Ranikhet Express brought us to Kathgodam in the morning after a journey of 360 kms from Delhi. We reached Ranikhet, Queens Field, 35 kms from the station feeling giddy due to the circuitous and winding roads. In 1869 the Britishers bought Ranikhet for their summer resort and cantonment. It is the regimental centre of the Kumaon Regiment.

This verdant retreat is said to have attracted a queen, in the course of her journey and she was so enchanted by its greenery and tranquility that she made it her own retreat. Ranikhet got its name when Rani Padmini, queen of Raja Sukherdev, the local ruler, who got mesmerized by its beauty. The region around Ranikhet was ruled by local Kumaoni rulers and later came under British rule.

Ranikhet has a splendidly maintained 9-hole golf course. It is situated at 1829 meters above sea level. It has a total area of 22 sq.km and a population of about 4 lakh people. Ranikhet is not very far from Kaushiki (Kosi) and Salmali (Siyal) rivers. The former we witnessed on the way to our hotel.

It is in Kumaon district of Uttaranchal state. Besides the Terai region in the Shivalik foothills, the entire state of Uttaranchal is a part of the Himalayan ranges. Kumaon is the land of the Mahakali river and its major right bank tributaries, the Goriganga, the Dhauliganga, and the Ramganga.

This region has evidences of Stone Age settlements like the rock shelter at Lakhu Udyar. The paintings dating back to the Mesolithic period have been found in this region. The early medieval history of Kumaon is the history of the Katyuri dynasty, which ruled from the 7th to the 11th century over large areas of Kumaon, Garhwal, and western Nepal.

We were a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds. The togetherness of Aurelie, Rajesh, Sanjay, Papiya, Annie, Salil, Kishore, Ratna, Sobha, Ruchita, Shweta and Praveen from regions such as France, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand Delhi, Andhra and Maharashtra along with Ravi Agarwal, an environmentalist was unique for all of us shared one thing in common-the concern for our ecological space sans parochialism. Ravi and Salil are avid bird watchers.

In the winters it’s a fine place to enjoy a panoramic view of the Himalyas. One can get a spectacular view of the Himalayas, especially the peaks of Nanda Devi, Trisul, Nanda Ghunti and Nilkanth. Ranikhet is the starting point for a number of exciting treks into the Himalayas, informed Sanjay, a veteran trekker who was part of our group.

We witnessed deodars chestnut, oak and pine trees. One can observe more pine trees than any other tree. Indeed some things have changed for the worse. Ranikhet had a diverse forest of oak and pine. The government-funded plantations have replaced forests with monocultures (one crop or one tree plantation system). Villagers have not been meaningfully involved in the decisions, which cause them to lose their land and forest to pine plantations. The monoculture has taken its toll.

Imagine a scenario in which there was only one type of tree in the entire forest. Chir Pine monoculture, in this region has adversely impacted people’s lives. One wonders why do state policies aggressively promote a monoculture system. The residents pointed out how afforestation of community land is taking place by substituting monoculture with local mixed broad-leaf species, funded by our Ministry of Environment and Forests.

In a scenario where historical forest destruction took place, the efforts of present day government for sustainable management leaves a lot to be desired. The residents said, just twenty years ago, the forests were full of wild animals, now one rarely witnesses any.
One resident informed us as to how hand pumps are being installed in the hills unmindful of its destructive consequences on the aquifers.

We visited Shri Mahant Pashupati Bharti Kaalika Mandir. I got a booklet from the temple, which defines Dharma as Dharti Vishwamiti Dharmah-the one which is the substratum of the world is Dharma. It says different faiths are like different branches of the same tree. This temple has the message for resolution of all temple disputes of the world. The book also notes that all attempts at making crows vegetarian always goes in vain perhaps referring to the perpetrators of the disputes.

We went on a 14 km drive from Ranikhet to Machkhali or Majhkhali where we were to put up at Hotel Royal View. It is a vantage point for the scenery from here is intoxicating due to its celestial beauty.

In the evening, I went on a walk with Ravi and Salil discussing Environment Impact Assessment in the vicinity of standing scandals in the shape of pine trees and hand pumps.

At night while we were playing dumb charade, in the background the Kumaonese music created an ambience which made us feel at home even in hills. The residents of this region are fond of music, folk dance, and songs accompanied by local musical instruments like murli, bina, and hurka. The “jurkiya” and the dancer accompanying him, known as “hurkiyari”, play the hurka. They narrate folklores, singing the praise of their gods and goddesses.

The fact that like all other ministries even tourism ministry remains callous towards the plight of physically challenged citizens of this country was quite evident when no passage for their movement was found built at any of the places we visited was quite dismaying. Salil narrated how at Bahartpur National Park, one guide was showing the tourists not the birds but the bird watcher.

Rajesh was practicing French with Aurelie and at one point the latter taught him the pronunciation of “amour”, a French word. I intervened to say ‘amour’ is an English word as well, which means love. She informed us that it means the same in French.

We crossed Bhimtaal, which carries a Mahabharata legend about Bhima, (one of the five Pandava brothers). According to the mythology, after the Pandavas survived the fire of Palace of Lac because Vidura had alerted the Pandavas about the 'death trap' prepared to eliminate Pandavas to ensure the crown for Duryodhana, they came out safely from an underground tunnel. The tunnel opened in a forest, which was under the rule of demon Hidimba and his sister Hidimbi. When the demons smelled the flesh of humans Hidimba decided to kill them and eat them as his food. He sent his sister to assess the situation.

But Hidimbi became enamoured of Bhima. She approached Bhima with desire to marry him. She told the evil designs of her brother to kill him. Later a fight took place between Bhim and Hidimba. Bhima was victorious and he took bath in this very spring now know as Bhim Taal with Hidimbi consummating his relationship with her. As a consequence Hidimbi had a son named Ghatotkatch, who died a hero’s death on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Hidimbi is considered to be an incarnation of the goddess Kali.

The reminder of this tale from our mythology, Bhimtaal is drying up with all the sewage being dumped into it.

We visited Saat Taal and did boating and noted that the spring lies in the lap of supposedly pristine greenery where water is getting contaminated with each passing day with waste of all kinds thrown by the tourists.

Monkeys have a field day with tourists throwing eatables every now and then. They seemed enamored of fair ladies for one the monkeys grew fond of Ratna and seemed to desire her company. She shirked, trembled and shouted the moment she found the proximity of the beast within an arm’s length. She drew everyone’s attention with her piercing voice which reverberated for a fraction of a second and created an eerie sensation.

Ravi was saddened to note the new constructions and beginning of its consumerist commercialization because ten years ago when he had visited this very place, it was almost virgin.

We went to the temple of Haidakhan wale Baba. Paramhansa Yogananda has described him in his book “Autobiography of a Yogi”. Kumaon has been the cradle of several sages, mystics and savants of our country. The temple has quite clean and tranquil ambience and has beautiful idols of Lord Shiva and Lord Shankar. Baba has given a threefold message to the mankind- Truth, Simplicity and Love. His ashrams are in Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Ireland, Itlay, Latvia, Newzealand, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. I witnessed some devotees from Europe practicing harmonium in the serene milieu over there.

We departed from Kathgodam around midnight and arrived at old Delhi railway station in the early morning.

They say whenever one looks at events retrospectively it becomes poetic but the truth remains that the two days we spent in Ranikhet was nothing short of poetry with diverse themes converging into an inexplicable emotion.