It is a well acknowledged fact, that Nainital is the prime and most beautiful lake in the hills of Kumaun, but I’d not venture so far as to call it a well acknowledged ‘truth’, and rather stop at ‘fact’.
I had the good fortune of visiting two of the multiple lakes of Kumaun recently, majority of which cluster in the Nainital district. They are; Nainital, Bhimtal, Naukuchiyatal, Sattal, Khurpatal, Garudtal, Hanumantal, Sitatal among the major and minor in that order.
I would call them Kumaun’s best kept secret, but then one would counter by questioning the reason for my seemingly ignoble intention of spilling the secret, upon which I would retort by pointing out how since almost nobody reads my blog; hence even after writing it away, the secret remains a secret! 🤡
While Naini lake prizes away most of the visitors along with revenue and government attention, it also gets the major share of noise, bedlam, pollution and unending cacophony at all hours. This is one aspect in which the other lakes are blessed, and they get to retain their character, authenticity and charm without any pretense.
This is how It felt visiting the hill station for a 1N1D basis. Bhimtal is 28kms from my residence, and I went with a local friend on a scooter. It had stormed a couple days back and we decided this would be the right time. Having left at 9 without any breakfast, we proceeded to have it on the way at a maggi point. The breakfast was, invariably, maggi. Within an hour and a half including the break, we could touch the lake!
A good thing about living close to the hills is that one can leave for a vacation without any planning at all. Just take a bag and leave. There’s no specific need to cover ‘things to do’, since regardless of where you’re facing, your retinas will have a pleasant time. In other words, it’s like going to Goa.
Right upon reaching, we descended to a swan shaped boat for pedal-boating using our legs. It was very cool. It implying to the weather as well as the water, and the experience. Pleasantly, there was only one more boat on the lake at the time, on a Saturday morning :0 .
We pedaled for 40 cake-walking minutes (subjective) taking a round of the lake and video-calling our friends along. I took some nice shots too (objective). In the lake, there is a small island which purportedly serves, or served as an aquarium. But it was so camouflaged with the background of the lake that we forgot about it. Far off, cottages on hillocks made our Kumaun seem nothing less than Scotland, and the water too was clear, reflecting the green hills and trees.
Google maps are often treacherous in the hill stations because of change in elevation coordinates, along with the length and breadth. That is how it fared for us, but not until we were quite near to our place of putting up, which was a hut cabin among the hilly farms n villages.
Paragliders took off over us as we looked for our accommodation. At the hut we booked on AirBNB called ‘Baakhei’ cottage, which translates to ‘settlement’, we were greeted by an over enthusiastic and friendly dog who mistook our slightest affection as an invitation for climbing on our bed.
After being duly kicked down and treated with biscuits, he decided to not budge from the room and just lounged there on the floor. We ordered some light lunch from the property and left for some roaming around after a few hours. The dog left only when we were locking the door.
There was a small natural spring at the property’s entrance, and the way till the rooms was a small and aesthetically pleasing climb.
Naukuchiyatal is another lesser known bridesmaid lake which lies 9 km from Bhimtal, and that is where we ended up for the evening. The lake is a peerlessly serene affair surrounded by lavender like flowers all around but which actually are ‘Neela Gulmohar’ or Blue Jacaranda which add another jewel to it’s beauty. Simple, unassuming prettiness.
There isn’t all that bustle around and one can have a peaceful walk around the lake, as we did. At the end of the walk, there’s a good-looking cafe serving kumauni food, and we partook of some; Aloo ke gutke, pakore, Bhaang ki chutney and Kumauni raita, along with occult talks which is the only true TED talk of Kumaun and Garhwal alike.
I enjoyed some kick scooter ride for free (I’d never ridden one in life 🙂 ) and then walked back to indulge in kayaking. Kayaking on Naukuchiyatal is a soulful and cool experience, once inside the water, we forgot any residual worries if we had, that harry a terrestrial mind. The kayaking lasted for 40 minutes during which we chased a group of ducks.
There are myths and legend associated with Bhimtal, Naukuchiyatal and other taals, but one can find them out on the internet, many of which are fabrications composed by google reviewers.
Back to the cottage, it started drizzling a bit, but did not last. We lounged in the garden chairs and watched the sun go down. At dinner time, lights twinkled from the hill settlements. No matter how hard we tried, the pictures never could replicate accurately what the eyes saw at night.
The wayward dog, again came into the room and claimed another few biscuits. He slid under the bed and would not come out. In the afternoon he had been trying to play with the cat, who was being rude to him, so he consoled himself with some playful fighting with another dog.
At night we watched a movie, and in the morning, as I went out the door, I saw an exotic bird called the himalayan black-lored tit 🤡. After a light breakfast with the mandatory tea, we left bidding goodbye to the hut, the animals and the view.
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A few days later, I was again called to Bhimtal over some business, and ended up going even further uphill, and visiting Sattal, albeit briefly. On the way back it rained for a ten-minute during which a hailstorm managed to fit itself too, giving us the opportunity to sip on tea while watching rain torrents on the hillside.
On the way down, we had some dal-rice at a hillside dhaba, not the ostentatious one, but the simple, humble one. While leaving the place, we chanced to have a little chat with the owner.
While coming down, his words repeated and echoed in my head.. “A man, when he builds a home, makes the temple room, the bedroom, the washroom, and other rooms… we, my friend, are living in the temple room, where the gods live. jo sukoon yahan hai, wo niche sheher mein nahi hai. I would advise all hill-dwellers to never leave the mountains“, of course not without bemoaning the sorry state of affairs w.r.t. the degenerating young generation and a brief lament regarding religion too.
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