Life can be so contrasting. Just the last week, I was cribbing about the weekend being a waste and unsatisfactory, and this weekend was one of the best weekends that I had in recent times.
Well, the reason I am so happy about the weekend is that we managed to take an off on Friday, and go to the quaint and secluded Lansdowne, a tiny hill station in Uttarakhand, 240 kms from Delhi.
Given the short distance, we thought of driving down, but then, decided against it, given the unpredictability of road conditions in the monsoons. Plus, we wanted to have a relaxing weekend, so even the effort of driving was out of question.
We took the Mussourie Express from Old Delhi to Kotdwar on Thursday night, and reached the sleepy little platform of Kotdwar the next morning at 6. We hired a taxi to ferry us to Lansdowne just outside the station, and within 5 minutes, we were out of the little town of Kotdwar, and climbing up the Garhwal hills to reach the military cantonment of Lansdowne.
The first thing that strikes you on the way is the dense greeney and the surreal peace. You can count the proverbial ‘40 shades of green’ as you see the thick forests on the mountains, with the tricklish Khoh river running through it. Temples abound on the way, and the sound of their bells was clearly audible quite far off. After a brief stopover on the way for ‘chai’ and a few pictures, we reached Lansdowne at around 8 in the morning.
The little research on the net before we set off had already warned us about the limited accommodation available in this place. We had booked a hut in the GMVN Tourist Rest House a week before (The Blue Pine Resort and Fairy Dale Resort are the other options, but the reviews were similar, and I found booking GMVN quite convenient, as it was available online). Check-in was over in a couple of minutes, and we settled into our abode of 3 days. The room was quite basic, but the best part was the unobstructed view of the far-away hills along with rows of ‘Cheer’ trees from the window and the balcony.
There is not much for ‘sight-seeing’ in this place, owing to the fact that it is not commercialized as its crowded cousins Nainital and Mussourie, and perhaps that is what sets this place apart from all else, taking you into a world full of peace and bliss. There is a small lake called Bhulla tal, made by the army men, primarily for rain-water harvesting, a couple of temples, a Garhwal Rifles Army Museum, an old church (which was closed when we went there) and a vantage point Tip & Top (or perhaps ‘Tiffin Top’, as I read somewhere that this is the place where the English families living in Lansdowne would come for picnics, carrying their tiffins). We quite comfortably saw these spots, on foot, but what I enjoyed the most were the walks. Just keep on going on a road, taking in the clean air and surroundings, feeling the breeze on your face, sit down whenever you are tired, and the greenery, the beauty, the freshness and the peace will ensure that you are having the time of your life! The weather was really nice, and cool enough to let you walk for hours without sweating at all. In fact, I used to take quilt in the nights to keep myself comfortable.
If you plan to go there, there are two things that I would warn you about – food and mobile signals. The friendly Rest House staff told us that the food has to be ordered in advance (8-ish for breakfast, 10-ish for lunch, 5-ish for dinner), and you better do that, as there is no decent place to have a nice meal in this small town. There is no menu for you to chose from, you just order whatever you fancy (of course north-indian, no chance of getting anything exotic here ), and they’ll be glad to oblige. In fact, the staff was so nice that once when we didn’t order lunch thinking that we could have it outside, and had to come back hungry, they were quite happy to serve us if we gave them half an hour to serve – you can’t ask for more than that! The mobile signals (or the lack of them) were something that I was extremely happy about, as it made sure that there were no pesky marketing calls or sms’s to disturb our peace.
We took Garhwal Express back from Kotdwar, and it was around midnight when we reached home, after braving the heat, humidity, dust and traffic of Delhi – but it was all made quite bearable with the refreshing memories of the heaven that we had just returned from.
One of the reasons that I had given to convince myself for moving to Delhi was that I’ll be able to travel to the whole of North India, adjusted between some long and some regular weekends. ‘52 Weekend Breaks from Delhi‘ was promptly bought, but we haven’t even managed to see 20 places from it. The trip to Lansdowne has just reinforced my resolve to explore more such hidden gems, in the search of peace, far from the maddening crowds!
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