Kausani , Ranikhet and Nainital

The foundation
It started with a suggestion from Debraj that Kausani is a possible place for outing. A holiday on Friday plus the weekend will make a good summer trip, short and simple. Firstly the confusion was cleared that this is not Kasauli (in Himachal) but it’s Kausani (in Uttranchal near Nainital). In the following weeks, after pulling more people and a few rounds of phone calls later the plan was finalized. A visit to the railway website was enough to trigger the momentum as tickets were vanishing like hot cakes. I promptly booked the tickets. Thus, managed to clinch to RAC for our journey. For the return tickets, had to settle down for waitlisted ones only.

The Beginning
There were initial doubts whether all of us would be able to reach the station on time. However all of us reached the station before the train did. Our RAC tickets had been confirmed. However the ticket did not had seat numbers. The coach & seat numbers were checked online before leaving for the station. Only issue was negotiating with co passengers as our seats were further apart. After initial reluctance this also happened and we had all 6 seats together. Yes six people, not seven as initially planned. Arijit’s plans to visit Kausani were eaten away by a devil called training in office. But yes, Arijit’s wife, Chaitali was definitely part of the gang. She happens to work in the same office as Ayan, who is another creature in our gang. He just recovered after struggling with chicken, did I forget to mention pox. Ayan’s school friend Debraj was another character in this traveling troupe. His wounds are still healing from a freak motorcycle accident. In the accident which happened a week before traveling, he did manage to shield his wife Alakananda by coming heroically between the road and her. Yes, she is also part of the bandwagon going to Kausani. They have a common friend Tarun Singh. No, he doesn’t come with any incident. His incidents are about to come in the trip.

Ranikhet Express
So finally we were starting. The train began to slowly creep out of the hustle bustle of Old Delhi station. about 30 mins behind schedule. As the city cacophony was rapidly replaced by the silence of the sub-urbs, out fight for the window seats increased. After all, there were six of us with only two window seats. Anyway, food packets were ripped open and people complimented Ayan & Chaitali for bringing in delicious khandvis, sandwitch-pakoras and burfis from Kaleva sweets. Of course chips and other light snacks were there. The addas continued to the tune of the humming pace of Ranikhet express, chik-chik-- chik-chik --- tick-tick-- tick-tick. Interestingly this train goes only till the Himalayan foothill town of Kathgodam. Ranikhet is much farther away from there than Nainital itself. So still wondering why it’s called Ranikhet express. Not much concern although as long as we are moving. Another point is, that finally we did manage to execute the plan. It happens most of the time as Nine out of ten plans go in the drain. Anyway slowly people began to roll over tom recharge themselves with a good sleep, as we needed energy for the next three days.

Himalayan foothills
By dawn, the train was already pulling us into the low slopes of the Himalayan foothills. We had decided to get off at Haldwani, which is a bigger town, just 6 kms short of Kathgodam. Haldwani, being a bigger town, should give us more chances of finding a taxi at competitive price for our onward journey to Kausani. So after a good night's sleep, got down around 6am at Haldwani station. And a really beautiful station it was.

After negotiating with a few taxi operators, we realized that our plan to take individual taxi's from point-to-point will prove expensive as well as cumbersome. So after many more rounds of negotiations and enquiries from more agents, finally settled for a qualis for complete three days with tours of Kausani, Ranikhet and Nainital. This would set us back by 5k. Anyway sounded like a good deal. So we proceed to the qualis of Javed a.k.a Janbaaz bhai. It would be driven by Raju, our guide cum companion for the next three days.

The Hills
Now our actual journey was about to start, the journey through the hills.We left the plains in the next 10 mins as we snaked past Kathgodam. The qualis proved a good spacious car for us. With Tarun sitting in the front giving periodic company to Raju (our driver) tit-bits about the locations enroute continued to be told. I was sitting in the middle of the middle row with two pillows on either side. Just that the pillows were also talking and were called Ayan and Debraj. Alakananda and Chaitali's monopoly over the back part of the qualis along with all the luggage game the impression of a ladies-zone at the back. As we started gaining altitutute, the scenetic beauty and the curves of the road seemd to get better and better. One moment, we saw the clouds floating at some height in the mountains. In the next few minutes we were actually passing through those clouds. Our first point was Bhimtal en-route to Kausani. It was a treat for the eyes and senses. We saw it for the first time. Clouds kissing water in a lake. Amazing scenery. To top it all, the lake was was more or less left untouched. We were really having a very good morning. Now time for some morning tea and snacks.

The morning tea and pakoras
We stopped at a small dhaba to take our dose of morning tea along with something to eat for an early breakfast. It consisted of a variety of pakoras dished out by the dhaba wala along with piping hot tea. The to add to variety a Cake was opened. This was something Debraj and Alakananda had brought from Delhi. Yes it was definitely delicious and was present at the right moment when all of us were hungry. After this our onward journey continued towards Kausani. It was to be a good six hours before we reached there. On the way we touched a beautiful temple nestled between the hills called Kainchi dham.

The River Fun
Our next stopover was near a small secluded suspension bridge over a silently flowing hilly river. Initially and reluctantly we went down till the river. Clicked a few pictures here and there. Then took a walk in the river. Then started splashing little water. After a while the temptation could not be resisted and we were completely soaked in water. After all who can resist the lure of staying away from water when standing by such a beautiful river. It was pure fun. Absolutely clean water, gushing through big and small rocks, creating special zones for us to bathe in a natural bath tubs. After the natural and refreshing bath, new set of dry clothes went on us. The wet set went on the qualis roof, where they were promptly tied on the roof carrier. They will be dry by the time we meet the next river to take another dip.Our next big stop was a restaurant by the side of river Kosi. So we decided get set wet on Kosi by the time our order in the restaurant is converted to food. After enjoying a cool bath in the gushing waters of Kosi River, we enjoyed a hearty vegetarian lunch in the restaurant. Our onwards journey towards Kausani passed through Almora town. A beautiful hill town indeed.

... Watch this space, more to come ...

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