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Wondering what I am upto this time ?? Well, this is about a much talked about, less vistited place. Its a world-renowned place, recognised by Foreigners more than Indian authorities. A place that has given India a unique recognition.

Its none other than the “Garden of dates” aka “Khajuraho“.
About the place:

One thousand years ago, under the generous and artistic patronage of the Chandela Rajput kings of Central India, 85 temples, magnificent in form and richly carved, came up on one site, near the village of Khajuraho. Today, of the original 85, only 22 have survived the ravages of time.

Another story about the place goes like this.
Hemavati, the beautiful young daughter of a Brahmin priest was seduced by the moon god while bathing in the Rati one evening. The child born of this union between a mortal and a god was a son, Chandravarman. Harassed by society, the unwed mother sought refuge in the dense forest of Central India where she was both mother and guru to her young son. The boy grew up to found the great Chandela dynasty. When he was established as a ruler, he had a dream-visitation from his mother, who implored him to build temples that would reveal human passions, and in doing so bring about a realization of the emptiness of human desire. Chandravarman began the construction of the first of the temples, successive rulers added to the fast growing complex.

Getting there

Khajuraho is well connected by ………………

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Manish returned after finalizing plans for next day to reach Yuksom. We set alarm in the mobile for the early morning show of “sunrise on snow-clad mountains “, read a rare book on North-east India that was gifted to us by the owner of the hotel and went to bed around 8:30pm.

The show, as expected, was fabulous. Early morning we started for our Day Three in Sikkim. After crossing upper pelling, we crossed lower pelling, which is an ugly block of concrete buildings. We had to halt at Darap village, Rock garden, Khecheopalri Lake and Kanchendjonga falls. In fact, this is the itinerary of the morning half of the ‘ visit-less-run-more’ sightseeing tour.

Just after we crossed lower Pelling, a man asked us if we would not mind dropping her five yr. old daughter at her school in Darap Village. We happily welcomed his lovely daughter. Our driver smilingly asked little girl her name and some other kiddie’s things. It is a usual practice there to take lift in some vehicle going out on day tours to go to school at Darap that is 3 kms from Pelling. We dropped little girl at Darap. Darap is a small, beautiful hilly village.

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Bahut dino se plan kar rahe the ki Bangalore ke aas paas kahi jaya jaye. Finally 1 Sunday ko ham log nikal liye Nandi Hills ke liye, saath mein tha apna friend Pracheer and his family. Nandi Hills ke liye hamne Outer Ring Road pakdi towards North aur uske baad liya NH 7 to Hyderabad. Road shaandar thi till Devanhalli Airport, 60 KMS ka pata hi nahi chala, uskebaad 1 village road li for next 12 KMS, wo road typical village road thi, and then another 8-10 KMS pahadi chadhai.

Nandi Hills ke pehle padao per pahuche, aur waha per 1 ticket liya aur fir thoda aur upper chade. Weather thoda cloudy tha, lekin bahut achha tha. Car parking mein thodi fight hui lekin 1 jagah mil hi gayi parking. Sochatha ki thodi bahut hiking hogi, lekin aisa kuch nahi tha, thoda chale, 1 Nehru guest tha, waha koi serial ki shooting chal rahi thi. Thoda aage chale to 1 bahut shaandar Vista point aaya, neeche ka najara kaafi shaandar tha. Kuch bandar ladai kar rahe the aur decide karna mushkil tha ki kaun sa bandar apne ko sikandar samajh raha hein.

Thoda aage chale to 1 mandir aaya aur mandir se thoda aage 1 aur Vista point, waha se 1-2 hills dikh rahe the aur najara bahut hi shaandar ban pada tha. Kisi ne bataya ki Nandi hills Tipu Sultan ka summer time spend karne ki bhi jagah hoti thi. 1 restaurant per foster beer ka board laga tha, man machla ki chalo thodi beer pee jaye, lekin biwi ne aankh dikha di ki abhi wapas car chalani hein.

Thoda patelgiri kari aur kuch pictures li, fir socha
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It must have been one of those think-of-a-new place sessions that we must have done and would have agreed upon Chakrata, because if you ask travel agents or search for tourist places, you may not find it and in case you do find it then probably it would be virtually impossible to find someone who has been to this place.

Chakrata is about 100 Km odd from Dehradoon, capital of Uttrakhand , at an altitude of about 7000 ft. This is an old cantonment area which has very few people, even fewer hotels and eating joints, lots of calm and serene environs, a few points like Tiger fall and that greeny-dampy-rich-smelly-feel. Yeah, I still remember that smell even though its been a little over 3 years when we visited this place.

How to go / Where is this

Chakrata is in Uttrakhand and there are two routes, one from mussorrie and the other from Dehradoon (rather Herbertpur). Reach Doon or Mussorrie from Delhi either through following route, recommended if you stay in North/West Delhi.

NH1 -> Sonipat -> Panipat -> Karnal -> Kurukshetra -> After Pipli, take a right cut towards Yamuna Nagar -> Herbertpur -> Chakrata

Or alternatively, recommended if you stay in East Delhi, South Delhi, Noida

NH 58 -> Ghaziabad -> Meerut -> Muzaffarnagar -> Roorkee -> Biharigarh -> Doon -> Mussorrie -> Chakrata

In above route you can have some more fun by leaving NH 58 right after Chhapar and take a left towards Jhabrera and join the roorkee - doon road, that much more scenic and paddy-fieldish then the maddening highway.

Anyway, so far its all easy, the trick is to plan the time you cross Herbertpur. Beyond that ,

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