Naini…You look beautiful!!!

Another hill station, yet again. And now, this time it is Nainital. Despite being such a familiar hideout ‘Mussoorie-Nainital’ for Delhites and researching quite well, about the place before going there, it was least expected to view that grand lake within the center of the town (surrounded by pine and oak), set amongst the towering peaks of the Kumaon Himalayas.

You may stroll along the lake, try a bit of boating, shop at the Mall, capture some gorgeous shots in your camera, enjoy Bhutta or ice-cream or do nothing at all, but relax and watch the lake changing its colors every while like chameleon.

Hill stations have a unique spell of their own especially during monsoons. Summers are explicitly a relief from the heat of plains and winters offer the snow-clad show. But in monsoons, when everything is green and mist is all around, you can expect any drastic change in weather. There is pleasant weather and you plan to go out for a stroll and as you get ready, it starts drizzling. Now you make your mind to either go or wait and thick rain drops start falling which you can hear aloud over the sloping tin roofs, making it easier to decide. As you sit down to have a sip of tea while watching TV, the sun starts shining brightly. But beware; you can’t even rely on this one too.

There are hordes of people coming from different places to spend their weekend, so if you want to be a little different from the rest, move to the outskirts and let yourself detox with peace prevailing. Naukuchiatal is amongst the loveliest lakes in Kumaon’s lake district, deep blue expanse of water, all engulfed in the terraced green hills and forests, making you believe you are in heaven.

Strolling around the secluded lake amongst woods you can see the flowers blossom and hear the birds chirping. It feels like a place out of this world-watching ducks, lotuses, boating and one or two dhabas around to have some food, cooked fresh just for you.

Needless to say, the trip was very rejuvenating and proved that slowing down the pace of life can really refresh and make you ready for all the day-to-day fight back home.

Kempty had a great fall

What can be anything better than an outing with a bunch of friends and that too during a season when it is scorching hot in Delhi and the plan is to visit “the Queen of Hills”. Yes, this is about Mussoorie: a hill station we visited last summers

Delhi offers a wide range of options for weekend getaways in vicinity, so it was after a multitude of permutations and combinations that this particular destination could be frozen. Ready to refuel our energy tanks, we left Delhi and the drive was normal till Dehradun. It is only when you climb up from there for the next one hour, that you can come across the feeling of reaching a heavenly place like Mussoorie. The beautiful flora and fauna along the twisting and turning roads with hairpin bends, made us slide down our windows and feel the cool breeze and sudden drop in temperature.

Coming back from the parking lot, it was so much of pleasure to keep walking along the Mall road. It’s just so peculiar of the typical hill stations, a road along the hill and assorted shops on its sides, and so many faces from all over the regions inside and outside the country. Bhuttas, tikki, pani puri, ice cream-everything was available there with a few restaurants too where one can have the meals too. Monkeys were jumping here and there. Benches, street lights and specially the advertisement banners were quite distinct there.

Though it was a short visit, we preferred to way ahead towards Kempty falls too, an hour’s drive from Mussoorie. This 40 ft waterfall is the highest of five cascades that branch from a mountain stream, and cuts its way through great boulders and rock faces. The whole place was crowded by the stalls and hawkers, all welcoming you to have a look at what they have with them, to offer you. There were so many people taking pictures in different poses and enjoying the beauteous place like this. Going down by the timber trail was itself a dramatic experience.

And finally we ended our trip there, having our share of some fresh air and beauty captured in our eyes as well as digital cameras, and headed our way home.

Birdwatching and a little more!!!

After posting about our trip to Agra, that almost marked the advent of this blog, I was quite amused with the idea of having a travel diary here. Traveling has been a major temptation for me since ever. And hence, now I am in a process of browsing through my photo archives, bringing out those fond memories of the places I have been to, in the recent past and been able to have the pictures.

This particular post is about one of our day trips to Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary, which is around 25km away from our place in Gurgaon, on one of the Sundays.

There is a water body (lake) along which the whole bird sanctuary is developed. We kept on walking on trails along this lake and capturing some shots of the birds, savoring the natural beauty of the place.

Although we are not very keen bird watchers. But the idea of having some natural hideaway on weekends, after exhausting ourselves the whole week immersed in work, is itself very exhilarating.

And above all, we were elated that we still have some pleasing places too, in our vicinity, which are a little offbeat, way-out from the conventional shopping malls, which have turned out into the only hang-out places available here.

And hence we returned back with a joy in our hearts.

Incredible India

Recently I and my husband went for a weekend trip to Agra so as to witness the very well known Taj mahal (one of the Seven Wonders of World) and Fatehpur sikri. These places are so customary getaways that we had always procrastinated visiting them and tried to find some new and different place for an outing. But the experience was incredibly extraordinary for me as I had never seen such an architectural marvel and the supremacy it bears, before.

drive on NH 2

Wah Taj!

The major excitement about the trip was long drive from Gurgaon to Agra (as we have purchased a car 2 months back and learnt driving on that car only). Although we were quite discouraged by the traffic congestion as we entered Agra, general behavior of local people on road and above all, the long queue we had to pass through before having a look at Taj Mahal. But as we entered into the complex and I viewed Taj Mahal in actual, I could not believe it was standing just in front of me. We have become so accustomed to the view of that particular building that it seemed to be another photograph only. And when I saw the proportion of people standing on the podium as compared to Taj, I was totally startled as the building didn’t appear to be so enormous from entrance.

triumphal arch

majestic beauty

minaret at Taj

We really enjoyed the beauty of scrupulous work done on this sculpture. And the best part is that inspite of using the same white marble throughout and having same façade on all four sides, the monotony doesn’t deteriorate its charm and delicacy at all. Moreover, the Tongas pulled by horses and camels, battery run rickshwas were another source of fascination for me that run to and fro towards the parking area. I was delighted to experience the Sholay’s Dhanno there.

dhanno ki savari

Next day, we went to Fatehpur Sikri which was also very familiar as almost all Indians have seen Hindi movies especially Jodha Akbar starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. I was deeply captivated by the insanely impeccable carving done on the stone in each and every building there. All the time I was imagining the majesty and grandeur of the royalty who used to live there, that I wished I could also experience the same (being one of those royal people). It was all awesome how these all buildings have stood the test of times in all these hundreds of years.

panchmahal

immaculate work in stone

pigeons flying in open court

arcade in stone

meticulous carving

magnificent monotony

royal bird

After the ancient heritage of India, we thought of giving us some natural retreat too. So we went to Bharatpur national park which is just 25 km from Fatehpur Sikri. We had to walk a long way in order to see some beautiful wildlife and capture some good shots there.

Jungle trail

Indian Parakeets

another bird

picture perfect

innocent squirrel

in marshy land

Peacock posing on the tree top

There we concluded our trip and headed our way back home which was again a long drive of around 5 hours. The drive itself was a first time experience of driving on highway at night. Although I was driving very carefully because I didn’t want to enter into any problem being a beginner, but it was all a very thrilling experience. It was only when we were having our dinner on the roadside dhaba that I realized how fast we were moving on the highway.