Nainital

"The hilly lake town"

Away from the humdrum of city life, lies the town of Nainital amongst the hills in Uttaranchal. Nainital, they say, was home to Jim Corbett.

As always, in India, for every monument/ landmark that exists, there is a legend, mythology or history to support its existence :) "Naini" tal gets its name from the "eye of Sati". As the tale goes, Sati, the first wife of Lord Shiva burnt herself in a pyre to avenge the insult that her father inflicted on her beloved, Lord Shiva. While she burnt herself, Lord Shiva tried to rescue her, and helplessly carried her burning body through Bharat (India). Her eye (hindi : nain), they say, fell where the Naini lake stands today.

Nainital is situated at ~6270 ft above sea level. The day we arrived, we were in for a surprise. We experienced a downpour, like in Mumbai. However, we were here to holiday and not to sit indoors wondering about clogged drains and rivers running over danger marks (like we do in Mumbai), so we decided to take the bold step and carry on with our site seeing...and holiday
We reached this beautiful town from Delhi. A train from the old Delhi railway station to Katgodham in Uttaranchal, followed by an hour long drive to Nainital. Thanks to Brig P.Charak, our generous uncle and enthusiastic papa, a retired WgCdr himself, we stayed at the MES.(army rest-house)

The bazaar area, referred to as the 'maal' by the locals, is abuzz with activity like any other city market. This is located right around the Naini lake and the heart of town. The local authorities have developed a lovely promenade around the lake and have located benches there. The benches are interestingly located between the 2 maal roads and not right by the lake. This allows one to watch the bypassers while enjoying the lush pine lined hills of Nainital.

The main attraction of Nainital are the lakes,which dont freeze in the winters. The locals mentioned that they have some natural sources (viz springs) which prevent the lakes from freezing. In addition to Nainital there are other lakes too viz Garuda tal, Bheem tal, Naukuchiatal (with the lotus pond, see pic below), Saat tal....to name a few.The most beautiful among these was Saat tal. While we took a boat ride on a ferry - the 'swishing sounds' that the oars made, the light showers that kept one from opening ones eyes wide (yeah, we dint take an umbrella with us) made one relive the Srinagar experience. The difference however was that the lake here was surrouded by dense hills, while in Srinagar, from the Nagin lake it is the houseboats which provide a panoramic view. We visited the place in monsoons, off-season, and so we turned lucky by having the lake to ourselves!!

The attraction at Bheem tal was the "bhutta-walla" (corn cob vendor. For the uninitiated....it's a human who vends the corn cobs and not a machine! :). The bhutta was roasted/ tandoored, and then a special spicy mix was rubbed over it. The mix contained green chilli, salt, garlic and dash of lemon.....we were informed by the vendor. Yummy.....!!! ...i haven't tasted such tasty bhutta before. The regular mix that is used in most parts of the country are salt, red pepper and lemon. Kudos! to the bhutta walla for his ingenius mix.

We moved on to a botanical garden which had some natural caves. These caves were rather treacherous.....one had to almost crawl through them ....in the dark........and at times one couldn't see the light at the other end. That was some adventure!
At Naukuchiatal we did the unthinkable - we got some "nashpati" (a fruit belonging to the Pear family) plucked freshly for us, and had it with some delicious chat mix ;)

Few hard truths - In Nainital, after formation of Uttaranchal, they say tourism is the key source of livelihood. What puzzled us is why don't they cultivate fruit and vegetables, like in Himachal, and use horticulture for a living ?
Some of the towns in and around Nainital are Jeolikote, Haldwani, Almora to name a few. Haldwani is known for its famous "non meetha" potatoes ....I was introduced to this unique vegetable when in Delhi :) The tragedy about Nainital is that it houses only one public hospital which is neither well equipped nor has adequate no. of doctors. Emergencies are usually referred to the hospitals in the potato town of Haldwani.
Given that the state capital for Uttaranchal is Dehradun, Nainital definitely does not deserve a step daughterly treatment! You need to go there to believe it.