I would like to share with you with one of the best holiday spots I have been to with my daughter.
Kanvashram is a little known place close to Kotdwar in Uttarakhand. It is a five-hour drive from Delhi. You can reach the location by a night train – Mussorie Express which leaves Old Delhi station every day at 10:20 p.m. Get down at Kotdwar (arrival about 6 a.m.) and then either walk the 12-kilometre stretch to Kanvashram or hire a jeep which will take half an hour. Tell the driver to take you to the tourist bungalow.
Kanvashram [Illustration by Anup Singh]
There are two bungalows there – a dozen clean dormitories that look into a spacious front courtyard overlooking the stream and a village. The food can be arranged with the help of a local villager who runs a canteen in the summer months.
Plan to leave Delhi on a Friday night (if you are boarding a train) or leave early Saturday morning and land there by lunchtime.
The next two days can be spent on these lines – organise a hike to a nearby waterfall, a distance of five kilometres. Carry packed lunch or persuade the canteen man to spread out a lavish lunch at a green patch near the stream on your return. He will do it. Spend the afternoon hiking to the waterfall – it’s a little tough, you can take a villager as a guide if you like. Frolick in the tiny waterfalls and ponds. Return for lunch. Spend the evening visiting a gurukul on the opposite banks of the river Malini. Ask about the mythology of the place while sipping a local herbal tea.
Evening can be spent before a bonfire.
Day two can be spent hiking deep inside the forest to the watchtower. It is about five kilometres. The the forest guard along if you can persuade him. It will be a delightful experience to hear him narrate tales of leopart visits to the very bungalow where you live!
