Dream Visit to the Divine Deoria Tal (Part 2) - Feb 2014

 

 Day 2 (Saturday) : Of serene beauty

 

When you escape to the mountains, you come for the quiet—to absorb the vast, unhurried stillness that city life so rarely allows. I was after that exact solitude.

 

Fate, however, had a slightly louder plan in store. A group of eight to ten fellow campers had pitched tents nearby. While I certainly understand the joy of sharing a trip with friends, the enthusiastic late-night yelling across camp felt like it was being broadcast directly into my tent, even from 400 meters away! For a brief moment, I considered stepping out to politely ask for quiet, but fatigue won out. I sank back into my sleeping bag and drifted off.

 

Dawn at the Lake

 

I’m the kind who would never want to miss a sunrise and sunset while in the mountains… and in the mountains like the Himalayas, how could I ? I got up once to check the time, it was 2AM and then again, 430AM. When I got up ultimately, it was 630AM and the sun was already out… in a moment, I was out with my camera in tow to capture those beautiful moments…when the sun shines bright over the peaks. I wasn’t up that early to catch the golden colour though..

 

Sunrise on the Kedar Dome

 

 

The imposing form of the Chaukambha massif dominating the skyline-

 

 

And then I saw an animal, it wasn’t a dog for sure.. must have been a fox or jackal (I can’t tell the difference between the two, anyways).. it got all shy and started running around the moment I saw it.. Then when I went the other side, it came back, collected the box of munch chocolate (god knows from where it stole the box full of Munch) and disappeared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mirror Magic

 

There’s a stone paved path for you to go around the Deoria Tal.. I started anti clockwise because I wanted to catch the reflection of the peaks in the water, and boy, wasn’t I happy ? see these and decide for yourself…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hiked up toward the lookout tower to get an elevated view of the range before completing the circuit –

 

 

 

By the time I made it back, Rakesh and Umeid were waiting with a hot kettle of tea—the absolute best way to take in a Himalayan morning.  Cheers to the morning scenery !!

 

My little abode by the water for the night:

 

 

They asked me what I’d like to have for breakfast – I asked for paranthas and they were off. Rakesh asked about my schedule for the day and I said I’m headed back to Delhi asap, so he said he’d meet me down at the village. With some more time to soak in the beauty before I left from here, I took another short walk – by this time though, the sun was fully out and it was very bright. Its sometimes so amazing how a little bit of sunlight can make such a huge difference to the beauty around..

 

A patch of snow nearby

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the sunlight hit the water at just the right angle, the reflections turned magical. I mean, there were still clouds in the sky with very little blue (I was told the reflections on the lake would be even better with blue skies). Nevertheless, this was something I had never witnessed before in life – it was like one of those trick photos, where a picture is upside down and you can’t make out the difference between the original and the reflection – crystal clear. If you don’t believe me, the pictures speak for themselves, have a look !

 

 

 

 

Here’s a panoramic view:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just so that you know, the above picture is upside down, and I am sure you couldn’t tell the difference – That’s what I am talking about !!!

 

This is what my tent opened to:

 

 

Bidding Farewell & The Descent

 

Then, it was time to say goodbye to the Deoria tal. I packed up my stuff and walked to the Dhaba (which was around 500m away). My parathas were ready, ate them, bid goodbye to Umeid and started walking down.

 

If you have a day or two more, you could definitely cover Chopta and Tungnath-Chandershila trek along with this. Sadly, I couldn’t do this and had to return.

 

Retracing the route

 

Getting down, contrary to popular belief, wasn’t that easy.. it was a bit hard on my knees and I took almost 50 minutes to descend to Saari village.

 

 

 

 

 

Some captures on  my way down –

 

 

 

 

Rhododendron flower (Buraansh)

 

The Chopta – Chandrashila area:

 

A small, serene Shiva temple near Saari Village -

 

 

 

Approaching the rooftops of Saari

 

 

 

Back in the village, I spent about half an hour chatting with Rakesh’s dad.. he was explaining to me that ever since last year’s floods, the number of tourists to the lake have reduced drastically. Earlier, they used to have tourists all round the year, but then now, tourist visits are sporadic. Apart from the actual damage the flood had caused, there were also so many repercussions.

 

Saari to Rishikesh

 

Rakesh had some work in Ukhimath, so he accompanied me until there. From Ukhimath, I took a shared jeep at around 11AM. Enroute, we had to stop atleast three times for 15-20 minutes each for the road clearance to happen. Reached Rudraprayag only around 2:15 PM, and had a quick lunch.

 

When I just got out from the hotel around 3PM, I got a UTC bus to Rishikesh (unlike the private buses, the UTC buses don’t wait till the bus is full and leave almost immediately). The roads were good and so was the driver, and I was in Rishikesh by 7:30 PM.

 

Some pictures from the route between Ukhimath and Rishikesh:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With nothing much to do, I headed to Laxman Jhula from Rishikesh bus stand (usually shared auto rickshaw’s are available, but since it was late, I had to engage one on my own. Also note that while coming from Rudraprayag, you can get down at Tapovan, from where Laxman Jhula is walkable).

 

I walked across the suspension bridge, watched the night lights reflect off the Ganges, and headed into one of the cozy riverside cafes. Sitting over a warm plate of pasta and hot chocolate while listening to the river below was the perfect way to unwind after two days of travel.  

 

Night views of the Ganges near Laxman Jhula

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Final Stretch

 

I got a UPSRTC bus to Delhi at around 10:30pm [anyways, there are umpteen number of buses to Delhi] I was in ISBT Kashmiri Gate by 5 AM. Grabbed a taxi, collected my stashed luggage from the hotel and then headed to the airport for my flight to Bangalore.

 

And that dear reader, was a short summary of the two days over a weekend. I hope you liked the place and if you haven’t been here yet, please add this to your list

 

While I was showing photos from the trip to a friend of mine, she mentioned to me that someone once told her that the ‘Himalayas are addictive’ – I couldn’t agree more – and till the time I head out to another place there in pursuit of my addiction, happy reading and happy traveling.

 

(ends)