It’s that time of the year when you hit the mountains to find relief from the scorching heat of the Delhi Sun. Life has been pretty monotonous lately given I have been on work from home for good two months and also studying and apparently a social butterfly like me has not had many social interactions lately so I was feeling a little bit drained. I needed adventure and a change of routine so I first booked an impulsive snow trek which I canceled because I got scared given my talent of being clumsy and somehow I lost confidence in myself that I will be able to do a snow trek even though I had shopped well and prepared myself well. Anyhow, so, if you have been a regular reader of my blog posts you know that I have been out on two trips with this organization called Miss Guide You
So this organization is run by two of my friends, Kriti and Ashish and they are doing a great job, you must check out their page and all. Anyhow, so they are building this home called Slowness Himalayas in a small village near Almora and I asked them if I could visit and chill with them for a while because I keep seeing their Instagram stories and they are so tempting that one really wants to be there with all the views and fruity pictures. So that’s how the trip to Slowness happened.
Now, honestly, if you’re looking for excitement and adventure like that happens in Bir or Rishikesh where there is river rafting or paragliding this is not the place, however, you want to really experience the simple joys of life and peace and simply spend time with nature and yourself, this is just the place for you. The day starts pretty early here, you won’t believe it but as someone who finds it really hard to wake up in the morning in Delhi, I would wake up everyday around 5AM just to see the sunrise and that too without alarm, it just happened, I didn’t try for it or made an effort and the day would go by very slowly, like I would have a bath, get ready, read my book, engage in conversations with the people of the house I was living with and when I would check the time it would still be 10AM or so.
The place has got magnificent views to wake up to and beautiful birds to spend time with, you are all alone with nature and its sounds and the sound of your own thoughts.
The place is untouched by humans and is pretty clean and plastic free so far, whatever plastic we brought with ourselves, we got it back. The houses are pretty far from each other and it’s all-mountain forest area. The activities that you can do here could be to interact with the locals and listen to their stories, take several walks in the fruit farms and pick fruits to eat when you’re hungry, it’s fun, plant trees, get your hands dirty in the mud and feel the earth.
Moreover, if you have got your own vehicle, you can also go to other places like Kasar Devi, Mukteshwar etc. We borrowed Ashish’s bike and went upto Kasar Devi Temple and the journey was beautiful. There is also a waterfall nearby which is maintained by the locals and one can actually take bath there and chill in the water. It’s extremely beautiful.
(Image borrowed from Google, it rained on the day I was supposed to go to the waterfall so I didn’t)
This trip was not like other conventional treks or trips, it was a leisurely relaxed one where I would read my book, enjoy a movie in the mountain rains, play with the house kids, have chit chats with my friends and laugh and maybe sleep in during the day too. Life gets pretty weird, it is breaks like these that bring us closer to ourselves. Even though I had my friends there, I had a lot of alone time which gave me enough time to reflect on my life and be grateful and sort out the mess and the hurricane in my head which runs too fast.
The best part of the trip was that I made friends with a local kid who was probably five years old- Maanvi and she and I had some really great times together. Mostly kids don’t come to me but she was an exception and showered me with so much love that I feel blessed.
Overall, this trip was beautiful and you should also go to slowness if you really want to pause and reflect on your life and have simple joys light up your days.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
All the images here have been clicked by my friend Shiv. He was kind enough to let me use his pictures for this blog post. You should definitely check out his Instagram account here:
and he also has a specific blog for bird photography called Beaks Feathers Nikon
जाए रे जाए रे जाए रे
आज मदहोश हुआ जाए रे
मेरा मन, मेरा मन, मेरा मन
बिना ही बात मुस्कुराये रे
मेरा मन, मेरा मन, मेरा मन
आज मदहोश हुआ जाए रे
मेरा मन, मेरा मन, मेरा मन
ओ री लहर, पहना तू पायल
ओ री नदी, दिखा तू दर्पण
ओ री किरण, ओढ़ा तू आँचल
इक जोगन है बनी आज दुल्हन
आओ उड़ जाएँ कहीं बन के पवन
आज मदहोश हुआ जाए रे
मेरा मन, मेरा मन, मेरा मन
शरारत करने को ललचाये रे
मेरा मन, मेरा मन, मेरा मन
तो? आओ चलो कहीं छुप जाएँ, अच्छा!
यहाँ हमें, ज़माना देखे
आओ चलो कहीं छुप जाएँ
भीगा-भीगा नशीला दिन है
कैसे कहो, प्यासे रहपाएँ
तू मेरी मैं हूँ तेरा, तेरी कसम
मैं तेरी तू है मेरा, मेरी कसम
आज मदहोश हुआ जाए रे
मेरा मन, मेरा मन, मेरा मन
शरारत करने को ललचाये रे
मेरा मन, मेरा मन, मेरा मन
Euphoric Being 