Mukteshwar - Gateway to peace in hills

It was December 25, 2021, and I was accompanied by my wife and her two younger sisters. Around 6:30 pm, we left our hotel in search of a cozy spot to enjoy Christmas Eve. Just a stone's throw away, we stumbled upon a charming café named Chandi Mati. From the outside, it resembled a small hillside cottage with its rocky walls. Inside, it exuded a quaint charm with its white interior and dark red wooden accents, reminiscent of an old heritage property. The café offered both indoor and outdoor seating options, but due to the cold weather, all outdoor seats were vacant, with a few people waiting near the entrance gate. Observing the reluctance on the faces of my companions, especially my wife Nupur, it was evident that none of them wanted to brave the cold. One of my sisters-in-law suggested checking the temperature on my phone. After removing one of my gloves, I retrieved my phone from my jacket and checked the current temperature. Suddenly, my hand began to shake from the cold, prompting laughter from my sister-in-law who remarked, 'See, Jiju can't even hold his phone due to the cold! Come on, Jiju, tell us the temperature.' Despite the chill, I managed to announce, 'Oh my god, it's -1 degree Celsius!' This revelation elicited screams from my companions, attracting curious stares from nearby onlookers. We couldn't help but laugh—it was a natural reaction, as none of us had ever experienced negative temperatures before. Welcome to Mukteshwar, the gateway to peace in the hills of Uttarakhand, India.

 

Jim Corbett National Park

For a quite long time, my two sisters-in-law Jyoti and Meenakshi were chasing me to plan a holiday trip in December to visit mountains as they wanted to see and experience snowfall in the winter season. Since they were living in Bhubaneswar which is located in the southeast part of the country which is a coastal line of eastern ghat. So, here is the itinerary plan for our trip – On the first day, we will cover the wildlife sanctuary at Jim Corbett National Park, second day will enjoy shopping at Mall Road of Nainital, third day we will be visiting Ranikhet to see natural beauty and the Himalayan Range and night halt at Mukteshwar to relax and celebrate Christmas. We hired a taxi for our trip and began our journey on 23^rd Dec at 7 AM leaving the concrete jungle - Gurgaon (Haryana) towards the natural jungle at Jim Corbett National Park which is India’s first National Park and first Tiger Reserve of the country. This park was established in the year 1936, named after famous British Colonel Edward James Corbett, located in Nainital district near the bank of river Ramganga. We reached Jim Corbett National Park around 1 pm and we decided to take a break for lunch, the place we halted was surrounded by the Jungle and a few restaurants were also present on the roadside. We entered one of them and burned our hunger with yummy ‘Aloo Parathas’, ‘Noodles’, and ‘Ice Cream’, and we were all set for our first adventure the Safari “Jungle Safari”. I have pre-booked our safari tour from the Gov. official website; as it was mandatory to book a safari online through the official Gov. site only. However, it was a little struggle to book a slot but I found it a very convenient and easiest way to book a safari. The Charges include Jeep costs along with tour guide fees. Contact numbers are also available on the website for any kind of assistance or help for tourists. I coordinated with the allotted tour guide and we reached the Garjiya zone gate to enter the park. After showing the permit ticket at the entrance, we all sat in an open Jeep. We all were very excited and thrilled for the safari. We clicked several photographs while sitting on an open Jeep before the beginning of the safari. The park is divided into six zones called - Bijrani, Jhirna, Durgadevi, Garjiya, Sitabani (Dhikala Ecotourism Zone), and Dhela Zone. As per availability, one case can be chosen among these zones for morning or day tours. Dhikala zone is one of the core zones and only a day tour is available for this zone. If someone wants a morning tour then one has to book for night stay at Dhikala which includes a stay in an old government Forest Guest House. I was not sure about the facilities and comfort, so I didn’t book this zone. Anyways our tour began at 1:40 PM along with the tour guide and driver we finally entered the Jungle. Despite it was mid of the day, we all were experiencing a cold breeze and even started shivering once the Jeep headed toward the dense part of the jungle. The jungle was very dense and untouched by humans. The moment we entered, from a long distance we saw a group of wild elephants also known as Tusker, who were eating Bamboo leaves, we also spotted deer and Nilgai as well. As a photographer, I was busy in capturing all of these along with the Flora and Fauna of the jungle. Later we reached the bank of the river Ramganga which was an open area. Our tour guide said that that Tiger usually get spotted here in the summer season but not in winter. We also spotted a wild Eagle who was sitting on a tree at a far distance. I completely zoomed my mobile camera and attempted to capture a clear image but no luck. It was nearly a four-hour safari which ended with another unluck without spotting a Tiger. Later at the end of the safari tour, my sisters-in-law complained that I was only keen to capture nature and not the nature beauties i.e., my sisters-in-law and my wife; honestly, I admitted my mistake, as it was true. Even today they used to tease me highlighting that I was more interested in capturing trees, clouds, bushes, leaves, etc., but not my wife and her sisters. After completing the jungle safari, we stayed in our pre-booked boutique resort, which was recently built. It was a big two-room Suit with a jacuzzi bathtub, interiors were pleasant. After getting in the room, we all took some rest and got refreshed ourselves. As the resort was located near the forest it was quite cold, so we asked our hotel to arrange a bonfire on the terrace of the resort.  I ask all the ladies to get ready and wear warm clothes as we are going to the terrace to have a bonfire party. The seating arrangement on the terrace was very nice; On one side, a Khatiya (a bed made up of wooden legs and Jute strings) was placed, and opposite was two sofa chairs which were made up of old tin round containers on which flat wooden plate was set so that one can sit without any discomfort and in the middle was bonfire which was fired and giving all of us enough heat to make us cosy and warm. I powered on my Bluetooth speaker which connected to my mobile phone and party was on. We ordered few snacks and drinks and we danced, eat, drink and we repeated the whole stuff again and again. That night was one of our most amazing as together, in the middle of the forest, on the terrace of the resort…it was an amazing experience and we all enjoyed it a lot.

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Nainital Lake

The next day our main target was to reach Nainital City but before that, I would like to show my sisters one of the most beautiful and lesser-known waterfalls called Jim Corbett waterfall and a Museum. Both these places were on the way to Nainital. If you are visiting this national park and have not seen this waterfall, you have lost one of the area's main attractions. It was beautifully created by Mother Nature and it is surrounded by several trees and a green belt. Although it's not a big waterfall, anyone who sees it will immediately fall in love with it. We also visited the Jim Corbett Museum which is also located near the waterfall. It is an old British-era building where Colonel Edward James Corbett used to live along with her sister and spend most of his life. This whole place is now converted into a museum for the public. There is a souvenir shop also present on the same campus which has several stuffs to buy including books written by Jim and other books on wildlife and places. We reached Nainital at noon time and checked in at our hotel. Our hotel was located near the lake and the view was perfect. We booked a family room which contains two rooms. Immediately after check-in we left our hotel and headed towards the lakeside for boating. A person we visited Nainital and didn’t ride a boat didn’t see Nainital. First thing first, we hired two boats, on one my wife’s sister sat, and on another I along with my lovely wife Nupur. It was a 30-minute ride and we took several snaps and clips and enjoyed and experienced the beautiful boat ride along admiring the view. It was 2 PM and after an adoring boat ride, we headed toward the rope car to reach Nainital’s top. There is a wonderful market out here, with several shops selling different items like winter clothes, home decor, and toys. There was a small kids' pay ground as well also a horse ride facility was also available. We spent almost 2 hours out here and finally reached downtown. We all were feeling hungry now and we decided to visit my favourite eating place ‘Anupam Restaurant’ which is famous for serving authentic Kumau recipes and combo meals called Thali, they also serve north Indian foods. I ordered my favourite Kumau Thali which includes all traditional recipes of the Kumau region including Bhang (Hemp) ki Chutney, which is made from Hemp seeds that have no psychoactive properties unlike its leaves. My wife and her sisters ordered north Indian food like Dal, Chawal, Roti, and Sabzi; I enjoyed my Kumau Thali.  After enjoying our meals, it was time to digest it, I mean walking at Nainital's famous market the Mall Road. How can a female live without a love of shopping? With loving siblings together, who will not enjoy shopping at a destination like Nainital's Mall Road? So we all entered the Mall Road one of the best shopping destinations at Hills My along with my wife and her two sisters. I was carrying my camera with me and I enjoyed a lot doing my all-time favourite thing ‘Street Photography’. We also got a chance to ride on twin bicycles, one by one I sat along with my wife and later with both of my sisters-in-law Jyoti and Meenu I rode these twin bicycles and we all enjoyed and created beautiful memories of the trip. We did lots of shopping A perfect day to enjoy pre-Christmas Eve.

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Sun rise at Mutkeshware 

After enjoying our breakfast and photo session we left Nainital city and headed towards Raniketh. Ranikhet is a small hill station and cantonment town near Almora Town in Almora district. We plan to just roam in the outskirts of the city and enjoy the sightseeing. We did exactly like this, we entered the city and halted at a few places, took photographs, and created a few short clips in slow-motion mode, especially of flying dry yellow leaves of trees in the air. The output of these slow-motion clips came very well; we all enjoyed these tiny, beautiful moments and had a light lunch on the way and finally reached Mukteshwar. Mukteshwar is a small village and tourist destination in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, India. Since it is located high in the Kumaon hills, it is surrounded by several hills, and on each such hill one can see a small bunch of homes, and huts are built where village people live, one can easily see such a bunch of homes from any of the mountain top. We reached Mukteshwar at 5 PM and checked in at our hotel Shri Shail Inn which is located on Bhatelia-Mukteshwar road. We all love the location of the hotel as it is built on the hilltop. When we entered our room, there were two separate beds and one washroom, the most exciting thing was a big window, and the feather on the cap was its breathtaking view. The view was so amazing that rather than getting settled in the room we gave priority to taking some wonderful shots of sunset and certainly of adorable ladies. We spent almost an hour enjoying its view. It was a special Christmas Eve for me as I was accompanied by my cute and beautiful wife along with my two cutest sisters-in-law. After getting settled in our room we all quickly got ready and came out of the hotel to enjoy Christmas Eve. Since it’s a village and that too on a hill, we must walk to see the village's beauty. We all started our walk and soon we found a beautiful cozy small restaurant called Cafe Chandi Mati. From the outside, it looked like a small hill cottage due to its rocky walls, and from the inside, it was completely white with wooden work painted in dark brown which made the entire place like an old heritage house where people could sit either inside or outside as per their choice. When we were at the entrance, we saw that all outside seats were empty due to the cold outside and a few people were standing outside near the entrance gate as they were waiting for their chance to get inside the cafe. I looked at all three and it was clear on their face that none of them was interested in sitting outside, especially my wife Nupur. One of my sisters-in-law asked me to check temperate on my mobile. Since I was wearing gloves, I first took off one of them and pulled out my mobile phone from the jacket. While I was checking the current location temperature on my mobile, my hand suddenly started shivering, seeing this, she started laughing and commented “See Jiju is not even able to hold his mobile due to cold, common Jiju tell us the temperature”. What I could say about this, it’s a cold climate out here, anyway, I checked the temperature and shouted “Ooh my god, it's -1 Degree Celsius”; when I announced this, all my three companions screamed, other people standing around us starting staring on us with a question face what went wrong with these guys. We all started laughing, it was a very natural reaction for us as none of us had ever seen or experienced negative temperatures in our lives. After a while we got to the table and ordered our meal one of the special dishes was apple pie which was deep-fried slices of apples coated with sugar-mixed flour, it was too yummy. Later we walked on the lonely streets of Mukteshwar, the sky was completely dark and we were able to view several stars, although due to festivities there was enough lightning which was disturbing the view. We all reached back to our hotel around 8:30 PM. Since we left our hotel at dusk, we didn’t notice the decorations and lighting which were decorated on the occasion of Christmas. When we reached the hotel location, we couldn’t even identify it as it was beautifully decorated with several colorful lights and since there was a big lawn on which several trees were grown, the hotel owner had taken full advantage of this and it was stunning. We took several photographs and headed towards our room. Although the hotel owner had also arranged a bonfire and invited us as well, we didn’t participate as the entire hotel people were gathered over there so we preferred to stay in the room it was freezing temperature outside. Since we already had our dinner, we only ended up with a few drinks along with a few snacks and slept quite late.

Breathtaking view of Mukteshwar from our hotel room window

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It was our last day, as usual, I woke first, it was quite dark in the room, I came close to the window and pep in the curtains and saw outside the window, it was the crack of dawn and the sky was light orange, I immediately realized that sun was about to rise. I straightway grabbed my camera and went outside, thank God! Sun was not raised and it was about to come up. I set up my camera settings and started capturing the moment. Sun came up and it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I had ever seen. After some time, I realized my girls must not miss this moment, I went into the room and woke them all up. After seeing the sunrise, the only word that came out was “Wow…what a beauty!!!” together we admired the sunrise and its beauty and after having some good times we went back to the room. After having our breakfast we checked out from our hotel and headed to visit 350-year-old Mukteshware Dham Temple, which was 7 KM from our hotel. Since it is a very old temple hence it is well-recognized among the people in this part of the country. After visiting the temple we met a guide who told us that he would take us on a nature walk and also show us some beautiful spots from we could take our photographs. So we hired him on nominal charges and we all started our short yet good experience nature walk. Since the temple was located on the peak of a mountain we started going down and soon we reached a place where lots of tourists were gathered. It was the other side of the mountain where some big rock structure was satiated on which people were climbing and taking snaps. We all took advantage of this spot and quickly took our individual, group, and couple photographs. The best part of this location was the breathtaking view of the valley. But the best was yet to come. Our guide told us that there is a government hotel which is located around 2-3 KM from here which is the best location to view snow peaks, the Himalayas range. So, we quickly decided to go to that spot to explore and we didn’t regret our decision. Although cars cannot go exact location as one has to walk around a kilometre to reach the spot. At a certain point, we left our car and again we all were on our foot to reach our destination. This is a very old government hotel which was built in the English era by the Britishers. Due to a partially clouded day, we couldn’t spot all the snow peaks but trust me, it was worth reaching this place. We all admired the view took several photographs and enjoyed this movement.

This was the last location of our trip, we all were very happy and almost satisfied as we didn’t spot Tiger at Jim Corbett National Park and didn’t see snowfall. We are now planning for a similar kind of new trip in this year 2024.