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...

After visiting the Eco Park in Dhanaulti , we headed towards Surkanda (सुरकंडा) devi temple . The temple is at an altitude of approximately 2700 meters. One can enjoy the panoramic view of the surrounding valleys and the Himalayan ranges from the top. From the motor road, one can either trek for around 2-3 kms to reach the temple or can avail the ropeway service from the station located just a few steps away. The ropeway ride costs  ₹ 250 per head for a round trip.  The ropeway ride As mentioned in my earlier post , you can skip the Bhatta Falls ropeway if you plan to visit Surkanda devi temple by ropeway, which is longer and provides an amazing bird's-eye view of the lush green valley.  View from the ropeway cable car It was quite sunny when we started, but as we started moving upward, the climate kept getting cloudier and colder. Riding back to the base in the cable cart offered a wider view of the surroundings, as seen in the video.  The temple Surkanda ...

Howdy, folks! While I eagerly wait to see the results of the ongoing work, by our much anticipated and rigorously researched helper, Mr. Dishwasher, hired in order to ease  the effects of 'maid induced stress' syndrome, typically found in Indian women,  let me start this yet another page of my Uttarakhand diaries, to divert my attention towards something that's truly pleasant!     On our way from Mussoorie to Kanatal, we visited a couple of places, the first one being Dhara Eco Park, Dhanaulti . Dhanaulti is one more quiet and beautiful hill station in Uttarakhand and has many tourist places. Talking about  Dhara Eco Park, it b asically is a hillock covered with Oak and Deodar trees, and is developed into a tourist spot by the Divisional Forest Office (DFO) and the natives of Dhanaulti.  The atmosphere of the park was tranquil. There were hardly any visitors when we reached there. We started following the trails leading to the top of the hill. Kids enjoyed ...

 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 Maha...

Hey there, how are you? Here I am, hoping to delight you with a new page of the Uttarakhand Diaries! Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start... Remember the Do-Re-Mi song from the musical,  The Sound of Music ? Hoping that our holidays will be as pleasant as the song, we landed at Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun which indeed turned out to be a very good place to start. We were received by a jovial cabbie who quickly won our hearts with his obliging demeanor. He was to accompany us throughout our journey.  By the time we reached Dehradun, it was already 1.30 pm, so we stopped for lunch at a dhaba in the woods. It served us flavorsome dishes at very reasonable prices, quite an event for Bangalorians like us.   As we headed towards Mussoorie, our car started meandering along the hilly roads. The quaint cottages neatly tucked into the sunbathed terraced hills appeared perfectly poised.  The alpine Himalayan forests that followed looked so welco...

Hello everyone, after your overwhelming response to my previous post , I'm delighted to share my experiences with  itinerary  planning, just in case that helps you. Actually, the word "planning" sounds so trite these days, thanks to the corporate world for all those long and nonproductive planning meetings. But, when it comes to trips, ceremonies, or festivities, the same word feels so enlivening! Remember the school trips? As soon as the teacher made the most awaited school trip announcement, our discussions and planning would start. Amongst the things to be carried along, the thing of paramount importance would be the food. After all, the school trip was the only occasion when we could share things like cupcakes, chips (wafers, as we used to call them at that time), sandwiches, toffees, and chewing-gums with our school friends. Wasn't that exciting? Image courtesy: https://twitter.com/poohbearwisdom/status/1220676113313280000 The process of planning the Uttarakhand ...

Hey there, hope you are doing good. After the post on a solo trip (with kids) to Channapatna , here I come, with a series of posts related to my family vacation to Uttarakhand , the land of cosmic mountains, breathtaking landscapes, thrilling adventures, holy places, yoga, and wellness.  Let's begin our conversation with a question. How do you usually pick a holiday destination? For a long weekend, you must be going for the places already known to you or new places suggested by your friends or Google baba. If you have a little longer holidays, you must either be visiting famous tourist places like Maldives (the new celebrity destination), Singapore, Bali, and so on! If you have a specific purpose in your mind, like trekking or pilgrimage or adventure, you must be looking for places that fulfill the same. What was our reason for plumping for Uttarakhand? The answer is 'none of the above'. We wanted to visit Uttarakhand for some of the really unusual reasons. Curious? Do rea...