Shanghai

Shanghai - a city that offers opportunities to trade, places to raid and amazing wonders that are man-made. A city that truly makes you forget the New Yorks & Californias of the world - you have Times square, you have People's square, and you also have the BUND, a river that divides the city. 

The beauty of Shanghai lies in its fastest infrastructure development in the Pudong area. Its been believed that there was a time when world's 50% of the JCBs were in duty in this region. The city has great network of buses, optimum supply of taxis, best quality metro and the experience of the fastest train in the world. 

When we go into hospitality, it mostly covers most of the top hospitality brands - The Grand Hayatt that has a lounge come restaurant on the 87th floor, The Ritz-Carlton that has Flair lounge on the 57th floor (the highest open air bar cum restaurant, The SWFC 93, that has an amazing dance club on the 93rd floor which is happening on Wednesdays & The Kerry Hotel that is located adjacent to the Shanghai International Expo ground. 

Xintandi at the Bund offers a narrow street with the best restaurants and pubs in the city. Bar Rough located on the famous Cartier building facing the Bund river is undoubtedly the best club of the city with M18 located on the 3rd floor in the same building.

For vegetarians - Element Fresh, The Punjab Grill, Bukhara and Delhi Durbar are the saviours. The currency RMB or YUAN is very reasonably priced at 0.10 as compared to indian rupee. 

The city has immense potential to be strongest country in the world by 2015. I hope to be a frequent visitor to this country and experience the richness of hard work, focus and dedication that the citizens of the country have towards their work.

 

Chance

Sometimes all you need is a second chance because time wasn't ready for the first one. A consistent performer is always the one who brings back glory. It is not always important to be on the top, sometimes life gives you a second chance so that you can prepare yourself to achieve something bigger. 

Standing at the cricket pitch and scoring a six from the first ball sounds magical but no one really evaluates the hard work and practice that goes behind to get that level of confidence. I don't want to relate life with cricket coz life is surely not a game, but it's a stage where you perform and earn credibility, fame, money, people and many such things that make up a complete world. Not everyone performs fair and thus we come across people who take the wrong path to achieve the artificial glory. 

I have gone through failure and I have also felt the happiness of winning but both the feelings taught me lessons that govern my personality and actions. Winning gave me confidence of being the best in a certain thing among certain performers but the failure taught me that there is a bigger world that is outside my cocoon where I have people who are better. 

Getting a second chance is not just a coincidence, it's a signal from the top that there is surely something that was lacking during the first performance. I hope my gest is accomplished with these small little chances that my life keeps offering at every turn and I make a better use of them to be a better person, a better human. 

The Chadar - an experience for life!

Not many know about the Chadar trek that happens in Leh, India during January-February; but people who have heard or experienced it would surely have a lot to share. 

It's one of the most beautiful treks in the world that not only tests u on your fitness but also on your body tolerance level. The trek happens in the peak winters when half of the ladhak is shut and deserted and most of the local people shift to other towns to escape the harsh weather conditions. Someone has rightly said that 'God has painted the universe in many colors - but the most beautiful parts are painted in white'. 

The trek is a 70km walk on snow, ice, sand and stone. The blanket, called the Chadar, that is created by frozen water on the upper crust of zanskar river, which originates in northern region of J&K and merges into Indus, is the the path on which the trekkers walk. The weather conditions are harsh enough to take a toll on your body. Day temperature ranges between -15 to -25 degrees whereas nights go as down as -40: a temperature good enough to extinguish fire, turn vegetables into stone and give frost bites. Even after wearing 4 layers of top and bottom, a man can shiver to death. There are moments when your feet and hands turn num - at that moment, even if they are put in fire, one won't feel any heat. Brushing and bathing are like alien terms while u on trek. 

Hearing all the above, a person might get a feel that 'what's the point in risking so much just for a trek?'. But there is a flip side to it. The beauty, the experience and the adventure is far more satisfying than the harsh conditions. The beauty of the trek lies in the frozen waterfalls, snow leopard paw marks, caves and the cold water that turns into ice within seconds when taken in hand or thrown on someone. When you are on the trek, you feel miserable. But once you are back, you know what you have achieved. A person who has never done ice skating will surely come back as a pro. A person who has never hiked on mountains will experience the most thrilling hiking expeditions during this trek. 

One might feel that going and coming is the same path on the trek, so what's exciting while one is on the backward journey? But one fails to evaluate the dynamic changes that happen on an hourly basis at -25 degrees. It's not necessary that places where u found water while going up will still be soft when u are back and the hard Chadar will remain the same throughout. The transformation of ice and water happens every night. 

There is one more attraction to this trek apart from the beauty it offers. Luckily, the mobile network operators haven't been able to reach these points and thus the entire area is network free. The phones don't work - the only way to connect with people is through satellite phone which is available in a small village which is at the tip of the trek. This reminds you of time when mobile phone was just a concept. A person can easily cut himself away from the world and live the beauty, silence and experience. 

I had the opportunity to live this experience with some wonderful people. Some expert trekkers, some enthusiasts and some nature lovers. I don't think anyone can comprehend the beauty in words that Chadar offers but the little incidents and experiences that you have on the trek are something that can surely be boasted about. 

Jhulle!!