Visiting Ranikhet again after a long hiatus (Journey through a new route via Chimtakhal)

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Visiting Ranikhet again after a long hiatus

(Journey through a new route via Chimtakhal)

After a long journey - taking a short break

             I used to visit Ranikhet region to take care of my property every few months, whenever my engagements with work permitted.  However, during the previous year, due to the Corona pandemic, I could visit village Badankhet/Timila only in November, 2020 during the entire year.  So in order to keep my track record of the blog continuing in 2021, I had posted about this trip in January, 2021 and that was the only blog that I could post last year.  As I myself got afflicted with Corona in March end/early April, 2021 and the continued lockdowns and stringent measure in force, I could only visit my village again in end of October in 2021.  With the advent of newer Corona strain spreading its wings, I am posting this blog in January, 2022 to atleast keep the yearly tab filled albeit the fact that this time around I did go around a bit and will be posting a few more blogs in this series.

Distribution of rainfall during the disaster in October, 2021 (sourced from web)

Devastation caused by the rains during October, 2021 in Naintal (sourced from the internet)

            After the curbs imposed by Uttarakhand Government were eased to some extent, coupled with the fact that our family had got itself double vaccinated, I decided to visit my home in village Badankhet/Timila in end of October, 2021 as most of the official engagements had been rounded up for the time being.  We were getting ready for the journey, after being struck in our home for about a year in Delhi, we were very excited about the intended trip, sans our kids who had decided to stay put in Delhi because one of them was busy with his online job and the other with online classes, internet accessibility being a problem in the village home.  However, news started trickling in from the late evening of 18^th October, 2021 about incessant rains hitting the Kumaon region hard and by the next day, it had attained alarming proportions akin to 2013 calamity in Garhwal region i.e. when Kedarnath tragedy took place.  By the time the rains slowly relented by late evening of 20^th October, 2021 and a clearer picture emerged the next day i.e. 21^st October, 2021 it could be seen that Nainital district of Kumaon region was the worst affected (I have placed a graphical representation sourced from the internet) and most of the roads etc. in the Kumaon region were very badly affected.  All the tourists and trade routes had been devastated and it would take months to rebuild.  Only the State Highway route running from Ranikhet to Ramnagar/Corbett, across my village, remained the only source of road communication that linked the hills to the plains below.  We had become apprehensive about our trip that was to commence on the 25^th of October, 2021 because of the road conditions.  After talking to few locals over telephone we were informed that instead of the usual route running from Delhi-Ghaziabad-Moradabad-Ramnagar-Mohan-Totam-Bhatraujkhan-Ranikhet, we were required to divert our route a little by diverting towards Marchula just before Mohan and take to the roads towards Chimtakhal (before reaching Marchula) and travel through some small nondescript villages before reaching Bhatraujkhan via Machor.(here is the link to the news about the devastating floods - News report about the floods in Uttarakhand in October, 2021)

Passing through some pristine nature

Mobile signal towers now perched even in remote villages

             Not being familiar with this new route, although the road upto Ramnagar and a little way beyond it would be the same, but thereafter we were totally unaware of the road conditions etc., hence we started very early in the morning from Delhi.  Part of the journey has been covered by me in the video that is embedded below in the blog.  The road conditions were excellent, as travelling after a year, we found that most of the flyovers etc. that had been under construction during the journey during the previous year had been completed and we went past Ghaziabad in a jiffy.  Earlier, the Ghaziabad part was a real headache, as traffic, especially two-wheelers would travel on the opposite direction on the roads, thereby making the passage narrower and consequently leading to huge traffic jams.  But it had become a thing of the past, but a new issue awaited us on the Highway, it was compulsory use of ‘Fast tag’ to be affixed on the Car, for smooth passage across various toll plazas maintained by the NHAI on these roads.  After waiting for about half an hour, we were able to get the ‘Fast tag’ affixed and thereafter, the journey was smooth.  We reached Gajraula well in time for B’fast at Bikanerwala and proceeded ahead with our journey.  The road till Moradabad crossing of the National Highway is in prime shape, but thereafter it is a mess till one reaches Thakudwara and this portion consumed a lot to time.  Thereafter, we again got struck in a jam at Kashipur due to construction of a flyover in the township and apparently very little progress has been made, since my last visit a year ago.  However, after having gone past this irritant, we crossed Ramnagar smoothly and just before Mohan we turned left towards Marchula and this road leads towards Pauri Gharwal via Manila.  The road though narrower, passes through some really nice landscape, with very few vehicles, but is bereft of facilities like food joints etc.  The road takes a U-turn from Chimtakhal and passes through nondescript villages like Godiyon-Kankot-Toliyun-Khabli-Burjangarhi till it joins the earlier taken road just before Machor village.  This road is about 14-16 Kms. longer than the normal route through Mohan and Totam and hence it took us about an hour longer to reach our home than usual.  It was late in the evening that we reached home and after having an early dinner, we retired for the night.

A small village perched on a ridge

A typical village with a temple as seen on the road

Birds eye view of Ramganga River flowing by Bikhiyasen as seen from Harara village

             We returned back to Delhi on 31^st October, 2021 and by that time the road from Mohan side had been opened for traffic and hence we descended towards Ramnagar from this side.  The place where the road had been blocked near Totam has been covered in the video.  But due to the blockade of the Highway by the infamous Kiasan rally activists at Ghaziabad border, we had to take a torturous detour and were delayed at the last leg of our journey by more than two hours and thus concluded our one and only journey for the year 2021.

Here is a link to a video of the destination -

© S Roy Biswas

Ranikhet – the Queen’s meadow (A photo essay)

Ranikhet – the Queen’s meadow

Of all the major tourist destinations in Kumaon, Ranikhet was the only one missing from my list of visited destinations. I was itching to visit the place and when the opportunity came during the four consecutive holidays this month, I grabbed the opportunity and we four friends packed our bags and headed for the famed destination. Ranikeht is at a distance of 360 Kms. from Delhi and with usual breaks for B’fast & lunch etc. it takes about 10 Hours drive to reach. As the flyover across the railway crossing, a the major bottle neck near Ramnagar, has since been completed and thrown open to traffic, we had a smooth drive all the way.

We had crossed the Delhi border and entered Ghaziabad by 8.00 A.M and being a holiday we encountered almost no traffic jams en-route. Having reached Garh Mukteshwar at around 9.30 A.M., we stopped at the landmark ‘Skylark Restaurant’ for B’fast. Our next stop was at Pant Nagar where we stopped for some delicious home made lunch at residence of Uncle of one of our friends. By the time we got past Haldwani it was almost 3.00 P.M and the gradual ascent to the hills began just as we crossed Kathgodam. The horizon was covered with clouds and we started anticipating heavy downpour. Having gone past Bhimtal, Bhowali, Garam Pani we reached Khairna wherefrom the road bifurcates, one moves straight towards Almora and the other one turns towards the right, across the bridge over river Kosi, towards Ranikhet. After driving for another 37 odd Kms. we reached Ranikhet.

Ranikhet, literally means “Queen's Meadow”, is perched at an altitude of 1829 meters. As per local folklore, Queen Padmini of Kumaon was in love with this tiny hill station that overlooked the vistas of Himalayan ranges. King Sudhardev obliged her by building a grand palace here and named this place Ranikhet, the queen’s field. Though no trace of the palace can be found here today, but the place still retains the same bewitching attraction, full of flowers, trees and green meadows in the midst of heavenly Himalayan surroundings. The Britisher’s established the headquarters of the Kumaon Regiment here in 1869 as a series of Cantonments starting from Almora & Lansdowne. Ranikhet still is a cantonment town and is the home to the famed Kumaon Regimental Centre & Naga Regiment. However, the main city of Ranikhet is fairly crowded with bus stand and bazaar area thrown in, but the military area offers serene environment. After having settled in the old establishment called ‘Moon Hotel’, which not only commands a spectacular view of the Himalayan ranges but also offers ample parking space in the cramped environs of the market area. After having had some Tea/Coffee, we went out to explore the market area and as it was getting pretty cold, we all retired back to our Hotel room for the night.

Early next morning I got up very early, having been awakened by constant calling of the Rooster, a rarity in place like Delhi. Having stepped out of the hotel room I was greeted with an astounding sight to sunrise across the Himalayan ranges that were glowing in an eerie orange red colour. The constant chirping of birds, accompanied by many fragrances of flowers and multitude of hues & colours, left an extraordinary and unforgettable imprint on my mind. We enjoyed the serene beauty for as long as it lasted and then ambled back towards the hotel. Just at the hotel entry gate we found a tea stall serving the locals hot tea and we too joined the chorus and enjoyed piping hot tea laced with ginger served in glass tumblers. Since our next destination was Soni village and thereafter a visit to the Binsar Mahadev temple complex, we headed back to our rooms and after taking bath checked out of Ranikhet.

Soni is a small village perched at an elevation of 1800 meters on the Ranikhet-Ramnagar road about 18 Kms. away from Ranikhet. We made a stop over at this destination as one of our friends Sh. Dinesh Bisht belongs to this particular village and we stopped here to have a good look around. After staying in the village for about an hour we headed towards the famed ‘Binsar Mahadev’ temple that houses the famed ‘Swarg Ashram’ also. The temple is said to be very old with a naturally occurring Shiva Linga being the main deity. We happened to visit the temple on 6^th April, 2012 and being Hanuman Jayanti, I had requested my friends to abstain from eating non-vegetarian food on that day. But as luck would have it, because of the schedule we did not even have our B’fast when we reached the temple and were pleasantly surprised to find that the rendition of ‘Ram Charit Manas’ being recited by students. We made our offerings to the deities of the temple and lastly visited the chief monk of the temple Mahant Ram Giri ji, who insisted that since we had come on an auspicious day we should partake the ‘langar’ (free community lunch) and only then leave the temple precincts. Since we had nothing much to do except to visit some more destinations around Ranikhet, we agreed to his suggestion.

As we had a few hours to spare, I requested my friends to visit the eco-park & restricted forest area, in the immediate surroundings of the Forest Rest House of Soni, which is housed about a Km. from the temple and we made it to the jungle area through the side gate of the temple. The time we spent in the forest area was personally satisfying as I spotted a large number of birds, most of which I had seen for the first time and could hardly photograph because of the dense foliage and flirting nature of the birds, but the plethora of chirping sounds made my day and I could get a few very good shots of the birds. Both the flora & fauna of the region was rejuvenating & soothing for the frayed nerves and worked as de-toxicant for the built up city life stress. Having wandered for a few hours, we headed back to the temple and by the time we reached ‘havan’ (ritualistic Hindu offerings to fire) was taking place and on its conclusion thereafter, community lunch was served. Having partaken the same, we headed back towards Khairna.

We reached Khairna after having driven for a hour & half, where we stopped over at the ‘Highway Cafe’, run by KMVN and had Tea/Cold drinks. Thereafter, we headed for Siltuna village for a survey of the village for finalization of our project of acquiring a piece of land in the hills. After spending some time here, we again headed back and stopped over at Kainchi for some local delicacies like Lemon water & Pakoras and I was quite lucky to find a Barking Deer (known as Kakkar or Ghural locally) loitering over in the forest across the road beyond Garampani and photograph it in the wild en-route. We stopped over at Bhowali for the night at the KMVN run Tourist Rest House. Early next morning we headed back for Delhi stopping in between at Bhimtal for B’fast and for lunch at Garh Mukteshwar (Skylark Restaurant) before reaching Delhi early in the evening. Thus, concluded our short but refreshing tour to Ranikhet.

A SHORT VIDEO OF THE DESTINATION -

© S Roy Biswas - All rights reserved