Bhimtal and Nakuchiatal

These are a few snaps from our visit to Bhimtal and Nakuchiatal (March 27 to 31). There is something about the Pahadi way of life that seems so authentic - the simple food, a laid back “take it as it comes as I have all day to tackle this” kind of Amish stillness, the way birds wake you up with the morning rush from the tal. While the local politics, the goons, the commercial success (ice creams, beauty parlors etc) have eroded the thoreauvian Walden and Tolstoy farm kind of outlook, there are still birds that swing to the morning charm; the shop keeper who has added a wood block inside the shop ceiling so that the loving pigeons could nest (by throwing wet mud on the walls). The world is still alive and beaming with stillness – the way the mountains drop to both sides of the road, the way pahari women get together on the ground in the eve and sang “holi geet” (all the while smiling at our attire, on the way back from Nakuchia taal), the way Kailash’s bhai’s house balcony freezes at night from Tal’s breezy dispositions.