sleepy HOLLOW

Mukteshwar is a quiet corner of Kumaon, away from the hustle and bustle of the bigger hill stations.

- AMIT DIXIT

OCCASIONALLY, THE SHARP CALL OF A BIRD FLOATS ACROSS THE VALLEY.

Fluffy mountain dogs let out a friendly bark or two. Apart from that there is complete silence in this neck of the Kumaon Himalaya. If you prefer peace over pep, Mukteshwar is for you. It’s also for those hungry for adventure and keen to commune with the great outdoors. There’s plenty for them to do here. Then there’s the view of the legendary peaks of the high Himalaya on a clear day, a sight for sore city eyes.

The drive into Kumaon in early February was beautiful. Once we left Bhimtal’s busy sprawl behind, there were two options: to drive via Ramgarh or Dhanachuli. We chose the latter, ostensibly shorter route, made good progress, and then ran into some snow in Dhanachuli. While fresh snow falling is a sight to behold, our attention was taken up by our car which was skidding on the ice that had hardened on the road. The beauty of India is that there is always assistance at hand. It did not take much to coax a bunch of sprightly boys to help push our car—they were rather interested in the insta-worthy video they ended up creating out of the situation. And we lurched on towards Mukteshwar.

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