The thrill of road trip lies in the journey more than the destination and when you have an equally breath taking place that you are visiting then you are surely looking for a great time. The time was a long weekend and we had booked ourselves for Music in the hills in Naukuchiatal.
Naukuchiatal is some 300 kms from Delhi and the road post Moradabad is beautiful. And once you begin the uphill drive on the road towards bhimtal, you are greeted by fresh air (which by Delhi standard, is a very rare commodity) and some picture perfect natural beauty.
We had booked an Innova. It was an early morning drive from Noida, where we all had gathered, to Naukuchiatal. It was going to be a 9 hour drive with two tea breaks in between. We were however unexpectedly held up at Moradabad due to an accident and had to stay put for half an hour. But that didn’t make much difference as we moved towards the hill. And as the wheels started rolling we started chatting, playing cards, etc and with people like Navneet, Sudhanshu and Richa in the trip we are never going to have a mute moment, of course me included in that group.
The drive up the hills was of course an uphill task, with a few of us feeling the hill sickness. Navneet’s medical advice fell on deaf ears, however the matter were under control and we all reached safely. The rooms were decent, we threw our bags in the rooms allotted and rushed for the food. The food was okay. Post our food session some of us went for boating. The resort had a beautiful lake, and the boating experience was very cool. Post boating we all got ready for the first event in the evening, performance by the Galat Family. It was an awesome performance with some great music and new songs and some re-worked ones. And as I think of that night the song ‘Sabse peeche hum khade’ starts humming in the background. Somehow I think the song has been with us ever since we left the hills, probably a memento sort of thing that we are carrying from there. Hectic drive took its toll and post the performances we all went to our respective rooms and fell asleep. Next morning I woke up early and was expecting Navneet and Richa to join me for a nature walk, but their promises fell flat, exactly the way they were on the beds and I had to go on a lone journey.
Naukuchiatal, like any other hill station is beautiful in morning. The rising sun definitely has some effect on everything that it showers its rays on, they start glowing like gold. The far mountains were wonderful. As me, AV and Tamo sat on the bank of the lake sipping our tea, we couldn’t stop talking about the beauty of this wonderful place. And thus the camera started clicking and by the time we were done, there were around 50 snaps of the very place seen thru our eyes. For me this was probably one of the most wonderful morning teas I ever had.
Next stop we had our breakfast and again, Richa, Navneet, Nitant, Ankur, Monika, Sudhanshu, Ritika and myself went out for boating. It was wonderful time. Simply sitting in the middle of lake all quite and not thinking about anything. Bliss.
We did play some pool. It was a good time. Some good game and some bad ones, but more importantly it was good time to learn some pool. The match was interrupted by some bad light and so we were to leave the game unfinished.
The evening was going to be special with Parikrama playing. And all of us were really excited, some knew about the band and the rest were really curious. The evening started with a new band Rock Shop playing but soon enuf the big daddy of Rocks in India took over and once they played, the house was literally on fire. Everyone going frenzy. So the cheers for once more kept chanting post every single performance. Though not much new numbers and almost all of them being re worked ones, it was still very well performed and the energy was what got to every one.
And post that we sat for sometime by the bonfire. Sudhanshu, Monika and myself returned to our rooms, while Richa, Nitant, Ankur and Navneet spent some more time by the fire.
It was dumb charade time in the room and it lasted till early hours of the morning. Then Yogya, Saurabh and myself took what we call our last nature walk in the valley. Post that we went to bed. By the time I woke up it was time to return. We had our breakfast, took some snaps. Packed our bags and bid adieu to this wonderful place.
The journey back was a bit tiring. We halted at Ginger to have some tea and refreshments and then we moved on. Richa entertained all of us with her lively performance of “Sabse peeche hum khade”. And as the wheel kept rolling a few wickets fell into the bed of sleep and that left Navneet, Sudhanshu and me to fight over movies. But soon tireness had its grip strong on us and we too succumbed. And as we reached home, we had brought back with us freshness of the hills, the energy of the bands and lots of memories, some captured thru cameras and some beautiful etched in our heart...
Goodbye hills...
Naukuchiatal is some 300 kms from Delhi and the road post Moradabad is beautiful. And once you begin the uphill drive on the road towards bhimtal, you are greeted by fresh air (which by Delhi standard, is a very rare commodity) and some picture perfect natural beauty.
We had booked an Innova. It was an early morning drive from Noida, where we all had gathered, to Naukuchiatal. It was going to be a 9 hour drive with two tea breaks in between. We were however unexpectedly held up at Moradabad due to an accident and had to stay put for half an hour. But that didn’t make much difference as we moved towards the hill. And as the wheels started rolling we started chatting, playing cards, etc and with people like Navneet, Sudhanshu and Richa in the trip we are never going to have a mute moment, of course me included in that group.
The drive up the hills was of course an uphill task, with a few of us feeling the hill sickness. Navneet’s medical advice fell on deaf ears, however the matter were under control and we all reached safely. The rooms were decent, we threw our bags in the rooms allotted and rushed for the food. The food was okay. Post our food session some of us went for boating. The resort had a beautiful lake, and the boating experience was very cool. Post boating we all got ready for the first event in the evening, performance by the Galat Family. It was an awesome performance with some great music and new songs and some re-worked ones. And as I think of that night the song ‘Sabse peeche hum khade’ starts humming in the background. Somehow I think the song has been with us ever since we left the hills, probably a memento sort of thing that we are carrying from there. Hectic drive took its toll and post the performances we all went to our respective rooms and fell asleep. Next morning I woke up early and was expecting Navneet and Richa to join me for a nature walk, but their promises fell flat, exactly the way they were on the beds and I had to go on a lone journey.
Naukuchiatal, like any other hill station is beautiful in morning. The rising sun definitely has some effect on everything that it showers its rays on, they start glowing like gold. The far mountains were wonderful. As me, AV and Tamo sat on the bank of the lake sipping our tea, we couldn’t stop talking about the beauty of this wonderful place. And thus the camera started clicking and by the time we were done, there were around 50 snaps of the very place seen thru our eyes. For me this was probably one of the most wonderful morning teas I ever had.
Next stop we had our breakfast and again, Richa, Navneet, Nitant, Ankur, Monika, Sudhanshu, Ritika and myself went out for boating. It was wonderful time. Simply sitting in the middle of lake all quite and not thinking about anything. Bliss.
We did play some pool. It was a good time. Some good game and some bad ones, but more importantly it was good time to learn some pool. The match was interrupted by some bad light and so we were to leave the game unfinished.
The evening was going to be special with Parikrama playing. And all of us were really excited, some knew about the band and the rest were really curious. The evening started with a new band Rock Shop playing but soon enuf the big daddy of Rocks in India took over and once they played, the house was literally on fire. Everyone going frenzy. So the cheers for once more kept chanting post every single performance. Though not much new numbers and almost all of them being re worked ones, it was still very well performed and the energy was what got to every one.
And post that we sat for sometime by the bonfire. Sudhanshu, Monika and myself returned to our rooms, while Richa, Nitant, Ankur and Navneet spent some more time by the fire.
It was dumb charade time in the room and it lasted till early hours of the morning. Then Yogya, Saurabh and myself took what we call our last nature walk in the valley. Post that we went to bed. By the time I woke up it was time to return. We had our breakfast, took some snaps. Packed our bags and bid adieu to this wonderful place.
The journey back was a bit tiring. We halted at Ginger to have some tea and refreshments and then we moved on. Richa entertained all of us with her lively performance of “Sabse peeche hum khade”. And as the wheel kept rolling a few wickets fell into the bed of sleep and that left Navneet, Sudhanshu and me to fight over movies. But soon tireness had its grip strong on us and we too succumbed. And as we reached home, we had brought back with us freshness of the hills, the energy of the bands and lots of memories, some captured thru cameras and some beautiful etched in our heart...
Goodbye hills...
0 comments:
Post a Comment