A sojourn in the Uttarakhand—1

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.” Gilbert K. Chesterton

At times it happens when you starts for another job and ends up somewhere that is completely unrelated to your initial mission but is more invigorating, entertaining and mind boggling. The same happened with me last week when I went to Delhi to appear for MDI Gurgaon interview but ended up being in the beautiful and reposeful cities of Uttarakhand where the nature and religion blends together to give us a picturesque and soothing view of the surroundings especially at the time when the sun pull out all the stops in the plains and mercury rises up to as high as 45 degree centigrade.
After appearing for my interview at Gurgaon I contacted my friends at Noida and made a plan to go on a trip to Rishikesh, Haridwar et al. There were 6 members in our group including me. Among them, there were some whom I know very well like Hari and some whom I have met for the first time like Amit, Mukesh and Abhishek.
While we were planning our trip on Saturday, we received a setback when we got the news that Delhi -Haridwar highway has been closed for next four days seeing the heavy rush in traffic due to Kumbh mela. This prompted us to change our course of journey and we decided to take another route to Rishikesh via Dehradun. This shutting down of highway came out as a blessing in disguise as later we also included Dehradun in our tour itinerary.
So on Sunday, early in the morning at 7:30 am we started our journey. The initial part of our journey was tiresome and excruciating. The reasons are not difficult to fathom. Almost all of the roads of Delhi which we covered were having ditches big enough to be used as a swimming pool but filled with dirt and stones in place of water. Add to it the seething heat which we had to face, and my misery was compounded by the fact that I was occupying the back portion of our cab. But all of these issues were nullified by the fun and enjoyment which we were having in our group. Sooner we got used to all the jhatkas of the road and time passed with the help of radio songs and jokes on every member of the group. On our way we halted on couple of occasions to have ice-cream, cold drinks and other stuff.
When we were 15 kilometers away from Dehradun we had to face a jam which delayed our journey for about 11/2 to 2 hours. After recovering from the jam we moved forward. On our path we got the glimpses of mountains and valleys. This was enough to excite us for our final destination. We reached our camp at about 5 in the evening which was situated at a place called Shivpuri almost 20 kilometers from Rishikesh.
Camp was situated on the bank of river Ganges with sky kissing mountains on the other side. Here it seems that the nature is in resonance with the surroundings. This place appears like the location where you plan to spend your post retirement years. All the worries and concerns of the day to day life, seems to vanish overnight as the only sound which comes into your ears is the tinkling acoustics of the river. The purity of the nature leaves you spell bounded and you are tempted to admire the beauty of the mountains and the river situated along the camp. Your heart says that you want to stay here in perpetuity and you just want to sit on the bank of the river watching it flowing incessantly, playing with the rocks, making its way forward out of the several cuts and corners which it faces in the path. The life in the mountains excites you and you wonder that who is luckier. The one who lives in the concrete jungles with all the amenities of the modern life or the ones, who make their huts in the hillocks, sitting on the lap of Mother Nature, regularly relishing the pure, innocent and peaceful beauty which is left untouched.
As we were late at the camp because of the traffic jam we missed the lunch. In its place Maggie and snacks were served along with the tea. We were warned by the camp manager to not to go near the main river as it was 50 to 80 feet deep but there was a subsidiary of the main river (canal) where it was safe to go. Hence after taking care of our valuable belongings we decided to take a bath in that canal. It was also necessary so as to rid ourselves of all the dirt and tiredness which we have acquired on the journey. We spend next one to two hour in that canal. All our pain, fatigue and tiredness disappeared in few minutes and we felt light, reinvigorated and refreshed.
After taking the bath we returned to our camp. All the fatigue and weariness disappeared and we felt very light both mentally and physically. Soon the servant informed us about the dinner. Meals were fine but vegetarian dishes were not up to the standard. This is an issue which always comes across me. Since I am a pure vegetarian at times it happens when my friends enjoy the meals and I have to content myself with ordinary stuff. Well cest la vie.
After the dinner the session of drinking and dancing started. Here again I was at loss since I am a teetotaler. While my friends took a sip of rum/brandy (whatever they call it) I had my share of coca-cola. A bon fire was lighted and there we sat around, away from all the worries and tension of the life. The only sound which came to our ears was the tingling sound of the river. The only light was the light from the lanterns and the bonfire. The cool breeze filled our mind and body with fragrance and enjoyment. Sometime you wish that time should come to a standstill and you remain at that place, in the same surroundings forever, this was the same situation. After almost 7 hours of journey that too in the day time, this was the most apt way to end the day. All our efforts to reach this place fructified and we got the right deal for our money and sweats.
To spend the night, the arrangement was done in the tents. Each tent had provision for 2 people to sleep so we were given 3 tents.
So it was the end of a day which we partly spend in our cab and partly in the lap of Mother Nature. We slept in our tents expecting to have a similar enjoyment tomorrow. But little did we know that this was just the trailer of the main movie. The real thrill and fun was waiting for us tomorrow.

(To be continued……………)