Binsar

In 2009, I had the chance of going to Binsar, a pristine hill station in Uttarakhand in North India. I was on the prowl looking for a destination which involved hills and a road trip and a short research led me to discover Binsar. Now before I travel, I try and ensure accommodation is confirmed. Landing up in a new place with no idea of where will the night be spent is a little too deviant for my soul. Hence I read all the options and decided on staying at the Mountain Khali Resort after reading about its “story”.

As I crossed Moradabad towards Haldwani, the weather turned more gloomy. Heavy rain which I termed as torrential while driving. Visibility was extremely low and driving speeds reduced to 40 KPH. The rain kept company till such time that I started my ascent from Haldwani at around 11 Am. As I drove towards the hills, my eyes & heart constantly seeking some sun.

Driving through the markets of Haldwani, I noticed glimpses of small town life. Small chaurahas, manned by police women, more people than vehicles, lots of road side stalls, a clear mix of footpaths with the roads which inevitably means that people walk on the roads and cars have to find their road.

Binsar is around 135 Km from Haldwani. Expected driving time of around 3.5 hours. Route- Haldwani– Bhimtal – Bhawoli– Almora – Binsar. Slight rain accompanied me to Bhimtal. The sight of clouds amidst the lush green mountains made for awesome scenery and I had to stop multiple times to admire the sights in front of me.

Hill driving can be easy & interesting if the driver knows the rules. Keep to the left, honk as minimal as possible, never go on neutral, if the vehicle in front be blinking his right indicator, then overtake ASAP. As I went higher up the Komaon ranges, the scenes kept getting prettier. Writing about them wont be of much; I’ll probably just let them be seen.

I reached Bhawoli and it was time for the schools to close for the day. I guessed this from the huge queues of parents and guardians picking up their kids from various point, which I think were the schools. A prominent feature were the black umbrellas.

The drive from Almora to Binsar lasted a couple of hours. Primarily because I wanted to stop and photograph all that I could see. There were times when I looked at the valley and a “gosh” just came out of me. My eyes wanted more of the green mountains covered slightly by the white cloud. The roads had a orange hue due to the leaves falling off the tree. Houses, scattered across the valley, step farming.

I reached the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary at around 1.45 PM. Made the entries in the official register, paid the fee of Rs 90 for three days stay and drove towards the Khali Estate. At sharp 2 Pm I rolled my jeep into the drive way of the Khali Mountain Resort. I was greeted & welcomed byHimanshu, the owner of the estate, who showed me round the estate and then to my room.

At the Khali estate they make & serve only vegetarian fare – most of the vegetables are grown in their farms which at the time of my visiting them were not functional. There is around 8 – 10 people staff at the estate to take care of guests and they do take care of their guests. I met Bishan Da, who has been working at the estate for the last 40 years. He served me food on the table and throughout the meal kept asking me if I wanted some more ghee on my roti or dal. Simultaneously I chatted up with Himanshu who gave me a brief history of the estate and also told me about his business ventures.

Himanshu is now the owner of the Khali Estate. He inherited it from his father who in turn inherited it from Mr. Parekh, who was the owner after his death in the late 90’s. Since then father and son have been running the estate and successfully too. Himanshu also has co founded another tourism business venture called Village Ways. The project is to highlight village life in the hills as a major tourist attraction. Small guest mud houses have been set up in 5 villages in Binsar. Guests are invited (for a price) to spend a few days at the mud houses. The mud houses have the same facilities as the the other houses in the villages. So the interested can come and spend his vacation living life like a villager.

This venture has made a lot of noise outside India. It has won several international traveller awards. But Himanshu laments that this venture has not picked up In India. Which is understandable. A common Indian may not have the appetite for such experiences. He would rather and rightfully enjoy the luxuries that come with hotels – abundant water, air conditioning, no power cuts, room service. Anyhow, village ways seemed to be a very interesting concept.

After lunch I decided to take a short nap. With the weather all rainy and gloomy and nothing better to do, I decided to rest my senses. In heart I was feeling a little lonely and had already started to make my plans to move back to Delhi the next day itself. I am not sure why.

My room was a circular cottage, all wooden and with two french windows which overlooked the valley. On the far side of the view were the Himalayas which I could not see because of the heavy cloud cover. A comfortable bed and amazingly soft blanket put me to sleep. I woke up with a start…probably a dream or a phone call. The first thing that I saw was the view outside. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The cloud cover had lightened. The sun was shining brightly on the valley, clearly highlighting the greens of trees and the blues of the sky. And on the far end, the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas were clearly visible.

I rushed outside all half sleepy and dazed to photograph the spectacle. Green valleys in the foreground flooded with sunlight. Peaks of the mountains covered with snow interspersed with colors of blue and black. The white clouds against a perfect blue sky. As the sun started to set the colors changed to golden and black. It seemed as if two pictures had mixed to give a painting containing blue, white, black, green and golden colors.

The sun finally set around 7 PM. Night insects started to make a noise. It was then that Bishan Da showed me another spectacle. A wild flower called “Nisha” in Hindi which only blooms once the sun sets. I saw quite a few flowers bloom and also took some pics. A long day was coming to an end.

Hills have this amazing capability to lift and drop moods. Some folks I know just cannot survive a hill vacation since they find them extremely melancholic. I went through such a phase as I rested and made my mind to move back to Delhi the next day itself. My resolve to return became stronger when I discovered that two giant spiders were my room mates and that it was raining all night.

Its amazing how people connect. While I was in that hotel room all alone in the resort, 3 friends called me…all of whom are great friends and those whom Ive not spoken in ages!!! Killing my loneliness was my cell phone. I slept late after watching a couple of movies on my laptop. Thank God for technology.

10th July started at 9 AM when I woke up to bed tea. Expecting another spectacle at the hills, I peeped out my window. And this time it was a spectacle of a different kind. Clouds all around in the valley. No chance of the sun peeping in and absolutely no chance of me seeing the Himalayas. As I stepped out to walk towards the lunch room for my breakfast, I saw mist. After a while I realised that I was walking in the clouds.

On the 9th I was the lone guest at the resort. Himanshu and the staff had told me that members of the sales team of SBI Life Insurance were slated to arrive on the 10th.

After breakfast, I decided to take some pictures at the resort and also explore Binsar on foot. So I set off and in the next 4 hours walked for almost 15 – 18 kms across Binsar. Amazing tree formations, clouds, lush green leaves, amazing birds.

On my return walk to the resort, the bus with the SBI folks passed by me.

I returned to the resort and had lunch straight away at around 3 Pm. I decided against taking a nap and instead drove to the nearby temple of GoluDevta. Tradition goes that if you write a letter to Golu Bhagwaan asking for something and it comes true, then a bell needs to be offered at the temple. I spoke to the pandit for a little while. The Pandit turned out to be a local shop keeper who sold me Golu Bhagwaan’s photo for Rs 40/-. While coming down, I saw a large black rock bang in the middle of a garden. I wanted to go aroudn the rock but that would have resulted in me interrupting a couple in an intimate moment. Leaving them to that, I left them to enjoy their privacy and started for my ascent to Point Zero.

Point Zero is the pinnacle of Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. It is around 12 kmsfrom the entrance to the park and is the most famous spot for a view of the Himalayas and a sunset in Binsar. My drive was quite adventurous. Midway, a tree had fallen partially on the road. As I tried to manoeuvre my Scorpio, मेरी फट गयी। I turned back and went back to the resort leaving the sights from Point Zero for another time and day.

While driving back, I felt the loneliness come back again. I reached my room and settled in the chair. As I sipped my tea, 2 people from the SBI Life team knocked on the door. They requested me if I could accompany them to the Dina Hospital where a colleague of theirs had been admitting after he started to complain of chest pain and vomiting. We left immediately and after a ride of 20 – 25 minutes we reached the Dina Hospital.

The drive from the resort to the hospital was a quiet one. A few questions and simple straight answers amongst the passengers made me realize that all was not well with their colleague. The darkness increased as we drove to the hospital and after my last trip to Barog, I got another chance to drive on the hills in the night.

The staff at Dina hospital was unable to treat the patient due to inexperience. They recommended that he be shifted to the Almora Base Camp Hospital since the facilities would be better. The shifting had to be done by a Scorpio since the ambulance had yet not arrived. Meanwhile I suggested to the leader of the SBI team that he call up Himanshu who would have good networks in Almora and might be handy in this crisis. And handy he was!!! He rushed to the Dina Hospital and then took charge of things. As they moved from Dina Hospital to Almora, I came back to the resort along with the resort guard and a Mr Sharma from the SBI Life team who told me about his stay in Gujarat and the warmth of Gujarati’s. At the resort I was invited to the bonfire and snacks party by the SBI team.

I spent sometime in the room, speaking with a few friends. The weather was pleasant and I sat at the open verandah for an hour or so. It was cool and breezy and in the halogen lights of the resort, I could sense the clouds moving in again. Lost in my thoughts, I kept admiring the beauty of the hills. Sometimes you start enjoying solitude; this was one of those moments.I was shaken out of my solitude by frantic movement, The SBI team was hurrying to get into a nearby hall, and the tour guide was making frantic calls and trying to explain a situation. From the looks things did not look very good. Suddenly the hall door opened and a few people came out looking distraught. A couple of ladies sobbing. Inside the room, men sat with their heads in their hands, staring at things and yet looking empty. Upon enquiring from the tour guide, I got to know that Mr. R P Singh, 42, Husband and father had passed away while being wheeled out of the Almora Base Hospital.

It seems that that Mr Singh’s condition had worsened as he was driven from Dina to Almora. At the base hospital, the doctors realized that he was not fit enough to be treated at the hospital and that he should be shifted to Delhi ASAP.I cant deny that I was shaken up a little. Life has no guarantee.Things had to move on, I ate my dinner while Bishan Da told me about his times at the resort an along with Mr. Parekh, the Gujarati businessman. He told me about Mrs. Parekh and her ability to make people comfortable, of how she was cremated at the hills and then the subsequent taking over and running of business by Himanshu and his father after death of Mr Parekh in 1997 – 98.

I could sense the feeling of loss in Bishan Da’s eyes. After all we are all humans. Especially the sense of loss becomes extreme when the loss is monetary as well.By the time dinner finished, it was 11 PM and I made up my mind to drive back home the next morning. A couple of more calls to friends and I drifted into dreamland.

Morning tea was yumm and so was the light bread and butter breakfast. Sometimes beauty is in simplicity. Bread & butter is one of those simplicities. I paid my bills, bid goodbye to the staff and set the Scorpio up for the journey back. Another  interesting episode was when I was stopped at the Almora Police Check post. For the next 25 kms to Bhawoli, I had company in the form of Constable Dinesh Kumar who was traveling to Nainital from Almora for official purposes.

Dinesh Kumar has been with the Uttarakhand police since the time that the state got incepted from UP. Though he belongs to Badayun in UP, he got his permanent address listed in Pant Nagar and at the time of the Uttaranchal state being carved out from UP, by virtue of the Govt’s policy of assigning policemen the state where they are permanently based, he got transferred to the Hills. Dinesh spoke in detail about his problems – the partisan attitude of his colleagues from the Kumaon region, the problems that the police face in the hills due to terrain and more importantly the unity in the peoples from the hills. He gave me a fresh perspective of life in Hills, how people in remote areas die because of hunger when food supplies are down to nil during the rains, landslides and snow. He also spoke about the systems of policing in the hills. Due to geographical constraints, all places do not have a police station. The village “patwari” carries the authority to file a report and submit it in court of law.

I dropped Dinesh at the Bhawoli Chowk and wished him well. Coming back to Delhi was a breeze.

After the trip my mother remarked that it hardly made any sense to go 400 kms one way and come back in less than 72 hours. I could only smile.

This trip was originally published on Samsara