My Cheerful Sojourn to Uttarakhand with Peers

Oftentimes, vacations bring us a near-perfect set of mirthful circumstances. Rendering lifts to strangers, meeting alien customs and language barriers, and a lot of confusions, misunderstandings and unintended consequences; these are some events we usually have to cope with while being on traveling. These unusual experiences cause a broad smile on the face when we recall them in future. However, the trick is to find the wittiness when something unexpected happens. I’m a kind of person who loves travelling more than anything else, and never misses out chance to pack bags and go ahead to undergo something new. Here, I’m sharing my last travel experience that was awesomely humorous plus loads of fun and delights. What made us to take that vacation was to celebrate our good career start-up. For last one and half year, we all had been working in some reputed companies soon after completing MBA from a private institute in Delhi. We planned a holiday for a week or more, and decided to discover the mountainous state ‘Utterakhand’. According to preset plan, we hired an Innova Cab and embarked on our mission to discover one of India’s most beautiful states. Let me tell you that the vehicle was well-spacious and comfortable enough for us who were just six in number. We wanted comfort and the budget was not a constraint either, so we booked that large spacious vehicle. We set the tour itinerary as: Delhi to Haridwar to Dehradun to Mussoorie to Rishikesh and back to Delhi exploring some popular sites on the way. The morning of 5th March—the date we set out for journey, saw us in a fairly cordial mood. At about 5:00am, the driver took to the wheel, and just within minutes, we were moving ahead to our dream journey. After a delightful journey of about 4 hours, we were in Haridwar territory at about 9:00am. On the way, we had loads of fun sharing some old memories of our collage times. Haridwar is really a place to be if you wish to savor grandeurs of nature along with mesmerizing traditions & cultures. We spent almost two days and one night at this holy town, and wandered around various enchaining destinations including Har ki Pauri, Bhart Mata Mandir, Chandi Devi Temple (through Udan Khatola) and Luxman Jhula. Riding through Udan khatoal was really a great experience. Arial views of the surrounding mountains and holy ‘River Ganga’ were just superb. Dining in the city was simple yet delicious: most of restaurants in Haridwar offer only veg-meals. Next day, we took bath in holy water of Ganga, and moved ahead to our next destination – Dehradun. We reached the city of Dehradun at about 8:00pm. Since we were a bit tired, we directly went to a city hotel and booked rooms to get necessary rest. In the very next morning, we all awoke with new energy and an intensity to discover the capital city. It was a short stay in Dehradun, though we flocked to some of the beautiful destinations in/around the city. Visit to the Forest Research Institute was a rewarding experience, where we got to explore breathtaking greenery and awesome Greco-Roman architecture design. After that, we went to Sahasradhara, a popular picnic spot around 11 km from the main city, and Dakpatthar during our short trip to Dehradun. It was my first visit to Mussoorie – a city that I had heard a lot about. Some call it ‘Queen of the hills’, while some address it as a ‘paradise for eco-tourists’. I was just speechless and doing nothing but exploring the magical charm of this mountainous town leisurely residing within the arms of mighty Himalaya. Unchallenged natural beauty of surrounding hills, cascading waterfalls and gleaming malls here can leave anyone mesmerized. Swimming at Kampty Falls is undeniably pleasurable to almost every profile of travelers. We too collected loads of sweet memories in Mossourie which we still cherish with. After decent rest and fair to middling sleep in a Mussoorie hotel, we all were road bound exactly at 8.oo O’ Clock next morning. After 15 minutes drive, we crossed the morning traffic of the city and spotted the main route to Rishikesh. The moods lightened and music took over. Very soon, we were laughing in our style, like most often, discussing on the never-been girl-friends of each other. The driver was from our own state Haryana and was funny enough to make all of us unending laugh. His jocks and short Haryanvi tales were really rocking. We were on the highway when we saw two ladies asking for lifts. They were alone, so we lifted them up in car to help them out. Both of them were well-educated, as they were able to talk in English, and were with good sense of humor. We dropped them in Miyanwala and then moved to Rishkesh. The main motive of Rishikesh visit was to rafting in Ganga. We all enjoyed it a lot. Besides this, Ganga beach camping and a little bit of trekking in Rishkesh gave us opportunity to spend quality time with each other. Though we wished some more, corporate demands made us to come back home. We returned Delhi after a long but wonderful journey of 7 days. This was really the experience of a lifetime. When we talk to each other on phones, we recall those wonderful memories and our face becomes wide with a sweet on it. Uttarakhand is one of the best India tourist places.