Thursday, November 18, 2010

Travelling in Kumaun

I got back a few short hours ago, and I still have not collected my thoughts. What I have done, however, is downloaded my pictures. Here then, are some images of the fortnight I spent in the mountains.

I spent Diwali with my Mian, and to go to work the following week, I needed to walk down a mountain to catch the bus to take me to the place from where I could walk to the place I'd meet my colleagues from where we would all drive down to the village. The walk was beautiful though, with the entire valley still covered in mist.
I travelled alone in the lower Gori Ganga Valley, near Munsyari. My work required me to visit three villages there, all situated several kilometers away from the nearest road head. A steep walk of a couple of hours brought me to the first chai stall of the little village of Golpha. Looming over the chai stall is the Bainti Glacier, that as far as I can make out from the map, flows down the side of Nagling peak.
No less dramatic is the road to Bona, though sadly my photograph does not do justice to the wonderful striations on the rocks. They were marvellously coloured in all manner of blues and greens. As for the stream itself, I drank from it and a more refreshing drink I've never had.

And finally, home. The train I take back to Dun lands me there at 04:30, which is a most unreasonable hour to wake my landlady. And so I generally spend a couple of hours in the waiting room. many months of doing this has led to my thinking, 'Ah, my travels are over.' when I step into it. I stretch out there, recharge my phone, read a book. Today I found a paper someone had left the day before. I had a pen, and I bought chai. What better way to unwind?

5 comments:

Unmana said...

So beautiful.

mabel said...

I'm glad you're back. I wish I could have come with you to Kumaon.

nadi said...

the consideration you have for your landlady
the pleasure you feel at finding yesterday's crossword puzzle...

thank you thank you

The Guy Next Door said...

Your posts always take me to another world, another era - I become green with envy thinking how you are living your life.

You write so beautifully - Please keep the posts coming

Anonymous said...

HI, nice pictures and nicely written log.

I had a question for you. What are the temperatures like in first and second week of November in places like Binsar, Chaukori and Munsiyari?

I am from Ahmedabad and plan to visit these places between 1st to 9th November 2011.

Thanks,
T Mehta
solveproblems@gmail.com

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