The Curious Mamma

Namastay everyone, hope you're doing well. Thanks to cyclone Mandous, it's quite cold and drizzly in Bangalore, making me feel sick. The rains haven't disappeared from the scene this year and it's time to ask, "Atithi tum kab jaoge? (When will leave o guest?)". After all, too much of anything is good for nothing! Let me recount about my visit to Badrinath (Uttarakhand), one of the four holy places of the legendary Chardham yatra, as I snuggle up in bed with my warm blanket. Being feverish, that's the only thing that I can enjoy doing, after two long days of hard work. Personally, the idea of visiting holy places to get all my wishes fulfilled and sins washed doesn't go well with my philosophy. It might have applied in the olden days, when to reach such places, people really had to go through a lot of hardships which would teach them some important life lessons, and make them better people. But with money and technology at one's disposal, one has ea

Hey there! This is my 8th post on Uttarakhand and it's quite gratifying to see you all here, bonjour! After writing about  Kanatal , the most picturesque place I have ever visited, I thought I was done raving about Uttarakhand. But how wrong I was? It was just my short-term memory that made me believe so. As pointed out by my husband Abhijeet, there were still a few unique experiences that were worth sharing. The photos of some of the awe-inspiring sites, idly sitting in my phone's memory, refreshed my memory, and here I am ready to sketch the portrait of one more stunning place in Uttarakhnd, Auli. Auli is also known as Auli bugyal, which means meadow in Garhwali. Primarily known as the skiing destination of India, tourists throng this place in winters. The skiing season was yet to start when we visited. But Auli found a place in our itinerary because of the unique stays that grabbed our attention during the exploration phase and the fact that it is hardly crowded during the o

Hello everyone, today's leaf of my diary is dedicated to a place on a tiddly hillock overlooking a small and dreamy village, backdropped by endless Himalayan ranges and boundless skies. The place that gave me a time to spend hours in nature's lap, quietly observing the symphony of nature. As the sun sauntered towards the west, it illuminated the hills and the mountains, and refashioned the clouds and the skies. It kept bedazzling me now and again, by divulging the gorgeous self-absorbed snow peaks. The peaks that would look like small sparks of light at first, would slowly transform into handsome and formidable snow-clad mountains, just like the adorable tiger cubs evolving into the royal white tigers.  The placid skies that looked somnolent at dawn appeared vibrant during the day. Warm-hearted orange skies in the evening turned eerie gray at night. Himalayan ranges modeled themselves accordingly, like their perfect foils.  What else should I say? I'm short of words to desc