What can you expect from a short impromptu trip to an overly traveled, overly crowded, and almost too cliche destination? From our experience – anything between severe boredom and eternal transcendence. How we started planning a 3-day trek to the valley of flowers and found ourselves devouring the valley of Dehradun from Mussoorie instead, one cannot tell.
Uttarakhand, famous for its notorious trails especially during monsoons is to be blamed. We had our rucksacks out, it was the evening of travel and the weather warning rained on our parade (pun intended) and led to almost everyone back out. Lucky for us, the one-way ticket to Rishikesh was still on and so 5 of us ended up near the ghats of the Ganges at 6 am in morning. It wasn’t easy with empty roads, closed cafes, and monkeys and cows not leaving us alone.
This very impromptu trip did not have the best start and almost gave us instant regrets, but things changed as we visited the Beatles Aashram, found ourselves consumed by the heat of Rishikesh on a September afternoon, and decided to travel to Mussoorie instead. The seeds of inspiration were planted at the magnificent Beatles ashram.
For once, putting together a group for the trek wasn’t too difficult – since everyone whom we got in touch with was dying to get out of Delhi. A group of Stephanians and Young India Fellows from different batches then came together quite easily to be a part of one trek. Instead, the problem somehow became having way too many people and consequently a persistent fear that the group would be unmanageable (made worse by Paritosh, who couldn’t stop reminding people about everything that could go wrong with such a large group).
Beatles Aashram isn’t called so by locals there, in fact, it is identified as Chaurasi Kutiya (for having 84 cottages). Just 20 minutes walk from Ram Jhoola, and you find yourself in a large estate surrounded by lush green trees, the sun shining through them and illuminating the abandoned, colorful, broken but aesthetically pleasing cottages on the trails. We visited the museum filled with photographs from the famous visit of the band in search of a spiritual retreat and to learn transcendental meditation, then taught at the ashram in 1968. The photographs show the band members donning kurtas, playing guitar, meditating, etc all documented by the photographer Paul Saltzman. The Ashram also has a beautiful hall, now abandoned filled with graffitis of The Beatles and some of their popular songs that were born during the retreat – Across the Universe being the most famous one.
The Aashram used to be a popular destination for spiritual seekers looking to learn transcendental meditation, the benefits of which were written all over the museum, the method of which remained unknown for obvious reasons. We obviously did not have the time to stay at Aashram and learn the same so with inspiration and curiosity filled in our hearts, we moved to Mussoorie instead.
Mussoorie – the queen of the hills, now a popular hill station needs no introduction. How do you enjoy a place that’s almost too crowded during weekends, a little too expensive to stay, and not a lot of places to visit – a good company for a start works like a charm. Second, strictly advised not to carry your own vehicles, the parking fees per day soars the sky and for stay, plan a little in advance. Monsoons is a great season to visit Mussoorie in fact – it is cold enough to not make you shiver and the light drizzling accompanied by a nice comforting meal at a decent cafe just makes your day. We found ourselves in Kalsang, a Tibetan restaurant a small walk away into the mall road. A nice meal of hot, spicy Korean ramen noodles paired with shabalay (or sha phaley, a famous Tibetan dish) and ginger and lemon tea in this nice dainty, quirky restaurant was already a great start.
Mussorie although famous for Kempty falls, Company Garden, and other tourist spots has one of its most treasured sights in the city center. Mall road in Mussoorie has plenty of old and new, continental, Tibetan, south Indian cafes all to suit your taste buds. Not to forget, the beautiful view of the valley of Dehradun on a nice clear day cannot be missed.
Even though the city is mildly on the expensive side, it isn’t impossible to find a decent place to stay on mall road itself. One needs to look around, be open and negotiate if you can😛 We found a value offer with a terrace (and the view, of course) and had enough food for thought with the trip thus far to have a long, intense conversation. The power of impromptu plans, a couple of a day with very random people in the hills cannot be disregarded – what you take back is a treasure of memories, ideas of inspiration, and fond newfound friendships in otherwise connections you did not see coming.
One of the most exciting things about being in Mussoorie is its proximity to even more beautiful, serene, and less crowded hill stations. We did the same and booked ourselves a cab to Kanatal – two hours ride from the mall road. Kanatal – a quaint little town amid the hills overlooking the magnificent Himalayas. This was our final viewing destination, and we went without much expectation. There’s plenty of things to do and explore within Kanatal, including a picnic spot, horticulture, adventure sports, their more famous resorts, and hotels with pristine views but one of the most beautiful places to visit is the Kaudia forest.
Kaudia forest involves a 6 km trail surrounding tall, green, deodar trees overlooking the distant Himalayan ranges; a clear dirt track leads you to its exquisite viewing spot and for this, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
This view comes as an almost unexpected reward for taking up the trip – a nice plain ground with a natural flower bed (hello, the valley of flowers?!), a breathtaking clear view of the ranges, and a meditative silence brought us close to the transcendence we initially learned about. Maybe that’s the thing about transcendence – you can’t really learn it but only experience it.
To conclude I’ll say this – I think this trip sparked a sense of adventure, a renewed sense of joy within us as we engaged, bonded, and explored some known and some not-so-known places, food, and meaningful conversations. I think nature rewards you every time you do things a little unplanned, with faith and a joyful sense of hope that everything will be okay. Just when you start to think this isn’t worth the try, moving a little further into the journey will most likely reveal a treasure you cannot help but feel grateful for.
It’s almost been two months since our trip but we still find ourselves cherishing the bonds and the memories. Most importantly, we continue transcending to this day into our very collective spiritual experience that started at 6 am in Rishikesh near the ghats of the Ganges. Some things are too beautiful to be forgotten indeed. 🙂
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About the Author
 | Sheetal  A data analyst by profession who enjoys photography, films and travel in the weekends. Loves meaningful conversations with unavoidable spiritual undertones and a nice, hot cup of lemon chai absolutely anywhere anytime. |
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