Reminiscing the Uttarakhand Tour... 

“Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before.”

The last summer holiday,we began with our spree of tours all over India.Our first destination for touring was the whole of Himachal Pradesh.We had our first touring experience through the travel company called "Kesari",known throughout Maharashtra for their good service.Last year's Himachal Pradesh tour was a wonderful experience.This year,since my brother is going back to the US in August 2012,and as he will be gone for at least 3 years to do his PhD,we decided to travel a bit, this year too,to keep alive the family bonding.This year,after much deliberation we settled on going to visit the whole of Uttarakhand.We booked the tour in the second week of April.The tour was scheduled from 16th of May,2012 to the 26th of May,2012.

Day 1:

On the 16th of May,we started at 9:00 am from home.Dad had booked a cab to take us to the Pune Airport.Our flight was scheduled for 11:00 am.Signifying a good start to our journey,the flight came in time.We boarded the plane and within 2 hours we reached Delhi Airport.We were so famished when we alighted from the plane,that we gobbled up a few wraps which we bought off a street food stall on the Delhi Airport.The Kesari guides were present on the airport to receive the whole group of people.After the guides had rounded up all the people we boarded the buses which were to take us from Delhi to Haridwar .We started our journey with the slogan of "Ganapati bappa moraya,mangalmurti moraya,undir mama ki jai!" Every family had been allotted seats in the bus.The guides introduced themselves to us.Our guides were Sachin,Sachin and Shree.We had been warned a day before ,via phone,that our lunch was to be late that day.Since we had gulped down some food on the airport,we weren't very hungry.At 4:00 pm we stopped for "lunch" in an unkempt place called Ghaziabad,at a restaurant named "Bikanerwala". The restaurant was fairly good,with a sweetmeats shop on the lower storey and an eatery on the upper storey.Since nobody was hungry,everyone picked at the food.We started from there at 5:00 pm and continued our journey to Haridwar.After that, the journey was pretty uneventful till we reached Haridwar.On the way we saw a dhaaba,which had the photo of a crying and scared child, outside the toilet...making us wonder whether the toilet was so unclean! :) We reached  "Sarovar Portico" a four star hotel at Haridwar around 8:00-8:30 pm.We were allotted our rooms and proceeded to them to freshen up.Later,our tour members proceeded for dinner which was served downstairs,but i did not go,since i was dead tired and hence missed out on some delicious fried and curried fish,as described by my brother. :(

Day 2:

On the 17th of May,we received a wake-up call at 6:00 am.After finishing the morning chores,and having breakfast at 7:00 am,we proceeded to Mussourie.On the way to Mussourie,we visited Hrishikesh where we visited Ganga Ghat. We experienced the jostling of people to wash off their sins in the River Ganga.People were bathing in the river shamelessly,with their clothes off and scattered around.

After this,we visited hordes of temples of Goddesses and Gods,the names of whom,i cannot recall.We had lunch at a place named "Chotiwala",where an obese man with an upright "choti" and painted face was sitting at the entrance ringing a huge bell.

 With a full tummy and also a bag full of trinkets purchased in the vicinity of the hotel,we proceeded for Mussourie.The highway was lined with tall "Sal" trees,but they were all leafless due to the intense heat.We stopped at a small place on the highway for tea and snacks.We reached Mussourie around 7:30 pm.After freshening up,the group had a get together to get introduced to each other,followed by dinner.(This time i did not miss it :) )

Day 3:

The next day, again, we got a wake up call at 6:00 am,and after having breakfast,we left to see the Kempty falls.To reach the falls,we had to board a rope-way trolley.Here they had a sport called the "flying fox",which my brother indulged in.

 I got myself clicked in a Pahadi outfit,with two other girls from our group,whom i had befriended.

 We returned to our hotel for a sumptuous lunch.After relaxing for a while,we went to visit the Gunhill Point via a rope-way trolley.After this we visited Mall Road,where again i purchased some brick-a-brac. Here,for the first time we travelled by a Cycle-Rickshaw.I was feeling guilty sitting comfortably in the Rickshaw,driven by my fellow human-being,but then i had second thoughts,which reminded me that this was his means of livelihood,and  infact i was helping him to earn it.


Day 4:
19th May,we left Mussourie for Nainital.This was the longest journey of 12 hours, in our trip,and we had pulled up our socks to be prepared for it.We had to pass through Haridwar again,to go to Nainital. We had lunch at a place called Khanna Palace in Haridwar.The food was very good and we had a good appetite too.We only needed someone to shout "attack" a la "Satte pe Satta" :) :)
After lunch,we continued with our journey to Nainital.On the way,we had a game of Antakshari and i got an opportunity to exhibit my prowess in singing.It was a very enjoyable experience.We reached Nainital almost at dinner time.In Nainital,we stayed at "Hotel Arif Castles" which again had very scenic surroundings.The access road to this Hotel was all uphill and narrow,hence we had to get down from the bus about 3-4 kms away from the hotel and hire jeeps to reach it.


Day 5 :
The next day,after breakfast,we left to see the Himalayan Zoo.We had to walk uphill for about 1-2 kms to reach the zoo.The main attraction in the zoo was the "Royal Bengal Tiger". Other animals included various types of birds,leopards,Sambar,Barking Deer,Bears,the uppity and wise owl etc.There was also a cage full of restless wolves,who were running from one end of the cage to the other.One of the wolves got so "pissed off",that he almost pissed on me,if i had not been alert,i would have been drenched with "Piss Cola" :) .Later,we learnt from our guides,that the tiger we had seen in the zoo,was supposedly a man-eater,and he had been caged as he had attacked many people in the Jim Corbett National Park who had come for a Safari,and gobbled them up.

  
In the evening,we visited  a place called "Snow view point",from which point you could apparently see the far-off Himalayan Ranges.We didn't get to see even a speck of the Himalayan Ranges and hence we termed the point as "No View Point".Later,i and bro,went go-karting.After all of this we took the rope-way trolley back to Mall Road. After that we had the divine experience of boating in the Naini Lake.The water was chilled and very clean.We saw the sun-set over Naini Lake.The Corporation had taken care to see that the lake is kept clean and that people don't litter about.

 

 We crossed the Naini Lake to the other side,and on the other side we visited a temple which is one amongst the " 12 shaktipeeths".Later our guides let us free to shop in the Tibetan market surrounding the temple.All the women in the group were elated,while many of the men preferred going back to the hotel.I and mom shopped along with some other women and girls in our group and got some awesome buys.I and bro packed some mutton momos and took them along with us back to the hotel.We enjoyed the delicious momos in our rooms and i was too full to have dinner that night.But this time i didn't miss anything exotic in the dinner,as dinner that night wasn't as good as the other nights.


Day 6:
On the 21st of May,we visited a museum of the Kumaon Regiment, and a golf course in Ranikhet.The sight-seeing that day wasn't much of a sight for sore eyes,the golf course was all dried up.The lunch on that day was horrible and no one was happy with it and everyone had to starve.The guides tried to make-up for the lunch by buying us ice-creams,but the morning of 21st May was quite disappointing.
After this fiasco,we returned to our hotel in Nainital,and we were given time to relax in the afternoon.We were asked to assemble at 8:00 pm in the discotheque which was a part of the resort's facilities.Everyone was very enthusiastic and enjoyed themselves to the hilt in the evening.The evening almost made up for the fiasco in the morning.

 Day 7:
On the 22nd of May,our destinations were Naukuchiyataal and Bhimtaal.We enjoyed boating in a "Shikara" in Naukuchiyataal and visited Bhimtaal.On the way from Naukuchiyataal to Bhimtaal,a new game was introduced to the group by the guides.It was a sort of antakshari,where we had to take names of various eatables.After a while people started taking names of things like " Yak fry" and started passing it off as a Chinese delicacy,which resulted in amusing  moments.Later we visited a shop which specialized in Bamboo Silk saris and quilts made from pashmina and merino wool.We were back to our hotel in Nainital for lunch.After lunch,we rested for a little while and then we were escorted by jeeps on Mall Road and were given time to shop.I felt proud of myself on that evening,as i escorted my mom and showed her the entire Mall Road on my own and brought her safely back to the hotel without anybody's guidance. :)


Day 8:
We had spent 4 days in Nainital,and on the 23rd  of May,we proceeded from Nainital to Jim Corbett Park.Before leaving for our next destination,we had a short photo session of the whole group,which turned out to be a memorable one.

 The journey from Nainital to Jim Corbett National Park was quite a short one.On the way to our hotel,which was situated right inside the premises of the National Park,we visited the Jim Corbett Museum.As soon as we entered the premises of the museum,there was a souvenir shop near the entrance.I was the first person to enter the shop,and as soon as i entered the shop,i fell in love....oh! not with my "Prince Charming"!!!...but with a stuffed toy of a tiger! There was only one stuffed tiger in the shop,and i was the first one to grab it! I was told by many people in the group that i would find such stuffed toys cheaper in Pune,but this one was special,as it was memento of our visit to Jim Corbett Park.I have named him as "Stripey" :)

After the visit to the museum,we resumed with our journey to our haven in the National Park.The road was shaded with trees,and they were no ordinary trees,but lichee and peach trees,which seemed to be growing in abundance, in that area,and that too on the road side.

We also visited the Jim Corbett falls on the way.We reached the hotel at lunch time.We stayed in Wood Castle Resorts.The hotel was beautifully decorated and it had a rustic charm about it.We were given cottages to stay in,which had thatched roofs and thus were very cool,even in the outside heat.After lunch,we were given some time to relax,and the short rest we got also proved to be very refreshing.In the afternoon,after tea,we were taken to visit the Garjiya Mata Temple which was a very serene temple on the banks of a river.After the visit to the temple,we had a nature walk,from the temple towards our bus.

We reached our hotel at around 4:30 -5:00 pm,and were given some time to relax.The whole group was asked to gather around at 8:00 pm in the conference hall of the hotel for a small get together.The evening was spent in fun and frolic,with games,and prizes were awarded to winners in each game.My mom and bro won three prizes.After the short get together,we were briefed by our guides for the program for the next day.Everyone was looking forward to the next day,as it was to be the Safari day.Everyone retired early that day,as we were to start at 5:45 am the next day.


Day 9:
I had set an alarm of 5:00 am,for the next day.We were warned,not to have a bath before starting for the safari,as the ride was going to be very dusty.Everyone was enthusiastically on time.Every family was allotted a jeep for the safari.Every jeep could accommodate 6 people,and since we were only four people,our Kesari guides joined us in our jeep for the safari.They were one jolly company,cracking PJs throughout! :)

 Our whole group was allotted the "Jhirna Gate" of the National Park to enter from.The journey to enter the gate was of about 3-4 kms.As soon as we entered the gate,we saw a dead animal on the road.At first we thought,it was a dead  dog,but then we were told by the guide from the National Park,that it was a dead fox.After a few minutes we saw a mob of deer running helter-skelter.We saw many peacocks in the National Park,who were mewing like cats,maybe they were all "catty" peacocks! :) We saw a variety of rare birds.One of the birds,viz. "the bee-eater" had burrowed underground and built it's nest.We saw a wild monkey having a tug-of-war with a small girl from another group over a bag of chips,but ultimately the girl won! We were not fortunate enough to see the tiger,maybe he had chickened out,knowing that Kate the Great is coming to see him! :) :)
We saw the paw prints of the tiger and also claw markings on a tree,where a tiger had marked his territory.We also saw the footprints of elephants.The safari was a novel and enjoyable experience,and we were also entertained by our guides with anecdotes and silly comments! :) After finishing the safari,we returned to the hotel at 9:00 am and had our breakfast,which was again very delicious and there was an extravagant variety.After having a scrumptious breakfast,we were given the whole afternoon to relax,and we had our leisure baths and slept the whole afternoon.

We had a leisurely lunch and again had a good sleep.The entire group was asked to assemble at 8:00 pm by the poolside in the hotel and a guitarist was invited to entertain us with melodious tunes.It was a pleasing experience,sitting by the poolside,with harmonious tunes being played on the guitar,and the gushing sound of the river flowing outside the walls of the resort.The program ended at about 9:00 pm,and then we had our dinner.Everyone was pretty tired after a long day and retired to bed as soon as dinner was over .


Day 10:
The next morning we were to start from Jim Corbett National Park to Delhi.This was our last day in Uttarakhand.We heard through a grapevine of porters,that at dawn a cyclist was attacked by a tiger near the Garjiya Mata Temple,but the tiger had been unsuccessful in making the man his prey.Th man had been rushed to the hospital.Hearing of this incidence,we realized,how difficult it was to live in the premises of the National Park,and the people living there were always on edge!We started for Delhi after our breakfast at 8:00 am.The journey to Delhi was uneventful.We had lunch at a place called "Meriton" on the way.The food was okey dokey.After lunch,we journeyed non-stop to Delhi and reached our hotel in Delhi at tea time.We stayed in "Siris-18" in Greater Kailash in Delhi.After having tea at about 4:00 pm,we relaxed till 5:00 pm.My family,along with with two other families,viz. the Ghatges and the Dangares,had planned to go sight-seeing in Delhi on our own,as it was not in our tour schedule to explore Delhi.My brother,having once been to Delhi,had quite a bit of knowledge about Delhi.We took rickshaws to the metro station at Nehru Place.This was my first experience in the metro railway train.This was also my first experience of how rude the people of Delhi are.When we were waiting to get our bags checked on the metro station,the people of Delhi,noticing that we are outsiders,were jostling us and passing rude comments.It made me wonder,why in the first place is Delhi called "Dilwalon ka shaher????" We boarded the train and our stop was the Central Secretariat.We got off the train at our stop and started with our sightseeing.Our first place of visit was  India Gate.We boarded battery operated,Eco-friendly rickshaws to reach India Gate.We had decided to wait till the Gate was illuminated,and when it was illuminated,it was really a sight for sore eyes! We were famished by the time we had finished with our photo session,and had bhel on a road -side  stall.When we had finished with our sightseeing,we had to walk all the way back to the metro station,which was at a distance of 2-3 kms,as the rickshaws were no more available.The walk was very tiring,as the weather of Delhi was very hot.The temperature in Delhi that day was 45 degrees Celsius.We reached the station at 8:30 pm.On the metro station,we parted ways with the other two families,as they were heading back to the hotel,while we had planned to head to Old Delhi.We boarded a metro train to reach our destination,and as soon as we were out of the metro station,we boarded cycle-rickshaws.Now we were in a core Muslim area,in Old Delhi,where there was utter chaos,with cycle-rickshaws banging into each other,and after banging into each other,the drivers were giving each other hi-fives! We saw the Jama Masjid on the way.Our main purpose of coming all the way to old Delhi was to dine in the universally acclaimed Muslim restaurant 
" Karim",which is known for its delicious Mughalai food.The hotel was not much to look at,it was an eatery built in the common compound of four closely spaced buildings,but the food was awesome! After gorging on chicken delicacies and soft fluffy tandoori rotis,we ended our meal with the delicious and exotic "phirni",which is a sort of rice kheer served in an earthen pot.Our tiring trip to old Delhi had been proved worth it because of the yummylicious food. :)

After having a filling dinner,we returned to the metro station and boarded the train back to Nehru Place, from where we reached our hotel at 10:30 pm, via rickshaw.While on the metro train,back to Nehru Place,a young Sardarji in the train,seeing my mom standing,and she looked tired too,offered his seat to her to sit.My mom profusely thanked him.One of the men who were standing,a middle aged man, started lecturing the sardarji and started advising him against giving place to my mom to sit.In the end,my mom got so pissed off,that she asked the man,in his own language,"aapko kya aitraaz hain,aapko to nahi uthaya na???She gave him a piece of her mind,and in the end,he had to apologize to her! This incidence showed us that the Delhi people also lack any chivalry!!We were extremely tired due to the hot weather and the rudeness of the Delhiites.We had a refreshing bath and immediately hit the sack as soon as we reached our hotel rooms!


Day 11:
This was the last day of our tour.Many people from our group had to board a train to Mumbai in the morning.Our flight was scheduled for 7:55 pm.We had enough time to shop in Delhi.We started from our hotel, along with the other two families who had accompanied us to India Gate, at 10:30 am and proceeded to visit Lajpat Market as suggested by our guides,which was near our hotel.On the way,we decided to visit the Lotus Temple.We were warned by one of my bro's friends,against visiting the Qutub Minar,as we would fall ill due to sun-stroke. We had a fleeting visit to the Lotus Temple.

After visiting the Lotus Temple,we headed to Lajpat Market.This was a bigger version of the Tulshi Baug in Pune.As soon as we reached,we started with our shopping spree.This market is famous for  original  branded goods like Puma,Addidas,Reebok sold at throw away prices.Here again,we had to experience the utter rudeness of the Delhi shopkeepers.As soon as we entered any shop,they were shouting at us,and warning us against bargaining,even when we had not uttered a word about bargaining!One handkerchief seller was pestering my brother to buy handkerchiefs,and when one of our group members advised my bro against buying anything from him,as we get goods at a cheaper price in Pune,than the price at which he was selling,he started accusing her of poisoning my brother's mind!She was so frustrated with everyone's rudeness in Delhi and to top it all,the heat,that she told him off.But he wasn't one to budge from his rudeness,and started asking her,whether she wanted Handkerchiefs free of cost! Utterly disgusting and rude behaviour was experienced by us on part of the people of Delhi!After shopping for a while,we returned to our hotel,as i couldn't bear the heat anymore!After we reached the hotel,we had our lunch within half an hour and then went to our rooms to relax.We checked out of our hotel at 2:30 pm,but were allowed to wait till 4:00 pm in the hotel,and were also served tea.
Around 4:30 pm,we boarded our bus,and left for the airport.On the way,everyone was having mixed emotions.Partly, everyone was feeling sad,as the vacation was over and we had all become a great,big family and that soon we would be parting ways!Everyone was going to miss each other for some days at least! Partly,everyone was happy,that we were leaving the rude and arrogant people of Delhi behind,and returning to our very own Pune,Mumbai or in general Maharashtra.We reached the airport at around 5:00 pm.After alighting from the bus,everyone exchanged goodbyes with the guides,because of whom our journey had been a success.We entered the airport,and had to while away our time on the airport,till the time of our flight to Pune.The flight was exactly on time,and within 2 hours we were back to our Pune,where the temperature was announced to be 30 degrees Celsius,which was a pleasant change from the scorching heat of Delhi.We were back in Pune by 9:30 pm and had booked a cab to take us back home from the airport.While departing from the Pune airport,everyone bade goodbyes to each other with the promises of keeping in touch with each other via Facebook,e-mail or telephone.The next day,morning,it seemed strange to be in our own home,the brightness and  sunshine seemed different.I woke up once,in the middle of the night,wondering which hotel room i was in! :) The Uttarakhand trip was a memorable one,with different experiences.Though we liked the scenery and places in Himachal Pradesh better,the company of people which we had on the Uttarakhand tour was much better!Hopefully,through this tour,we have earned some new friends for life!!

In the end i would like to quote:

“A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles”