An Unforgetable experience in Kumaon

From the foothills of the himalayas to the backwaters of kerala to the heritage of Bengal to the beaches of Goa to the jungles and monuments of Madhyapradesh, India will excite you, fascinate you and sometimes shock you. India is nicey and spicy.

As an amateur photographer, I love visiting places where my imagination can run with no limits. Every year I make sure to visit a destination (especially in India), that can satisfy my need for subjects and objects. A place that can take me away from my daily stress and thoughts. A place where I can regain my childhood and do things without even having to understand or foresee the result or gain. A place where I can rest in the lap of nature with my loved ones and obviously my camera.

This year we (me and my childhood friend) planned a visit to Kumaon situated in the state of Uttarakhand, the youngest state of India. Kumaon (or kumaun) is one of the two divisions and the administrative head quarters for Uttarakhand. The Kumaon division includes the districts of Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Mukteshwar, Ranikhet, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Pantnagar and Udham Singh Nagar. Nainital being the administrative district of Kumaon region. It is bounded on the north by Tibet, Nepal in the east on the south by the indian state of Uttar Pradesh and Garhwal on the west. The locals are called Kumaonis and the local language is Kumaoni. English and Hindi are largely spoken.

We reached New Delhi in the morning and boarded the Uttar Saparkranti Express to reach Haldwani. The train leaves at 1600 hrs and reaches Haldwani at 2200 hrs. You can also choose to get down at Kathgodam which is the next station and takes about 30 min to reach from Haldwani. Kathgodam is the last railway station in the region. All sort of Hotels are available. The State government also runs some Guest house and Tourist lodges and are good options if you have a tight budget. We stayed overnight at a Hotel at Haldwani. We stayed in the Joy guru Hotel at Haldwani and were excited for the next 9 days. Our first destination was Champawat, well known for Jim Corbet and the Maneating Tiger. Jim Corbets book "The Maneaters of Kumaon" was based on Champawat. From there we were going to Pithoragarh and Munsiyari (or Munsyari) and then to Binsar and back to Delhi.

The next morning when our driver arrived, it was raining heavily. We stay in Dubai where rains are hard to find. We stood at the terrace of the hotel with a cup of hot coffee enjoying the rain....wow. After all this we started at around 9 am for the day 1. All of us excited to explore the nature for the next 9 days. We started quite early so that we can reach Champawat within the limits of day light. Driving at night is not safe and even a small mistake can be fatal.

On way to Shyamlataal or Shyamlatal the scenic beauty of the region is absolutely stunning. The word "TAAL" or "TAL" or "TALAO" means lake or a big pond. Kumaon region is well known for beautiful lakes that it has and the lakes have been the attraction of visitors for ages. It was still raining and for us it was just amazing.

On the way we saw the GAULA river. The driver told us that it was raining continuously for the last 4 days and Gaula had gone crazy. The flow was fierce.

This is when the unexpected struck.....we had to detour from Shyamlataal because of a land slide that took place just a few minutes back. Our driver Dayal is in the region for last 10 years. He told us that there is an alternate road to Champawat. We agreed and started our journey to Champawat through the alternate road.

After a few minutes we found a long que of vehicles stranded on the way. We got down of the car and spoke to to some of the people. The road was closed because of a landslide and the authorities were working to clear the road.

Fortunately, the road was on again in about and hour. At around 2p.m., we reached Bhimtaal. Bhimtaal is town in the Nainital district and the main attraction is the Bhimtaal Lake which has an island at its center. We stopped for lunch at bhimtaal. The scenic beauty of Bhimtaal is unforgettable. While having lunch at the small road side restaurant, we were talking to some of the locals. They informed that the rainfall at this time of the year was a complete surprise. The region had received almost 1000mm of rain in four days and they had never seen such heavy rainfall ever. They suggested us to stay back somewhere in Bhimtal since it was getting dark. They had even heard of some landslides on the way up.

After having lunch, we consulted our driver. According to him it was nothing serious and we could drive down to Champawat easily. Though our wives were a bit sceptical about our decision. After driving for about an hour we were again stuck. This time it was a huge piece of land on the road. A convoy of the DM was on aheadd of us and the PWD guys were working to clear the road.

We went ahead and at around 7pm we reached near to Saher Fatak. It was dark everywhere and what we had seen on the way had already set a fear in our heart. We decided to stay back at Saher Fatak and continue the next morning. We stopped at a small road side tea shop to take a break. The owner told us that the road to Saher Fatak went down along with the land slide and there is no road available to drive on. We went bit worried. After a few kilometers on the the same road we could see destruction every where. Our driver managed to drive through some the landslides but finally we had to stop at one place. The road to to Saher Fatak could not be seen.Our driver said there is an alternate way that goes through Almora. Though we got stuck again and finally decided to come back to the place where we stopped for tea. The driver agreed and after about 30 min we were there. Unfortunately, the shop was closed and there was nobody to help us. It was around 8:30 at night and the way back was dark as the land slides had taken the road lamps along with them. We decided to spend the night in the car and wait until daylight. Well that was the longest night we had ever spent. Every minute was like an hour. It was raining heavily outside. The car was swaying because of strong winds. Darkness all around, fear of a landslide hitting us and what not. To add more to our fear, the driver told us that the area was also visited by wild animals during night.We tried sleeping but sleep was miles away. We decided to talk the night but every discussion somehow ended up with the situation we were into. Probably words are not enough to describe the situation we were into. My friend had just joined a new company and we were supposed to come back to Dubai. We were thinking of all negative situations we can be in. All of us were stressed like hell. Somehow we managed to pass the night and the daylight was like finding a boat in the mid of an ocean. It was like finding oasis in the mid of the great arabian dessert.

The next day we started at around 6am. All of us were afraid and tired. It was very cold outside. We decided to drive down and reach Haldwani as soon as possible. On our way we could see the destruction that happened. Homes were destroyed, people died, entire community was cut off from the main land and so on. On our way back we stopped at a tea stall. The owner of the stall informed us of a cloud burst took place just before Almora. Twenty eight people died and many more were shifted to the the hospitals under critical conditions. It was on the same way that we were supposed to take to reach Saher Fatak. We thanked god and started our journey back to Haldwani. Destruction was every where. People were suffering. Since the roads on most of the places had gone down the electricity supply was badly effected and hence was the drinking water supply. After about thirty kilometers we were told that the road to Haldwani was blocked due to heavy landslides and would take atleast a day to remove the debris. We stopped at ramgarh, a small community on the way, and spoke to the local people. We decided to stay back in a resort on the way. The locals told us that there were only two options available. One was a Forest department guest house and a resort near to Mukteshwar, which was around 5 kilometers from there. We went to the guest house but it was full. We decided to go to Mukteshwar and stay there for the day. Fortunately we got a family room at the resort and we were relived. By this time the rain had stopped and the sky was clear. However the weather very cold. We went into the room and ordered for lunch. This was the first meal that we had after 24 hours. Since we had already paid to all the resorts that we had booked we were not carrying much cash. My friend and me both of us together had around Rs. 4000/-. We were calculating each penny before spending. We had to calculate the price of food before we order. There were no bank branches or ATMs in the area.

We had our lunch and then we slept like deads. In the evening we went for a walk. The place was beautiful. We could realise that the destination was right but the time we came in was wrong. Wespent that night in the resort. Finally it was time to open the tequilla and vodka bottle that we brought from Dubai. We ordered for some snacks and started celebrating life. 

The next day we started journey down to Haldwani. On the way we could see the beauty of the place and we could imagine what we missed. The rains by now had completely stopped and we could see brightness all across the valley. Once we thought of going back but unfortunately all the destinations were completely cut off due to landslides. Our travel agent called us and informed that we were lucky not to reach the destinations and forty tourists were trapped up in Munsyari because of landslides.

At around 12 noon we reached Kathgodam and we went straight to the railway station to cancel the ticket and get a ticket for the same day. Unfortunately the trains were full and we could only manage to get four second class chair car tickets for the next morning. We managed to get a family room at the Kumaon development authority hotel and stayed overnight there. 

It was my friend's wife's birthday. We somehow managed to get some pastries and celebrated the occasion. 

The next morning we were at the Kathgodam railway station and quite exited to reach Delhi. We had planned some trips from there. On reaching the railway station, it seemed that somehow back luck was not leaving us. We were informed that the train would only travel up to Ghaziabad. The water levels on all the rivers had crossed the danger mark and the bridge that connects Ghaziabad to Old Delhi railway Station was under water. 

We continued with the train and reached Ghaziabad at 4 pm. We hired a auto rickshaw from there to reach the borders of Delhi. It seemed that everyone was behind the opportunity. The driver charged us almost 4 times the normal fare and we had to agree as there was no other option available with us. Finally, we reached the border of UP and Delhi. My friend managed to get a taxi and finally reached Delhi.

Though, this trip was complete distress but still we learnt a lot. We had never got into such situations before and this experience would obviously help us in future.

We had around a weeks time and we went to Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and a few other places. I had been to Delhi a number of times but on official visits and hence had never explored the place. This was the right time to do that.........