Falling in love with the Himalayas

 Hello, how are you doing today? If the day has been good so far, nothing like that! But if that's not the case, I hope to bring a good cheer to you with the second leaf of my Uttarakhand diaries. 

After spending a memorable time in Mussoorie, we left for Kanatal around 8.30 a.m. As our vehicle started spiraling down the Mussoorie hills, we started beholding the heavenly views of the valley covered with a thick white blanket of clouds. It literally felt like being on cloud nine. Here are a couple of stanzas of the poem 'Sea of Clouds' by Kaila George which precisely capture how I felt: 

The wind blew so softly around
as I sat and gazed at all
the beauty of Mother Nature's wonderful grace

The endless sea of clouds
as they drifted on by
made me feel like
I was floating on cloud nine

As we climbed further down, our car started moving through the clouds. This jogged my memory of my mom's reminiscences of her childhood days in Lonavala, a beautiful hill station in Maharashtra. Further down, the valley started resembling a tent, now covered with the same thick cover of clouds. This descent from Mussoorie hills was an amazing experience!

मौसम मस्ताना, रस्ता अंजाना, जाने कब किस मोड़ पे बन जाए कोई अफ़साना |

Remember this melodious song from 'Satte Pe Satta' sung by Asha? Every twist and twirl in this journey, unveiled a new spectacle put in place by the fog, the clouds, the hills, and the trees, in front of our eyes. 

Image Courtesy: Abhijeet

As the day progressed, pushing the cloudy blanket away, bright sunrays broke into the surroundings, waking up the sleepy cottages in the valley and enlivening the whole atmosphere. Admiring the green, frilly velvet robes of the hills, we reached the bottom of Mussoorie. Soon, we started seeing faraway ranges of mountains. A thick layer of clouds covered the top of the last visible range. 

The same cover of clouds started glinting as the sun ascended further. What caused this mischievous twinkle in the clouds' eyes? Waiting eagerly to reveal their secret, the sunrays started pushing them away, uncovering the marvelous sight of the snow-clad mountains shining in the sun. 

How majestic? How noble? The sight made us awe-struck! In his epic 'Kumarasambhavam', the great poet Kalidasa, describes Himalaya as the king of mountains, ensouled with divinity. It spreads from the sea on the east (Arabian Sea) to the one on it's west (Bay of Bengal) and is the paragon of the Earth. 

अस्युत्तरस्यां दिशि देवतात्मा हिमालयो नाम नगाधिराजः ।

पूर्वापरौ तोयनिधी वगाह्य स्थितः पृथिव्यां इव मानदण्डः ॥

And now I know why he says so! Even now, sitting here in my room, when I think about the mighty Himalaya, my heart fills with awe, admiration, love, and joy. As the Chinese ruler Shing Xiong rightly says,

“In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away.”

The breathtaking landscapes of Uttarakhand gave us many such moments. Immersed in the splendid scenery all around us, we soon reached Dhanaulti, a quiet hill station. What did Dhanaulti present us with? I will tell you the next time we meet. Till then, live life king-size, bye, and take care!