travel, travails and heck

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Tuesday, August 10, 2010 | 5 photos

Situated in the serene Kumaon Himalayas of Uttarakhand at 1800 mts, Ranikhet is a quiet hamlet, still not over the hangover of colonial rule but too steeped in its own folklore to have any signs of western culture. The vegetation is alpine, the fauna vivid, and the scape is embalming, sandwiched between antique bungalows and thatch roof huts.

Ranikhet, which means Queen's meadow in Hindi, gets its name from a local legend, which states that it was here, that Raja Sudhardev won the heart of his queen, Rani Padmini, who subsequently chose the area for her residence, giving it the name, Ranikhet, though no palace exists in the area.

In 1869, the British established the headquarters of the Kumaon Regiment here and used the station as a retreat from the heat of the Indian summer. At one time during British Raj, it was also proposed as the summer headquarters of Government of India, in lieu of Shimla.

The photos here try to capture what Ranikhet abounds in, pine canopy glazing over bungalows, some occupied, some withering away, the never ending ensemble of beetles - the joy of a school kid during the rains, and the lush green vine that takes ones breath away.

My interest in photography emancipates from a need to inspire, me and others, to go out and wander, see what lies out there, for the enjoyment nature, in a sense, is the first step towards a sustainable lifestyle, as a wizened old gentleman (from Ranikhet) once remarked - I’ll take a sunset over a sitcom any day.