Good Bye Hills

 It is good bye to the hills for now. Leaving for Pantnagar airport on 23rd December, 2015 and reaching delhi Airport. Enjoyed the winteres of the Notrth.

In Garjia temple

  

On the outskirts of Jim Corbett Park near Ramnagar is the Garjia temple on the banks of the Kosi river. Dhikuli is a very old rural area situated close to Ramnagar and the history of Garjiya devi mandir is primarily connected to this place. I have some faint memories of visiting this temple along with my grandmother. 

It is a sacred  Shakti  shrine where Garjiya Devi is the presiding deity. The  temple  is situated over a large rock in the Kosi River and is one of the most famous temples of the Nainital District. This temple is  visited by thousands of devotees during Kartik Poornima a  holy day celebrated on the fifteenth lunar day of kartik (November – December).  The first priest  of this temple was Pt. Keshav Dutt Pandey who began worship of Devi Girija. There is also a statue of Lakshmi Narayan of 9th century, made from black granite. Many people go there every day to worship in the temple. Many people bathe in the  Kosi river near Garjiya temple. The temple is  located in a Beautiful environment with forests around it. Was very lucky to be here with my brother and sister in law and Suresh. It was a steep climb but worth it.

Jim Corbett home

 On 21st december, 2015, visited the Jim Corbett home which has now been converted into a museum by the Forest department. Spread over 22 acres amidst the lush green jungles, in Chota Haldwani, the house is tastefully built and tells the story of a bygone era. It has several photographs of Jim Corbett his family and sister.

Fresh Fruit Juice

 One gets such lovely fresh juice in the hills. It is a treat.

In Devbhumi Uttarakhand

 Spent a lovely day on 19th December, 2015, traveling in the hills. Reminds me of a quotation from Hemingway, It is always good to have an end towards a  journey  but it is  the  the journey that matters in the end.  

I feel this so true of going around the hills. Each and every spot is so beautiful that one just enjoys the journey. First went to Ghodakhal temple, then Kaichi, then Nanda devi and Nainital. Met Ija, my sisters, mother in law in Nainital.

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

  On 17th December, 2015, spent a lovely day at the Bharatpur bird sanctuary. This is one of the largest bird sanctuary which is human made and owes it origin to Salim Ali. It has migratory birds that come from Siberia, Ladakh, Central Asia, China and many other places. It was beautiful watching all the birds. I I is on the boarders of Rajasthan and spread over 29km.There is a board there as to the number of birds shot on one day by Vice rows and Kings and Lord Lithgrow shot more than 4000birds.There are Rikshaws that take you around and I was impressed with the knowledge of my Rikshaws puller Hakim Singh. He was a guide and knew ever detail about the birds including their names in local language, English, Italian, Spanish, French and German. He could not read or write but was an encyclopedia on Orinthology. The  knowledge of ordinary people amazes me. A trip worth taking.

The widows of Vrindavan

   on 15th December, 2015, I was able to visit few Vridhaashrams and meet few widows of Vrindavan. I had read the National Commission of Women's report. Statistics were given that there were nearly 20,000 widows in Vrindavan. I was able to visit five Ashram and meet the managers and the widows. In all I was told there were about 7000 widows here in different Ashram. Most of them are from Bengal and few from North East. The average age was sixty plus and few were hundred and above. They spend a lot of time in singing  bhajan. It was interesting that in one Ashram the Government was running this but there was so much corruption that an NGO took this over. In Chaitanya Vihar an NGO was running this and there was so much corruption that the Government had to take it over.  I also visited Maa Dham which was run by Mohini giri madam and was very happy to see that the widows were not wearing white saree. There is so much that needs to be done in this area but I found a lot of committed people who are working with these women.