Down in Lansdowne

Originally known as, Kaludanda, after Kalun (Black) and Danda (Hill) in the local language, Lansdowne was founded and named after the then Viceroy of India, Lord Henry Lansdowne in 1887.

Today, Lansdowne is a cantonment town in Pauri Garhwal district of  Uttarakhand and houses the command office of the famous Garhwal Rifles of the Indian Army.

At an elevation of 4600 ft, Lansdowne presents a unique choice of a hill station still in its pristine glory. However this may deter those who would want all the amenities of a comfortable holiday.

It was a three day getaway to this place with family and the sights of this place that relaxed my mind.

This is one of the signs you cannot afford to miss if you are driving on your own (or like us you might end up a little lost).

The first thing that meets the eye are unending blue pine forests and thick oak trees.

After a refreshing time in the resort we headed out for the touristy places. First there was the War Memorial, at the Parade Ground of the Garhwal Rifles Center. The Regimental Museum (also called the Darwan Singh Sanghralaya), houses artefacts from the beginning of the Regiment. No photos were allowed of course 😦 only this one of the entrance.

We then headed to the two churches that Lansdowne is known for:

St. Mary’s Church was was built by Colonel AHB Hume in 1896 and has been restored now by Garhwal Rifles Regimental Centre.

Pre-independence photographs and an audio-visual display of the Regiment’s history can be viewed at this place.

St. John’s Church is a Roman Catholic Church situated on the mall road. St. John’s Church is the only Church of worship in Lansdowne.

Experimented with a bit of HDR to get the feel of the church interiors

The guest book there appeared like a divine list in the light of the window … 🙂

The only place that offers a bit of the usual refreshment is the Garhwal Mandal Rest house.

For me this place, was a set straight out of a horror flick!

Fortunately, the GMVN is constructing new wooden cottages which I plan to visit if I make this trip again.

Tip n Top (aka Tiffin Top) is a vantage point that promises both views of the sunrise and sunset, but which also has too many people vying for space.

Because of a technical malfunction in my car I could not wait till sunset and had to head to the local market to get a puncture removed from the tyre.

The evening was spent at Bhulla Taal (Little Brother Lake) which is maintained by the Garhwal Rifles.

The serene waters and the colourful paddle boats were invitation enough for me to exercise my legs and spend the time with the ducks.

Bhulla Taal has its fair share of wildlife, and these guinea pigs kept my little son in splits.

But the best part of the holiday for me was spending time in the balcony of the resort letting in the panoramic view around.

The tea they made there was unmatched to any I tasted before!

Got a few stills of the birds too…

The evening walk too were fantastic photo ops…

…. and there was enough time to fool around with the camera settings to get a bit artsy



And these are a few miscellaneous shots that bear a mention… 









Three days and a lung full of fresh air later, it was time to get back to the grind!

Like a moth to a flame

The perks of being a biology teacher.

Two students come rushing to me in the morning with eager expressions. In a folded sheet of paper they showed me a creature that left me spellbound. I had never seen something like it before. It was a beautiful and exotic moth.

The wingspan (shown by a pen in comparison) was around four and a half inches.

The wings were pale green with delicate tail streamers. The wings also had a prominent reddish rust colour along the edges. And the most striking were the “eye spots” on the wings.

Only later in the evening, one of the investigators researched about it and found it was known as the Luna Moth (Actias Luna)

Welcome Snowfall in Mussoorie

From the raging heat of Goa to the chill winters of Mussoorie. It was quite a change. The vacations are almost drawing to a close but today did not fail to surprise me. We stopped over at Mussoorie and were welcomed by a generous snowfall.

A view from atop the hill…

Wynberg-Allen School blanketed in snow

Snow prints!

This was the first time I was witnessing this marvel of nature and it left be breathless!

Clouds on a perfect canvas

The sky, a perfect empty canvas, offers clouds nonetheless. They shift and drift and beg interpretation… such is the nature of art.

~ Jeb Dickerson.

The Phoenix

Clouds have always remained the most widely used metaphor in literature. They can signify both sadness and joy, hope and obstacles, dreams and unrequited love.

The Dinosaur

Clouds are always open to interpretation… they constantly change, move and look both enticingly beautiful and benign. As an English teacher once explained: ‘Looking up at the sky, we can impose our own feelings on to them. In literature this is called “pathetic fallacy”, where the clouds come to emphasize our emotional states.”

This was a day when I was dumbfounded with the patterns the clouds created in the skies above…

A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed… It feels an impulsion… this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.

~ Richard Bach

More and more Marigolds

It seems like they have come up overnight… there are marigolds everywhere. I would never have imagined a simple flower like that when grown in abundance can make the place come ablaze!

So let me take you for a short tour around the Kāsiga school gardens.

The pictures above and below are panorama images of the marigolds on the way to the academic block.

And here is the patch of the same lovely flowers outside the dining hall lawns

Try to spot three different varieties in the maze of gold below…

… or just enjoy the ecstasy of the colours and fragrances!

Can’t wait for the next season of flowers!

Kasiga@Dawn

The Kasiga School announced a cross country run for the students and I was dreading the moment because I was to be on duty at 5:30 am on a Sunday morning!

But when I reached the point where the run was to be flagged off I pointed my camera to the sky and captured some breathtaking moments of the the colours of dawn.

5:30 am – Blue skies at the entrance gate of Kasiga School

6:10 am – Sacred Dawn … the temple and the sun

7:10 am – The sky is ablaze

And here’s the proverbial early bird…

Next time, no cribbing about getting up early!

Ethereal Landscapes

Another drive up to Mussoorie over this weekend. And as we sat lazily watching the clouds go by… This was another of those moments where the landscape looked the same (ie. something I have clicked all too often), yet I wondered how could I capture it through a different lens.

What turned out was indeed a sight to behold!

School visitor

Kasiga School boasts of an environ closest to nature, it is no surprise then to see our friendly neighbours (viz. insects, animals and reptiles) saunter into the corridors on a daily basis.

Today the celebrity during the juice break was a tiny grass snake. Unfortunately it chose the noisy junior school block to make an appearance and had to beat a quick retreat. But not before I was called to snap a few pics!

Can you spot it in this picture?

Tons River Trek

Kasiga School is lucky to have a river (or more of a roaring stream) running around the campus. Sunday saw us take a day trek to this ‘Tons river’

The Tons is the largest tributary of the Yamuna and flows through Garhwal region in Uttarakhand, touching Himachal Pradesh. The Tons valley is a remote area and has a culture unlike any other in the region. The villagers in the Tons valley are believed to be descendents of the Pandavas and Kauravas from the epic Mahabharata.

This river boasts of adventure sports in river rafting… however, we had a different kind of adrenaline rush when we explored some of the undiscovered parts of this river

Evening in Mussoorie

The last day of my little holiday in Mussoorie. It was time to hit Mall Road, with the famous Kalsang Restaurant (famous for its delicious momos).

Managed to snap a few shots on the way back.

Wild flowers

6000 ft! Wow!

Winding roads of Mussoorie

Goa… here I come…