The Queen’s Meadow-Ranikhet

The shining crowns of big Himalayan range in the sun appeared as beautiful as always. The big pine and oak trees around depicted a very beautiful landscape. We crossed gateway of the Kumaon Regiment centre into Ranikhet. Our eyes constantly roved around the charming scenery. The pleasant soothing breezes and fragrance of swaying pine trees welcomed us in Dev Bhoomi. We were at an altitude of 1869 meters above sea level and within the sight of the western peaks of Himalayas which was just opposite to the Delhi’s busy lifestyle. Almost over 250 km and 12 hours tiring journey turned to be very fruitful after reaching the peaceful destination. We were at the Ranikhet bus stop with our bags. It was a sunny day though chilly. We sat in a small Dhaba near the bus stop and ordered rayta and Pakoras. “It is a great feeling to be here once again, my land, my pride. I can’t forget even a single moment spending here during school time. What were those days? Nostalgic” Manish initiated the conversation. “Yes bro, this is a true creation, beautifully painted by God. You were fortunate enough to have studied and spent your school days here.” said Vicky, moving his eyes through the ice sheeted Himalayan range. Ashish was busy, capturing the nature from his mobile phone. He kept clicking images until phone’s memory went full. All five of us were at the height of excitement. “I don’t want to go back, Delhi is horrible with full of rush, busy lifestyle, noise and pollution. Here I find peace, even we can hear a wind whistling around.” I proved my presence in the conversation. “Well said bro, and a good thing about Ranikhet is less commercialization that keeps the glory of the place.”Niraj proceeded, putting an essence of his knowledge. 

It was 4 pm we entered in Parwati inn. The entrance was beautifully decorated with red and white balloons and a small pine tree was well bedecked on the Christmas occasion last night by inlaying various gifts. The vivid lighting, making amazing designs on the wall created a very good ambience. A small gold painted statue of laughing Buddha and comfortable wooden Sofas fetched us. We kept our bags on the imported wooden surface and filled the check in formalities. The hotel had 32 rooms spread across 3 floors, each room was well furnished and provided with the modern amenities of life. All the rooms had an individual balcony for the guests to sit out. A multi-cuisine restaurant was associated with the hotel. We were provided with the television and telephone facilities and an attached bathroom with running hot water. It was a well lit room, equipped with a nice bed covered in beautiful bed sheet gave a heavenly feeling with the pleasant wooden fragrance. There were some magazines kept on the tables for the guests. We settled down, reposed our head on the cosy cushions and took a short nap.     

It was 5.30 in the evening. We moved out our room to explore the place.
The sun was about to turn off behind the clouds and was slipping down slowly towards the mountains with the supreme performance of vivid colours on canvas of the sky. The sun turned orange, golden and then gray liked the splash of various colours in the drawing competitions, which reminded me of great art performances in the movie “Taare zameen Par”. That was a natural creation which could not be awarded in the art museums. Bird’s chanting was the only noise left in silence of the evening. The place became calm, wind turned colder and with the fraction of seconds it was just uncountable stars in the sky. We all appreciated the breath taking Sun set on the hill. We were feeling shivery as the cold ice breezes decreased the temperature of the place. Day melted off and so did we..

Next day in Chaubatia gardens -

After visiting the most famous Apple orchards (Chaubatia gardens), we were still in the flavours of more than 200 varieties of flowers and fruits. It was exotic surrounding with most scenic views of snow clad mountain peaks of Himalaya. Chaubatia is a junction of four paths, inter-linking Ranikhet, Bhargoan, Pilkholi and Dehrti. It is also known for its fruit gardens run by Government fruit research centre. Many local tourist guides started chasing us right from the time we reached at Chaubatia to take us on the nature walks through the gardens and forests. They claimed to have in-depth knowledge of the flora and fauna of the place. But we did not hire one because they looked more interested in search of our pockets than offering us the researched knowledge about flora. Ironically, while following, we found their services to be seriously productive as they truly revealed the secrets of those dense forests to other tourists. We felt proud to be updated for free and high fived each other.

With cherishing memories, I found myself lost in that Himalayan range. My soul resides there in my land. 

A lovely journey came to an end with so many good things behind.