Kanasar...Chakrata... Forests and their Wildnerness...
Its been quite a while since i blogged here.
Blogging alwayz gives me that chance to sit alone and think about my life. The
Training @IGNFA has been pretty interesting with loads of Travelling and
Exploring the nature and wilderness of Forests all along. Its been already 5months here in the academy, yet we
covered only One part of India...West India tour which covered states of Rangeen
Rajasthan n Vibrant Gujarat...Too many memories to share.. Lot more touring to Come.. Lot more life to
live... :D
Last week we undertook the Forest Mensuration
exercise in Kanasar Village of Chakrata Cantonment Division which probably is
one of the Breathtaking places on this Earth. Feeling like going back to
kanasar, atleast in reminiscences..Hence, this Post..
Summer has started to blaze here in Dehradun..Its
May and the Sun is in full force.. After those boring term exams which were 13
in number n just kept on coming as we kept on writing, the next exercise was to
go to kanasar where our goal was to find out Tree Volumes, diameters, heights,
blah blah… Our Course Director told us that it was Raining in Kanasar and the
temperatures were close to 0 Degrees. It was little hard to believe it as
Kanasar is just 120kms away 4m Dehradun and Summer this yr seems unusually Hot
across the Country. Still we packed our Winter woolen wears and started for
this dream Fairytale Destination.
There is a small ground next to our Tents which is a green patch of meadow in the lap of Himalayas where we started playing cricket n volleyball. N Here I go… I fell badly on my finger due to slippery grass n picked up an injury on the first day of tour…Next day I went to Military Hospital of Chakrata for a quick X-ray and a surprise visit to chakrata market… :D
The view of Straight, Long and never ending
Deodar trees is simply Awe-inspiring….The Sal forests of Timli were on plains,
but these Deodars are on Huge Mountains as if some Green painting done by the
god himself. We had to do our Stem n Stump analysis on the trees that were fell on the steep slopes. So, essentially we were sitting on the ground which is almost 45 Degree
sloping and studying the Tree properties which is Thrilling as well as Scary,
as one slip of leg would takes us 100s of feets downslope.
But the Highest point of the trip was probably
our Trek to the Budher Caves and the So-called Mini-Switzerland by our Course
director. It was a one hour Trek from Forest Rest House and we started in the
afternoon after finishing our Stem analysis of a 30mtr Deodar. Trek was gentle
and very easy.. but as we started going up, temperatures started falling down.
Clouds started kissing us and the mist started to follow us. The conditions
were overcast. After an hour, we reached this mini-switzerland, huge sprawling
meadows which are like in Dreamland of Narnia..I never saw switzerland, but if
its like this, m gonna come there someday.. The area was full of mist and fog
and we were actually living a life…. People went crazy into Selfies as the cool
breezes kept making our hearts fly in ecstasy… It was jus wow wow wowwww…. This
probably is the second best place I have ever visited in a trek…First best
being my Kodachadri Trek in the western Ghats, in monsoons, and in rains…..:D
However, the story doesn’t end here……We were at the top
of a small hillock in the meadows where a small temple was there and while we
were relaxing there,it started raining… We were to go back and the rain was
picking up the pace…After thinking for sometime, we decided to go back to camp
in Rain itself as it was getting dark at 3o Clock itself...Some of us hvn’t
even had Raincoats n Umbrellas…So we had to adjust and start trekking back in
the rain in chilling cold…
Here Comes the surprizzzee……10mins into our trek, Hails started falling… Small round white hard cotton balls which jus started falling like from Heaven… They were very harsh and we had no place to go other than Trekking back in Hailstorm..For the next one hour, the Music of the rain turned White…Hails fell at ferocious pace and kept hitting us from all sides..Umbrellas could save us to some extent but it was scary experience...The whole mountains turned Feathery White…It was like walking in some dream place in the Christmas snowfall..The Hills were white, the Paths were Pearly, Water was dripping from everywhere, small streams started gaining the vigor, Hails were hitting ruthlessly, No place to hide and the Walk was mesmerizing through the snow white Deodar Mountains…This is the life…This is the nature…This is the Forest Services…. U don’t live ur life twice and So when u live, Make it Count…
Each one of us was shivering in the Cold and the Hails, but finally we could reach the FRH safely…A bit of fire, a cup of tea
and we boarded our Buses back to camp…A dream day was just about to come to an
end…n boom..UPSC civil services results were out when we were shivering in
bus…that made few hearts skip their beats…Some succeeded, some couldn’t….but
life goes on...God has his own wayz to show u the life…isn’t it?. :D
Next couple of days, we were doing paper work and
the last day we trekked again to Deoban and then to Chakrata and from there
buses to Dehradun… As we started descending, the Sunny Sun started blazing
again and within couple of hours, We all started craving for Switching on the
AC in the Bus…. Life is amazing…. It takes u to places not just where u want to
go, but to places where u ought to go… :)
The beauty of Deodars and the wilderness of Kanasar is etched in our Everlasting
memories forever… Next time I dream of a duet song, the background will be....Deodars of Kanasar… :D :D :D
very inspiring sir... I was reading all post like your interview and physical test(25 km)....It inspiring me. Thank you sir for sharing this to us :)
ReplyDeletewelcome
DeleteI am not civil service asperent but I red Ur every blog posts since 2 months they are truelly inspiring........!
ReplyDelete