Over to Uttarakhand: Corbett & Kaushiki

Within Corbett National Park

Teak Wood Forest in Corbett

The River Kaushiki (Kosi) flows through Corbett National Park

From Binsar we travelled to Corbett, down south and quite far off. The itinerary was off-course not the best one. Generally people travelling to Uttarakhand from Delhi cover Corbett first as that's the nearest. Nevertheless, our itinerary was quite interesting. Had it not been that way we won't have seen Kosi for so long throughout our journey. Among the various rivers we saw in course of our journey through Uttarakhand we got quite attached to Kosi, Alakananda and Pindar because they were with us for most of the times. Kosi first came by us on the way to Binsar from Naukuchiatal at a place called Khairna. She was with us for the entire stretch of the journey from Khairna to Almora. Next she came very close to us during the stay at Corbett, where our hotel, Hideway Resort, was bang in her bank at Garjiya. Again she was with us on our journey back to Binsar from Auli - from Kausani till Almora.

Kosi derives her name from Kaushiki, a river that has reference in the Puranas. This is different from the notorious Koshi that causes flood in Bihar almost every year.

The journey from Binsar to Corbett, a distance of around 150km, can be covered in 6 hours. We took the route via Almora and Ranikhet. The drive from Almora to Ranikhet is among the many wonderful ones that we took umpteen number of times during our entire Uttarakhand trip. The landscape around Ranikhet is beautiful - nothing special, but still fascinating with all the pine trees perched along the gentle slopes of the mountains, the picturesue villages and the high ranges of the Himalayas and the valleys all around us. The road from Ranikhet towards Ramnagar becomes worse more and more you travel away from Ranikhet. Not only is the condition of the road bad, but it's dangerous too. It traverses a barren and steep valley in a precarious way. There's not much you can do than to just leave your life at the mercy of the driver. At most places the road doesn't have any barricade at the edge of the mountain and a small mistake will land you deep into the valley with remote chances of survival. But despite every thing the entire stretch provides awesome views of the Himalayas. In fact it's on this way that we first saw the snow capped Himalayan ranges of Trishul and Nanda Devi - on the way back from Corbett to Ranikhet. The vegetation changes gradually as you travel more and more away from Ranikhet. Nearer to the Corbett National Park you see more of the tall teak wood forests, in place of the pines in the northern sides around Ranikhet and Almora.

Our hotel, Hideway Resort, is at a place called Garjiya, where many other hotels are huddled together within a small distance on the highway going to Ramnagar. Garjiya is close to the Amadanda gate of the Bijrani tourist zone. For better tourism management Corbett National Park is divided into five tourism zones each having a separate entry gate. As soon as the night sets in the ambiance of the entire area changes. The pitch dark night is sparsely lit only with the lights of the few hotels that stand on the highway. The local people say that seeing a tiger is not a big deal there and it's quite common to come across one anytime even on the road during the night. That's why they generally prefer to move in groups, if at all they are required to travel in the night. It's a very thrilling feeling to know that the tigers are not far away from you. The resort abounds with references to Jim Corbett. There are stories from his life and lot of his pictures on walls. The management of the resort left to stone unturned to keep tiger alive in almost all possible ways.

The next morning we went out for the Safari in the Bijrani tourist zone. We'd an open jeep and it was just too cold in the morning at 6am when the jeep was zooming fast on the highway. Our guide joined us at Amadanda entry gate. I told him that I'd been to Bandipur, Nagarhole and other Tiger Reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu quite a few times but never got to see any tiger. I also told him skeptically that I didn't expect to see tiger even in Corbett. He mentioned that the chances of seeing tiger in Corbett is quite high. It seems that one out of every twenty jeeps sight a tiger every day. That's quite a high ratio compared to one in thousand in Bandipur. I took the comment with a pinch and kept on repeating that I didn't believe that sighting tiger would be that easy a thing. To prove me correct we almost came to the end of the two hours safari without seeing much. The guide consoled me saying that had I stayed at the Dhikala Forest House in the Dhilaka tourist zone then he would have guaranteed me sighting of tigers more than once. Anyway, that's sounded quite familiar because people always seem to see tigers at places where you won't go. We're almost coming out of the core area of the Bijrani zone when suddenly the guide asked the driver to turn back the jeep and enter into the jungle. Within a few minutes we're back to the same trail that we'd just covered an hour back, but now the sound of the jungle was quite different. The deer and many other animals were running like mad, the birds were chirping loudly and the entire jungle seemed to be suddenly awake with so much noise. Our sixth sense was getting active, just then we could really feel something heavy moving just behind the bush in front of us. Nothing had to be told to us to feel that we're within a few metres of tiger. That's when my wife panicked and frantically started asking the driver to get away from the place. Only once did the guide ask us whether we'd like to stay back and then even without waiting for our answers he asked the driver to turn the jeep back. After a while when my wife came to normalcy the guide told us that we're indeed very close to the tiger and we'd have seen it just in a few minutes of time. But then he also told that almost every day someone just faints upon seeing a tiger. He knew that my wife would have surely been the one to faint had we seen the tiger. He told us frankly that the driver has to often run the jeep quite fast in case the tiger gives a chase and it's not too safe to do that when someone faints. So that's how our climax ended in a very shoddy anti climax!! Nevertheless, I'll never forget the hustle and bustle in the jungle when the tiger is around, The whole jungle seems to be alerted by the arrival of the big cat.

People interested in staying in the Forest Rest Houses may refer to this link for further details. The rest houses need to be booked well in advance. Apart from that there is no other accommodation available within the forest. It's recommended to stay at Dhikala, because that's where most people see tigers.

Some good sites about information about Corbett National Park:

• http://www.kmvn.gov.in/wild.php - Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam web-site
• http://www.jimcorbettnationalpark.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbett_National_Park - off course the popular wikipedia

Over to Uttarakhand: Binsar & Almora - 'Desi' Hill Stations

The mesmerizing view of the Himalayas in and around Almora

Sunset in Almora

Two more snaps of the picturesqueue surroundings of Almora

Almora & Binsar, perhaps among the very few totally indigenously developed Hill Stations in India, provide magnificent views of Himalayas and Pine & Rhododendron trees - Entry to the Binsar Forest

To be very frank I won't have gone to Binsar if Club Mahindra didn't have any resort there. Since we became the member of Club Mahindra this was our first long trip, and trip a after almost nine years to the Himalayas. We'd planned for a vacation in US around the same time last year. But it was cancelled at the very last moment due to a series of sudden and shocking incidents. Since then we're really waiting for another trip to compensate for whatever had happened last year. We decided to go to Uttarakhand because not many places are left for us in South India. Club Mahindra has quite a few resorts in Uttarakhand. We decided to choose mainly the places where the resorts are located. 

Before browsing through the website of Club Mahindra I didn't even know about the places like Binsar or Naukuchiatal. Yes, it's sad that I (and might be most other people in India) was totally oblivious and ignorant of a part of my own country that has a rich history and culture which is no less antique or interesting than many of its better known contemporaries for a span of almost 1500 years. Had I not gone to those places, I won't have ever taken the initiative to read about their fascinating history or seen some of the oldest surviving architectures in our country.

The present day Uttarakhand has been a place that used to arouse an awe and aura among Indians since the past 3000 years. It was referred to as Kedarkhand in Vedic times (1500-1000BC), Uttarapanchal by the composers of Upanishads (700BC), Uttarakaushal in Ramayana, Uttarakuru in Mahabharata and Uttarapatti by Panini (600BC) & Kautilya (300BC). The region around Almora was mentioned in Skanda Purana as a region between Alakananda and Kaushiki (Kosi) rivers. Apart from several historical inscriptions, reference of the Kasar Devi temple on a hilltop near Almora is also found in Skanda Purana, making the temple almost 2000 years old.

Uttarakhand is divided into the eastern Kumaon and western Garhwal regions. The Katyuri dynasty ruled over the unified Kumaon and Garhwal regions for greater part of 6-12th century AD. They called their kingdom Kurmanchal, from which the term Kumaon was derived. Their first capital was at or near Joshimath, some time around 6-8th century and later the capital was moved to Baijnath. At its peak the Katyuri kingdom stretched from Kabul to Nepal. It was during the Katyuri Rule that Adi Shankacharya (788 - 820 AD) came to the Himalayas. He founded four 'Maths' (centers for learning and propagating Hinduism) in the four corners of India - Sringeri in Karnataka, Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Orissa and a place called Jyotirmath (Joshimath) in the Himalayas.  It's really fascinating to know that someone had travelled the length and the breadth of our country on foot some 1200 years ago with a missionary zeal. Joshimath's shot to fame mainly due to its association with Adi Shankacharya, who hailed from Kerala and finally died in Kedarnath. The temples of Kedarnath and Badrinath, both of which have been well referenced in ancient literatures and mythologies as holy places, are believed to be re-enshrined by Adi Shankacharya, though the present temple buildings at both the places were constructed much later.  During the same period the Katyuri Kings started constructing many temples at places around Almora - Bageshwar, Baijnath & Jageshwar. Most of these temples (or rather temple complexes) were renovated, constructed and  reconstructed by multiple rulers over the next many centuries.  Most of these temples, dating back to 7-8th century AD, exist even today in very good conditions in wonderful surroundings and locales. I can't but say that the sites of each temple were chosen in such a way that the natural beauty of the surroundings itself could arouse a sense of divinity and spirituality. It's no wonder that many spiritual leaders used to always choose the best place to medidate. Adi Shankacharya walked some 2500km from his home to see the Himalayas, Guru Govind Singh chose the awesome Hem Kund Sahib and most recently Swami Vivekananda chose Kasar Devi, a hill near Almora, for meditation. Rabindranath Tagore also took solace for some time in Almora during a turbulent period of his life when he had a series of personal tragedies between 1900 and 1910. It's not a bad idea to keep a track of the places visited by such people for what-so-ever reasons because undoubtedly they had a much greater sense of beauty. A visit to Almora and the surrounding places bear testimony to the superior sense of beauty of these people.

Coming back to the history - the Katyuri kingdom brokedown into several small principalities around 11th century AD when the Chand Rulers, a line started by Som Chand in 7th century AD in Champawat, close to Nepal border, took control over the greater part of Kumaon or Kurmanchal. The Chand King Kalyan Chand founded Almora in 1563 as the new capital of the Chand Kingdom. Binsar used to serve as their winter capital for sometime. 

Even during the reign of the Katyuri KIngs, the Garhwal region had many small principalities, one of which was started by Kanak Pal, a prince from Malwa, in 823 AD and the kingdom lasted for almost 1200 years and 60 generations, till 1947. After the fall of the Katyuris in 11th century AD, 52 such principalities, each with its own fort or Garh (from which came the name Garhwal), came into prominence in the Garhwal region. Ajay Pal, the 37th descendant of Kanak Pal integrated all the 52 principailities in 1358 and ruled over entire Garhwal region for the next 700 years. Eventually they took the title 'Shah', inline with the Muslim Emperors of Delhi, to express their suzerainty. Kumaon also came under their rule once the Chand Kings became weak in 18th century. The Garhwal Kingdom (which finally became the Tehri-Garhwal princely state during the British rule) remained independent even during the Mughal supremacy, resisting attacks from Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb number of times.

That's the history of the Kumaon and Garhwal - a history rich in mythology, gallantry, religion, culture and philosophy. Almora and Binsar are perhaps among the very few hill stations not built by the Britishers. And perhaps not many places would you see existing buildings which are some 1400 years old.

During and before the trip I spent some time in reading all these and hence I was already excited to see some of the places like Jageshwar & Kasar Devi. After spending two days at Naukuchiatal we drove to Binsar, via Bhowali, Khairna & Almora. The river Kosi started accompanying us from Khairna. The road (NH 87E) is in pretty good condition and passes through pine forests, valleys, small gorges and the gentle slopes of the mountains. Every corner, every turn unveils a new beauty and a new view. It's the same hills and the same rivers that we saw for the next 10/12 days, but we never got bored.

Almora is located on a horse-shoe shaped hill. Hence each of the main roads is also horse-shoe or semi circular shaped, located at various alititudes. From a distance the entire Almora city looks like a gallery. Some of the best views of the valleys and the mountains can be seen from the road called Bright End Corner. Don't miss to take a leisurely stroll on this road. Also don't miss the Ramakrishna Kutir, located at an end of the Bright End Corner, at the most scenic spot in Almora.

The road from Almora to Binsar, under repair when we're travelling, offers magnificient views, some of which are presented above. Perhaps the best view is around Kasar Devi from Mohan's Cafe, a favorite hang-out for western tourists. A stroll through the deodar trees along the gentle slopes upto the Kasar Devi temple on the top of the Kasar Devi Hill is very refreshing. The air is pure, climate cool and the surroundings serene. People ought to get spiritual at such places.

A visit to the Binsar Forest is another surprisingly wonderful experience. It's full of pine and rhododendron trees. The 1/2 hour journey to the 'Zero Point'  vista spot in Binsar from the Almora-Bageshwar road through dense forest is very scenic. We're not that lucky to see some awesome views from the Zero Point, nevertheless we never felt bad for that. Any thing there would evoke awe and astonishment.

People interested to stay within the Binsar forest may check out for the Binsar Estate Grand Oak Manor. The KVMN Rest House, very close to Zero Point, like any other KVMN hotel, is located in one of the best possible spots.

Over to Uttarakhand: Jageswar - History in the cradle of nature

Perched in Deodar forests and lost in time and are the 8th century temples of Jageswar

Mystic surroundings of Alomra - like a water painting

India is a land of history and age old traditions that have remained alive even after many thousand years. Every nook and corner abounds with an interesting tale which, over the ages, has slipped into a myth - very much like a distant object which looks misty to bare eyes. At many places it seems almost impossible to differentiate between the myth and the actual history. This very limitation makes most stories of the ancient India more fascinating to hear, even if they might not attract a rational and logical mind. Uttarakhand is a place where there are myths around every place you go. The grand Himalayas had attracted the imaginations and fantasies of people since the earliest days of civilization. The invincibility and the grandeur made the Himalayas a very mysterious object to the people. And where ever there's an element of mystery there's also a natural spirituality and divinity associated to it. So very naturally Uttarakhand has been always depicted as a divine land. Each invincible peak or gorge or terrain or valley became the abode of some God and a place of pilgrimage. 

Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri have been places of piligrimage for ever. There's no clear historical account about who first established these places. The entire region of present day Uttarakhand was referred to as Kedarkhand in Vedic times (1500-1000BC), Uttarapanchal by the composers of Upanishads (700BC), Uttarakaushal in Ramayana, Uttarakuru in Mahabharata and Uttarapatti by Panini (600BC) & Kautilya (300BC). Kedarnath and many places close by have been referred to in the ancient Sanskrit literary works like Mahabharata (600BC) and several Puranas (600BC onwards). Badrinath has been also referred to in several Puranas. Near Badrinath is the Mana village - the last village before Tibetan border - where Vyasa is believed to have composed the Mahabharata in a cave christened Vyasa Cave. 

Perhaps the eraliest historical record of the 'Chaar Dhaam' or 'The Four Holy Shrines' - Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri can be traced to Adi Shankacharya (8th century AD), who had visited Kedarnath and Badrinath and is credited to have re-enshrined the temples at both the places. Over the years the temples have undergone several renovations. The present forms of the temples at both the places won't be older than a few centuries. Compared to that the temples at Jageshwar, Bageshwar & Baijnath - all around Almora - date back to 7th century AD. Not many people are aware of these temples, which are undoubtedly among the oldest existing temples and historical monuments of India. I don't think there would be many monuments in India much are older than these.

The area around Alora abounds with temples. I was specially attracted to Jageshwar, Bageshwar & Baijnath just because of the sheer antiquity of these monuments which were constructed between 7-18th century, first by the Katyuri Kings (7-12th century AD) ruling a greater part of present day Kumaon and Garhwal regions and and later by the Chand Kings of Kumaon. Jageshwar was also the site for cremation for the Chand Kings.

Jageshwar is around 35km east of Almora on the Almora-Pithoragarh road, Bageshwar around 70km north of Almora and Baijnath another 20km west of Bageshwar on the way to Karnaprayag. I was staying in Binsar, some 25km from Almora on the Almora-Bageshwar road. I had only a day in Binsar to see these temples. I chose the nearest one - Jageshwar. The drive to Jageshwar is wonderful. The road going to Pithoragarh is very scenic one passing through alpine forests. The gentle slopes of the hill covered with tall alpine trees and the properly maintained meandering road lapping around the forest provide awesome views. The fascinating thing is that it's every where the same view but still you won't get bored at any moment. Jageshwar consists of a group of 125 temples of various shapes and sizes built over a thousand years. We saw two of the temple sites with a cluster of 10-15 temples at each place. Each of these sites are amidst dense deodar forest. The surroundings provide an awesome backdrop to the temples. The easy slopes of the hills are covered with a type of long grasses which look like green carpets from a distance. The tall and dense deodar trees create a cool and serene atmosphere all around. The small hamlet of Jageshwar, the narrow insignificant rivulet flowing by, the thin road that has brought us to Jageshwar from the Almora-Pithoragarh highway, the quiet surroundings and the few people lingering leisurely - all very simple things but still seem so extra ordinary in the cradle of nature. In the middle of everything stand the temples some of which are  close to 1400 years old. It always fascinates me to think of the days when the earliest Katyuri King came to this place, got mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the place and constructed the first temple. Ages have passed but the beauty of the place remained in tact. I could feel the sheer joy the kings would have felt every time they came to this place. The breeze blowing through the deodar trees seems to also speak of the joy and the surpirse that the humanity has felt for the past many centuries.

On the way back from Jageshwar, I took a drive through the beautiful city of Almora which provides some of the best views of the Himalayas.

Though I didn't get tme to visit Baijnath the same day, but I managed to pass by it on the way back to Binsar from Auli. The temple at Baijnath is on the bank of river Saraju. 

The KMVN hotels provide decent accomodation at all these places - Jageshwar, Bageshwar and Baijnath - at the best possible locations. I would surely recommend people to visit Jageshwar during their stay at Almora or Ranikhet. Baijnath and Bageshwar are very close to Kausani. You should visit both these places from Kausani. If you are staying in Almora or Binsar or Ranikhet you can have a day trip either to Jageshwar or to Baijnath & Bageshwar. From Kausani Baijnath and Bageshwar shouldn't be more than an hour or so.

Over to Uttarakhand: Gorson's Meadows

Dunagiri Peak - from Gorson's Meadows

The fascinating curves and surroundings of Gorson's Meadows

Chaukhamba cluster of peaks: as seen from Gorson's Meadows

Chaukhamba & Neelkanth Peaks: as seen from Gorson's Meadows

Gauri & Hathi Parbat Peaks: as seen from Gorson's Meadows

People know of the Valley of Flowers, but the Gorson's Meadows, quite nearby seems to be a closely guarded secret. Even during the 3km trek from Clifftop Resort in Auli to Gorson's Meadows through a forest we had no idea about what was there in store for us just a few moments ahead. From the resort till the tower number 9 of the Joshimath-Auli Cable Car (supposed to be highest and 2nd largest in Asia) it's a gentle walk alongside the construction work for an artificial skiing slope. Just beyond the tower 9, the endpoint of the cable car, starts  the jungle and also a not-so-gentle ascent, which may not be comfortable for kids who can ride on horses. A few minutes of trek through the forest leads to a temple of a pagan forest goddess. All along the the trek through the jungle various peaks like Gauri Parbat, Hathi Parbat and Dunagiri are visible from various angles from behind the trees. Very soon after crossing the temple the jungle ends abruptly you are suddenly standing in front of a vast expanse of an undulating terrain of gentle slopes and curves covered naturally with green grass and surrounded by snow capped peaks in two sides and the thin jungle in the other two. That's the Gorson's Meadows. The appearance of the Meadows is so sudden that you are bound to be stuck with an awe for sometime. The entire landscape just contains three colors - green of the grass, white of the snow and blue of the sky - the combination of which creates a fascinating and soothing effect. The gentle but biting-at-times breeze touches you from time to time. Intermittently there is some snow on the meadow. A little trek upwards leads you to more areas covered with snow even in April. The entire stretch of land looks like a natural golf course decked with snow at two sides. The most fascinating part of the meadows is the superb view of the Dunagiri peak. The place is perfect for a leisurely stroll as long as you wish. The serenity and the peace all around fill your heart with a sense of spirituality. You feel like languishing around for ever and get lost. Our guide told us that the entire meadow is covered with natural flowers around July.

Gorson's Meadows is the starting point for the trek through Kunwara Pass.

Over to Uttarakhand: Auli - The Abode of Snow

Nanda Devi - seen from our resort in Auli

Our resort - overlooking the Nanda Devi at sun down

Twin peaks - Gauri & Hathi Parbat as seen from the Gorson's Meadows, Auli

Dunagiri peak

Auli was the final destination for us in the Uttarakhand trip. Auli is a very unconventional tourist place in India. It's for sure not in the popular tourist circuit in India. Unless it's a pilgrim place, in general, the main bulk of tourists in India stick to places that are most easily accessible and provide ample scope for 'conducted tours'. If any place is covered in any popular 'package' then that's an added advantage. Auli is neither a pilgrim spot, nor easily accessible. It also doesn't feature in any of the see-Uttarakhand-in-seven-days or Himalayan-bonanza type of package offered by the types of Cox & Kings or Thomas Cook or SOTC. To add to it is the fact that not much option is left for accommodation there. All these factors have ensured that the serene surroundings of Auli are not cluttered with plastics and other excreta of the insensible Indian tourists.

There are indeed several unique features of Auli which have made it quite popular in blogosphere. Perhaps the most important feature of Auli is that it has the most popular ski slope in India. It’s claimed that the slopes of Auli are among the best in the world. I read a lot about Auli for quite some time and finally decided to include it in our itinerary though skiing is one of those many things which look nice to me only in TV and it can never be the deciding factor for me to select a destination for vacation. An added advantage for us was the fact that there’s a Club Mahindra associate hotel – the Clifftop Resort – in Auli. Ever since we took the Club Mahindra membership we’re always motivated to explore destinations in and around places that have their hotels. All such places we had been in the past offered quite enjoying vacations to us. So we’d expected something similar in Auli. We thought it would be just another place with a good hotel and decent sightseeing. We never expected that Auli would be one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever seen on earth. Just to summarize, we saw better mountains and more snow from Auli than our entire Switzerland trip in 2004.

Our itinerary was something like this – directly go to Naukuchiatal from Delhi – stay there for 2 days – reach Binsar on 3^rd day – stay there for 2 days – go to Corbett on the 5^th day – stay again for 2 days and then go to Auli in the 7^th day and stay for 4 days. I did a little mistake in creating the itinerary. We should have first gone to Corbett, then to Naukuchiatal towards North, then to Binsar, further north and then to Auli which is very close to the Tibetan border. This way we could have optimized a bit in road travel. I didn’t quite understand that before confirming the hotel bookings. While studying the map in more details just before our trip I discovered my mistake, but that was too late to change the hotel bookings. So we had to stick to the original itinerary. But it was very clear that it’s almost impossible to make a direct journey of more than 300km from Corbett to Auli in a single day. So we decided to break the journey at Ranikhet, which is little more than 100km from Corbett and can be done in a few hours. The next day early morning after the breakfast we started for our journey to Auli from Ranikhet – a distance close to 200km.

At Ranikhet we got the first glimpses of the fascinating snow capped peaks of the grand Himalayas. It was a mesmerizing view of a huge stretch of the Himalayas extending from the peak Trishul in the west to Panchchuli in the east – a stretch of a few hundred of kilometres. The nearest part of the stretch is something like 150km from Ranikhet. The most fascinating thing of the entire stretch is obviously the Nanda Devi, the highest peak of India, if you discount Kanchenjungha, which is partly in Nepal. Within the next 8 hours of the journey from Rabikhet to Auli we gradually came closer and closer to Trishul and Nanda Devi. Finally from the Clifftop Resort in Auli we’re within 50km of Nanda Devi which stayed in front of your eyes for the entire duration of our stay at Auli for 3 days. Nanda Devi is one of the most fascinating peaks I’ve ever seen. It has a wonderful shape that stands out even from a distance of 200km. From anywhere Nanda Devi is visible it’s so easy to identify the peak even amongst a crowd of many other peaks.

The journey from Ranikhet to Karnaprayag – a distance of about a 120km – through Dwarahat, Chaukhutia, Gairsain and Adi Badri is not anything that can be called very unique. The condition of the road is also not very good in many parts. The condition becomes quite bad towards the last stretch after Adi Badri, a site of very old temples dating more than a thousand years. Close to Karnaprayag the river Pindar joined us from the right. Pindar gave us company till Karnaprayag where it merges with Alakananda. For the remaining part of the journey till Joshimath Alakananda was always to our left. We took our lunch at Karnaprayag – a beautiful place of confluence of Pindar and Alakananda – the two rivers whose water flow into Ganga. Alakanada, merged with Mandakini at Rudraprayag, finally meets Bhagirathi at Devaprayag further down, close to Rishikesh and is known as Ganga from there. Karnaprayag, though a beautiful place, and also an important pilgrim place for the Hindus, doesn’t have any good hotel or restaurant. It’s really interesting to know that millions of people visit each of the confluences every year but very few complain about the lack of the basic amenities. Perhaps that’s a part of the austerity involved in pilgrimage.

From Karnaprayag the Army maintained NH58 always skirts along Alakananda which comes so close at many places that you can even see the pebbles under her water, and at times goes so deep down that you just see a narrow line of sparkling water through a dangerous gorge. The road becomes quite dangerous at times with the deep gorge starting abruptly from its edge. At many places there’s even no barricade at the edge of the road. A little mistake in diving can lead to a really fatal accident. The mountains and the gorges become very barren at places with not much of greenery around. Passing through Nandaprayag – the confluence of Nandakini and Alakananda, Gopeshwar, Chamoli and Pipalkoti the road moves up slowly providing innumerable fascinating vista points at every curve and bend. A major problem is that you would just miss a wonderful view while busy taking a snap of another one in your camera. Sometimes I feel the cameras are the most irritating things that anyone can have in such wonderful trips where every nook and corner is photogenic. It’s much more relieving and enchanting to preserve the picture in your own eyes rather than trying to capture it in a few millions of pixels. Soon after Pipalkoti the twin peaks of Gauri and Hathi Parbat start playing hide and seek with you. The beauty increases proportionately with the danger of the road. Passing by Helang we reached Joshimath around 4pm - almost seven hours after we’d started from Ranikhet.

Joshimath holds an important position in the history of Uttarakhand. It’s from here that the Katyuri kings, one of the earliest rulers of Garhwal and Kumaun, started their kingdom sometime in 6^th century. Joshimath is also the place where Adi Shankacharya came towards the end of the 8^th century and founded one of his four 'Maths' (centers for learning and propagating Hinduism) – the other three are in three other corners of India – southern Sringeri in Karnataka, western Dwarka in Gujarat and eastern Puri in Orissa. It's really fascinating to know that someone had travelled the length and the breadth of our country on foot some 1200 years ago with a missionary zeal. Joshimath shot to fame mainly due to its association with Adi Shankacharya, who hailed from Kerala and finally died in Kedarnath. The temples of Kedarnath and Badrinath, both of which have been well referenced in ancient literatures and mythologies as holy places, are believed to be re-enshrined by Adi Shankacharya, though the present temple buildings at both the places were constructed much later.

In most part of the year (except April and November) Auli can be reached from Joshimath in cable car – claimed to be the largest in Asia – which remains out of operation in April and November for maintenance purpose. The cable car looks very much like the one in Mt. Pilatus, in Switzerland. I learnt that the cable car was installed by some European firm and hence the resemblance is no coincidence. As we’re travelling in April we’d to take the torturous route from Joshimath to Auli on our Tata Indigo. At many places it was mentioned that a four wheel drive is required for the 17km road journey from Joshimath to Auli. But we could do it quite well in our Indigo. The last 3 km to the Clifftop Resort was really bad and we did think many times that we should have hired a four wheel drive, at least from the centre of Auli to the resort.

The most fascinating part of Auli is the Nanda Devi, visible all the day in front of you from the resort. We got some of the best snaps of Nanda Devi and other peaks. I didn’t come across a better snap anywhere in the internet. There’s a serenity in the beauty of Nanda Devi that ought to instil a sense of spirituality in everyone’s mind. We’re finally close to the peak that we’ve been seeing for more than a day from various places and distances and angles. Everywhere Nanda Devi always stood apart from any other peak. It had already aroused a sense of suspense in us about how it would look like from a close distance. And here we were, standing just within a stone’s throw (well, assuming that the stone can travel some 50km) from Nanda Devi.

Close to the resort, within a 3km trek is the Gorson’s Meadows the other most fascinating thing about Auli apart from the Nanda Devi. I went twice to the Gorson’s Meadows and got some of the best pictures of Dunagiri, another wonderful photogenic peak visible from Auli.

The three day stay at Auli was one of the best vacations in our life. We perhaps never were so much mesmerized by the beauty and charm of a mountain. Even after weeks of our return the view of Nanda Devi still lingers in my mind. I can still feel the magnificent peaks standing in front of me.

We chose to break our journey back from Auli ro Delhi at Binsar. The way back is same till Karnaprayag, from where we took the route towards Baijnath. Pindar gives a constant company from Karnaprayag till a place called Tharali. Pindar never goes so deep as Alakananda and hence at every turn and curve it fascinates you with its charm. Pindar never goes away of your sight till Tharali after which you move a little south towards Gwaldam and Pindar moves northeast towards the Pindari glacier. Along the way we saw the gorgeous and colourful Vaishakhi celebrations of the local people.

From Baijnath we took the longer route to Binsar through Kausani – another wonderful place in Kumaun. Kausani offers some of the best views of the Himalayas and the valleys. You’re never alone in these routes. Soon after Kausani you’re greeted by Koshi, which gives you company till Almora from where we took the deviation towards Binsar. We stayed in Binsar for two days after which we returned back to Delhi – the plains – after a two weeks’ vacation in Uttarakhand.

Over to Uttarakhand: Taal Se Taal

Wonderful snaps of Nainital and Naukuchiatal

End of Maai-Baap Raj

There’s a very bad news for most of the political parties in India because the Maai-Baap Raj is coming to an end.

Political parties has thrived on the security of the millions of helpless destitute people who treat the political class with reverence as their Maai-Baap. These poor helpless people are given the false impression that their politicians are their only hope for survival. But the sad part is that, despite being fooled for more than half a century, these poor illiterate people haven’t yet come to understand this deceit in totality. The very politicians whom they consider their Maai-Baap did almost nothing to improve their conditions. In fact all attempts were made to keep them destitute and illiterate as long as possible because only then they would be helpless and nurture the hope of getting help from the political class. The moment they find out that they have been cheated for so long that will be the end for many parties. The moment they see development they will get rid of their false hope and dependence on the political class.

Let’s see what happened in West Bengal over the past thirty years. CPM came to power as the messiah of the land less and poor and destitute people of Bengal. Already the socio economic conditions in Bengal were shattering since independence due to the huge influx of migrants from Bangladesh. After the Bangladeshi independence in 1971 there was the second round of migration into West Bengal. Unlike Punjab, which was also affected by the partition of India, majority of the people who moved into India from Bangladesh were very poor. Despite serious and honest efforts by the first CM of Bengal, Dr. B C Roy, the conditions of millions of people, especially the refugees, in Bengal didn’t improve much even till the seventies – when finally the CPM came with the hope of change. CPM is credited with pioneering land reforms in India. Yes, they did snatch away lands from the landlords, often brutally and illegally, but they took very little care in formally distributing the land among the people. Once the landlords were driven out the people hailed CPM as their messiah. Under the surveillance of the party dadas millions of people, many of them from Bangladesh, got lands to farm and thus got means for survival. But that was the end. No one understood that during the same period of time the farmers in Punjab became so prosperous but they remained always poor – depending on the local party dadas for almost everything. Nothing was available to them without the intervention of the party. They remained destitute and poor forever and kept on considering CPM their Maai-Baap till finally the events at Singur and Nandigram happened in Bengal. One fine day they lost their land. As they never owned the lands and were just allowed to farm illegally some thirty years back by the local CPM dada, they were not entitled to get the compensation for the loss of land. So finally the entire village went against the same dadas whom they used to consider their Maai-Baap. So came the end of the Maai-Baap Raj in several parts of Bengal and in the subsequent Panchayat election Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress made a killing in those places. Presently many such Nandigrams and Singurs are in the making in Bengal.

Same is true elsewhere also. People are finally awakening with the rude shock that they have been cheated for decades.

During my recent vacation in Uttarakhand I happened to interact with a number of local people in Delhi, UP and Uttarakhand. Most of these people are drivers or daily wage workers. I was really surprised to find that one of the drivers understands the necessity of good education above everything else. He knows that in order to raise his social status he has to see development and that can come only with good education. He even knows of civil services, NDA and many other exams that are the gateways to prosperity. He didn’t bother to bribe a clerk of a public school in Delhi to get his kids admitted.  His views and ideas are not isolated instances. I heard similar things from across the spectrum of people who are at the base of the pyramid. So it’s clear that this huge chunk of population is gradually drifting apart from just attending rallies of political parties and waiting in despair hopelessly for their Maai-Baap politicians to do something. They know that they have to progress in lives.  The moment they appreciate education they will become more and more aware and enlightened. And that’s really bad news for most of the political parties who have survived on the lack of awareness and illiteracy of the people.

Where is the secularism??

We all know that Seyed Salahuddin, the supreme leader of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the largest Kashmiri militant group and the militant wing of Jamat-e-Islaami, has the blessings of ISI and many sympathizers in Pakistan. ISI has grown out to be a Frankenstein, often out of control of the politicians in Pakistan.  India has learnt to accept the role of ISI in many Pakistan sponsored acts of the terrorism. But India does expect that the political class would be sensitive to India’s sentiments and attitude towards such acts of terrorism. Though lethargically, but still Pakistan did start taking actions against people allegedly involved in planning the 26/11 Bombay terror attack in November 2008. How did we all feel when Imran Khan went on record saying that Jamat-e-Islaami is not a terrorist organization but an organization involved in social service? It’s really appreciable that other than him, we didn’t hear any other prominent political leader in Pakistan defending Hizb-ul-Mujahdideen or its leaders at that point of time though we expected more cooperation from them.  We are quite vocal against Pakistan’s providing a safe haven to many of the international terrorists. We all know that people there are sympathetic to these terrorists and that itself is a major concern to us.

Now let’s change positions. Let’s replace Hizbul with LTTE, Seyed Salahuddin with Prabhakaran, Pakistan with India and India with Sri Lanka. What do we see? We see that a major ally of the ruling UPA going on record saying that Prabhakaran is his personal friend and not a terrorist. The same leader also wrote a poem in praise of a slain LTTE commander last year.  It’s a matter of speculation how exactly this leader would react if some day Sri Lanka captures Prabhakaran, alive or dead.  Just for the information of everyone LTTE is also an internationally banned terrorist organization and the only one with army, naval and air wings and Prabhakaran is acknowledged as a dreaded terrorist internationally. Now doesn’t this whole incident put India and Pakistan in the same stand with regards to attitude towards terrorism?

In Pakistan the sympathy is for terrorists fighting for Muslims and in India the sympathy is for the terrorists fighting for Tamils, both in foreign lands. Karunanidhi’s interview in NDTV in praise of Prabhakaran has been aired so many number of times. Doesn’t this fall into the category of provocative speech?

The response of Congress was just that these are his personal views and not that of Congress. But strangely did we see any official action being initiated against Karunanidhi? Neither did we see Congress alienating them from Karunanidhi. If that’s the case then why do they expect BJP to alienate from Varun Gandhi, who also did a similar crime of making a provocative speech? When we all condemn Varun Gandhi’s speech and we expect that he won’t indulge into similar things in future, we should also take similar offence against Karunanidhi’s open support in favour of a terrorist organization and its leader who is no lesser a criminal than any of his counterparts in Pakistan.

Where is the secularism when Varun is put into jail for his speech and Karunanidhi is going free?

Where is the secularism when Lalu Prasad wants to crush Varun Gandhi under a road roller and there’s absolutely no response from any of the UPA allies, nor Congress, for the other provocative speech?

Anyone who came in support of the people allegedly involved in the Malegaon blast was branded communal. Yes, we do appreciate that and are in favour of alienating ourselves from anyone who is allegedly involved in any form of terrorism (even though it’s not correct to brand someone a criminal till the final court verdict is out). But then why the response or attitude towards Karunanidhi would be different?

The idea of secularism gets a severe beating whenever there’s such a blatant act of hypocrisy. Secularism stands on the idea of same reaction, response and attitude towards all sects and communities. I just don’t understand what secularism all these self claimed secular non-BJP parties speak of. I just heard Mr. Sharad Pawar saying that he is ready to team with anyone who doesn’t side with BJP. I hear similar things from Prakash Karat, Lalu Prasad and many others. All of these people vouch by secularism and brand BJP as the harbinger of communal riots and non-secularism. They want to give an impression to all that they are fighting to ensure that we have a secular-India. But then where is the secularism in their action? What secularism do they speak? Had Prabhakaran been a Hindu terrorist in Pakistan or Bangladesh fighting for the liberation of Hindus there, could we see the similar sympathy for him? Why don’t then we treat all the Naxalites as our friends and try to defend them. After all they are also fighting for social justice? Any act of terrorism starts from some sort of social injustice.  But that doesn’t give any sort of legitimacy to the heinous acts of terrorism.

 A secular country should be always dead against any form of terrorism irrespective of the motive or the group of people it’s associated with. The security of the country is not a matter of negotiation and under no circumstance should be compromised. This case of going easy on Karunanidhi is again another instance of appeasement politics – the very thing that’s killing our country!!

By the way, have you ever thought from this angle that any regional party is, by its very own existence, a communal one? In dictionary, being communal means to be associated with any particular commune or community. Like, any Bengali Association in any part of India outside West Bengal is communal. Any Indian Association outside India is a communal. A part which derives its existence from any particular community like Dravidians or Dalits can be branded as communal. Even a party that propagates communism is also a communal one very much like Muslim League. When Mayawati speaks more of the Dalit she is being communal. When Prakash Karat speaks of Marxism as the only solution he is being communal. When Karunanidhi speaks only for the Tamil people he is being communal.  As a matter of fact almost all parties in India are communal by construction. Any regional party ought to be communal in nature. Only the national parties like BJP or Congress are not communal at least by construction.  So I’d like to stress on the point that we should make sure that our country is ruled by a national party because only that can give us the secularism that we all aspire of.

Political Analysys of an Aam Aadmi

I was recently in Uttarakhand for a vacation. Just after leaving Delhi on a hired car, I started talking to our driver for the entire trip. Each vacation that I take is something like a realization and learning experience for me. I always want to know more about the local culture, cuisine and the sentiments and emotions of the people. Apart from seeing the new places I always feel enlightened to mix with the people around me. Our driver, Prakash, hailing from Himachal, seemed to be a very well informed and aware person. 

I can’t remember how exactly the discussions turned towards politics, but within the first hundred kilometres from Delhi we’re already discussing about Mayawati - might be because we’re travelling through UP. I asked him whether he likes Mayawati. Without giving a direct answer, he started saying that things seem to have deteriorated under Mayamati - cases of hooliganism (goondagarti) seems to have increased substantially, development seems to have ceased and many more things. But then he also mentioned that she does have a fair chance to become the next Prime Minister. That was quite a contradictory statement, provided the fact that he feels Mayamati hasn’t improved anything in UP. But then his explanation was an eye opener for me. It was quite surprising to have come from a driver. Had this kind of analysis come from Prannoy Roy or Barkha Dutt I won’t have been surprised. But coming from a driver, whom we might categorize as an ‘Aam Aadmi’ was indeed very interesting.

His analysis was very simple. Mayamati has understood the psyche of the people. She knows very well that illiterate people in UP won’t appreciate the long term impact of making roads, setting up industries or colleges. For a really poor villager all these things don’t have any meaning as long as they see a direct impact of these in their lives. On the contrary if a politician does a petty thing like getting a really low paying job even for one villager or help someone (even through illegally means) in constructing his house or getting a water line for someone, even that becomes more important than making roads and setting up of industries which can create employment for so many people. Out of 1000 people even if a single person is benefitted he can influence the remaining 999 people by arousing a false hope that the same politician might do the same for themselves. That’s exactly what keeps Mayawati winning - by giving a false sense of security and hope. I was already quite amazed with this level of analysis. But what came next from him just bowled me off. He kept on saying, “Just see how much work BJP does. Where ever they go they make roads, setup so many industries and most importantly they setup educational institutions. But common people in the villages never see the long term impact of this”. That’s what he feels is the main reason why in spite of doing so much development BJP still fails to win elections. It should be noted that his scope of knowledge is limited to Delhi, UP, Haryana, Punjab and, to some extent, Rajasthan.

We’d started from Delhi at around 11:30am and by 4:30pm we’d covered the entire stretch of route through UP and entered into Uttarakhand, a BJP ruled state. The first place was Udham Singh Nagar - the erstwhile Rudrapur which has been rechristened recently. The industrial town of Pantnagar is also nearby. Immediately after entering into Uttarakhand the condition of the roads improved. It was just a coincidence that, due to the proximity to Pantnagar, there were a number of industries all around us alongside the road. But our driver pointed to all those factories and told me, “That’s what BJP does where ever they go”.