पर्बत के पीछे चंबेदा गांव??

After we left Hariyali Dhaba it got dark pretty soon so we couldn’t get much idea about the terrain that we were passing through except for the hamlets that kept on appearing at regular intervals. There was also a light rain. It looked like it was a surprise even for the locals as we could see them huddled inside shops or other structures till it subsided.

If the rain followed us to Dehradun we didn’t stand much chance of covering the tourist spots that we had hoped to the next day. Alarmed at the prospect, I asked the driver if the rain would last over the weekend. ‘Who knows? The weather in the mountains is pretty unpredictable. But it probably won’t rain continuously’ was the best that he could come up with. Thank God for small mercies!

But I observed a curious thing as we neared the hill station. It looked very crowded – lots of big shops with big brands, restaurants, a KFC here, a McDonald’s there. I felt as if we had taken a wrong turn somewhere and landed in a metro. My brain knew that it would be stupid to expect what my heart wanted - a hill station where heroes like Shammi Kapoor frolicked among tall Deodar trees against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains in the 60s movies - and that I should thank my lucky stars even if I found something akin to what Ooty had been when we went there in the late 00s. Clearly much had changed. I got the feeling that globalization had swept in and in the process the local feel of the place had been irrevocably wiped out. I was perhaps late by more than four decades. The lines from a Hindi movie song came to mind – हुजूर आते आते बहोत देर कर दी.....

Well, I would know when I woke up tomorrow morning. At least I had tonight to dream about mountains with a hint of snow on top, a sleepy little village nestling at the bottom, a crisp cool air and a softly gurgling stream winding its way through lush green meadows fringed with Deonar trees. The village of my dreams – Chambeda perhaps?? :)