A quaint little hamlet called Khirsu rests over 7000 ft above MSL in the district of Pauri in the UP hills. I decided on this destination almost accidently as I couldnt get acco at the better-known Lansdowne. Altho the month of August is not exactly peak season for hill retreats, I wasnt really surprised when the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Rest House guy told meover phone - 'Is samay to koi khali kamra nhai hai, saab'. I told myself what the heck, I'll just drive down, kahin na kahin koi kamra to khali hoga hi!
But, seriously, i feel its always good to have some kind of acco booked in advance wherever you go. So, i took my little Santro on another sojourn, couldnt leave office before 6pm , home by 7 and reached Meerut only by 8:30. The roads at this time are generally chocabloc with traffic and caution is advised. From Meerut to Mawana (30km), a road that was pretty good at other times, just gave in post monsoons and it took an hour. But the PWD deptt redeemed lost reputation by providing an absolute dream of a surface between Mawana and Kotdwar (140km) - I just sailed on this stretch, just 2.5 hrs. Deciding midnight was the right time to take a break, I stopped at the GMVN TRH at Kotdwar. After a sumptous Aloo-ka-paratha and curd breakfast at Kotdwar, I drove up the excellent ghat roads to Lansdowne(40km), hoping some room might have been vacated by then However, it wasnt to be, so I left the immaculately clean and organised little military town for Khirsu (85km). Thanks to some landslides my progress was hampered, but i still managed to reach Khirsu by 3:30. What greeted me was an amazing view of the central Himalayas (no snow-peaks.. all clouds though) and a cozy rest house. I checked in for 2 days of absolute peace and tranquility. In fact, the silence was a bit unnerving at times. I even got a fabulous view of the elusive snow peaks one morning there. Just sipped tea, ate, trekked on random paths, talked to the locals, slept, sat on the terrace during the day. Watched the clouds takeover the guest house, wondered where all those stars were all these days , ate more and slept more at nights. Trying to post a few images. Watch this space
