I finally undertook on 6th Dec 2016, my much overdue visit to a first cousin in Garhwal hills, near Lansdowne. He has retired into a serene solitude after hectic 40 years of business life in Delhi, and plans to live his rest of life there. His estate of few acres is on a ledge running away westwards from the road leading to Tarkeshwar Mahadev up North, a much worshipped temple in Uttarakhand, just 4Kms afar. His abode is simply a tranquility enveloped in Cedar, Deodar, Pine and Buransh, trees; filling up the air with heavenly perfume. Spending few days with him was rejuvenating both physically and spiritually. Fostering upon local mystic herbs, grains, lentils and veggies has remained only a psychological gain due to my short lived stay. There are so many health benefits otherwise we are simply unaware of.
A true incident narrated by my cousin motivated me to seek blessings of holy Tarkeshwar Mahadev, the first thing after reaching.
Tarkeshwar is one of the many names that lord Shiva bear, and this one got bestowed upon after He killed the demon called Tarkasur. It has nothing to do with ताड़, as some of us would artfully connect it to a famous tall tree found in southern India. The temple is located deep down into a hilly bowl, thickly forested singularly by cedar deodar trees. Surprisingly the whole area is devoid of Pine or any other kind of trees. Amazingly, a overbearing deodar tree right above the deity has its spine trifurcated at top, looking like a trident, the lord Shiva’s inseparable Arm. I took no time in photo shooting it. A discernible positivity in the air lightens you up and coolness of spring keeps you from departing. The locals here do not allow even forest department to fiddle with the flora fauna around the temple. A fallen deodar is not allowed to be auctioned by the Forest Department, despite being absolutely legal. There are so many of these are lying in the basin to dissipate into the stratum. I came back so much reassured and contended.
The nightfall is early here and our campfire would be up by six. We would nurse our own selected alcohol and catch-up childhood stories amongst cousins. The nostalgic journeys would run into late evenings and continue over dinner. Exceptionally quiet nights occasionally get interrupted by wild life calls. It amused me to learn that porcupines regularly plunder my cousin’s kitchen garden and I got frightened to know that his young pup was stolen by a leopard. A tiger has also frequented his estate and left without harming anyone except scaring hell out of his guests. He tells me there are lots of bears, fox, barking deer and jungle fowl around and people avoid wandering into woods.
I loved people of Garhwal toiling in the ruggedness of the hills carrying LPG cylinders on their backs with a smile.
I came back enthused and motivated to shortlist my own retreat in next few years.
How will be a remote desert dhani?
“Ordinary men hate solitude.
But the Master makes use of it,
embracing his aloneness, realizing
he is one with the whole universe.”
