Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
â Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. Iâm just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Summer of Ups and Dawns
This summer came up with a different energy, ideas and aspirations for travel đ. Summer of 2019….not 69. Destinations that I have been planning to visit forever, finally came to life and I paid my visit to these places. And today I will start with Ramgarh and Bhowali Uttarakhand.
Ramgarh is a small hill station and tourist destination on the way to Mukteshwar. This place is rich in orchards, and they say the temperature and the climate is best suited for tuberculosis patients. However, this is only what I have heard.
The famous poet and the writer of our national anthem- Rabindranath Tagore, resided here. Mountains do leverage the magical charm and keep it just calm. Our journey by car started from New Delhi at 7:30 am with an empty stomach. We drove continuously for 3 hours, after which we took a halt for breakfast. We had to cover 340 kms to reach our destination. Maintaining the complacent speed, music, cheer and gossip.. the drive was gradually taking its shape. We had come across some photogenic spots with not so photogenic faces, those were my folks :p.
And finally we checked in at our beautiful abode- Suvaasa The Resort. We were all desperate to rest our asses in the property and delve into some good food with that surreal view and the eerie quiet.
About the resort, quite far from the clamour, this property is nested almost 13-15 kms from Nainital. With a charming 360° view of lush green lands, this tiny terrace cafe – ‘Tamino’, is all set to take your heart away, decorated with candles and some cool breeze. The food, well, just order anything, it will taste good. In addition, you find genial staff in this squeaky clean property. Also they have some cool indoor game arrangements and a colorful library.
Food runs in my blood and I couldn’t skip this rustic, open-air maggi joint, which was right in front of this beautiful looking ancient property. Whilst we were clicking pictures, there were random conversations with this guy, and to my surprise this ancient property was nothing but the graveyard from the 1800s that still exists. The locals have been experiencing something unusual till date, as the British soldiers, officials and members from the Christian community were buried here. There is a different vibe in this area. So, fortunately or unfortunately, we spotted this haunted yet picturesque graveyard. Locals landmark this place as PINE RANGE.
Next day was the mandatory visit to âGolu Devta Templeâ in Ghorakhal, not because it’s highly appreciated for a variety of reasons, but we had planned it that way. The drive to the temple was through a lane of tranquil land. It didn’t take us much time to reach and park the car (parking is an issue). You simply have to trek for a few meters or take the stairs to be at the top for the darshan, though it is best to trek rather than considering stairs.
The temple visit was just delightful in its own way- the gush of fresh air, positive vibes, followed by the enchanting evening aarti by the modest, impressive pandits. After this fulfilling session, we headed to the parking lot where I stumbled upon this solo fruit seller. He was attracting many passersby’s heads, coz he was selling KAAFAL- a pahadi fruit that looks like berries and tastes even better, a rich source of Vitamin C and just chewable- raw or with black salt. This was a good idea right? A picture is worth the shot, and thatâs what i thought, without any vote :p
A genuine request to the tourists who try to negotiate for the price- please be thoughtful, the sellers literally slog their ass off the whole day in the dense jungle just to earn some pennies for their living. And a small amount (a little extra), wonât ever hurt your pocket.
“Happy endings only happen in Bollywood”, I thought, when it was time for the packup! Who would ever want to go back and face the extremes of life and be the little insipid soul…euu!! Anyway, thatâs no approach, this perfect trip was up to the scratch with more upcoming itineraries . Iâm a happy soul. Stay tuned â¤
The Kareri Lake Trek and Behind the scenes.
Like any other year, 2020 was supposedly the year for more adventures, new learnings, guilts and extra weight gains but it turned out to be awfully different . Who would have imagined that terms like pandemic , quarantine and work from home would steal the show but life moves on and so our spirits. With the onset of Covid -19 , not only we were all bailed upon each other but on the brighter side got some time for ourselves for at least good 6-7 months just in isolation.
The dire situation somehow got under control but my travel lust was totally out in the nature, just in the reverie of creating some more beautiful memories that I craved for whole year.
And this one fine day , with a simple exchange of greetings with my old and travel bug friend , we decided on a trip and he gave me a classic disclaimer – Divvya , our plans are very last minute and you will get to meet new people in this trip! I didn’t care about anything but the travel. Call it good luck and we started on Thursday , like he mentioned that I would need new people but he didn’t mention was there would be 9 other people đ , 2 cars and 9 people – YES! I was happy to be part of the group and he ensured he made me comfortable , I was a little conscious of being judged but who cares :p we were all going for a small village trek called – The Kareri Lake trek, Mcleodganj. we embarked our journey on Thursday night and Friday early morning reached at the homestay and made sure our assess were getting good rests.
Day 1 –
I had been to McLeod earlier but the charm of stepping out in the wild after donkeys years was more flattering to me and I decided to just sit eat and chill and enjoy the view. Coming to the introduction of every individual. The most trusted and elder was the bhaiya in the group followed by bunch of boys and 3 girls , everyone was full of life and happiness. We all were making efforts to make each other comfortable and at the same time taking their case in the most fun and annoying way.
Day 2-
The night before every experienced trekker apart from me ( I ‘m not experienced but was part of the discussion) decided to get up right at 5am in the morning and get our assess moving for this Kareri trek, while others were friends with each other the longest time and they were betting on this. Fortunately or unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs in the morning and it brought smile to my face ( I wanted to bunk the trek :p) and just chill for no reason. With time everyone concluded on doing the trek. From 5am that we decided , finally made a move at 11:30 đ coz we are the champions!
Day 2/2
Reached the Kareri village at 2 and commenced the trek at 3pm, whilst ,we were all gearing up 2 other junkies joined our club and we started to trek, me being the least interested one thought to team up with bhaiya and he kept telling me every 500ms that there’s a flat surface and we can rest, which hardly came , it was this steep uphill trek (at least for me) after every 10 mins I was begging for a break and bhaiya kept boosting me saying – Didi, I will click your photo if you trek. đ couldn’t say no to that. The first group was with Bhaiya , 2 junkies and I, thankfully these kids were helpful and kept walking without any efforts at all and that amazed me. After an hour we were at this beautiful sunset point , had Maggie , clicked pictures and thought to wait for our fellow friends with few more halts and did the same every next hour. This whole trek was immensely beautiful , the only reason that kept me going was the beauty , I had this curiosity for more and I won’t lie it was only getting better :). After the sunset it was a bit clingy and equally dangerous to trek in that trail. It was pitch dark with no torch, no mobile battery and no sight of other boys who were supposed to be the leaders , and then we gauged this bridge that was quite rustic with the soothing background music where the birds were singing ,chirping , water was flowing like some dense feeling and stars were shining bright. Good 20 mins in the campsite there was a hurdle , guys making noise that we are here and we made it- our boys finally arrived.
Day 2/3 – The Campsite and the Bonfire
Tired feet and hungry tummy was what we landed with at the campsite , the campsite bhaiya helped us with the basic amenities of snacks , bonfire and food , that indeed was the good spot đ it was a fun good evening with loads of laughter , food and dancing :D. it was the best quality time each one had coz all the cell phones were dead!
Day 3 – Morning with the view
While we could not do the summit as we were late and in the interest of time all had to rush to office the next day it was concluded that we head back and with some awesome and great memories of the kareri trek we started our way down to the village, oh btw – Camping bhaiya made fresh aloo parantha with white butter and chai for all of us, indeed some treat!
Look forward for another trip with these people again and make more memories while we all beat the fear of covid this year also. see you soon :*
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
Youâre going to publish a post today. Donât worry about how your blog looks. Donât worry if you havenât given it a name yet, or youâre feeling overwhelmed. Just click the âNew Postâ button, and tell us why youâre here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what youâd like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think youâll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
Youâre not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another â but itâs good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Canât think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a âcrappy first draftâ. Anne makes a great point â just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When youâre ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blogâs focus â writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is âzerotohero,â so other new bloggers can find you, too.
