Kausani - A thing of beauty is a joy for ever

[Nov. 14-16, 2008]

Place: Kausani, Kumaon region, Uttarakhand

Famous for: Captivating Himalayan range with several peaks like Trishul, Nanda Devi range etc. to view

How to reach Kausani (from Delhi):

Take bus or train to reach Haldwani. A train is preferable for a comfortable journey. Ranikhet Exp. leaves Delhi at night which reaches Haldwani early in the morning whereas Shatabdi Exp. leaves Delhi in the afternoon and reaches Haldwani in the evening. It takes around 6-7 hours to reach Haldwani from Delhi. From Haldwani, take a bus to reach Kausani. The Kumaon Mandal private bus stand is walkable distance from the railway station. Just walk out of the station, take the road on your left and keep walking for around 600 meters or so to reach the bus stand. It takes 6-7 hours to reach Kausani from Haldwani. Sleeper class train fare from Delhi to Haldwani is around Rs. 150.00 per person. Bus fare from Haldwani to Kausani was Rs. 118.00 per person.

Places to Stay: Several hotels are around. It would be best if you go there and search for a suitable hotel. Else, you can book several hotels online also and one can have a good deal too. All the hotels offer 50% discount during winter – November to February. The KMVN guest house is very ideally located for an excellent view, although I am not sure about how good the place is for staying.

Expected budget: Rs. 500-5000 per night (Cheaper options are also available)

What to do: Go for long walks through the pine and deodar forests, visit the Anashakti Ashram, laze around in the shades of pine and oak trees in the forest, sleep below a tall pine tree on the top of a hill, enjoy the beauty of the Himalayas at sunrise and sunset.

Best time to visit: Everybody says visit these places in summer, but I would suggest going there during winter maybe between December and March. The place would have few visitors and there would be more peaceful and tranquility.

Trekking: Adi Kailash trek and the Bageswar Sunderdhanga trek. One can go for a short trek to Rudrahari waterfalls too which is on the Kausani Almora road. ___________________________________________________________________________

“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
It’s loveliness increases; it will never”

This is what Keats had to say and I realized how true it is when I had a glimpse of the beautiful panoramic range of Himalayan peaks from Kausani, a little idyllic town in the state of Uttarakhand. It can be described as love at first sight. It is already several months since I visited Kausani, but I only know how many times I have gone through the images I captured on my camera. In fact, at Kausani, I had taken a snap whenever I had turned my eyes towards the majestic range. But the ecstasy of seeing the magnificient himalayan peaks right in front of your eyes can never be imagined and I am sure that I would be treasuring those joyous moments in the times to come.

I managed to get a couple of extra days in Delhi and I felt like running out of the city, far away from the noisy and dusty atmosphere, to the mountains where you have all the time for yourself. When one is in the northern part of India and if the idea is to go to the mountains, is there any place to think of other than the Himalayas? Usually I would prefer to do a trek when in the mountains, but I had only

3 days available for the trip and this duration was just not sufficient for a trek. The only choice was to relax, but then who is complaining.

The enchanting beauty of the Himalayan range can be best explored from Uttaranchal, one of the Indian states bordering Uttar Pradesh and there are several places in this region from where one can enjoy the Himalayan surroundings. Now, the toughest task on hand

was to decide the place as one of the difficulties associated with a trip to Uttaranchal was that it takes a good amount of travel time to reach some of the best places. Considering the number of days on hand, two places were identified - Pithoragarh and Kausani, both very good locations as far as a leisure trip is concerned. I preferred going to Kausani considering the shorter travel distance from Delhi

.

Uttarakhand is broadly divided into two zones - Kumaon and Garhwal and Kausani falls in the Kumaon region. To reach this place, one has to reach Kathgodam first and then take a bus. Kathgodam is around 200 kms from Delhi and is well connected by trains and buses. The best option is to take a train and my ticket was booked on the Ranikhet Express which starts from old Delhi at 22:30hrs. I was told that it is better to get down at a place called Haldwani which is one stop before Kathgodam as all the

buses to Kausani and other places start from Haldwani and it goes via Kathgodam. So, there I was at Haldwani early in the morning at 6:00AM. I didn’t know as to how far the bus-stop was from the railway station, so took a cycle rickshaw for Rs. 10.00 and found that it was actually very close and walkable. The Uttaranchal state road transport bus stand and the private bus stand were next to each other and after a little enquiry found out that it would be actually easier to take the private buses to Kausani. I was lucky to find that there was a bus scheduled to depart at 7:00AM and after buying some snacks for the journey, I was ready for the journey. The bus started dot on time and as the

windings roads shaped its way up the hills, the intensity of the thrill slowly began to increase. The bus goes through Kathgodam and Almora to reach Kausani with short stoppages at Almora and few other places. The roads were very good throughout and as the bus reached closer to Kausani, one can start seeing the Trishul peak very clearly. The bus dropped me at Kausani at around 14:00hrs. It was not difficult to find an accommodation at Kausani since it was off-season and all the hotels were offering 50% discount on their actual rates. I took a room at a hotel from where the himalayan range could be seen clearly, at least I wanted to see the effects of sunrise and sunset on the snow peaks.

At an altitude of around 1900 m and nestled in the midst of pine, oak and deodar forests on a narrow ridge and in the foreground of a long chain of snowy himalayan range, Kausani is a beautiful little town. There are probably more hotels and resorts than regular shops and I was told that tourism is the main source of income for many of the people here. Once you are in Kausani, there’s actually nothing much to do. This place is more popular as a honeymoon destination or a lovers’ paradise. For couples, I can probably think that since one doesn’t have anything to do at all, you have no option but to come close to each other and talk. On the contrary, for a bachelor like me, I can only love the snow peaks and the thick forests and would like to be as close to them as possible. This place is meant for leisure and peace and if you are a poet or writer, there’s nothing better than to be at Kausani. Imaginations can probably go wild if you go for long walks through the hills and forests around and within no time, you will have your beautiful thoughts in few enchanting lines of poetry or a story. There are mainly two major roads (which go towards the left if you get down from the bus coming from Haldwani) from the main Kausani circle and both these roads are almost parallel to the mountain range. The road (linking the Anashakti Ashram) is lined with tall pine trees and since the number of vehicles plying in Kausani is less, one can enjoy their walk in total peace. I didn’t have any major thing to do there, so just roamed around the pine forests for 2 days watching the beauty of sunrise and sunset from various locations around. One of the best places where the peaks of Trishul and the entire range can be enjoyed during sunset is from near the KMVN guest house. This guest house is slightly far from the main Kausani circle and it would take

around 30 minutes to walk up to this place. Kausani is probably frequented by Bengalis a lot since there were several signboards written in Bengali all around. The most common signboard was “ekhane bangali khaabar paowa jai” which means “you will get Bengali food here”. As for the food options, you don’t have many choices as such other than the regular options of Chinese, north indian and south indian food which are available in the attached restaurants of all the resorts. Being a trekking enthusiast, I was interested in knowing the places to trek nearby and it seems there are quite a few good treks possible from or through this place – mainly the Adi Kailash trek and the Bageswar Sunderdhanga trek. In fact, within 50-60 kms of Kausani, there are several beautiful places which one can visit like Bageswar, Ranikhet etc. and I was told that the Himalayan ranges are equally captivating from these places. If you have your own vehicle, take a week’s break and you can have your own time visiting all these places at leisure and encompass yourself in the mesmerizing charms of nature. No, doubt, Kausani is generally referred to as the “Switzerland of India”.