Last time when I started writing about Garhwal ,I couldn’t go much further. But this time I have collected some details & can promise to take you guys as well on a wonderful journey that I had been on few years back.
What can a journey be without some confusion, goof ups & tu-tu-mai-mai. Supposed to be starting at 6 am in the morning we could commence journey only by 8 when Pankaj ( silent Jat driver) rushed home at NOIDA with shining yellow Rangeela’s-happy-birthday-dress.Im exaggerating, was only the shirt J.
The Route that we traversed was NOIDA- Meerut- Haridwar-Raiwala-Kotdwar-Satpuli-Kotdwar .Definitely not the best route to follow but we had some prior appointments which needed to be fulfilled. This background is necessary for you to understand the delay it caused. Kotdwar which is the basement before you start uphill to Pauri Garhwal was touched upon only at 7 pm that too with all 6 members onboard totally exasperated. Reached out to a local chai-wala , energised selves eating bread pakoras & a cuppa of tea .
The chaos at this point was at its heights.The mountaineer father, well versed with the difficulties of driving in even a bright sunny day on the landslide prone & ever-changing roads was trying to cajole rest of us to start the journey . The only person that he eventually managed was Pankaj & then of course there was no point arguing . Just like any manager adamant to complete the task would be , father skipped all the risks and issues to Mr Pankaj which were namely uneven roads which meant that at times someone will have to go out & remove rocks from road, no lights at all(barring your jeeps head lights),ferocious animals like cheetah, fox & then of course the ghostly stories of the mountains.
One of the most frightening rides ever but then the next morning just opened up a pandora of visual delights. There we were standing amidst the mountains cut out from rest of the world in all possible ways.
If you would have noticed the Aamir advert on my last post pahadis just cannot tell you “wo hai uniyal uncle ka village/Ghar “ but instead its like “ woooooooooooooo hai uniyal uncle ka ghar”, take a 30 degrees left , and then “wooooooooooooooooo hai Negi uncle ka ghar”.So you see along with dance ,singing as well comes naturally to us.So my dad all excited like a 5 year old kid , gave us 360 degrees tour of the whole landscape explaining almost at every 30 degrees whose village it was...
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| Passage to house |
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| Pankaj the Driver |
Tadkeshwar with its tall trees makes you feel like a dwarf but at the same time the fresh air energises you in a way that you would like to shout out loud and try and dissipate as much as possible.
Leaving you with few more images & a hope that I have managed to show the beauty of Garhwal -picture perfect, a fusion of high mountain valleys , lakes & streams
Hats off to these ladies who everyday travel down to the valley for farming & believe me when I say that the speed is maintained even they are climbing up back to their homes. 
I visited many tears ago as a kid. Your shots are great :)
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Lovely! The last but one shote with temple bells is superb!
ReplyDeleteThere is a tradition of donating temple bells.So I think 1 or 2 are from us as well.
ReplyDeleteindu!take me to that god damned place,please.
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