Mussoorie–Revisited!

Namah Shivay!

Long since a new article has been published here. It’s a pleasure expressing my joys as I write this with love. It was 19th of November, 2008 as I remember when I last saw the face of this scenic beauty. 30 kms from Dehradun, set in the lap of lush green Himalayan mountains, is a ride full of twists & turns & a mountainous terrain with steep falls & highs, that welcomes you to the grandeur of this small hill station, its beauty discovered by Col. Young during the British India era. Since then it has attracted foreigners every year throughout the year. The Mall road, Gun Hill, Camel Back, Lake Mist, Kempty Falls, Happy Valley, Buddhist Temple, Tibetan Market only to name a few. It requires one to have a stay of at least a week to fully set in the way of life here.

The Dehradun Shatabdi Express which runs from New Delhi station to Dehradun is a breath of fresh air when it comes to traveling. It’s like an economy flight on rails. The food is good & the signature habit of attendants of Rajdhani & Shatabdi to serve you mini meals every now & then keeps the tummy healthy & smiling. One of the most spectacular views is the green fields during monsoon season as the train leaves Ghaziabad & passes through the villages. At Haridwar, the Hindu culture is predominant & the way of life reflects here as well as soon as you see the confused foreigners, saints & devotees traveling with you get off the train & walk out to the welcoming mountains surrounding Rishikesh & Haridwar. Through the large windows the sight is picture perfect.

We reach our final destination after a spectacular sight of a dense patch of forests that can send ones imagination to a beautiful past which could have been so much colder, denser & mystical a decade or more back. They wouldn’t have required fans in this city back then. Beside the station is the Dehradun bus stand from where, every hour or so, one can catch a bus to the lovely Mussoorie, which is an hour & fifteen minutes ride approximately that would leave you amazed at how much the bus drivers are well acquainted with the steep turns & falls from the valley to the hills. It is reassuring to know how smoothly they handle the wheels at the sight of vehicles coming at you & overtaking vehicles from behind.

We stayed at Padmini Nivas Hotel, on the Mall Road, very near to the Tibetan Market, a 180 year old building, if what I heard is correct, built for the British sepoys as a retreat from the usual routine of life, a retiring place for the recovering & for those battered & bruised. The hotel started operating from 1980. One just has to let their imagination fly as to, back then, what this beautiful place would have been like. The tourists, commercialization hasn’t affected the natural setting as much as the trash thrown here & there that is littered across the boundaries of the hotels, shops that have sprung up, of many a kind. Tea shops, Chinese nook corner, bread & omelet shops, maybe throwing crumbs as well.

At 7000 ft. cracking jokes over a cup of tea & ‘pakodas’ would be an understatement. That’s what Gun Hill has to offer. When the clouds clear the eyes set in to bask in the glory of so many glacial peaks at sight, one could gasp and say a thousand more peaks please. Gangotri, Yamnotri, Rishikesh, Badrinath among others.
Going further on the the Kulri street I meet the age old man & his wife who run their fairy tale chocolate shop still. I am thankful to my sweetheart for managing to get me a beautiful autograph of the legendary Ruskin Bond. Just like before, it is now, a dream ride over there only clouded over the head and rainy, as it should be in the month of July.
More on this later folks.
(to be contd.)

DEEP NATURE

It is a call that brings ones conscience back to their mother. Many struggle in life, bestowed with innumerable talents, single-mindedly towards their goals. That’s work. There are some who like to employ these talents keeping the life throughout a holiday. That too is the work actually.

Inspired by such blossoming figures, this post rememorizes many a journeys undertaken in the last few months.

Jabalpur-Tala

One of these happens to be during summers in the hot month of April this year to Bandhavgarh National Park, in one of the states, Madhya Pradesh in India, in the district of Umaria, near the eastern border of the state, next to the district of Shahdol which touches Chhattisgarh. With an area spanning 105 km²,the buffer zone is spread over the forest divisions of two districts covering a total of 437 km². Animal sightings in this zone is common as is their presence throughout the forests in the state. Easy to spot are ‘Spotted Deer’, fox & hyenas at nights.

To reach Bandhavgarh, the route via Jabalpur, which is a major city in M.P, is about 200 km away. The state highway SH-22 via Shapura takes a left turn which heads north-east towards Umaria. The roads are well maintained in this route & was our way in. There’re a few gas stations & a highway mini-mall as well. Bandhavgarh can be accessed by road from Umaria station , 32 Kms away or from Katni Station, 100 Kms or from Khajuraho, driving time is around 6/7 hours.

 

As one enters the forest, one is delighted to see a myriad of colors the birds have to show in their closet. During the jungle safari I was privileged to spot a few of them. The Plum-headed Parakeet, Large-billed Crow, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Jungle Babbler, Red-necked Vulture & House Crow are a common sight here as well as where my hometown is.

Luck would’ve played worse had we not spotted two tigers roughly 150 meters from our jeep. They were supposed to be taking their afternoon nap. We couldn’t get a clear picture but the thrill to have just been there & spotted them was satiating in itself.

The forest is divided into four major zones & a limited number of tourist are allowed in each, most important of these being the ‘Tala’ zone where tiger sightings have been reported to be maximum. Barking deer, Nilgai which is an antelope of Indian variety 4–5 feet high & about 2 meters long, Indian Wolf, hyena and the caracal are a few of the wild animals assured to be spotted once in the safari.

The sanctuary is laden outside for the tourist with many resorts with a budget to suit ones need. There’s not much for local shopping but that is not what a jungle safari is.

 

Surrounded by 32 hills in all, the region forms small valleys joining the lowly regions such as Chakradhara, Rajbahera, Sehradadra, Bhitribah, Bandhavgarh derives its name from a Sanskrit word which literally means ‘Brother’s Fort’, named after Laxman, the legendary warrior prince & brother of Rama in the Indian epic ‘Ramayana’ to watch over the lands, as a watchtower, guarding against the demon-king’s mercenaries from his ancient Lanka empire. To the brothers name still stands the ‘Bandhavgarh Fort’ which due to some reasons we couldn’t visit.

 

A luxurious stay & a fruitful safari compensates for the abrupt cancellation in the meeting with the king of the jungle. Save nature. Save Earth.

Next stop..coming soon.

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