Incredible India thru my Lens

Weekend drive to Renukaji (Sep ’10)

This was an unexpected trip to Renukaji. Initial plan was to stay in Nahan and explore around, but the staying options & other circumstances pushed me to move beyond Nahan. So, here I am with another weekend trip from Delhi.

I have decided to go for a weekend trip for sure, as my wife has gone to Chennai for a wedding. So, I am free to decide on the destination and initial thoughts pushed me towards Madhya Pradesh and the place I decided to be Maheshwar. So, all set but then I got severe cough & cold on Thursday, which doesn’t allow me to choose public transport to MP. Then looked for nearby places around Delhi, and finally zeroed on Nahan, due to its proximity from Delhi.

All set and left home as early as 5 AM and took NH1 and crossed Karnal in no time. As GPS suggested, took a right turn at Shahpur, 30kms before Ambala. The road journey from here on was an awesome experience with beautiful green villages. Since, rain was so kind this year, there was Green everywhere. At few places had to do water crossings on the road as water flows from one side of the farm area to other. The experience was bit scarry but enjoyed a lot on the driving front.

Reached Nahan around 12 PM and found there were no good staying options. Due to Eid, there was a big gathering of people to offer prayer on the main market road. After seeing all this I decided not to stay there and thought of checking out ‘Grand View Resort’ at Jamta, which is located 14kms from Nahan.

From Jamta, one has to take a steep upward road to resort for a km and you must admit it’s a beautiful resort. The views are awesome and the lawn was simply superb. You have swimming pool too, so head there to have a relaxing weekend with your family. To pay and stay there for a night was too much for me. Called up HPTDC in Renukaji and came to know there are no rooms available. Now, all my plans go for a toss and finally decided to pay a vist to Renukaji to see the lake.

The first thing I did after reaching Renukaji was to check with the Hotel manager about the availability of room, and much to my delight room was available. Checked out the A/C & Non A/C rooms and finally settled to Non-A/C room on 1st Floor. The time was 1 PM and I dozed off immediately. When I woke up at 4, the sky was so cloudy and it started raining. I had no options other than to stay in the room and watch the rain for sometime. Not much photographs on the first day and after having light snacks dozed off again and woke up the next day, culprits being the cough & cold.

Day 2 was no different as rain doesn’t seems to end at all. But the intensity has reduced and it was drizzling, took my gun and went for shooting (it’s my camera, don’t think otherwise). The atmosphere was amazing and the reflections on the lake were simply superb. It’s like a dream setup for a film shooting. It’s sad that I couldn’t do a boat ride due to rain as I don’t want to spoil my gear once again. After capturing some superb moments thought of leaving the place as I can’t do much here with rain playing spoilsport. Checked out the hotel at 9 AM, against the warning given by the Hotel manager that there might be few landslides due to last night rain, and it will take atleast noon to clear that.

Left the hotel at 9.30 and found myself staring at a landslide just 4kms from the Hotel. But, the restoration work in progress, so waited there for an hour and proceeded towards Nahan. After travelling for another 7-8 kms saw another couple of big landslides and god was not kind enough on me that day. Cursing myself for choosing Renukaji as the weekend destination during Monsoon, I waited for another 30 mins to see some humans at that deserted place. When enquired they said, it will take at least a day to clear, and suggested me to stay for the night, as the labourers might not come to work as it was Sunday.

Waited there for an hour and decided to go back to Renukaji and spend sometime there. So, headed back to the hotel and the first person, who saw me coming back was the Hotel Manager. Headed straight to the temple complex and shot some photographs and rested there for sometime. Thought of visiting the zoo, but the ticket price seems to be too high (Rs. 250/- for vehicle + 100/- for camera), dropped the plan and started my journey back to Nahan. When I reached there are few more vehicles lined up and the cleanup in progress, so had to wait there for another couple of hours to start my journey back to Delhi.

After this stretch, the journey was uneventful and took the route back to Delhi via Naraingarh, Saha, Karnal and reached home by 9 PM. An exciting weekend trip ends there with monsoon at its best in Renukaji.

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