To that Faraway place...
So we had set out to the Himalayas, not exactly to find the
inner self, but to explore the place that promises it… the destination was this
resort in Uttarakhand, Faraway Renz (around 320 kms from Delhi, sitting cozy, at
4200 ft), but then as they say focus on the journey, not the destination… so
will talk of the destination when we reach there. Till then, lets get lost in the
road that winds through the jungles of Corbett and then up the hills, and takes
us to our destination… as we cross the towns of Gajraula, Moradabad, Kashipur, Ramnagar
one after the other, the human habitat thins, and we are greeted by the
inhabitants of the wild. The buffer area of Corbett, after a drive of 240 kms, may
not see Cats that often, but is home to the more sociable kinds, the deer, the
langoors, the peacocks… they must have appeared on social media more often than
me perhaps, given that every other visitor clicks pictures with them and every
other picture finds its way to facebook! However, we were looking forward,
rather upward, to the mountains, so we had to let this wilderness pass by for
now… 
As we went past the town of Ramnagar and started our hilly
ascent, along the flanks of the river Ramganga, the turns and the bends led us
up slowly and steadily… the sun played peek-a-boo from behind the peaks, clouds
began their descent down, the mountains adorned themselves with all possible
shades of green, the valley bore our trail behind… the spectacle before
us ensured we stuck our head out of the window all through the drive into the
windy mystery and country love… only to be distracted by the occasional beeps
of google maps who kept a check on us from time to time, reminding us of our
destination… at one point, while we were still doused in the surroundings, in
middle of the narrow(est) road, what seemed to be a no-mans land, the maps
declared ‘arrival’… we had gone so ‘faraway’ to a point that u-turn was not
possible, literally, so we went further in search of the ‘renz’…
In the chilly afternoons, we would be finding a place to laze in the sun… this sun-baths got so very addictive, that as the sun was on its way to set, we kept finding new places to get some more of it, moving to the last possible point, beyond which we could have actually toppled down the cliff… but then the sunset too was as magical, and musical… the evenings were spent working our way with the barbecue, roasting our hands and feet, more than the food… sitting around the fire, making silent conversations, staring at the starry sky, occasionally adjusting the fire wood, calmness creeping in, feeling lighter as the thoughts dissolved in smoke and disappeared in the sky… it is here finally that we ‘felt’ as if we found our inner self…
And why not, Faraway Renz was surreal, it was romantic, it
was settling, it was poetic, it was cheerful, it was cozy, it was passionate,
yet, it was real… things that are often admired in books, were a real
experience here… the milky way and starry skies from poems, the sunrise and
twilight hues from an artist’s canvas, the snow covered peaks and expanse of
valleys from the coffee table books, the walking trails through the forest and small temples on the way from grandma’s mystery stories, the constellations and
shooting stars from the movie scenes, even the coniferous and deciduous trees
from the text books ! It was all there, and it all happened to us, in that
‘faraway’ place… The drive back seemed like a real journey, a journey from one world to the other, from one season to the other… it was a journey that was all about ‘thinking how days zoomed by’, about ‘looking for quietness around’, about ‘wanting to go back’, and about a realization that everytime there is a craving for peace and calmness, there is a faraway place to go…
2 comments
This place looks beautiful , Thank you for sharing your experience .
ReplyDeleteOutstandingly well written blogger .. Enjoyed reading it and the pics of-course. 2nd and 6th are my favorites...
ReplyDelete