Here’s some good news for anyone wanting to enjoy a drink in Darjeeling, whilst watching the sunset over Kangchenjunga. The Gorkha Janmukhi Morcha political party has lifted its ban on the sale of alcohol in bars, restaurants, and shops in Darjeeling.
The ban was introduced three months ago, to stop revenue flowing into Bengal state government coffers and thus exert pressure on the government. However, it created a great deal of resentment amongst tourists, shop keepers, and even residents who drink alcohol to help beat the cold winter chill.

Where can you see hundreds of thousands of people congregate to take a holy dip in the Ganges river today? At the world’s largest religious gathering — the Kumbh Mela — in Haridwar.

The three month long Kumbh Mela gets underway from today, the occasion of Makar Sankranti. This meeting of the religious minds attracts sadhus (Hindu holy men) and pilgrims from near and far. It’s a spectacle never to be forgotten.

The Uttarakhand government has devoted significant resources to building new infrastructure in Haridwar for the festival. This includes a modern car park, foot bridges, and a network of arterial roads connecting the main Har?ki?Pauri bathing ghat to neighboring shrines and residential areas.

Tamil Nadu, in south India, is enthusiastically preparing to celebrate the Pongal festival. This festival, which is the equivalent of Thanksgiving, takes place for four days all over the state from January 13-16 each year. It’s a harvest festival, which also marks the retreat of winter and the start of the Tamil New Year.

Since most of Tamil Nadu relies on agriculture for its income, Pongal is one of the most important festivals of the year there. The highlight of the festival is the cooking of the Pongal dish — a sweet preparation made from rice and boiled milk — on the second day.

One of the best places to participate in Pongal celebrations is Chennai. Pongal is also a popular time for new movie releases in the cinemas, so check out a Tamil movie as well!

Important Dates during Mahakumbh 2010:

January 14th – Makkar Sakranthi
15th – Mouni Amavaysa, Suryagrahan Snan
20th – Basant Panchami
30th – Mahi Poornima
February 12th – Mahashivratri (Shahi Snan)
March 15th – Somvati Amavasya (Shahi Snan)
16th – Nav Samvatharambh Snan
24th – Ramnavami Snan
30th – Chiatra Poornima Snan
April 13th – Baishakhi
14th – Mesh Sankranthi (Shahi Snan)

Yes, If you’re planning to visit Darjeeling, then you have to drink what Darjeeling is most famous for – Yes, Tea! The Gorkha Janmukhi Morcha political party has issued a ban on the sale of alcohol in bars, restaurants, and shops in Darjeeling from November 7, 2009.

The reason? To stop revenue flowing into Bengal state government coffers and thus exert pressure on the government.

At last, passengers arriving at Mumbai’s domestic airport can breathe a sigh of relief. The airport finally has a prepaid taxi counter. This means that it’s no longer necessary haggle with taxi drivers after exiting the airport for a reasonable fare, or risk a trip in a taxi with a faulty meter.

In future, there will be four prepaid taxi counters inside Domestic Terminal 1B, and one outside it. Domestic Terminal 1A will have two prepaid counters inside, and one outside.

As well as offering fixed rates, the prepaid taxi system is popular because of its added security feature. Drivers are only receive their money once they return with the receipt signed by the passenger.

NEW DELHI: The next time you realise your mobile phone has run out of battery charge and you are commuting by the Delhi Metro, don’t fret – just connect your phone to the charging points that will soon be available at stations for free.

For the convenience of its commuters, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will install 134 multiple mobile charging machines at stations by July this year in a phased manner.

“Metro commuters can charge their mobile phones at metro stations as soon as charging points at stations are ready,” DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said Sunday.

All major metro stations are already equipped with facilities such as bill-drop boxes, ATMs, tea and coffee vending machines, coin vending machines, eating joints, book shops and gift shops. The rent-a-cycle facility is also available at Patel Chowk, Pragati Maidan and Indraprastha metro stations.

Delhi-based Somya Enterprises is installing these machines, which will have multiple sockets to enable commuters to charge mobile phones of different brands and makes for free.

“The mobile phone charging machine will have six sockets or chargers and will be mounted on the walls in the paid area of the station,” Dayal informed.

In addition, charging points will also be available for laptops and mobile phones on board the 131 new trains which are being inducted for Phase 2 of Delhi Metro.

The south-west monsoon is likely to hit the national capital in a day or two as pre-monsoon showers drenched the city today, bringing respite to denizens braving intense heat wave for the past week.

Various parts of the city received rains during the past 12 hours ending 8:30 am which brought down the temperature to tolerable levels of 25 degree Celsius, the MeT Office said.

“The capital received pre-monsoon showers today. Monsoon showers are expected in a day or two,” the Duty Officer at Meteorological Department in Safdarjung, said.

The rain guages of the Weather Office has measures 6.8 mm of showers in the city between 5:30 pm last evening and 8:30 am today. The city has received over 10 mm of rains in the past three days.

The Weatherman said the minimum temperature dropped by over four degrees to touch 25 degree Celsius. Yesterday, the minimum was 29.2 degree Celsius.

However, the rains have brought in high humidity with the city experiencing 87 per cent humidity in the morning. The humidity levels oscillated between 42 and 72 per cent.

Delhi had missed its June 29 date, the normal onset day for the annual rains here, with monsoon but since Sunday, the city has been receiving showers.

The showers have brought respite for Delhiites facing searing heat and massive power cuts coupled with water shortage.

The capital has been witnessing intense heatwave for the past few days with maximum temperature hovering around 44 degrees. Last year, the maximum had not crossed 40 degree Celsius in June, with the highest of 38.7 degrees being recorded on the first day of the month.

Similarly, in 2001, the maximum had not crossed the 40-degree mark in the month. The record for the maximum temperature in June stands at 46.7 degree Celsius on June 17, 1945.

The Weather Office’s projection of likely monsoon in Delhi is based on its assertion that the monsoon had covered about 80 per cent of the country. Aided by the low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, monsoon has covered entire Central India and some parts of Rajasthan and West Uttar Pradesh.

Weather scientists said that Delhi may get monsoon rains by July two and more vigorous falls by next week.

“Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon over some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some parts of east Rajasthan and west UP in the next two days,” B P Yadav, Director of India Meteorological Department, has said.

The unabated heat wave continued to parch the hills in the Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla, as the mercury soared to 30.3 degrees Celsius Wednesday.

“The unusual rise in temperature and delay in monsoon is creating drought-like conditions in the low and mid-hills. The situation is likely to continue for some more days,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, told IANS.

The hottest day of the season was recorded Tuesday with the mercury touching 30.6 degrees Celsius in Shimla.

Singh said most of the districts had received deficient rainfall during the summer.

“With rains being deficient by almost 53 percent this season, the delay in the arrival of the monsoon will trigger drought in the hills,” he warned.

“This time the problem is more acute as the snowfall has played truant during the winter. The floating population of tourists in Shimla is making the situation worse this season. The government has started rationing water here.” A.N. Sharma, Shimla’s municipal commissioner said.

Added agriculture department officials: “The prolonged dry spell has badly affected the crops in Sirmaur, Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Solan district.”

Slightly more than 80 percent of the total cultivated area in the state is rain-fed.

However, for the apple crop the situation is not so alarming so far.

“The situation is not so alarming till date for the apple crop. If the situation persists for the next 10 days, then it is likely to hit its yield by 25-30 percent,” S.P. Bhardwaj, joint director at Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Solan, admitted.

The dry and hot conditions have caused forest fires in the mid and lower hill areas, particularly the pine forests.

“An unusually large number of fires have been reported from various districts, except from tribal Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti districts because of the unprecedented hot weather,” state Forest Minister J.P. Nadda said.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed as the delay in monsoon would mean more forest fire incidents,” he added.

A paragliding instructor was killed and a tourist seriously injured after they crashed into the hills ringing a lake in Mussoorie last evening.

Instructor Vinod Kumar, 41, and Delhi’s Sanchit Sharma, 34, apparently lost control and crashed from a height of 130 metres while gliding over Mussoorie lake around 7pm.

Kumar, who was from Himachal Pradesh, died in a nursing home in Dehra Dun, 35km from Mussoorie. Doctors said Sharma’s condition was serious.

Operators in Mussoorie, where paragliding is popular among tourists, said this was the first major accident in recent times. The crash has raised questions on the adventure sport’s safety.

The paragliding operators and their equipment have also come under the scanner.

“We have ordered a probe. We don’t know what caused the fall but we will check the instruments of the paragliding agencies,” Amit Sinha, the Dehra Dun SSP, said.

A police spokesperson said Sharma and Kumar had crashed into the rocks on the hills around the lake.

Kumar was working for Skywing Paragliding, one of the many operators near the lake. Sharma’s family was waiting nearby when the two went for the flight.

Skywing termed the accident “unfortunate”. “The paraglider was hovering for a while and suddenly lost control,” a spokesperson said.

Other operators said it was difficult to predict the risks as many factors were involved — the flying conditions, individual gliding prowess, instructor’s skills and quality of the equipment.