April 16 2006

Ranikhet-Bheemtal-Saattal-Noida

Rahul and I managed to get up at 4:00 AM and went through our daily routine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dabur Industries limited for making such wonderful little green gems of pudin-hara. Even after hogging so much the other day, my stomach was still with me and happy. As usual, we had to push the other guys to get ready asap. We finished taking some toasts and tea for breakfast by 7:00 AM and started descending for Bhowali. Somehow every one of us got diverted to different routes and lost whereabouts of each other, until I found them at a village waiting for me. Then again, I lost those guys. Simple fact, I was able to drive at 45-55 km/h and others around 60-65 km/h. Morning drive was simply awesome due to the freshness in the air and surroundings. We found a bike parked somewhere in trees on a uphill slope and started surmising the possible reasons but soon realized that we have plenty of other good things to think about. I am really thankful to Vinu for taking such good pictures. I seriously encouraged him to do some more serious photography.


We parked at Bheemtal by 9:15 AM. It was a big lake with a lone rock and rest-spot in midst. There was not much to admire as the mountains were brownish due to very less vegetation, but this would definitely look amazing during rainy season. Also, we did not feel like boating in the lake.


We saw a duckling enjoying swimming with its parents and the party grabbed a still. After some refreshments (lays, H2O etc.) we left for Sattal. As the name suggests there are seven different lakes, rather they used to be. Now, government has connected 4 of them for boating activities to promote tourism (money, money, money …).
The lakes are situated at a quite lower height. I felt the road was quite steep plus bit narrow. It was horrible to see some people drive rashly on curves without responding to honks. Some people just can’t get rid of their carelessness. The view from height was quite amazing. The vegetation around the lake was simply awesome as compared to Bheemtal. We were quite excited to get down and do some boating in this lake.


Mr. Joshi caught us while we were parking near the stalls. He was an outspoken guy speaking fluently with lots of guts. He promised to take care of our luggage and we decided to go paddling in the lake. He charged 120 bucks for the complete boat ride and he himself was paddling. He told us quite a bit about this place and how it is secluded from the mainstream spots near Ranikhet and Nainital. We believed the guy as the ambience was still serene. Others decided to hire a rowing boat for fun. I wasn’t quite sure whether the lakes we visited had clean or dirty greenish water until Mr. Joshi clarified that it is because of reflection from surroundings. One good thing about Sattal is that one can come here for camping, and also to get a taste of adventure sports and some wild life. We spotted a YMCA rest house close to the lake shore where we can stay for a night or two. He suggested that there is a nice trek of 18kms to Kathgodam, the nearest railway station. He mentioned about some river and round the year waterfall which lie in the way.
While we were relaxing in the boats, we saw a Bhojpuri film being rolled with some known actress (name I forgot). Families who were boating nearby were quite excited to see the actress and admiring her beauty, and I was wondering how much layers of make-up she might be having at this moment. We did not have any interest either in the movie shooting nor the “beautiful actress”. Sandeep was having a blast here rowing the boat, but unfortunately, this time he wasn’t wearing his antique helmet.


We were thirsty and hungry by this time and decided to have lunch in Mr. Joshi’s restaurant (he was keeping our bags). I had some rajmah and jeera rice along with fruit juices. It was almost 12:30 PM when we were on the road again heading back to Noida via Haldwani-Kathgodam-Rudrapur-Rampur-Moradabad-Ghaziabad-Noida.
Bheemtal onwards the descent was quite steep and the roads were hell smooth. I took one or two risky overtakes, but soon was in control. I wasn’t quite able to catch up with everyone, Raghu stopped at Haldwani to fill some air. Rahul was moving ahead of us but always keeping in touch through cell phones. The roads were wide and good as soon as we crossed Kathgodam. I could feel the fire in the sun rays but wind was helping in maintaining the body temperature. There were lots of trees on the either side of road filtering most of the heat. We again met 20kms before Rudrapur and somehow, I was ahead of Rahul. I had some water and others enjoyed sugarcane juice. We relaxed for 15-20 minutes and hit on the road again by 2:15 PM. This was the last time I saw Rahul before reaching Noida. We all had decided to drive real hard to atleast cross Hapur bypass before sun uncle says saiyo-nara for the day.
I could easily distinguish the dust and pollution in the air. This stretch was a little rough on tyres. I took one more stop to have some cold-drink and buy some water for the journey ahead. It was a small shop in some village. I was lucky enough to get the stuff chilled enough to give a good feeling. Raghu caught up with me at a police check post where they asked us to show all the papers. They were hunting for bakras to jugaadofy dough for todays liquor bill.

Me: Sahab delhi tak jaana hai kyon saaman khulwaa rahein hain
One: Wo to thik hai per jitna jaldi papers dikhaoge utna jaldi aage jaa paaoge
Me: arre sahib saaman baandhne main dikkat ho jaayegi
One: Dekho aise to jaane nahien de sakte. Aage bhi checking hogi, abhi nikaal lo kaam aayenge
Me (after fetching the papers): kahiye kaunsa kaagaz dikhaon?
Two: sub dikhao ek ek kar ke.
Me: aap bolo to sahi
Two (got frustrated of me): tum idhar laao
One: insurance jaroor se dekhna
Two: kya sub theek hain. Jaao abhi bag main upar rakh lo aage bhi checking hogi. Abe kisi ko (bikers only) mat jaane do.
Three: Arre sahib janaani hai saath main jaane dijiye..
Me (frustrated outside and smiling within): kya sahib der karwa di aapne.. keh raha tha jaane dijiye

Later I realized that someone stole my gloves while I was showing papers to those policemen. Well, I felt 40 bucks are insignificant to the distance and time ahead, so hit on the road right away.
As soon as I joined NH-24 again, the road was pretty good and it was lot easier to maintain a speed of 50 km/h. I kept bumping in Raghu once in a while and Rahul kept in touch through cell phone. I took one more stop at a dhaba around 5:00PM for some Lassi but had to manage with a Mango Frooti. I decided to go non-stop from here and reached Hapur bypass by 6:00PM. There onwards, I drove at a speed of 70 km/h until it was dark enough to switch on the headlights.
The closer I got to Ghaziabad the worse was the traffic. It was poles apart to what we saw in the early morning going to Nainital. Soon, I found out the reason for it. Some minister’s son or daughter was getting married that day and the reason of slow traffic. Traffic was running slow for almost a stretch of 2-3 km around the venue. I was wondering, why the heck such guys have to pain others even when there is a celebration time.
After, a continuous drive of 3 hours, I reached Gateway Apartments S-51 Noida where I met Vinu and Rahul. He surprised me by saying that it was not more than 10 minutes since he has the reached the apartment. Strange isn’t it!!! I was faster than expected.

Other snaps from the day