Escape from the City to Himalaya

Lying in a bed in a quiet cool neat room and watching blue sky, snow clad mountains, surrounding terrace farms ,listening to chirping of various birds and feel of nice chill weather.  
The much desired setting when you are in the middle of sweat hot atmosphere.

My plan of revisiting Doditaal trekking with Girivihar in this month of May got messed up because of persistent heel pain. I had to quit from that plan but when I tried cancelling my flight tickets it turned out that I would get hardly any reimbursement . I had no plans during this trekking period. Vacations were on.  So I made an escape plan. I could always spend time in  uttarkashi or in one of the small village and use that as my cool leisure and  birding pleasure till the time group completes their trek.

The trip started by meeting few trekmates at airport . With usual leg pulling we started our lively journey. As expected Delhi was boiling hot. But we had planned our day. ‘Khanchacha’ an excellent food joint at Cannought place was prime in the list so we headed towards it and I got my first experience of Delhi Metro.

Khanchacha’s food was extraordinary .. The kabbabs , kathi rolls and aromatic Biryani was mouth watering. 

After this relishing lunch I took refuge in my friend Gargi;s place till the train timing.
 A cool nap , some spicy and some heart warming chat between two old friends was refreshing.
 By 6 o’ clock we moved out for a drive , dinner and drop.

She took me to a cozy arty place called Triveni sangam , an art gallery with other performing art auditoriums including an open air one. The canteen had some interesting menu and we gave moderate justice to it.

Before dropping me at the station Gargi asked the driver to take a round around Rashrtapati Bhavan.. Wow ,that was nice thought. It was many many years ago when  I had visited there and that too only in the day time. The illuminated facade of Rashtrapati Bhavan were extremely eye catching. Giving it almost celluloid effect.

 With this extravagant experience we headed towards New Delhi Station.  Met co travelers and boarded Nandadevi express.

Reached Haridwar Early morning at 4.30am and landed in Uttarkashi that same day by 5pm by jeep. Though  the   place was 7 kilometers away from the city it was hot and purely filled with holy and pilgrim people and stays were just right them. Also the wide spread wildfire all around that area was disheartening and making the air very hazy.

 My plan to stay back all the days till the trekking group returns at this place was just not working rightly. I was looking for a quiet and green place to camp myself where I can do birding too.I asked for plan B suggestion to our trek operator who also was at Uttarkashi with us. One friend suggested a place rather a Base village  where they had stayed during last years trek. And after few phone calls my plan was set.

The History behind me staying back was hidden in my Heel . The right heel which not at all right and ready to get right. It was Planter’s fiscitis which was  developed 6 months back wasn’t ready leave me. I had planned 2 big trips during the  may month vacation , one Birding trip to Nagaland Kaziranga 
and other Doditaal trek , a trek which would give some nostalgic experience. 
This was the place we were taken to during my Adventure mountaineering course held by NIM way back in 1986. 

 I completed my Birding trip somehow because there we didn’t need to walk far places. But trekking was just not possible.   

Next day after seeing off trekkers I packed my luggage and left to visit my life changing institute , where I learned all skills of trekking , ice climbing and mountaineering .

 ‘Nehru Institute of mountaineering ‘   most acclaimed organization in all mountaineering institutes. It is known for it’s discipline , knowledge and toughness. I had been to this place twice before to do Adventure course and Basic mountaineering course in 1986 and 1988 respectively. So this was my third visit to the place as a visitor this time after exactly 30 years.

The visit obviously made me nostalgic. the fragrance of pine trees... my first love with fragrances as such.

Luckily I had carried few photographs clicked during my Basic course. The building looked just the same. Although there were lot of new structures around it . Pandit Nehru’s Statue was a new addition too.  I am that way a selfie fan. I like to click myself at the places of remembrance. But I don’t know how but I just kept on clicking with my canon SX50 , even the places matching to my old photographs but it just didn’t strike me to place myself into those places….

 
                                                             

 Aah. Moment lost for lifetime.

Any way after that wonderful nostalgic visit I moved on towards Barsu ,the place of my dream destination.

the road which was slithering parallel to the Bhagirathi river for almost one and half hour suddenly took a U pin turn and started climbing steeply with winding turns. with in twenty minutes we reached a roadhead which was a beautiful place called Barsu.

 ... a tiny chirping village on the slope of lush green mountain facing the range of mountains on the other side of the river and behind them one could see snow clad mountains.

The contact guide  Vipin at Barsu first offered me a homestay ….. which was  actually his own room in house where locals were staying with old stained bed covers and pillows , no attached toilet . And a cute little goat ready to share my bed.

 Though the people were nice ,I wasn’t prepared for my hiking style living so I asked him to look for some other location. The GVTN guest house was expecting guests next day so the caretaker allowed me to stay for one night , by then My guide arranged my stay at a decent home stay with a separate room with attached toilet bathroom.

This homestay was not only neat and cozy by look but the family staying adjacent was cozy too. Mother and her 15 year old son Adarsh  who had come for vacation from Uttarkashi were sweet and polite.  Adarsh with his obvious inquisitiveness showed a lot of interest in the birding I was doing all 5 days.

So on 30^th May I left from GVTN rest house early morning for jungle trail which started just after the  rest house. My venture to reach till the ridge in a slow pace , observing many bird species was very fruitful . with streaked laughing thrushes ( which are behaving almost like sparrows here),

 Rufous crowned laughing thrush , Gould’s Sunbird , 

and two lifers … Pied thrush and Straited Prinia.

Also got a brilliant click of yellow breasted Green finch

After the morning session I shifted to the above said  homestay 

and had good feel of my vacation by doing some reading , typing and resting for the rest of the day.

My guide Vipin had told me about a scenic waterfall sight at the end of the village ridge. So we decided to go there on the next day but before that I did my 2 hour birding on the road side  and discovered few things like russet sparrows had their nest in the hollow of a dead tree.

 Grey bushchat pair  was busy raring his family … the mysterious bird I clicked many times turned out to be juvenile of Grey Bushchat.

 As I was about to click a bird perched on top of the tree,  suddenly a bigger rusty coloured bird flew him away and sat on the perch watching me inquisitively … and to my utter surprise it was rusty cheeked Scimitar babbler. Wow what a treat. 

 The black and white bird with yellow beak clicked today confirmed that the bird I saw a day before was Pied thrush.
 Also saw flock of Slaty headed parakeets. And clicked  a decent shot.

After breakfast Bipin  Adarsh and myself headed towards  the waterfall ,  Bipin had used the word ‘zarnaa’ so actually I was imagining a stream so no high expectations. 

A concrete footpath crossed the village and started descending steeply. And then there were broken patches , badly broken .

 At this point Bipin told me about the disaster occurred in2013 Himalayan cloud burst. All this damage and also vast land on the bank of the stream was lost during that flood. The village has started sinking slowly after that mishap. A cold chill ran through my bones.

Slowly we moved towards the sound of falling water and the sight I experienced passing the curve path of a stone was just mesmerizing . A huge waterfall falling from a gorge on my left creating one pool flowing through rocks creating one more fall and a crystal clear pool and falling down again to more plain ground for a while . wow just wow.

 We spent almost an hour there appreciating the scene and trying to search for birds. And bingo I got clicks of Straited Prinia here too who came flying and clinged on the vertical rock of the mountain face across.  Brown dipper had given a glance just the time when we reached there but no luck later. Same with little forktail .  a single individual sat just for moment and flew away. 
But the overwhelming feeling being at such place was satisfactory.
 We returned by lunch time. The canteen outside homestay was fair enough to fulfill my basic food requirements.

Afternoon was lazy cozy and eventful in a way.
 Just after my nap I could hear heavy rainfall or wind  like sound , there was nothing happening around the home but the sky beyond the ridge in front from my window started developing weird cloud  formation and there it was ….



 A storm not very strong but flying all loose things in its path . rain wasn’t strong. This was the storm probably was responsible to create a cloud burst at Tehri and Paudi that day.  I just had my peace time while the storm was on. And a packing done for the next day.

 Adarsh had suggested me about visiting Dayraa on Mule as it was something whichwas easily possible and I don’t know when I ever come here again. As I had mentioned earlier Baarsu is base village for a famous trekking destination called Dayaraa Bugyaal.
 I thought over it again and again whether to do this or no. And my adventurous mind won over wise one.
 Vipin arranged a Mule and with few fruits and parathas for breakfast we left  for the venture on 1st May morning 6.15 am.
 I had butterflies in my stomach and felt like laughing out nervously while I climbed on that tiny animal. It was much smaller than the Horses I have rode all these years at Matheran or Mahabaleshwar.  And started doubting on his capacity but the ghodewala and Bipin assured me and there we moved up.
                   


 The steep climb was challenging for Mule sometimes and for me all the time. But I mastered the tack and started enjoying the challenge up to the level that I could take few photographs while on the mule back .

                   

Mules quick steps took us to the top in four and half hours.  Bugyaal is gadhwali name for meadows … so here we reached to the beautiful meadows of Dayraa.

This was a meadow 500 meters down the actual Budyaal but the lake , waves of meadows and herds of sheep made a picture perfect.






 On the way up I could click some birds like Himalayan Woodpecker


white collered blackbird  


 Ultramarine Flycatcher though my lifer , I could't get a good picture of it.  


Verditar Flycatcher gave me a ramp walk at Barnala camp on our way to Dayaaraa.

There was a patch of bushes on one of the slopes in the open grass meadow. I could observe some activity there  so just spent a lot of time finding and clicking which turned out to be Himalayan Bluetail male and female.

 Stripe throated Yuhina gave a quick visit.









 During a stroll in the meadows we, Vipin, Ghodewala and myself sat at some point where there happened to be a sub adult female buffalo sitting at a safe distance. After a while she got up and slowly started walking towards me as if she is sniffing me. I think she was curious… I made no hasty moments in fact I felt a sort of friendly connection. She came till my hands length I had started talking to her since I realized her approach. She came close .  I raised my hand and allowed her to sniff and then I slowly patted and scratched her cheeks , she allowed and let me do this for a while and left the spot as she felt content .

                           

 Haah, again a memorable sweet moment. But one which will instigate my trekking friends to tease me as friend of buffalo. :)

I could click two more species on the slopes of Bugyaal which coal Tit and Female of Blue fronted Redstart.

As planned we started our return ride after a hot meal prepared by a villagemen who runs a small hotel in a stone hut . this place is used by village men to raise their cattles. 

There is even a tribe living on the top called gujjar who spend all their life here looking after their buffalos . they climb all the way down every day to Barsu to sell milk.

So back to our return journey. The start itself was really scary as the path was a steep slope almost 60 degrees angle and I sitting on top the mule was really unstable and unsure how to keep my balance and courage so after the first slope I stepped down and walked on all such steep slopes. A freak sudden moment of our mule near one camp  because of one cattle and thunder rumble tasted my skill of horse riding . luckily I never let my grip get lost else there would have been Juee with scattered limbs. This incidence followed rains and we had to take refuge in a hut at a between camp.  Even with so much interruptions we reached Barsu by 5 pm. 
Thanks to my buddy...




And the team

 So it was an unbelievably successful completion of my Dayraa plan. Happy to tick.

Next day was open for new venture . secret plan with Adarsh was to swim in the stream below the waterfall  we had seen previous day. He had shared about their regular swim excursions on that day. So all set for the next plan.  I was excited for the ice cold water dip although I had aching body from top to toe after that adventurous mule ride .

Next day Adarsh accompanied me for my early morning birding first . today we got grey winged blackbird and verditar flycatcher. Later after breakfast we headed towards the stream . again a steep downward path.  Suddenly their arrived mix hunting party of tiny birds . it was absolutely crazy to attempt any clicks but luckily I got two. And they were canary flycatcher and black throated tits. Finally we reached that wonderful pool where the water was crystal clear and cold.

 Little forktails were taking their rushing rounds every now and then.

After admiring their presence we got all set for a dip. Adarsh and his friend lit a nice fire as a refuge after the cold water dip. 






And then we had great time diving , jumping swimming for a while . we would take refuge at the fire after every dip to recover body heat.  




Out of the world fun experience. All thanks to Adarsh. I was searching for brown dipper all the time during  our activity. But no luck. After enough dips we changed cloths and climbed upwards to appreciate the fall and then bit downwards to take a good look of the stream . and there she was .. 

Brown dipper busy feeding at the other edge of the stream. I took pictures as well as a nice video to record her unique behavior. This airborne thrush like bird actually swims in the water not only swim but dive and swim underwater.That was cherry on the cake at the return of our excursion.

My mind was just overwhelmed with todays experience and realizing that it was my last day this wonderful beautiful little village. So today I had good chat with Adarsh’s mother and and an inquisitive old neighbor who had all the questions to ask about me and my background.
 Afternoon was spent lying on bed and recuperating morning sessions swim.

Next morning was my last morning at Barsu . My stay in that simple neat room was over. Jeep arrived and I left waiving bye to the host family with a promise to send Adarsh a set of hindi story books. and Vipin who had helped me a lot to arrange many things during my stay. 

I had told the driver to drive slow for me to have some birding time. I could get some common birds but a grey hooded warbler and surprise arrival of paradise flycatcher. 




The Bird I sighted , clicked and thought it is Grey headed woodpecker  on the slopes above in the dark niche was later identified as Scaly bellied woodpecker . So bagged a lifer in the last lap of the jouney. ;)

The return lap till Mumbai from here was nothing special except the effective traffic handling done by Hrishikesh and haridwar police. Being a Sunday evening we were fearing of major traffic jam but we were diverted effectively on a canal road .though it was a bad dusty road we kept moving , never got stuck at any place , the road actually went through Rajaji forest reserve which was specially kept open to avoid traffic issue I suppose. So we reached haridwar uneventfully and the rest of the journey till Mumbai too got over seamlessly bringing me back to reality and my mind started listing out pending jobs waiting for me here to deal with.



The Loving Family of Adarsh..