It was an adventure which Alok/Mendi would not be aware of .
It was 1997 i think ..Mayank should correct me if wrong, my Bike still qualified as 'Cheetah' or black panther to be precise.
Evening we started on my Bike towards Rishikesh, we stayed put in a lodge ..still is there and i hope still charges rent of Rs 300/- quite steep for that era but it was very clean ..i mean furniture too was sparse but back view was panoramic with mighty Ganges flowing stealthily and far away temples of Muni ki reti merging with low hills of Himalayas, we had a royal thali for dinner at 'Chotiwala ' it was the time of year when Rishikesh nights are very quiet with very few Desi tourists and only firang hippie couples with their ' Hare ram' lungis /sarongs walking aimlessly , laughing hysterically swaying under influence of 'weed' , we came very late to the lodge, cool breeze by the side of ghats was very soothing.
Early morning we started for New Tehri, drive was just faboulous... its straight national highway towards Chamba and than onto Uttarkashi ..but we decided to turn towards New Tehri, It was freshly made town still and had very artificial looks , trees were yet to catch up and Ganges still flowed unbrindled, My freind Kailash Uniyal was there, he had made up arrangements for us to stay at Guest house of THDC ( monolith which controls everything connected with Tehri Dam) and than we took a jeep towards hill Campus of Pantanagar University- my Alma mater, its a better place than any commercial hill station, thickly wooded with Deodars and blue pine , it is known for its orchards of Apples, Apricot,Plum etc.
Evening it was party time with chicken prepared by a Garhwali cook who had worked in Russian embassy and we washed it down with Old monk Rum , sleep was peaceful.
We again started early towards Old Tehri..This area is totally submerged now..i remember it was bustling town still..hot and dusty,from Tehri we took upturn towards Agrakhaal or kaddukhaal ..Mayank would tell correctly we passed Old town, i still can vividly recollect the ' Clock tower' and ruined palace of Naresh , transverisng snaky roads and not so green hills we reached temple of ' Chandrabadni Mata', Temple is uphill and when you reach compound you find there is steep flight of stairs to reach the Devi, Pujari was local Garhwali Brahmin and infact he performed little Puja for us.
We were at last lag of journey and by afternoon we reached Devparyag, confluence of Alknanda and Bhagirathi..visited temple of Lord Ram build by Shankracharya..have had hearty meal here and than started towards Rishikesh.
(...to be contd)
5 comments:
Isn't this around this time you met Seema as well in Rishikesh?
No , that was April 1998.
This was 1997 , my bike was new and Mayank said something abt damaging pistons.
You guys were married meaning Mendi/you.
Infact i'll post few more adventures we did, like in Chakrata and than we did family trips as well, which would be recollected later on.
The Cook made Russian Salad.He was Good and nice and eager to please us with his service.
Another view i recollect is Tehri before sinking ..between the two streams of river and its very own paltan bazaar.
From THDC guest house you could see the double walls of Prison which i think was right below us.
Bike was mine....
It was My Yamaha we took, before that we had taken your Yamaha to Chakrata.
You are confusing here since you were the driver quite large part of time.
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