Sometimes you wonder if you have really left the city behind when you escape to the hills. Maybe it’s not quite right to wish that other tourists should disappear when you are one as well, but you know the feeling And if you’ve begun to give up on the hope of finding another place that is not overrun by invading hordes of big-city-weary vacationers, we have news. If you were driving from Delhi, it would take you about 10 hours to get here. This little unspoilt oasis in south-west Chamoli District goes by the name of Pokhri.
Off the main highway from Rudraprayag, the road to Pokhri is a scenic delight. A series of hairpin bends quickly lift you high above the Alaknanda Valley. You are now cruising on a high ridge, curtained by a deep forest, pines giving way to oak and rhododendrons along the way. As you snake your way up, you’ll catch brief glimpses of the high Hirmalaya now to your right, now to your leit through the clearings in the forest. Way,way below, the Alaknanda, winding along the floor of the valley, looks like a shimmering jewel in another land. The steep, terraced hillside is full of a lush green crop of wheat, and the small villages along the way overflow with mustard fields. That all the recent efforts to market Uttarakhand as a tourist destination should have bypassed an utterly charming landscape such as this is surprising, to say the least. Even the
otherwise ubiquitous GMVNS are conspicuous by their absence here. Don’t get us Wrong – we aren’t complaining. For it’s precisely this inattention, so far, that gives this place its virginal feel. On the way to Pokhri, still about a kilometre short of it, you’ll come upon a little idyllic village called Guniyala. There are some beautiful walks around this place and the promise of home-cooked meals in a charming little homestay. By night, a star-bedecked sky looks onto the peaceful village; by day, the village folk go about their daily chores with an exuberance that lends new meaning to the words joie de vivre.
THINGS TO SEE AND DO
The most active thing you’ll do here is to turn the pages of
your favourite book. That is, aside from the many delightful walks the bracing
mountain air will tempt you to take.
The ‘Little Red House’
Built as a holiday home by Tulsi Rawat and her late husband for occasional vacations in their ancestral village, the Little Red House was opened to visitors in 2006. The simple beauty of this place is as touching as its unpretentious name. It has a bright red exterior, as the name plainly states. A handmade cross-stitch wall-hanging, a wooden figurine, old Bhotia rugs and pine cones complete the simple décor of the living room. The posters of gods and goddesses that adorn the inside walls might look kitschy in a city home, but here they are one with the surroundings. The lady of the house, Tulsi Rawat, is a good-humoured hill woman, who will do all she can to ensure you have a
pleasant stay. The nights are cold, but fear not your host will give you a sigri to stay warm. And for the small price of a kindly smile and a little bit of indulgence, Tulsi’s kids, nieces and nephews will regale you with as many ghost stories as you will let them tell. You can cook your own meals in the small kitchen or share a meal with the family. The vast terrace in front of the house looks onto the village below through trees of malta, plum and lemon while the snow-capped sentries stand guard to the north.
