Up and Close....in a Mussoorie Village

....we stop at new upcoming resort at Kempty to have tea...

.....and change vehicle...as the uphill rocky terrain would be an adventure....we were warned....

.....up the b e a u t i f u l l mountain roads, twisting our souls upwards ...amidst random selfies and shots taken....as we bumped along, our hearts in our mouths literally sometimes...till...

.....a squeal of breaks....just 2 km away from Gandiyala...the village we were supposed to go to @Rs700 per head to experience village life, food and living with the locals... A Roadblock. The previous days rain had caused a small landslide...PWD was working on it...we were given the option of walking the adventurous trail...we opted out.....back to kempty resort to figure out things...

....woke up to a beautiful day....

.....looking out to the mountain ranges from our beds...through the sheers....

.....decided to do some local Kempty sites....the water falls and the Mall....

....serpentine queue of traffic ....in the mountain roads!!!...the traffic we had run away from in Delhi....

.....the crowded Kempty fall....not a place to go to if you want to experience the quiet pristine grandeur of the Himalayas....

....a selfie land....and merely that...too crowded otherwise....@ the Mall...

.....but the journey up and down made everything worth it....the undulating slopes...the loops....the small little cottages peeping through and the sky kissing the mountains....

.....next day we set out again....this time to another village...Bediyana...lower than Gandiyala...

....yes...something different....away from the local tourist spots....we reached the village, Bediyana.....

........up the steep stairs...loft like.....

....and into their homes...wooden floors.....wooden cupboards, tea and a lot of warmth....

....the land that they belong to.....this has been their backyard in their childhood...

......the city and the village meet at the edge of the world....one with an IPhone and the other with cycle tubes...

.....the villagers take to clicking selfies too....

.....top of the world...looking down on creation....and the only explanation I can find....is the love of nature unspoilt..

.....its luncheon time....makke ke roti, sarson ki saag, dahi, chutney, salad....we are hungry and eat well....

....post lunch we set out to their local temple uphill...

.....meet some more villagers....who are all delighted...

....their temple...

....what a lovely, unspoilt place this is...

.......a newborn kid.....

.....gorgeous sunsets....

....as dusk falls suddenly and we wrap ourselves in comforters...the children can't help entertaining us with their dance moves to the local Pahari music...

.....and there in a remote village...in a remote family there smiles a Divya Rawat, State level Kabaddi player with all her awards and metals....made of stern stuff....the state should help pull out these champs, who have the yearning in them to do their country proud...

....after a good night rest in fairly comfortable, highly spacious rooms, shared bathrooms clean and with hot water,....and a hearty breakfast, the women folk get us to move with their dance steps and present us with a head gear...the ghantu...

....the families line up to bid us farewell....

....on our way back, we detour and visit the gurgling waters of Yamunotri....

.......down the slopes....

.....its time to say goodbye to the mountains.....

.....time to kill before we board the Mussoorie Express, a night train to New Delhi....we linger in Dehradun, near the station....have coffee and eats at...

...the Jail Cafe...

.....a fun outing...before we head for the plains and back to our routine lives.

You can explore another beautiful village called Gorcha in Uttarakhand. ..... You can read about it..in the link.