India

One of the hazards of interviewing fresh candidates from highly reputed governemnt/controlled colleges is to stay in government run hotels. Typically there is an unwritten rule for these colleges and that is, to utilize state run establishments whether that means using Indian for flying or IndiaPost for courier or Hotels.

Me and my colleagues were there in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh, on a talent acquisition spree from my organization in early May,2007. We had zeroed in on one of the better technical institutes of India (definitely one of the top ones in Uttar Pradesh) and that happened to be IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology). We were put up at Hotel Gomti which as expected is a state run hotel.

Gomti Hotel is very well located, close to Sahara Ganj and is a realtively old strucuture. It was inaugurated in 1981 by erstwhile Prime Minister of India, V. P. Singh. It has I guess quite a few rooms, close to 50.

We stayed in the best rooms and the usual rack rates are around Rs 1500 for a single and you get the complimentary breakfast. The rooms are spacious but lack all modern fitments. So no coffee makers, no new age furniture, poor ventilation and a very badly stocked rest room. Fortunately they have redone the floor and other fitments in rest rooms so thats some solace. A/C works pretty well and we were in mid summers there and it was quite comfortable.............................

Read the rest of this story at http://www.ghumakkar.com/2007/05/09/hotel-gomti-in-lucknow/

By Sanjeev - An old friend

Ludhiana, the land of my in-laws, has become the most frequently visited place for me since I got married in February 2006. The statement does not reflect much enthusiasm but let me tell you that if you have relatives (read in-laws) you would love to go there repeatedly. So if you want to taste Punjab, marry a punjabi or simply go there!

Let us get back to Ludhiana now.

The best way to do that is to catch the Shatabdi Express. One leaves at 7:20 AM and the other at 4:30 PM from the New Delhi railway station. Takes only four air-conditioned and well-served hours. If you like to be your own boss and steering is your middle name the Delhi Ludhiana highway is well maintained. Other advantage of taking the road is that one can try the roadside Punjabi dhaba cuisine. Don’t miss the sweet malai loaded, Lassi in summers and hot milk in winters, baingan bharta or the eternal saag & makki roti

Ludhiana does not have buses as public transport and not many taxis. The city runs on shared autos. Next time someone tells you of big autos in sada ludhiana don’t make fun, pay attention.

I must admit that Ludhiana i......................

Read the rest of this story at http://www.ghumakkar.com/2007/05/13/ludhiana-the-manchester-of-east/

Amritsar, more correctly called, Ambarsar is located close to 500 Km from Delhi, capital of India and the biggest reason to visit Amritsar is to get blessing at ‘The Golden Temple‘, the most revered Sikh shrine in the whole world.

Me, my wife (Smita) and Pihu (our little daughter) along with Smita’s parent visited this city on a sleepy weekend in October, 2005. We knew that the road, NH1, is fantastic and we should be able to get a average of 60 Km an hour and if we start early morning, we should reach a little beyond lunch.

Day 1 - Oct 15 2005
Pihu was a little over four months and the dad has crossed 65, I guess. I was struggling to be young and with more then 500 KM to drive without any big break, I was all set. I knew very well that Scorpio would obey and respect my desires and was pretty excited to go as much close to Indian border.

We started early around 6 and were zipping

To read the rest of this story visit - http://www.ghumakkar.com/2007/05/23/quick-drive-to-amritsar/

North Indians, especially punjus, love Mussoorie. Being married to one I always wondered why and after visiting Mussorrie I think I know why. Read on if you are interested to know why Delhi-ites, esp a kind of Delhi-ites, love the Queen of Hills and how you can meet Mr. Ruskin Bond.

Republic Day 2007 happened to be on a Friday and a good enough motivation to plan for a quick vacation to a place which can be reached over a not-so-long drive. After not getting much success at Corbett and few other places, we somehow led ourselves to Mussoorie. No one wanted to go there in the first place and I guess all are glad that we finally made it to some place. It was definitely more fun being there than watching the Parade. I heard that these days you don’t even get to hear Jaswant Singh, a regular commentator of the event on erstwhile DD. Yeah, I know DD is still around but not as relevant, at least for metros like Delhi.

Read the complete story at

http://www.ghumakkar.com/2007/03/22/mussooriequeen-of-hills-jan-2007/

It was the usual Thursday evening when I gave a ring to “Mohit” on a possible visit to somewhere during the weekend and as I predicted, he was all set to go. We were nearing weekend so the only undecided question was “Where to go?”. Being a “Punjabi”, he insisted on going to Mussoorie (Nandan will understand why I am saying so) but after exploring, we finally agreed upon Udaipur. The little more exploration about the transportation, city, tourist spots, staying facilities etc, put the final nail into our plans. So, there we were ready to go to Udaipur - The City of Lakes & Palaces.

Day 0 – 23 March ’07 (Friday)
As Mewar Express was over booked, we both agreed to go to Udaipur by DTC run Volvo. It started at 6:00 pm sharp from ISBT, Kashmiri Gate; the fair was Rs 700/- and after crossing Gurgaon it caught NH-8 route. The best part was that the seats that were quite easily available. I boarded Volvo from Kashmiri Gate while Mohit caught it from Gurgaon. Bus crossed Jaipur and Bhilwara. From Bhilwara, it took a left exit towards Udaipur, bypassing Chittorgarh on the way.

Day 1-24th March (Saturday)
After reaching Udaipur at 7:30am, our search for a decent hotel started. As experienced guys, we knew that the area near bus stand will have a decent one waiting for us. Finally, we reached to Sieta Ram Lodge located in Hotel Wali Gali. Yeah, its Sieta and not Sita.

Read the full story at http://www.ghumakkar.com/2007/03/28/udaipur-and-chittorgarh-march-2007/

For more travel stories visit my personal blog at www.ghumakkar.com