The Kumaon Diaries - Day 3, Almora

 Day 3, Almora

The ride to Almora from Neem Karoli Baba ashram was very pleasant. The gradients were gentle, the roads wide and it never felt like we were driving in the mountains. The road started climbing a bit as we approached Almora. We lost Mohan and his jeep and wondered if they took the bypass. Mr Naidu was keen that we buy the famed Bal Mithai of Almora - but we finally could not get it owing to parking issues.  Ranjan was keen to see his house and so were we so we told them to drive on while we stopped to see the house.

Almora

Almora is a town that seemed to have grown on the ridges of the hills and it overlooks the valley. The ridges go all round the mountain like a tea cup. It's pretty well developed as could be seen - a mall with Pantaloon written boldly over it. The main road wound through, narrow and impossible to park, so we gave Bal Mithai a miss. Ranjan searched for Pandey Khola, which was where his house was and lo, we found it.

Path to Ranjan's ancestral house

The house

Empty and unused, but beautiful in its construction

The house, perhaps a century old, was built in a 1920s styles, and overlooked the valley. Everything about it was so quaint, the design, the architecture, the windows and doors, the terraces, the views. It was unoccupied and surprisingly in good and clean condition. As with all houses there, it slid down the valley along the steep slope, because there is not too much flat land there and one has to construct along the contours of the mountains.

Looking down at Almora

Wonderful staircase

Overlooking the valley - and yes, it's green!

We walked into the house where Ranjan's father grew up with his four other brothers and the rest of the family. His father moved out in search of a job, went to Bombay, then came to Hyderabad to work in Hyderabad Asbestos, where he retired.

Reminds one of those Italian villas

A view from the side

Another view - love those windows

Looking down

He was a cricketer, captain of the asbestos team, and definitely a dashing personality. He still is. Ranjan looked at the property, and as always wondered if it could be developed into a resort, which it certainly lends itself to.

A cute staircase leading up

The house

Another pic of the house - wonder what lies in its destiny

 After clicking several pictures there, and after Ranjan met some local person, we took off towards Kausani at about 430 pm. I was bracing for the cold. The weather said 2 degrees.

Leaving 

Enroute Kausani

The road was narrow and we climbed and descended. The sun set and it grew dark. After some searching, we found the place we were to stay in Kausani - Heritage Resort - which overlooked the mountains. Apparently we see mountain peaks shaped like a trident in the morning when the sun's ray light them up. The cold hit us like a wall the moment we stepped out - Vardha confirmed it was two degrees. Kausani was called by Gandhiji as the 'Switzerland of India', offers 300 km wide views of the Himalayas including peaks like Trisul, Nanda Devi and Panchchuli. Right now we could only feel the cold.

Heritage Resort, Kausani

We shivered our way into our rooms, checked out the heaters, figured the sleeping arrangements and had a cup of tea. There was a brilliant moon, that suddenly came up - one moment it was not there and one moment it was there - huge and red, like the blood moon.

Ranjan holding up the moon, as he does so many things

Tea, cold (pic by Jitendra)

 Ranjan got a single room, Vardha and me took one and Mr Naidu and Jitendra took one. The rooms had a mezzanine loft in case there were families I guess but owing to the cold we both decided to take the bed on the ground floor. A bonfire was soon arranged, booze was quickly brought out and we sat around the bonfire, munching on some snacks.

Bonfire (pic by Jitendra)

A couple of young boys, twenty-five or so, asked if they could join us. One was a CA working with PWC and another working with OLX, and the two Delhi boys were travelling in their car, staying where they pleased. They were coming from Mukteshwar, where it was minus three degrees they said. It was nice to see the freedom they had, the life they were now living. To have a car at twenty-five was not possible twenty-five years ago, nor was the freedom to travel and explore like they were doing. One drank and smoked, one didn't. They were school friends from fourth class (Vardha said he and Ranjan were school friends from second class), and they had had three more with them, until the others left, They'd check in one place, then look around for another, find it online, and then book themselves there. Thanks to the internet they were fully clued in - maps, hotels, information, bookings. Lovely.

Banter around the bonfire

The talk around the bonfire was lively. Jitendra told us some local facts. He is full of enthusiasm and all sorts of mountain tales (he once told me about the sal trees - sau saal pada, sau saal khada). The cold was something else and we finally moved indoors to get some dinner. The service was really good, food pretty nice. The tap water was freezing cold and we finally called it a day - well before 10 in the night.

The rooms faced east, sunrise was at 7, so plans were made to wake up early. The challenge was to sleep in the rather cold bed with a heater that worked not so well. A couple of covers at night and more t shirts and I was set. This was probably the worst it would get in terms of cold. Kausani apparently is known to have snowfall every year.

Good night and god bless!