Hunsali Organic Farm and Farmstay

Our daughter was asked to make a report on a dairy or a poultry farm as part of her school holidays homework. While browsing through some of the dairy farms in the vicinity, my husband stumbled upon the site of Hunsali Organic Farm and Farmstay, Fatehgarh Sahib. We browsed through their site very carefully and liked the idea of visiting this place for the project as well as for a small getaway. 

Distance from Chandigarh: 38 km

Driving distance: 1 hour

We reached the farm at 11:00 am and were welcomed by the owner himself. While the rooms were getting ready, he took us around the farm. He was happy to share how the farm came up and how satisfying has been their journey so far. We were showed two varieties of cows under the shed,  goats in their designated place and freely running hens and cocks. 

Three (goat) kids were merrily jumping around and enjoying themselves, which was a delight to watch. 

The two suites were on either sides of the dining area. We had our tea/lemonade in the open while watching these small animals minding their routine business. 

There was a well maintained park within the farm and when it was time to have our lunch we requested that the lunch be laid out in the park under the amaltas tree. The beauty of this tree is that it blossoms in peak summer and lends the much needed beautiful colour and shade during this time. Though it was middle of a summer day yet the weather was perfect as gentle breeze was blowing making the ambience just perfect.

The lunch was delicious rajmah, paneer, rice and roti along with boondi raita. Since the farm has only two suites and we had rented both of them, we had the luxury of having the place almost to ourselves while workers did the needful to make our stay comfortable. 

It was time for siesta post that sumptuous lunch.

Attraction for the evening was to take bath in tubewell which the kids enjoyed immensely. We were called to watch milking of the cows manually as well as by machine. We were showed the chiller for the milk where it is kept before it is put in big cans, ready for distribution. Since it is a fully organic farm, the cows are fed natural farm grown feed and the farm gets the manure from the animals waste. What a wonderful sustainable way that nature has made arrangement for but we tend to forget and abandon it. 

After that we spent sometime on the patio which overlooked the farm side. 

 

Large fields all around was a delightful sight and paddy sowing was in full swing. 

As the sun was going down, we went on the terrace to watch it bidding adieu. The weather was so good that we decided to sleep on the terrace that night and expressed our desire to the workers there. They happily obliged and arranged the cots, standing fans, odomas cream, drinking water etc. for the night. 

After having our dinner in the dining area, we came back up on our cots. Watching the sky at night is a luxury which city dwellers have almost forgotten. We played some dumb charades game and antakshari while enjoying the night sky, the nourishing breeze and natural sounds. It turned out to be a perfect end to a lovely day. 

The next day we had a ride on the tractor, took many pictures of the farm and gathered information by talking to the people engaged in different activities. It was great to get a peak into how the farm is managed on a daily basis. Our daughter has enough material to write a report on a farm now. 

Hunsali Organic Farm and Farmstay is a lovely place and very well managed and maintained. However, two things would have made it just 'picture perrrrfect' for me - a treehouse (machaan) on a big banyan tree and Punjabi folk art (phulkari patterns, village scenes or similar such) on the walls instead of warli art. 

It was time to pack our bags for the return journey. On our way back we paid our obeisance at Jayotisar Gurudwara and Fatehgarh Sahib Gurudawara. 

The day we covered Shimla...

It was during the winters of 2013 that we decided to explore Shimla for the first time. Yeah, that’s right, although born and brought up in Chandigarh, I had never been to Shimla in almost four decades of my existence. I know I can't justify my existence :)

While I was planning the trip, I was advised by more than one to stay away from “proper Shimla” to beat the crowd. After some deliberation we finalised on ‘The Chalets’ resort at Naldehra which is around 25 km further away from Shimla.

We reached there by evening after taking a relaxed break on the way. At the resort, we had a duplex cottage to ourselves which overlooked snow capped mountains. When we reached there, the last rays of sun were dancing merrily on silvery peaks making them glisten and sparkle with shimmering beauty. The sight was absolutely postcard-worthy.

Though we knew that it would get cold once the sun signs off for the day but brrr….we had not expected this much temperature difference that the sunset would bring. It got seriously C.O.L.D. The open barbecue was a respite only till the time the hot nibblers stayed in the mouth. The winds at the hill top were taking the chill factor to a whole new level. We decided to rather stay inside the cottage. Having a fireplace in the cottage was a big boon. We lit it up and huddled close to it to thaw ourselves from the bone-chilling outdoors.

We had planned to dedicate the following day to Kufri which is 19.8 km from Naldehra. When we saw the overcast sky early in the morning, we silently thanked our stars and hoped to see some snowfall. The heavens above were quite kind(or not?) to us that day as it started snowing soon after we began our drive towards Kufri, first just tiny bits of cottony flakes and soon enough it was snowing heavily. Apparently, falling of snow works almost like a human magnet, as people thronged the place from what seemed like the whole world. 

After facing many traffic snarls on the way, we finally reached Kufri. We hired snow boots at the destination to walk down to a place which offers snow-sport activities. Since Kufri was overcrowded (clearly an understatement) that day, the snow was fast turning into slush making the trek pretty slippery and difficult. As we began waddling clumsily in our snow boots through slushy snow, we heard a thud, someone had slipped and had fallen flat on the ground. Hardly had we resumed our business of walking, that we heard another similar thud and this continued quite intermittently. Suddenly a big thump, it was me this time and no, falling on snow(hardly) does not feel like you are landing on a cushiony floor. It hurts, and it hurts even more when it is cold and wet.

Anyway, braving all hurdles we finally reached the place which was the cynosure of the whole cavalcade. The place offered yak rides(in fact, more of sitting on a stationary yak) and skiing - both these activities were having a hard time even justifying being at the namesake stage. With such crowd, how much can one ski or ride a yak anyway. But like regular tourists, we refused to get fazed by such disillusionments. We did not miss the opportunity to put the kids on both the rides, nor did we lose any time capturing the moment in the camera as evidence for posterity ;)

Oh yes, made this snowman too...

Highlight of the day - hot maggi as we waited almost endlessly in one of the serpentine queues.
Even bigger highlight of the day - spotting the vehicle that was supposed to take us back to our cottage.

Third day had शिमला का नाम (Shimla’s name) written on it. Shimla’s famous mall road was beckoning us and with excitement in our hearts, we began our drive towards it. Walking down the mall road while enjoying the Himalayan backdrop is the main attraction of the place although backdrop was barely visible that day as the road was almost packed like sardines. We did the typical touristy stuff there - window shopped, bought some souvenirs, purchased a couple of Kullu shawls, found some spots on the ridge to capture in the camera with/without us in the frame, spent some good amount of time deciding on the prefect place to eat at, had an appetising lunch followed by hot coffee and walked some more on the mall road before calling it a day.

That day we finally “covered” Shimla and ticked it off our list. We were ready to go home the following day.

Some suggestions if you care:

1) For the first timers, if you want to 'cover’ Shimla then it’s better to stay in Shimla and not off it as coming to Shimla will take away a couple of hours or more depending on how many people think like you and plan the Shimla visit with you ;)

2) Planning to go to Kufri for snow sports? I would ask, is it absolutely necessary? If yes, then pick a day when you can hope to ski, not bump into other people (there, I said it)

3) “The Chalets” resort is a beautiful place to spend your vacation in but it can be enjoyed best if you just stay put in the resort and enjoy their delectable food services while your eyes feast on humbling Himalayas. Dinner layout had some typical pahari dishes like - madra, mahni, kadhi, palda and some meetha bhath, which were an absolute delight for the taste buds. 

Kerala

Kerala - there is no dearth of paeans that have been written on this place in verse and in prose. I am wondering what more can I say about 'God's own country'?

While being in Bangalore, if one wants to go for a rejuvenating break, Kerala offers a perfect getaway. So in 2010 we planned a 5 days 4 nights trip to Kerala. We usually keep our trips very relaxed, covering less to enjoy the place in its entirety. The plan was to fly to Kochi, spend a day in Kochi, visit Fort Kochi and see Chinese Fishing nets and head towards the backwaters for the rest of the four days.

We had four days and three nights for the Vembanad lake, Kumarakom and Allepey.   We stayed in Malabar resort which overlooked the lake and  enjoyed the 'made to order' food. Those couple of days were spent blissfully nestled in the lap of nature. The last night we were supposed to spend on a houseboat. It was a houseboat with two bedrooms and a deck on the top tier. What can I write about that one day, that we ended up spending in the houseboat!

That was truly an experience out of this world. Perhaps the words like 'peace' and 'tranquility' were coined for such places only. Usually houseboat is anchored for the night at one place and one gets to see pristine sunset in its full glory. Verdant green paddy fields on one side, sunset on the other, surrounded by serene  water, slightly bobbing houseboat… perfect ingredients for a perfect holiday.

Ours is not a very frequently travelling family, yet we try to visit at least one new place every year. The trip to Kerala remains the best of the lot still.

Places to stay at : Kumarakom Lake resort is a great option. (Make sure you do the reservations well in advance)

Best time to visit : all year through

Important Tips :

1.       Do not try to cover more places in less days, the whole objective of the visit will get defeated.

2.       Make sure to take boat ride inside the lake, you will get a chance to notice different varieties of flora and fauna.

Jim Corbett National Park

Visited in : March 2015

Best Time to Visit : November to February, March to June and July to October

Distance from Delhi : 267 km

Distance from Chandigarh : 348 km

Though on paper, the travel time from Chandigarh to the national park is 7 hours but it almost takes 10 hours to reach the destination. This is because of - certain detours to avoid some bad roads, high traffic on highways passing through the cities and reduced speed in hilly region at some places.

Best way to reach there :

1. By Road : Taxi
2. By Train : A train runs from Chandigarh to Dhampur once daily. It takes less time but the problem is the arrival time at Dhampur -1:50 am at night.

Good Places to Stay At:

We stayed at Hridayesh Wilderness SPA and Resort, one of the many resorts which are situated on the banks of the river Kosi. But these are not inside the forest. There are many rest houses inside the forest also but there are fixed rules and regulations pertaining to reservation, facilities and timings. Please check the website of Corbett Zone for the same.

The part is divided into two parts - core and the buffer region. The buffer includes Jhirna and Sitabani parts which remain open throughout the year. However the core part includes Birjani, Dhikala and Durgadevi which is usually closed during the monsoon as the mud roads get washed away during this time.

Since the travel itself took such a long time, we had planned to spend three nights there. We reached there by the dinner time, had our dinner and called it a day. The next day, we had a walk inside the resort and the flowing Kosi captured our attention. We sat there, feet dipped in the fresh cold water of the river for a very long time.

We had a Jeep Safari planned for that day but unfortunately because of some incident, the forest gate for which we had the entry passes, got closed. We waited to get entry from some other gate but it could not materialise. When we returned back to the resort, we were informed that our Elephant Safari which was scheduled for the next day had been arranged for that day itself. We decided to go on that one. Perched on the Elephant back, we ventured into the forest. After an hour of persistent search for the big cat, we could finally spot the striped beauty in its full glory near a narrow stream of water. When you actually see the royal beast, you wonder at the awesomeness of nature and its beautiful creations.

We embarked on the Jeep Safari the next day and thanks to one bird enthusiast in the family, we dedicated this trip to bird watching. It was a great fulfilling experience as we spotted some beautiful birds in the jungle. Some of them were - chestnut headed bee-eater, oriental hornbill, white crust laughing thrush, robin, kingfisher, hornbill, rostering parakeet, emerald dove, green bee-eater bulbul, barbet, river lapwig, kalij pheasant and white cap red star.

The forest is a home to diverse flora and fauna and we got a chance to see some of them in their natural habitats.

Other than enjoying the cool breeze of Kosi river and spending some relaxed time on its banks, the in house facilities included - swimming pool, badminton, bicycles, gym and some other indoor games.  We had all our meals in the resort itself and the food was simply awesome.  

Notes:

1. Please arrange for the Safaris before you go there. The bookings for the same are done in advance and only a certain number of Safari Jeeps are allowed inside the reserve area every day.
2. Do not miss Elephant Safari. It is a different experience and where an elephant can go, even a Jeep cannot.
3. Try to keep it relaxed, taking in the natural sounds and sights rather than covering more in less time. If you plan to add Nainital visit along with this then add more days accordingly. 

The Taj Mahal (Agra)

Finally trip to see poetry in stone materialised...

Visited in : October 2014

Best Time to Visit : March, October, November

Distance from Delhi : 208.6 km

Best way to reach there :

1) By road : the highway Taj Express Highway/ Yamuna Expressway is a well laid highway and offers a smooth drive at 100 kmph. 

2) By train : Bhopal Shatabdi Express is a good option and the travel time is just two hours.

Good place to stay at :

1) Raddison Blu is a safe option (that's where we stayed). The food is a good spread of all varieties.  It was 1.5 km from the Taj.

2) The Oberoi Amarvilas is 600 m from the Taj.

Other than these, ITC Mughal, Wyndham Grand, JayPee palace are some other reliable options.

Paeans and paeans have been written trying to put beauty of the Taj in words but words fall short miserably in front of this  epitome of love which graces Indian skies resplendently. The experience of actually soaking in the exquisiteness of the white monument is beyond what one could ever imagine. One is awed by the sheer brilliance of architecture, the finesse, the thought, the planning and the perfection of executing an emperor's tribute to his beloved wife.

Do not rush, spend time admiring the one of its kind monument.

Entrance to the Taj Mahal

Agra Fort is around 4-5 km from the Taj Mahal. A tour of this fort should be a part of the visit to Agra.

The official website of Taj Mahal is a wonderful great place to get inspired to visit Taj Mahal, once more!

Important Tips :

1. The Taj Express Highway does not have any good eating joints, so be prepared to take eating halt only after reaching the destination.
2. Must take a knowledgeable guide while taking the tour of Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. With the detailed information, the tour becomes much more enjoyable and educational.
3. Do not miss the Light and Sound show in the Agra fort at night. Delhi Red Fort has similar kind of show, nonetheless, the one at the Agra fort gives a wonderful brief of the importance of Agra in the Mughal reign.
4. If you do plan to go for the Light and Sound show, do take mosquito repellant along with you. Why should pesky pests spoil the fun of getting transported to the Mughal period?
5. Make sure to see live demonstration of the inlay (pacchikaari) work that has been done on the walls of the Taj. Raddisson hotel has a small show with a replica of Taj Mahal highlighting the various details that must not be missed when one goes to see the monument. As a part of this show, a demo of inlay work was also shown by a craftsman. I am sure other hotels would be having something on these lines too.
6. How can one leave without buying the authentic Panchchi petha from one of the authentic outlets? Make sure to check the originality of the Panchchi petha outlets by asking a trusted person. Must try saffron, paan and chocolate flavours in the petha. They are 'to die for'.

Trivandrum-Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram-Madurai Post 3 of 4

The third stop on our pilgrimage journey was Rameshwaram.

Visited in : Dec 2011

Distance from Kanyakumari : 307 km

Best way to reach there : By road (it takes around 5 hrs to reach Rameshwaram from Kanyakumari)

However, there is a train from Kannyakumari to Rameshwaram too - Cape Rmm Express

Good place to stay at : We stayed at Royal Park. There are not many well known hotels in Rameshwaram and the ones which are there offer standard facilities, nothing fancy.

Places to see here:

1. Ramanathaswamy Temple

Image Courtesy : Kumbakonamtemples

Shiva (Ramanathaswamy) is the main deity here and is present in the form of signature lingam. Two lingams are the main attraction of the temple. One is believed to be built by Sita and the other was brought by Hanumana from Kailash (which is worshipped prior to the Sita's lingam).

Image Courtesy : vettriparavaigal

In line with other South Indian temples, Ramanathaswamy temple has long corridors lined with tall pillars. It is noticeable that these temples are usually very dark inside, not letting sunlight light up the interiors.

2. Pamban bridge

It is a cantilever bridge on the Palk Strait connecting the town of Rameswaram to mainland India. It was opened in 1914 and is India's first sea bridge. The name Pamban bridge is used for both road bridge as well as the railway bridge. The rail bridge can be raised in order to let ships and barges pass through this strip of ocean.

3. Dhanushkodi

It is a small town or village at the southern tip of Rameswaram island. It had a railway line which got destroyed in 1964 cyclone. It is believed that Lord Rama built a bridge between mainland India and Sri Lanka in order to take his army to Lanka. After Rama won the war and Vibhishana was crowned the new king of Lanka, he requested Rama to destroy the bridge. Rama did so with one end of his bow and hence the name Dhanushkodi (end of a bow).

Dhanushkodi town now wears a completely destroyed and deserted look. There are ruins of some old temples, some idols of Gods and railway station.

Fun of seeing the ground water up so close...

You can actually see Sri Lankan land from the edge of Dhanushkodi. 

The dancing waves bathed in the early morning rays of sun looked spectacular, so a visit to this place must not be missed.

Note :

1. It will take 2-4 hours inside the Ramanathaswamy Temple. Since one needs to take bath (a bucket/pot full water is poured on you) at all of the 22 tirthas within the temple, it takes time, so plan accordingly.
2. The Pamban railway bridge looks beautiful so must watch out for it while driving.
3. Visit Dhanushkodi during the day time preferably because the place is very lonely and may appear spooky at night. 

Trivandrum-Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram-Madurai Post 2 of 4

This was the second stop on a journey which -

Was spread across a distance of 1,720 km

covered two states - Tamil Nadu and Kerala

comprised of three means of transport - air, water and road

Visited in : Dec 2011

Distance from Trivandrum (Thiruvanathapuram) : 85 km

Best way to reach there : By road (approx. 2 hrs)

Good place to stay at : We stayed at Sparsa resort

Places to See :

1. Vivekananda Rock Memorial

The story goes like this - This is the place which make the young monk Vivekananda - the Swami Vivekananda in 1892. He meditated for three days and nights and attained enlightenment on his life's mission here. He dedicated his life to arouse the nation from its deep slumber from slavery and bigotry.

The idea of constructing a memorial to honour Swami Vivekananda was mooted in 1962 and the memorial was dedicated to the nation in 1970.

Do not miss spending some time in the meditation hall. There is a store which sells books and souvenirs. 

2. Thiruvalluvar Statue

This photo of Thiruvalluvar Statue is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The 133 feet stone sculpture of Tamil saint and poet Thiruvalluvar stands tall at the meeting point of two seas and an ocean - the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The statue is installed on a tiny island adjacent to Vivekananda Rock. The ferry service from mainland to Vivekananda Rock Memorial stops for a while at the Thiruvalluvar Statue.

3. Vattakottai Fort

About 7 km from Kanyakumari, this fort was built in 18th century as a coastal defence for the Travancore Kingdom at that time. The elevated portions of the fort offer magnificent views of Bay of Bengal, numerous windmills and vast expanse of green blanket.

    4. You can take a stroll along the coastline. 

Important Tips :

1. The queue for the ferry which takes you to the Vivkananda Memorial Rock is usually very long so budget the time well for the same. 
2. Life jackets are not in a good state though the ferry ride is just for 5-7 min.
3. Do not miss the sunrise time early in the morning at Kanyakumari. It is beautiful there.
4. If planning to stay in Sparsa Resort, request for the room which has a sunset view from the room itself. Some of their rooms overlook the Indian Ocean or go to the sunset tower for a breathtaking sunset spectacle.