The Lovely Peaks of Vridh Jageshwar

Sunrise over Trishul and surrounding peaks

Someone once said that "All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low". It may be true about life, but in the mountains the higher the peaks get, more majestic they look. 

The sunrise - I just cannot get enough of the
sight of the mountains particularly at
sunrise and sunset.

The rhododendrons flower in profusion, they say that rhododendrons tend to bloom the higher in altitude one gets, Vridh Jageshwar is not much higher but many rhododendron  trees are flowering in profusion.

Rhododendrons

‘Vridh’ means ‘old’ or ‘previous’, it is on a ridge top with a wonderful view of the Kumaon Himalayas up close. Jageshwar Dham is the group of temples in the valley not very far from here, but distinctly different. Many people stay at Vridh Jageshwar and worship at the Dham. "Praise the Lord, but we want to see the peaks also".

The temple at Vridh Jageshwar...

...and Jageshwar Group of Temples

Human society appears to sustain itself by transforming nature into garbage. It does indeed, ‘clever’ marketing and the ‘need’ to buy more. Walking down to the spring and caves behind the temple at Vridh Jageshwar one sees a lot of the detritus of ‘good’ living. It is a veritable garbage dump for almost fifty metres of the path. (I have done a reel on this at instagram click here)

The first of two caves...

...and the spring

Apart from being a downhill/uphill walk through some dense jungle, the caves and the spring are not much to see.

There are many walks to be had, and most of them are relatively less steep. There’s the Zero Point walk, atop a hillock not very far from here, it is a short distance but steep. Then there is the birding trail, the trail behind the temple, there are two ways to reach this, to the Spring and Caves. The walking track ahead of the temple, a trail to Jageshwar Dham (six Kilometres from the temple), and so on.

Sunset on Trishul and two temple bells

The view of the Kumaon Himalayas is breathtaking, one can almost touch them, from here one can see Nanda Ghunti, Trishul, Mrigthaini, Maiktoli, Nanda Devi, Nanda Khot (Ban Kutiya or the Sickle), and the Panchacholi Group.

The hues of pink and gold and.…. (one cannot even begin describing the colours), so I will leave it to your imagination.

At sunset...

 

Ghost Homes

 Someone once said: “A house is made of bricks and beams. A home is made of hopes and dreams.”

So true,

A house that is not a home

Ghost homes are houses in the mountains that are left vacant by the owners, to be visited a few times each year or not at all. I am writing of Binsar WLS, but this could be equally true of other houses in the hills.

just locked up...

...or dilapidated

...to be visited on festivals

If they are opened a few times a year, then it is generally done so on a festival, as the mountain folk are normally very religious. These are people who have left for better job opportunities in the cities. Or their children who have left for as these villages offer few opportunities.

...another house falling apart

The first to fall is the roof, grass grows between the slates and water seems to seep in. Then the beams fall, the beams are of pine and water is fatal...

...and another

...the last to fall seem the walls, these are traditionally of mud and stone, and without cover of the roof, the weather plays havoc with the walls. The windows look out sightlessly on a patch overgrown with weeds. 

the house-owner keeps his belongings...  

...in a small part of the house. The part he has covered in corrugated iron. Traditionally there is no glazing on windows, simply planks of wood, keeping the house warm in the severe winters of the mountains.

The walls of brick and mud still stand, but the roof and beams 
are dilapidated

Maybe slate quarries are in the Wildlife Sanctuary and so inaccessible. Maybe t raditional building methods are expensive, the materials difficult to difficult to find, and the craftsmen, the few that are left, very difficult to come by. It could be a combination of all these factors.

...homestays are mushrooming

Who doesn't want a slice of the tourist pie?  Views this way and that, almost every village has multiple homestays. Members of the families who want to watch what they want to, do so on their mobiles. Yes, mobiles have percolated into every nook and cranny of their lives.

Huge and fancy houses

A disturbing trend is these homes are long-leased to people from the plains who build incongruously huge houses with retaining walls in the ‘balmy surrounds’ of a wild life sanctuary; for bragging rights perhaps?

Home is not a place…it’s a feeling