Almora revisited

Almora revisited

Almora is a city in kumaon hills of Uttarakhand. Located on a ridge, it was inhabited long before the British came and built hill stations. Nestled within higher peaks of the Himalaya, Almora enjoys a year-round mild temperate climate.

In my childhood days we  visited Almora often in the summers during our school  holidays. It was fascinating to be in the cool blue hills. It was a different world from the dull landscape of the planes of Uttar Pradesh.

Our grandfather lived somewhere mid point on the mall road in Almora in a double storey house with a court yard. I  think it is called Chausar. Unlike the flat RCC roof  houses in modern Almora, in those days houses there had slate roofs which kept the houses cool in summers and warm in winters.

Grand father's house was also slate roofed house and it was just below the road level. We would often climb up a few  wide stone steps to the road and with a two anna coin buy big pahari kakri (kheera, cucumber) from the man who sat under the small  roadside tree there .He used to  cut the  big kheeras (kakri) into long equal pieces, smear the slices  with plenty of tasty spicy salt (bhanga ka namak) and hand over to us .

In those days there was no pucca shops on the mall road. On the upper slope the either side of the mall road which was mainly for the buses to ply. All buses of kumaon roadways used to pass through this mall road.

The main bus stop was somewhere near the flight of steps leading up to lala Bazaar. In the 1950s there were no cars or two wheelers seen anywhere in Almora. The only exception was an old T model ford of Dr. Khazan chand. It was known as khazan chand ki chhaka (battered car).

Time rolled on.  For many decades I did not visit Almora again. And then I  had the occasion to visit Almora  in 2000 as a barati in Sonu's marriage

By now there were great changes.

The mall road also looked very differenet from what it was decades back. It had become congested with shops on either side and too many vehicles parked along the road.. The entry point into the city  had  changed now. In the fifties  all the buses used to enter the town from the northern end of the mall road, stopping first at the old chungi checkpoint with its chocolate coloured wooden doors and windows. Now the entry into Almora was from the southern end near brightend corner.

The mall road had also been transformed. It was no longer a simple long road with a great open view  towards the west. It was now, over a major length, a market. Some big buildings like the Shikhar hotel

dotted the valley side of the road. In addition to all these changes, Almora now had  too many cars, scooters and motor cycles parked along the mall road and elsewhere.

More changes must have come up since my last visit. I wonder what they are !

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