Mukteshwar - A farewell to Himalayas

At times your Manager (who even though is a very nice person) will appear to you as the worst villain in Bollywood movie! For me, my Manager seemed to be one of them throughout the week. Till the last moment I was afraid he would know my plans, call me to his cabin and say..

"Praveen.. I heard you are planning some trip this weekend when you should be in office giving knowledge transfer for your friends!"

However nothing of that sort happened. And luckily I was able to finish the KT process by Thursday itself! Still, since I didn't want any last minute plan change I tried to stay away from my Manager and his cabin!

Friday evening we left early to Shoyeb's home in Dwaraka from where were would start in 2 cars at 10 PM. Our initial strength of 13 had come down (as usual) and was at 8. Jay was going home. Subrat had office work. Emotionally blackmailing Varun didn't work either. His better half Radhika was coming to Delhi! Rajesh really wanted to come with us, but he was having an interview on Tuesday. There was only once chance for his joining the trip which was - his getting the job for which he had given an interview in Bangalore the previous day. Till 6.00 there was no call from the HR of that company and no mails. Finally we realized we would be missing him in this last trip. But at 6:30 everything changed with a message from the HR! He got the offer and he was coming with us!!!!

Prashant, Rahul, Himanshu, Sandy and Ankit @ Shoyeb's place. After a dinner of Dal and Rice, we started sharply at 10 PM.

Somewhere near Kathgodham the next morning

Our first break for tea and snacks @ kathgodam

Rajesh after his first over-night drive.

Shoyeb's car ahead of us

The first view of snow clad Himalayas. I was worried I would not get to see this before going to south!

The climate was good (not at all hot) unlike our recent Chakrata trip. Everywhere we could see trees and forest.

At 9:30 AM, after an almost 12 hrs drive we reached our resort Trishul Orchard in Mukteshwar and this was the view that welcomed us!

The beautiful resort is run by Vikram and his family with a group of very helpful staff! I had heard a lot about this place from Shoyeb (this was his 4th visit) and I liked it instantly for the view it offers and also the peaceful atmosphere. Later I came to know that this place is also a Health & Adventure Resort with fully furnished rooms and wooden cottages. There are also tents for those who prefer to stay in one and enjoy the nature. The resort also had its own garden full of trees such as apple, plum, peaches, blackberries etc.

After an early lunch we relaxed for a while and discussed about the day's activities. We came to know that there were 2 waterfalls near by. Even though we knew the chances of finding water was nil, we decided to give one of them a try. Even if there is no water, we could at least explore the place.

Himanshu and Rahul

After checking out with some local people, we were told that we would find a small stream if we managed to go down the hill through a dense forest. We were ready!

After struggling with the dense vegetation, we finally reached the bottom of the ravine. Though there was not much water, we decided to take bath in the small stream there.

Ashu and Prashant finally found us and the stream!

The waterfall at last!

Rajesh taking some risks..

Sandy

After taking bath, and relaxing for some time we decided to return as we had to go to Chauthi Jaali a popular view point in Mukteshwar.

Our plan was to reach Chauthi Jaali around sunset so that we could enjoy the sun set view. The Chauthi Jaali close to the Mukteshwar temple is a group of rock formation with some of them jutting out like spikes.

Ankit, Rahul and Himanshu!

Shoyeb and Rajesh

The band of brothers. (I knew I would surely miss them a lot)

A beautiful sun set in Mukteshwar.

We came back to the resort and freshen up. The night was getting colder, be we wanted to enjoy it. ( we had been missing it in Gurgaon and Delhi since early feb) A camp fire was started and we all were seated around it. A group of friends, a camp fire, snacks* and stories... what else do you need for a final trip!

We didnt know how time passed and it was very late when we finally decided to go and have our dinner before going to sleep.

The next morning - Sun rise

Sunrise over the Himalayas - the Nepal himalayas!

Morning walk is good for health. Himanshu and the pup.

Vikram (middle) with Himanshu and Ankit

Breakfast @ Trishul Orchard

We decided to have a relaxed morning. Doing nothing. just playing cards/TT/sleeping/chasing the butterflies with cameras. We decided to leave after lunch and hoped we would escape the traffic jams on the way.

The greatest bluff masters!

After lunch, it was time to return. The usual sadness of having to go back home/office! No one actually wanted to leave the place. If it were earlier times we would have happily extended our stay one more day and skipped 1 day @ office. But it was my final days in office and I didn't want to extend my notice period.

I was very sad I was leaving the North... leaving the Himalayas... leaving my Friends! If only things hadn't changed.. If only..

All were ready and leaving... I too said my farewell to Vikram and promised him I would return to this beautiful place whenever I come back to the north. I still don't know what made this place special - whether it was the beauty and peaceful atmosphere of this place or whether this being our last trip before going back to the South. But one thing I knew. That this place is going to be one of my favorite destinations in Uttaranchal and that I would surely come back one day!