The Time-Turner Series || Re-visiting Beautiful Lansdowne - A Clam town of Uttarakhand in North India

When it comes to travel, I think every place has its own charm. And there are very few places that I can think of where I have been but didn't like much. I have always managed to find something or the other to love about a place. Lansdowne, on the whole, was a pretty disappointing experience. However, there are still aspects of this place that come back to me every now and then. And, therefore, it is a good candidate for a Time-Turner post. 

The Time-Turner series is my opportunity to pen down the lingering memories and impressions of a place I have visited. It helps me relive the experience a bit and also reflect upon the aspects of the place that stood out the most to me. For more Time-Turner posts, follow this link: The Time-Turner Series. 

I had heard so much about Lansdowne - that it is the nearest hillstation to Delhi, that it is pristine, that it is unexplored and beautiful. For years, I had been planning a visit to the place. And them in the year 2012, when my sister started craving for a holiday, I proposed Lansdowne. And the plan soon materialized. Eight of us adults, accompanied by a very naughty child, soon started out on one June morning, tightly packed in a Qualis.

This was one of our first trips with our entire family, and we had really high expectations for the reasons given at the beginning of this post. However, as we started going up, the temperature got higher and the weather was really dry as well. Moreover, we hadn't had breakfast, and for a really long time, we were not able to find a dhaba or a restaurant for a really long time. 

When we chanced upon one, we asked them to make parathas for us with chai. Nothing else was available. Luckily he also had some fresh Dahi. So from being extremely hungry we quickly went to having plenty to eat. The parathas turned out to be XXXL in size and we truly appreciated that fact. The chai was too sweet but at that time that was exactly what we needed. Even though it was hot, the chai was extremely refreshing. 

But then tables quickly turned, and the mountain sickness I hadn't experienced for years came back with a vengeance. Not only to me, but also to my sister and nephew. It was in this state that we reached our hotel - The Blue Pine resort. And then we found that reaching our rooms required climbing several flights of stairs. That was okay for us but for papa, it was a tough deal. But there was no other room available there at the time. So we managed to somehow reached our rooms. 

The rooms I remember were really cool. They were duplex and quite spacious. The hotel people also agreed to serve food to my parents in their room so that they wouldn't have to climb up and down the stairs again and again. The hotel service was awesome. And the property was beautiful. The only disappointing part here was the view of a barren hill where signs of blatant deforestation were apparent. We had come in search of natural beauty, and that was the only thing that was missing. 

There were several man-made attractions here, but the lack of greenery stuck out like a sore thumb. May be it was the wrong season to visit. May be we should have gone during the monsoons. But even if we compare Lansdowne to other hills stations we have visited during summer, Lansdowne was the most barren. This was a major disappointment. 

However, there was one particular memory that sort of makes up for some of it. On our first night there, we sat on the porch or our room and watched the night sky. There were millions of stars, of course. But the highlight was the full moon that rose silently from behind the barren hills and set after a few hours. We watched its entire journey, right from the time it was a thin line in the distance, to when it finally set. It lit the night sky with its magnificence. 

It is only this memory that makes me think fondly of Lansdowne. Apart from that it was a pretty forgettable experience. I would probably want to check out Lansdowne once again in monsoon, but I do not have high hopes.