My best friends - Pigeons on my terrace

I feed more than 100 pigeons 2 to 3 times everyday. I have been doing this since past 15 months. I came to know lots of things about what pigeons think.

Near my house there are lots of trees and there is big open place on my terrace.
I put grain (mixture of sorghum & rice) on terrace to feed pigeons. Pigeons love sorghum. I do it 3 times in a day : Morning (7AM) . afternoon (1 PM) & evening  5 PM. Nearly 100 pigeons eat every time. They will be sitting on nearby  trees and waiting for me to put grain and few minutes after I put grain, they start eating. 

From my observation & experience I could infer following things about what pigeons possibly think or feel.

1. They need initiator

When I put grain on terrace they dont come immediately from nearby trees. They wait for sometime. I see a strange pattern here that they need one of them to start moving to terrace. When one pigeon comes and sits, immediately rest of them follow and within next 1 minute I see more than hundred pigeons on terrace.

2. Some will be guarding

While most pigeons will be eating, some will be guarding them. As you can see in picture below. some are sitting at height and watching for bigger birds or cats in all directions. When they sense a danger or sudden movement on terrace they suddenly fly and rest eating there will follow. They keep rotating their positions. So those eating will replace guards and guards start eating then. Very good co-ordination.

 

There is a stray cat in our street. I have tough time saving pigeons from her. Cats are very smart and difficult to stop. We had put a small door on they way to terrace to stop cats and dogs reaching terrace. Dogs could be stopped but cats could jump it easily everyday with some tricks. Now I have put up a bigger door (built it myself) on terrace. Cats are completely stopped now.


3. Eating habits

• They eat very quickly. I put nearly 2 kgs of grain each time. They need 15 minutes to finish it.
• I see sometime while eating some pigeons will start rotating in circle (kind of dancing). I think it expresses their feeling of joy.
• Sometimes I dont disperse food widely. Usually when I am in hurry I dont disperse grain widely over large area. In such cases I found that some of them will start eating and rest will be waiting on tree. Those eating on terrace will not finish the food completely but would leave the place and go back to trees and those from tree will come and start eating. This is amazing co-ordination and it shows how they care for each other. Such a wonderful creature.
• I see that they stop eating food nearly 1 hour before sunset and dont eat nearly 1 hour after sunrise. I dont know why. This is my observation. However, I think crows dont follow such things.

4. Most harmless creature

I think pigeons are vegetarian. I never saw them harming any other creature. I find them very innocent.

Overall I found myself lucky to have so many pigeons on terrace everyday. They are innocent. I call them my friend. Kids those who come to my house get thrilled after seeing so many pigeons eating together. I always thanks my father who started this practice when he came to my house last year. I since then following it. You must at least keep bowl of water on terrace for birds during summer. The feeling of joy when you see it empty end of the day is amazing.

Char Dham Yatra Experience

Char Dham Yatra

Jai Shree Ganesh ji

Char Dham Yatra

State of Uttarakhand, India

Yamunotri, Gangotri. Kedarnath, Badrinath

Update on 16th November 2013:
The information on this page was written after my char dham yatra experience in June 2010. However, after the June 2013 floods in Uttarakhand all the information mentioned in this page may not be correct now. I suggest you do not travel to char dham yatra at least till 2014 May. Char dham temples would open in May 2014. Make a fresh enquiry then about the yatra and plan accordingly. I would try to get latest information about traveling there and update this page.


Contents

1. Char Dham yatra overview.
2. Travel Arrangements
3. usual travel itinerary
4. Important points while traveling
5. Important points while trekking
6. Darshan details of each of the temples in char dham
7. Maps
8. Important points to remember and main things to carry
9. Questions
10. Photos

1. Char Dham Yatra Oveview:

Char dham yatra is one of the most sacred pilgrimages of Hindu religion.

In this pilgrimage we visit following temples in the state of uttarakhand in India.

1. Yamunotri
2. Gangotri
3. Kedarnath
4. Badrinath

(Hence the name: char dham yatra. Char = four , dham = sacred place, yatra = journey )

Most of the people usually start this journey from Haridwar. Haridwar city is in uttarakhand. People start journey to char dham from haridwar and come back to haridwar after visiting char dham.

Most of the people visit the 4 temples in the order I mentioned above –

Haridwar – Yamunotri – Gangotri – Kedarnath -- Badrinath. -- Haridwar

Important: Out of 4 temples above, yamunotri and kedarnath are not accessible by road. You need to trek certain distance. For Yamunotri vehicles only go till janaki chatti and you need to trek 7 kms from Janaki chatti. In case of kedarnath the trek is 16 kms.

For Gangotri and Badrinath vehicles go till the temples so no need to trek.

The entire journey takes around 9-10 days for most of the people. The entire journey will be in hilly areas only and hence your driver must be comfortable driving in those hilly areas.

The char dham temples open from month of May to October only. (Usually temples open on Akshya trirtya which occurs mostly in month of April or May). Most of the people visit temples in May-June time. In October the temples will be closed again for next 6 months.

2. Travel Arrangements

There are lots of bus tours from Haridwar. The bus tours cost quite less and usually arranged by most of the travel agencies there. They take care of travel, accommodation and food for passengers.

If you have your own vehicles and but if you are not comfortable driving in hilly areas please don’t try. Better hire a driver from any travel agency in Haridwar. I am not sure how much it costs, but I heard that driver takes 300 Rs. per day, I am not sure about this. But I suggest you must NOT driver yourself.

If you are not having your own vehicle, you can hire car from any travel agency. We had hired a Chevorelet Tavera from a travel agency. He charged us 2300 Rs. per day, nothing extra. The prices may vary from time to time. When temples open sometime in month of May prices will be higher. May – June time the prices will be higher compare to later months.

You can also book entire tour from Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Limited (GMVNL). It is a government agency. You can get more information about them from their website: http://www.gmvnl.com/newgmvn/

3. This is the usual travel itinerary.

Day 1: Start early morning from Haridwar and reach either Syana chatti or hanuman chatti. Yamunotri is 20 kms from syana chatti and 13 kms from hanuman chatti. There are many hotels in syana chatti and hanuman chatti. You must take room in hotel here and stay here in night and leave for yamunotri early morning.

Day 2: Reach Janaki chatti early morning. Start climbing up for yamunotri from here. It is 7 kms and nearly takes 3-4 hrs to reach temple. After Temple Darshan Come back to janaki chatti and drive back to your hotel in syana chatti (or hanuman chatti).

Day 3: Start early morning to reach Gangotri. You can not reach gangotri in entire day travel. You need to halt in the middle. We halted at Netala (8 km north of Uttar Kashi on the way to Gangotri). Netala is very beautiful place. You can also stay in Uttar Kashi.

Day 4: Start early morning. Gangotri is 90 Kms from Netala. It takes 4 to 4.5 hrs to reach Gangotri usually from here. Reach Gangotri, do darshan and come back to Netala to stay overnight.

Day 5: Start early morning from here.to reach Kedarnath. You can not go to Kedarnath by vehicle. You reach Gauri Kund in vehicle stay here in the night.

Day 6: Start climbing up to reach Kedarnath. The total distance you need to walk from Gauri Kund to Kedarnath is 16 Kms. It takes usually 5-6 Hrs. Visit Kedarnath temple and stay kedarnath in night.

Day 7: Climb down to Gauri Kund from Kedarnath and start traveling to Badrinath. You need to halt in the middle at Joshi math . Stay night in Joshi Math.

Day 8: Start from Joshi Math to reach Badrinath. It will take 2-3 Hrs (may be more sometimes). Stay in Badrinath.

Day 9: Start from Badrinath to reach Haridwar. You can halt at Vishnu Prayag on the way.

Day 10: Start early morning to reach Haridwar. Hrishikesh comes on the way, you must visit this.

4. Important points while traveling

1. The driver MUST be expert in driving in hilly areas. If possible hire a driver from Haridwar or hire a car from any travel agency in Haridwar.
2. Plan for every day’s travel in advance
3. Start traveling early morning every day of travel usually by 6:30 AM
4. Avoid traveling in night. Stop driving when it gets dark.

5, Important points while trekking

As I mentioned earlier that, yamunotri and kedarnath Temples are not accessible by road. You need to trek certain distance. For Yamunotri vehicles only go till janaki chatti and you need to trek 7 kms from Janaki chatti. In case of kedarnath the trek is 16 kms.

For Gangotri and Badrinath the vehicle go till the temples so no need to trek.

There are various options to trek if you don’t want to walk.

1. Pony or Horse

2. Palki

3. Kandi

On the trek you would get lots of shops and restaurants to have food. Mostly you would get Paronthas (paranthas), Maggi Noodles, Lemonade, Tea, Drinking water etc.

Don’t carry lot of luggage while trekking. If you are planning to stay overnight (Mostly you might have to stay overnight in Kedarnath), then carry one pair of clothes. There are lots of restaurants and hotels near Temples, so no need to carry much stuff even if you stay overnight.

When you are trekking you may not feel much cold as you would be sweating a lot, but still carry warm clothes.

It is advised to carry camphor (kapoor) while climbing up. While trekking you must keep camphor in you hand (or put it in cloth or handkerchief) and keep smelling it while climbing up. It is helpful since some times there can be lack of oxygen.

Asthmatic patient or those who have any sort of breathing problems should not walk the distance. You MUST go on palki/kandi/pony and also keep camphor with you. In kedarnath you get oxygen cylinders also. You can keep them with you while climbing up, if you feel you might need it. It could cost nearly 50 Rs and when you come down you can return the cylinder. They would ask for deposit (may be 500 Rs) and they refund this money when you return the cylinder after getting down. I hardly saw anyone carrying oxygen cylinder, so I think it is usually not needed and I think it is good for people having any breathing problem or Asthmatic patients.

Sometimes it might rain when you are trekking, so if possible carry a raincoat as well. But on the way while trekking you would get cheap raincoats (10 / 20 Rs.) at most of the shops, so even if you don’t carry you can buy on the way if it rains.

The entire trekking experience is very smooth and you would not find any problems. There will be so many people who would be trekking and also many shops and restaurants you would not find any problems.

Even the people who carry kandi/Palki are very good. I found them very good natured and hard working. You would not find cheaters or fraud people there. Most of them are nice and honest.

Following is list of things to carry while trekking:

1. Medicines
2. Warm clothes
3. Rain coats or umbrella (you get these on the way while trekking, may not need to carry it)
4. Torch/Candles (helpful if you planning to stay overnight, though there is full electricity supply in all places, but still in case you need it)
5. Camphor

6. Darshan details of each of the temples in char dham

6.1 Yamunotri

Trekking for Yamunotri starts from Janaki chatti. Vehicles will be parked at Janaki Chatti and people start climbing up from here to Yamunotri Temple. Total trek is nearly 7 Kms. It takes 3-4 Hrs totally. Pony and kandi cost less but palki costs nearly 1500 to 2000 Rs (may vary). This includes climbing down as well.

Yamunotri Temple.(Yellow colored)

There is a hot water spring at the temple. It is called Surya Kund. People bath here and then visit the temple. Temple has statues of Goddess Yamuna, Ganga and Saraswati.It is an awesome place.

Adjacent to temple there is a place where goddess Yamuna is worshiped. Below is picture of that place.

Godess Yamuna worship places

Many people take water from Yamuna in small plastic bottles and take it home. There are many restaurants there and also small hotels to stay if you want.

6.2 Gangotri

On the way to Gangotri there is hot water spring place called Gangnani. Gangani comes after uttarkashi. People take bath here and then continue journey to Gangotri. After reaching Gangotri you visit Gangotri temple. Gangotri temple is temple of Goddess Ganga. Temple will be closed in afternoon (I think from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM) so try to reach before 2:00 PM. There will be small queue for Darshan. Go around the temple and see beautiful natural places.

Following is picture of Gangotri temple.

Gangotri Temple

Near temple there are lots of restaurants for food.

6.3 Kedarnath
Kedarnath is Lord Shiva temple and is one among the 12 jyotirlingam. The trekking for kedarnath starts from Gaurikund. Total distance you need to walk is 16 Kms. If you don’t want to walk the entire distance you can take Pony or Palki or Kandi. I mentioned details of these above.

For Kedarnath there is option of taking helicopter service as well. You can take helicopter to reach to kedarnath. It takes 10 mins to reach kedarnath. There are good helicopter services. The cost would be 7200/ per person for round trip. You can also take one way service. The one way cost would be nearly 4000 Rs per person (may be less). They only operate during day time (mostly close the service by 4 or 5 PM). If weather is not good, then they do not operate. Even if you have taken a round trip option then also you can stay overnight you can come back next day in helicopter. Clarify everything in their office. You would find their office near Gauri Kund. I had taken the helicopter service for one way and found it good. No problem in the service.

If you are trekking it would take 5-6 Hrs to reach kedarnath. So you must start by at least 8 AM. Mostly you can not come back on the same day. You must stay night in Kedarnath and come down next day. Once you reach kedarnath, you can do darshan here and also take a room in hotel. There are plenty of hotels nearby temple. Apart from darhshan, if you want to do puja inside the temple then you can contact the temple office (adjacent to temple) for additional sevas (e.g. abhisheka). The sevas are performed early morning 2 AM to 6 AM and then temple opens for usual darshan. You can take morning abhishek which would be at 3 AM (earlier or later). In this abhishek you do puja of main kedarnath lingam and do abhisheka. It would be for 15-20 mins. So good for those who would like to do pujas. You MUST take bath and then only go for early morning pujas (sevas/abhisheka). You must tell your hotel people to arrange hot water early morning in advance so that you don’t get delayed for puja. Please DO NOT go without taking bath. Its an offense.

Following is picture of Kedarnath temple.

There are lots of restaurants nearby temple and enjoy the good food there.

Among the 4 temples, I found kedarnath little tougher (because of longer trek and cold) but the experience was so great and different that I cant describe in words.

6.4 Badrinath

Badrinath is abode of Lord Vishnu. Badrinath is the last temple in char dham yatra. Vehicles go directly till badrinath and you do not need to trek at all. Once you reach there you must take room in any hotel and stay there. There is hot water spring called tapta kund here where you must take bath and then do darshan.

Similar to kedarnath, there are queues for darshan and you can take sevas here also. The sevas are different here. We had taken Vishnu Sahasranamam sevas where they chant the Vishnu Sahasranamam and we sit and listen inside the temple in front of God and it will be for 10-15 mins. If you want to see god from near then do take sevas.

Many people also do “pitru tarpan” at Badrinath Temple for their ancestors or grand parents. Do ask elderly people at home about it before doing it here.

Following is Badrinath Temple’s Picture:

MANA Village

3 Kms from Badrinath is a village called “Mana”. This is last Indian village before India china border. Do visit this village as there are some good places to see there. Lot of people go there. There is a place in Mana village where Lord Ganesha had written Mahabharata with Rishi Ved Vyasa. Following is picture from Mana Village.

7. Maps

char-dham-map

badrinath-map

kedarnath-map

gangotri-map

yamunotri-map

hemkund-sahib-map

8. Important points to remember and main things to carry

1. ATM, You would not find ATMs frequently,. I suggest withdraw cash from any city before each of the place you visit.
2. Food You would mostly get north Indian food, paronthas, curries, Maggi, tea at pilgrims.
3. Medicines
4. Carry religious books to read on the way (buy from haridwar) – This is necessary as you also get good religious background and knowledge about places before visiting them.
5. Mobile Networks – You would not get signals at many places. STD booths exist at all places. I think BSNL signal is mostly found at these places.
6. Water bottles on the way, In case you want to buy mineral water buy it on the way. People usually buy a pack of 10 mineral water bottles each 2 liter. You would get it at plenty of places on the way.
7. Camphor, Candles, Torches etc.

9. Questions:

If you have any questions regarding char dham yatra, please write them in comments sections below by clicking this link: "Post a Comment"

10. Photos:

Photos from my journey

web 2.0 revolutionizing browsing

Lately, I had been thinking of how web2.0 has changed our usual browsing experience. Then I started thinking about my own experience of web 2.0 and listed sites which made my daily browsing lot more efficient and flexible.

1. www.phulki.com

I used to hate listening songs online from bulk sites like raaga.com until I looked at www.phulki.com . I browsed it for just 10 minutes and my response was “wow”. On this site one can listen Hindi and Tamil songs online and manage play list and if possible it also gives a download link to download song. Sounds nothing great, huh? But the user interface is so lightweight and very innovative. You can search songs based on year, artists, music, singers, year, albums etc. Searching music does not change the current audio. It does not take you to different page. Entire site is on just one page. Nice use of Ajax and flash. Phulki itself does not store any songs. It plays the songs from other sites which keep songs online like http://www.dhingana.com , www.fmw11.net. etc.
Searching, adding/deleting songs, login/logout does not disturb the current music being played.
One more thing, When I accessed this site on my iphone then it does not run because iphone browser can not run any flash content. but hang on, phulki has a solutions for it. they made a special version of it for iphone. It can be accessed here. bookmark it.
overall a great startup idea.


2. erail.in

How many times you have browsed the Indian railways’ pathetically designed site www.indianrail.gov.in for PNR, accommodation etc enquiry. A simple query would take you through the multiple pages. If you type the name of city wrong, it gives up. To modifying search, you need to begin from first page again.
www.erail.in does all this on single page. Ajax based innovatively designed website which gets data from indianrai.gov.in site, but searching, querying is a lot easier on this.

Failure begets Success

Everyone has some or other fear in life. There can be many causes of fear, but i feel biggest source is negative thoughts which often come from the company of negative and pessimistic people. Most of the fear can be waived off with simple things like

- Get rid of Pessimism Company. Always stay with sensible and confident people.
- Doing things in impromptu ways often leads to unexpected results. Hence a good planning and home work before you begin is a must.
- Read success stories of people who faced hardships and how they recovered from it. It boosts up confidence.
- When you do something big, you often have the mental pressure in your mind that whether you will be successful or not. One must not think about the prominence of the task, but do it like any other task with due diligence. (Like in cricket they say: “play the ball, not the bowler”)
- Do anything which builds confidence (depends on individual)
- Failure is the mother of success. Never see failure as barrier or an end. It actually begins from there.

Look at this founders’ list. Did they have fear in mind?

All you need is a killer idea....

YouTube!!!! started in a garage in feb 2005... 65 employees... i havent used it much but heard abt it from so many ppl... all it does is upload/download/search/watch videos online... thats it.. I guess a simple work was needed to establish it .. it had got $1.3 M funding only... but sold for $1.65 B.... finally Google offered $1.65B for it. Though Google has the similar product (Google video) but they pay this gigantic amount for one more such product.. why? because YouTube is popular and millions of videos ppl watch on it .. despite of doing several efforts to improve Google video, Google lost its audience to YouTube.. and youTube employees became millionaire now….

All you need is a killer application. Think out of the box and devise a killer application and sell it to giants.. thats it.

Rumors are hot that Google is planning to buy facebook.. a social networking site.. Orkut could not do very well out of brazil.. Now Google is eying facebook.. Yahoo offering $1B to facebook.. $2.3 B is what Google offered… more than double…I believe Google offers too much to small companies.. Or is it because they left Myspace (arrogance?) and now paying double not to miss another social network, facebook…