Nainital
At the outset, I start with
pranams to Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha
Mahaswamigal, the ruling and 36th Pontiff and Jagadguru Sankaracharya His
Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vidhu Shekhara Bharathi Swamigal the 37th Pontiff of Sri Sringeri Saradha Peetham for
everyone’s welfare and continued prosperity.
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| A mountainous stream originating in the upper reaches of Himalayas |
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| View as seen from Dorthy Point |
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| Himalayan Mountain Ranges in Nainital |
Earth and sky, woods and fields, Lakes and River, the mountain and Sea, are excellent masters and teach us more than we can ever learn from books
-John Lubbock
We visited Uttrakhand for a vacation covering Nainital, Binsar (
Almora district), Corbett National park, in Kumaon region and Haridwar and Rishikesh in Garhwal region.
Nature’s splendor which has bestowed mankind with bountiful scenic beauty in
these regions are to be cherished and admired for a life-time. The images of
Nature keep coming back over again and again. The Lakes, Snow capped mountains,
the woods, Mother Ganges create a magic charm and keeps me spell bound. Over my
next 4-5 blog pages, I want to pen down my experiential journey to these parts
of northern India.
Our 1st port of call was
Nainital – referred as ‘Lake District’ as the district boasts of many
lakes. The British made Nainital as the summer capital of United Province (present
day Uttar Pradesh). It is said, the city boasted around 60 lakes in the past
and was referred as “Chakta”.
Nainital is referred in ‘Skanda Purana’ as the Tri-Rishi Sarovar with
reference to the patron saints Atri, Pulastya and Pulaha who in order to quench
their thirst during their penitential pilgrimage dug a hole and brought water
from the scared lake Mansarovar
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Naini Lake
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The centre of attraction is the ‘Naini lake’ which is nestled around mountain ranges. A comparison of the lake
picture in the late part of 18th century to the current state one
can observe that it is preserved intact without many encroachments. The various
feeders of water channel into the lake and its organization leaves a charming
feeling. The temple of Goddess Naini devi is on the northern banks to which the
origins of the lake can be traced
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| Horse ride from Horse point to Dorthy point |
From ‘Horse point’ we took a tour of the mountain ridges ( Dorthy
seat, and other peak points). This horse ride is a challenging and life
changing experience. The stone pathway is a steep hilly rocky terrain and is
very narrow with steep slopes on the sides. The way the keepers love and tender
their horses are amazing. The horse-keeper gives simple instructions on the
control of the horses and it is imperative to pay attention and follow the
instructions to the letter and spirit. ( We understood this experience can no
way compared to the horse-rides which we do in the plains). With the reigns
draped over in one hand and clutching the saddle on the other hand, we were
looking like colloid actors ready for action. It just takes few steps on the
rocky terrain to realize what lay in store for us on this challenge
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| Sundar and Family |
The horses typically chose the path of least resistance and have a
tendency to stroll around the edges of the percipience. Using the commands, we
need to bring the horse back to the centre of the pathway. The ride down-hill
is more challenging than up-hill. One needs to maintain a correct body position
in up-hill and down-hill to prevent the human body weight from sliding and
falling over the road. All of us after overcoming the initial fear ( At least
the elders pretended that they overcame the fear and the children did a great
job) the maneuvering was smooth.
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| View of Himalayan peaks |
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| Closer view of 'Trishul Parvat' and 'Nanda Devi' peaks |
Both in the steep up-hill and down-hill course the horses show their
dis-pleasure on being stopped (by pulling the reigns) due the weight and loss
of momentum and make some moves to ensure that you release the reigns. The
weather was clear and we saw some breath taking views of Himalayan snow-clad peaks
namely Trishul, Nanda Gunti, Nanda devi. The journey lasted for 1 hr: 45 mins.
We re-called the horse ride for the rest of our tour every now and then.
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| Bengal Tiger |
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| A Male 'Sambar Deer in High altitude zoo |
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| Himalayan Bear - recognized by the white 'V' neck |
We spent the rest of day visiting many places of interest namely Cave
gardens, Upper lake view, Lovers view point. The Rope way connecting the flat
lands to the snow view point is a major attraction. We travelled by Ropeway and
had lunch @ snow view point.
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| Sattal Lake |
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| Bheem Tal lake |
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| A lovely duckling - New entrant to the Bheem Tal lake perimeter |
In Day 2 we visited Sattal, BheemTal , Naukuchi
tal. The High Altitude Zoo has many birds and animals in healthy condition. Bengal
tiger and Himalayan bears were major attractions in the zoo.
The tour operator suggested that we visit Hanuman Kadi ( temple) in
Nainital. I thought, we will quickly wrap up our exiting and exhausting day
with a visit to the temple by spending 5-10 mins. The temple has been built by
Neem Karoli Baba Maharaj, who had his initial roots in UP, then wandered to places in
Gujarat and Himalayan regions in search of spiritual enlightenment. The
sprawling temple complex consists separate temples for Hanuman, Shiva and Rama.
The temple complex and surroundings are maintained spic and span by the
volunteers. We joined the bhajans in the temple and spent around 90 mins there.
I definitely felt positive vibrations and connected back to the temples in my
native village Sattanatahapuram and Surabharathi foundation in Bangalore and
the associated spiritual activities.
‘What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done
for others and the world remains and is immortal’
Our Sacred land Bharath has definitely been enriched by the selfless service
and sacrifice of numerous sages and gurus down the centuries and here was one more
shining gem in Neem Karoli baba. We thanked the taxi operator for his kind
suggestion as without him this pleasant spiritual experience wouldn’t have been
added to our memory.
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| City Centre |
In the town center a cricket match was on between 2 club teams and we
stood by to have a glimpse of the action. The spin bowler bowled to full-tosses
(which took ages to the reach the batsman) and got two wickets in the firts two balls of his over. We were flabbergasted
with the action and results. I reminisced on my cricket playing days, wherein
full-tosses bowled by me were deposited by batsman either in deep mid-wicket or wide
long-on. To rub salt on the wound the boundary fielders will have the choicest expletives
and the captain will walk to me to have an invective word.
To an great extent the city is very disciplined. There are even queues
for rickshaws and people and the rickshaw walla’s diligently follow them .
Special mention needs to be allocated to the people here who are helpful and
co-operative and always welcome you with a friendly countenance. Most importantly we did not see people begging for Alms in any of the tourist spots
Last but not the least, we stayed in Naini Retreat belonging to the
erstwhile Maharaja of Pilibhit. We were treated as royals with every aspect
taken care off. Thanks to my colleague Dev Prasad who did a stupendous job in
planning and taking care of every minute details of the tour itinerary. Both
the families enjoyed to the core the start and the entire leg of the tour.
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