Kausani

Kausani

The second phase of my journey started. I knew I wanted to go somewhere in mountains. Also, I wanted to find a place which had no famous tourist attractions. The purpose was to experience how it's like to live in the mountains and too much tourism would have failed the purpose. After some research I found a small hill station named Kausani in Uttrakhand.


Skip forward to the morning of commencement of my journey. It took me one hour to adjust all the stuff on my bike. The ride on the first day was tiring, thanks to the shitty roads of Rampur. I had to travel for nearly 20kms under 30kmph on bumpy and dusty roads. As soon as I crossed Rampur, the good part of the ride started. You know that feeling when you can feel chilly mountain winds before actually reaching there? That. After riding for four more hours I reached Nainital. Though my destination was Kausani, I thought finding a place to stay after dark will be difficult, so I decided to stay at Nainital for the day. Moreover, Nainital in itself is a beautiful city. I found the cheapest hotel I could and didn't even unpack any of my stuff. I went to the Mall road for a stroll and came back after a couple of hours and slept.

Nainital

Next morning the ride continued and I reached Kausani in three hours. The roads passed through a valley which had a series of villages. I find valleys to be more beautiful than hill stations. Pleasurable weather, villages enveloped in mountains, and a tributary flowing through it. It is also a perfect farming land so you can observe a lot step farms in the valleys.

Finally I reached Kausani. The place was exactly as I expected it to be, a hill station which wasn't too crowded. I started searching for an accommodation and negotiated at various places before settling at the final one. It took me just half an hour to find a place. Some of its credit goes to rain. After I talked at 5-6 places, it started raining mercilessly and in the moment I quickly chose the cheapest Guest House among them. The room was neat and clean. On the backside of the Guest House there was a balcony from where you could see the Himalayas. There was a common roof where anyone could sit and relax. One happy thing about the place was there was a pet dog and two kittens.

Guest House where I stayed

The good part about the deal was that it also included a two time meal and morning tea. The meal was obviously nothing fancy. It was just whatever the staff cooked for themselves. Because of this I had to eat rice DAILY in lunch as Pahaadi people eat a lot of rice. Unluckily, I am not much of a rice person. During my one month stay, I ate as much rice as I would normally eat in an year.

Let me try to carve a picture of the place and everything Kausani for you. The nearest petrol pump and wine shop was at Someshwar, which was 12kms away from Kausani. So yes, getting my bike tank full and liquor, was often once in a week trip. The weather was cold in Kausani, so my buddy for the place was Rum. Soon I became that famous guy in the Guest House who always had rum with him. This helped me make a lot of friends. Imagine you want to drink at 10pm in the night and the nearest wine shop is 12kms away. And there's a guy upstairs who fulfills your wish in this dire time of need. Ain't that person will be your best buddy for the moment? I think you get what I am talking about.

One fine full moon night in Kausani

The cook of the Guest House, Narendar, became my good friend. Once his maternal uncle came to stay for a night. He was a singer who performed at various local events and mostly sang in regional language (Leela Ghashyaari, Tak taka tak kamla, Bedu Pako, yes I know the songs!). When Narendar told him that I also sing and play guitar, he requested me to join him for the evening. He sang a lot of songs, most of which I didn't understand, and I played music for him. I also sang a couple of ghazals which everyone appreciated. Another musical night happened when a bus full of tourists from Kolkata came to stay at the Guest House for a weekend. Somehow while chatting with one of the people from the group, the topic came up that I play guitar and sing. They requested me to sing for them. So after dinner, all of us gathered in the verandah and I sang for nearly two hours. Everyone danced, sang along, and had fun.

The best part about Kausani was long walks I took there. I've always been a sucker for long walks and adding mountains in the background made it even more blissful. On one of my walks I also visited Anasakti Ashram, an ashram founded by Mahatma Gandhi. Often, I went to long bike rides and visited nearby towns and villages. My favorite part of the rides was finding secluded spots along the way, where I stopped and sat for hours.

I also tried to find a local job which would help me pass time, learn something new, and earn some money in the process. Kausani is known for its tea gardens, so I went to one of the tea gardens and asked if they could provide me with some work. The money that they offered was so less that I decided to work there for free for a couple of days, just for the experience. I was a 'tea leaves plucker' for two days.

There was a Cyber Cafe / Restaurant nearby. I talked to the manager of the place, finalized a deal of 100 Rs per day to sit there, work, and browse unlimited internet. The guy was a space enthusiast. He had a telescope which he used to observe various planets and stars. As there is less light and air pollution, the visibility is better in the mountains. He showed me Saturn, Mars, Polaris (Pole Star), and Moon's surface from his telescope. It was the most amazing thing which I had seen till date.

In Kausani's market, there was an old uncle who used to cook samosas. I daily ate two samosas from the shop. After some time I didn't even have to say what I wanted whenever I went there. I just said my greetings to uncle and two samosas would be served within two minutes!

On one of the days, Narender was going to his village, Maigri Estate, which was 25kms away from Kausani. He asked me if I wanted to come along. I agreed and it proved to be good decision. I got the chance to see a small village in mountains. Also on my way there, I visited Baijnath and Kot Dwar Mandir.

Baijnath Mandir

The village was completely residential and there were no hotels or anything. I even had to trek through 1 km to reach his home. There were just 50-60 houses in the whole village and there was no house number or anything. Each house was 500m away from each other and obviously there were no proper roads. Forget roads, there were just bumpy narrow paths. There was a tributary flowing in front of the village and it had a hanging bridge on top of it. I visited the local Bhairo Mandir where all the villagers went to offer their prayers. I stayed at Narender's place for one night. Next they had a puja at their home which also included a goat sacrifice. It was interesting.

The upper right hand side is Narender's village

Few days before Diwali, the Guest House was visited by some Kinnars (transgenders). They came to my room and thought I was the owner of the place and asked for money. I told them that I was just a guest there, so they left. Later I found them again in the market and they recognized me. All of us sat at a dhaba and had lunch together. They became so happy after talking to me that they gave me their visiting card and said that if I needed any kind of help, I can contact them whenever.

When it was time to come back, I rode back from Kausani to Indirapuram in a single day. It was almost a 400kms ride. It was tiring but I enjoyed it. Moreover, coming home for Diwali to meet friends and family is something which never fails to bring happiness to mind.

So to sum it up, most of my time in Kausani was spent taking long walks, bike rides, talking to local people, visiting unknown places, singing and playing guitar, and eating rice.

Next gig will be up soon! :)