Misty Mountains, Military Men & Mandirs

Road Trips! Ah! I am just back from an incredible road trip traversing a huge part of south and east India, and I am sure all my fellow traveller friends would agree that nothing beats the sense of exhilaration that a good road trip gives! A comfortable and fresh car, good company, inviting dhaabas and of course, pothole free roads! What more can a road tripper ask for!

I am a travel junkie and have been to some really fun road trips – cruising across Rajasthan with family, exploring Himachal Pradesh with friends, impromptu road trips to so many destinations in and around Delhi, and a zillion road trips to religious spots in and around Punjab and Himachal Pradesh  with my parents (for Mata ke darshan! )

But there’s one trip that will always stand out in my memory for its incredible beauty – beauty of nature, beauty of people and beauty of experiences. And here I am going to share the warm memories of that road trip. It started from New Delhi and culminated in the misty mountains of Lansdowne.

Lansdowne – All inviting!

Lansdowne is a pretty little hill station in Uttarakhand, and unlike many other hill stations in the state, this one is relatively less crowded and offers an extremely peaceful sojourn away from the mad rush of city life. For long, a very dear friend Pallavi and I had been planning to get away from our mundane office-home-office routine and spend a few days in the hills. So when we finally had a long weekend in hand, we decided to make the most of it and head out of the city chaos. A quick Google search for hill stations around Delhi introduced us to Lansdowne, a cantonment town nestled in the pine and oak laden mountains of Pauri-Garhwal district.  Pine and oak laden mountains…well that was enough to get us both hooked! More intricate searches on the New Delhi to Lansdowne road route updated us about the details we were looking for – 250 kms from New Delhi, a drive of roughly 6 hours, with margin included for the mountain terrain once we entered Uttarakhand. Perfect.

The Route – New Delhi to Lansdowne So Lansdowne it was. Our destination was sorted. And the route too. We were to follow National Highway 24 for most part and then further up keep alternating between different state and national highways. The route looked promising, dotted with scenic delights  and some known and lesser known towns lesser known towns of Uttar Pradesh. So there we were, all ready and raring to go on our much deserved road trip, a trip that was going to go down in my travel memories as one of the best road trips – full of beauty, peace and some lessons in love, courage and compassion.

Car and Me – All set for the long road ahead

Good roads make good road trips!

Setting off on our trip, we started out around the break of dawn and in no time were out of the city, thanks to the clear roads and little traffic!  The morning was clear and looked fresh but honestly it did not smell fresh for we all know that many parts of our country, specially outskirts of Delhi are yet to awaken to fresh and clean smelling mornings, and for precisely that reason, we preferred to keep our car windows rolled up, taking in the freshness of flowers that was wafting inside. Soon were on NH 24 speeding comfortably towards the destination, many Delhi FM channels already beginning to fade away, giving way to our choice of music – romantic numbers from Bollywood’s retro era.

By the time we made our first halt at a brightly decorated and festooned dhaba near Hapur, we were about 100 kms into the journey,  all pepped up and yes hungry enough to dig into a sumptuous breakfast of Aloo paranthas accompanied with piping hot tea. And that’s where we met them. Them – a family of three – husband, wife and a young girl of 10 or may be 11.

Now I can see that look of intrigue (or perhaps boredom) cross your face. What’s so incredible about meeting a regular family eating at a dhaba, you would say, and may be rightly so.

They were a regular family alright, but with extraordinary courage, determination and poise to take on life and its many challenges head on. They looked quite happy, chatting away delightfully about this and that, and since we were the only other people eating there, they invited us to join them for tea and general chitchat on travel. And it was there, sitting with them, and lazily sipping my extra milky tea that I discovered that the husband whom I had started addressing as Sunil bhaiya, only had one hand. I also discovered that they too were headed to Lansdowne and it was the wife Aarti who was driving them all to their destination.

Random strangers, who gave us a lesson in courage, love and compassion

There was an awkward silence after this discovery, and it was Aarti who dispelled the quietness that had suddenly taken over our group. Calmly, and in a very matter-of-fact tone she told us how many years ago her husband had met with an accident, resulting in the loss of an arm. She explained how initially she found it difficult to get over the cruel incident and faced difficulty coping with the aftermath of the unfortunate developments. But then it was her young kids who inspired her to come around and get a grip on not just her life, but also her family. Sunil bhaiya too  had similar thoughts to share –  a  conscious and strong decision to stay away from people and situations that hampered his positive approach towards life. Needless to say, both husband and wife stood for each other, boosting each other’s morale, guiding each other in the darkest of times.

This was really brave of them, I thought. I have come across so many stories about people who gave up on life when they came face to face with with any kind of misfortune. Destiny, they cribbed and derided with cynicism any attempt to set their thoughts in a positive mould. And here was this couple that was a complete antithesis of that other branch of people.

With these thoughts we wrapped up our breakfast break and were on our way again, with little Surbhi in our car, for she was taken quite taken in by our childish ramblings with her and had made up her mind that these two didis were worth befriending! And since we were all headed to a common destination, taking the same route, here parents too did not object to her joining us in our car.

Little Surbhi decides to change sides! The rest of journey was like a dream, with all the ingredients that make road trips fun – giggly chatter with little Surbhi, fun music numbers playing out loud, the frequent chai breaks at colourful dhaabas and town after town rolling by! And once we crossed Kotdwar, which is around an hour away from Lansdowne, it was all about nature  – serene and unadulterated! Hundred shades of green, trees big and small, ravines and mountains streams, nature in all its glory! And Lansdowne was even better – rain-swept and mist laden wonderland where clouds hung low, playing peekaboo, and where the rains came down without a moment’s notice, catching us unaware and disappeared as suddenly, where the mountains were abuzz with the twitter of insects and where even whispers echoes far and wide! Here are some photos of the sights from Lansdowne!

Lansdowne is all about nature in all its glory, so before I show you the pictures let me please invoke William Shakespeare, and seek his blessings, for it was he who wrote:

And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

Sermons in stones, and good in everything. 

Bhulla Taal – Man made lake dedicated to the young soldiers of Garhwal Rifles. In the local Garhwali language, Bhulla means younger brother.

Pristine lake surroundings, maintained by soldiers from Garhwal Rifles

The local lake residents!

We are family!

St. Mary’s Church – restored by Garhwal Rifles Regimental Centre

Tadkeshwar Dham site, surrounded by mighty deodar trees

The War Memorial – Out of bounds for civilians

River Malini, blessed by the monsoons

Kanva Ashram, where King Bharat was supposedly born to Shakuntala

50 Shades of green!

Mist coming in

 For two days, we soaked in the ethereal charm of Lansdowne – we wandered around mountain trails, got drenched in the sudden rains, admired its heritage sites, mingled with the locals, ate local cuisines and sipped on countless cups of mint tea. In all these experiences, we were together – us two best friends and the family we had met at a random dhaba on a highway. There were not strangers any more, but friends who had taught us some heart warming lessons in living life with love and compassion. They made our road trip perfect, for when we headed back to the city, we were better people – more positive and more giving – with our body, mind and soul rejuvenated.

We have kept in touch and keep updating each other about the big and small updates in our lives. Many of these updates involve travel plans and discussions on tour itineraries. There are plans about another road trip together too, and I am sure that sometime in near future, we will make that road trip too, probably again somewhere to the mountains.