Chaukori Chatter

This 2014 Himalayan retreat definitely belonged to Naren, Mallika and Rakhee. So due credit must be given to all three for providing endless laughs to all of us..for bringing together two women meeting for the first time and getting to bond.

I  should have known that this summer retreat of 2014 would be way out different the moment the alarm went off at midnight, as against the set time of 3 am.

Groggy from an hours quota of sleep and woozy(it was almost 11 pm by the time our heads hit the pillow), i shampooed my hair and stepped into  my travel outfit, kitted right up to my brand new shoes and matching brand new Red T shirt. I put the kettle to boil and woke up all the travellers, only to be cussed and ridiculed at the inappropriateness of the hour.

Fully kitted, I slunk back to bed like a whipped pup, tail well between my legs.

Sharp at 4 am we stepped out of the house and did my "lets fall from the stairs and hurt myself" routine in the daily traveled stairs. The First of a kind journey had truly begun. I have never injured myself at the start of a trip before.Aching, but mood not dampened I packed myself in the last seat of the car( that offered the maximum leg space and is my favourite seating position when i dont get the navigators seat) with my best friend and we were ship ahoy! The ship called Scorpio was steered by our regular driver(another FIRST- no one steers the beauty except our Captain on holidays- but I guess with age one has to make compromises) while the captain sat in the navigators seat, sleeping some, passing terse instructions as we sped towards our destination, Chaukori, Uttanranchal, 488 Kms from home. The hill climb started from Kaladungi, home of Jim Corbett, where we made our customary visit, stole some litchies, just because they had put boards all over that they would fine Rs.200 for every stolen litchi. The roads this time I noticed, are fairly good, barring a stretch of some 25 odd Kms around Rampur, which seemed fair enough to us, as it was in the terai belt and didnt cause much worry as it would  have done, had it been in the mountain region.

The route we took was Kaladungi,Bhimtal,Almora, Bara cheena, Berinag and destination. To a serious traveller the road can be covered in a span of 8 to 9 hours ,but this group took 15 hours because,we , decided to enjoy and collect a bouquet full of memories as we stopped at every beautiful point for some photos, some ciggies(not me, not me- i dont smoke) or a splash in some meandering river or at some picturesque shack that is around every third bend for a hot cuppa and some local cuisine. This time the novelty snack was  black chana aloo with a raita that had pudina and mustard. The potatoes were fried with hing and jeera. The taste lingers even after coming down to the plains.

Bhimtal has lost a lot of its original charm, while Almora still retains the aura of serenity that I noticed on my last visit.

Chaukori came as a FIRST for me as I realized that this was as touristy as Nainital or even Shimla. The KMVN guest house was booked full and there was noise of loud bengali tourists all around( we bengalis tend to get very excited and loud when we are out of our own domains). Dismayed I trooped to our 4 bedded room, where we all planned to shack up. KMVN offers two facilities free- the drivers stay is free and the breakfast is free (very functional breakfast of puris/paranthas/roti, potato curry and pickles-no fancy English or American breakfast here). I didn’t know this, so both these came as pleasant  value for money information.

KMVN chaukori is a run down place, very low on both maintenance and service. Dripping faucets, poor housekeeping, lazy unsmiling staff- not a very pleasant experience. A point to be kept in mind if one wants non vegetarian meals. The hills are predominantly vegetarian, however they are open to making non vegetarian meals for the traveller should they get advance notice. It is better to stick to chicken as that is freely available and one can polish off a full chicken, even in a span of two meals. 

Early morning next day I walked out of the room to witness a majestic sunrise over the snow clad peaks of Nanda devi, Trishul, panch pancholi, and Annapurna.

To the uninitiated, a sunrise and sunset on snow clad peaks can be an ethereal experience with the white of the snow splitting the colours of VIBGYOR with every changing angle of the sun. Majestic as it was, we realized that the sunset was something to watch out for , as then the sun rays would fall from the front and not the hind.

Post breakfast -functional- poori, aloo parathas pickles- but tasty, we trooped into our  road ship  and hit for a place called Munsiyari- 100 kms from where we were.

Beautiful hill roads, narrow and lined with pine needles and different flora of the mountains- yellow purple and red- we cruised along at a sedate pace,the scent of the wet pines lingering in our nostrils,saxophone music playing softly in the backdrop-  priceless moments made even more precious by rum and coke that we started drinking even before we brushed our teeth(another first) Around 64 Kms from Chaukori, after passing through quaint hamlets with quainter names called Nachni, Thal we came upon this very high gushing waterfall at the base of which was this beautiful KMVN rest house. We stopped there and were told that a half kilometer trek up would land us in the pool of the waterfall and if one was so disposed one could trek another 5 kms to reach the source of the waterfall which was a glacier. The spirit was willing, but we didnt have adequate footwear or clothes for snow. So we made the half kilometre trek up to the pool, which the Captain called infinity pool, clambered all over the rocks, splashed around in the ice cold water and plans for Munsiyari were scrapped.We had a fantastic soul comfort lunch of dal, aloo bhaja and egg curry and we took a decision to transfer our remaining reservation to this place. We all then hit back for Chaukori,eager to catch the expected sunset. But not before stepping into another ice cold flowing mountain river and collecting some designer rocks along with the memories.

Watching the Annapurna mountain change to a golden hue with the other mountains forming a perfect white backdrop was a show unparalleled. I may run out of words- so i would let the picture do the talking. The spectacle is grandiose enough to bring out a sense of spirituality even in someone as irreverent as me. I stood, my ego bowed down in humility at my own insignificance in front of this  is a power magnificent reminder that there is a power far beyond our comprehension that controls every breath that we take.

Day three saw us out on the roads, hitting back for Birthi- but destiny had other plans for us- the constant brake action , made sure that the brake disk was damaged and needed immediate repairs- so all plans were abandoned as we moved cautiously towards Pithoragarh, where there was a proper service centre. Pithoragarh reminded me of Almora, and we whiled away our time as the car went on the ramp, doing what we women are famous for- husband and in law bashing.

Car repaired, we realised that we didnt have enough time to get back to Birthi, so we took off for Abbot Mount, a place offbeat and close to Lohaghat. The reason for this decision was this was the shortest route back to delhi and we were hitting back for delhi the following morning.

Abbot mount was a beautiful climb in the thick leopard territory- dark jungles, low human population, silence that is broken only by the noise of our car. At the end of the road a beautiful flat field- a couple of british bungalows made of wood- they even rent the rooms for rates as low as Rs 1500 per night inclusive of food. Fabulous ambience if one has an old school mentality and disposition- wooden flooring made of teak, rattling windows, crackling fireplaces, antique furniture, you name it and you are transported to a bygone era.

But better sense prevailed as we realised that we would spend just about a few hours- not enough to satisfy our senses, so we hit back for Lohaghat where there was a KMVN guest house, spent the night there and hit for home the following morning. Lohaghat is 15 Kms from the Nepal border and the cell phone towers  picks up nepal towers.

One point of interest would be to inform to all and sundry that my heavy weight snorer of a husband has been beaten hollow by my best friend whose horrendously loud snores kept us awake all night.

On the climb down we stopped at shyamlatal- another waterbody- had a stone throwing competition where I won hands down, scaled rocky peaks, picked up dangerously cheap and amazing litchies and that closes yet another summer break.

But the story doesnt close before I let it be known to one and all that we all had to beat a hasty retreat from a shack in one of the bends for the simple reason that my Captain mistook a huge barrel of difficultly acquired water to be the garbage bin and trashed all the trash of the platoon inside the car in that hallowed space.

We travelled around 1500 kms over a span of 3 days- covered almost the entire kumaon district- now the problem would be where to go for the next summer break- himachal finally maybe? Watch this space next year..