A TRIP TO THE HIMALAYAS…a recipe for happiness!

“I’ve been staying at their lodge in the Himalayas for years, … They have this beautiful lodge. You look out and there’s Ama Dablam. Oh man, it’s like heaven.”
Pete Shelley

It was something we’ve wanted to do for long, but somehow it never materialised. Though we’ve been into the hills before, the Himalayas hadn’t ever been explored by self-drive. Luckily for us in the plains of North India, there are a number of Himalayan hill stations that are accessible by road, & summer is the best time to escape the heat of the plains. For once, things seemed to fall into place, & we managed to take our dream trip into the Himalayas. There were 6 of us, the hub, the 2 kids, my mother, my sis-in-law, & me. On our to-do list was something off-beat, something relaxing, sans the hustle-bustle, & surrounded by nature. We managed all this & much more, lived beyond our dreams, & experienced the beauty of nature, often untouched by man. The kids were ‘detoxified’ due to the absence of computers, TV, electricity too at times … & the presence of fresh mountain air & fruit laden trees! They had a whale of a time!The Himalayas are exciting, invigorating & offer the unexpected around every bend, as every road trip in India promises. Not always for the faint-hearted, as Indian roads can often be ‘adventurous’, but rest assured, a very liberating experience. This was a break away from the ‘mismatched discipline‘ of the urban India … roads jammed with trucks & tractors, cattle weaving through, people for whom time has stood still, no one in a hurry, missing road signs, treacherous curves in the hills, stop where you feel like hill roads, broken bridges, honest-to-goodness people of the Kumaon region ... truly incredible! We drove off into sun-rise, having left home at an unearthly 4am, with a 7-8 hour drive in mind. Roads in India come laden with surprises, & life-time experiences. Where else would you get caught in a religious procession across a bridge full of ‘sadhus’ or holy-men? … or be stuck in a traffic jam for hours in complete chaos, with tractors doing ‘wheelies‘ on non-existent roads, surrounded by motorcycle bound milk-men, drive through village spice markets, see roadside ‘chai‘ stalls with ‘m & m‘ print lined tables… … roads reduced to rubble, traffic jams which force you to drive off the road for hours to end, toll booths that charge Rs 5 per entry ($1 = Rs 45), colourful tractors loaded with people, monkeys on the sidewalks, straw huts dotting the country-side … This was the beginning of our drive. Then we ran into a massive traffic jam due to a political rally or something, which held us up for an hour. Nothing budged! Out of the blue came a very helpful rickshaw-puller who told us he would lead us to an alternative route. We drove through the narrowest of lanes, touching the sides of houses, through paths I was ready to bail out at every second, over culverts, & after many near misses, we finally scraped through. The helpful fellow waved goodbye & rode off before we could even catch our breath!Once we were into the hill climb, we stopped to see the Corbett Museum, as it was only a short diversion away. Reminiscent of times gone by, it’s a small unassuming building, but steeped in history. Located at Kaladhungi, Corbett Museum is in a heritage bungalow of Jim Corbett, the renowned environmentalist, hunter as well as a front runner in the tiger conservation. This magnificent museum brings to the forefront of memory the life and activities of the spectacular and distinguished personality. The museum show cases some memorabilia connected to Jim Corbett, which include some great valued personal belongings, letters written by him as well as his friends and well wishers, antiques and rare photographs. Unexpectedly it began to pour, followed by a hailstorm, & even more unexpectedly there was a landslide, just about 30-40kms before our destination. Predictably enough, as we’ve been stuck in one for hours many years ago near Kalimpong, we remained stuck in the middle of nowhere for 3-4 hours. No vehicle could get through – trucks, buses & cars, nothing! We each took our chances & got caught in the landslide quicksand, only to be pushed back by the locals who were extremely helpful! Then some ‘labour’ (local manpower with picks & shovels) sauntered in, & patiently, manually shovelled the slush off. We reached our destination 4 hours late, much to the kids relief.