Uttarakhand

Dayara Bugyal – Part1/2

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We finally started at 5:45 AM and straight hit the road to Gangotri. The twists and turns were churning my stomach and sleep was dozing me off. I got woken up couple of times due to being thrown away by swerves. The journey up was not very exciting. There was no river following our route as Bhagirathi (or Ganga) comes into picture only near Tehri. There was lot of haze due to which mountains and landscape was not looking great. The road was broken at many places due to landslide and due to dryness, there was lot of dust blowing from passing vehicles. The mountain face also looked scarred at many places due to debris from landslide and construction spreading over it. The weather was unnaturally very hot and devoid of moisture because of which loose earth of rubble was flying & getting all over you. Finally the river was seen with muddy color but very less flow. The reduced flow turned out was due to ice having started to melt only now and river would be in full flow in June.

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अनजान सफ़र : उत्तरकाशी – गंगोत्री – गौमुख

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गंगोत्री हिंदुओं के पावन चार धामों मे से एक है इसका धार्मिक और सांस्कृतिक महत्व सभी को आलौकिक करता है धार्मिक संदर्भ के अनुसार राजा सगर ने देवलोक पर विजय प्राप्त करने के लिये एक यज्ञ किया यज्ञ का घोडा़ इंद्र ने चुरा लिया राजा सगर के सारे पुत्र घोड़े की खोज में निकल पडे.

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यात्रा हरि के द्वार हरिद्वार की – भाग १

यात्रा हरि के द्वार हरिद्वार की – भाग १

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हरिद्वार यानि हरि का द्वार, या हरद्वार कहो यानि भोले कि नगरी. हरिद्वार हिन्दुओ का सबसे बड़ा तीर्थ स्थल, देव भूमि उत्तराखंड का प्रवेश द्वार. माँ गंगा पहाड़ों से उतरकर हरिद्वार में ही मैदानों में प्रवेश करती हैं. इसलिए हरिद्वार का एक नाम गंगा द्वार भी हैं. हरिद्वार कुम्भ कि भी नगरी हैं.

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Nainital

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Twilight is dancing on the lake water. All the myriad reflections of life are alive. The sun is receding behind the mountains.  There are no more clouds in the sky. I wish for a starry night. Soon the last boatmen will oar his way back; his mind will be occupied by his earnings of the day. How much is sufficient, how much is luxury? In the end, we’ll all be Capitol Cinema – alone, old, dead.

My favorite bench near the band house is unoccupied. I scurry my way to it. The gurudwara, the oaks and the local salesmen stand tall. They have lived lives here, they are living lives here…

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यमुनोत्री में ग्लेशियर

यमुनोत्री में ग्लेशियर

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यमुनोत्री में उस शाम केवल मैं ही अकेला पर्यटक था, समुद्र तल से 3200 मीटर से भी ऊपर। मेरे अलावा वहां कुछ मरम्मत का काम करने वाले मजदूर, एक चौकीदार और एक महाराज जी थे।महाराज जी के साथ दो-तीन चेले-चपाटे भी थे। मैने रात में ठहरने के लिये चौकीदार के यहां जुगाड कर लिया। चौकीदार के साथ दो जने और भी रहते थे, एक उसका लडका और एक नेपाली मजदूर।

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Rediscovering Mussoorie

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Being the nature lover’s that we are, we first went for a walk on Camel’s Back road. Camel’s Back road is a long winding road frequented by nature lovers who visit this place for their morning and evening walks. Unlike the Mall road, this was a much better place. It was calm and the views of the Himalayas were breathtaking. As the skies were clear, the snow-capped peaks could be seen clearly. Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri are some of the peaks that are visible from Camel’s Back road.

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Trip to Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal and Nainital.

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After a long and hard discussion we all are agreed for a small 2 day New Year celebration trip to the Lake District starting off with Bhimtal. We decided to book our tickets via train as it is the easiest and most comfortable means of transport. It was 29th December we three started our journey.
The entire night journey in train was extremely good.The whole night in the train was passed by playing cards and we three were too excited as our long time planning is now executed.

Till now we didn’t face any problem in reaching station and boarding on train everything was utter smooth. At morning we arrived at Kathgodam station at nearly 5:30 am and …

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A quick tour toTarkeshwar – तारकेश्वर महादेव

A quick tour toTarkeshwar – तारकेश्वर महादेव

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I always have two sets of Ghummakari. One is with my family, where we book good accommodation and with all gears ready and behaving like “अच्छा बच्चा” (or rather achha buddha now LOL). The other set of trip is with group of my childhood friends (Laxman, Awasthi, Vijay & Pradeep).

With friends, our trip is quick, without any hotel bookings or preparations for the way and with minimum budget . It is so quick that sometimes we decide at night that tomorrow morning we are going. I keep a small tent, purchased from Scotland, in the boot of car, , which houses two and can be fitted in 20 minutes… but like our trains we can 3 or 4 slip into that in emergency.

Our trip to Tarkeshwar Mahadev was such a quickie. A day before we decided to dash and lo…next morning 4 am we were on the road with petrol tank full. all five of us packed well in the car and crossed Meerut in one hour. Road from Meerut towards Kotdwar is not easily recognised during traffic hours as it looks like a small bazar, but in the wee hours it welcomed us with open lanes.

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कफनी ग्लेशियर यात्रा- पांचवां दिन (द्वाली-कफनी-द्वाली-खाती)

कफनी ग्लेशियर यात्रा- पांचवां दिन (द्वाली-कफनी-द्वाली-खाती)

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तभी सामने कुछ दूर सफेद सी आकृति दिखीं। सोचा गया कि वे तम्बू हैं। चलो, वहां तक चलते हैं। जाकर देखा तो तम्बू वम्बू कुछ नहीं था, बल्कि कुछ प्लास्टिक का मलबा सा पडा था। गौर से देखने पर पता चला कि यह फाइबर है यानी एक तरह का मजबूत प्लास्टिक। कम से कम सौ मीटर के घेरे में यहां वहां बिखरा पडा था यह मलबा। इसमें लकडी के दरवाजे भी थे जो आदमकद थे। दिमाग खूब चलाकर देख लिया कि यह बला क्या है। आखिरकार नतीजा निकला कि यहां कभी कोई हेलीकॉप्टर गिरा होगा, यह उसका मलबा है।

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पिण्डारी ग्लेशियर यात्रा- दिल्ली से धाकुडी

पिण्डारी ग्लेशियर यात्रा- दिल्ली से धाकुडी

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बैजनाथ से आने वाली गोमती नदी के पुल को पार करके थोडा सा आगे जाने पर भराडी स्टैण्ड आता है। यहां से भराडी के लिये जीपें मिलती हैं। भराडी सौंग जाने वाली सडक पर कपकोट से करीब दो किलोमीटर आगे एक कस्बा है। भराडी में फिर दोबारा जीपों की बदली करके सौंग वाली जीप में जा बैठते हैं। जहां बागेश्वर से भराडी तक बढिया सडक बनी हुई है, वही भराडी से आगे सौंग तक महाबेकार सडक है। वैसे बागेश्वर से सीधे सौंग तक और उससे भी आगे लोहारखेत तक के लिये जीपें मिल जाती हैं

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Another slice of Corbett

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I have seen jungles in real and watched wildlife on National Geography and Discovery channels. But none could match the impressions of that moment. Dear reader, it all happened in our very neighborhood:  Corbett which till then (to me) meant Dhikala, Bijrani, jhirna and nth number of resorts. It all happened in its Sitavani area which is a buffer zone of Corbett.

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Dodital Trek: Himalayan Adventures

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It was good being footloose in Himalayas. On the last day of our Dodital trek, we woke up to find the lake frozen, sat beside it some more in tranquility, tried our hand at angling using makeshift fishing tackle and failed miserably, threw snowballs at each other and with a heavy heart bid adieu to Dodital.

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