Happy Auli to You!

  I fell down with both feet pointing in opposite direction and the ski pole stuck right in front of me, and the shoes made it immensely difficult to pull the body stuck in snow on a mildly inclined slope. It was a newbies attempt to pull out a skiing trick which failed indeed, but the instructor somehow managed time out of his busy sight to pull me back again and the sight around me made me realise that I had come a long and majestic way to enjoy the slippery maze. The world around was snowy, it was surreal white with sun shining brighter than ever and the place in picture was Auli.
Lot of people around me and around the 
country have often made a swift beeline to international destinations and even destinations in the north in search of that exuberant view and an emotional epiphany that could change the ploy of life. In this quest often, simple and exemplary destinations would go unnoticed. One such destination lies in the mountains of Uttarakhand, few miles away from the holy Haridwar, just waiting to be demystified by the pupils of the leisure travel trajectory.
One of the most interesting part of the place is how you land up in the only present hotel out there(Clifftop). After a 8-10 hour road drive from Haridwar, if I remember correct, a connecting ropeway has to be boarded to reach the place. The ropeway claimed to be the largest one in Asia. After alighting from the ropeway, one needs to walk on thick snow(in winter that is) to reach the hotel, and if the hotel staff has forgotten that you are about to arrive(which happened in our case) you would have to carry your own luggage to the hotel marking the beginning of an adventurous trip. We had to screech our vocal chords to call out the hotel staff , standing at the point of the ropeway. Every time I check into a hotel anywhere, I do recollect this instance and feel why couldn't the entry be a trifle to more adventurous.

The place isn't the odd hill station you would visit with one million points of little yield and humongous crowds baffling to find a better retreat. It is one of those serene places, which would engulf you to talk to your own very self. Well how much ever superlatively philosophical that sentence seemed, that is indeed the fact. Walking and hopping in snow, sitting on the cheaper version of the sledge, learning to ski, there aren't many places in this country where you would be able to enjoy the glory of simple acts with surreal and shining visuals all around your eyes. The best way to understand how beautiful this place is to go there and see, simple isn't it! It had been a long time since I decided to pen something, but this morning when I read a flurry of Happy Holi messages, all I could think of was Auli!! The naive poet in me always tries to find a rhyming word for everything I read ;) . So folks, once you are done splashing colors do plan your trip to Auli, and Happy Auli to you ( no pun intended :) )...