The awe-inspiring Himalayas sprawl 2,560 km across north India. Therefore a visitor has to experience them piece at a time, drawing up and following a carefully planned itinerary The mighty Himalayan range of mountains evoke a wide array of emotions in people. For the adventurer it’s a vast playground; for a naturalist it’s a paradise of flora and fauna, for pilgrims its mystical, remote temples and shrines are points of salvation. The rugged peaks, evergreen forests, rushing rivers and rapids offer something of value to everyone. For backpackers and trekkers, camping on their scenic slopes and in ravines of the snow-capped ranges, is akin to attaining nirvana. But the Himalayas sprawl 2,560 km across north India. Therefore the visitor has to experience them piece at a time, drawing up and following a carefully planned itinerary. For the purpose of this travelogue, your correspondent together with a five-strong band of adventurers, chalked out a plan to holiday in the foothills and travel along the well-beaten pilgrim trails of Jammu and Uttarakhand. The itinerary included a flight from Bangalore to Delhi, train journeys to Jammu, Amritsar, Haridwar and Rishikesh before catching the Delhi-Bangalore return flight seven days later. The journey began on March 4, at Bangalore airport which is in the throes of a major facelift. Unexpectedly, the flight was undelayed and we landed in Delhi at 9.30 a.m. An overnight train journey deposited us in Jammu, a city of temples, at 7.45 a.m the next morning. Now a Union territory governed directly by New Delhi, Jammu has an interesting history. According to legend, Raja Jamboo Lochan who reigned in the 14th century witnessed a tiger and a lamb drinking peacefully from the same pond at the same time. This extraordinary phenomenon prompted the raja to build a city on the site, for the strong and weak to live together in peace and mutual tolerance. Initially, the city was known as ‘Jamboo’, after his own name. With the passage of time and due to frequent mispronunciation, the city (pop. 502,000) acquired its current nomenclature. Sited in the sub-mountainous foothills of the Himalayas with the Shivalik range rising to the north and the IndoGangetic plain in the south, Jammu enjoys a sub-tropical climate with hot, dry summers and cold winters. In 1730, the region was subjugated by the Dogra prince, Raja Dhruv Deva of neighbouring Kashmir, who transformed it into the winter capital of the kingdom of Jammu & Kashmir. Over the next two centuries Jammu emerged as an important centre of art and culture, becoming widely known for its pahari school of painting. There are few natural attractions in the town — its myriad temples and shrines with their glittering shikharas soaring into the sky are its claim to fame. The Raghunath Mandir comprising a cluster of shrines is the largest temple complex in contemporary Jammu & Kashmir, which since the partition of India in 1947, has been the bone of contention between India and Pakistan. Therefore a…
