Fable Fairyland Of INDIA -The Kumaon

“Come on ! get up” my heart was calling out ,and i woke up with a start.My phone showed 4.30 AM
It was ‘THE’ day I was longing for over a month, and my journey started.
I never find train journeys interesting except the ones with friends. And this one, even worse 26hrs!!!
It was exactly the time of the Ayodhya verdict and the compartment was totally empty.
Hmmm wait there was one guy, but I guess he was already confused and lost somewhere. My mom was
fast asleep and I was darn bored and was partially occupied with pep talks with my friends just to kill
time. But this time, time was let alone flying,not even crawling. Slowly moving out of the pollution and
traffic noise of the city,the country side was beautiful and all the more blissful. We reached the
Warangal lake, and managed to do a bit of bird watching through the window!
After a long period of boredom we touched the grounds of Maharashtra. Suddenly all the
greenery vanished and an unbroken chain of buildings appeared. Depicting the commercialization or
industrialization whatever you call it. Slowly the view switched into the woods I had been desperately
waiting for.
The train moved faster,but I could feel my heart beat even faster!!!
The view was indeed picturesque,with the setting slight sun raysjust touching the tips of the leaves,
making them shine exquisitely. I could forget the world, glancing out of the window.The pleasant
ambience and the pure green cover added to the charm.
As we moved further the jungle grew even more denser with alim streams here and there
through small polished rocks. I always find the woods wildly beautiful and inviting. Gradually there was
switching of the surroundings again now into a village scene with kids fighting over kites. I adored the
view with some of the most pleasant oldies on my playlist,clear in my ear. We ran across plains and
valleys and found few trodden paths,showing that man had set his foot here too. The farthest things my
eyes could see were trees and only trees. After sometime i had a good view of the sun set,burning red
in colour. While the jungle grew denser i lost track of the sun and it was covered with even taller trees
and sometimes the tunnels blocked it. I could catch a foretaste of the perfect reflections of the trees in
the crystal clear streams. Slowly, it seemed that the grey clouds were forcing a cover over the red
setting sun until I could see it no more.
Finally we reached Delhi and met our co trekkers and bonded well. But we came to
know that there was a problem in the accommodation due to some reasons and our trek should be
postponed by a day.
So,we had to visit Nainital from where we were supposed to go to Bageshwar ,the place
where our trek started.
Nainital-The Nine Lakes
After a night journey to Kathgodam, we started off in a vehicle to Nainital. The drive was quite smooth
and lovable in the company of the extremely pleasant weather. I caught a few best shots of the first rays
of the sun. It stirred my spirits about the trek.Then we paved our way to Bheemtal , one of the ‘tals’.
We clicked quite a lot of ‘Kodak’ moments. I saw a pair of ducks in merry,a very cute site .
I was the youngest in the team and our team called me ‘Baby’. They also had many more names like
‘Dead Weight’ and such synonyms for me.Our next destination was ‘Naukuchyatal’,where we visited a
museum totally dedicated to the kumaon region and was interesting andinformative to a large extent.
The next was the ‘Golu Baba’ mandir, which was one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever come
across.It was believed in the Kumaon that if you wish for something there and it comes true you go and
tie an auspicious bell there as a token of gratitude. Golu jee was the king of the region and was believed
to be very powerful.
Then we started off to the Mall Road in Nainital and I did something that i had never done.It was
called the Flying Fox and it scared the hell out of me.Then it was evening and we went for boating and I
tried rowing it with great difficulty in lifting the oar!!!
I could feel the silence in the ambience and on the banks of the lake there lay the beautifully lit
Nainital making the feeling even more pure.
Then we strolled in the Tibetan street and did some window shopping and then had the special
‘Momos’ for dinner with ‘Frozen Pepsi’!!!Then walked back alone around 9PM in the lonely silence in faint light in the beautiful city.
Now the journey to Bageshwar began. The path had beautiful streams flowing through,with crystal clear water and I could see the river bed from a significant distance.We had lunch
at a place called Kausani.We could have a glimpse of the peaks camoflouged with the clouds making it
all the more breathtaking.
Our next stop was ‘Baijyanath’ one of our national heritages.It was on the banks of the
‘Sarayu’,the holy river on whose banks the Ramayana took place.It was perfect for people to find
themselves in silence, and I was one amongst them. I closed my eyes and felt the cool breeze stroke me
gently and touch me with its faint fragrance .We captured gorgeous smiles in the ruins and started
ahead.
We reached Bageshwar around 5.30.We crossed the ‘sangam’ of the river ‘Sarayu’ and’Gomthi’.
The next day started with a warm ‘mother-daughter’ morning talk and we talked about different things by the riverside.
We were about to start the trek the next morning. I surprisedly came to know that I was no longer
the ‘Baby’ of the team,as we were being joined by three Delhi people, of which one was school going.
But our team still stuck to me being their ‘Dear Baby’.
Watch out for my forthcoming posts for my trek savvies.