The main street of Purola has a busy look at 6.30 am. The sky is clear and the air crisp. I board the 7am bus to Sankri. The bus carrying mainly daily commuters slowly makes its way up the valley of the Kamal river. The ever solicitous Rana calls to check that I have made the bus.
It is a remarkably wide and beautiful valley dotted with neat villages. The gentle slopes near the river - the Kamal - are covered with the green of wheat and jawar. The steeper slopes are covered with Pine trees and Rhododendron in full bloom and some of the tall peaks in the distance covered with snow. My seat neighbor in the bus is a gentle and soft spoken pahadi. The bus hugs the curving and smooth road at a gentle speed. The driver plays a CD with Garhwali music - melodious with slow beats - and I can imagine a slow rhythmic harvest dance to go with it. The dense and beautiful pine cover extends to even the steepest slopes. The comfortable ride, expansive scenery and lilting song lifts me into a joyous mood. I wonder if these simple pahadi songs will sound as good in Delhi.
We stop at Mori for breakfast and I have a huge aloo paratha served with dahi and achar. The paratha is shallow fried in mustard oil and tastes really good. A couple of Israeli backpackers climb in and I get absorbed in conversation with them.
We stop briefly at the Forest Department checkpost at Netwar to pay the Govind National Park entrance fees. 3 km before Sankri, a little short of 11am, the bus grinds to a halt - the road is blocked by a huge dumper clearing a landslide. When the dumper finally gives way, the bus is unable to clear the stretch as its wheels cannot find enough purchase in the loose mud. We are dropped unceremoniously and the trek begins earlier than I anticipated.
I walk to Sankri and after a relaxed lunch, set out around 1 pm for Taluka - the jeeps are not running because the road has been blocked by landslides. My newly acquired Israeli friends - Arnon and David - decide to accompany me part of the way, just to limber up for their trek which begins the next day. On the way, I meet the caretakers of the Taluka and Har ki dun GMVN's heading for Sankri. They assure me that there will be somebody to open up when I reach the guest house. I later learn that these men are heading to Sankri to collect their salaries which have arrived after a gap of 6 months!
Soon we are brought to a stop a fast flowing stream that has flooded the jeep track. I part with the Israeli's here, remove my shoes and walk slowly through the icy water, testing each step carefully, fearful of taking a fall. The icy water and the sharp stones over which I walk really hurt. As it turns out, this is just the first of the tests I must undergo today. There are more streams requiring a similar treatment. Later in the afternoon, there is a thunderstorm with hail. The only possible shelter near the path - pine trees - turn out to be useless in shielding me from the hail stones. Wet and soaking in spite of a jacket, I reach Taluka just before 5 pm.
The guest house at Taluka is a dilapidated building. There is no electricity and no water in the bathrooms. I get a bed in the 'deluxe' room which has more storage space than the dorm but little else. I have dinner at the Thakur dhaba at the end of the village along with a couple of Bihari workers who are temporarily in the village doing a painting job. A Nepali origin family runs the dhaba. Two women, looking to be a mother- daughter pair are doing the cooking and serving. I later find out that they are actually a grand mother - grand daughter pair. The Bihari's joke with the attractive looking younger women about the small helpings she serves. The rain has started picking up and that means it will be snowing in Har ki dun. Perhaps my journey is slated to end at Seema.
An old man in a uniform is also taking shelter in the dhaba from the rain. He turns out to be the chowkidar of the forest rest house (FRH) at Taluka. In conversation, I find out that the FRH has two rooms with water, electricity and a wireless set. He is willing to let me have a room on my return journey provided there is no prior reservation. My haversack has begun to weigh heavy on me after the 13 kms I have walked today. I decide to take a porter for the rest of the trip and ask for one at the dhabha. Kamal Thakur, (whose mother cooks at the hotel) volunteers himself and we arrange that he will carry my bag for Rs 300/ per day and food.
Previous -> Trekking to Har ki doon - 1
Next -> Trekking to Har ki doon - 3
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| View from the Purola - Mori road |
We stop at Mori for breakfast and I have a huge aloo paratha served with dahi and achar. The paratha is shallow fried in mustard oil and tastes really good. A couple of Israeli backpackers climb in and I get absorbed in conversation with them.
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| The beautiful valley of the Kamal |
I walk to Sankri and after a relaxed lunch, set out around 1 pm for Taluka - the jeeps are not running because the road has been blocked by landslides. My newly acquired Israeli friends - Arnon and David - decide to accompany me part of the way, just to limber up for their trek which begins the next day. On the way, I meet the caretakers of the Taluka and Har ki dun GMVN's heading for Sankri. They assure me that there will be somebody to open up when I reach the guest house. I later learn that these men are heading to Sankri to collect their salaries which have arrived after a gap of 6 months!
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| View of a Saur village, just off Sankri |
The guest house at Taluka is a dilapidated building. There is no electricity and no water in the bathrooms. I get a bed in the 'deluxe' room which has more storage space than the dorm but little else. I have dinner at the Thakur dhaba at the end of the village along with a couple of Bihari workers who are temporarily in the village doing a painting job. A Nepali origin family runs the dhaba. Two women, looking to be a mother- daughter pair are doing the cooking and serving. I later find out that they are actually a grand mother - grand daughter pair. The Bihari's joke with the attractive looking younger women about the small helpings she serves. The rain has started picking up and that means it will be snowing in Har ki dun. Perhaps my journey is slated to end at Seema.
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| Houses near Taluka village |
An old man in a uniform is also taking shelter in the dhaba from the rain. He turns out to be the chowkidar of the forest rest house (FRH) at Taluka. In conversation, I find out that the FRH has two rooms with water, electricity and a wireless set. He is willing to let me have a room on my return journey provided there is no prior reservation. My haversack has begun to weigh heavy on me after the 13 kms I have walked today. I decide to take a porter for the rest of the trip and ask for one at the dhabha. Kamal Thakur, (whose mother cooks at the hotel) volunteers himself and we arrange that he will carry my bag for Rs 300/ per day and food.
Previous -> Trekking to Har ki doon - 1
Next -> Trekking to Har ki doon - 3
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