On 19th May, 2004 evening around 9 p.m. we left home for Delhi Railway station to board the Ranikhet Express. It was a very hot evening and moreover the Railway Station was over crowded and the consequent heat was intense. There was no relief even after settling on our respective berths. We wanted to get out of Delhi as soon as possible but as if to test our patience, the train started half an hour behind schedule time. The heat continued to haunt us till the unearthly hours. However, by the time the train reached Kathgodam it was so nice that we forgot our unpleasant experience in the train. My feeling of deep affinity with the hills finally actualised into this trip.
As we came out of the Rly. Station with our rucksack, we saw a number of taxis and jeeps lined up to woo the visitors. On enquiry we found the cost was not within our budget. So we had to look for the bus stop. We waited at the bus stop for some time and boarded a bus to Bhowali from where we were told we could get some conveyance to Mukteshwar. As the bus moved ahead, the height of the mountain kept on increasing, sometimes coming down a bit and again going up while vegetation on the hills presented new panorama to the delightment of the eyes and spirit. We enjoyed every moment of this drive. At Bhowali we found plenty of fruits being sold at a very cheap price(in comparison with Delhi of course!). We bought some Khurmani and found them to be sweet. To commute to Mukteswar we were advised to take a jeep/car as the next bus would be available only around 2.30 p.m. and it was only 9.30 a.m. So we decided to hire a jeep for Mukteswar. We had to bargain for a reasonable rate prevailing in the hills as rates with the plains differ considerably. The journey to Mukteswar was like flying through the fruit orchards and inhaling the sweetness of the fragrant flowers like birds. Every corner, every turn had something to present to us. The orchards at Ramgarh and the hills at a far off distance continued to show us the divine beauty of nature. Due to smoke and fog, the most thrilling site of the snow bound Himalayan ranges were out of our sight, this was the only sore point.
We reached our Guest House at 11.45 a.m. This guest house is run by Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam(KMVN) situated at a vantage point. Mukteshwar at a height of 2286 meter is one of the excellent locations of Kumaon Region that displays the Himalayan range with magnificent views. As we had our prior booking made through their office in Delhi, we were allotted a beautiful room overlooking the whole range. The cool breeze that blew there took away all our fatigue we were subject to during the train journey from Delhi. As if we were transported into a heavenly abode. With a cup of tea, we refreshed ourselves and placed order for lunch. In the meantime we went out to have a close look at the nature and the hills around. Next to our guest house was the PWD Guest House which had a well laid out garden with flowers blooming all around. The breeze was so refreshing that by passing of every moment we felt the touch of nature’s blessings in spite that we human beings are always trying deforesting to cater to our so called needs. I pondered over this ruthless cutting of trees for economic gains. A parallel could be drawn from the story of Kalidas before he became the Great Sanskrit Poet of India. One day he was sitting on a branch of a tree and cutting the same. It is the same situation with human beings now. The plants and trees are maintaining the ecological balance, a life line for all living beings and we are deliberately destroying them! However, we did not fail to enjoy watching a variety of birds flying here and there, the bright sun and it was a perfect day to enjoy.
After enjoying the sun for sometime, we came back to our guest house. We all had a quick bath and went down for lunch to the dinning hall. On completion of lunch we had an afternoon siesta and again went out for site seeing. Mukteshwar could hardly satisfy our hunger for seeing the Himalayan peaks as the visibility was very poor due to mist and smoke(we were told that the local people burn the fallen leaves for farming and that causes smoke). Mukteshwar had a unique feature overlooking deep ravine on one side and the beautiful town of Almora on the other. We also visited a desolate temple nearby and we could hear distinctly the rustlings of leaves as if the tall trees were whispering to us the secrets of nature. The night was very cool and the breeze turned stormy as the night progressed. After dinner I strolled for half an hour with a guest who came from Mumbai but I also found one poisonous scorpion trying to get into the guest house. It was just thrown out by one of the guest house staff.
Next day morning after a cup of tea and biscuits we trekked down the hill to Sitla. Sitla had abundance of fruit trees like Khurmani, Plum, Naspati etc. we also saw the famous red flower of the hill by name Rhododendron. We were told that during March-April this flower floods the hill side and it looks like the mountains are on fire. we could feel the silence of the nature which was often broken by the chirruping of the birds.
After our breakfast we had to repack our rucksack for the next journey to Jageshwar at a height of 1870 Meter. We thought of trek to Sitla bus stand to short cut our journey but it added to our woes and suffering. We three started after saying good bye to the staff of the guest house and enjoyed our trek for an hour. But as the sun slowly heated up the road going got tough. However we managed to reach the bus stand but we missed the bus by a whisker. We had to wait for a lift at least up to Almora. Finally we got a Maruti Van and the fare charged was a reasonable one and we reached Almora around 2 p.m. We thanked our good friend for dropping us at a convenient point.