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| Sunrise from our hotel in Lansdowne |
How
to reach: By road you can cover the 256 km
distance between Delhi and Lansdowne in about 4-6 hours.
Where:
Situated
at 1700 mts above the sea level Lansdowne is the regimental Office of the
formidable Garhwal Rifles of the Indian Army, located in the Pauri Garhwal
district of Uttarakhand.
This cantonment town has
a timeless charm with its pine trees and mossy surfaces. Little bungalows
belonging mostly to army officials dot the slope at intervals. A walk through
the slopes or drive on the well maintained meandering roads will surely grant
anyone the elusive peace of mind. In the middle of the town stands the market
place with a grand little white-washed post-office of British architecture and
an old time stand-alone movie theater staying in sync with the nostalgic charm
of the town. Though the ambience of this place in itself merits being a good
enough travel destination there are a few must-visit tourist spots:
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| Bhulla Tal |
- The Tip and Top viewing point affords a breath-taking view of the snow-covered Garhwal Himalayas. Spend some magical moments lost in the majesty of the range during sunrise/sunset. You can make a quick trip to the Santashi Maa temple which is a bit beyond the viewing point.
- The
Garhwal Rifles regimental Darwan Singh
museum and their parade ground radiate the hard-earned glory of this famous
regiment. The history of the illustrious regiment, the never ending
honour-rolls and medals earned by the soldiers and their valiant stories are
all very over-whelming.
- Situated amidst the thick oaks and pine trees are the St John and St Mary churches where you are transported to the British era with their serene and untouched beauty. Inside, the monochrome wedding pictures held in the church from that era gives you a certain hit of nostalgia.
- The artificial dam erected by the Army to create the Bhulla Tal is a perfect spot to sit and soak in the sun and the simple charm of this town with ducks, birds and rabbits vying for your attention. It is the perfect spot to spend some time with a book or your loved ones.
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| Tarkeshwar Mahadev Temple |
But religious or not, it
is highly recommended to take a short excursion to the Tarkeshwar Mahadev
Temple. The 40 km drive on the narrow bendy roads is a joy in itself. Once you
reach the spot you have to walk through the pine forests for a good 10-15 mins
to reach the temple. It will certainly take your breath away in every sense and
awaken your spiritual side. In a clearing of the pine trees are the small
temples dedicated to unique shiv-lingam. The last bit of path leading to the
temple is lined with rows of temple of every size. You can ring them as you
walk along and they reverberate through the solitude of the forest. It does make you wonder that it is indeed a
befitting place for the Almighty to reside. Pray and leave your burdens behind
in this temple and the adjacent Gauri Kund. There is a small ashram adjacent to
the temple compound for tourist to stay and meditate to get in touch with their
inner-self. Admittedly, I have not been able to avail of these facilities but
the was sorely tempted with the thought of changing my plans and stay
blissfully lost to the outer world. It was indeed a place worthy of attempting
to achieve nirvana.
If you want to escape
from your everyday life and travel back in time for the weekend, Lansdowne is
the perfect place – just laze around, soak up the ambience and feel invigorated
to face your everyday challenges again.
[Heads-up:
Tata Photon did not have any coverage there when I went. So your taking work
along is probably not a good idea. Though Airtel had good coverage throughout,
and the phone data connection was sufficient for the bare minimum].
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| Dam at Bijnor |
On the way:
At Bijnor, on our way to Lansdowne, we drove over the massive dam on the River
Ganga. We stopped here for half an hour for the expansive view and to go to the
ghat and pay homage to Ganga.
Detours:
In
our attempt to add some adventure to this leisurely trip we visited Karnamuni
ka Ashram on our way to the Lansdowne and Hastinapur on our way back.
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| Kanwamuni ka Ashram (the temple barely visible) |
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| The wall at Hastinapur |
Hastinapur
is a fully developed town and have no hope of holding on to any grand illusion
of it remotely resembling the seat of power of the Kouravas, around which the
story of Mahabharata revolves. Gigantic innumberable Hindu and Jain temple
complexes dominate this overcrowded town. We were short on time and only
interested in finding out the remnants of the palace of the Kouravas, if any. Hence,
we gave the temples a miss and our search led us to an extremely old and
secluded temple at the edge of the town. From here, directed by the locals we
reached a walled area within which we were told once stood the palace. It sure
looked like some great structure stood there once upon a time, now disappeared
beneath the soil, and overgrown trees. We proceeded on foot to the centre of
this walled area to be rewarded with a very tiny portion of some extremely old
wall of some fort like structure still
standing in the middle though am extremely doubtful if it has any relation to
the actual palace. And to our bewilderment, there were families cooking and
spending a leisurely outing on top of the only ruin that stands there. Absolute
anti-climax. Basically, not worth the detour in my opinion but then the
importance of Hastinapur in indisputable.
