A chance bit of information on newspaper The Times of India had team Pashatuks exploring to a destination that not many people have heard of. The most interesting bit was that it was just 35 kms away from Delhi.
Rataul, a dusty sleepy village of Uttar-Pradesh, is home to 360 different species of mangoes.
Not having heard of Rataul- we were not even sure of which state we had to go to- was it in Haryana or Uttarpradesh?
When in doubt Pashatuks says "Google Zindabad" and we learnt that the route to take is through the Delhi- Loni border, which meant that Uttar-Pradesh is where we were headed to.
Excitement firmly held in check, slight apprehension too( sometimes the GPS have lead us to the weirdest locations, and here we were solely dependant on it), we hit for the road.
Crossed the loni border and blindly followed the GPS through the multitude of instructions of turn right and turn left.
Slowly the roads started bearing the UP hinterland marks- potholed and dusty. There were practically no women on the street and the few that could be seen were covered from head to toe. The ladies in our skirt found themselves wishing that they were more covered. We had a feeling that trousers or skirts would be frowned upon on Indian visitors. Brick kilns lined the way for a few kilometres and slowly we entered dense folliage on both sides of the road and in about an hour from our starting point we spotted our first mango orchard.
Due to a late summer this year - we were dismayed to find that trees were not laden with ripe mangoes- and learnt that it would be mango time only towards the end of June this year.
We parked the car on the road side and got into one of the many orchards- we even managed to climb a few trees and pluck a few raw mangoes, which we ate without even washing(back to our childhood it seemed).
We got talking to one local there like we always do and learnt that the mango market of Rataul apparently is more famous than what we thought. Even Indira Gandhi former prime minister of India visited the aam mandi(as it is called).
A Pashatuks trip is never complete with some form of excitement or the other and we were not deprived of our few minutes of excitement as a very drunk motorcyclist rammed into our local friend Mhd. Adil and a first class brawl ensued with the choicest expletives, breaking of the drunks' helmet, kicking the motorcycle tyres and involving all and sundry around. Passions run high in the hinterlands and we got moving towards Delhi before sundown as we had a feeling that it was not exactly the safest place to be after dark.
A few pointers to anyone heading for Rataul for the first time.
Do carry your GPS and depend on it totally.
Dress appropriately and decently if you dont want untoward instances.
Make sure that the tyres of your vehicle are in good condition and your spare is in the car.
Avoid a night journey- not much to see in the dark plus its a territory where the word LAW is defined by the locals.
A day trip is definitely recommended- specially now that its peak summers and mangoes rule the market.
Not having heard of Rataul- we were not even sure of which state we had to go to- was it in Haryana or Uttarpradesh?
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| The lifeline |
Excitement firmly held in check, slight apprehension too( sometimes the GPS have lead us to the weirdest locations, and here we were solely dependant on it), we hit for the road.
Crossed the loni border and blindly followed the GPS through the multitude of instructions of turn right and turn left.
Slowly the roads started bearing the UP hinterland marks- potholed and dusty. There were practically no women on the street and the few that could be seen were covered from head to toe. The ladies in our skirt found themselves wishing that they were more covered. We had a feeling that trousers or skirts would be frowned upon on Indian visitors. Brick kilns lined the way for a few kilometres and slowly we entered dense folliage on both sides of the road and in about an hour from our starting point we spotted our first mango orchard.
A Pashatuks trip is never complete with some form of excitement or the other and we were not deprived of our few minutes of excitement as a very drunk motorcyclist rammed into our local friend Mhd. Adil and a first class brawl ensued with the choicest expletives, breaking of the drunks' helmet, kicking the motorcycle tyres and involving all and sundry around. Passions run high in the hinterlands and we got moving towards Delhi before sundown as we had a feeling that it was not exactly the safest place to be after dark.
Do carry your GPS and depend on it totally.
Dress appropriately and decently if you dont want untoward instances.
Make sure that the tyres of your vehicle are in good condition and your spare is in the car.
Avoid a night journey- not much to see in the dark plus its a territory where the word LAW is defined by the locals.
A day trip is definitely recommended- specially now that its peak summers and mangoes rule the market.
