Unplanned solo trips can be food for soul
Last December, I had chosen to set myself free from the routine and went to visit a friend in Kapurthala. It was a one-day trip and I was supposed to return the next morning. We were having fun until the news of a Punjab bandh called by farmers from 9am to 6pm the next day flashed on TV. Hoping to dodge the protest, I decided to take the bus back to Chandigarh at 7am.
My friend dropped me at the Jalandhar bus stand before heading to work in the misty morning. To my surprise, not a single bus was running. I waited an hour only to be told that there would be no bus service till the evening. Going back to Kapurthala didn't seem practical with my friend off to work. In the hurry to catch the morning bus, I had even forgotten the phone charger. Sitting at the bus stand was the last thing I wanted to do that winter morning. So, I made a call to another friend and asked him about the places I could visit in the city. Of all the places he mentioned, I chose to go to the Ghadar Movement Museum simply because it was a kilometre away from the bus stand.
The museum building, painted in red and white, looked serene with hardly any visitors. On the left stood a bookshop and on entering the premises, I found a library with a few students studying in scattered corners. In the museum, I met Ravinder Kumari Kochhar, a lady in her late eighties, wearing a green scarf on her white hair. She gave me a guided tour of the museum, telling me about Kartar Singh Sarabha, Lala Har Dayal, and all prominent figures of the Ghadar Party, who had envisioned an independent country for their people, free of any discrimination and had sacrificed their life for the cause.
Seeing the pictures of sacrifices, hardships and the Komagata Maru ship, there was a subtle realisation of what freedom had cost our forefathers. With much zeal, my elderly guide narrated the story behind each picture. Her voice was as vibrant as the red colour in a 'Ghadar di Gunj' poster. As she held my hand during the tour, she reminded me of my grandmother who would often take our support to climb stairs.
The lady was compassionate enough to help me with the charger. As I put my phone to charge, she took me to her room on the first floor which was full of pictures of her family. On top of the wall stood a flag of the Communist party and a photo of Stalin. She told me how she had devoted her life to the nation and chosen not to marry. Having shown all the pictures, she took me to the cafeteria. The food was kept on the table, each person serving themselves and washing their plate afterwards. It was a simple meal that felt like home.
The lady bid me adieu with a warm hug, and I left for my next destination, the Tripurmalini Shakti Peeth Temple. Like Harmandar Sahib, the temple is surrounded by water. I sat beside it, letting the still water seep calmness in me. Having watched the sunset, I made my way back to the bus stand. Gladly, buses had started plying and soon I was on my way home, wiser and more grateful.
priyanka.thakur@hindustantimes.com
The writer is a correspondent with Hindustan Times, Chandigarh.
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Hindustan Times
11-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
Unplanned solo trips can be food for soul
With 10% of battery charge left in my phone, I sat sulking at the Jalandhar bus stand. Bus operations to Chandigarh were to resume 10 hours later at 5pm. I wondered what to do with the time on hand. Last December, I had chosen to set myself free from the routine and went to visit a friend in Kapurthala. It was a one-day trip and I was supposed to return the next morning. We were having fun until the news of a Punjab bandh called by farmers from 9am to 6pm the next day flashed on TV. Hoping to dodge the protest, I decided to take the bus back to Chandigarh at 7am. My friend dropped me at the Jalandhar bus stand before heading to work in the misty morning. To my surprise, not a single bus was running. I waited an hour only to be told that there would be no bus service till the evening. Going back to Kapurthala didn't seem practical with my friend off to work. In the hurry to catch the morning bus, I had even forgotten the phone charger. Sitting at the bus stand was the last thing I wanted to do that winter morning. So, I made a call to another friend and asked him about the places I could visit in the city. Of all the places he mentioned, I chose to go to the Ghadar Movement Museum simply because it was a kilometre away from the bus stand. The museum building, painted in red and white, looked serene with hardly any visitors. On the left stood a bookshop and on entering the premises, I found a library with a few students studying in scattered corners. In the museum, I met Ravinder Kumari Kochhar, a lady in her late eighties, wearing a green scarf on her white hair. She gave me a guided tour of the museum, telling me about Kartar Singh Sarabha, Lala Har Dayal, and all prominent figures of the Ghadar Party, who had envisioned an independent country for their people, free of any discrimination and had sacrificed their life for the cause. Seeing the pictures of sacrifices, hardships and the Komagata Maru ship, there was a subtle realisation of what freedom had cost our forefathers. With much zeal, my elderly guide narrated the story behind each picture. Her voice was as vibrant as the red colour in a 'Ghadar di Gunj' poster. As she held my hand during the tour, she reminded me of my grandmother who would often take our support to climb stairs. The lady was compassionate enough to help me with the charger. As I put my phone to charge, she took me to her room on the first floor which was full of pictures of her family. On top of the wall stood a flag of the Communist party and a photo of Stalin. She told me how she had devoted her life to the nation and chosen not to marry. Having shown all the pictures, she took me to the cafeteria. The food was kept on the table, each person serving themselves and washing their plate afterwards. It was a simple meal that felt like home. The lady bid me adieu with a warm hug, and I left for my next destination, the Tripurmalini Shakti Peeth Temple. Like Harmandar Sahib, the temple is surrounded by water. I sat beside it, letting the still water seep calmness in me. Having watched the sunset, I made my way back to the bus stand. Gladly, buses had started plying and soon I was on my way home, wiser and more grateful. The writer is a correspondent with Hindustan Times, Chandigarh.
The Hindu
17-05-2025
- The Hindu
Tourist arrivals at all-time high in Idukki: Riyas
The tourist inflow to Idukki was on the rise with the hill district witnessing an all-time high of tourist arrivals in the past three months, Minister for Tourism P.A. Mohamed Riyas said on Saturday. Virtually inaugurating the Kudiyetta Smarakam (settlement memorial) museum at Idukki Park near the Idukki dam and the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC)'s photo frames project, Mr. Riyas said the State tourism sector was on the path of growth. 'In the first three months of the year, 9,84,645 domestic tourists visited Idukki, which was 25% more than the previous year,' the Minister said. 'There was also a rise in the number of foreign tourists visiting the district. In the past three months, 55,033 foreign tourists visited the district, an increase of 4%,' he said. 'The settlement memorial portrays the settlement history of farmers in Idukki through installations and sculptures. The project will be an eye-opener for tourists and history enthusiasts,' said Mr. Riyas. The museum has been set up by the Tourism department at a cost of ₹3 crore in six acres. The sculptures cover settlement history under six topics. Agitations by settler farmers have also been portrayed in the museum, including the protests led by Communist leader A.K. Gopalan and Fr. Joseph Vadakkan. The sculptures depicting AKG and Fr. Vadakkan portray their interaction with farmers against the backdrop of a settlement village. Human-animal conflict in the district has also been portrayed in the museum. Farmers chasing away wild animals from farmlands is depicted. Portraits of early farming practices are also featured here. The DTPC's photo frames project is another innovative project to attract tourists. The DTPC has set up photo frames in seven major tourism destinations in Idukki to give tourists a chance to click photos and selfies. Photo frames have been set up in Wagamon Meadows, Wagamon Adventure Park, Idukki Hill View Park, Panchalimedu, Ramakkalmedu, Aruvikuzhi and Sreenarayanapuram Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine presided over the meeting. District Collector V. Vigneshwari, district panchayat president Rarichen Neeranakunnel, and DTPC secretary Jithesh Jose, among others, were present.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Time of India
Booming tourism and climate change threaten Albania's coast
TIRANA: Albania's coast is being hit by a double whammy of climate change and chaotic tourist development. From Velipoja in the north where the waves are swallowing a century-old forest, to the tourist hotspot of Golem where galloping construction of hotels and restaurants is accelerating erosion, the country's often spectacular is under threat. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "Out of Albania's 273 kilometres (169 miles) of coastline some 154 are affected by erosion," urban planning specialist Besjana Shehu told AFP. Tourism in the Balkan nation is booming, from 5.1 million visitors in 2018 to 10.1 million in 2023. But new hotels, restaurants and beach bars are also taking their toll on nature. Rising sea level due to climate change is further complicating the situation. In Velipoja, a protected area close to the border with Montenegro, the sea is advancing more than five metres a year. It has already eaten 210 metres into the coastal forest, threatening an entire ecosystem that cannot live in salt water. Dozens of pine trunks lie strewn on the sand, many uprooted by violent storms late last month. "Velipoja Park is shrinking," warned Agim Dardha, head of the protected areas agency for the Shkodra region. "In the past 10 years alone it has lost more than 30 hectares (74 acres)," he said. Death of an island Franz Jozeph island at the mouth of the nearby Buna River still figures on the maps and tourist guides. But it actually vanished in 2012 after being swallowed by the sea. Named by Austrian cartographers in 1870 after Emperor Franz Joseph I, the island was made up of rich alluvial soil. Located only 150 metres from the coast, its 19.5 hectares were covered with trees and wild vegetation. "A paradise for many species of seabirds, a haven of peace for us too... it is totally gone," lamented Lule Coli, who runs a small beach bar nearby. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now But the construction of dams and hydroelectric power plants in the area hastened its death, said Ervis Krymi, geography professor at the Shkodra University. In Kune, a few kilometres further south, locals are also worried. There are more big storms every year and the shore now looks like a tree graveyard. "As a result of climate change in recent years, the sea has become very aggressive, advancing towards the land at a frantic pace that exceeds all forecasts," said Jak Gjini, an environment expert. In some areas it is pushing 20 metres inland every year, he added. Flooding Communist-era bunkers built along the coast in the 1970s have disappeared under the waves. But the storms also took small seaside bars run by locals. The force of the sea was so strong the sandbag barriers they put up were useless. "There used to be two bunkers here. Now they're submerged," said Vera Faslliaj, who runs a small restaurant called Poseidon, named after the Greek god of the sea. "The sea is coming and will take everything... in four or five years there won't be anything left here," she added. Albanian authorities say that rising sea levels pose severe flood risks to many of the country's urban areas. By the end of the decade more than a third of coastal areas will suffer direct consequences of flooding, according to the national civil protection agency. In Golem, just south of the resort city of Durres, hotel owners are worried about the authorities' seeming indifference to finding solutions and curbing uncontrolled building along the coast. "The sea cannot wait for the authorities to wake up," hotel administrator Edvin Dule said. Around 70 metres of Golem's beach has been lost in the past 16 years. Hotels springing up like mushrooms have further exacerbated the erosion and are shrinking the beaches on which they depend to attract tourists, locals say. "It's a very worrying phenomenon that directly impacts the economy and tourism," Dule said. "If we cannot offer what tourists expect -- umbrellas, deckchairs and activities on the sand -- we reduce the quality of what we offer, which will translate into lower visitor numbers."
