- A road trip to reposeful Deenapani
- The Burning Binsar
- Beautiful Birthi Falls
- Munsiyari – The final destination
- Drive from Birthi to Munsiyari
- Munsiyari maximized
- Pasham, Pundit Explorer and Pricey Fungus at Mr Pangtey’s Tribal Heritage Museum
- Chaukori – The health prone nature zone
- Musk Deer Breeding Center – Chaukori
- Patal Bhuvaneshwar cave – Treasure trove of Indian Mythology
- The Berry-lores of Kumaon
- Experiences Good and Bad at Jageshwar
- The Jageshwar Temple Complex
Resuming the story of our journey to Kumaon region, where I left readers in my previous travelogue. We now have to drive from Birthi to Munsiyari. In-fact, the reality was that we were enjoying our stay at Birthi so much that we kept on delaying the onward journey. After all, Munsiyari, our destination, was just 32-kms away.
The Hay bales in Kumaon
Around Birthi many hay bales were visible in the shape of scare crow. Several such bundles gave an impression of a modern sculptor depicting people gathering and marching forward for a common cause.
The purpose of Hay bales
Hay bales are not straw but grass and legumes cut, collected, dried and stored for use as animal fodder during harsh weather conditions. In hills, during winters it is difficult to find grazing pastures and at that time these hay bales provide the required nutrition to the domestic grazing animals.
The grass in hay bales must be dried properly since wet grass rot on storage and creates potential for toxins to form in the feed. This shape helps in keeping grass dry from inside even during rains. It’s not done for aesthetics or fun.
Those bundles reminded me of my dream landscape, the vast European grasslands dotted with cylindrical hay bales.
The Road from Birthi to Kalamuni Top
Soon after Birthi, we were driving on a long stretch of a serpentine road, in circumlocution mode. But we were enjoying it!
The vehicles on that road were dwarfed not only by the immense mountains in their backdrop, looking like impregnable castle walls, but also by the tall Deodar trees standing upright like alert sentinels.
As compared to the journey till Birthi, these bends were sharper, trees were taller and the whole landscape was greener, quieter and more un-spoilt.
It must be a remarkable accomplishment to build such roads on these insurmountable mountains.
It reminded me of my friend Gyurmee’s (owner of Bliss resort, Biksthang in Sikkim) sad comment that he made while looking at a similar engineering feat in Sikkim, “People travelling on these roads seldom realizes the extreme sacrifices many workers had made to achieve their smooth drive.”
He was looking at the road where several workers had lost their life during its construction. I wish there had been no such mis-happening in Birthi. Anyway, I salute these ‘civil soldiers’ to provide us such a smooth drive.
Temple at Kalamuni Top
En-route we stopped at twenty-seven hundred meters high Kalamuni top where there was no habitation except a temple.
Tanmay was sleeping on my shoulder so it was not possible for me to visit the temple. No complains 🙂 as it is an extremely satisfying feeling when kids put their head against your shoulder and falls asleep. A gesture that says I recognize this cozy bed and I trust that I am in protective arms.
As a parent you understand the strenuous journey the little delicate ones are taking with you and so you like to make minimal movements lest their sleep should be disturbed. It is true that,
फिर चाहे वक़्त उन्हे कुछ भी बना दे
लोरियों तक सब हैं शहज़ादे|
The Temple Priest, our driver and the Cannabis
After the visit to the temple everyone returned except the driver of our vehicle. The other driver cautioned us that he saw him enjoying Cannabis (Ganza) with the sadhu inside. We almost forced our driver to return and to start again. He had his own version as an excuse.
He told that the sadhu inside was showing him the pictures of late Babaji with tigers and was telling him that earlier wild cats regularly used to visit the temple.
The temple surroundings had such a calming effect on them that they never made any kill around it. Even herbivores were aware of the miraculous effect and roamed freely around them.
Deep-Green Forested Valley
After Kalamuni top there was a deep-green forested valley. A baaz was hovering and gliding effortlessly. We stopped to look at that awesome flight with our binoculars and suddenly our attention was drawn to deer like animals running away, but they vanished in the blink of an eye.
Occasional Shepherds on the way from Birthi to Munsiyari
There were no villages on this route as this region is sparsely populated. We occasionally met flocks of sheep and tribes of goats.
At a point we met a herd of cow drinking water from a waterhole. Two cow herders were preparing food for themselves and it looked nothing less than a picnic. At least from our stand point :-). I wonder if it remains a picnic even when it is a daily routine. Should be.
Man and Cooking
Males cooking their own food! I would like to share an interesting observation. In most of the hotels cooks are always male. It is an irrefutable proof that men cook better than the fairer sex. It is then another story that they are of lazy-adjustable kinds who can eat anything with a perfect glow of satisfaction on their faces.
I once shared this eternal truth with my wife. She curtly replied, “Perhaps that’s why it is fine to dine out once or twice, but after only a few outings you (read males) start missing home cooked food.” I dared not to tell her that these kinds are not only lazy but are misers as well.
Zara Resort at Munsiyari
We reached Munsiyari in around two hours. It was a small town and probably even that is a result of tourism.
We had two rooms booked in Zara resort. One room, possibly the best room of the hotel, cost Rs 2500 and the other room, the standard one, cost us Rs 1200. We were allotted two adjacent rooms separated by a false wall.
The rooms had wonderful acoustics; any word spoken or even whispered in one room was clearly audible in the other. It’s not only Wiki-leaks vying for a transparent world; Zara Resort is making its own contributions in a small way 🙂
About Zara Resort
Zara is a simple budget hotel in peaceful surroundings, facing a village house with a small potato farm. It was carpeted but the worn-out shabby carpet made it look cheap and unkempt.
In general, I have noticed that in the absence of proper care and maintenance carpeted mid-range hotels look awful within a few years.
In the standard room, in the toilet, water was dripping from the roof in addition to the faucet. We brought it to the manager’s notice and requested him to allot the adjacent room. He rudely denied the possibility.
Zara is located at a height overlooking the whole town. The area around it was green and beautiful birds can be spotted in the mornings and evenings.
A bugyal behind Zara Resort
There was a mountain trail leading to a Bugyal just behind the hotel. As we started to trek two village dogs decided to join us. We walked carefully, maintaining a safe distance from them. They were of quite quiet types as otherwise we might have abandoned trekking right at the beginning itself.
It was a pleasant trek amidst the green surroundings. The sky was overcast and the weather was windy.
The enthusiasm of the wind in encouraging us to walk was palpable. But, Mr. Sun was tired. It was a long exhausting day for him and he had already waited long enough for us to trek.
By the time we started trekking, he wanted to retire for the day. We realized Sun’s point (even before having reached a desirable ‘sunset-point’) and reluctantly had to give in to him.
That small lovely walk was our first outing of Munsiyari but even that filled us with great enthusiasm. On return, the dogs smelled us, found nothing offensive nor attractive and allowed us a slip to Zara.