Local at Binsar (21.4.25)

Even professional cricketers get a break, be it a rest-day, a drinks-break, or at least a time-out. But we are even luckier, because our rest-day happens in beautiful places like the Binsar forest reserve.

We wanted to sleep in late, but our body clock pushed us out of bed before 6.00 am. Since our room faces west, there was no chance of seeing a sunrise over the valley, but we sat inside next to the big windows and enjoyed our morning cuppa. 

The Simba Lodge, and maybe other places inside this remote wildlife sanctuary as well, seemed to have two constraints. One was that there was no running hot water in the bathrooms. For a hot bath you would have to holler and get delivered a bucket of hot water from the solar heater setup. Secondly, the prices of food were exorbitant. A plate of toast-butter-jam was Rs 100/-, and two boiled eggs Rs 130/-. I mean, it would be a proud chicken who would live to see her children do so well in life.

We shared a poha breakfast in the morning, which was very well-made.

Zero point of Binsar:

In most of the hill stations in Uttarakhand, there is a zero point, which is a high point from which the Himalayan peaks are visible. The peaks that can be seen depend on the location, but the concept remains the same. Zero point of Binsar, was a drive of a further 4 kms along the same broken road, followed by a 2 km trek. Some people do it early morning in order to watch the sunrise from there, but you know us. We like our bods in our beds.

So we left after breakfast around 9.30 am. Driving up was still through the super-narrow roads, with the opposing cars playing chicken, but it was standard road roughness, not the moon-crater level of yesterday. By mistake we overshot the small parking area and landed up in a clearing, looking up at a board that said: ‘At this Dak Bunglow, Swami Vivekananda spent three nights in 1899, before proceeding to Ramadhura’. Well, that’s something, isn’t it?

Dak bungalow ☝️

We retraced our steps to the correct point, parked our car in the 3-car space and walked through a small gate to one of the most beautiful walks ever. The rocky yet level path, dappled in light and shade, wound through the hillside, through forests of juniper and rhododendrons. April is the season for rhododendrons, and they were out in full bloom, the red blossoms brightening up the forest through and through. Every bend in the road was a photo op.

We took rest a few times on the numerous benches provided, soaking in the silence and the sights, sipping tea. Panna wondered how come nature is so beautiful. I feel, on the contrary, we have a sense of beauty, a feeling of joy when we see nature, because we are actually made that way. Be that as it may, this relaxed walk of 2 km, which we stretched to almost an hour, was very blissful.

A group from Rajasthan crossed us as we sat resting, adding a vocal component to our experience that we could have done without. Can’t blame them fully, as travelling with small children automatically increases decibel levels. But we hoped when we reached zero point to gaze at the peaks, they would be on their way back. So we slowed down further...and it worked!

Zero point turned out to be a high platform on a small plateau from which a range of at least seven mountain peaks are visible, right from Trishul and Nanda Devi on the left to Panchachuli on the right, and many more in between. Today, unfortunately, was cloudy, as is not unusual in April. We could catch glimpses of a few peaks as they tried their best to hide behind the clouds, but our persistent gaze penetrated their subterfuge.

The view as it should have looked☝️

We met three Marathi ladies from Pune sitting atop the viewing platform, who always travel as a group, and we shared travelling stories, and dry snacks, and chocolate, and another hour passed pleasantly while we waited for more peaks to make their appearance. But I guess they were done for the day, having decided that the spectator group size was too small to put up a show.

We walked back to our car. The ladies were staying at the KMVN property 500 m away, and they invited us to look it over for future reference. It was quite spacious, and east facing, and the lawn gave access to the same sort of view that the zero point claimed to give. They said that the sunrise from here was excellent.

We returned to a late lunch of an encore of yesterday - rice, daal and egg bhurji. Followed by a royal nap, of course.

Today there was practically no sunset colour in the sky, so deep was the cloud cover. It seems we had been lucky to have witnessed a glorious sunset yesterday.

We decided to have a light dinner in our rooms from our picnic basket - muri-sattu for me, chewra-milk for Panna. A little rest day for our digestive system as well.

Tomorrow, we travel to Mukteswar in the morning, to spend three nights with a friend.

Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray