Uttar Mahayatra

Bird’s Eye View: As per Google maps, Karnaprayag to Joshimath is 80 km, and should take 2.5 hours. But frankly, I have never met the gmaps target time in the hills. My driving is always a couple of notches slower than the paharis . That said, we left at 8.30 am and reached at 1.30 pm, 5 hours total. We stopped at a scheduled stop, got diverted due to landslides, and chatted with some of the locals over tea. So, 5 hours was fine, what’s our hurry anyway? Roads were good, as long as it was NH7. Even then, we were diverted for 10-15 kms due to road closure on account of a landslide, and at many spots, we had to wait and be let through in single file where road clearing work was going on. Seems like yesterday’s cloudburst had done some damage. Weather was cloudy throughout, visibility good, and Ms Alaknanda our constant companion. Leaving Karnaprayag (8.30 am): There was nothing to hold us in Karnaprayag as such, since we had finished our local  sightseei...

Birds Eye View: A travel of slightly more than 100 km today, as we abondoned the Kumaon region and entered the Garhwal region at Karnaprayag.  Now, when we had talked to locals in Kumaon, I had always felt a subtle sense of competition with Garhwal. Historically, lords and kings of the two regions used to fight like the dickens, of course, particularly during the Moghul times, and an aftertaste must still be lingering. A caretaker in the KMVN at Kausani said he had worked in all sorts of govt guest houses in Uttarakhand, and GMVN was always better maintained. Our guide from yesterday, Deepak (the mountain goat?), was all in favour of Kumaon roads during monsoons. “The soil here has more pakad (grip), you know. Those Garhwali’s keep having landslides.” They spoke highly of Kumaoni cuisine, their healthiness and simplicity, but were pointedly silent about their western counterpart’s kitchen. One of the hotel managers also commented on the nature of tourists: “Here it’s ...

Waking up (6.00 am): When I was small, one of the biggest luxuries in life was sleeping in on a holiday, and getting up around 8.00 am, when mother pushed me out of bed. A time has come now, I get up at 6.00 am, whether there is an alarm set or not. I don’t know whether to be proud of my mind’s discipline or to be resigned to an aging mind that cannot sleep. Either way, it was not much use today. Although there had been some growlings (thunder, not tummy) last night, the rain Gods finally decided to rain all around, like in Almora, Ranikhet, Mukteswar, Binsar, and held off on Kausani. Why? Pure cussedness, that’s why. So we were not greeted by a clear sky in the morning, and no Himalayan peaks. A few more Bengali families had checked in, in the rooms beside us and above us.We swapped travel tales of our respective trips and our self-drive trip drew the expected  surprise and admiration. Incidentally, we have just completed 20 days on our current trip and have 20 more ...