The World famous Kullu Dussehra

A Huge Procession Filled with Music, Dance and Culture” festival celebrated in majestic style in northern India, Kullu Dussehra is one of the most popular events of Himachal Pradesh, signifying the victory of good over evil.

It draws the travelers from distant parts of the globe. It is held in the Dhalpur maidan at Kullu in Himachal Pradesh state. Kullu is known for its beautiful gorges, wondrous waterfalls, chatty mountain stream and ancient temples which are certainly going to enthrall you especially during the Kullu Dussehra festival.

Dating back to the 17th century, Kullu Dussehra starts on Vijaya Dashmi and lasts for seven days in the month of October. It is a lovely blend of rich culture, history and ritual.This festival is only held to celebrate the success of good over evil. While music and color create a peaceful ambience, thousands of people gather on the first day of celebration to pay respect to Lord Raghunathji. The first day is started with huge celebration and on this day the statue of Lord Raghunathji is installed on a beautifully designed chariot, which is graced with the presence of village gods and goddess, is pulled by ropes by the locals from its place to different sites across the Maidan. The following days are celebrated with great devotion, and many an individual takes participate in singing and dancing during the festival. The fair is fulfilled with the burning of the Lanka. On the last day of the festival, the chariot is brought by the banks of Beas River where a mass of wood grass is burnt, signifying the burning of Lanka. Reflecting the Rich and Colorful History of Kullu Dussehra. According to the mythology, Kullu was under the control of Raja Jagat Singh in the 16th century. At some point he got to know that someone by the name of Durgadutt had charming pearls. The Raja tried everything to have that pearls. Though Durgadutt made him clear that the information was not correct, all his requests were hopeless. He offered him the last chance of giving the pearls but he did not and as a result Durgadutt set himself and his own family on fire and cursed the Raja Jagat Singh for his brutality. Thereafter, he felt guilty and took advice form a Brahmin. The sacred man asked him to get back the statue of Lord Raghunath from the kingdom of Lord Ram. Worried, the Raja decided to send the Brahmin to Ayodhya. One day, he took the statue and started his way back trip to Kullu. When the locals of Ayodhya came to know that the idol of Lord Raghunath was missing, they left in search of him. The people found the Brahmin with Raghunath ji on the banks of Saryu River. Then he started telling them the story of the king. When the people picked up the idol while heading towards Ayodhya it was heavy, but to their amazement the idol became light as they moved to Kullu. When the Brahmin reached Kullu, the idol of Raghunath ji was installed. Subsequently, the king had a sip of the Charan-Amrit of the statue of the Raghunath ji and the curse was repealed. This myth is associated with the Kullu Dusshera.

 

Experience Kullu Dussehra with LADAKH with us this year!

When 1 arrow changed the history of our nation

You must have heard about Sher Shah Suri, the man who built the GT road connecting Bengal to Kabul, a staggering 2500 kms in length passing through the major cities of that time including, Agra, Delhi, Amritsar, Lahore.

 

He was named so because he killed a tiger when he was still a young man, the man had a tremendous military knowledge and he won every battle he fought, but during the siege of Kalinjar fort in Uttar Pradesh when all his tactics to take over the fort failed, he ordered his men to blow up the fort walls with gunpowder, but he himself was standing a little too close, or he under estimated the extent of the explosion, that he got seriously injured during the blow-up and died the same day.

 

He was succeeded by his son Islam Khan. He was a clever ruler, he always had Hindus in command alongside the Afghans officers just so that they can spy on each other. It was during his time that a Hindu man named Hemchandra rose to the level of chief of intelligence. It was his sheer loyalty and solidarity that made him a famous face, and hence he were given important assignments.

 

But Islam Shah died after ruling no more than 9 years, and was succeeded by his 12 year old son Firuz Shah only to be murdered within the days of coronation by Sher Shah Suri’s nephew Adil Shah.

 

Now Adil shah only knew how to take the crown, but what he didn’t knew was how to run the show. All he wanted was wine and ladies, but one good deed that he did was to keep Hemchandra by his side.

 

Now this man Hemchandra was a brilliant war tactician and an even brilliant leader. It was under Adil Shah, or should we say it was for Adil Shah that he fought and won 22 battles including one with Humayun.

 

Once he got orders to kill a rebel courtesan Taj Khan Karrani, he followed him till Bengal but every time they came face to face, he managed to gave him a slip.

 

So anyhow, while he was away Humayun got hold of Delhi and as soon as he came to know about this, he made a U-turn and marched towards Delhi defeating everyone who came in between him and Delhi. But by the time he could reach Delhi, Humayun died after slipping from stairs.

 

And so by the time he reached Delhi, the Mughals ran away from the capital fearing for their lives and without a leader.

 

But it was meant to be, and Hemchandra met the newly appointed 13 year old Jalal-ud-din in the battlefield of Panipat where Hemchandra dominated most of the battle and was about to make his final move when Mughals started shooting arrows aimlessly, and one such arrow hit Hemchandra in his left eye and he passed out.

 

Seeing him going down, his army, who was in total control of the situation suddenly lost their enthusiasm and fled.

 

Hemchandra, who was still unconscious, was captured and brought to Jalal-ud-din and his general asked the young Jalal to behead the unconscious Hemchandra but he refused saying that “He is the bravest man I’ve seen and I don’t want to behead an already dead man”, and he didn’t do it. Although his general later beheaded Hemchandra himself.

 

The man who was beheaded was also known as HEMU.

 

And that 13 year old man who refused to behead him, later became the noblest and the greatest of the Mughal emperors of India and was known as The Great Akbar.

One Forgotten Hero - Baghel Singh

It is really sad that we have forgotten our Sikh generals and heroes. Most of us do not know that there was a time when Sikh generals like Hari Singh Nalwa subdued Afghans and hoisted the Sikh flag beyond the Khyber pass. We do not remember that once the Ganga Doab was under the protection of the Sikh Misls and the Sikh chiefs realized Rakhi (Protection money) from that area. And only a few of us know that Baghel Singh vanquished Delhi, entered the Red Fort and the Mughal Emperor at that time, Shah Alam, had to kneel to his terms in 1783.

Baba Baghel Singh (1730 – 1802) was born in village Jhabal, District Amritsar of the Majha region of Punjab in a Dhaliwal Jat family. From humble beginnings he arose to become a formidable force in the area between River Sutlej and River Yamuna. He was tall, well-built, with brownish eyes and wheatish color. He was brave and fearless in battles, and wise in victories.

He rose to prominence in the area encompassing Sutlej and Yamuna and aligned himself with Karor Singhia misl led by Karora Singh, becoming its leader in 1765 after the death of its namesake.

In the late 1700’s when NADIR Shah’s brutal offensives and eight invasions by Ahmed Shah Abdali had made the Mughal Empire fragile and weak. Sikhs had emerged as a strong and powerful force in northern India. The Sikhs eventually halted Abdali’s invasions. Under the leadership of Dal Khalsa chief Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the Sikhs refused an alliance, and instead challenged Abdali for battle. They were anxious to avenge the killing of over 20,000 Sikhs, mostly women, children and old people, and also destruction and desecration of the Golden Temple. Sensing defeat, Abdali turned back and fled and returned to Afghanistan, never to come back again. The vast area of the Indian subcontinent lying between the Indus and the Yamuna was free from foreign rule.

The Marathas, after their defeat by Abdali in the third battle of Panipat in 1761, were marginalised, and the Rohillas were a spent force. The English were in the process of finding their place at Delhi. It was easy for the Sikh misals to cross the Yamuna and make forays towards Delhi and beyond. The misals did not owe any allegiance to each other, except when the Sarbat Khalsa, through a Gurmatta, resolved to attack a common target. Baghel Singh’s Karor Singhia Misal was operating in south-east Punjab. He was a very able leader of men, a good political negotiator, and was able to win over many adversaries to his side. The Mughals, the Marathas, the Rohillas, the Jats and the British sought his friendship.

Baba Baghel Singh turned his attention towards the cis-Yamuna territories. Soon the Sikhs were invading territories in Delhi and beyond, including Meerut, Awadh, collecting tribute from the Nawabs of each area. He is celebrated in Sikh history as the vanquisher of Mughal Delhi.

Karor Singhia was one of the strongest misals with 12,000 well- trained horsemen. The combined strength under Baghel Singh, including soldiers of a few sardars who joined him, was well over 40,000. He captured territories much beyond Delhi to include Meerut, Khurja, Aligarh,Tundla, Shikhohabad, Farrukhabad, Agra and many other rich townships around Delhi, and collected tributes and rakhi from nawabs and rajas. He captured Saharanpur and overran the Rohilla territory in April 1775. In March 1776, Baghel Singh’s forces gave a crushing defeat to the Mughal army near Muzaffarnagar; thus Sikhs extended their influence on the whole of the Yamuna-Gangetic doab.

Baghel Singh invaded Delhi on January 8, 1774, and captured the area up to Shahdara. The second invasion was on July 17, 1775, when the Sikhs captured the area around the present-day Pahar Ganj and Jai Singhpura. Bulk of the fighting took place where present-day New Delhi is located. Sikhs temporarily withdrew due to shortage of supplies, but they kept the agenda of the Red Fort alive, and continued domination and intrusions into the Emperor’s territory surrounding Delhi. By early 1783, the Sikhs commenced preparations for the capture of the Red Fort. A force of 60,000 under the leadership of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Sardar Baghel Singh assembled at Ghaziabad, continuing their attacks and capturing rich towns around Delhi. Enormous booty was collected by Sikhs, which was sent to Punjab with an escort of 20,000 soldiers. One-tenth of this booty was sent to the Golden Temple as offering to the Guru.

On March 8 the Sikhs captured Malka Ganj and Sabzi Mandi. Prince Mirza Shikoh, on orders from the Emperor, tried to stop the invaders but suffered defeat, and fled. On March 9 they captured Ajmeri Gate. There was a panic in the city; many took shelter in the fort. Jassa Singh Ramgarhia joined the Sikh forces at the last moment with 10,000 soldiers. As many as 30,000 Sikh horsemen of Baghel Singh’s army were camping at a place now known as Tees Hazari, location of the Delhi High Court.

The story goes that the Mughal Emperor when he came to know that Sikhs were planning to attack Delhi, as sufficient quantity of food and other essential commodities were stocked in the fort he ordered that all gates of the fort be closed so that the Sikhs camping in the jungles would soon run out of rations and go back. Some of the Sikhs accidentally came across a mason from the neighbourly village who informed them that a particular place the wall of the fort had caved in from inside though the exterior was intact. He also agreed to lead the Sikh and show them this spot. The Sikhs planned to ram the wall with logs to make a hole in the wall to enter the fort through. This place is now called “Mori Gate”.

The Sikhs entered the Red Fort, hoisted the kesri Nishan Sahib, and occupied Diwan-e-aam, a key location in the fort, where the Emperor, sitting on the throne, used to have audience with the public. The Emperor was quick to reconcile with the Sikhs; he offered a treaty and accepted their terms. The Emperor was to pay Rs 3 lakh as nazrana. The kotwali area was to remain the property of the Sikhs. Baghel Singh was allowed to construct gurdwaras on all sites connected with Sikh history. Baghel Singh was to retain 4,000 soldiers till his task was completed; the Emperor was to pay all expenses.

Baba Baghel Singh had set up an octroi-post near Sabzi Mandi to collect the tax on the goods imported into the city to finance the search and the construction of the Sikh Temples. He did not want to use the cash received from the Government Treasury for this purpose, and most of that was handed out to the needy and poor. He often distributed sweetmeats, bought out of this Government gift, to the congregationalists at the place which, now, is know as the Pul Mithai.

The beautiful thing to note here is the extent of royalty in the blood each leader of that Jat-Sikh coalition force was such that none of them tried to take the throne for himself, rather they left the capital after successfully winning it. And just because none of them sat on the throne, we are not told about this important event of the glorious history of our lands.

 

 

 

How Shimla Scandal Point actually got it’s name

While in Shimla if you choose to believe everything that a guide tells you then he’ll tell you that there’s a spot named “Scandal Point” in Shimla, now this is the place where the Mall road meets the Ridge road, and there’s a board at the very point to help you more.

 

Now no one knows the exact story behind why that spot is named as Scandal Point, except us ;-)

 

But before that allow us to tell you a little about the Maharaja of Patiala

This dude was the biggest Casanova of his time, considering that he had 5 wives and numerous affairs and fathered over 88 children and then dying at a rather early age of 46, he is a clear inspiration for the budding Romeos.

 

Now he is the same guy who was banned by the British for entering Shimla for some unknown reasons. Well imagine what would you do if they ban you to enter Taj Mahal, you’ll probably go back home and surf it’s images on your laptop wherever your friends plans for a trip to Agra.

 

Not this guy, he established his own summer capital 45 kms from Shimla and named it Chail.

 

I am not a good historian but that certainly equalled showing a big middle finger in the face of those whites.

 

Now this is the same guy who build the India’s second monorail in Patiala and world’s highest (in those times) cricket ground in Chail, and that beautiful palace in Chail.

 

 

 

Ok so now you know that was the dude who could have been involved in that scandal happened on Scandal point.

 

But there should also be a girl involved to make it a scandal.

 

So the girl was the daughter of the British Viceroy, ya I know it was really a crazy and brave thing to do in those times, but that’s what Sikhs are known for, right. Doing something which the world says “are you crazy, that’s not possible even in your dreams”. Well that reminds me of one more story about this brave clan, but I’ll tell you that next time.

 

So according to the tour guides, this lady eloped with the Maharaja of Patiala from here.

 

Now here’s the twist in the story, the eloping incident did happen but it happened in 1892. Now I know the first reaction of you would be scrolling up and checking Maharaja’s birth date.

 

YES!! He was 1 year old at that time. Now either I should leave for Patiala right now to light a lamp at his resting place for being such a stud that he wooed a lady much much older than him, now’s that’s interesting.

 

Now the Viceroy of India at that time was someone by the name Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice. He had two daughters, one was born in 1870 and the other was born in 1877. Now since the incident happened 1892, so in any case the one who was born in 1877 couldn’t have been the one, because then it would have called a kidnap. The name of th lady born in 1870 was Evelyn Cavendish.

 

Now if you search for her on Wikipedia then you will notice that she got married in 1892.

Uuuummmmm... coincidence!!

Naah I don’t think so.

 

Now the story says and everyone believes that she eloped with the Maharaja of Patiala, now I have not doubt about the abilities of our Dude, but wasn’t he too small to run away that time, I am sure he would have been captured 100 meters from the spot even after a week of elopement. So let’s just keep our dude out of this affair at least.

 

So who could have been there who also happened to be the Maharaja to Patiala

 

Aaah his dad of course...

 

 

It was Maharaja Sir Rajinder Singh Ji, who happened to be 20 years old, so understandably it was the SENIOR DUDE who did the unthinkable.

 

Look at the irony, the above photo was taken in 1892 ;-)

 

Karva Chauth

Karva Chauth is a one-day festival celebrated mostly in the Northern Part of India. During this day married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands.

Married women typically start preparing for this festival few days in advance with shopping for the special day including dress, make-up, cosmetics, jewellery, Karva lamps and plates.

 

 

Women typically wake up around 4am which is typically before sunrise and eat feni with milk and sugar which helps them abstain from water the whole day.

 

During the day women should not eat or drink anything but the good news is, they don’t have to do any household work, which is passed on to the husbands without their consent of course.

 

During the day time women engaged themselves in getting mehendi (henna paint) done on their hands and as the evening approaches, they gather at someone’s house and sit together praying for their husband’s long life while passing on the gift baskets full of fruits, almonds, pieces of jewellery.

 

No one knows the true reason behind this festival, but a reasonable possibility of the start of this festival is that this festival occurs typically after the reaping season of the summer harvest and just before the sowing season of winter harvest, so this was the best time when military campaigns used to happen in the ancient times, and this was the time when long distance travel usually occurred. So in order to keep her husband safe from harm, married women used to observe this festival.

 

Lastly, although a married man is not expected to observe the fast with her wife, but do remember that she’s waiting for you expecting that diamond ring you promised her 3 years ago.

 

ZAUK and the man with a silver spoon

A restaurant which has made a name for itself in less than a year is already getting all the attention from the Mughlai lovers in the city, and I am sure by the time you end up reading this, you’ll cancel your next trip to one of those so called air-conditioned dhabas at murthal and head to this place for a delicious Mughlai meal.

 

We at travdiary believe in exploring the lesser known but authentic taste foodie-paradise in the city, and this time we took a ride to greater Noida after hearing about this place on facebook, and then the “Recommended” tag from trip-advisor and those super ratings on zomato from the people who had been there made it all the more alluring for us.

 

We decided to go on Thursday just because it is the second most less-crowded day of the week after Tuesday. The route is straight and the road is beautiful, and thankfully the weather was awesome with a little drizzle.

 

We reached at 3 pm and went inside expecting the place to be empty, but to our surprise, it was almost full, and since we were 4 of us, so we had to wait for 10 minutes to get our seating.

 

The interior decor of the place is very soothing to the eye, the first thing I liked about the place is that the man hasn’t tried to make the place look like Arabia, which gives you an idea how the owner puts his entire effort in the taste of the food.

 

We ordered our starters and the waiter asked us to wait for 10-15 minutes.

 

Well, fair enough, if you have driven 50 kms to reach this place, you would certainly not want to leave the place in another 30 minutes. So we came prepared for a complete 90 minutes meal.

 

Since we were four of us including a pure vegetarian, so we ordered 3 non-veg dishes and a Paneer 65.

 

My other non-veg friends ordered a chicken malai tikka and a mutton seekh kebab.

 

I ordered a Mutton Galouti Kebab, now if you guys have been to an authentic Mughlai restaurant and if you had tried the Galouti Kebab, you must have noticed the extra oil and that separate taste of spices in it now that tells that either the chef was in a hurry, or he doesn’t know how is it made. In either way, you as a customer are in loss.

 

In all the places that I have been, I didn’t find a single place with the perfect galouti kebabs, the way they cook in Hyderabad. So I was expecting the same taste I had all across north India.

 

Our order came and we all took the first bite of our dishes. I could see them all chewing their kebabs and chicken and paneer, but mine it just melted and disappeared in my mouth... it was heaven, purely heaven!!

 

I have no words to describe the taste of those dishes. It was just perfect.

 

Our expectations from the place got sky-rocketed. For the main course we ordered Nalli Nehari, Chicken dum biryani, Dal Makhni, Achari paneer, Khamiri roti and one ulte tawe ka paratha and to tell you the truth we all got blown away by the taste. There came a time when our minds, hearts, mouths and hands wanted to eat but our stomach refused to cooperate. And how I wished that I had a kumbhakarana’s appetite that day.

 

But we did try those sweet dishes, and boy I don’t even know of a place who serves “Shahi Tukda” and no wonder that it is the most hot selling item of the restaurant, but I am personally a fan of that Zafrani Phirni which in itself was superb, a less sweeter than Shahi tukda, but amazing in taste.

 

 

In the end we desired to meet the owner of the place, that’s when a slim tall gentleman with grey hair appeared from kitchen with a silver spoon in his right pocket, probably for frequent tasting of the dishes.

 

“Hi, any problem with the dish sir” he said. And I so wanted to kiss him for the favour he is doing on us poor souls who are wandering from one end of the city to the other trying to find a perfect place to have Mughlai.

 

Our search for the perfect Mughlai food in Delhi-NCR ended at ZAUK, greater Noida.

 

Oh ya, do try those Galouti Kebabs and Shahi Tukda for sure.

 

Keep travelling, Keep exploring, Keep sharing!

 

 

 

Article credit: travdiary.com

Travel plans and the fear of travelling

 

Most of us have long dreamt of taking a long leave from work to travel the length and breadth of our country. Few of us even sit with friends every Saturday planning about it over drinks. Every time we are supposed to leave on Sunday morning and every time that fucking hangover kills it. And the week starts all over again.

 

Few of us has even done an agreement with our lives that we’ll never be able to do it, these are those people who sits inside their house looking outside the window with a 90ml Jack Daniel’s poured in a large base glass with exactly 5 ice cubes floating on the top. They sit there thinking about their good hostel days and those unplanned outings they used to do scaling over the tall barbed hostel walls.

 

Well, we are the same species where a 60 year old man is scaling Mount Everest and a 35 year old is still sipping whiskey in a bar and planning for the last 10 years to go on 10 day trip.

 

The reason is very simple – Fear!

Fear of leaving the comfort zone.

Fear of travelling alone.

Fear of one’s safety.

Fear of unknown places, unknown people and unknown routes.

and many more...

 

If I am right then you have just two options with you

1. Get back to work and stop killing yourself over something you can’t do.
2. Or, just do it for once and put an end to this constant question mark in your head.

 

Since you are still reading this article so I assume you are the ones who still think that point number two isn’t that bad an option for you. So now let’s talk about your fears one by one and what can you do about it.

See, since we were 3 years old, we were taught not to take any unnecessary risks and always play safe and quite frankly if you would have been absolutely happy doing what you are doing right now, then you won’t be on internet searching for such articles and certainly you won’t be reading this one either. And this is not even a risk, it’s all about leaving your comfort zone and going out in the unknown.

 

Trust me, from your balcony it do seems like an uphill task, but once you are on the road with a backpack, you’ll feel a sense of unexplainable dancing excitement under your belly. That’s the exact feeling that you were yearning for so many years.

The moment you step outside your house and catch the first bus will be the moment of “letting it go”.

While travelling with your family, you might have to plan things a bit in advance, but a few check points are enough for you to travel free minded:

• Search for the best route of travel in advance.
• A list of things you should carry along.
• Keep your peeps informed about your travel status.
• You might have to book hotel in advance. Or at least search for hotels well in advance.

 

Fear of safety – Well to be very honest, you are absolutely safe anywhere and everywhere unless you screw it up yourself. Keep your eyes, ears and mind open and stay with the crowd and avoid staying out in night.

 

If you have the fear of the unknown places and unknown persons then I don’t think you should be travelling anywhere, because it’s the people and places that makes this whole thing interesting. Just keep in mind that you should be careful of the friendly ones and even more careful with those who impresses you.

 

Now keep that glass of whiskey down and decide a destination you wanted to go for so long. List down the places to see there, those must-try restaurants and the things you should be doing there. Now calculate how many days you require to completely refresh your mind, and finally think of a bloody good reason of absence from the office and drop in a mail and even before your manager reaches office, hop on to a bus and disappear!

 

Most of the people live their lives as if there are 6 more left to live.
Remember it’s one, just one!
Make it count...