Random Ramblings-Long weekend and nowhere to go? Try the good old fashioned picnic

Pashatuks believes that they can make merry melody with anyone while travelling through life's journey.Provided there's a mind connect somewhere.

The story begins, when there was an  extended weekend and a bunch of people wanted Pashatuks to bring some zing into the weekend.

Pashatuks decided without a moments hesitation on a good old fashioned outdoors picnic. The kind we used to enjoy as children.

Picnics almost always happen when the weather is pleasant and cool, and in a tropical country picnics can happen only in winters.

The logistics of the venue and the menu needed to be worked out.
We managed to get a farmhouse owner friend let out the property to us for the day

The location and the setting of the farmhouse appealed to Pashatuks immensely - located in the absolute hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh- our convoy of 9 cars had to rough ride through mud tracks and slush (thanks to previous days inclement weather) to reach a location that offered absolute privacy and openness, to us space - starved city slicks.

Our farm was fenced off for outsiders, Well manicured lawns and two built up rooms with clean wash-rooms gave it the civilized finish.

The rules of the picnic were simple- food would be cooked on the premises, cooked on rustic mode with firewood between bricks. And that the men would do the domestic honours, while the ladies would do nothing but make merry.A complete role reversal for one full day.

Every individual was excited- and we were around 35 heads inclusive of children. There was no problems with parking as we were in the middle of nowhere and it was a free for all.

The picnic started with setting up the fire.

Bricks were procured from the vicinity - we had organised the firewood, because getting enough firewood could have posed a problem. Thanks to the previous days rainfall the wood took more time than needed to light up.Luckily we had the foresightedness to carry loads of newspaper. We also siphoned off some diesel from the power generator there and soon there was a merry fire with lots of smoke coming out of the hand-crafted stove.

We were carrying our own utensils and raw material, which we had procured the previous day. The menu was as uncomplicated as it could get.

Breakfast comprised of bread, butter, boiled eggs,fruits and wash it down with tea made there on the barbecue pit that we were carrying.

Soon we invoked the blessings of Bacchus - the god of spirits and we fortified ourselves.
The men got down to action. Everyone had their roles assigned. We happy women went our ways to soak in some winter sun, to play some pretty miserable cricket (most of us didn't even know how to hold the bat properly) and to indulge in what we specialise in-gossip, bonding over rum and coke(the theme beverage for the picnic).

The images on the left leaves nothing to the imagination of the reader of the uninhibited fun that we ladies had simply lazing around- far away from the daily grind. The apt word out here would probably be "bumming"however inappropriate it might seem to the conservative reader. Pashatuks however does not subscribe to hypocrisy or conservative behaviour - its one life and is meant to be enjoyed without any malice.

So while the ladies lazed around, the men had their fill of kitchen work, right from stoking up the fires to whipping up a lunch that tasted better than anything we ever had- a simple lunch of cottage cheese, aubergine deep fried, mutton and clarified butter induced rice. They even managed a side dish of spiced up hung curd.

The smoky flavour of the cooked items heightened the senses in a way that had all of us eating more than we normally do.

And it wasn't as if the men did only cooking - they also had their fair share of the sun, the games and the dance. There was no music system, Not having anything material has never stopped Pashatuks from doing what they want to do. 

The back door of the Pashatuks mobile was opened out(the loudest speakers of the audio system in the car are placed in the backdoor). Music from the handset of someones mobile was plugged in with the audio cable and we had loud music blaring out and the dirty dancing commenced.

 Everyone had let down their hair and had a whale of time and all too soon it was time to get back home.

9 Carload of people, happy, tired to the bone people made their way back to civilization, masks firmly in place to take on the world on its terms.

Series- Destination India-Mukteswar,Uttarakhand,India

The New Year 2015,began on a happy note for team Pashatuks as we hit the trail post breakfast for Mukteswar, a distance of around 30 Kms from our Hotel .The route is through the Nainital - Mukteswar highway.

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After around a kilometer of travel on the route we started getting the white vision.We called it the white vision because, previously where we were getting patches of snow around our surroundings, we started getting patches of land midst the snow. Everywhere we looked, it was white.It was obvious that the roads were cleaned up,but even then there were mounds of snow on the road, over which we took the greatest pleasure of driving over,Flattening it with our 2000 Kilo heavy car.Not the safest of things to do, because if the tyres skidded , we could have landed in the deep ravines and killed ourselves. Pashatuks strictly discourages any reader to even try it.
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We wanted to stop everywhere- we were like greedy children let loose in a candy store.We wanted our fill of snow and nature -and our man at the wheel was getting irritated because he realised that we would never get to our destination and come back to Ramgarh on the same day, as we had planned. So we were all trooped into the car and literally bundled off  with the promise to stop only where we would get soft snow to realise an old dream of making a snowman!

Suddenly it seemed that the joy of traveling was diminished. Pashatuks has never enjoyed being pushed onto moving ahead, but we had little time and wanted to see as much of the place as we could.

But one cant really be very angry with Vistas like this constantly uplifting our mood and all our grumbles vanished

Suddenly we found ourselves stopping at this point on our left, where we could see mountains that are normally green, covered in snow and one look below and we realized that we had found our own special zone. Our own secluded belt of snow and ice where we could build our snowman uninterrupted and frolic like small children.
We started building our snowman midst a lot of snowball fights and general cheer.The pictures below would give the reader and idea of the fun we had.

Where do I begin?

his hair was a tuft of dried grass that we picked up and Cap belonged to Tuks

The great snowball fight

 Our snowman was a perfect gentleman whose head went rolling off the cliff the moment Tuks posed with him and blew him a kiss.Suddenly the cold started seeping through the soles of our footwear and we decided that it was enough.Any kind of physical discomfort could ruin a perfectly good holiday,so we bundled into the car and hit for Mukteshwar.
Orchard after orchard (apple, pear, walnut and what have you) ran along the roadside beautiful in their stark leafless state. The pristine white snow and the clear blue skies with clouds floating formed the picture perfect backdrop on a cold winter day. Difficult to feel anything but good.
All too soon we were crossing the veterinary institute, which impressed us by its sheer area and the quaint Buildings.Being animal lovers, pashatuks would have loved to linger on for a while,but with the paucity of time we decided to move on towards Chauli ki jali, an amazing cliff formation.

We had to park the car at KMVN Mukteshwar because the official parking for the place was filled with snow. The trail leading from the KMVN was a typical mountain trail with overhanging mountain trees. We stopped at Mehras cafe- a small outfit at the base of the climb for the cliff.One gets typical hill Maggie out here. You must try it.
There we met two young boys who had driven up all the way from Aligarh and were obviously hard core bikers, going by their kits and the way their bikes were kitted.

The snow and slush ridden trail led us to the best possible view of the Himalayas seen in a long time.But what is mention worthy is the fact that these two bikers that we met managed to take their bike right up the top braving the trail and the rocks- Pashatuks will put up the videos of such daredevilry very soon.
We had a fantastic time here and while conversing with the locals we understood that a fair happens  in this place every year and couples who long for children come here for blessings.

The clouds started rolling in and we decided to hit back for Ramgarh. On the way, we stopped at the local Kilmora shop. There were plenty of mountain products, but we did not find it value for money.
The way back saw us trying to locate Rabindranath Tagores erstwhile residence with no success. Then we made a short detour to Nathuakhan, which was spoken of in our circles in glowing terms. We found the place barren and devoid of snow- hence the beauty described by the person visiting the place during the fruit season missed us.

And there we were back to the cosy comforts of our KMVN TRH and ready to call it a day.

The Snowy Trail

Series- Destination India- Ramgarh and beyond,Uttarakhand,India

Pashatuks decided to say goodbye to 2014 and welcome 2015 by doing what they live for- traveling.Ignoring the obvious choice of hitting for the sun and sand destinations of the multiple seaside options,Pashatuks decided to brave the snow and ice of the Himalayas.

The preparations for this trip started an an unconventional mode for us- we made out a list of things we would need for our survival(us being plains people and all that). Apart from packing in the conventional warm wear, we packed in leather gloves,appropriate footwear, woolen socks,head covering material and warm inners.

One of the rare instances where we did make a previous accommodation booking(better sense prevailed - this being the festive season and all that), we were told that in case of heavy snowfall we could also be stranded for a couple of days. So we packed in extra food items- biscuits, chips and the works.Given the fact that we are hard core foodies, we did hope that we would not have to survive on these -but physically and mentally we were prepared.

The winter months see a lot of fog happening in the plains of Northern India and normally it sets in around 6 in the morning.To beat the fog and start the hill climb before the "fog setting in time" we were out on the highway by 3.30 am.

Pashatuks recommends to all travelers to have a bath before stepping out in the near zero temperatures- you feel the cold less. Shivering and excited, music on a peppy mode the happy quartet of team Pashatuks set off for Ramgarh(district Nainital,Uttarakhand,India),296 Kms from Delhi. 

The route that we took was Delhi-Gajraula- Moradabad-Bazpur-Kaladungi-Nainital-Bhowali-Ramgarh.

The road condition was decidedly better since we traveled last on the route,upto Kaladungi barring the almost 30 Kms stretch from the Moradabad turning to Bezpur,where there was virtually nothing in the name of a road and we enjoyed a roller coaster ride all the way.Thank God for the timing of our travel where the intestines were empty or we would have been throwing up everything that we ingested.

The cups of steaming hot cardamom flavored sugary tea we had at the roadside in mud kullars gave additional zing to our pepped up spirits.seeing the lone feminine Tuks on the roads with the three men did raise more than a few eyebrows among the blanket covered turbaned heavy mustachioed locals,( who looked straight out of some thriller bollywood film)gathered around the fire.

 

We stopped at one of the many Kahlon Hotels on the roadside for breakfast, hoping for a piping hot finger licking parantha breakfast. Unfortunately, though the food was piping hot, can't say the same for the taste factor. But yes the washroom facilities were clean and usable and there was a nice lawn and the staff friendly.

The early morning visions of people wrapped up in blankets, going about their business, shivering, staring at our car in wonder(who the hell can be this crazy to travel for fun in this cold),cow carts taking produce to the factories.

 We were traveling through the sugar belt, so all that we saw was convoys of cow carts, where the cows had jackets as protection from cold, traveling to the sugar factories dotted on both sides of the road.

Our climb started at few kilometers ahead from Kaladungi. We took it real nice and slow- stopped wherever our heart wanted to.We had made very good time on the road thanks to the timing of our start,fog free decent roads and minimal traffic and we could afford to soak in the ambiance as we made that short climb of about 70 odd Kilometers.

A few kilometers short of Nainital we stopped at a bend to have a look at the local handicrafts displayed invitingly alongside and felt the first blast of icy winds lashing out at us. The locals happily informed us at the shop that there was snow on the road from the bend beyond and we gleefully rubbed our hands in anticipation as we got inside the car and sure enough, a couple of bends later we had our first view of ground snow.

As soon as we got a chance, we got off our car and started playing, till some local told us that we would be getting loads of more snow at our destination and we put our greedy souls in tight control and moved on. And enjoyed the sunlight falling on the beautiful lake at Nainital, and the happy influx of tourists roaming on the mall road.Somehow,Nainital has managed to retain its beauty despite the heavy load of tourists that the place handles and we have always enjoyed driving through the town.

This was our first visit to the hills during winters and we soaked in the transformation. The Uttarakhand Himalayas have a substantial amount of greenery which we found were replaced with dry plants. We were roaming in the fruit belt of the state and instead of the green fruit laden trees that we were used to seeing we were greeted with snow covered land with the trees looking back at us naked and forlorn.

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The step farms of the region were cultivating snow,it seemed as if big steps of snow were cut out for us to scoop out ice and use it for whatever purpose we wanted to.

On our way, we noticed plenty of accommodation options available for travelers for different types of travelers- from the back packers to the high spending tourists.The snow clad peaks of the Panchachauli range kept changing colours with the sun's angle and we watched awestruck.

Ramgarh has been the home for Rabindranath Tagore for nearly a decade and the locals proudly boast that the first verses of Geetanjali were drafted in these tranquil environs.

The small town is also the home to very many big names of the Indian community- one erstwhile prince also has over 500 acres of property there.

This is the place to soak in natures beauty, whatever the season be and if one is looking for city activities its definitely not the place for you.Long walks into the mountains,clambering up on rocks and grass, sitting at vantage points and watching the sun go up or come down,introspecting while watching nature unfolds it mysteries are the activities that keep you busy.

Don't count your calories as you eat as you are bound to feel hungry all the time. The crisp clean air and the amount of physical exercise that one does keeps one hungry all the time.

We stayed at the state run guest house- the KMVN hotel. While touring the hills, we prefer to stay at the state run accommodation units for two basic reasons. These properties almost always are the ones with the best views and secondly they are value for money.  KMVN TRH(Tourist Rest House) is strategically located on the main road to Mukteswar, overlooking an unobstructed view of the snow clad peaks and the beautiful mountains. Each room has a balcony which serves as a perfect sit out for meditation,contemplation with tea and snacks.

The food that we got was exceptionally good, both vegetarian and non vegetarian cuisine.Just make sure that you don't order fish because that's not something these people know how to serve.

The room tariffs include breakfast for 2 and like other KMVN TRHs this one also offers free accommodation for drivers.

After an exceptionally heavy lunch some members of the team felt that they needed to rest- but Pasha and Tuks decided to explore some of the area nearby. We started clambering a snow covered mountain from the main road and were almost half way when we heard a local calling out to us from the road below "wahan jaana maat wahan bagh hain"(don't go there, there are leopards there).

 The heart skipped a beat, but we hadn't had our fill of nature or photographs. So we utilised the available light and shot whatever we could and came running down, looking beyond our shoulders more than once for the reputed leopard on the prowl.

All too soon the sun went down on the year 2014 and we were all set for a bonfire and general bonhomie with the only other family in the hotel. Music dance and general conversation regarding the cloud 9 town that these people had gone to and all the snow that they encountered,made us gungho for the next days expedition to Mukteshwar.

Series- Destination India-Ramgarh,Uttarakhand,India

Happy New Year- 2015