe me, it was all worth a try. I just loved it.
I had been to the Wagha Border also, for the evening recreation parade. There is just a gate which demarcates the border of India and Pakistan. Daily, in morning flags of both the countries are hosted and later in the evening, soldiers bring down the flags followed by a parade. This is known as recreation parade ceremony. Thousands of people gather to watch this. On the Indian side, Indians keep shouting with various patriotic words and on the other side, Pakistanis shout their patriotic words.
I was lucky enough to see a family coming from Pakistan to India via that gate. They exchanged some words, their passports were checked and they arrived right within a second, form India to Pakistan.
I must say it was a hush-rush and a tiring trip, but it was worth the ride.

My Cogitations

Its been over a month since i have been connected to my blog page...
I do not know the exact reason but personally I was going through a very low phase which prevented me from doing all these activities.


I was thinking and sinking. I wanted to get out of this. The only way to feel good was to indulge myself in certain activities which would captivate me and divert my mind from dismal thoughts.


How could I forget I was a girl? Beauty-care routine topped the list. Each day I engrossed myself with a different routine of beautification. This included both, the inner and the outer, beauty.


For the inner beauty, I practiced yoga, meditation(including chants) and various activities to improve concentration included solving various puzzles. One thing I can say is I never think bad about others or hurt them intentionally. This keeps me relaxed from within. Destructive thoughts for others never resided in my mind. My worries are related to myself. This makes me easy to overcome my worries and find the contentedness. Positive thoughts about everything gives a special glow in one's face.


Later, I also, realized the importance of sharing my inner thoughts with friends. Though I did not share the exact cause of my depression but just sharing how I was feeling made me feel much lighter. Family and friends really hold a special place in everyone's life and sharing your views makes you feel good. Its not important to share all your views but just to have a conversation and make you feel worth living.


Coming to the outer beauty, it included physical activities and other routine care of body parts such as hair, skin, nails... all the typical girlie things. As I love my nails, I happened to take special care of them apart from making me more fair ( various face packs) .. :)


One should just find a way to take out their frustration in a positive (fruitful) way so that one never regrets for the elapsed time.

Essence of Ramayan

Hey Friends,


Sorry for posting this blog late. This one is supposed to be in a continuation to my previous blog. Let me first write something on Indian mythology.


According to Hinduism, the two great Hindu Epics, the Ramayan and the Mahabharat, tell the story of two specific incarnations of Vishnu (Rama and Krishna). The epics Mahabharat and Ramayan serve as both religious scriptures and a rich source of philosophy and morality. The epics are divided into chapters and contain various short stories presenting a moral theme, where the character takes a certain course of action in accordance with Hindu laws and codes of righteousness.



The Hindu sage (Maharishi) Valmiki wrote the ancient Sanskrit epic, Ramayan.
Written in the form of shlokas (poetry).It presents the theme through allegory in narrative and alternating the philosophical and the devotional thoughts. The characters of Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Bharat, Hanumān and Rāvan (the villain of the piece) are all fundamental to the cultural consciousness of India.



Valmiki the “Dacoit “ transformed into Maharishi Valmiki the “Sage”.The violent dacoit believed in looting and killing travelers for money. Once a great Rishi was on his way and Valmiki came across him and asked for money. The Rishi said the only money he has is knowledge “gyaan” which is much more valuable than gold. Valmiki got tempted to acquire this gyaan valuable than gold and asked Rishi to handover him all. Rishi smiled and said it is the god who can bless you with gyan, just chant RAMA .

Unfortunately, Valmiki couldn’t pronounce it and then Rishi suggested him to chant MARA MARA MARA . The dacoit could say this with ease . He got completely immersed meditating ‘RAMA jappa’ and hence was blessed with gyaan.



The gist of Tulsidas Ramayan is given below in 1 shloka:



Aadyou ramatapovanadi gamanam,
Hatwa mrugankanchanam.
Vaidehi haranam, jatayu maranam,
Sugriva sambhashanam.
Balinidalanam, samudrataranam,
Lankapuri dahanam.
Paschaat ravana, kumbhakaran hanam,
Etabdi ramayan.



It is easily understood from the shloka as what all incidents led to Ramayan.
Ramayan means ‘Rama + Ayana’ = Rama’s ongoing journey.



Let me tell you all a strange thing - elders say, at homes, one is supposed to have Ramayan and Bhagwat Geeta but not Mahabharat.

MADHUBANI painting

Hello Friends,

With this blog of mine I wanted to be different. I actually did not know what should I do or write about to be different. Then an idea struck me. I thought why not to post my drawing which i had done...( one of my hobbies). These drawing are no ordinary drawings. They have a history behind them, which made me curious to learn this particular art of drawing. I am yet to colour this art. Colouring this is not an easy task as there is a restriction in usage of colours. Only particular colours are used here.

Below is the painting of Lord RAM. Below is the painting of Devi Sita.

If you observe keenly, there is a distinct style of drawing various things. This kind of drawing is known as MADHUBANI painting.

ORIGIN

Madhubani painting is also known as Mithila Painting. Tradition states that this style of painting originated at the time of the Ramayana, when King Janak commissioned artists to do paintings at the time of marriage of his daughter, Sita, to Lord Ram.

Madhubani painting has been done traditionally by the women of villages around the present town of Madhubani (the literal meaning of which is forests of honey) and other areas of Mithila. The painting was traditionally done on freshly plastered mud wall of huts, but now it is also done on cloth, hand-made paper and canvas.

As Madhubani painting has remained confined to a compact geographical area and the skills have been passed on through centuries, the content and the style have largely remained the same. The colors used are derived from plants. Ochre and lampblack are also used for reddish brown and black respectively.

Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and Hindu religious motifs, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities.

Above was the information on the art. Now, I request you all to help of me think of a story and help me write something, by seeing those 2 drawings. It could be an imaginary story or something related to mythology or your beliefs... Could be anything, even relating them to present culture and thoughts. I would wait for the feedback.

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Indian Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)

Hey friends...
Its been long since i wrote something... This time i was wondering as what to write.. As its August, an important month for our country. It was the month when we got our independence. This made me to write something on our freedom struggles. Our History. I hope you all enjoy this too.


HISTORY

Lets begin with little history. In ancient times, people from all over the world were keen to come to India. The Aryans came from Central Europe and settled down in India.The Persians followed by the Iranians and Parsis immigrated to India. Then came the Moghuls and they too settled down permanently in India. Chengis Khan, the Mongolian, invaded and looted India many times. Alexander the Great too, came to conquer India but went back after a battle with Porus. He-en Tsang from China came in pursuit of knowledge and to visit the ancient Indian universities of Nalanda and Takshila. Columbus wanted to come to India, but instead landed on the shores of America. Vasco da Gama from Portugal came to trade his country's goods in return for Indian species. The French came and established their colonies in India.

Lastly, the Britishers came and ruled over India for nearly 200 years. After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British achieved political power in India. And their paramountcy was established during the tenure of Lord Dalhousie, who became the Governor- General in 1848. He annexed Punjab, Peshawar and the Pathan tribes in the north-west of India. And by 1856, the British conquest and its authority were firmly established. And while the British power gained its heights during the middle of the 19th century, the discontent of the local rulers, the peasantry, the intellectuals, common masses as also of the soldiers who became unemployed due to the disbanding of the armies of various states that were annexed by the British, became widespread. This soon broke out into a revolt which assumed the dimensions of the 1857 Mutiny.


The Indian Mutiny of 1857

The conquest of India, which could be said to have begun with the Battle of Plassey (1757), was practically completed by the end of Dalhousie’s tenure in 1856. It had been by no means a smooth affair as the simmering discontent of the people manifested itself in many localized revolt during this period. However, the Mutiny of 1857, which began with a revolt of the military soldiers at Meerut, soon became widespread and posed a grave challenge to the British rule. Even though the British succeeded in crushing it within a year, it was certainly a popular revolt in which the Indian rulers, the masses and the militia participated so enthusiastically that it came to be regarded as the First War of Indian Independence.

Introduction of zamindari system by the British, where the peasants were ruined through exorbitant charges made from them by the new class of landlords. The craftsmen were destroyed by the influx of the British manufactured goods. The religion and the caste system which formed the firm foundation of the traditional Indian society was endangered by the British administration. The Indian soldiers as well as people in administration could not rise in hierarchy as the senior jobs were reserved for the Europeans. Thus, there was all-round discontent and disgust against the British rule, which burst out in a revolt by the ‘sepoys’ at Meerut whose religious sentiments were offended when they were given new cartridges greased with cow and pig fat, whose covering had to be stripped out by biting with the mouth before using them in rifles. The Hindu as well as the Muslim soldiers, who refused to use such cartridges, were arrested which resulted in a revolt by their fellow soldiers on May 9, 1857.


The rebel forces soon captured Delhi and the revolt spread to a wider area and there was uprising in almost all parts of the country. The most ferocious battles were fought in Delhi, Awadh, Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and western Bihar. The rebellious forces under the commands of Kanwar Singh in Bihar and Bakht Khan in Delhi gave a stunning blow to the British. In Kanpur, Nana Sahib was proclaimed as the Peshwa and the brave leader Tantya Tope led his troops. Rani Lakshmibai was proclaimed the ruler of Jhansi who led her troops in the heroic battles with the British. The Hindus, the Muslims, the Sikhs and all the other brave sons of India fought shoulder to shoulder to throw out the British. The revolt was controlled by the British within one year, it began from Meerut on 10 May 1857 and ended in Gwalior on 20 June 1858.


Quit India Movement

In August 1942, Gandhiji started the ‘Quit India Movement’ and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement ‘Do or Die’ call to force the British to leave India. The movement was followed, nonetheless, by large-scale violence directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule. There were widespread acts of sabotage, and the government held Gandhi responsible for these acts of violence, suggesting that they were a deliberate act of Congress policy. However, all the prominent leaders were arrested, the Congress was banned and the police and army were brought out to suppress the movement.

Meanwhile, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who stealthily ran away from the British detention in Calcutta, reached foreign lands and organized the Indian National Army (INA) to overthrow the British from India.

The Second World War broke out in September of 1939 and without consulting the Indian leaders, India was declared a warring state (on behalf of the British) by the Governor General. Subhash Chandra Bose, with the help of Japan, preceded fighting the British forces and not only freed Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the Britishers but also entered the north-eastern border of India. But in 1945 Japan was defeated and Netaji proceeded from Japan through an aeroplane to a place of safety but met with an accident and it was given out that he died in that air-crash itself.

"Give me blood and I shall give you freedom" - was one of the most popular statements made by him, where he urges the people of India to join him in his freedom movement.


Partition of India and Pakistan

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Labour Party, under Prime Minister Clement Richard Attlee, came to power in Britain. The Labour Party was largely sympathetic towards Indian people for freedom. A Cabinet Mission was sent to India in March 1946, which after a careful study of the Indian political scenario, proposed the formation of an interim Government and convening of a Constituent Assembly comprising members elected by the provincial legislatures and nominees of the Indian states. An interim Government was formed headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, the Muslim League refused to participate in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly and pressed for the separate state for Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, presented a plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan, and the Indian leaders had no choice but to accept the division, as the Muslim League was adamant.

Thus, India became free at the stroke of midnight, on August 14, 1947. (Since then, every year India celebrates its Independence Day on 15th August). Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minster of free India and continued his term till 1964. Giving voice to the sentiments of the nation, Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said,
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."

Earlier, a Constituent Assembly was formed in July 1946, to frame the Constitution of India and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its President. The Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949. On January 26, 1950, the Constitution was came into force and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected the first President of India.

My music & my review

“I was listening to FM and it made me wonder that how the music we are listening from these station finally becomes hum able after being played so many times at all the FM station 24 X 7”
You’ve guessed it right !!!
This blog is all about music : my passion
I am trying to review the music of some new yet to be released movie with a single line of how I feel about each song. Choices do vary but as its my blog I can write what I feel and your comments are welcome.

ROCK ON
The best part : a new genre in ‘Indian film music’ ,experimentation with all variant of rock beats. Totally youth oriented, A new voice - Farhan Akhtar is too good,real good change and the guitaring: extremely inspiring forte for all the youth.
Most songs are heavy metal and drums based,Highly inspired from guns and roses. Makes you nostalgic about your college gathering days and rock festivals.
Song:Zehreelay
Gothic rock kind of music…scary and it is advisable not to listen while sleeping. Very fast beat ideal for a background score for a cop chase scene.
Song: Tum To hoh
Really beautifully sung and takes you for a dream ride.
Song: Pichle saat dino
Beautiful beat, time pass lyrics makes you think as if he is saying you something with a rock music playing behind.
Song: Socha hai
Guns and roses inspired, anthem type song, strong words, typical flavour of college band
Song: phir dekhiye
only air guitar based song and sung by a new voice of Caralisa Monteiro. It has a lonesome theme .
Song: Sindbad the sailor
Highly heart pumping beats and really adventurous lyrics. I would recommend it be used while jogging in your i pod.
Song: Rock On
“Lakshya” movie of Farhan Akhtar had the same background score. It would really feel appealing and would make you foot tap along the song…so just Rock On!!!!!!


Bachna ae Hasino……coming up next…………..