Bird’s eye view:
My biographer would be giving a party today, if not standing a beer at a bar, since his protégés crossed 100 kms again today. 110 kms, to be exact. But we took 6.5 hours doing it. Two stops even before leaving Ranikhet. That’s slightly unusual, because our normal trend is to hightail it out of town once we have paid the bill, like the visiting gunslinger who has accidentally shot three people in the pub while debating the superiority of Remington over Colt. But more of that later.
We also took a slightly longer route. For those of you born with Google map on their palms instead of lifelines (like me), there are two major ways to go from Ranikhet to Kausani. One retraces steps to Majkhali, veers off north-east to meet the Someshwar-Almora road then turns north and goes past Someshwar to Kausani. The other longer, infrequently used, and more scenic route goes north from Ranikhet to Paithani, turns east and runs past Dwarahat, and at Someshwar, turns north again to Kausani. We took the road less travelled, and that has made all the difference.
Kausani is at 6,200 ft, in the same league as our last two stops, and at 8.00 pm, holds the mercury at 16 degC, though it feels like 20. Coolish, but not cold.
Leaving Ranikhet (9.00 am):
The Ranikhet Continental is owned by an army bigwig, and it is obvious that for him this place is a labour of love. We also felt good waking up in it, with the sunlight streaming in through the eastern portals. A little laziness in bed, and then we had to seriously take note of a couple of suggestions received regarding ‘do-not-miss’ locations in Ranikhet. That would add a couple of hours to our journey, which meant…we sprang into action! However, the best of efforts at getting ready saw us waving the glad hand only at 9.00 am. Matters were exacerbated by the sleepy/sloppy chef producing an excellent scrambled egg whereas I had ordered poach. That exchange of items and pleasantries delayed us a bit too.
Visiting Chaubatia gardens (9.30 am):
Around half-an-hour from where we were staying was a recommended apple and flower garden, so we decided to invest our time. As in a number of places in the Ranikhet zone, the area is under military control. The soldier on duty, confused by the official looking emblem on my IIT cap, asked me politely “And you are…?”, and was quite disappointed having learnt that I was merely a Rajat without a prefix. I joined the peasantry in Aadhaar card exhibition.
We took a guide for the orchard circuit (the flower garden was out of season right now), for two major reasons. One, Panna has a keen interest in tress and plants and this chap Suman, who also worked part-time in the orchards, would be able to slake her thirst. Secondly, he would stand in as a pic-clicker, far beyond the point where I would run out of patience and start hiding behind trees instead of dancing around them. He did a fair job in both and we spent a pleasant 45 mins among the shrubbery.
This was not the season for ripe fruits to be hanging on trees. They were mostly small green babies among the leaves. However, Suman pointed to the rolling green orchards and told us that this stretches for 265 hectares, the biggest setup after the apple orchards of the Himachals. We also saw chestnut, walnut, pear, and cherry trees, apart from the general foliage of deodar, oak and pine. For some reason, Suman had included nettles into the syllabus as well. A few huge mushrooms also attracted our attention.
Back at the parking lot, we bought a bottle of rhododendron juice from Suman’s shop, which we had tasted earlier and liked. We also studiously avoided nettle-juice and the yellow bark of a particular tree, which were good for arthritis, diabetes, migraine, general aches and pains - you name it. The list seemed too long to be true. Even the gentle suggestion that “Sir might need it” did not change our mind.
Visiting the Kumaon Regimental Centre (10.30 am):
This was a museum that had been strongly recommended by friends, so we made time to visit it, before leaving town. Ranikhet is the centre for both the Kumaon regiment (22 battalions) and the Naga regiment (3 battalions), and the museum is the archive of India’s long efforts in the global pressures of war, and in particular, the Kumaon regiment’s role in them, which was significant. Apart from being an archival museum, displaying artifacts like weapons, maps, books, ammunition, flags, etc from various historical battles, the museum does two things very well. One, it lays out the progression of Indian involvement in war, per-independence onward, sometimes running year by year. Secondly, it pays homage to many of the soldiers, whether havaldars or brigadiers, describing their particular acts of heroism in engaging story-telling fashion. It is a place where one can feel a lot of pride and engagement with our armed forces. We found a number of army personnel, some with their families, touring the premises, their faces aglow.
