{"id":7678,"date":"2015-05-19T08:18:37","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T08:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/52.21.162.194:81\/sterlingblog_new\/?p=7678"},"modified":"2025-04-08T06:57:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T06:57:26","slug":"sparkling-lakes-nainital-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/sparkling-lakes-nainital-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparkling Lakes \u2013 Nainital, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traveler and writer\u00a0Shireen Bharucha is on a trip to the pretty little town of lakes and mountains \u2013 Nainital. In part 1 of this series of five posts, she describes her journey to Sterling Holidays \u2013 Bhawanipur Greens, a brand new resort that makes the experience at Nainital as comfortable as it is beautiful.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Khan greets us at Delhi Airport.\u00a0 He is going to chauffeur us in his Maruti Swift Dzire for the next five days.\u00a0 Our destination, a seven hour drive to Bhawanipur Greens, a Sterling Holiday Resort, in Haldwani District, Uttarakhand<\/strong>, five kilometers from Nainital, where my husband and I are being hosted by them.<\/p>\n

In late March the dull grey Delhi skyline is offset with the flowering trees of spring \u2013 the deep red of bottle brush and the silk cotton, the orange-red of the flame of the forest and the deep pink of bougainvillea. The highways are well maintained.\u00a0 We halt for lunch at the town of Gajraula.\u00a0 A swank and spacious fast food vegetarian joint, Bikanervala, offers an extensive menu and good food at reasonable rates.\u00a0 We continue our journey,\u00a0 through the potholed internal roads of Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and Rudrapur, which borders Uttar Pradesh, but is in Uttarakhand, 72 km away from Nainital.\u00a0 Midway we stop at Lee\u2019s Kitchen, a charming open air Chinese food restaurant, with a pleasant hill and river view, for tea.\u00a0 Our drive now takes us through forests till we finally reach Bhawanipur Greens, as a crescent moon rises in the inky sky over the Kumaon hills, which are lit up with the sparkling lights of villages nestling in them.<\/p>\n

\"Many

Many colours of spring | Sunset over the Aravalli Hills<\/p><\/div>\n

Bhawanipur Greens, overlooking a field and a valley, is so named because Bhawani Das Sah, a police inspector, aided the British army in capturing the most notorious dacoit of his time, Sultana Daku, who belonged to the nomadic bhantu clan of criminals and terrorized the United Provinces (as Uttar Pradesh of which Uttarkhand was then a part), was known, in 1920, thus ending Sultana\u2019s audacious career.\u00a0 The dacoit was hung on 7 July 1924.\u00a0 However, the legend of the brigand lives on in movies based on his life, in ballads extolling his daring Robin Hood like exploits, as also in a historical novel titled \u2018The Confessions of Sultana Daku\u2019, by Sujit Saraf (2009).\u00a0 The British rewarded the brave Inspector with a tract of land, along with a village, which they named Bhawanipur in his honour.<\/p>\n

The room we are allotted has a wood panelled sloping ceiling and dark wooden floors that go well with the semi-rural surroundings.\u00a0 It is tastefully furnished, with all modern amenities, which make for a comfortable stay.\u00a0 Moreover, we have our own little balcony for relaxation. We have had a long day so we make our way to the contemporary multi-cuisine restaurant.\u00a0 The dinner buffet offers a variety of palatable dishes.\u00a0 Well satiated, we retire for the night.<\/p>\n

I rise early and watch the soft glow of the rising sun bathe the semi-barren hills.\u00a0 The mornings are bright and sunny with fluffy white clouds wafting across an azure sky.\u00a0 A flock of resident rock pigeons takes wing for a graceful flight.\u00a0 In the field below, the workers are busy with their chores.<\/p>\n

\"Rajasthani

Rajasthani Lady in wheat field | Sunset from Sterling Nainital Bhawanipur greens<\/p><\/div>\n

Each evening presents a brilliant display of nature\u2019s artistic skills over a forested ridge of hills.\u00a0 On the first day, dark, angry clouds form over the hills, as the sun plays a game of hide-and-seek, its pale salmon pink rays penetrate the clouds and light up the hills eerily.\u00a0 A ghastly light envelopes the hills as sun beams try to infiltrate the iron-grey clouds the next day.\u00a0 On the final evening, the scene is comparable to a volcanic eruption, spewing fiery flames skywards, a breathtaking sight.\u00a0 Each evening, as the sun sets, the heavy clouds dissipate, leaving a clear sky, which is soon studded with a million stars.\u00a0 A road snakes through the distant hills.\u00a0 The lights of passing vehicles remind me of lightning bugs flitting by.\u00a0 In the still of twilight, I hear a shepherd call out to his flock.\u00a0 My gaze wanders to a distant path and I see goats scampering after him.<\/p>\n

In part 2 of the same series, Shireen Bharucha explores Nainital\u2019s history. Click to read Sparkling Lakes \u2013 Nainital, Part II.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The views expressed by the author are in her personal capacity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Traveler and writer\u00a0Shireen Bharucha is on a trip to the pretty little town of lakes and mountains \u2013 Nainital. In part 1 of this series of five posts, she describes her journey to Sterling Holidays \u2013 Bhawanipur Greens, a brand new resort that makes the experience at Nainital as comfortable as it is beautiful. Mr….<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":7922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[87],"tags":[5585,5586,5587,5588,5589,5590,5591,5592,5593,5594,107],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17836,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678\/revisions\/17836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}