On 20th
September 2013 Friday, I went for routine car service of my mighty beast and at
home everyone thought I am taking them out. When I was back in evening, all
started hovering around me and asking where you taking us, whereas I didn’t had
any plans. Trips are best made with no plans…
Big
Question….WHERE TO GO…Budget, Distance, Time, Safety
At 20:00 hrs,
I told…lets hit the road by 2200 hrs…
Distance –
450 km
Safety – NH
1 and NH 22
Time – 48 hrs
Budget – “Experience,
travel – these are as expensive in themselves”
2200 Hrs :
All set, Dinner done at home, bags packed with whatever stuff we could find,
Beast warmed up & tanked up and time to roll…
Word of Caution: “Not all those who wander are
lost.” (JRR Tolkien)
2300 Hrs: We
touched the NH 1 and all I was seeing was yellow street lights, White lane
marker, trucks, cars with interstate number plates and time to hit the metal to
unveil the hidden power of the mighty beast… I was getting the way as soon as I
start tailing the other cars/trucks.
The best and
safest Highway to travel on…
First 20
mins break at Haveli, Murthal… few photo sessions and nature call.
02:30 Hrs,
21st September – Have reached Mc Donalds at Dera Bassi by bypassing Sonipat, Panipat, Karnal, Ambala
and one more day of our life’s.
Road Condition:
Delhi till
Panipat – Excellent
Panipat till
Ambala – Good with diversions due to construction of another highway (Panipat
till Ludhiana).
Word of Caution: Keep eye on that needle which is
striking 100 and would like to further bypass it.
03: 00 Hrs, Few
light snacks and time to hit on NH 22… Turned right from Zirakpur on the new
Himalayan Expressway “Drivers Paradise” and again you could only see, Dark sky,
yellow street lights till far as u could see, white lane markers till the
headlight breaks, clean sleek roads with slight curves & bends and to focus
constantly on Speedo meter to keep the beast from unleashing itself…
05:30 Hrs,
before the morning dawn – bypassed Panchkula, Parwano, Koti, Dharampur, Solan
and reached Shimla(my backyard of college days)… our destination still 70 Km
ahead, 9000 ft above sea level, thick cedar woods, natural lake and overlooking
majestic Himalayas. We continued on our drive without break.
Road Condition: Good, easy to drive at night.
Word of Caution: Make sure headlights/horn is in
working condition, you need them most on hills.
07:00 Hrs,
touched Narkanda – Seeing the day blooming out of dark sky while driving on
hills is a experience in itself. Crossed – Kufri, Fagu, Theog, Matiana,
Thathal, India’s Highest Sports Training Ground to reach Narkanda.
Road Condition: Good
Word of Caution: Get your vehicle refilled as very few
pumps are available after shimla.
From
Narkanda, we have to take right from SBI bank towards the small village of
Tannijubbar.
07:30 Hrs,
Narrow roads surrounded by thick & huge Cedar trees lead us to village of
Tannijubbar. You are welcomed by the Lake and then you will wonder where to go.
On the right you will see the small cemented trail as wide as car between the
Cedar trees. Squeeze the car on the path to reach “The Wilderness” – it’s a
name of this all suite home stay.
Finally, we
reached 9000 ft above sea level a place overlooking majestic Himalayas.
Road Condition: Roads gets narrower after turning
right from Narkanda towards Tannijubbar.
Road is well maintained.
Word of Caution: Keep eye on the road for “The
Wilderness” board and don’t miss the narrow U-turn for the village after 7 km.
This was my
second trip here; last one was in March which was right after the Snowfall.
This time it was just cold and we wanted to break out of regular routine. My
parents came for the first time. Still enjoyed the drive again.
Greeted with
smile and surprised faces of the staff & owner, as we reached without
informing.
Met with Mr.
Rajesh Mukhyan, Owner who welcomed us and straight away guided us to the rooms.
Within Half an hour, they arranged the delicious breakfast, just like home.
Breakfast:
Egg, Toasts, Alloo pyaz parathas with coffee/tea. (Locals get pure cow milk and
we metropolitans are so used to adulterated milk products that our stomach
doesn’t accept it).
“Only by going alone in silence,
without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other
travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.” – John Muir
As we came
out of Dining hall, we could see clouds coming towards us and it started
drizzling. Our valley, resort and mountain got fully covered. It was like Majestic
Himalayas was waiting to welcome us by holding in arms of cloud and showing
happiness with the drizzling rain.
Temperature
started to drop and we rushed in our rooms to sleep for the first time in last
24 hrs. We didn’t thought temperature
would drastically change and we didn’t get our warm cloths.
Best part
was Food, which was made as per our choice and time.
Mom and I
went for a stroll towards forest while still drizzling with umbrella. While
walking, I was thinking as what would I have been doing at this point if we
were back home - would have been sleeping in AC and here natural AC was good
enough to make us shiver.
Came back
and slept again for an hour. Then all of us went for stroll towards lake but
Instead of walking I took out my beast as it was still drizzling and parents
still walk down.
We happened
to see a shop with lot of apples, so we thought of buying few. As we entered
the covered shop, to our surprise it was Apple cleaning and sorting factory.
They told us it was apple plucking season. Local people are so loving and
welcoming that they immediately made us taste the apples of various kind. Then
showed us the Apple Orchids behind the factory. First ever experience to see
orchids and they took time out to explain us how the entire process from
Seeding to retail works.
Word of Caution: “The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” –
Saint Augustine
Then we came
back to resort and as it was still drizzling, we decided to play carom in the
main hall. Its fun, they served us coffee, followed by soup.
After
sometime, one of the boys came running towards us and called us out in lawn
overlooking Himalayas. What we see, is something one could see only once in
lifetime if get chance… A straight Vertical Rainbow and within few seconds we
could see another Rainbow formation alongside. 2 rainbows together rising from
in-between the mountain ranges.
Mr. Mukhyan
was all around and seeing we were comfortable and enjoying with weather going
suddenly adverse. Lot of chat with him, sharing experiences & understanding
how locals live here during various seasons.
One who kept
us little more engaged was the “Tysen”. Local breaded dog which we had seen 6
months ago, then a puppy.
Entire staff
was helpful and welcoming on our demands. One of them taught us rules of Carom again;
they kept on asking if we need anything to drink/eat and served us like nannies
standing on our head’s to eat more.
After
dinner, as we were relaxing, we had another surprised entry in the hall. Guess
what – A Big Frog. We were instantly on our sofas, and stood away in corners.
Best was, when staff guy tried to catch the frog, it started making crying
sound of a Kitten.
Then, we went
and slept as we were so full of surprises and temperature was falling too.
It rained
whole night, Next morning, had breakfast and got ready to start back. We could
see the sun trying to break thru the wall of clouds. We were hopeful that it
won’t rain while we drive back.
On the way back, we stopped over for 2 hrs at
Shimla and then we started back our drive back home. Near Dharampur, we got stuck in long queue of
jam due to some accident few km’s ahead. Having the mighty beast, we took it on
the oncoming lane as there was no traffic coming from other side also. It
helped us cover 500 meters or so and we got in right lane. As we were waiting,
suddenly we got bumped from a car behind us. Got down to see the damage and to
my surprise I was handing over the grill of Hyundai Accent back to driver.
Thanks to Rear Bull Guard. As traffic was stalled, I happened to see cars
standing and they were all laughing inside, the way I handed over the grill back
to other driver and how well mighty beast took the hit. We also started
laughing seeing them.
Word of Caution: Do not over speed on Himalayan
Expressway during the daylight as traffic police were sitting with Speed
Cameras to Challan.
We again
took break at Mc Donalds at Dera Bassi and had our dinner at Karnal Haveli.
Finally back
home at 2300 Hrs.
“No one realises how beautiful it is to travel until he
comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” (Lin Yutang)
We
managed to bypass entire weekend with experience of lifetime into The
Wilderness…
“I
went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, To front only the
essential Facts of life And see if I could Not learn what it had to teach And
not, when I came to die, Discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau
Experienced by Rohan Samuel
