Almora once upon a time

"Almora once upon a time"

Once there was a famous Dr Khazan chand in Almora town. He had an old T model ford, the only car in the hill town. It was a weather beaten old car which used to make huge noise. This contraption was famously known as KHAZAN CHAND KA CHHAKRA.

In those days the mall road in Almora did not have any shops. The mall road has now shops on both sides of the road.In those days there was just an open hill on one side of the road and a slope on the other side. It was all open for a distant view of far away himalayan snow peaks.

All buses then  used to pass through the main mall road. But traffic was light and it was possible for children to use it as their  play ground.

The most popular sport was the rolling of an old cycle tyre along the smooth road with the help of a short stick and running behind the fast moving tyre.. It was a game of keeping the tyre moving along the road by constantly tapping it with the stick as far away  as the old chungi (Toll) post.

There used to be a big tree on the road at chausar. It was at this spot that stairs went down to where Dr Murli Manohar Joshi lived much later. Under this tree a kakri (kheera) seller used to sit, doing good business. Unlike the kheera of UP plains, those kheera (cucumber) used to be very big in size. His  masala (spicy) salt was also very tasty.

Buses to Almora used to have two classes - upper and lower. Two front rows were upper class. These buses would start from Haldwani/Kathgogam in   the morning and would take the old longer route via Ranikhet arriving in Almora late  in the evening.

In those days there used to be a halt for lunch midway at Garam Pani, a little ahead of Neem Karoli Baba's Kainchi asram which was opened later.. Several restaurents here used to offer hot meals of poori, aloo ke gutke, kheera (cucumber) raita and an assortment of other dishes.

The subsequent  opening of the new, much shorter,  route via khairna bridge destroyed the lunch time business at Garam paani since people arrived at Almora by lunch time.

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