Haryana – A Trip to Morni Hills

As Ganesh sang the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, I just wished I could play the guitar along with him. The atmosphere was electric and the entire compartment was agog with lot of gaiety and fun. All of us were in the train to Delhi – The Rajdhani Express. We had booked a whole compartment for our family – it was Ganesh’s wedding. He was finally getting married to a girl of his choice. It was an arranged love marriage. I couldn’t believe he had agreed and now we were all on our way to Delhi.

The marriage got over and Ganesh went with Anagha to Mauritius for his honeymoon. The famiies said tearful byes and fond hugs to each other. Finally we were left behind. My family and Sudha’s family. We didn’t just want to go back to Mumbai and again get involved in the dreary humdrum routine. Our husbands decided to fly back. So it was girl’s day out with Sudha and me deciding to take the kids along to some nearby hill station. We hit upon Morni Hills. It would do us good after the hectic marriage schedule and after the tiring heat in Delhi.

Delhi to Morni was just 5 hours. We asked Ganesh’s parents and they helped us get a car booked to Morni Hills. So the next morning baggages in tow, we set out. The major luggage we had already sent with our husbands. So Sudha and her two kids and my kids and I in the Tavera that we had hired. The driver was a Sardarji and we were happy to see that he was indeed a safe driver.

It was the month of March and we were at the right time, the Sardarji was telling us. “Morni is located on the Pinjore valley” he added. My daughter nudged me and said, “Isn’t he an encyclopedia like Naveen Bhaiya, Mom?” Naveen our friend is a store house of information and the Sardarji reminded us of him.

“Would the climate be cool there?” Jeev, Sudha’s son asked. She replied that it would be, she knew it as she had been to that place before.

“And you know, Jeev there are lots of adventure sports there.” Added Shreyans, Sudha’s second son.

“Whoopee!” cried my son. The drive up to the hill station was very pleasant dotted with pine trees appearing and disappearing. Added to this, the blue sky seemed to be dancing with us. All the heat of the city of Delhi seemed to melt into thin air as we were ascending in height.

“Woh dekho, jamun ka ped.” Said Sukhbir Singh, our driver, meaning “See there that’s the jamun tree.” We looked towards where he pointed and sure enough saw the loveliest of jamun trees besides the papal and the oak tree. The entire drive up had slopes and hills with these trees and the scenic beauty of the place enthralled us. The surroundings were calm and the serenity was enhanced by the fact that this place did not have much traffic. There were no honks and there were no unwanted vehicles plying up and down. The ambience bore the look of a virgin place and the overall feeling was mesmerizing.

We saw a stream from the distance which Sukhbir Singh said is the residue water flow of the River Ghaggar which is the main river flowing through this region. We saw some tourists trekking up mountains.

Sudha said, “These are trekkers who partake of going to Morni on a hike. It is fun, and I have hiked up the last time I came here with Keith. Keith was Sudha’s husband.” Kirtilal was his real name and his name got short sized to Keith.

As we approached further towards the place, I saw the kids nodding off to sleep. We let them as we knew we had a lot of fun to have once we were up on the Morni Hills. The wild flora and the beautiful fauna here is what gives the beauty to the place. “Oh how I wish I had brought Ron here.” I said. Ron , my friend an avid lover of birds and Nature would surely have halted the car and taken umpteen photos of the natural surroundings here and would also have spotted a rare bird or two. I saw the neel gai, hare and the sambhars moving around in the distance as we made our way up. I was wondering what Ron would have stumbled upon if he had accompanied us.

We finally reached Morni Hills after a good six hours. The ride up was just a trailer to the events that had to follow. The place where we reached was paradise and the hotel where we were to stay was Eden. Such was the charm of the place that I decided we could leave our luggage behind in the car and just take a walk around. I really did not want to reach the hotel, unwind, unpack, get refreshed etc. I just couldn’t wait.

We went to see the lakes around the area. Morni Hills has a lot of water bodies. We walked around some and clicked a lot of pictures. We came upon a local dhaba which was giving the best choley and bhaturey a popular Haryana delicacy.

I read on a board there that we were actually at a height of 1220 m above the sea level. The Shivalik ranges of the Himalayas surrounded the place and the climate here was therefore really cool. Again here there were spots to watch birds and I taught my son the art of watching birds without disturbing them. We returned to our hotel and spent the evening in the garden there enjoying the cool breeze and listening to the soft music being played by a local band there.

The next morning , early we set out to see the sunrise here. The lovely sun, rising against the pale blue horizon looked like a king in glory rising up amidst his subjects. Breakfast was at a simple local joint and we had the best milk ever. The atmosphere here just peps you up for the day and we were soon enough trekking up a small easy path. We saw some tourists doing rock climbing. My son has always wanted to do this, but I have told him he has to grow up to do it. The place where we stay we have an artificial rock climbing facility . He has done that, but has always wanted to do the original thing. Anyway the trek up was very nice and with the cooing of the birds and the swishing of the leaves, this was a very good exercise for all of us. We had a good panoramic view of the whole of the city from the top and we came down a tired lot. We had delicious lassi down and also some lime juice. Over a plate of fruits we decided to go around the market and do some shopping. The city wore a very peaceful look and we had fun selecting from the local handicrafts. I bought some stuff for my friends back home and a local traditional Haryanvi costume for my daughter.

We came back to the hotel and relaxed and played dumb charades and participated in the games that had been arranged by the authorities there.

The next morning we went to see the lake here. It is a mystery how the two lakes seem to be connected yet are separated by a hill. This mystery remained unsolved and my son was trying to be a Sherlock Holmes and was trying to find clues to solve this mystery. I told him the secret was that there was a channel that was hidden below the hill that connected them.

There are two lakes, which seem to be mysteriously interconnected, even though they are separated by a hillock.

Sudha loves greenery so she went berserk when she saw the pine trees looking like a green canopy in the region. Besides this there were jacaranda trees also , and as Jeev said it looked as if the whole area was painted green and blue . Kavya my daughter spotted a jackal and started crying. She is an adult yet gets scared of these things. A hyena shrieked in the distance and the jungle cat crossed our path.

I again wished my friend Ron had just come along. We then reached the place of adventure sports and went boating. It was fun idling through the waters of the lake and sitting in the boat and seeping in all the beauty. The sheer idyllic surroundings and the absolute peace it emitted was enough to make our trip worthwhile.

I thanked Ganesh for getting married in Delhi as it gave us a chance to visit the Morni Hills in Haryana.

A word to the diary : Just do it, whatever you please whenever you please.