Echoing a difference - Echoes: Eat,Engage,Energize

Being introvert sort of explains why you might not be a fan of College Parties.Another reason can simply be that you might have to share food (and that Joey made you realise that it’s nothing to be ashamed of)

Well both of them explain my resistance for group parties.Hopefully now my batchmates will understand my plight .

Now , thankfully , this semester had been quite eventful for me so far.

As a result , the stack of parties I owed to my friends was being constantly pushed higher and higher . But it were the end of the end semester examinations and this trivial stack was occupying a lot of memory. It was time to execute some pop operations (yes,I had a course on data structures this semester :p , don’t worry if you didn’t get it)

But again , I wasn’t a fan of partying around. Still I had to give one.And since my friends have been waiting for long ,I wanted it to be a memorable one. A little different from what they have grown accustomed to.

Food at Hudson Lane or NSP had started tasting pretty hackneyed by now. I was afraid that a treat over there would be pretty tasteless one too. No hard feelings anyone. These two places still are a few choices we have at hostel to relieve ourselves when the occasion calls(occasions like staying alive and stuff).

After a decent amount of research , I was able to locate this cafe called Echoes in Satya Niketan. I read about the concept around which the cafe is based (and the price list too) and was impressed at once. While my friends planned to surprise me with a belated-birthday gift on my belated-birthday party , I planned to surprise them with a new experience in return. So, I asked them to assemble on second of December at the New Delhi Metro Station at one in the afternoon.

To reach Satya Niketan you can take metro to Dhaula Kuan Metro Station(Airport Express Line).The cafe was a mere 1.5 kilometres from there and you can even walk around to the venue in just 15 minutes or take auto at Rs. 20 per head.We decided to walk and explore the area.

Now Satya Niketan has quite a different ambience than Hudson Lane or GTB Nagar , mostly filed with cafes and restaurants and no Desi Kiraana Store or Saaree house unlike GTB Nagar which surely whacks the urban-ness out of any place. Moreover Satya Niketan feels less crowded. Apart from this a ride in the Airport Express Line is enough to make you feel that you have left India behind (especially if you are travelling in it for the first time).

We finally reached Satya Niketan. With Scooter-On-The-Wall cafe at the very front welcoming us , we found many American cafes , Hookah Lounges , Gaming Parlours and Ice-Cream parlours on our way.Sri Venkateshwar College (or Venky as they like to call it) was on our left separated from us by a road which has been almost reduced to parking space.

At the very end of the lane Echoes was waiting for us.Upon reaching the front of the cafe I explained my friends about the reason for choosing it.And they probably felt a little surprised(I hope). Anyway we climbed up to the first floor for the cafe.Though I had read about it online , I still was unsure about how things would proceed. I do believe that the differently abled are the strongest people you can meet. But how would they communicate with us when they can’t speak or hear us. Fortunately, we were at Echoes and that’s what set them apart from any of the cafe I have ever visited.

Upon entering the cafe we were welcomed by a gentleman with a warm smile. He gestured

asking about the number of guests accompanying me. I mouthed five as my right hand involuntarily signalled the same.He courted us to our seats. Soon after we all have taken our seats,he handed me a visiting card which read-

  “This cafe is managed by differently abled staff.Help us with the initiative.Thank You”

And I nodded as religiously as possible.Then with a really amiable smile he handed me the menu and explained about how can I communicate with them.

All of them were trained in sign language and if you , by any chance, knew sign language you could easily communicate them using that. If not then there was no need to worry. Each table was provided with a switch which would light up a bulb corresponding to your table number and no sooner than it is pressed, your server would be right with you. Mangu’s strategical position provided him with the honour to use the switch throughout our lunch.Then there were various flash cards which one could have used to communicate further.

They read  “Spoon Please”,“Clear the table” , “Thank You” and even a card which I can ,with most certainty, claim would never have been used for the purpose it was made -”Call the Manager”.

Mudit toying with the switch

The menu comprised of a wide range of food.It had sections like Head starters,Burgers ,Pizzerias, Pastas, Wraps, Shakes, Echoes Special among others.We decided to get different items for all of us and then do what I never wanted to in the first place-share them. We were provided with a notepad and were gestured to writedown the DIsh Code and the quantity on the note pad and hand it over to the waiter(I wish I knew a more respectable term, beacuse he deserved that)

For starters we ordered a plate of Cheese Joints Sticks for us all.I had read online a night before about the Echoes’ Cheese Joints Sticks and hence was tempted to order one. Now, these Cheese Joints Sticks were simply deep fried sticks filled with molten cheese and only God knows how deliciously gratifying it was to gulp down those cheese bridges formed amidst your stooping mouth and the leftover cheese stick in your hand after you took a bite.

Mexican Chilli Wrap

Lasagna

Aditi then ordered a BBQ Paneer Sandwhich , Aditya ordered a Lassagna , Aayush a Mexican-thin crust Pizza, Mudit ordered a plate of Arabiatta Pasta while I ordered a Mexican Chilly Wrap for myself.We further ordered Green Apple Mojito and XXX on the beach for us all.And they were the first to arrive.

Mocktails, Arrabiata and Mexican Thin Crust

The Mojito felt a little biting but had enough taste to quench our mouths dried by cheese cheese. XXX was fine though.Remind me to Quora it out as to why it is called so.

Then came my Mexican Chili Wrap.The corns inside were quite sweet as compared to the overall smokey-chily flavour wreathing the wrap .It tasted quite different(and a lot better) from the mundane wraps DTUites are used to.

It was Aditya’s Lasagna that arrived our table next.It was pretty nice and could have easily given any cafe in Hudson Lane a tough competition.Same could be said about Mudit's Arrabiata.I didn’t actually like the Mexican Pizza Aayush ordered and realised (and made a mental note that I’m not a thin crust person).The BBQ Paneer Sandwiches were simply delectable.Thankfully they were five in number and hence sharing became easier.But the real charm was the mayonnaise dip the sandwiches brought along.

Amidst various selfie sessions we enjoyed ourselves.The feast had been relished .And  I learnt sharing food can be fun (and hell lot of messier).Finally,we showed the flash card saying ‘Bill Please’ and the waiter got us ours . We had a last selfie with our waiter and were able to capture his heart warming smile within our phones. And that was what Echoes was all about -

                  courteous , heart-warming smiles and lots of respect for the same.

Explore it for a completely different experience.
- a r n a v

Magnificient Mussoorie and The Road Not Taken.

Itwas a good two hour sleep.The passengers were lazily collecting their luggage from beneath the seats and I don't know how it happened but we all got up on our own as soon as the Nanda Devi Express reached Dehradun Station.

Since time immemorial, 'Last End Sem Exam' has been the most cherished occasion for college students to chalk out an outing.Working on similar lines,we had also planned a Trekking Trip to Nag Tibba .Our plan included a night's stay in Mussoorie.It had almost been a decade since I last visited this place.Thus I had all the more reasons to be excited for the trip.

We call our gang of 5 M.I.T.R.O.N (I will be there for you..,if it rings any bell).
We were done with our first year finals on 28th May,2016(Saturday) and were supposed to catch our train scheduled for midnight from New Delhi Railway Station.

On our way to NDLS

We faced our first hiccup on our way to the railway station when the Metro halted for around 15 minutes,but even then we managed to make it there in time(read 5 minutes late).Well that's a story for another day.Anyway,the engine pumped up soon and the wheels were set in motion.Thus began M.I.T.R.O.N's Weekend Getaway. 

The train was supposed to reach its destination at six in the morning.Param was swift enough to drift to sleep as soon as we got our seats.Just like him,even we would have spent the whole night asleep if it were not our uneasy RAC seats.But every thing can be dealt with craziness when with friends.We came up with one such crazy idea to gain some benefit out of our sleeplessness.We got down at every station on the way and took a selfie out there.So now you can add one more option in your list  of "Things to do on a train journey"

It was at Roorkee Station where most of the berths got free and we finally got a chance to take a small nap.At sharp 6 a.m we found ourselves at the Dehradun station.

Though we slept only for two hours,but Dehra's cool and calm morning refreshed us of our tiredness as soon as we stepped out of the train.We were welcomed by the sight of lush green mountains surrounding the valley and a calm breeze(and a few coolie's as well).

Dehradun railway station had a nice waiting room with proper toilet and bathroom facilities.You can freshen up here.Another option would be to use the paid toilets which are present just outside the station by the side of second class waiting room.We had tea ,biscuits and some snacks here.At around 9 we left for Mussoorie after hiring a taxi(ambassador) for Rs.1050.You can also take bus at Rs.50 per ticket.Both the taxi stand and bus depot are at the door step of Dehradun Railway Station.You can hire a taxi at any point of time through out the day whereas Buses to Mussoorie ply on an hourly basis.

In less than 20 minutes we were outside the city area and were already ascending the mountain road.A little chit-chat,a few jokes and humming a few songs proved to be a better time pass than any social networking site could ever be.Green trees on the side of our pathway seemed to have conspired with the soothing mountain breeze to teach us how to breathe again.Mehul at once started searching for 'Behti hawa sa ' song from the movie 3Idiots. Soon we found ourselves riding along the steep slopes and sharp turns.To be honest I found them ridiculously dangerous.But it was all worth for the scenic beauty our way had to offer us.It took us some 50 minutes to reach Picture Palace Taxi Stand ,Mussoorie  from Dehradun.

Now we had to find our way to the hotel which we had booked in advance fearing that the hotels here would be all packed on 29th,a Sunday.Well we were wrong.There were many rooms vacant and we found various agents on our way offering us various options to stay.I would suggest that you must ditch the online hotel booking websites(unless you get a really good offer)and bargain your way to a decent hotel after reaching Mussoorie.Mussoorie seemed to have more hotel rooms then trees,so you won't have any trouble in finding one here,even during the peak season.You can easily find a good hotel under Rs.1800 a night and even cheaper if you look for it.

We faced a bunch of other problems with our hotel and hence were late for breakfast.Thus we directly had lunch at our hotel and after that we retired to our comfy beds to take a much needed sleep.We got up at around 5 and  rushed out to explore the Mall Road.It surely was the most fun thing that happened to us in the trip .There were quite a many food joints,stalls and shacks selling all sort of food ranging from exquisite Italian Lasagna to roadside Maggi. Moreover the weather was astoundingly pleasant.Enjoying a Bhutta with Imli Sauce added to the joy.


Jatin had already informed us of the Famous Lovely Omelette Centre.That's where we headed first for having some evening snacks.It was a surprise to us that such a small food shop,with just one dining table , had us waiting for one hour to have an incredibly delicious cheese omelette.

Do try the cheese omelette they offer here.

In that one hour we just roamed around the Mall Road and kept felling head over heels for ,like some million times ,whenever we witnessed the breathtaking view of the vast expanse of Doon Valley from the top of the hills(not exaggerating).It was as if we were examining earth from the heavens.There were many selfie and picture sessions at different locations accompanied by some silent moments at the railing while we devoured that beautiful scenery with a sense of gratification.

Doon Valley from Gandhi Chowk

We were also looking for some souvenir to take back our homes and hence decided to explore the shops.The  U.P Cottage and Village Industries Shop amused me. Don't go by it's name,this shop had an incredibly large variety of fancy stuff-fancy air fresheners,fancy paper soaps, fancy lighters and more.Another shop that caught my eye was the well renowned Cambridge Book Shop having huge banners and flexes proclaiming that you can meet Ruskin Bond every Saturday there. 

SOURCE:Google Images

We then went ahead to visit the Mussoorie Library at Gandhi Chowk.

Good lord!! Did I just read JEE?

By this time it was night already and we got the biggest gift.

Doon Valley At night from Gandhi Chowk
(SOURCE:Google Images)

A view of Doon Valley all lit up under the dark night sky.If the previous views of the Doon valley were breathtaking then the same sight at night simply took my soul away.All the worries that occupied my head got dispersed like some puffy cloud and my already captured soul felt relieved and light enough to  float over the valley and absorb every single bit of its beauty(again,not exaggerating).It was truly ecstatic to feel the unrestricted chilly winds caress your forehead and numb your senses down for good as they made their way gushing through the open doon valley to crash onto the mountains.

It was all windy by now and we were expecting rainfall anytime soon.To our help we found  a small Gurudwara near Library Bus Stand which was some 30-40 steps downhill from Gandhi Chowk.It was all quiet and housed a positive and benign ambience.We spent a few minutes there and left with the Kadha Prasad Veer Ji  had offered us . 

Archit,by then,had already searched the internet for some notable food shacks in Mussoorie.And we found our next stoppage at Kalsang Friend's Corner ,a Chinese restaurant on the Mall Road.

Kalsang Friend's Corner

Token of thanks Kalsang

I am not a fan of momos ,but what they served was simply delectable.The Restaurant was highly speaking of its motto,"FREE TIBET".How do I know?Well to start with,the workers over there had the same motto printed on their Tees.Then there were a lot of messages from Dalai Lama adorning the restaurant's wall.Another peculiarity of Kalsang was their dining tables.Various tourists have left their good wishes and admiration for Kalsang's food in the form of doodles,sketches and greetings written on tissues which were  exhibited on all the dining tables beneath a glass plate.You will be welcomed to do the same.These tissues told a lot many stories and jokes which made me wonder if it is travelling that forms a story or do these stories comprise the travel.


By this time it was already 10:30 p.m.But the all cheerful nightlife of Mussoorie didn't let this bother us.Even at this hour,it felt as if the evening had just started.After another few photo sessions,we knew that it was time to have proper dinner . We went ahead to have the evergreen shahi paneer-dal makhani-naan platter  at Aggarwal Family Restraunt,followed by an awesome rabri-jalebi desert.We bought a few chocolates and gums to carry for our trek at Nag Tibba. 

Though Day 1 was officially ending but still the thrill for trekking for the next two days was something that we all were looking forward to.All of us were going to trek for the first time.As per the plan we had to trek throughout the next day and camp at night at the Nag Tibba Base Site. But for that we had to catch our bus to Nainbagh the next morning at 7 and thus we knew it was time for us to get back to our hotel.


The next morning we boarded the bus from Gandhi Chowk to Nainbagh.We reached Nainbagh by 9:00 a.m ,perfectly as planned but still the road ahead was the one we didn't take.More about that later.

To simply put it , The Queen of Hills truly ruled our hearts.
-a r n a v

M.I.T.R.O.N