Dhanachuli

Where were you lost on the weekend Medha! I smiled and answered back to my friend and said “ Dhanachuli”. My friend smiled and said “ Oh you mean Dhanaulti”.

And I grinned again and said “ No my dear its Dhanachuli, and I think you would be the 27th person I am explaining this!” With a lopsided smile my friend countered my statement and asked, so where exactly is your “Dhanachuli”?
Well, its an abandoned hamlet in the Kumaon Himalayas in Uttarakhand, about 30 & 15 kms from its more famous kins Bhimtal and Mukteswar respectively. Legend has it, that in the times gone by, the inmates of this sleepy village hid their “Dhan” (Money) in the “Chulhas” (Mud stoves)…. Thus the name Dhanachuli.But then some tough winters drove away the villagers, and they abandoned this town, and settled in what is now called the Dhanachuli bend…..

Who was I with and why was I there…. I was with a bunch of 5 more people who like me call themselves travelographers….and we were going to stay in a place called Te Aroha - The Mountain of Love in the Maori language…. It sure is an abode of love on the mountains of Kumaon… the love child of Sumant Batra, whose signature you find in every nook and corner of this quaint resting place…. I wouldn’t like to call it a Hotel!

But before we got to Te Aroha, we were greeted on our journey with a most amazing Sunrise….. and the Sun as if to answer the prayers of the enthusiastic travel photographers chose a perfect time to show up…. When we were passing through an almost mystic forest……and our shutters went clickty clack a few 100 times :-)

Bindu Jindagi Ka.... Our first stop

We then stopped again at Bhimtal, for a few moments…. Where we began to see a glimpse of the snow clad peaks….. I can no longer say, I haven’t been to snow clad places….. but there is something about that white colour on mountain tops that never fails to be an enthralling sight….. and I am particularly in love with the first rays of the Sun on a snow clad peak…. I looked forward to the wait of the next 18 hours or so, when I can see that sight again….. it always envelops me in the memories of the first time I ever saw that sight in the company of some of my closest friends… and the warmth of that morning some 14 years back brings a smile to my heart and a tear in my eye… oh.. I am getting distracted… back to Te Aroha!

And finally after another stop where we got a clearer view of the snow clad peaks, we reached Te Aroha, after roughly 14 hours…. Oh.. the journey is not that long really, but for the many pit stops in a travel photographer’s life!In a landscape where the browns and greens dominate, Te Aroha stands out with its predominant yellow as a colour on its slanting roofs, on the staircase and in other corners…we were welcomed with a hot towel and a refreshing litchi drink…. This was just a pre-cursor to how warm and caring and courteous the staff is…. We soon made our way to the rooms … they had a stunning view of the peaks…, a private balcony and sit-out area, and then went to check out The Attic, one of the suites in the place…. and it really was straight out of the child hood stories where the Attic was the place you planned your life!

The first glimpse of Te Aroha.. and that Bright Yellow!

After freshening up, we were treated with the awesome brunch of Aloo pooris , Aloo paranthas , water melon juice and masala chai and we surely over ate basking in the warmth of the Sun in that nippy March afternoon. We then armed ourselves again with our cameras and followed Vinod Bhai, one of Te Aroha’s staffers to the abandoned hamlet of Dhanachuli…… the descent to the town was not tough, and presented many photo ops… with some of the cutest village kids following us, the light on the terraced hill slopes was truly beautiful, and we finally reached that abandoned township, making some interesting images on the way……. 

The cute school girl

Coming back to our tempo traveller was another story though, we soon knew what uphill means, and why the villagers chose to abandon the village… it really was a tough climb! But while I was climbing, I did not forget to negotiate with Vinod Bhai to take us to the Sunset point, so we hurried a bit, not to miss another of my favourite sights, and so we reached just in time to watch the Sun colour the sky in the most vibrant shades of Orange, the stresses of our everyday work lives were left far behind and we celebrated being in that moment but not without the Clickty clacks of course!

I may have lost my youth... but I still want to touch the Sky.. (with some support!) @the Sunset point

Back to base, we enjoyed the bon-fire on our terrace, had a home style dinner, with some Angithis (coal heaters) near us to keep us warm, it was beginning to get chilly. And some of us also clicked the star trails, not one into astro photography, I gave it a miss and just rested…Post dinner we chatted with Shahid Sir a bit, and Parul and I learnt a little bit more about making photos… thank you!

Meanwhile, the hotel staff knocked on the door, wondering what it could be about, I opened the door to find a Hot water bottle in his hand… oh.. what a thoughtful gesture, we sure were happy to get it. And I tried to sleep with some creaking muscles thinking about the morning ahead.

We got ready by 6.30am, but soon realized we were actually late for the Sun rise, the peaks were already a golden yellow, so while a couple of us decided to make a time lapse from there itself, 4 of us, still wanted to know where the sunrise point is and started another climb….. and reached some relatively flat land on the mountain, where Shahid Sir inspired us to fly, the wish to touch those snow clad peaks nudged a little more and we made those interesting fly like a bird shots. 

Learning to Fly

Had tea and biscuits and made our way down….. started packing with a heavy heart, checked out the time lapse and sat down for another heavy breakfast of chola bhaturas, jam toast, juice and chai! And while we were at it, we came to know of another place to check out before we leave… Café Flashback…. Here Sumant has created a place where Time stops…. It’s a blast from the past, lux adverts, old calendars, piano, chairs, a Vijai Super scooter, camera…. It was a treasure chest where we hunted for all things interesting….

Not yet done, I cajoled the group into having a dekko at Mukteswar, so up we went….. we stopped on the way, where the villagers pointed out to a peak as Mt. Everest, not sure about what it was… but what the heck, the tree lined drive to the circuit house at Mukteswar was enchanting and we soon found the clearest view of those peaks in the trip! And then we soon realized, we needed to make our way back to what we call civilization… and drove back….only to catch the Sunset hidden in that mystic forest. Reached back home past midnight.. a bit exhausted but happy having explored another part of the mighty Himalayas.

The breathtaking view of the Kumaon Himalayan range...

 For more photos you could check 

Dhanachuli@ FB

Amazing Andamans - Day 2

Lazy Mornings at Vinnie’s Island

If you are not diving, then sleeping in is the best thing you can do here. The stillness of the place induces the most refreshing sleep and hours seem to go by in what are actually minutes. Though our watches say its only 0800, it’s bright and sunny outside and we nudge our explorer side.

We decide to take a stroll on the beach before gorging on breakfast. What a view! Endless sea in the shades of blue and green, distant islands with a promise of adventure, a beach with sand so soft talcum powder would be put to shame and lip smacking food. We walked in silence, only stopping to capture some frames or to admire some rock formations that seemed to caress the shore line, the rocks seemed to peep out of the water almost inviting us to come and sit on them while the waves created hues of blue around them. Herons & cranes flitted in and out of the shallow water and we were in beach heaven.

The Rock Lined Beach

Your Best friend on the beach.. this one was particularly interesting with its popped out eyes

Patriotism at its fervent best.... at nearly the southern most tip of the country... we were 1300 km from Mainland!

Soon our stomachs informed us that it was time for breakfast and we turned back to the café at the resort. The café nestled among the trees has upbeat music that is peppy but relaxing at the same time. Sitting in the café reading an Agatha Christie murder mystery with some soulful blues in the background just letting the ambience seep into you, seem to be the ideal and only thing to do. The ability of the place to just embrace you in her tranquility and stillness makes you want to explore the joie de vivre more.

There is no hurry to do things and the locals seem to enjoy the sense of flowing with time rather than running against it. All beings, human and otherwise, seem to be captured in a bubble of contentment and complete bliss. The entrapments of the “outer” world seem to pass this bubble by.

May this bubble remain forever. Amen.

Encapsulated in the Bubble

RadhaNagar Beach

Around noon, we headed to Radhanagar…located between Shyamnagar and Krishnanagr, the crescent shaped Radhanagar beach lined with tall trees and waves greets you with a booming welcome. The sun shines down mercilessly on the beach and not a leaf stirred despite the sea breeze. Unlike the gentle welcome of the rippling waves we had seen so far, the waves here lash the shore filled with pride on being one of Asia’s top five beaches. And justifiably so….

The shimmering waters of Radhanagar beach

The contrast across the water was startling. Near the horizon the water seemed to be almost mirroring the clouds in the sky in the bluest of hues.  As the water came near the shore, the hues turned green before being fitted with white crowns and hitting the shore. The treacherous shoreline was hidden by the beauty of the waves and the sounds of the birds calling from the tall trees lining the shore.

From afar, it was like a picture postcard – the perfect setting. For a beach song setting in Bollywood. For an advertisement selling the locale of the islands. 

As I settled to write and Medha set off exploring, you could hear tourists share their experiences of the islands. The unanimous decision – its bloody hot but the people are very warm, inviting and were not out to make a quick buck off the tourists. It sent a very warm feeling across me to hear such genuine praise and that too from fellow Indians.

Medha came back all excited that she had found the perfect spot for the both of us – for me to write and for her to shoot. We set off across the beach in the sweltering heat but the sea breeze soon gave us a few visits and we began to enjoy the walk and soon came upon a patch where a river from the inland was joining the sea. What fun to see them merge and to walk across the body of water that created small swirls under your feet as they collaborated to continue their journey together. And then there it was – our perfect beach hideaway. A bamboo guard watch tower that was empty. Beach towels spread, we both settled down to enjoy the high rise view.

The Tree house we discovered and made it our abode for a brief while

I saw diamonds on the waves today

Shimmering in the sunlight

Set in silver, sometimes in gold

Sometimes shining in blue stone.

All fighting to catch one’s eye

To fill you up with a sense of why

Why didn’t I see them shine before?

Why didn’t I explore nature some more?

Here one moment, gone the next

Playing tag with the sun

Hard to choose

Hard to leave

Hard to pick and take them home.

All you can do is feast your eyes

Etch a memory in your mind.
 

The Shimmering Diamonds

We were joined by some guards and they started chatting. They pointed out a vast expanse of land that was bought by a premier hotel brand - today it’s covered choc a bloc with vegetation, open to public & an integral part of the crescent. The masacare of the tree chopping scheduled to start soon as will the construction. We look silently at each other, our minds sending up a silent prayer in grateful thanks that we could see Radhanagar in all her glory before the devastation began. Will the resort retain the beauty as is remains to be seen but we can only hope that one of Asia’s best beaches remains in contention for top honours for many more years to come.

Golden Sands and Golden Waters

Crop Circles in the Sand

As we walk from the shack towards our beach watch tower, we notice a change in the colour and texture of the sand. Crabs of little stature running along the sand draw your attention to the sand. 

Across the expanse, are elaborate designs made in the sand. The first thought that came to my over imaginative mind that loves sci-fi movies was that of a crop circle.

Random designs being formed in fields whose origin remains a mystery to this date. Though of varying sizes, the patterns seem to all be alike. It’s difficult to find a pattern in the randomness but closer inspection brings out a method to the madness. The intricate design of the formations on the sand make you wonder where they came from too. 

Every design had concentric circles that formed a little sun with rays. Why were these circles formed with little sand pellets? Why were all these designs forming a mind boggling carpet on the beach? Where they endlessly being made to give us a message – one that is fascinating and waiting to be deciphered.

Crop Circles in the Sand

Sunset @ RadhaNagar  

The crowds have gathered, waiting for the show to begin. The sky is the stage and nature is out to screen its version of a true blue Bollywood movie. You have the villains – the clouds, forming a coalition between the white and black to ensure that they play spoilsport. You have the heroine – the waves waiting to show off her diamonds in the best of hues and finally the hero – the Sun, fighting valiantly with the villains to restore the shimmering diamonds to his lady love.
 

As each cloud melts in the Sun’s fury, others gather around to try and blind him and disallow the meeting of the two lovers destined to meet only twice a day- Sunrise & Sunset. As the Sun dips towards the horizon, Port Blair is seen revelling in the distance – a mute spectator to this love saga down the ages since time immemorial.

Hide and Seek

The waves almost seem to anticipate the Sun and become louder and more grandiose in their attempt to reach the shore. The sea spray showers on all that come in its way or shows the audacity of standing too close.

Minutes go by, cameras are furiously clicking trying to capture every instance of the duel playing out in front of us. The villains look like they have the upper hand today and everyone has a sense of disappointment as we wait for the sun to set completely, in silence and in hiding.

We can only stand humbled by this grandiose opera playing out and hope that today true love triumphs and we get to see a perfect meeting of the sun and the sea.

P. S.The Sun Won!

Black Tip

Once we got back to the resort and were sufficiently impressed by the dives done by our friends for the day, we settled down for dinner and then it was time for the ritual - existential conversations at our favourite night hangout – Black Tip. This was a boat tethered to the mangroves on the beach and bobbing slowly in the shallow waters. A short walk from the resort, a jump to haul yourself into the boat, finding a seat amongst the wooden rafters and we were ready to begin our tete-a-tete.

This daily ritual involved finding two things - a spot on the boat and a topic to discuss. Themes ranged by finding non-existent constellations, to the current political scenario to the defense of the country etc. the moot rule for every conversation being that it had to be passionately argued but should be absolutely irrelevant and immaterial.

As the moon rose in the sky, so did the intensity of the conversations. Soon we realized the presence of other groups on the beach from our vantage point - Romantic candle night dinners, groups singing around bon fires and others just hanging around the shrubbery near their resorts.

The boat became our safe haven. A place to congregate at the day and discuss what went well and what could have been better. She was there when we woke at unearthly hours to view the sunrise, when we went off diving, when we came back from our dives, when we walked up and down the beach and when we came to reminiscence about another idyllic day that just went by. 

The Black Tip was spectator to our dreams, hopes, fears and doubts. A silent partner to our outpourings

Our Been There Done That Tips:

• Either hire a bike to travel across the island or tie up with an auto guy who will drop you and then come pick you up once you are done at the beach
• Return trips from the beach are tough if you don’t have transportation 
• Carry water, beach towels, hats and food to nibble on 
• There are very few shacks that make lunch but otherwise you are pretty much on your own
• Barefoot Scuba Resort serves light lunch but you need to make reservations for dinner
• Our Food Recommendations
• Full Moon Cafe at Vinnie's Island
• Barefoot Scuba at Radhanagar Beach. The food is average but the ambiance and walk upto the resort is outstanding.