Uttarakhand - Woodhouse farm - Ramgarh

I visited the sacred temple of Sri Badarinath some 10 years back. That was my

first experience with the hill roads of Uttarakhand and I had decided that it would

be the last. I loved the place. The steep cliff on one side, the deep gorge on the

other side with the rushing river at the bottom and the view of the snow capped

hills. But I hated the roads. Winding narrow roads battered by landslides and

feeling like they were made entirely of loose mud and gravel. You keep moving

with difficulty fearing a landslide or loose boulders falling from the top. You witness

vehicles ahead of you getting crushed/pushed into the gorge by falling boulders.

And there is no chance to turn back ! We managed to complete our trip without

disasters and I decided not to go there again. 

But my family zeroed upon Uttarakhand for a short holiday and my son assured

me that it involves just about two hours of road travel. And that this terrain was

not as threatening as the ‘Chardham’ roads.  We were to take a flight to Delhi

and then travel by train to a small city named Khatgodam. From there, the village

Satoli, where we were expected to stay, was about two hours by road - if you

knew the exact location of your hotel. Add half an hour if you were depending

entirely on Google. Because, google urges you to take some interior road which

is barely 5-6 feet wide and you have to (as I did) get down and walk ahead to

confirm that it leads somewhere and that there is a provision to turn back,

if required. 

Anyway, the flight to Delhi and the journey by Shatabdhi express to Khatgodam

were fine, if you overlooked our stupidity of getting into compartment C1 instead

of E1 and the struggle of getting out of C1 when others were trying to get in ! 

Our destination ‘Wood house farm’  in satoli village was a cosy cottage of four

rooms, out of which we occupied three and one remained empty. We spent two

days there and shifted to the Neemrana Hotel at Ramgarh for the next two days.

An old British bungalow having four rooms, located on top of a hillock. No sight

seeing trips, no shopping and no other activity. Weather was splendid, surroundings

beautiful and service good. Best suited for lazing and reading and that is what we

did. As is my practice, I am maintaining an account of our trip on my blog through

pictures and captions. www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com if you have patience for more. 

It is a pain to arrange pictures in order while posting on the blog and hence I have

left them in the random order that they appeared. I liked the shape of pine trees

and their effect on the landscape and hence there are a lot of pictures. Kindly bear.

Difficult to find level land in the hilly terrain. One such place, a clearing, next to my walking path at Satoli.  

The cottage at Satoli had a wonderful selection of books. Many, to my liking. Found, started and finished a book by one of my favourite authors Ruskin Bond. 

 Our group at Khatgodam station. 

Sitting and breakfast area - front of cottage at Ramgarh

Example of the Interior roads

Entrance to the cottage at Ramgarh

The looping road, photographed from a higher

point during my walk.

The common space at Wood house cottage 

My favourite corner for reading. One of my best reading experiences. 

The Cottage at Satoli 

One of the many 'hill view' pictures 

Took pictures of anything that looked good to me. Pine trees on a slope.

One of the many more !

Caption not required 

Ramgarh. The building with green roof was the place where we stayed. 

Warm morning sun and my chair, facing the Himalayas at a distance. 

The Himalayan Range, as seen from the cottage at Satoli

Picture taken from a height. Gives an idea of the terrain in general, at Ramgarh 

Gayatri mantra - My explanation about its greatness !

The Gayatri mantra is a prayer to the supreme lord to enhance
one’s intellect  or increase one’s knowledge or bring about
enlightenment. The sanskrit language is such that, a person who
has a deeper understanding of the language can provide different
meanings for every letter or half letter.
So, the Gayatri mantra has been open to interpretation by those
who have the understanding of the language and subject. 
And it has also been misused by many. Now, anybody and everybody
interprets it the way they want (Including yours truly !) and claims that it
provides various benefits. That is a matter of conjecture or belief. Since
it is a matter of ‘belief’,  no one can ask for justification or proof.
The following are a few such “benefits”. You may add your own to the list. 
It increases learning power. 

It increases concentration.

It brings prosperity.

It gives people eternal power.

It is very useful for peace.

It is the first step to go to the way of the spiritual road.

It is correlated with God.

It strengthens the mind and improves the health condition.

It improves the rhythmic pattern of breathing.

It keeps our hearts healthy.

It protects the devotee from all the dangers and guides towards
the Divine by intuition.

It improves our family life.

It makes students score better in exams   etc etc etc etc 

I don’t subscribe to any of those benefits or effects of gayatri mantra.
As far as I am concerned,The words “om bhur bhuva, suvah,
tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dheemahi” is the way of
addrerssing the god by extolling his virtues. 

And “Dhiyo, yonah, prachodayat” Is our prayer to him to enhance
our wisdom or provide knowledge or enlighten. Thats it.  

Sri Bannanje Govindacharya explains how the words “Bhur ...to …
dheemahi” also indicate the ten avataras of lord Vishnu. There are
many such explanations.

I feel that the Gayatri is one of the great Mantras because it doesn’t
request god for money, luxuries and material benefits or extended life
and it only asks for more and more knowledge. ( of course, he may grant
it  but one has to work for it!) And in this present world and present age,
Knowledge is everything !! 

That may explain why it was considered important to perform
upanayanam to a boy and preach him “gayatri”,  just before he left for
Gurukula in search of knowledge.

The father performs upanayana (munji) and advises the boy, who is ready
to travel to gurukula seeking wisdom, to concentrate on and accumulate
more and more knowledge.
In other words “Study well”.   Hence Gayatri is a great mantra.

Anmod In The rain !!

I have written enough about our walks here and I had decided that I would not

touch upon the matter anymore. And I have already dealt with Anmod ghat once.

But the beauty of the Ghat during monsoon, which we experienced this morning

was something beyond words. It was enchanting, exhilarating and extraordinary!

I have had an occasion to pass through the ghats during rains before, during my 

travel to Hubli and beyond. I had noticed the many waterfalls and streams gurgling

down. But I never had a chance to get close. I always wanted to experience them

close up and got my chance today. I got carried away by the experience and had to

share them. There are many pictures and one or two videos. 

Continuous rain limited the use of camera in my phone. If you are bored of my

pictures, thank god for the rain !!  

Washed road, green sides, foggy atmosphere, bird's music. Wonderful walk. 

Getting wild in the falls !

Wonderfully meandering streams

Great Landscape 

The Dudhsagar Ajoba Temple. Place of the protector of the place. 

A natural resident of the place, being tolerant towards intruders!

A wall of green by the roadside

One of my friends spotted the scorpion on the road. Black scorpion on a black

surfaced road in the dark. It was quarter to six when we started walking.

Keen eyes !! 

Dashavatara Stuti - 11 "Dhairyambudhe Parashucharyaa..."

Dhairya + ambhude =  Courage + Ocean,(ocean of Courage) 

Parashu + charya = Axe + put to work, by working, Adhikritta = Cut to pieces, 

khalavarya - extremely wicked, avaneeshwara - avani + eeshwara = earth + lords,

meaning kings, kshatriyas,( An ocean of courage, who has cut extremely

wicked kings to pieces by the working of his axe) 

mahashaurya - (this pertains to parashuraama) very courageous,

abhibhuta - destroyed, cast aside, kritaveerya atmajaata - born off Kritaveerya,

(his son kaartaveeryaarjuna), bhujaveerya - strength of his shoulders,

avalepa nikara - avalepa + Nikara = Arrogance + heap of, lots of,

bhaaryaa + aparaadha + kupita + aarya = wife + crime + enraged + father

(father enraged by the crime of his wife) aagnaya - as per the orders,

galita  = cut off, nari = female, lady, aatmasu - one who gave birth,

Nari+atmasu = Lady who gave birth, meaning, mother, gala = neck,

taro = tree (cut it off like a tree), kaarya = work or please do

(this is to be taken in context with the last line - amita mayi daya)

aparaadha = crime, avichaarya - without bothering to think (if it is a crime),

aryama - sun, ogha - group of, jayi - surpassing, veerya = Valour,

amita - unfathomable, infinite, mayi = to me,   daya = Mercy 

You, who is an ocean of courage, whose axe cut to pieces extremely wicked

kings, who has great valour, who destroyed  son of kritaveerya - kaartaveeryaarjuna,

(who was) extremely arrogant because of his strength, who, as ordered by the

enraged parent, cut off the mother’s head like a tree, not waiting to consider if it

was a crime to do so, who surpasses many suns in brightness and valour, have

 endless mercy upon me.