Pilgrimage in the Himalayan mountains

 The hills are known for their temples. Some of these temples are supposed to have a great power to grant your wishes. In a hill temple when you ask for a wish you can tie a small bell over here. Once your wish is fulfilled one goes and ties a big bell. So the temples here have all size of bells. You can see many applications also asking for some wish in these temples. We first went to Chitai temple  where the folk God Golu ju is worshiped. Then we went to Vridh Jageswar. As we climbed the mountain in the freezing cold temperature of three degrees, we got a view of the Himalayas spread in front of us. It was an amazing view that will remain with us  for ever. Our next stop was Jageswar and we could see snow lying around. After this we left for Jhakersen temple. Having left Almora at eight in the morning, we reached back to Almora in the evening.

Kausani

Kausani in Bageswar District of Uttarakhand is a beautiful valley amidst the dense pine forest. From here one gets a three hundred kilo meter view of the deep valleys and the different peaks of the Himalayas. Sumitra Nandan Pant the well known Hindi poet was born here. Gandhi ji had visited this place and stayed here. He called this place, The Switzerland of India. We admired the big range of the Himalayas  from the beautiful resort Suneeta. A beautiful visit and amazing vista's of the green forests, valley, trees and the mountains.

 

Kainchi temple of Neem karoli Baba

 A must visit from Nainital is the Kainchi temple of Neem karoli Baba. Amidst the huge pine forest jungles this is a serene and quiet place. We also visited the Ghodalkhal temple where thousand and one bells are hung after one gets their wish fulfilled. The shopkeeper told us we have to tie a small bell when we ask  Golu devta here for a wish fulfillment and once that is achieved, we have to come and tie a big bell. It was interesting to see many applications and letters attached to the bell. We were here at twelve thirty but at one all the bells started ringing, there was drum beats and sankh and the whole environment was su-real. We could also see the tea gardens at Shyam Khet. I had visited many beautiful tea gardens in Kerala but here the tea gardens, were beneath the deodar trees amidst mountains. We also went to Bheemtal and admired the lake. There is a lot of peace, serenity in  all these places and one can hear the mountains calling.

Garjia Temple

 On the outskirts of the Jim Corbett National Park is the Garjia temple in Ramnagar and no visit to Ramnagar can be complete unless one goes for a darshan to this temple. Situated on a hillock on the banks of River Kosi, it is reached by a flight of steps. It is considered as one of the Sakti sthals and people believe a lot in its potential to fulfill ones desires and shower blessings on the pilgrims. If ones desire is fulfilled people come and tie a bell or a chunari. In fact many temples in the hills can be seen covered with a lot of bells and chunari. This is a picturous spot with the hills on one end and the calm flowing river at the other. I have a memory of visiting this temple  many years back with my grandmother. At that time nearly fifty years back one had to wade through the river to reach this temple and I remember the lower half of all the Women's sarees becoming drenched with water as they waded the river. Now there is a bridge which has been constructed. There is a small cave underneath the hill where a Siva temple is found. Inside the temple is the photograph of the first poojari of the temple Pandit Keshv Dutt Pandey in 1935. There is a Shri Narayan statue in black granite dating back to 9th century. Like the hills there is a lot of calmness in the area though a lot of commercial establishments have come around it. Since we visited early in the morning, none of the shops were open and one found a lot of peace and quiet in the temple.

Sitabani forest reserve

 We undertook a second safari to Sitabani forest reserve. As the other forests in the Jim Corbett National Park, can accommodate only thirty jeeps in a day for a safari and these require reservations much  in advance for the Government permit is required to enter the forest many prefer to go to Sitabani where about one hundred and thirty jeeps can enter the area in a day and permits are easily granted. However, the forest is so big that it does not look crowded. Sitabani is a forest reserve that is referred to as landscape forest. This is in the buffer zone. For a long time people in the villages near this area did agriculture by slash and burn cultivation and the land in the nearby region was eroded. Now about seventy kilometer of land has been preserved as Sitabani and a beautiful forest of teak, Sal trees, Jamun trees and many other variety of trees has come up. Though it does not have many tigers one can sight a lot of elephants and a variety of  birds. This beautiful forest area has three  entrances, Bhandargarh, Kayari and Pawal garh. As we stopped at Pawal garh, I could not help but remember Jin Corbett's book, Man eater of Kumaon that has the famous story of Bachelor of Pawal garh. We could see a lot of Termite Ant hills that are so artistically built. It is a an amazing regenerative power of nature that the termite hill never grows on a healthy tree but in a destroyed or degenerative tree. In the middle of the forest is an ancient temple of Sita, from which the forest derives its name. It is believed that Sita gave birth to Lav and Kush in the spot where the temple is built. This is a monument that is a protected monument by the Archeological survey of India. As we left the peace quiet and the pollution free environment of the jungle we could see the sun setting and the scene was indeed one that will stay with me for ever, along with the silence of the forest.