Nainitaal

itaal Nainital Nostalgia Wednesday, July 05, 2006I am back from my favorite abode on the Himalayas over a four-day trip! I was able to visit five destinations and I start here with Nainital. I was at Nainital last week after nearly 22 years(I was a kid when i visited it last time and have absolute no memory of it). Nostalgia added to the glory of the little hill town that is to make my visit very special. Nainital is as glorious in the day as it is by the night. A star studded night by the Naini lake with the reflection of the little town deliciously cast on the lake and the atmosphere mysteriously swept by the mist at regular intervals is some of the few images that greeted me as I alighted after sunset one evening. Nainital has a peculiar weather, in that it changes constantly; yet there is no unpredictability as there is an expectation that the sun would hide behind the clouds, the clouds would make a crack for the sun to appear again, the mist would sweep the air, it would clear as well, a drizzle would ensue, and it would stop as abruptly as it had begun…..! It is this peculiarity that makes boating at Naini lake an extraordinary experience.Boating at Naini LakeI find the Naini lake an incredible creation of nature. A body of water approximately 1,434 meters by 463 meters at 1.935 meters above sea level with gorgeous hues (the water looks a stunning emerald most of the times) stirs the imagination. Along the periphery of the lake are available many choices to explore its lengths and breadths. From conducted tour on boats to self propelled boats of different kinds to yatches with lovely colorful sails – one can choose. A one hour tour on a self paddled duck (see the pic.)boat (white one with red beak J) cost me Rs. 80/-. Green, violet, yellow duck boats and dragon boats are also available. I tamed my white duck within no time and we had a terrific time in the waters! Initially I thought that an hour is far too much and soon realized how wrong I was. I think I went crazy taking pictures. Here is a bunch for you, there can be no representative picture of this experience coz the experience changes with the batting of the eyelid. As I went around the entire circumference with camera and the lever of the boat in hand and feet on the peddles, I realized that Nainital is very much a secular little town. The mountains on the periphery were dotted with Churches, Temples, Mosques and had Buddhist prayer flags as well. Notwithstanding, garbage can get to be an eye sore – there were a couple of points along the lake which seemed to have been made dumping grounds by the hotels and small industries. It is easy to guess that a cleanliness drive is on at the same time it is not difficult to spot a stray bag of empty packed snacks thrown carelessly by the sides of the lake and the roads as well. It is obviously the tourist from the plains who do it. Where are our sensibilities? Why do people do it? These were the questions that I found I was looking answers for.The Nainital ZooAfter a gratifying boating trip and a scrumptious lunch, I decided to explore the Zoo. I guess I went to see how a zoo would be on a mountain. I was not disappointed. The layout of the zoo absolutely floored me. It has been organized on different elevations with comfortable stone stairs, a gorgeous blooming garden and lush green bushes and towering mountain trees. Incidentally it is the only zoo in the state of Uttaranchal. One of the objectives of the zoo is “to create awareness about our rich Himalayan fauna among the general public”. The zoo also has an “animal adoption scheme” through which any person or institution can adopt any animal in the zoo by paying its annual feeding expenditure and the name of the person adopting the animal is displayed on the cage of the adopted animal. I was somewhat distressed to see some of the caged animals, however. The birds looked unhappy, so did the monkeys. The attitude of the tourists was unnerving too. Teasing the animals by shouting out loud at them or poking objects at them was a rampant activity despite cautions in print hung by the zoo authorities. A talk with the manager of the zoo solved the problem of teasing for the time being but I wonder how long it would last. The great bear seemed to be the happiest of the lot. He came near the edge of his open spaced cage and gave me several photo opportunities. The big huge thing looked like an adorable stuffed animal on a child’s bed! The leopard was too keen to get himself photographed too! With him I felt I was doing a photo shoot with a model with an air! PhotographsSt Francis Catholic ChurchOn the way to the zoo is the St Francis Catholic Church, a lovely 100-year old Church made of stone. Some of the interiors of the Church have been recently modified and some retain its look from another age. Nainital used be a garrison of the British and some of the old Churches here have been built by them. It still carries the look of a British settlement. Barron, a merchant and an enthusiastic hunter popularized Nainital in the year 1841. He was the first European who took great fancy to this land. Moved by the beauty of the sparkling lake he wrote: "It is by far the best site I have witnessed in the course of a 1,500 miles treak in the Himalayas."This is the time of gorgeous blooms in this dream town. Wherever my gaze went, I could see beautiful flowers. I was able to capture some of the well-tended beauties at the zoo and the lawns of the hotel.posted by Vj @ Wednesday, July 05, 2006, var a = 41;if(a == 0) {document.write('No comment');}else if(a == 1){document.write('1 comment');}else {document.write(a+' comments');}41 comments, links to this post Refreshing times ahead ... Saturday, June 24, 2006Lately office work has kept me real busy. I've been working 6 days a week ,sometimes 10 hours a day.I badly needed a break .The good news is that.I got one or i managed to somehow...Fountain pic @dehradun ------>Iam finally heading to my favourite destination --The Himalayas , next week for 4 days . I'll be visiting Kumaon Hills. There is a lot I look forward to .The activities I've planned for the weekend trip are.1 . Boating at Nainitaal and Bhimtal .2. Trekking at Almora, Binsar.3. Capturing Sunrise and Sunset at Kausani.4. Visit Kumaon regiment and Ranikhet Golf grounds.5. Visit Chaubatia horticultre indusrties,Kumaon and get some fresh jam and jellies .(you pick the fruit and they make it for you,right in front of you.Doesn't that sounds exciting)I'll be carrying a 1 gigs memory card and hope to come back with loads of pictures .Hard work pays afterall.......