Expedition towards Dhanolti!

As the wheels of Avenger rolled over the dusts of Noida around 4 AM on a gloomy saturday morning, my most anticipated trip towards Dehra Dun took shape. Prashanth, Vinoth and Gowtham were the other bikers who joined me in the ride. We were riding towards Dehra Dun via Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Roorkee. It always fascinates me, whenever I go for a long ride along the country side. This one was completely a different, terrain and experience unlike my previous ride to Jaipur. Perhaps this was both adventurous and dangerous, as riding towards the feet of Himalayas was an astonishing journey. I call it adventurous because Dehra Dun was not our destination as we had planned it. Our quest for seeing snow pushed us further towards Mussorie, but the moment we reached there, we felt wretched as it was not snowing. So did we stop there?

We went ahead, although it was already 11 hours past since we started in the morning. Our next expedition was towards Dhanolti which was approx 25 miles from the town of Mussorie. And to our surprise, a sign board read “6800 feet above sea level”. What could have given us a better impetus to fire up our spirits than this sign board! And finally the path alongside the road were filled with snow, a reason which made us to drive around 330 Kms at a stretch, with few break for teas and food! From 4 AM in the morning to 5 PM we were driving incessantly. As our eyes started searching for hotels to stay, it also felt the wrath of tiredness. No wonder we hid ourselves under the thick blanket the moment we were inside our rooms.

When we woke up, I was completely taken off by the breathtaking view of snow covered mountains. As I reached out to the lounge to help myself with a cup of tea, I couldn’t resist myself from writing.

As I blow out the thin air from my mouth, I realize the cold, I have consumed

It’s both a pain and pleasure, the cold and the snow was so crisp, that

It strikes and binds you and it hits the skin like a knife

So sharp on the target, the nails feel pinned to the edge of knife

The pain is long lasting so is the blitheness!

The picturesque mountains, looked like an art which

I would have always wanted to paint in my drawing classes at school

The snow was glazing on the peak of  green mountains,

as if vanilla was dumped to the top of the cone ice cream

Oww! Its quiet, it’s very quiet, the only sound I could hear was the movement of the skies!

The eyes latching the setting of the skies on the mountains,

Is the most wondrous sight I have ever seen,

The skies are crystal clear and it gives everyone a reason

to feel and give a poetic touch to the moments..

And how could I forgot it! AR Rahman is already playing

the perfect blend of music to the writers, wanderers and the tired travelers….

And to me, his voice was like those of the solitary reaper

which was better than that of the nightingale itself,

in the words of William wordsworth.

My hand is unable to pen down, as it shakes immeasurably

But I kept telling myself, that my wandering should not stop here….

It’s so peaceful up here, that all the battles down have been forgotten for the past 24 hrs of my life

Let me smile for a moment, one more time, for the

People who sat alongside me near the bonfire,

whose thoughts were unadulterated and whose life was untouched by

the perennial politics existing down there…. They are like those crystal clear skies which

rested on the mountains peacefully after the tiresome loitering…..

We drove around 250 kms on plains and another 130 kms on the mountains

All I wished in those plains was a road which will take me little farther

and the hills which would take me a little higher and higher….!!!!

And we departed towards Delhi via Rishikesh and Haridwar. Watching the mighty Ganges run so vigorously and the Saddhus smoking pot on the banks of the river shook my skepticism towards life!

I felt good to think that way!

Aravind