KMVN:
I somehow have a weakness for KMVN properties in Uttarakhand (or GMVN in the Garhwal part). It has a level of assured inefficiency, that can be depended upon. Which means, while booking blind, we can safely say: “It cannot be lower than this.” Location and Spaciousness will be excellent, Room quality moderate, Food good and Service unpredictable. On the other hand, for a random hotel booked online, everything will be unpredictable.
The Almora property is one of the better ones, though quite old, which is not surprising given that the city is as old as Henry the Eighth. Big rooms, running empty right now, standing next to the radio station and the stadium. Having woken up early anyways, and having checked that the early sunlight was not shining on any peeking peaks, we lazed in bed (excellent bed, linen and quilt), had bed-tea, and bed-breakfast of egg sandwich (I) and alu paratha (Panna), before completing our ablutions and considering what to do with this beautiful day.
Ramkrishna Kutir, Almora:
Normally we do not go looking for RKMs (with the exception of Mayavati ashram, which we had visited on the way to Pithoragarh), but this well-known one was just a 15-min walk from our stay. We sauntered down the Mall Road, moving further away from the town, and a pretty harrowing experience that was too. The winding road with heavy traffic hardly had any walking space by the side, and big buses almost touched us as they tucked in their stomachs and passed. In fact, very few people walk on the road here. In terms of public transport, we could see a very light scattering of electric autos, some of them painted pink, if they were driven by ladies. We passed a biggish mall, and on a whim, checked out what was running there. "Kesari Chapter 2", hmm…
The RK Kutir was a cute affair, leading downhill from an excellent viewpoint, constituting a shrine-cum-meditation hall, an office, a guest house and a library. Before his death, when Swami Vivekananda had visited Almora in 1898, he had expressed his desire to see a centre in Almora, since he considered this region to be the heartland of spiritual practices in India. Later on, Swami Shivanada and Swami Turiyananda had worked together to set up this ashram in 1915.
We spent some time sitting in the meditation hall and a few minutes near the statue of Swami Vivekananda, from where, weather permitting, the view of the Himalayan range would have been fantastic. Today, although there were no obvious clouds in the sky hiding the peaks, the uniform haze just blended out the rolling hills as if a child had overturned his water cup over his water-colour painting.
The Raghunath City Mall:
We had passed a mall, remember, on our way to the Kutir. We popped in there on the way back, and at 11.30 am, the shops were just about opening. But not bad, really. Four floors with roof parking, branded shops, cafés, grocery/ stationery, and as I mentioned earlier, a PVR movie theatre running "Kesari Chapter 2", among others. We had heard good things about the film…so should we? Is it sacrilegious to spend time in a movie hall when we are on a road trip? Hell, who made the rules? We broke the mould by buying two tickets for the 12.40 pm show, having ice cream while we waited, enjoyed 2.15 hrs of a very good film in a very good hall (spacious seats, super leg-space), and started looking around for lunch there at 3.00 pm. A masala dosa for me and some fried chicken for Panna, and Almora received our stamp of approval.
We returned to KMVN for a bit of rest, with the vague idea of taking an auto down Mall Road in the evening, where the shopping area of Almora was lurking. Our receptionist looked at our fit figures and recommended climbing up a hill and walking down the ridge, crossing a Nanda Devi temple in the process, which, from her point of view, was a bonus deal. Howeover, she warned, if we wanted an auto on the way back, better to do it far before 7.00 pm, because by then, the electric autos start draining out their batteries and the drivers start garaging them. These complications were not favourable for a relaxed outing, and as we ascended to our room for a bit of rest, we were quite sure that the rest would be extended to the rest of the evening.
And so it was. We dined in our rooms lightly off some of the fried chicken leftovers (Panna), plus an alu matar/chapati conventional combo (I).
Tomorrow, we travel to Ranikhet, not too far away.
Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray
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