And then began the scenic extravaganza…. Large trees – most probably mango – over hanging into the road forming picturesque tree tunnels… and then there were colonnades of tall eucalypti – or vast expanses of lush green fields… agricultural crop in full bloom… the views were breathtaking and there was no fatigue…. And we had not touched the hill yet!!!
Meerut to Bijnaur…Bijnaur to Kotdwar… as we approached Kotdwar we could see the blue hills in the distance… the familiar sensation of excitement and awe of the mountains began to grow inside….
At Kotdwar, we crossed the Khoh river and entered right into the mountains… then began the sinuous trail through the mountains…. Unlike the road to Nainital, this one was narrow…but the condition was good….
As we climbed uphill, the flora changed…from deciduous to coniferous… the road wound around the slopes in steep curves revealing spectacular visuals at every turn… the weather was complimenting the sight….
And as we neared our destination, the pines became more frequent and dense… creating mesmerizing shadows within there forests…. As if some fairies will just fly out of one of those dark shadowy corners and fly past our car….
In six hours since we left Gurgaon, we saw the board that said “Welcome to Gharwal Rifles” …most of Lansdowne is the cantonment area…exquisitely maintained….like any other cantonment area… and rest of it was a sleepy little town with a central market place around a small elliptical park….and a narrow market lane going into the interiors of the town ….
What we did not account for is that it was the last weekend of June... peak season…and hence all hotel rooms were full…. There was nothing to be found… but the friendly talkative people of Lansdowne took it upon themselves to find an over-night shelter for the two of us…and finally this man, an instructor in the local ITI at Jaiharikhal, a still smaller sleepy town some 5 km away from Lansdowne offered to request his landlord to spare hi spare room for the night… we drove down to Jaiharikhal with him to take a look at what was in store for us…well it was not the epitome of luxury….but a small 4 X 6 bed in a small one-window-room opening into a balcony overlooking a beautiful valley…was not at all a bad deal for only 200 rupees….there was a toilet which could be accessed from the balcony… what else do we need just to rest for the night….Having finalized our stay, we drove back to Lansdowne for some lunch….it was 2 o’clock by then…and it had started raining… the place looked all the more beautiful in the rains and the heavy mist that lingered all over the mountain slopes… lunch was great…aloo paranthas, one of which fills your stomach…and delicious too….
By the time our lunch was done, the rain had also mellowed down to a very slight drizzle…which doesn’t make you wet…we heard there is Bhulla lake…so we started walking uphill towards that….savouring every thing that the place has in offer….the dense pine forests…the panoramic view of the distant mountains…the pretty hill side houses with their wooden structures and decorated eaves…the healthy but short hill cows with their shiny coats…. As we walked we couldn’t stop from clicking pictures…we wanted to capture everything we see into pictures for us to remember for eternity….but of course…a lot of things can never be captured in pictures….like the drizzle, and the panoramic view…and the mist which kept disappearing and coming back again to engulf the entire hillside into a white cloudy envelope…..the experience was unforgettable….
Bhulla lake turned out to be a man-made lake but nonetheless beautiful…carved out of a trough in the hills….with paddle boats for joyrides….there were a small cage with friendly rabbits who would come near you if you call them and stand up in two feet expecting something from you…there were also ducks in the water crossing over to the other side for the night…..
Boating in Bhulla lake was quite relaxing….as the mist kept playing its game of suddenly enveloping everything and become clear again….the entire feeling was haunting and yet a sense of thrill made us enjoy every bit of it….
After boating we walked back to the market place and took our car for a ride up to this place called “Tip-in Top” (or is it Tiffin Top as the locals call it?) well it could have been either…. Probably the English went to this place for their picnics (or Tiffins) and hence Tiffin top… or you could just tip over this point into the bellies of the deep fathomless mountain valley and hence tip-in top…..
whatever the name is….the view from there is simply spectacular….one could see miles and miles of rolling hills from green to blue to still lighter blue and finally merging into the blue of the sky….and in the foreground beautiful valley with small clusters of houses strewn here and there and terraced hill sides in between….standing at that point I felt the vastness of the mountains once again…..and felt how small and insignificant we are in front of them…..
On the way to Tip-in Top we saw a church and on the way back we saw another…old English architecture....complete with aisles and altars…. And nowhere one could miss the foliage of the trees all over the place…. By the time we reached Lansdowne market back from Tip-in Top, it was dark…and we had to go 5km to Jaiharikhal through the dark mountain roads in the middle of forests….and we had heard stories of leopards picking up dogs from these small towns not so long back…. I could already anticipate the thrill…. We had a quick light dinner… and strtde our ride back to our night shelter… somewhere on the way I stopped the car in the middle of dense forests in the dark moonless night and switched off the car lights…. The feeling was something to be experienced
In the night from the terrace of the house we stayed in, we gazed at the sky and wondered how come we never see these millions of stars up there from our city homes….the night was comfortable…the morning was brilliant….we took a walk along the main street of the town…one tea shop had just opened…there was a small post office…the golden sun shone on the far peaks….
our friend who got us the room offered us tea at his house…tea was refreshing….and then after a quick bath and small snacky breakfast, we were off on the road again…this time for Tarakeshwar Temple….some 40 km drive from Lansdowne….we were a bit apprehensive, because we had heard from some talkative locals that the last 5/6 km of the road to Tarakeshwar was in a bad condition…there were large stones and it might be difficult for small cars like Zen to pass through….
….well when we reached that stretch, we realized our fears were uncalled for…the road was bad alright, but not THAT bad…. It was not leveled…whatever mud they had put in between the stones to level the road got washed off by heavy rains the night before….the bumps were not pleasant….after driving for some 20 minutes through that we reached a clearing meant for parking….it was almost empty…so we realized we were early…
As we walked past the main gate into a hilly trail we realized it was worth driving through the bad roads all this way…after a five minutes walk we reached a green bowl in between high green hills on all four sides…entirely covered with tall hundred plus years old magnificent deodars…. The sight was breathtaking….
After darshan we spent some time taking in the beauty of the place….and then the walk up to the parking and drive back to Lansdowne….by 2’oclock we were again in the market ….the heart had started becoming heavy at the thought of leaving the place….just didn’t want to…still home and work beckoned…after a light lunch we started our drive back home…another eight hours…a bad held up in traffic in Meerut and Modinagar….ten in the night we were at home…rejuvenated, refreshed…and full of pleasant memories…NB: photographs courtesy rwitee! she's a brilliant photographer!
