A normal day in my life might look like this: The alarm clock buzzes. I hit snooze twice and steal another some minutes. A good morning cup of tea repeated twice or thrice every morning , yesterday’s or recently gone trips blogs weigh heavily on my mind, but instead i log in and check Facebook for a while , though that is also work related only.

A version of this routine has taken almost a permanency in life , which i think is not a good thing specially the motto which i tried to follow or atleast babbled a lot ” Always Welcome Changes ” goes contradictory to this routine.

Gone year has already brought many changes in life , it has given me a tag of Travel Blogger , Traveller and photographer , and above all, the one which i love most when some of my friends and cousin call me “Hey Greedy”. Now this following year is the chosen one for bringing in lot of changes , intentional and favourable .

Every year i brought some resolutions , infact tried to suffice with only one and never won the situation, may be the urgency was never seen but now it has become more visible that some changes are needed to be done ,” So thinking of some and trying to win all would be the first and the most important resolution for me“.

Wow suddenly i am one less in numbers and coming to second one “ i think Leaving some odd habits odd eating times, not at all exercising and specially all those which are not at all favourable to any one then how can they be good for my health , infact i also want to live longer and healthy. But for this one i might need jury to monitor me and who else is better than my family, wife and all the loving friends of mine , need there efforts as well to make me a winner “.

Gone year was a life changing year for me , traveled a lot and i am going to continue with it . This brings to the Third Resolution ” Going to travel a lot and lot , but going to prefer some off beat destinations , looking for more of learning rather than the proper tourist destinations , though not going to negate the later ones but would try to prefer more towards the former “.

Photography has been my passion from childhood but i still think i havent learnt a lot in it , bought my dream camera in 2012 , then a big lens and tripod for it but still havent utilized them to their best of level , so going to explore more of it and would consider it as my fourth resolution for 2014.

And the last one , the fifth one i am choosing for me would be the most simple in reading and writing but i guess its the most toughest one to handle , ” Be Nice , and nicest to all , help all , be greedy but not at expense of others , move ahead in towards your goal but take others as well with if they are not going to add speed breakers ” .

Lets see how many New year resolutions i would be able to cope up with , but giving yourself atleast some targets is always good and thats what i have done today , so how many of you have given yourself some targets , share with me.

 

 

 

As a year winds up, it leaves behind some impressions. On a personal point of view this year would be that year which brought the maximum changes to my life. Each Experience whether good or bad no matter what left some memories to be lived forever.

Looking back 2013, it is the year which shifted my focus towards ” What i want to do further with my life ” when almost what i wanted to study is over. This year gave me the gift of turning myself into a proper photographer from the one who just clicked when it came to some occasion only , now camera was like an organ of my body only finding it in every shadow of mine.

Month of May gave me the next opportunity , when i decided to launch my travel blog “My Greedy Backpack” thanks to all those friends who came up with their suggestion in choosing a name and atlast the jumbled up words came with an identity , which has become a nick name of Tarun Gaur , myself.

A new chapter of life starting from Manali , its still fresh in mind when i was in air in the hands of a stranger doing Paragliding for first time in life , killing my fear of river rafting in bone chilling water of River Ravi , tasting the best of food of mountain.

Read more on it CLICK HERE

 

Second tour went to the dream destination on any Indian or foreign tourist coming to India , Rajasthan. A 12 days tour covering around 3000 Km , mostly by my Mahindra Quanto or the newly bought Toyota Innova.

Every kilometer going through the heritage tour, going deep into the gone era living monuments of Rajasthan, visiting the one of the most well maintained fort of India ” Junagadh Fort ” or the 12 storey Mehrangarh fort of Jodhpur. A place where a bike is worshipped and even eaten the food which had already been quality checked by a rat.

Read more CLICK HERE

 

Taking my passion for photography to next level joined the very famous Delhi Photography Club in one of their Heritage photowalks and brought the very famous Qutub Minar complex with a different perspective.

Parrot sitting in a yoga position , or an eagle adding charm to the click , this day was all dedicated to the theme of Learning by Doing it , which leaped forward my skill in photography to a next level.

 

Bhangarh Fort trip , a sudden entry into the tour plan came with the biggest and most memorable memory of the year. A trip i would never forget , a place of which i had heard thousands of time and watched on news channel was in front of me , living a moment in the most haunted place in India. But yes i would accept this thing today , the only pic of bhangarh fort brought maximum clicks on facebook page.

 

A trip i would remember whole life for ups and downs , best hospitality i could ever find infact i can challenge anybody to find the better hospitality which i got in Madikeri.

Staring with a dream of visiting Mysore Palace , the most well maintained palace of India , but had to cover on the last day of trip , something which i learned in this trip ” How well you prepare your Itenerary , still some things are not in your hand “.

Trip is yet to come alive on my blog , wait for it.

 

2013 was the year which enveloped me in a single idea and in a constant thinking mode , of finding something new and exploring more and more.

This exploring thing took me to the Mandawa town of Rajathan , that gave me an opportunity see my name on Yahoo Lifestyle : Can you Open this unopenable Lock , it was a dream come true and the day which i would like to relive again and again in my life.

 

This year made me more romantic , who has not loved the beauty of Sunrise and Sunset and this year gave me the opportunity to grab these moments in my greedy camera. Whether fog ruined the scenes but every time sun was out or was going back home , i am sure he would have found me standing in front of him everyday.

 

Talking of Romance and being Romantic how could i forget the beautiful flowers which came to welcome me everytime i visited a new place , from Qutub minar to Madikeri to Ooty , they brought colours to my life and left their beauty in my life.

2013 is ending , only some hours are left to enter into a new year . Things go and new comes , but remembering the gone times has also got some meaning into it. This year inspired me to go places and i tried my best to convey this same to others who has supported me in any means.

Wishing all the readers Happy New Year , and a warm welcome to 2014 , hope this coming year brings happiness and success to all.

 

 

 

It has been a decade since i have been organising tours for Norwegians, building relation between India and Norway , whether for school students or a community of a society. Like before its repeating again , and even some guests have started liking India so much that they have visited again and again , going to Taj Mahal again capturing more of its beauty in their Camera’s and Heart as well.

Mr.Erlin and Mrs Towe Lonne are one of those lovely people who have inspired many a people to come to India and explore it and witness the beauty and the depth in culture of our India. Mr. Erlin being a music teacher has always came with his Violin and other instruments to India and had always entertained us to the fullest , obviously a bonus for us.

Like they have entertained us , same way we have tried our best to bring in the colours of our Culture and what could be better than a warm welcome in our traditional style.

Sometimes i wonder how come these Norwegian’s have so much of stamina , Mrs.Towe , when her age is nearing 60 , official age of retirement in India , she works whole year except in months of December to February when its in negative degree in Norway and heaps of snow is laiden all over and thats the best time she chooses to come to India.

She makes soft toys , candles and variety of things specially for Kids , still one masterpiece made by her hangs in my drawing room and one more gift arrived from a cold country though their gift expresses the warmth of their heart , name of my company in different colours placed on a copper plate , its been already gone for a frame.

Every year we plan a dinner with the Norwegians , and the easiest part in whole arrangement is choosing the venue , my roof top restaurant , though its functional for very limited days in a year.

 

Their arrival day had seen some drizzle in Delhi , and it was getting chilly. Trust me i have seen Norwegians shivering , though they come from a place where temperature compared to Delhi is much lower and cold but the chill breeze of Delhi had made them shiver and i have witnessed this from my own eyes.

Now i have gained some experience in handling these things , wood was ready to catch the fire and invite her guest to keep them warm.

In the morning when i met him , his first question to me was ” So its been a year and i hope you are still married to same girl ” , dont take it wrong , i know Mr.Erlin very well now and i know how jovial that guy is. In morning only he had told me that i have come with all preparation and my instruments are to blow.

We had a glimpse of Mr.Erlin’s music,his violin on his previous visits but Mrs.Towe coming with her instrument , an Accordian was a surprise for us. This time both of them were going to perform , and the best part was when they stood up and Dedicated the music to my just gone First Anniversary and whole group coming to me and wishing me belated Anniversary.

Both of them were now ready to play their music , and we were all set to enjoy. Kindly CLICK HERE to watch their video as due to some problem video didnt attached here.

It was something special , specially the Accordian played by Mrs.Towe , i still remember i have seen our legendary actor Raj Kapoor playing Accordian in some of his songs , though he used a bigger one.

No party is complete without a relishing food , obeying the situation and the rule our arrangements were all going right on the mark. I think paneer tikka has become a favourite for both India and Norway , they loved it and to add the charm Four Seasons Red wine , white wine and rose wine were on the bar at their disposal and we were happy that they were enjoying it.

Time had flown so fast that nobody came to knew when Dinner Time arrived. Now was the time to let them have the taste of Indian cuisine and menu was decided according to them , Dal Makhni , Shahi paneer , Mix veg and Palak Kofta with Onion Pulao and Butter Naan were on the table , served hot.

Though after some minutes we came to know that they were finding mix veg bit spicy according to their taste buds , but still they were enjoying it and some even repeated it. One hand bite the naan and use other to sip the wine and party goes on and on. wow.

After that bit of spicy mix veg now was the time to end the party with a desert , Pineapple cake was ready to be cut and Mrs Towe was given the honour to cut it. You can see her with her piece of cake in her hand, she was delighted and honoured.

But i would say this cake was less sweet than what followed it. We were nearing the end of the party , it was getting much much cold now and all were ready to leave. But Norwegians had something different in mind , they all stood again and announced ” Before leaving we all want to sing one song , its our National Anthem (Click Here) ” , both India and Norway respecting the Anthem of Norway , we all , my family stood up and they sung their anthem.

Party was over and time had arrived to board the bus to their Hotel. Now i am waiting for another group of mine to arrive from Norway , its not very far and i would be coming again with my blog.