In the lower Himalayas of Uttarakhand, I hiked many kilometers through dreamy villages, terraced valleys, deodar forests, secret rhododendron trails, and swaying yellow mustard fields – a journey that gave me a peek into the soul of rural Kumaon, and through it, my own.
In Peora Uttarakhand and at the Dak Bungalow Peora, amid the scenic Kumaon Himalayas, my introduction to life or something like it. Loud Hindi music blares through the silence of the valley, the wind scarred with it. Women dressed in jazzy saris walk down the path to a village hut below, big smiles pasted on their faces. Their eyes fixed on their toddlers who keep running faster than their heels can take them. This is not your usual day in Peora Uttarakhand – a small village quietly tucked away in the Kumaon Himalayas. It’s the day before a wedding. The entire village seems to be rejoicing, dressing up, laughing, singing, dancing, feasting and celebrating. I arrived in Peora this morning, in an attempt to ‘disconnect’ from my online addictions. We drove from the Kathgodam train station past the lake of Bhimtal, along slopes dotted with pretty green pine trees. Through python-like winding roads, amid dense coniferous forests. I knew even then that I was going to the right place. As we went higher, the air felt …
