Glad you are safely home, but I understand about not wanting your trip to be over.

Welcome home as you enjoy and cherish the amazing memories.
Waiting for more experiences and also curious to know what sort of shopping did you do?
Did you discover some truly unique items?
Hope the coming weekend will inspire you to rest, relax and write.

Thanks guys, in a way it’s nice to be home. I appreciate the little things like a hot shower and toilet paper that respects its perforations. At the same time it’s overwhelming, we’re about to make an offer on a house way out in the country to escape this concrete jungle, M will retire, and I’m planning a direct action for my precious lake where I and many others may be arrested....
ileen, I’m trying to become a minimalist, so shopping was not high on the agenda. There were however, a few special little purchases which I’ll reveal in due course.

To Patiala via Chandigarh.

Prakriti Farm has been such a welcome respite from frenetic India. Our hosts parents arrived from Delhi last night, and we met them after breakfast (Kaushal asked chef to cook my favourite, pooris with fresh chutney). Dad is a retired Army colonel in his eighties, very proper, though interesting and a good conversationalist. We are now part of the family and are welcome to come back even if our host is not home. He said just pull into the gate anytime and we’ll be looked after. Little does he know, I take offers like that quite literally !

I wanted to see Chandigarh, even if only from the car. Swiss French architect Le Corbusier laid out this city not long after independence. It’s rare to have a whole city in India that’s been master planned. It’s perhaps the cleanest, neatest, and calmest large city I’ve seen in India. Unusual, there are no suburbs identified by name, but rather by number. The Nek Chand rock gardens are a major tourist attraction, so of course we went, me with a healthy dose of scepticism. After paying 30 rupees (no discrimination of foreigners, at last, yay) to a ticket window set about 30 cm above the ground (on my knees to pay) we set off with hundreds of Indian tourists to see this stunning garden/art installation. It’s indescribable, see the photos. We made another stop to purchase the laser gadget - 650 rupees later and much attention at the electronics market, we set off towards Patiala.

Whilst planning this trip (with the help of Fodor’s Asian forum) I had a very kind offer from regular contributor vp_singh. I was having a bad day with my precious lake when I got his personal message. It lifted my spirits immeasurably when he suggested a plan to visit his city Patiala, it was perfect ! This is such a full on day it deserves two posts.

Next up, spending time with another Fodorite and a look at a little visited city that’s well off the tourist map.

Pooris with fresh chutney and masala aloo.


Through the windscreen, from the back seat, out of focus, but you get the idea.


Nek Chand, the vision of one man.


Nek Chand is a maze.


And amazing.

Wow - this report just keeps getting better and better!

Really overwhelmed to read your experience. India is truly a great country and the tourist places are just breathtaking. Especially, taj mahal. Simply wow!

We met vp_singh in the foyer as we checked into the Baradari Palace Hotel. It’s a well hidden (two google maps apps going, mine (set to walking) and the drivers (set to driving) - turn left in 600 meters, take the third exit from the roundabout, do a u-turn, turn right, then left, aargh) but a grand old building, previous home to the kinky maharajah Bhupinder Singh (thanks for that link CaliNurse). Indeed, his portrait hangs in our beautiful suite. We have a four poster bed and a bathroom that’s bigger than our entire room in Amritsar, complete with claw foot tub. Outside is a lovely terrace with views over the grounds and the nearby Baradari Gardens (guess that’s where we stuffed up with google maps). No time to enjoy this space now, we have a luncheon appointment !

The Gymkhana Club is just around the corner, another beautiful old colonial era building set amidst green well tended gardens. Our host vp_singh orders up a feast of cheese straws (paneer fingers, crumbed and fried) tender tandoori chicken chunks, salad, vegetable rice and dal makhani...with a cold beer it was supremely satisfying. We followed lunch with a walk through the clubhouse. Vp revealed some of its colourful history, notably where the Indian test cricket team foiled the English team by organising a party on the eve of the match. Many beautiful women and free flowing Indian rum had the Englishmen too hung over to compete !

A short drive took us to Mohindra College, an imposing colonial building from 1875, then a palace, now a school, still in use today. Next we parked up and took a walk through the vegetable markets, the usual riot of colour, with a few cows observing. There’s a marked heritage walk through the streets of Patiala, we followed it, admiring the architecture and arrived at the Qila Mubarak fort. This is largely unrestored and inside is not open to visitors, but just walking around between the outer and inner walls is awesome. Huge crenellated walls, doors featuring intricately carved woodwork, fading tile work and paintings, and only a few Indian tourists. Looking back on all my photos, these are some of the most evocative.

We then went to the shrine of Shahi Samadhan, again marvellous details on the buildings, and a new shrine testifying that it’s still a place of burial. In between, colourful fabric stores and kitchen utensils shops caught my eye, while VP provide helpful commentary and friendly banter. The summer palace was another stop, beautiful with a bit of imagination, it’s also unrestored.

We had time for a rest and a chance to appreciate the fading grandeur of Baradari Palace, before our dinner date at the home of VP. His home was close by, Ramesh drove us there and waited while we dined. After meeting VPs wife and elderly mother (both charming) we enjoyed a starter of marinated grilled fresh paneer with a gin & tonic for the ladies and a whiskey for the men !

Dinner included a new dish (to me) zafrani chicken (chicken in a saffron sauce) so delicately spiced and melt in the mouth tender, aloo jeera, spiced rice, dal, salad and curd with roti bread.....oh my this was good. We retired outside for coffee, chatting about everything and anything while sitting in a pavilion overlooking the beautiful gardens. What a meal, what a host, what a day ! Thank you VP.

I’ve spent an hour now trying to upload my photos from Patiala. So annoyed that it’s this difficult, when I really don’t have any time to spare. Big Grrrrrrr.

Thank you again for this very nice TR.

Hang in there with the pics!

Sure would have cherished the chance to eat dinner with VP and family at his home.

Good on you to care about a cause enough to dive right into it as soon as you returned from your travels.

Your photos are great and I look forward to more when you are able. I tried to upload several to go with my report last night and had troubles too.

Welcome home, sartoric! And thank you for your wonderful, on-the-go trip report and great photos. You'e taken us along another one of your amazing trips and I *almost* feel like I'm there with you. You chose an interesting cross-section of places, too - the photos of Nek Chand really is amazing. Hopefully, the issue with uploading photos will resolve soon, and we can see the rest of the trip! I had actually written a longer response yesterday while writing on my iPad, but Fodors swallowed it up. Hopefully, today's reply will post!

Good luck in the next chapter of your life - new home, your husband's retirement, and in your environmental work on your lake. It sounds like you've got plenty to keep yourself occupied. As an about-to-retire person, I know from my own experience that the winding down is exhausting but now I'm only 3 weeks away!

What an interesting trip! Thanks for writing!

so glad I found my way back here, Sartoric - what lovely photos and descriptions of your trip. Thank you for posting them so quickly.

And how wonderful to spend the day with VP Singh.

I also have problems with Fodors on an iPad. I hope you get your issues resolved soon. i want to find out about the rest of your trip!

The grand Gymkhana Club


Mohindra College


Heritage walking


Fabrics.....


Markets


The Summer Palace - the foreground was once a lake, hence the bridge over.


The Summer Palace from the other side.

Sixth time lucky, above are some photos of Patiala. I have more to post..

jacketwatch, thanks, I hope to post a photo of our meal to enjealous you even more !
tripplanner01, if we don’t care about our natural environment, then what’s left ?... apathy will kill us all. Great you’re enjoying your time in my country.
progol, thanks for your kind wishes. I learnt long ago (after losing so much) to create text in notes then copy/paste, the photos are a new thing though. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. I created a thread on the tech forum and hope IB are working out the glitches, clearly I’m not the only one experiencing technical difficulties.
annhig, yes, we were so lucky to have a day with VP. I will finish this damn thing, by hook or by crook. Patience grasshopper.

The Shahi Samadhan tomb complex


Qila Mubarak fort


More fort


Fort detail



The charming Baradari Palace hotel.


Our delicious dinner.

Phew, I think the photo thing is sorted !

Thanks again for all your work.

When Fodorites go on a trip the trip isn’t over until the TR is in!

great work, Sartoric, both in telling us about your trip and posting all your photos which add so much more to it.

Grasshopper's patience was rewarded!

Thanks everyone, I have a few more days to post, while the lake fight ramps up exponentially. I didn’t get arrested on Monday, three others did though. There’s still time for me.

A gruelling day in the car.

Breakfast at Baradari palace was pretty good, masala omelette on home made bread for M and a stuffed paratha with curd for me. The Maharajah and four of his lady friends stared down at us from the large vintage photograph high up on the wall.

Rome2rio said 3.45 hours for this trip from Patiala to Rishikesh, both VP and Ramesh said more like 5, the reality was more than 6, with roadworks and shocking traffic thwarting our progress. The current Prime Minister Modi has committed to 200,000 kms of road building. Good for him and the country needs it, but not all at once ! While I’m talking roads, many times in various states we would see an overpass/bridge built with no road at either end....Ramesh tells me that a change of state government would often see the previous incumbents plans scrapped. White elephants abound.

A particularly harrowing section near Saharanpur saw miles and miles of houses being partly demolished to make way for the road. Through here it took 45 minutes to travel 3 kilometres. In another section we passed through an army town, with signs on the fence every 100 meters stating “Trespassers will be shot” can’t make it any clearer I guess.

At least lunch was great, once again in a roadside dhaba. We had chickpeas masala, potato bhata and two stuffed paratha with a big bottle of water for 210 rupees. These were the best chickpeas of the trip, cooked long and slow overnight, then finished off with the masala when ordered.

For Rishikesh I upped my accommodation budget and splashed out on a balcony room with a view of the Ganges. Yog Niketan is right on the river and looks across to the many ashrams on the other side, upriver to the suspension foot bridge and downriver to a few small rapids. The water here is an amazing aqua blue colour and looks very clean. The pollution which affects the Ganges starts downstream from here. Still wouldn’t want to drink it.

Exhausted from the day in the car, (I imagine poor Ramesh felt worse) we took a short evening walk as far as the bridge then called it a night.

Tomorrow Ramesh proves he’s so much more than just a driver !