A Trip to the Land Of The Thunder Dragon

The Flag of Bhutan

 It all started on a fine weekend in 2017 when me and my wife were discussing where to travel this year. In an instinctive response, I replied, "Bhutan!". Unfortunately, on exploring further, we realized that plans have to be made well in advance as there are very less flights and heavily booked during most of the year. We switched over to Bali (at the time of an imminent volcanic eruption!), but that would be for another blogpost. So Rule 1: If you are planning for Bhutan, do it well in advance.

Fast forward to 2018, we decided to travel to Bhutan for my birthday in 2019 (21st March).

The Planning

Paro is the only international airport in Bhutan and Royal Bhutan Airlines is the only operator of International Flights. Flights to Paro are available from Delhi, Guwahati, Bagdogra, Kolkata, Gaya. We had booked our flights as early as in November from Bagdogra for March Travel. Foreign airports with flights to Paro are Kathmandu, Bangkok, Singapore, Dhaka. So there would be influx of Foreign tourists in Indian Airports too.

Next in list would be the hotels which are equally hard to book, especially the good ones during peak seasons. So right after the flight tickets are booked, book all your hotels according to the places of stay.

Bhutan has festivals all over the year. Planning your trip during one of the festival dates will make the trip more memorable (I can vouch for it as we got a chance to meet the King). Our Trip coincided with the Paro Tshechu Festival (Mar 17th - Mar 21st). You can check out the link for Festival dates for 2019 (https://www.drukasia.com/bhutan/bhutan-festivals-calendar-2019/)

Bhutan can also be reached by road and the most common is Thimphu-Phuentsholing Highway. We planned our return journey by road. One downside is that you can't book buses in Bhutan in advance but you can still arrange cab for the trip.

With respect to currency, the official currency of Bhutan is Ngultrum. Bhutan has kept it in parity to Indian Rupee so that 1 Ngultrum is always equal to 1 INR. Bhutanese interchangeably use Ngultrums & INR. Don't be surprised if you get back your change in Ngultrums for INR or vice versa. One suggestion is to avoid taking cash in higher denominations (like 2000,500). We took 50,000 INR as old 100 rupee notes but we did see the new INR notes being accepted without much fuss.

There is no big restriction for tourists from SAARC countries but other foreigners should pay a fee of $250/day which includes hotel stay with food, a cab with driver and a guide and ticket charges to places of interest.

Our Travel itinerary

• Chennai - Bagdogra - Paro (flight)
• Paro - Thimphu - Punakha - Haa - Phuentsholing (By road - bus/cab)
• Phuentsholing - Hasimara (West Bengal) via Jaigaon (Bordertown on the Indian side) (By Road - bus/cab)
• Hasimara - Siliguri (closest Railway Station to Bagdogra) (By Kanchankanya Express)
• Bagdogra - Chennai (flight)

Day 1

We boarded our early morning flight from Chennai to Bagdogra and reached there by noon. We stayed at Hotel Aquarium . It was an okay-ish OYO hotel but pretty sufficient for a just a night's layover. Since our flight to Paro was on next day morning, we decided to roam around. Though Darjeeling is just 3 hrs away, we didn't had time to do a round trip and go sightseeing. We travelled to Siliguri which is half an hour from Bagdogra in a local bus. We visited the ISKCON Temple and the Hongkong Market where you can get cheap knockoffs of quality goods.

Day 2

We were told that Bagdogra is a small military airport and it could get crowded soon. We reached the airport by 6 AM for the 9 AM flight just to be on the safer side. The airport was closed and it was set to open only by 6.30 :( The staff of Druk Air (Royal Bhutan Airlines) were very supportive and assisted in filling up the form to be submitted for foreign nationals to visit Bhutan. Passport (or) Voter's ID is preferred document for identification. DO NOT use Aadhaar, PAN, Driving License,etc.,

If you are going to use Passport as ID, ensure there is more than 6 months of validity left. We had a couple with passports less than 6 months validity and luckily they were able to travel with their Voter's ID. The check-in process was a breeze and we were on-board to Paro, Bhutan.

It was a one hour flight to Paro and if you are lucky to get a seat on the left side, you can get to see the beautiful Mt.Kanchenjunga (The one at the back of 100 Rupees Note). You can get a glimpse of Mt.Everest if you board a flight from Delhi. As I already mentioned, Paro is the only international airport in Bhutan and one of the difficult places to land in the world. Only 8 pilots across the world have license to land here as the flight has to be maneuvered across hilly terrains completely on manual control. The landing at Paro was so good and you can see it below video: 

Paro airport is a beautiful manifestation of Bhutan architecture. Royal Bhutan Airlines is the govt owned operator and Bhutan Airlines is the private operator. At the immigration, you will be asked for your place of stay and duration of stay. Based on that passport will be stamped with the permit for Paro, Thimphu & Phuentsholing. If you intend to visit any other places like Punakha, Bumthang, Haa, special permit needs to be obtained from the Immigration office in Thimphu.

Royal Bhutan Airlines

Paro Airport Terminal

Private Owned Bhutan Airlines

It is advised to get a local SIM card especially if you are in Bhutan for a week or so. You can choose from the two operators - Govt owned Bhutan Telecom and the private owned Tashicell. For 600 Nu. (Ngultrum), you get 300 Nu. worth of talktime & 3GB data. Topups can be done through prepaid cards available in general stores.

We checked-in at Hotel Phunsum which was in the center of Paro town with easy access to the market places. It was the day before the start of Paro Tshechu Festival so the town was getting ready into a celebratory mood. Taktsang (or) The Tiger's Nest Monastery is the most famous in Paro which involves a 2-3 hours hike either way and it is suggested not to do it on your first day in Bhutan. But if you have a short stay or time crunch, go ahead! With temperatures looming around 4-10 degree celsius in daytime, we went for an evening stroll to the Rinpung Dzong. [Sidenote: There is going to be frequent mentions of dzongs in this post, as every major town in Bhutan has a Dzong which is basically a fortress which contains a temple, monastery and also quarters for the forces to garrison themselves during olden days]. 

Rinpung Dzong, Paro

Rinpung Dzong is on the banks of the Paro river and accessible via a over bridge followed by a short hike to the Dzong. A thing to remember while visiting Dzongs in Bhutan is that you should be fully covered - Full sleeved shirts, Full trousers (no shorts or 3/4ths). We weren't able to enter the Dzong on the first day as I was wearing a T-Shirt. Luckily we were visiting Paro again at the last three days of our stay so we were good. Also, make sure to see the Dzong at night with all the lights lit up. Paro Dzong is the most beautiful Dzong in all of Bhutan at night.

On our way, we purchased our bus tickets to Thimphu for the next morning and some snacks to munch on for the night. Most of the North Indian foods like Roti, Poori, Aloo Parathas are available in the restaurants and Momos are pretty common. Paro also has some pretty good cafes. Temperatures at night tends to go below 5 degrees celsius and may hit zero sometimes.

Day 3

We got our bus to Thimphu in the morning and it was an hour and half journey across the hilly terrain to the capital city of Bhutan. There are a lot of cabs & shared cabs for such travels as well. At the Thimphu bus stop, we were swarmed by a bunch of cabdrivers and we chose a person called Norbu to take us to our hotel Bhutan Boutique Residency. Since this was a new hotel, we had some issues in our booking as we booked from Hotels.com and the owners claimed they hadn't listed their property there. We had to do a fresh booking and luckily there was availability. Rule No. 2 Call and confirm your bookings in the hotel well in advance. The rooms were pretty well maintained and spacious and we had a view of Taj Hotel (pic below) from our window.

Taj Tashi Hotel, Thimphu

Since some of the places in Thimphu are located far away, we decided to continue with Norbu's services for the Sightseeing in the evening.

Buddha Dordenma, Thimphu

Buddha Dordenma is the largest statue in the country situated on top of a hill overlooking Thimphu Valley. The statue can be seen from anywhere in the Thimphu Valley.It was built to celebrate the 60th birthday of the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk.

Motithang Takin Reserve, Thimphu

Next Stop was the Motithang Takin Preserve which was built to preserve Bhutan's National Animal, Takin. It is an animal with a goat like face and cow/ox like body and considered vulnerable due to overhunting.

Tashichho Dzong, Thimphu with Bhutan Parliament at the back

As we approached evening, our last sightseeing for the day was the Tashichho Dzong on the banks of Wangchu River. It is the most heavily guarded Dzong as it has the current office of the king and many official buildings and also the summer residence of the chief monk or "Je Khenpo". Because of this, there are many restricted areas and a temple restricted for Non-Bhutanese inside the dzong. A guide is mandatory inside the dzong and included as part of the entry fee. The structure behind the Tashichho Dzong is the Bhutanese Parliament. The king's palace is located to the Tashichho Dzong. Surprisingly the palace is not so grandeur in comparison with any of these Dzongs. 

On our way back, we visited the weekend market which was bustling with people buying all sorts of groceries, meat & produce. We had momos at a place where the Queen Mother orders her momos. Opposite to the weekend market is the Wang Chuu Bazaam which is an overbridge over Wangchu river connecting to a plethora of handicrafts shop. Few metres next to it is the Changlimithang Stadium which has an archery range as Archery is the National Sport of Bhutan.

We also decided to retain Norbu's services for our journey to Punakha, sightseeing and back to Paro.

After a good day of sightseeing, we roamed around the shopping streets of Norzin Lam and had a good dinner at the Ambient Cafe

Day 4

The first thing we had to do was to visit Immigration Office to apply for permit to Punakha as we had two days of stay there and to Haa Valley. The Immigration office opens at 9 and we had cab drivers and tourists lining up by around 8.50 and luckily we were able to get in as first few applicants. With the paperwork done, we were asked to come by 11 to collect our permits. On the way to Immigration office, we saw the office for Gross National Happiness which works on policies to ensure happiness index of the Bhutanese citizens.

Gross National Happiness - An index as important as GDP for Bhutan

With the time available till we got the permit, we visited the King's Memorial Chorten which is a stupa built to honor the third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk. 

King's Memorial Chorten

On the way back to Immigration Office, we also visited the Clock Tower Square and the only traffic circle in Bhutan manned by a traffic policeman. Since there are no traffic lights in all of Bhutan, the policeman uses hand signals to regulate the traffic.

Only Traffic Circle in Thimphu

After getting our permits right on time, we went to the General Post Office to get customized stamps printed with our photo. These stamps can be used for sending mails from Bhutan. Bhutan also has pioneered in many other innovative stamps like 3D Stamps, CD ROM Stamps which were on display in the Postal Museum.

General Post Office, Thimphu

Customized Stamps

CD Rom Stamps

Then we visited the Bhutan National Library where they have preserved a lot of historical religious scriptures written on palm leaves. It was a multi-storeyed building and you have to leave your footwear outside before entering the library. It was like a Temple of Learning. Our last stop in Thimphu was the Textile Museum where they have displayed variety of weaving techniques and in order to encourage the art of weaving, the Royal Government even conducts a competition every year to honor the best artisan.

Religious Scriptures in the National Library

Post lunch, we drove to Punakha and the on the way, we visited Dochula where a memorial with 108 chortens have been built in the memory of 108 Bhutanese soldiers who died fighting against the Assamese Insurgents in 2003.

Dochula Pass

We reached Punakha by dusk and checked in our hotel, Zingkham Resort which was on a hilltop providing a wonderful view of the Punakha Dzong.

Day 5

This was the day of Punakha Sightseeing. The first stop is the Punakha Suspension Bridge which is the longest suspension bridge in Bhutan at 160 metres built across the Pho Chu River. It is located at a driving distance from Punakha Dzong. The Bridge decorated with many prayer flags and walking through the length of the suspension bridge is something a must-do when in Punakha.

Punakha Suspension Bridge

From the suspension bridge, we headed towards Khamsum Yulley Namgyel Chorten which is a stupa built on a hilltop by the orders of the Queen Mother in order to ward off the negative forces. Reaching there requires a half an hour to 45 mins hike which was more like precursor to what we can expect in Tiger's Nest Hike and it is advised to carry a bottle of water. The Chorten itself is built in a pagoda like structure with steps inside to climb up to the top most tier of the pagoda. The view of the Punakha Valley from the top is breathtaking.

Khamsum Yulley Namgyel Chorten 

After the downhill hike which was relatively simpler, we headed over to the Chimi Lhakhang Temple which is also known as the fertility temple. All houses around this temple have paintings of phalluses on their walls. The tradition in the temple is to provide blessings using a wooden phallus. This monastery is visited by couples who want to give birth to children.

Chimi Lhakhang (or) The Fertility Temple

After getting the blessings in Chimi Lhakhang, the route to reach the next destination is a short drive over a hill to reach the Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup Nunnery. This nunnery has constructed by the Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuk as a monastery and temple for nuns to enroll themselves and study religious preachings. The nuns stay at the quarters provided and learn other skills like tailoring, embroidery, etc., as well along with religious studies. We couldn't take a lot of photographs here as the Royal Family was visiting the King's ailing maternal grandfather in the Royal quarters near the nunnery.

Stupa at the Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup Nunnery

The last and the most anticipated visit for the day was the Punakha Dzong. It is the most scenic monastery in Bhutan situated at the merging place of the Pho Chu (Male River) and Mo Chu (Female River). Punakha used to be Bhutan's capital before Thimphu and Je Khempo, the chief of monks, resides in Punakha Dzong during winter as Thimphu would be too cold.

Punakha Dzong with Pho Chu River

Punakha Dzong has many architecture complex which includes the Royal Hall where most of the Royal events happen like King's coronation & Marriage. It also contains a temple which restricted to all which contains the embalmed body of the Great Unifier of Bhutan, Zhabdrug Ngawang Namgyal. The King is allowed to visit only once in his lifetime during his coronation. Only one caretaker is allowed all days who takes care of the temple.

Day 6

We started our journey back to Paro the next day visiting the Royal Botanical Park on the way. It is a 47 square miles of biological corridor between two major National Parks in Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk National Park & Jigme Singye Dorji Wangchuk National Park. The Rhododendron Garden is very famous and it starts blooming in March through the Summer season. 

We reached Paro in the evening around 4 and rushed to the Paro Dzong to see the penultimate day fesivities of Paro Tshechu. People had already started to return back and Dzong closing time was 5pm. Fortunately, due to festive season, the Dzong was open for few more hours. The courtyards were draped with colourful fabrics everywhere and we just made it to the last dance of the day.

Rinpung Dzong, Paro adorned with festive colors

Traditional Dance at Paro Tshechu

We returned back to the hotel strolling via a very busy Paro Town, so different from the quiet town when  we first landed there. Festive mood was in the air. Next day was a very important day - Last day of Paro Tshechu, the day we hike the Tiger's Nest and my Birthday!

Day 7

We woke up very early and got ready to go to the Paro Dzong or Rinpung Dzong to view the thongdrel, which is the largest form of thangka painting (Tibetan Buddhist Painting on cloth depicting a deity) which will be unfurled only during Tshechus. The one in Paro Dzong is that of Guru Rinpoche (or) Padmasambhava, who is regarded as the Second Buddha, surrounded by his eight incarnations. Padmasambhava is believed to have spread Buddhism in the Himalayan Region as Gauthama Buddha had never visited the Himalayan Kingdoms. This thongdrel will be wrapped back just after the sunrise and will be taken out again only during the next year's Tshechu as the fabric is sensitive to sunlight.

Thongdrel of Guru Rinpoche on the last day of Paro Tshechu

We were informed that the King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk would be arriving soon to get the blessings and there was a red carpet unfurled with Bhutan police, boys & girl scouts standing guard. After waiting impatiently for more than 30 minutes, we decided to get back to Hotel to start to Tiger's Nest Monastery as we have to reach early and start the hike in order to come back on time. 

As we were getting down, we were requested by the Royal Guards to stand and wait aside as the King is hiking up to the Dzong. The King was stopping and talking to his subjects now and then. When he passed alongside us, he enquired us, "Visiting from?". We replied, "India". "Great to see you here. Have a wonderful stay in Bhutan", was his reply. We were lucky not just to have a glimpse but have a word with him too. Since photos with King are not allowed, the moment stays only in my gray cells.

His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk

Now to the best and Must-Do part of Bhutan Trip - Taktsang (or) Tiger's Nest Monastery. Taktsang Monastery is located atop a cliff at approx. 10,000 ft above mean sea level. It takes a hike of nearly 3,000 ft for around 2 hours to reach the monastery which includes 900 steps (600 down & 300 up while going and reverse while returning). It is medium - very difficult hike especially if you haven't hiked for a while. It is mandatory to have some light snacks & water bottles in your backpack. The main thumb rule while hiking Taktsang is that you are not in a race and take enough rest wherever necessary and complete the hike. There is a cafeteria at halfway point if you prefer a quick tea or to relieve yourself at the loo. 

Taktsang (or) The Tiger's Nest Monastery

The Taktsang monastery is believed to be the place where Padmasambava (or) Guru Rinpoche came flying in a Tiger from Tibet and meditated. The monstery complex contains a cave where Padmasambava meditated, a smaller cave which can be accessed by going down a very narrow pathway where the tiger meditated [If you are claustrophobic, you may have to rethink going down] and also few more temples and places for monks to stay. The hike would be life changing experience and I was blessed to do it on my birthday!

With tired legs, we were back in the Hotel and slept like logs with one more day of sightseeing remaining.

Day 8

We had kept the visit to Haa Valley for the last day and we had acquired all the necessary permits in Thimphu itself. The ride to Haa Valley from Paro Valley is up and down a hill. As we near the top,we started seeing a completely different terrain with snow all around.

The Road was built for Project Dantak which is an ongoing partnership between India & Bhutan. As we reach the top of the hill, we arrived at Chelela pass which the highest point in the Dantak Road. From Chelela pass, we can see the mighty beautiful Himalayas in its full glory.

Chelela Pass

Great Himalayan Ranges from Chelela

As we go down our descent to Haa Valley, we see the Haa Dzong and many green structures around it. These are the Indian Military Camp set up in Haa to counter Chinese incursions in these terrains. The Dzong also has military offices inside it as the day to day activity of the armed forces are in this area.

Haa Dzong with Indian Military Camps around

The Black Temple (Lhakhang Nagpo) & White Temple (Lhakhang Karpo) are two main attractions in Haa Valley which is situated at the foothills of the Three Brother Hills. It is believed that a Tibetan King released two pigeons - black and white and the temples were constructed at the sites where they landed.

Lhakhang Nagpo - Black Temple

Lhakhang Karpo - White Temple

We spend some time at the Haa Town where school children were picking up trash from the riverside. It seems it is part of their curriculum to keep their town clean. They told us, "This is the only water source for our town and it is our responsibility to keep it clean". Children are being imbibed great values right from their childhood which is helping them to grow as responsible citizens.

Bhutanese School Children doing River Bank Cleanup

On our way back, we saw a bunch of Yaks grazing around in the valley and a bird's eye view of the Paro Airport.

Yak

Paro Airport - Bird's Eye View

Day 9

We are at our last day in Bhutan and we had Norbu driving us all along for the past 7 days. We had planned to take a bus to Phuentsholing to cross the border but we decided to go with the cab and didn't get bus tickets the previous day. We drove back from Paro to Phuentsholing in a scenic hill road and reached there in around 5 hours. We halted at a temple in Phuentsholing where we can get a view of India & Bhutan.

Densely Populated West Bengal, India in the left & Bhutan in the right

We entered Jaigaon in West Bengal via the Bhutan Gate and Norbu was happy to drop us till Hasimara, the train station from where we got our train to Siliguri. The Indigo flight was waiting the next day to welcome its acquaintances to take them back to Chennai.

Bhutan Gate

Hoping to keep up my T-Shirt Caption - Work,Save, Travel, Repeat! We have started our work to save for our next Travel.

Padmaavat - Movie Review

Ok Great! The blog is still around :) Let me hope 2018 encourages me to keep writing. After my long hiatus [about 4 years to be precise], this is a review of a movie which took quite sometime to hit the screens amidst lot of protests and violence in India - Padmaavat.

Genre: Period Drama
Cast: Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor
Direction: Sanjay Leela Bansali

Padmaavat, erstwhile named as Padmavati is an epic period adaption of the poem of the same name by Malik Muhammed Jayasi about the story of Rani Padmavati (aka Padmini), the princess of Singhal Kingdom who was married to Maharawal Ratan Singh of Chittor and the rage and brutality of the king of Delhi Sultanate, Sultan Alauddin Khilji whose sole motive was to get his hands on Rani Padmavati at any cost.

I am perplexed about the protests by Karni Sena against this movie for offending the Rajput Sentiments. This movie is a epitomization of the Rajput valour, their courage in the battlefield, their strict political and social culture and Sanjay Leela Bansali [SLB] has left no stone unturned when it comes to dialogues, songs or intricate sequences where Rajput glory can be pottrayed in the big canvas.

SLB, with proven credentials in directing epic Indian history movies after Bajirao Mastani, has notched it up a few steps higher with Padmaavat. With the story set in late 13th- early 14th century, the grandoise of the Rajput kingdom of Chittor, the rough plains of Khilji Dynasty and the tropical kingdom of Singhal are depicted with utmost flair. Art Direction & VFX have done a herculean task to bring SLB's vision to screen.

But what are sets, props & CGI, if there is no story and strong characters to the tale. The crux of the story was already there in the poem Padmaavat, SLB showed his acumen in roping in the best in business and transformed them into living characters.

The three protagonists - Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji have given their lives' best performance till date. I have added Alauddin Khilji to the protagonist as he was more than just an antagonist, he was the lifeline of the movie.

Deepika Padukone (Padmavati) has scored in every single occasion in the movie right from the encounter with Ratan Singh in Singhala till final act of committing Jauhar (Yes, this is not a spoiler! Everyone knows this by now). As the movie reaches the climax, you don't see Deepika Padukone but Rani Padmavati on screen.

Shahid Kapoor (Maharawal Ratan Singh), most probably in his first role as a Rajput King, has made sure he is up for the task right from the word 'go'. Though his lanky frame makes a less-convincing statement for a Rajput King, his dialogue delivery and agility in action sequences more than compensates for that.

And, finally Ranveer Singh (Alauddin Khilji). What to say about this guy? If anyone want to know how Alauddin Khilji would have been during his prime, they need not think beyond Ranveer. Alauddin Khilji can never be portrayed more ruthless, brutal of a monster as Ranveer has done. He had made sure to make people believe Alauddin is what Padmaavat is all about. This could not be possible unless he was living the character throughout the movie. The brutality in the war sequences, the scheming mind in trickier situations and landing decisive blows whenever it demands - Best actor, by far, in the whole movie. In line with KB sir's remark to Director Shankar on Endhiran, "Ranveer has made Alauddin look bad, beautifully bad".

Jim Sarbh as the eununch slave general of Alauddin, Malik Kafur, had delivered what the script demands but it makes you feel that the character Malik Kafur was reduced to just a loyal slave and a (implied) homosexual partner  to Alauddin. People who knows the history can recollect the stories of his raids especially to Kakatiya & Pandya Kingdoms. He is equally barbaric and ruthless as Alauddin but was clever enough not to confront him while Alauddin was alive and quick to establish his control after Alauddin.

Raza Murad as Jalaluddin Khilji and Aditi Rao Hydari as Jalaluddin's daughter and Alauddin's Begum provide decent cameos. Was surprised to see screen space for Amir Khusrow. Would have loved to see a cameo of Ghengis Khan in the mongol war sequence. A historical accuracy that didn't miss the eye was the final war sequence where there was no cannons on either side. This story pre-dates Babur & the mughal kingdom who introduced cannons to indian warfare.

And finally for the accusations of glorifying Jauhar, this is the final act of the movie and it is historically documented that Rani Padmavati did commit Jauhar with other women in Chittorgarh fort. While agreeing to the fact that these are regressive and dangerous idealogies which are less relevant today, history cannot be modified at one's will and the end is justified with the fact that Jauhar was still prevalent during 13th-14th century.

This should be one of the best movie experiences on big screen and you won't forget Alauddin Khilji for a long time.

Rating: 4/5
Verdict: A Sanjay Leela Bansali grandeur with rocking performances by the three protagonists.

Interstellar - The Science in the Science Fiction

Disclaimer: The only Nolan movie that I have watched in theaters is 'The Dark Knight Rises' and it was nowhere close to the Dark Knight. I have never watched 'Inception'. So, this post is not a Nolan fan-boy work!

For movie buffs and science class bunkers, the science contents are italicized so that the movie narration is not disturbed. Stay away from them, if you want. For science lovers, the italicization is there for you to pick them out.

Astronomy & Stephen Hawking are two reasons which made me watch this movie. Astronomy is always fascinating and Neil deGrasse Tyson's 'Cosmos' made me lean more towards it. Hawking's 'A Brief History Of Time' was so mind boggling that I have to read the book multiple times to understand what he actually tries to convey.

The movie opens to an earth of future time with crops failing and frequently occurring dust storms which makes it a difficult place to lead a peaceful and healthy life. Human race is in a survival mode and its future looks bleak.

Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a farmer and a former NASA pilot is toiling in this dreaded conditions with his father-in-law, son Tom & physics-curious daughter Murphy. Murphy believes a ghost haunts her bedroom and it gives signals time to time about something. Cooper and Murphy finds once such sign, a physical coordinate of a location and their inquisition leads to a secret location of now defunct NASA. The professor at NASA explains the idea of finding a better place to live and their secret progress in achieving that.

The solution: A newly formed Wormhole near Saturn's satellite system, possibly created by some extra terrestrial Aliens, which connects to another galaxy far away with a planetary system having a humongous black hole Gargantua as its center. Three potentially habitable planets Miller, Mann & Edmunds (named after the astronauts who visited and surveyed them) have been identified orbiting the black hole. The Plan A is to have a manned mission to these planets and identify the one that is most suitable for human survival and return back to arrange the transportation of human beings to it. A Plan B was kept in place just in case if there is a chance of no return. A large batch of fertilized eggs kept in earth like condition in the spacecraft will be taken along and they will act as the seeds for future human race to flourish in their new home.

Murphy doesn't want to be away from her Dad but Cooper chooses to be a part of the mission. He boards the spaceship along with three other astronauts including professor's daughter, Amelia (Anne Hathaway) and a robot TARS for the greater good of human race with a promise to return back for Murphy. They reach the spacecraft 'Endurance' stationed in earth's orbit which will be the mode of transport for their complete voyage. Once the booster's are powered up completely and they get a final thrust towards Saturn, the team goes into a self induced sleep till the first checkpoint (wormhole) is reached.

Science:

Now, for people who wonder what is a wormhole. Firstly, it is NOT a black hole. In wormhole, you know that you will end up in a different place but in black hole, you don't know what is there on the other end or if there is really an end?

Wormhole can be easily visualized as the warp zone in Nintendo Classic, Super Mario Bros where you enter a pipe in World 2-1 warp zone and mysteriously come out of World 4-1. In wormhole, we are talking about galaxies that are millions or even billions of light years away. Light year being the distance traveled by light in one year, it would take millions & billions of years to reach there even if we travel at speed of light [~300000 km/s]. Wormhole acts a portal which allows to do this space travel in lesser time. Scientifically wormholes occurs in space where there is a bend in the time-space continuum but such areas are extremely rare in the universe and even if they occur, they are infinitely smaller in size for a spacecraft to travel through and highly unstable to exist for a long time.

In the movie, the director explains the wormhole as the one which was supposedly created by an alien race of intelligence far greater than us. This gives a fair justification as no one has seen a wormhole yet in real life. The wormhole shown above was designed based on basic physics equations for a wormhole and theoretically, wormhole is expected to look like a bubble or fish eye lens image with a peek into the world on the other side.

As Endurance reaches the wormhole entrance, Cooper takes over the task of piloting the spacecraft through it. Once they complete their highly turbulent travel in the wormhole, they exit at the other end in an unknown galaxy with a terrifying black hole acting as a center of planetary system. Their planetary expedition to the first planet Miller is faced by a problem. In fact, this problem would be persistent in other two planets as well. As these planets are influenced by the gravitational force of the black hole, it creates a time dilation effect ie., time moves slower in these planets compared to earth. Since this is a super massive black hole, the more time they spend on Miller, a much farther time runs away on earth. Let us first understand time dilation.

Science:

Time dilation is the primary concept of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity where he explains the time difference observed by a person standing on a platform and seeing himself travelling in a train which just passes by. The core idea behind this is the gravity. Whenever there is an increase in gravity, time slows down. This idea may be far-fetched for some people but we have a real time application of this concept - GPS Satellites.

GPS satellites are positioned in a geostationary orbit around the earth. To know our exact coordinates, ideally we would need inputs from a minimum of 3 satellites. This is easily obtainable with so many numerous satellites used for global positioning purposes but with a technical glitch. The area around an object which contains other objects which can be influenced by the first object's gravity is called as its Sphere of Influence. For eg: Sun has all planets under its Sphere of influence, Earth has moon under its sphere of influence,etc., Similarly both ourselves or our car and the GPS satellites are in the spheres of influence of earth but the gravitational force acting upon things on earth's surface is much higher than the gravity on objects which are farther away from the earth's surface. So, time in GPS satellites will have difference (in this case, in millisecs) when compared to time on earth. For accurate results, the GPS satellites are pre-corrected to an error margin so that the time dilation is taken care of and accurate results are obtained. This is a simple example of time dilation.

Back to the movie, Cooper and team decide to travel to planet Miller and spend as less time as possible there and come back with the results of habitability of the planet. Miller is a watery planet with more than 80% of it covered with water. Their spacecraft lands in one such shallow water body and Amelia and one other scientist start searching for information left behind by the astronaut Miller. Cooper stays back in the spacecraft as he is the pilot. As these two scientists search in the waters, they see  gigantic tidal waves, which is capable of destroying anything, rising at unimaginable heights. Cooper asks them to come back as the situation is becoming hostile. Amelia in the process of collecting more information delays the return which results in death of the other astronaut by the tidal waves (above). They return back to 'Endurance' with a negative result but in the process they have spent 7 hours on the planet which is equal to an exhausting 23 years on earth. By this time, Murphy has grown up and become a scientist in NASA and the professor gets very sick and unable to proceed with his studies.

Science:

 You may have a question that whether such huge tidal waves are possible, The answer is yes and gravity is the culprit again here. We know that the tides in oceans on earth are created by moon's gravity on earth. So, when a planet is situated so close to a black hole, the gravity is infinitely higher in such a planet which influences the occurrence of big tidal waves.

With fuel just enough to visit only one of the two other planets, the crew has to come to decision. Amelia favors to go Edmunds as it has more promising data whereas Cooper and the other astronaut votes for Mann from where data is still being transmitted. Cooper blames Amelia for letting her love for the astronaut Edmunds come in between the goodness of the mankind and she informs him back that they can visit both planets with the existing fuel if they don't return to earth. Finally they decide to go to Mann but to their bad luck, they find it icy and not worthy of human survival. They meet up with the astronaut Mann (Matt Damon) who had put himself into induced sleep hoping someone will come looking out for him.

Mann reveals that there is no Plan A (returning back and transport the people from earth) and the only mission was Plan B (to use the fertilized eggs and start the human race in new planet). He had been sending falsified data in order to lure people to come and rescue him. Mann attacks and breaks Cooper's suit visor and leaves him to die there and flees in the shuttle to 'Endurance' to proceed with Plan B to Edmunds. Amelia finds Cooper and saves him in another shuttle but unable to save the other astronaut who dies in blast which was triggered by Mann in one of his research robots. But by the time they reach 'Endurance', Mann misjudges in docking his space shuttle which explodes the airlock and kills Mann. Endurance goes off in an uncontrolled spin which is then brought under control by Cooper with his piloting skills.

Meanwhile on earth, the professor reveals to Murphy that he has already given up on Plan A as he finds it impossible and all his life's research was devoted to Plan B. Murphy thinks the problem can be solved and Plan A will be possible if she can introduce the concept of Black Hole Singularity in Professor's equation but it is not possible, as no one has ventured into a black hole before and details of the singularity can be known only at the unknown depths of black hole from where nothing can be transmitted.

Nearly out of fuel due to the sudden turn of events, Cooper & Amelia think of a dangerous plan in order to reach Planet Edmunds. Before that, let us see some fact check about black holes.

Science:

Black holes are one of the dangerous & mysterious objects in the universe. To understand Black holes, one should understand the lifecycle of a star. A star is formed in stellar cloud and it may have a lifetime ranging from millions to billions of years when they continue to burn out the hydrogen fuel in them. Once they burn out their stock, two major things can happen for a star based on the mass of the star. If it is low & intermediate mass star, it grows bigger & bigger in size to form a red giant and if it dense and has a lot of mass, it degenerate continuously to form a white dwarf. 

Some white dwarfs have the most painful ending. Chandrashekar Limit (named after Nobel Laureate of Indian Origin, S.Chandrashekar) is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. Once the white dwarf keeps on degenerating, it accumulates mass till the critical mass of Chandrashekar Limit is reached and its core starts collapsing due to the effect of its own gravity which results in a violent explosion called Supernova which spews Stellar matter and powerful cosmic rays all over the universe. This supernova explosion results in formation of highly dense neutron stars which includes pulsars or quark stars and in some other cases, it results in Black holes.

Black holes are highly dense regions of spacetime exerting enormous amount of gravity due to which it starts pulls the matter near to it (planets,moons,etc.,) towards its center even light cannot escape from them. The point from which there is no return is called the event horizon and the area around event horizon emits high radiations called Hawking radiations. As the matter fall into the black hole, it creates a bright disk of aura around it called the accretion disk.

Amelia & Cooper decide to slingshot the 'Endurance' around the accretion disk of Gargantua closest to the event horizon and use the force to inject their spacecraft in the trajectory towards planet Edmunds thus saving fuel consumption. This idea may feel familiar as ISRO used the same concept to use earth's gravitational force to make MANGALYAAN reach Mars in a slingshot path whereas NASA followed a conventional trajectory for MAVEN ot rech Mars faster at the cost of fuel.

As soon as they start their maneuver, Cooper along with the robot TARS separate from Endurance in a shuttle thereby giving more force for Amelia to escape the black hole's gravity and propel towards Edmunds. Cooper & TARS gets sucked into the depths of the black hole.

Till this instant, there are scientifically proven theories which had helped to justify the story-line. Since no one has traveled into the black hole, the director has taken the creativity of a filmmaker to introduce concepts that are not proven but are proposed as scientific assumptions.

Normally in a black hole, as per scientists, a person can be pulled from head to toe and crushed from the sides as well thereby snapping into multiple pieces in the process. In the movie, Cooper ends up in a tesseract with TARS. Tesseract is like a four dimension cube. Let us see the idea of fifth dimension in order to understand what Cooper envisioned in a tesseract.

Science:

Dimension is minimum number of coordinates required to specify any particular point. For eg, a line with length is a single dimension whereas a rectangle with length & breath is two dimension. If you add a dimension of height to it, it becomes 3 dimensional.The fourth dimension is time. Humans normally stay in the fourth dimension and has the ability to perceive any object in three dimensions and manipulate them (in this case, length, breadth & height). They cannot manipulate time. Fifth dimension is when man starts perceiving things as four dimensional model like a tesseract where he can not only move through the 3 dimensions but can also access along the fourth dimension, time like a timeline. For eg., if required, he can go ten years back and see what is happening at the exact same instant.

So, Cooper ends up in one such tesseract which is actually a timeline of events that happens in Murphy's room. Cooper tries to push a book in the bookshelf at the timeline when the small girl Murphy is in her bedroom hoping her father doesn't leave and voila, the book moves. Now, Cooper realizes that it was never a ghost that was trying to contact Murphy but it was Cooper from the future. Now that Cooper is inside the Tesseract and TARS had managed to collect the singularity data, Cooper finds the timeline for the current earth time where the scientist Murphy visits her room for one last time. 

Cooper looks for a way to transmit the singularity data to Murphy before she leaves which will complete the equation and make Plan A a possibility. Cooper finds a watch which he gave to Murphy before leaving and sends the singularity details as Morse code with the help of its gravitational property. Murphy decodes it and finally solves the equation and helps in setting up a space colony habitat close to Saturn from where humans can continue to survive and look for opportunities across the wormhole to settle down.

The question of how Cooper ended up in Tesseract instead being teared down by forces in the black hole is answered by who planned the whole journey. It was not the work of any extraterrestrial aliens, as suggested by professor at the beginning, it was rather the future generation of mankind who enables Cooper to help the survival of mankind.

Now can you see the beauty of a paradox that can be introduced by time travel? Cooper was able to save the mankind because the future gen people put him into the tesseract and made him to send the signals to Murphy but for the thing to happen, Cooper should have initiated the voyage even before the future gen people started sending signals like setting up the wormhole.

This creates a paradox where Cooper is acting on something at two different instances which cannot exist as a continuous events for reasons mentioned above but still influences each other. One of the possible solution for this paradox problem is existence of parallel universes where same person does different kind of activities based on the series of events that are happening within that universe. 

This justifies the final scene where Cooper returns to find a very old Murphy in a space station set up near Saturn and Murphy asks him to start the search for Amelia who has started researches on Edmunds planet for human habitat. I believe the director tried to show that this is Cooper & Murphy from a completely different universe.

With all these science going around, the movie still has an emotional undertone that Love transcends time and it could be the fifth dimension which enables Cooper to reach out to his daughter with the help of other four dimensions.

Note: For people who compare Interstellar to Gravity, both these movies are great in their own aspects. People may tend to connect more to Gravity as the emotional drama is much higher in it where science takes a step back. Interstellar is a science fiction movie where the director wanted to tell an unbelievable space time travel story which still obeys majority of the laws of modern physics.

This has been the longest post of my blog and I feel that I have rediscovered 'Interstellar' as I am signing this off. If you had been patient enough to read till this, I am happy that you have traveled along and hope to see in more adventurous journeys.