A trip to Khirsu - A small hamlet in the Garhwal hills

Just wanted to highlight this pleasant trip to Khirsu a small hamlet in the hills near Pauri about which much has not been written anywhere.

In the 3rd week of August I decided to take a few days off from work and drive down to Lansdowne and Khirsu.

I had the challenge of taking my two little daughters with the younger one being just 2 months old and the elder one being 3 years.

I started off on a Monday morning and reached Lansdowne in about seven hours. It was two relaxing days in Lansdowne with days trip around the place including Army ground, Army Museum, Tip in Top, Bhula Lake and sometime just driving around.

Then we decided to move towards Khirsu though it was raining heavily…. initially we took the Pauri highway but got stuck after around an hours drive due to heavy rainfall and landslide. It was my first exposure to a live landslide though I had got stuck due to landslides many a times. It was scary with two little kids and in between had to get out of my Qualis to remove a big stone in the middle of the Road. We then decided to take a different route which is not part of the main highway.The rain stopped after sometime and we had one of the most scenic drive in our life to Khirsu.

We reached Khirsu which was a completely isolated, small hamlet with forest all around.We checked into the only place to stay which was the GMVN Guest House and what a awesome location it was…..

Next morning with complete focus got up at 4:30 AM in the morning and alas I was treated to a beauty which I’ll never forget in my life. It was five levels of hills in front of me with the clouds mixing with the early sunrays to create different colours all around. For one hour I just went mad clicking photographs and savoring the inexplicable beauty.

I strongly recommend to all this little hamlet called Khirsu which is about 12 hrs drive from Delhi via Rishikesh.

I would also like all to know who get worried to travel with kids to remember it’s a beautiful Country and with a little precaution if we can expose our Children early to the beauty called ‘INDIA’ the better it is.

Fatherless to Fatherhood

I’m writing this post after a long long time. Lots of water has flown down the Ganges since my last post. Two life changing events occurred in my life.

Being Fatherless…

In the month of February (14th Feb) I suddenly received a call from my Mother in Greater Noida that my Father was feeling unwell and is a bit wobbly. It was just two days back I had dropped my Father hale and hearty and Shoma spoke to him in the morning when he said he has little temperature probably from the viral that I had few days back.

I didn’t think it was that serious but rushed to Greater Noida with a clear cut thought of getting him back home with me to Gurgaon by night. When I reached Grt Noida found Baba to be unconscious and thus took him to the nearby hospital. The doctor’s initially said he suddenly has low sugar levels and need to be injected with insulin. He initially responded well but immediately had breathing problems.

From there on it became a long battle of Nine days when I stayed in the hospital with Baba under ventilation in the ICU. He finally breathed his last on 23rd February.

It was a long and painful process of mental turmoil that I went through for months which is very difficult to explain. Never thought it will have such an adverse affect on my psyche and it changed me completely as a person.

Fatherhood….

On 28th May I was blessed with a little angel whom Pia started calling ‘Dia’ from day 1. Again seeing the little one for the first time made me feel completely at awe with myself with the thought that now I have these two little kids for whom I’m now completely responsible for everything and it’s 100% a part of my entity for rest of my life.

This is a clear example how life teaches you various lessons by throwing you into different circumstances and situations.

This year will always be remembered by me as a year where I lost a part of my life and also added an entity to my life.