The smog of Delhi post Diwali sent us scuttling to the hills for a breather — to Jilling Terraces in Uttarakhand beyond Bhimtal
Took a train — to Kathkodam- a Shatabdi. Sat in a train after nearly two decades — -have always enjoyed train travel but this time- the upgrade to Indian railways was a pleasant and welcome surprise.
The Executive coach chair cars were spacious and comfortable with loads of leg room and a seat width big enough to curl up into. The overhead racks were of glass for easy visibility of stuff on top, wifi connectivity, recharging points, footrests — — in fact all that a plane offers but with more space J and at a fraction of the cost
The approach to the station remained crowded as before with the same clamour of coolies haggling for price. The train started dot on time- the 5.:40 minutes journey had us eating for nearly half the time.
A huge water bottle and chacch followed by hot tea and cookies came first, followed by a sandwich with butter, jam, crispies, hot milk and cornflakes then a main course for breakfast- choice of omelet/ south indian/ cutlets and then tea/ coffee again and finally some fruit.- and last but not the least a wet wipe and mouth freshner- whoh (return journey was just as elaborate with heavy tea, soup and elaborate dinner with sweet dish)
The train is such a pleasant — relaxed way to travel- if you are not pressed for time- no cramped legs, plenty of space to move around in, HOT food and drinks, huge windows which can feed your vicarious habits of looking into people’s backyards and maybe a few open windows….. mostly the train tracks run with the back side of the houses facing them (mostly railway colonies and low middle class homes I guess) and you see all kinds of things there — clothes drying, odds and ends piled up — some neat some haphazard, a nice surprise was the kitchen gardens that some people had, others grew flowers and trees — while many — as I recollect from the past trips –just had the dirty drains running past.
By road one tends to see the relatively clean facades of fields and houses, by train one sees the other end — ponds or ditches lined with ferns and cat-o-nine tails and willow weeds, or stinking pool pots with waddling pigs, or simply fields of sugarcanes — half cut and piled up with the other half waiting for the axe. Railway crossings — was another perspective- watching the long lines of commuters waiting [patiently for the train to go by, or a small clutch of goats herded together waiting to cross, some people quickly jumping under the barrier halfway thru the train gone by … it is somehow so soothing just watching life go by while you speed to your destination.
Another thing I enjoyed were seeing the old, old trees growing expansively in the stations — -this line probably has stations that go back to the early stations build by the Britishers. Saw some huge majestic Peepal , Pilkhan and Banyan trees with a huge widespread canopies and real broad trunks- in the stations and just outside them- a visual treat.
Loved the experience — hope we do more train trips
Jilling Terraces– about forty minutes beyond Bhimtal- steadily climbing up — the UBER — we booked from Delhi was waiting for us at the Kathgodam station and it dropped us off at a seemingly desolate corner of a winding lane — as they are in the hills, in front of a desolate, locked govt. type building- which had a horse grazing up its meagre grass in the front. One phone call to the property manager and soon the “ghode wala” emerged as well and slung our bags on to the horse. And then began our walk to the resort. What was described as a short 1 km pleasant hike through the woods was in actual a pleasant but not so simple and leisurely stroll up the hill. We climbed about 1000- 1500 ft in height over a stretch of largely uphill walk of about 2.5 kms or so. With many short breaks to catch our breadth, admiring the random cherry blossom trees in full bloom ( they grew wild as per locals) , the fully laden “galgal” (large lemons- the size of small papayas) trees or the general scenic beauty — ( as we climbed higher reaching the top of the mountain the lower hills fell away giving way to huge valley and large vistas) we took exactly 70 minutes to reach . Dad would have taken lesser time — but I think his MI episode has made him more cautious .
The resort is a charming cottage — built in 1930 by a Britisher who constructed it for his Polish wife. Built on the top of the mountain it has a deep valley in front of it and a view of the Himalayan range (Nanda Devi and a few other peaks) in the distance. The winding road is camouflaged by heavy trees and one knows it is there by the occasional flash of light which can be seen down below.
At the back is the wooded wall of the rest of the mountain. The cottage was till recently run like a charitable clinic for the villagers by the son and daughter in law of the original builders of the cottage and when they grew too old to climb up the steep climb they sold it off about 8- 10 years ago to the recent owners- who converted it to a resort some two years ago.
Retaining the original building and adding to it by similar constructions — — a lot of stone and wood — tables/ bathroom counters/ floors all wooden — — imagine a proverbial cottage in the woods and you could imagine something quite similar.
Three rooms on the lower floor — duplex with a sitting area on the ground level and a bedroom a flight above and two rooms with a small sitting area flanking a common sitting cum dining area replete with fireplaces at the two ends, huge windows facing the valley, lots of books and games stored away and many comfortable chairs with a large dining table in the centre. All rooms had HUGE bathrooms — hot water through a boiler — which they started each morning at around 7 am. Our bathroom had a his and her sink J and the room had two large windows giving us a stupendous view of the Himalayan range in the morning and the setting sun in the evening.
The owners stay in Gurgaon, while the property is run by a couple- who live in the village below and their team of trusted fellow villagers- all highly trained — in hospitality and providing service with a smile. The lady was really garrulous and would have been termed a “name dropper” in “polite’ Social circles — — but she was so very pleasant and service oriented that one did not get irritated or put off. The cooks had a wide repertoire ranging from of course their local cuisine, to Indian, to pizza and pasta, to south Indian, momos, soups etc etc which they prepared quite well and served steaming hot and in plenty.
In between have nimbu pani made with those galgals, pudina teas, herbal teas, coffee, snacks to order — -whatever. — Food was all included in the room rent- which in itself was reasonable.
Had some short and long treks to close by areas- to a waterfall and to the river — an 8 hrs long one- which we did not take –ones we went on were a short one to the ridge which was through the woods behind the resort. A sheer straight drop straight down to the valley some 1000 ft below — (that is where the monarch picture was taken) and an hour long relatively straight route with a few steep patches — again meandering through the silent woods to the top of a neighbouring hill to a Bhaira Devi temple. A typical temple of the hills- build of the top of mountain — a square enclosure of flat grey rock pieces pilled one on top the other a huge tree on the side — under which was a small shrine which you entered through a narrow doorway big enough for a single person at a time bent low.
The walks if nothing else helped assuage some of the guilt at eating so much at all meals.
Besides eating, and walking all we did was soak up the sun and laze in it from 10:00 am till 3:00 pm for all the days we were there :0
Dad with his technically oriented mind is such a boon — we had music/ radio playing thru Bluetooth speakers which he set up his phone on wifi and linked them…or something beyond me. Music completed the ideal holiday.