Monthly Archives: January 2017

Road to London # 12 – “Soham”, the Companion

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In continuation of earlier blog RTL # 11 – Driving Duration a Day…..

On such a strenuous driving expedition, our physical and mental fitness aside, it is equally important to have a right and reliable vehicle. A comfortable car surely enhances the level of satisfaction of driving. Very affectionately I named our car, “Soham”. “Soham” is a chant popularised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, of The Art of Living foundation. It means, “I am He”. I acknowledge the presence of the Almighty in the vehicle that takes me around.

The varied terrain requires a safer 4-wheel drive car with ground clearance of at least 190mm, if not more.

Anand’s “consent” to the trip was on the condition that I should take the vehicle of his choice!   Smart on his part to have discovered what I was trying to hide.  Both our current cars are fairly new with about 25K and 15K km on them. “Pappa, you certainly should not undertake this journey in your favourite Skoda Superb. Yes, the  BMW-X1 SUV is better.  But still not good enough.  After all, you would be driving through some of the places where roads hardly exist.”

Anand was right.   Under such situations, my Skoda Superb, with a ground clearance of only 164 mm, is far below the minimum safety need of 190 mm.   Further, Chinese authorities do not give road entry permit for sedans.  They demand the pictures from all sides of the car.  For them, the vehicle should have SUV looks.  They consider SUV more reliable.  They don’t want me to have a vehicle breakdown and get stuck in their country for any reason!  Fair enough.

I had the option of taking the BMW-X1, compact SUV.  It has a better ground clearance of 179mm.  Though not good enough. I checked with some of my contacts who have driven on the worst of the stretches we would be passing through. I was told X-1 would be just about ok.     Arguably, it is just good enough for two of us.

Neither Pushpa nor I understand much of car mechanism.  A few years earlier, I was capable of attending to any minor car-related problems. But now I have become lethargic and have developed the habit to look for assistance even to change a flat tyre.  Habits hardly die!  I decided that  at least for the first 3 weeks of my journey, till the time I drive within India, I can have an assistant with us.  So I decided to have our household assistant, Shiva with us.  He is like a younger brother or son to me.  Once we reach Manipur, the border city of India, he can fly back home!  Our count of passengers in the car increased to three.

And then, my 9 year old granddaughter Nishi decided to join us for the entire tour. We would now be four for the Indian part of journey and three for the overseas drive.

We need to carry baggage to last us three months.  We would be crossing through all types of climatic conditions – normal, cold, very cold, wet, warm, hot and very hot.  Therefore we need  to carry all types of garments.   That aside, extras like food and water, a jerrycan for spare fuel, etc were also essential for such long journeys. Anand wanted me to play safe.  He proposed that I take a bigger, better and safer vehicle than BMW X1.

Anand has reasonably good knowledge about vehicles.  He shortlisted a vehicle each from Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, Land Rover and Toyota.  Land rover is expensive and  even its 3-year used model without warranty was almost same cost as a new vehicle of other brands with warranty.  Also, Land Rover has a more sophisticated mechanism.  In case of a breakdown, we might not find knowledgeable mechanics or spare parts. Hence we gave up the idea of second-hand Rover.  We further narrowed the selection down to either Toyota Land Cruiser or BMW X-5.  We had a series of meetings with the marketing executives of these brands.  Dealers of BMW offered to provide certain facilities.  Trusting them, we selected to go ahead with X-5. The trailer however

Badri Pushpa with Soham

Badri Pushpa with Soham

was slightly different than the movie we saw / are seeing … the post-sales service was drastically different to earlier promises, up to a point where, in one case, it had put our entire expedition at risk of cancellation. Without dwelling into the details, we decided to continue with BMW.

By coincidence, this is the type of car Anand wanted to buy for two years now. But since our current cars were not even a year old then, the decision was deferred.

One by one, items got checked on the to-do list: Itinerary, timings, hotel bookings, vehicle.  Years ago when I dreamt of such an expedition, I wondered “How To Do It?”.  Now, I have removed the “How To” and “?” and am left with “Do It!”

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

To be continued………………

Road to London # 11 – Driving Duration a Day

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In continuation of earlier blog RTL # …………………………

Having decided to make this trip, I had to plan my itinerary.  Once a date is frozen, planning various aspects of the travel becomes even more energised.  It inspires you to study and enjoy planning.  We would cross the Indian border from Manipur to Myanmar  on 16 April 2017.  Keeping a buffer for unexpected events, we plan to reach there a day in advance.  I back-calculated to fix a departure date from home.  I laid down some basic principles:

  • No night-driving.   Of course, we drive carefully.  But we cannot control how others on the road drive. It is said that the highest number of drunk drivers are on road between midnight and 3AM. Supposedly, fatal crashes are four times higher at night than during the day. Right from the time I started driving in 1973, I have preferred to drive only in daylight.   On rare occasions,  I drive at night, that too only on well lit roads that have dividers.  For long drives, I make it a point to start early in the morning and break for the day by 3 or 4PM. So, you safely reach the destination by sunset, even if there is any delay due to congestion.
  • Comfortable number of hours per day. I initially considered driving 8 hours a day.     Normally, for a full day’s drive you need an extra 30-35% of drive time for rest and food breaks.

    Pushpa Getting Ready to Drive to London

    That would mean a total travelling time of 10 to 11 hours a day.   A 6AM start gets you to the destination by 4 or 5 pm.  This is not difficult.  Especially, with Pushpa taking up a couple of hours of driving, it seemed quite comfortable.

Once Nishi confirmed to join us, I revised the drive time.  8 hours in the car for two and a half months is a bit much. To maintain excitement till the end, I had to make it interesting and not tiring for the child. Till we reach the Indian border, I revised the drive time to an average of about 6 hours per day. Including breaks, it would still add up to 8 hours a day.  A little delayed start every morning, say at 7 or even 8AM would take us to the revised destination by 3AM. That gives us enough time for a comfortable breakfast, have lunch on the way and reach the destination by the time we are ready for a mid-afternoon snack.  It also left scope to spend about 2-3 hours to visit interesting places around the destination or on the way.  Or just relax.

  • Break from driving. After every 3-4 days, I scheduled a day’s rest. At most, we could go for nominal sight-seeing.  I’ve made a list of interesting sites on the route.
  • Booking accommodation – tricky business. Our dates of travel coincide with peak holiday season: March-June.  Choice hotels during this period are booked well in advance particularly at tourist cities, forest resorts and sanctuaries.  It is important to have right spots to stay in places like Darjeeling, Gangtok, Cherrapunjee, Kaziranga etc.  The earlier one books, the better the options.
    • Selecting accommodation for the 24 nights in India was a little tricky.  It was necessary to consider certain important factors.   I prefer hotels on the highway rather than those in the city. That would save time of negotiating downtown streets.
    • If we find out about spots worth visiting but unknown to me as of now, we should have the flexibility to change the itinerary.  That would mean changing hotel bookings. Therefore, even if it meant paying a little more, I opted for bookings that allowed cancellation or changes free of cost.
    • We need a decent hotel each day. If we are tempted by a good hotel, and cut our journey short on a particular day, it will be difficult to cover the extra distance, the next day.  At the same time stretching longer on a particular day to get to an attractive hotel can make the journey tiring.
    • We know many people who live in towns that are on our route. They have graciously asked us to stay with them. It is always a pleasure to stay with relatives and friends.  Staying with them give us time to interact on the local conditions, activities and culture.  But many a time, a lot of time is lost in formalities.   Excessive insistence in eating is a problem that disrupts the digestion system – which we cannot afford.  Hence, we have chosen to decline some of these offers.

After considering these parameters, I booked accommodation.  I had a real tough time to fix locations on certain stretches like Mumbai to Ayodhya and Varnasi to Darjeeling.

Of course, there have been many revisions in the itinerary.    And every change in itinerary, even it is of a single day resulted in a series of changes in accommodation.  With every change, I changed hotel bookings.  I don’t want to miss out on any sites, just because I had to put in some extra effort. I did not lose my patience. Though confusing and complicated, I started enjoying and learning out of it. It is good I had ‘free cancellation’  terms in my bookings!

I have revised my itinerary almost 10 times and I had to change hotel bookings on all 10 revisions!

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

To be continued……………..

Road To London # 9 – My Brave Bachchus

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In continuation of earlier blog RTL # 8 – The Influential Hidden Character

The route I planned for my route within India, from Mumbai to Imphal would pass through places of historical and religious importance, national parks and sanctuaries, entertainment centers and caves, toy trains and ropeways etc.  These are the places which would be of special interest to children.  We would also be embracing through some of the most beautiful places in the world.  Any one passing through these would develop a special relation with nature.

Generally the inbuilt dangers of adventure travel are hyped.  They are projected as much more dangerous than they actually are.  This discourages youngsters to take such trips.

One of my grandchildren Nishi was with us in the 9-day Iceland driving trip.  Inspite of

all the known fears, Nishi joined us for Iceland.  During problematic situations there, Nishi proved to be the calmest and bravest amongst the three of us.  Any problem we had, whether it was on top of a lava or an ice mountain, mobiling on glacier, running around huge waterfalls, she smilingly enjoyed facing them, as if she was playing a new game. I realised during that trip that kids are in fact, more mature in handling problems!  I was wondering if I could create some interest in such travels in the youngsters of our family.

I have four grandchildren.  One is just 3 years old and the other three are in the 9-14 age range.   I thought it would be great if the children joined the journey.  It would be a life-time experience for them at such a young age.

I sent a message to my children, inviting any one grandchild to join us.

Yes, “any one” was for a good reason. The travel is scheduled at exam season. Naturally they hesitated.  We got “no” as an answer from all of them. Never mind!

After a week or so, Nishi and her parents, Nilesh and Seema, probably re-thought about the opportunity. They asked if it was too late to for Nishi to join us, subject to her permissions from her school.

Nishi lives in Chelmsford, Essex, UK.   Her school authorities were extremely excited about the experience she would get in this trip!  They were thrilled in an instant and granted her special permission. The Head of Academics wrote, “What a fantastic experience (it would be)! Nishi’s teachers are aware that she will be absent and nearer the time I will liaise with them in order to ensure work is provided for Nishi whilst she is away…..We very much look forward to hearing all about Nishi’s travels when she returns!”.  Fantastic!  What a positive approach and support from the school! Nishi confirmed to take the journey with us.

Once I had the confirmation from Nishi, I added a few places en-route which would be of special interest to her.  But I did not extend beyond 21 days. I deleted some of the places of lesser importance.  I revised my itinerary.  Probably, by now it has had 10+ revisions.  I back-calculated and provisionally fixed 26th March 2017 as the day for departure from Mumbai.

Thereafter my other grand daughter Ruhi, settled in Pune, also expressed her interest to

join us.  We reconsidered, if we could accommodate her too.  But, then we had to be practical.  It was a long journey.  We weren’t comfortable with the idea of more than three persons + luggage to survive for that duration, in one car!  Pushpa and I are in our 60s and 70s.  Managing ourselves and our health itself is a good enough challenge!  We could manage one child.  Managing two children and their health could potentially become difficult on a long journey. Against our own wishes, we had to restrict to one child only.

A week after, I sought the blessings of our Guruji, Jagathguru Sri Sridharacharyaji of Ayodhya.  I explained our plans.  He called back to say that I should change the date of departure.    I could not have shortened the number of days as it was already hectic.  Nor did I want to miss any of the selected places.  Undoubtedly, leaving a day or two earlier would provide a slight relief to the itinerary.  Guruji therefore, fixed the flag off time as 10 am on Friday, 24th March 2017 as auspicious!

So it is now 23 days of travel from West to East of India, before we cross Indian borders.

That is not all,,,,,, abhi picture baaki hai!

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

  To be continued …………………

Road to London # 5 – Fitness Matters

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The decision was made. But, but, but….  Would the group be comfortable to take a 72-year old person on such a trip? After all, it is a 2-month long trip with lots of potential for things to go wrong. Each participant’s fitness is key to the success of the trip.

I realised the importance of this particularly when I organised the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2010. There were at least 4 people (out of 98) who had difficulty in adjusting to the high altitude. Emergency arrangements were required and two of them had to make an early exit. The other two took an additional day to acclimatise. But again separate arrangements had to be made for them to join the group.

When travelling in groups, transparency on health issues is extremely important. In the same trip, one of the participants was shy and did not mention his discomfort (health-related). This proved fatal. We lost him forever.

My co-travellers ought to know my age from the outset. I was determined that if people from the group had reservations about my age, I would organize the trip for the two of us, myself. My contingency plan was ready.

Tushar and Sanjay

I called Tushar and Sanjay to tell them about my driving trip to Iceland last year and about the trekking expeditions I had made after 60 years of age.  They appreciated my enthusiasm and said that I didn’t even sound like a senior citizen. They were happy to have me!

It is the spirit and fitness that matter and not age!

While both Pushpa and I have been lucky to enjoy good health, we do take special efforts to stay fit. Often fitness is a topic of conversation in many social and even business meetings.  Every one has their own “funda” to maintain fitness.  This includes diet, regular walks, playing proper sports, etc.

Normally 6 to 8 in the morning I keep busy with my yoga meditation.  I don’t even take phone calls during these two hours.  Art of Living needs special mention here in maintaining my health and boosting my spirits.  Sri Sri Ravishankarji’s Sudarshan Kriya has been a part of my daily, morning routine for the last 9 years.  Similarly, Pushpa does her own yoga and kriya routine.

As far as diet is concerned, we come across the popular quote, “”Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper!”  However I have been following for the last few 40-50 years, “Apple a day for breakfast, two chapattis for lunch and a full for dinner.  For any reason if I am awake till midnight, a midnight snack is not uncommon!  This works for me!” Pushpa, on the other hand, has her own diet regime which includes fasts and carb-free days.

Never sleep immediately after lunch is the normal advise.  I somehow got accustomed to a regular nap or relaxation of 10 to 15 minutes immediately after lunch.  This keeps me fresh and fit the entire day.

Considering my lower back spondylitis, cervical and knee joint problems, 15 years ago, doctors advised me to discontinue playing sports that involve any sudden jerks. I got back home and sobed. I couldn’t imagine life without my regular dose of squash. After a week or two, I begun to feel sick.  I restarted playing squash and recovered.  Of course, I restricted it to 2 or 3 times a week.

Pushpa’s knees took a heavier toll so she had to stop trekking. However, she is extremely disciplined about her therapy exercises and does whatever walking/other yoga her knees permit.

That aside, both of us love our 2 to 6 km a day walk.  This has gone a long way in keeping us fit.

We’ve maintained this routine for the last 40+ years, that it doesn’t feel special any more. We listen to all fitness advice and pick what we think suits us best. But whatever we did, we maintained regularity.

The main factor though I think is I try to follow timeliness as sincerely as is possible, be it is food, exercise, sleep or wake up time.  This consistency is the secret to good health, according to me. Further, we give more importance to listening to our own bodies compared to external advice.  We follow what suited us the best even if it meant exactly contradictory to norm.  Stubborn as it may sound, it works!

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra