The eluding Jim Corbett

The eluding Jim Corbett

We were here in Delhi/Gurgaon since1986 and so close to Ramnagar and the famous Jim Corbett wild life sanctuary and never visited this alluding place!

Being an outdoor person would love to be in a forest especially in a world renowned forest The Jim Corbett, the Tiger reserve. He was born  William James Corbett. He was known to be  a hunter of the man eating tigers and leopards of Garhwal and Kumaon regions. He was instrumental in preserving the wild life in the forest and the park was named after him later.

If he was alive today he would be minting money in royalties for using his name. When you visit that area there isn’t one place which doesn’t have the name Corbett. I wonder why his children aren’t claiming it. I mean there is no exception, everything is Corbett

In childhood we used to go to so many forests and stayed in the most exciting Forest Guest houses like Bairluty in Nallamalla forest. The guest house was the only building in the thick forest and no civilisation for a few kilometres, very scary. They said that the marks on the door were those made by scratching of the tiger’s paws.

We did some fishing in the nearby pond using a safety pin as the hook and cooked rice as bait. Can you believe we did catch a tiny fish!

I went on a hunting trip with my friend and his dad, imagine going in the middle of the night in an open jeep just to see a tiger 🐅 Lucky or unlucky we didn’t sight any. In my first trip I saw an animal in the forest and didnt tell anyone thinking it was a donkey, my ignorance. It was a Sambhar, a deer like huge animal.

So when we moved to Delhi we thought we could visit Jim Corbett to see a tiger. We wanted to stay in Dhikala ONLY, a guest house right in the middle of the forest. We tried many a times and never could get a booking. It is still a mystery why we can’t get it.

It is almost 22 years and never could make this trip till now. Surprisingly an agent could get this booking done for the date’s we wanted!! How he managed I am not sure. Is there an underlying fraudulent scheme happening? 

After such a long wait the alluding Corbett has finally given up and gave us an access,   and that too at Dhikala for two days.What a happy moment it was.

Hoping to see a tiger or two. Waiting to get there.

Write to you soon


Sent from my iPa

Sultan Garhi First Muslim Mausoleum

Sultan Ghari

My brother, a great historian told me once that I remember the dates of historical events better than him, of course he was being modest at that.  My liking or disliking for History is due to our schooling, as you know schools and teachers play a great role in molding a man. I did like it and was good at drawing up the physical domains of each of the dynasty’s. I don’t know beyond that and wanted to brush up my history a little as I have more spare time, see I am a not-tired ‘retiree’ so have a lot of energy and time.

Luckily the group called INTACH (The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) keeps conducting what are called ‘Heritage Walks’, visits to some of the historical monuments in around Delhi NCR.

It was March, end of the winter and was getting hotter. I looked up their calendar of walks and found one such walks to Sultan Ghari on 24^th March 2013. I booked for this walk. I had done a few walks before with INTACH. They have very knowledgeable walk leaders, well versed with the background information about the monuments. They have clear diction and communication. I got the directions from their website and realized it is the same monument which I used to see every time I pass through Mahipalpur near Vasant Kunj. I used to wonder about this and no one could tell me till 24^th March!

Shams-ud-din Iltumish was the third ruler of the slave dynasty and was earlier a slave to Qutb-ud-din Aibak.  He later married Aibak’s daughter and after Aibak’s death dethroned Aram Shah to become the ruler.  He had three sons and a daughter but developed his eldest son Nasir-ud-din Mahmud to be his successor. Nasiruddin was a good ruler but unfortunately dies a premature death. Iltumish constructed a tomb in his remembrance in village Malakapur near Vasant Kunj. This place is called Sultan Ghari.

Sultan Ghari

The entrance to Sultan Ghari is like the gate of a Fortress and we walk into a courtyard like area with stone walls and an octagonal construction in the middle. This happens to be the structure housing the tomb of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud the saintly ruler. The entrance to this tomb is through a narrow passage like that of a cave, hence the name ‘Ghari’. 

We go down this narrow twisting stairs to the tomb area. There are no lights and the only light was the one coming through the entrance. Besides the tomb of Nasir-ud-din there are two smaller tombs which were not identified. I was told that the actual tomb is always underground with some sort of external structure above the tomb.

This tomb of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud was considered a dargah of a saintly ‘peer’ and devotees of both Muslim and Hindu communities visit this place especially on every Thursday.  A visit to this tomb is almost mandatory for all newly weds from the villages of Mahipalpur and Rangpur.

The whole place looks like a fortress with a courtyard and the tomb at the centre. The architecture is more of Persian and at places have some architecture from Hindu temples like the Lotus flower at the base of pillars. There seems to be some On the west side there is the Qibla with marble architecture and some inscriptions from the Quran.

The tomb was renovated by Firoz Shah Tuglaq. Outside this Sultan Ghari but in the vicinity is a Chhatri, a tomb of another son of Iltumish.

The famous woman warrior Razia Sultan is the daughter  of Iltumish who was given the reins as a ruler as other two brothers were incapable of ruling.

For more information see Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ghari

There are so many heritage sites within Delhi NCR which being in Delhi never had time to visit.

I suggest that we can all take some time off to relive the history and realize how and what all good the rulers have done in their times. This can be done by participating in Heritage Walks organized by INTACH which charges just Rs200 per walk.

Our walk Leader was Ms Jaya Basera

Gurgaon-Jalandhar-Amritsar trip - a Train Journey

Gurgaon-Jalandhar-Amritsar    - A Train Journey

3^rd April 2013, we went from Gurgaon by cab to New Delhi station (fare Rs660 including Rs35 booking charge – I never heard about this earlier and the Toll Tax). The Shan-e Punjab train was not on the track and arrived soon after. We had to carry our luggage over the bridge from platform 15 to platform 14. Two small bags did not warrant an official coolie, so became one temporarily. We boarded the AC Chair car and looked for our designated seats (a window and one next to it), seat nos 26(WS) and 27. We were amazed (it was printed on my ticket as a window seat) to see that 26 is a middle seat and 27 is an aisle seat. How can such a reputed system of Indian railways make a blunder like this! Anyway I was unlucky not to get the two seat side instead of the three seat side. (it was a 2X3 coach). The seats were good and comfortable, so no complaints. In fact they are better than the seats in airplanes.

The train ‘chugged’ off at exactly 06:40am. On 2^nd  April I enquired from IRCTC and Railways if they will serve any food on this train, they said there is a pantry car and will provide food on demand. It is not part of the ticket. In the train we found out that there is no pantry car and that there will be no service from Railways. Fortunately we carried some sandwiches and a bottle of water. Later after Panipat , may be in Ambala we had some uniformed guys selling Bread- omelette and Bread-Cutlet with Tea or Coffee. It was just so-so. The train seemed to run very slow but it kept the timing perfectly and finally arrived at Jalandhar at exactly 12:57pm, the scheduled arrival time. I had earlier called (from Phagwara Jn, about half an hour from Jalandhar) a cab service to send a cab to station. The cab indeed was there, waiting for us. It took us to The Residency hotel next to Bus stand. It was quite decent but not good enough service.

We quickly freshened up and went to Yellow Chilli restaurant  of Sanjeev Kapoors chain. The food was quite good and got a 15% discount.  We seem to be the only customers on a Wednesday afternoon.

In the evening we went in search of dresses of Phulkari type and landed up in ‘Rainek’ bazaar. We spent a few hours of shopping, spending time and money, and tried to locate a nice restaurant but failed, so returned to the Yellow Chilli.

Next day that is 4^th April we left for station to get to Amritsar the city of Golden Temple. The train was Amritsar Shatabdi. We got the front seat with no one else in the 3^rd seat. We were served Tea and Coffee with biscuits. Felt that Shatabdi is obviously better, wrong assumption!. The train was about 40mts late, we were getting late for lunch too. The train reached at about 14:10hrs instead of 13:25. That was Shatabdi.

We were received by two Sardarji’s, one a driver and one a security personnel. There was an Innova vehicle which was very comfortable. Reached the M K hotel, a very decent hotel, much better than the Residency at Jalandhar.  The room was big, nice, and comfortable. We were to leave by 15:00 hrs to Attari Border so quickly made a sandwich of Aloo Bhujia and Cheese bread, made coffee with inhouse amenities. We were down at the lobby in a jiffy. We were very excited about visiting Wagah border. The drive in Innova was very nice on this 4 lane Highway to Wagah Border. We first went to the departure/arrival lounge at the border, were taken around the place like VIP’s (who said we weren’t).

I got excited when I saw a sign board saying 24 kms to Lahore! In Pakistan. This was the closest I had ever been to our neighboring country. We drove another kilometer to arrive at the Retreat area. We were taken to the VIP seating area, closest to the ceremony.  There were patriotic songs being played on loud speakers on both sides (of course we could hear Indian one much louder), people shouting Bharat Mata ki Jai, Vande Mataram etc. Very patriotic and when you see people taking the Indian flag in their hand running the length of the ceremony area, you get goose pimples! I wish I had taken the video camera. It is worth watching  the action happening before the ceremony.

The Retreat was well rehearsed activity, both sides were well prepared. The Indian side was jam-packed but on the Pakistan side it was not even half full. The ceremony lasted about 45mts, each showing their might both in their facial expression as well as action. The BSF soldiers could raise their foot above their heads while marching , it was a spectacular scene. At the end of ceremony, we (only the VIP’s) were guided to visit the Zero point, one side of the pillar was India and the other side was Pakistan. We did a fast retreat from this area and went back to the city.

On the way to the Golden Temple we went to see Khalsa College, I wondered why any one would like to see a college. Only after reaching the place did I realize why, the building was built some time in 1890s, a huge red colored brick structure spread over about 390 acres of land. It almost looked like a palace! We drove around the campus. It was wonderful.

There was another important place we had to visit called the Jallianwala Bagh, where unarmed Indians were massacred by the British in an enclosed space. It was as brutal as it can be, shooting down everyone in the open area, some fleeing and some who jumped into a well too died.  There were those bullet marks which killed many people, which can be seen till today. The sight is something you will never forget, those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Aren’t we the lucky ones to be born in independent India.  

Then we drove down to the landmark of Amritsar, The Golden temple. Left our shoes in the vehicle and so surprised to see that the road on which we were walking bare foot was soft like velvet (it was a tar road). What they did to the road I wouldn’t know but was soft and didn’t have a problem walking bare foot. There was a place on the way to the temple, where water was flowing and you are supposed to clean your feet and walk on. It was already dark as we covered quite a few land marks. The temple was glowing with the lights reflecting on the clean gold covering. We spent about half an hour in the queue to reach the inner sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The people behaved fairly well while waiting. The temple was surrounded by water on all sides except for the passage to the temple. There were huge LED displays showing the meaning of the hymns of the Holy Granth Sahib being chanted. We bought some packed ‘Prasad’ to bring home.

We heard a lot about Amritsar’s gastronomic popularity so decided on having dinner at a dhabha. The local ‘guides’ took us to Bharawan dhabha. Only today I came to know that Amritsari Nan means a stuffed Kulcha!! Which didn’t appeal much to me. I ordered a simple Thali which had Dal Makhani, Paneer dish, raitha, salad and two Latch Paranthas. The paranthas were too good but relly heavy on the stomach and light on the purse. The Thali costs about Rs110/-  Sobha ordered the same but with Tandoor Roti’s (3 per plate). The roti’s were so big that Sobha could eat just one. They too were really good. We had Phirni as a desert to top it off which had a lot of cream or so it tasted. Now what else to try? Keep it for the next day.

5^th April, was spent visiting a few temples, had a light lunch. I was looking forward to eating some chicken dish, our guides were (could be vegetarians) unable to locate one for the lunch time. They said mostly people eat chicken at night. I let it go. After a few hours of rest the guides took us to a small restaurant called Bijwasi Chat, we ordered a few dishes and then proceeded to a dhabha serving non-vegetarian dishes and Amritsari Chicken Tikka with roti. All the others were vegetarians so had to eat it all by myself, it was spicy. Then we went to Novelty sweets shop had Jilebi’s. I kept myself away as I wanted to drink the famous ‘dudh wala’ ka milk. The milk was kept boiling for about 5 hours and more and gives a big steel glass of milk topped with ‘malai’. Was it heavy, YES very very heavy. It costed Rs30 per glass. Food seems to be cheap at Amritsar. Returned and had tough time sleeping with my stomach so full. Had the alarm set to 03:30am as we had to catch a train at 5am.

The train Amritsar Shatabdi was on track even at 4:40am and we settled down. This time we had the window seat and the next one. A bottle of water was supplied to each passenger. Later we were served breakfast of bread and omelet with coffee. The food was horrible. As the train moved on there was an announcement stating that the trip to Delhi will take 5hrs 40mts which means we should be arriving at 10;40am and not 11:15 as printed on ticket. The train did good speed and kept time mostly and suddenly slowed down and even kept waiting for a long time just to reach Delhi at 11:15am. Why then they said it will take 5hrs 40mts? Is being done intentionally? Like to airlines do it all the time.

We hired a cab at Paharganj side of Station, costed Rs800.

It was a wonderful journey, down the memory lane (of what we read and not experienced but lived the part due to the serious significance the place holds in the hearts of every Indian )

011-60004242 Hindustan times

A trip to Manila

A trip down to Manila (A long one – both the trip as well as this report as it is my travel diary)

Our Favorite Honda, takes us everywhere

Is it a trip DOWN to Manila? or UP to Manila?

Summer has set in Gurgaon, sizzling above 40 for quite some time. It is the time to take a break and go on a holiday. All the time we go to places far away from home where anything you want to buy, you have to use the Multiplication factor of more than 1!! in terms of currency. So this time we have decided to go to a place where we don’t have to use currency multiplication while buying.

So we said, let us drive down to Manila. Those who heard me say that, asked me in astonishment , what! Drive down to Manila? That’s too far to Philippines. I told them it is not in Philippines but in UK. I know it is not a geography lesson, but Manila is in UK, I had been there and I know it well enough. The whole trip we managed in INR and remember no currency conversion! By the way UK stands for UttaraKhand

We were very excited to go on this trip as the destination is at about 2000mtrs above MSL and expect it to be cooler than Gurgaon. We planned to start 430am but as usual finally left an hour later. The road was good and kept on paying road toll at many places (Rs5, 15, 25, 50 etc). We don’t mind paying toll if the road is really nice. We took the diversion at Rampur Dorah to the left to proceed to Ramnagar. As we approached the town of Ramnagar we found every hotel, Dhaba and stores all named after the famous Jim Corbett – Jim or Corbett or Tiger. We reached at 1130am after covering 280kms with a breakfast stop over at Bikanerwala Restaurant (at a distance of 139kms from home). The place was clean but food, just OK.

We wasted some time to locate the forest office to meet the DFO, but he was on a long leave. We were told and assured us that we have a reservation at Manila Forest Rest House. We stopped at a Dhaba for lunch, it was nice and cheap with hot chapattis and Paneer Bhujia, Dal and salad for Rs100/-  The road surface has become bad to worse as we went closer to Manila and the 80 Kms took us more than 2 and a half hours. Of course we went on stopping at different places to buy our grocery items and Vegetables. The FRH at Manila does provide for a watchman cum cook but no ingredients.

Forest Rest House in the middle of Forest, Manila

The FRH is situated in the middle of thick forest on an elevated place. The FRH is surrounded by Pine trees. We chose a smaller room due to its position in the house overlooking beautiful valley. We were met by the watchman who served us with hot tea and Biscuits. We felt elated at this treatment; it showed later that first impressions are not necessarily lasting impressions. That was 2^nd of June 2012; the evenings were cool and made us take out jackets towards the night. We sat in the verandah for a long time till we were served dinner at 830pm in the adjoining Dining Hall. They have a solar light which came in handy when the lights went out. Next day morning we walked around the place and took a long walk down the main road. The gravel path from the FRH to the main road was flanked by thick woods and sloping hill sides, absolute silence except for the birds and the winds blowing across the leaves of the trees.

On a stroll in the forest

We went and inspected another hotel called Himalayan holiday resort, at a price of 1000 per day the rooms were badly maintained. Even further down we found an abandoned building, well designed to view from outside. We came to know that this was KMVN rest house given off to a private party on lease. The charges are same Rs1000 per day.

The FRH had water problem and so did other hotels, we were rationing use of water. We had bought enough drinking water on the way so were well equipped. The water stored in small containers started depleting and we had to make a choice of staying or leaving soon. The watchman started grumbling and was advocating us to leave as soon as possible (as he has to cook for us).  He was very reluctant to cook anything. He couldn’t be more blunt than this to tell us “buzz off”.

In front of Manila Mandir

On 4^th June after finishing our morning walk in the woods we drove up about 3kms on a narrow road to visit the ancient Manila Temple. This temple is built some 900 years back.  It seems that one part of goddess, the hand fell  (or got detached and brought here) at this place. We returned to our FRH after offering our prayers.

The hand of Devi which is brought to this Manila Mandir

In the afternoon suddenly the black clouds came on above us as if a blanket was drawn over us. It started raining. We went out to enjoy the rain and its splatter on the sloping roof. We were delighted to see hail storm with them looking as if a string of pearls is broken and strewn all over. It was not a string but seems like a bowl or a barrel!.  It continued for a long time, normally hail storm comes for a few minutes but here it lasted and lasted. It was a perfect setup to have hot tea and pakoras. But we decided against knowing our grouchy ‘cook’. We got hot water and made our own coffee.

The nights became cooler after the rain. As we were short of water the watchman started collecting rain water in buckets and drums which we could use later.

Beautiful Flower near FRH, Manila

Night set in and retired early as we planned to leave to any other place in Garhwal from this unwelcome place. The place was wonderful only spoilt by the cook’s attitude. I knew there was a place near by in Garhwal, I like Garhwali people who are caring

On 5^th June, we left Manila, the rest of the trip is another report

How cheap is cheap

In our recent trip to Malaysia we also visited Langkawi, the island resort of Malaysia. Langkawi it seems comprises of about 90 small islands. We took the evening 1610hrs flight out of Kuala Lumpur (KL) by Air Asia. The flight was on time and the plane was neat and clean.

We got our luggage very fast and proceeded to a counter for rental cars. There were three people and didn’t know if they all belonged to the same company or not. We bargained for a cheap car for three nights. Initially he quoted MYR180 for a small car. I requested for the smallest of small cars and also cheapest of them and finally negotiated for a price of MYR140, pickup at about 5.40pm (arrived from KL at about 5.10pm) till morning on the fourth day (3 nights). The system there is they will give you with some petrol and you give back with about the same. Easy money for the agency!!.

We went out after paying MYR190 (Includes MYR50 as refundable security deposit) and a man gave us the keys and showed a car, we had to really look hard to find it as it was so small. He gave us general directions to my hotel, the Citin Langkawi.

The car started pretty easily but made a lot of noise through out the journey, almost as if some parts may come loose. Don’t complain, I asked for a cheap car, didn’t I? It had power steering as well as power windows so was happy. We made a wrong turn and had to take corrective action after renewed driving instructions.

We arrived at the hotel within about 30 minutes, the ride was easy as it is almost a straight road. The hotel was right on the main road on the left side. The map did help. We wanted to check-in and then take the luggage so got off the car and I tried to lock on my side. The key turned a little and felt as if the key is made of paper, a soft touch. The metal key twisted in my hand as if a flexible sheet of metal. I tried to turn it back and to my horror found the key break into half. Luckily my wife didn’t lock her side of the car and could manage to take the luggage out.

Called up the agency and told him about the incident and expressed my displeasure at the type of car he gave us. He was trying to justify and told me in clear words that what else any one can expect in a cheap car!! I didn’t know cheap means that anything can break or come off at anytime, especially something important like a key. Thank God the steering wheel didn’t come off in the cheap car.

The agency sent me another car after an hour. It looked neat but no power steering. Drove around Langkawi for the next two days and had difficulty especially in parallel parking without the power steering. It was like driving a truck.

The good things about driving around in Langkawi are the roads are very good and petrol is CHEAP. And this time this ‘cheap’ petrol was for real and nothing got broke and not adulterated etc. So cheap always doesn’t mean cheap as in low quality. We paid MYR19 for 10 litres of petrol.

Hiring a car at the airport was the best thing to do as there is no public transport in Langkawi (At least we didn’t see any) and driving is easy with good roads and being a small town.

On the last day of the trip to Langkawi we just drove to the airport, called the agency and a guy came to take the keys. After inspecting the car for any damages (they didn’t do it before giving) paid back my security deposit of MYR50. That was it. It took us two minutes for the guy to appear, 1 minute to handover. It was a neat arrangement. The lesson learnt is to never ask for a cheap car next time, you may end up with four wheels instead of 5 (I mean the steering wheel may come off!).

Parking is free after 4.30pm, so literally we never paid any parking fee as we moved around mostly in the evenings

I was imprisoned in Malaysia!

I was imprisoned in Malaysia!

It is indeed a fact, I was imprisoned while in Kuala Lumpur. It was for a very short time. The time was about 10pm while everyone else was either sleeping or about to go to sleep. Poor me, was imprisoned with no help, especially as I can’t speak Malay except greeting some one “good morning” or “good night”. These two sentences wouldn’t get me out of the situation.

The date: 22nd July 2011.
Place: Near Masjid Jamek in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia.
Crime committed: Attending nature’s call after 10pm

I and my wife went to Malaysia on the popular LCC airlines called Air Asia. The fare was dud cheap. The return flight from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur (KL) costed us just 5000/- INR. Of course not per person but for both!! Otherwise why would I call it cheap. By the way LCC stands for Low Cost Carrier.

It was a spot decision to book these flights without thinking. This was because such cheap tickets get sold out in no time. We were lucky to get these for July 2011 (booked about 8 months back). As such there was no time for proper planning on routing and dates. We booked ourselves for a trip to Langkawi too from KL. We had to check-in and out a number of times into hotels.

As the fare was so low we also tried to do the same with hotel accommodation and chose Citin hotels both at KL and Langkawi. They were good (I mean quite neat and simple), they reminded me of the Etap hotels in the Europe. At KL we stayed in Citin Masjid Jamek for the simple reason that the hotel is a minute’s walk from the Metro station. The hotel is situated right behind Little India shopping arcade and adjoining Masjid Jamek.

The flight Air Asia D7 2507 was very good, the seats and the interiors were quite clean and bright. The outside and the inside of the craft we see a lot of red color making it look bright. The flight arrived before time and we rushed to catch the Skybus (operated by Air Asia) to KL Sentral. It is an hour’s journey passing through green patches of coconut and palm trees making it a cool welcome to the country. At KL Sentral we took a cab to the hotel and paid him MYR20.

The lobby of the hotel was jam packed with people checking out and checking in. It seems to be a very popular hotel. The time around 8 or 8.30 am and worried as the check-in time is 12noon. Luckily Adilla was at the reception, the girl I spoke to a few days before and she obliged us by allocating a room (but with a connecting door, which I didn’t want). She said she will move me out next day. Early check-in at no extra Cost!!. The staff were nice to us.

See how I made you read all this keeping the suspense. You wanted to know about my imprisonment.

It was 22nd July (we were moved to room#804). After long hours of shopping and a late dinner we arrived at the hotel after 9.30pm. I went to the toilet to relieve myself and to change into night dress. After relieving myself and changing my pyjamas, when I tried to open the door, it wouldn’t open and to my horror found that there was no lever to turn the latch. It got locked and nothing to operate. So frantically called my wife for help. She didn’t have anything on the outside to operate it either. She called reception.

10 minutes passed and no one came. She again called, they said that the maintenance guy is on leave!!. 10 more minutes passed and no one came, so she called and shouted at them. They sent the security guy ( a guy from Punjab). A hefty guy, powerfully built and tall but without any ideas. He tried a lot, almost hammered his way in. I had to warn him about the glass door. My wife passed a small scissors through the small opening between door and the wall. It didn’t help There was a window at the far end and even if I went out the window I didn’t dare to cross over the next window at the 8th floor. I always wanted to do paragliding – definitely this was not the way. The security guy passed on many box nut spanner bits and one of them fitted on the latch spindle with the help of toilet tissue. I forced it tight and turned, Voila! The door opened to my relief. That’s how it happened. I was locked up for more than 40 minutes against my wishes. Luckily my next flight was 18 hours away.

Next day I had the lock removed totally, lest some one else will be imprisoned! And possibly no one is sharing the room. God help them. I wonder what I would have done with out a phone and if I was alone in the hotel locked up like this. I will cross the bridge when I come to it. May be I will always carry my mobile phone to the toilet!

Read more on Malaysia trip in the other articles being published shortly.

Roaming the land of Gods - Uttarakhand

Roaming the land of Gods – Uttarakhand

It is an inevitable call from within that you can’t ignore but concede. A call to do a ‘yatra’ in the hills. Year on year, we get ready to roam the land of Gods – Uttarakhand. A divine place in the lap of the majestic Himalayas. We had been visiting different places in this land but yet we feel our desire to explore further is never diminished. There is so much to devour that one life may not be enough to see it all.

June 10th, 2011 was the date for this year’s exploration. Me and my wife (by now she too has become an ardent lover of this beautiful land) set off early in the morning with somewhat a fixed itinerary viz., Delhi-Pauri-Nauti-Gwaldam-Mandoli and back. The idea was always to visit the places “off the beaten track”. I am sure that not many people would have heard about these places, some of them may not exist on even a Google map!!

The road was surprisingly very good with the new Toll Road covering about a 100kms and the rest of the road being fairly good. There was too much traffic due to the pilgrims going to the Chardham yatra. We reached Deoprayag (the confluence of rivers Bhagirathi and Alakananda) and filled up our car tank at the petrol pump. Here the attendant told us the road from Deoprayag to Pauri is a better road than the route via Srinagar so we opted to do the same. A few metres away from this pump one can find a deep U-turn to the right, leading to a rough steep road going down the hill. This continued even after crossing The Ganges for about 3kms. The road became better later but for next 20 kms the surface was not good. Also there were places where it looked like some land slides keep happening. It is indeed dangerous to come this way. From a village 20kms short of Pauri the road has become better so was relieved. We seem to have taken the wrong road to approach the GMVN TRH at Pauri as we had taken a long time to reach it winding up and down after reaching the town of Pauri.

Lovely purple flowers in front of Tourist Rest House at Pauri

It was a pleasant stay at Pauri, the rooms were fitted with wooden flooring, a clean bathroom with Geyser (for hot water). We had been here a couple of times before and we used to get a panoramic view of the Himalayas (Unfortunately due to heavy clouds we couldn’t see any Himalayan range). The food was tolerable. Through out our trip we were drinking bottled water. An expensive necessity, tip for travelers is to stock your car with either a 5 litre or two litre bottles.

Fairly Large town of Pauri – view from TRH

So far: Day 1 was travelling, Day 2 was at Pauri and Day 3 we started for Nauti.

Day3: Left for Nauti at 730am. Before we left Gurgaon I got a message on a travel forum that there are heavy rains in Uttarakhand which means possible landslides and it almost frightened me off. I was told that there has been a landslide between Srinagar to Rudraprayag which sometimes delays the traffic for hours. This landslide keeps happening every year and has already started happening. I was debating on taking the route via Khirsu to join the Rudraprayag route after this landslide place but was advised against it due to very bad road condition. So took the road via Srinagar and hoped for the best. When we reached that dangerous point we were relieved to see that the road was clear and some one was managing the traffic on both sides by alternating the flow. Right when we started on this patch a SUV tried to over take me to get there first and forced me to stop suddenly only to find a taxi Qualis rammed into my car fender.We did not stop as we would have put a lot of people under tension (who are eagerly waiting to cross this dangerous stretch) so proceeded on.

The journey upto Gauchar was uneventful and stopped at the GMVN TRH for breakfast. Had some Aloo Paranthas and Coffee. Used the restroom. Bought some vegetables, fruits and started back on our last lap to our next destination – NAUTI. We were advised by the Manager at Gauchar that at Karnaprayag there will be 3 roads and was to take the middle one. This led us to the city of Karnaprayag and while we were enquiring the route to Nauti a policeman told us that one of his staff is going to a village on the same route who will help us. So we picked him up and proceeded. After a few kilometers we take a right turn to Nauti. The road was just OK and very narrow. At certain places the surface was also bad and had a doubt if we could drive to Nauti. We ventured ahead with some encouragement and support from my wife. Through these winding and narrow roads we reached the GMVN TRH. The TRH is situated on the hillside going down the hill from the little market.

The TRH is in an isolated place with 6 double rooms on the first floor and a 10 bedded dormitory in the ground floor. The Kitchen and the dining hall were located at he GF. We were the only inhabitants both a plus and a minus. Minus as it is a bit scary being alone and so far from home. We loved the room with a huge verandah. The whole place was ours so made it even better. The rooms and the place were kept unusually clean, we couldn’t find a speck anywhere.

TRH at Nauti and my faithful car

From the verandah we could see the Nanda Devi mandir and at a distance we could see the Shiv mandir. We gave all the vegetables to the cook and ordered our lunch menu. After lunch I gathered some energy from the potato dish and walked to the Nanda Devi temple only to find that it was closed. I was advised by the locals that I can walk from the back side to enter the temple premises. Went and took some pictures, it seems that the Pujari comes only in the mornings. Had darshan with out the pujari and returned to the room.

Famous Nanda Devi Temple from where the Raaj Jat starts every 12 years

Life here seems to be slow and time seems to have stopped as such. Nothing is happening, so we walked to the tiny so called market. To our surprise we found that there is actually a State Bank of India and also a Post Office. There are about 20 shops.

When we arrived at the TRH I felt that the right front tyre is a bit flatter and was wondering what to do at this remote place. The staff at TRH told me to my relief that there is a tyre repair shop. The shop keeper told me that all is well and nothing to worry.

We walked around for a while and returned to TRH. In the evening we enjoyed the view from the verandah and saw Nanda Gunti mountain. We can only get a small view of the Himalayas and that is Nanda Gunti. It is nice to spend hours sitting in the verandah and breathing fresh and clean air. Back home it will be a luxury to expect it.

Nanda Gunti Mountain as seen from TRH at Nauti

The routine repeated the next day, the day being interrupted y occasional rain. During the walk in the market we found several people playing carroms and at one place right on the side of the road they were playing it on an elevated stool all players in standing position. What an intense passion for the game!. Did our sports authorities explore this area to find the champion?

It started raining in the night and I was hoping that the road will be almost as good on my return trip.

Day 5: Started the journey to Gwaldam at about 8am after a simple breakfast. Luckily the road surface did not deteriorate due to the night rains and we made good progress to Simi and then to Tharali. On the road from Tharali to Gwaldam at one place the road was bad and even though we were driving very slow at snail’s pace heard a big thud when the ground stuck the underbelly of my car. I always thought that Honda Civic has the biggest ground clearance but invariably the car gets hit by stones. Nothing we could do except pray that no damage is done and it was so. Lucky once again.

The whole journey is very good as the road runs along the Pindari river all through, some times very close to it and some times at a great height. The scenery is good and the winding road went past two more villages viz Narayan… and Thal. Suddenly we come across a bend in the road and to the right we see SSB Training centre (Sahasthra Seema Bal) and after a few minutes drive arrive at the Forest rest House at Gwaldam. The entrance is to the left and amidst small shops. There was a gate which was locked from inside and we hailed a person doing some gardening. Later we found that he was the care taker of the FRH. We were a bit tired after having driven about 500 kms from Gurgaon.

The FRH was kept very clean and neat. We were given a suite with two bedrooms, an enclosed verandah and a beautiful bathroom. The verandah had a table and sofas to relax. The double bedded rooms have a dressing table, an antique looking cupboard with double beds and to our liking a fireplace!!. My wife loves such a place and she did.

Forest Rest House at Gwaldam

The days were a bit warm but nights were very quiet and cold calling us to use the thick ‘rozai’ provided. The care taker here is also the unofficial cook and he made us fresh meals and we enjoyed them. One day we had chicken curry. All the dishes he made were delicious, my wife tells me that everything tastes nice to me when I am amidst the Himalayas. That is true to a great extent.

I used to sit out most of the time watching the hills, the mighty Deodhar trees or the occasional monkey brigade who visited the premises as if their own place. They act almost like humans especially taking care of the young ones and cuddling them.

In the nights we used to walk up and down the path in front of the FRH and enjoy the cool air and some times gazing at the stars. Back at home we could hardly see any stars due to pollution.
Whenever the skies are clear we used to walk down to the gate of the SSB training center from where one can get a beautiful view of the Himalayas. Right next to the FRH is a pond with colored water (never got cleaned I suppose) but from a distance gives a beautiful picture of the FRH. This was the picture which prompted me to come to Gwaldam the first time, but unfortunately we mistook it for the GMVN guesthouse and had to settle to do without it. This time we made sure we stayed at the FRH.

Clouds covering the mighty Trishul as seen from Gwaldam

Due to the monkey menace we had to keep the front door locked all the time, anyway who stayed indoors? Every day we used to go for a walk into the village with its shopping and the bus stand. There are many dhabas serving the popular Chinese and there was one fairly large restaurant serving local sweets including the ‘bal-mithai’, a blackish brown milk sweet topped with small sugar pills.

On the ninth day we left Gwaldam for home and planned to stay at Srinagar. We made good progress and went to Gauchar for a quick bite and drink. We were lucky to find the road near the landslide clear and we could pass through with ease. The only problem through out the journey was the traffic. A part of the road between Rudraprayag and Srinagar was one way which made it easy to drive. We cross the river Alakananda and join the main highway after a steep U-urn to the right.

We reached Srinagar in the afternoon and checked into a double room with Air-cooler. The room is just OK but we didn’t bother as it was for a few hours till morning. We had lunch at the restaurant.

The food in the night was terrible as they served the samefood so a bit stale. We could not eat and we didn’t pay either.

The market is busy and the GMVN TRH was full with pilgrims either going to or returning from the Chardham yatras. To douse the bad taste after the dinner we walked to a nearby shop and had ice cream which was good. There are many dhabas and the one just opposite to the TRH looked good.

On day 10 we had coffee in the morning, had bath and left for home. The road was patchy between Srinagar and Deoprayag but later was good.

We stopped at the Dosa Plaza and ordered Dosas and coffee which were terrible. The place looked very dirty. On the way back we bought very good mangoes almost whenever we spotted them so ended up with about 10Kgs, later we found that the fruits tasted really nice being fresh from the gardens.

Weaving through the Delhi traffic arrived at Gurgaon at about 1830 after having driven exactly 1100kms.

The car behaved very well only I had scarred the under carriage going over a bad road hump.

We had a good time away in the Himalayas and look forward to another one soon. Both of us are a bit tired due to long hours sitting in the car.

Well it is worth roaming the land of Gods, so what if we are a bit tired!