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

Life in the Mountains

"Beyond the mountains, more mountains.” —Haitian proverb

 

Trishul wreathed in clouds

The local village people do not climb for a view. It is part of their everyday chores, from gathering firewood to going to school, to building a house,  it is a hard life. Especially for villages where one has to walk to get to.

Munni Devi gathers firewood...

...and walks away

Firewood is the sustenance of all villagers in the mountains.  Though gas has come, it is still in the nascent stages and is a luxury to use for heating. One saw a man carry an empty cylinder to be exchanged for a full cylinder, imagine carrying that back, two kilometres each way.

From heating to eating and everything in between,
it is done through wood. 

school is what it is

In village schools there are more kids than classrooms.  In the school one visited, there were three rooms for six classes. 

farming the land for what meagre crop there is

The children go to cities for jobs else they do what their parents did, look after cattle and farm. 

the daily menu...

School going children are a boon, as there one meal less to feed them as school gives lunch, though one wonders how filling or nutritious the lunch is.

Life is hard here in the mountains, harsh weather conditions, limited access to resources, and challenging terrain make it especially difficult.

Udiyari Band -- a little slice of paradise

 

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” - John Muir

View from Udiyari,  those mountains are Maiktoli, Nanda Devi, Nanda Khot

Udiyari Band is actually a transit point -- people going on to Munsiyari or elsewhere stop here for the night and move on in the morning. Little realising that this place has a lot to offer...

The sun rises on Maiktoli peak

To begin at the beginning.... I reached Udiyari Band (actually it is Bend) after a four hour drive from Binsar WLS (see my blog at Binsar WLS -- Traipsing Around the Mountains ).  It is a tiny fork in the road with one side going to Udiyari and the other going to Chaukori. 

A lady gets lassi from her hut.

 I stayed at Aagan Homestay which has good rooms and average food. The owner, Saurabh, is very helpful and assisted me a lot particularly in getting around. He took me on his bike and in his car to places where I wouldn't have dreamt of going.

Clouds over the mountains.  Every afternoon it would get cloudy
and by evening it be dark due to the clouds

I saw a very different view of the same Himalayan peaks, the main ones being Nanda Devi and Maiktoli. Though I could see the peaks from my room or the helipad (right next to the homestay), the view was much, much better from a open ground at Chaukori. But again I  am getting ahead of myself.

The leafless tree with a bird on it.  This was the view from my room
each morning and I could not get enough of it.

Sunrise was truly spectacular from the homestay, each day offering a different view. There was a leafless tree (dry?) on the other side of the helipad (the only homestay with a helipad) and the branches beseeched the heavens for a colourful sunrise.

Close-up of a waterfall.  These waterfalls were worth seeing and photographing.

Rainbow over Chaukori. Once we were treated to this colourful
display for awhile 
.

The sun rises

So I fell into my familiar routine of walk for three days and rest for one, and there were many places nearby to walk. My favourite walk was along the ridge and back, quiet, unsullied and untrammeled. I did try hiking from Chaukori to Udiyari Band once but it was along a steep hillside and I didn't have much fun so I did not do it again.

The entrance to Kotna Devi Mandir

Trishul at the Mandir

Just outside Chaukori was  the Jai Maa Kotna Devi  temple, which I am told is quite crowded of festival days, but today I was the only one going up.  There was no one there, absolutely no one, not even a Pujari (priest).  The views from here were spectacular as the quote goes 'The best view comes after the hardest climb.' 

Bakali viewed through the trees.  A leopard had just killed a goat nearby,
reminding me of our frailty.

The Kumaoni Lady of the Bakali.  As modernisation catches up in the hills
as it will, the old and new must exist together. 

I walked to many places, Hanging Rock which I overshot, walked back and found it very close to where I had started; Chaukori Village, Saurabh's shop in the Village, Musk Deer Farm, Sarla Ashram, the falls and a village with bakalis ( like a haveli, a mansion,) painted a vivid blue and white. And of course many, many walks along the ridge.

“Up in the mountains even our greatest cities, highways, and monuments to ourselves are nothing compared to the vast awesome beauty of a big mountain range.” - Unknown

Srignagar - Houseboat on Nigeen Lake and watching the world go by

 

As the philospher Lao Tzu said "Make your heart like a lake with calm, still surface and great depths of kindness"

So Basav, my friend, and I, having not booked a place to stay in Srinagar on our last night there, decided to stay on a houseboat on Nigeen Lake. This Lake had been recommended by Basav's friend, and what a recommendation it was, serene, calm and relatively off the beaten track of Dal Lake which is much more commercial.

Having reached after lunch, we watched the world go by from the verandah of the houseboat in the remaining part of the day. There was so much to see, men fishing from a boat in the placid waters of the lake, Common Moorhen scurrying about, daintily stepping on lotus leaves and ......

...the ubiquitous boats in the reflection of the trees by the water's edge. Local people going about their business.

There was a mountain range opposite the lake, watching the clouds against these mountains and house boats in the foreground was a delight. 

These houseboats are made of pine and the part underwater resists getting soggy, these floating houses last for decades, finally (and sadly) being moored in a little backwater to house migrant labour. Each houseboat is exquisitely but differently carved, this carving was on ours. 

The next morning we were on a boat by 0430 am, first we went to the floating vegetable market where locals buy vegetables, this market was over in an hour....

...our next stop was interestingly a bakery in which bakers (kandur) make the local bread  (Tschott).  This is eaten, amongst other delicacies, with the very popular tea and spices, kahwa, of which we must have had about ten cups a day.  The bread is baked in a kind of tandoor, and bought while it is still hot, it was  absolutely delicious. 

Then we went to the floating flower market, a veritable tourist trap where there were more photographers than boats selling flowers. A pretty sight but very touristy and crowded and soon we were away.

The lotus stem, called Nadru, is a staple food here, though expensive, it used in many Kashmiri dishes.  This plant grows on most lakes in Srinagar and the flower is a delicate pink and blooms in profusion.

The marshy land has many wooden foot-bridges and boatmen use the canals and waterways in simple uncovered boats...

...Unlike the opulent and covered shikara,, waiting for tourists later in the day.  It is too early in the morning yet and they are apparently forlorn and empty at this early hour.

The Rainawari Backwaters are interesting with some old houses with verandahs and balconies overlooking the canal.  But now the water is very littered with the detritus of 'modern' living, mainly plastic of various shapes and sizes.  Sadly as we rowed past more garbage was being thrown into the waterway.

Our boatman passed his house and so stopped a bit, Basav and I sat in the boat and watched the world go by. There were pigeons meant for racing or homing, flying around frames meant for them: people going about their daily life using the water as a thoroughfare, perched precariously (or so it seemed) at the end of their boats. Four hours later we tied up at our houseboat., and we don't know whether we were saddened or learned by the experience, maybe a bit of both.

It takes lakes and mountains to see the serenity of your own soul