Rejuvinate Yourself at Aamari Resort Ramgarh

I get invites from many big and small properties but I hardly get time to visit and review them all. This time around when I got the invite from Aamari resorts, a luxury resort in Nainital, something clicked. May be it was the perfect weather for an outing or it's location - the quaint Kumaon hills or it was meant to be like this. The property looked inviting in pictures on the net. So without any second thought, I instantly finalized the plan and headed towards it the very next day.

Started early morning from Indirapuram. Around a kilometer before Gajraula when I was looking for a place to have breakfast, an interesting sign board attracted my attention - "Enroute - The Dhaba". The place looked interesting, so thought of checking it out. A very good decision it was to stop there. The ambiance, the cleanliness, the staff all looked perfect. And the food was just amazingly delicious. (review in another post). Such a good start it was to the trip. 

It was an enjoyable 8 hrs journey through the villages, green fields and small market places. I took a detour from the highway through Suar and Kaladungi to make the drive more interesting. The road condition also is better on this route than the highway. Via Kathgodam, Nainital and Bhowali, driving on the picturesque road through pines I reached Ramgarh.

The scent of pines and the lovely view of the valley and the snow covered peaks welcomed me to my lovely abode - The Amaari Resort. 

Picture by Vinod Verma

The smiling staff showed me around and took me to my room. It's a huge property with 22 rooms and 3 villas located on a hill, Mine was a well designed room with huge glass window overlooking the valley. A hot shower after a somewhat tiring journey refreshed me to the core. A small walk in the woods there after made me forget all the worries and hurries of the busy city life and I was fully in the holiday mood.

The next day was spent exploring the surroundings. There's a lot that can be done in the area. Go to Mukteshwar temple located on a top of the hill, do bird watching at Maheshkhan, visit Sitla for a panoramic view of the gorgeous snow covered Himalayan ranges or just relax at the resort. I went to explore the nearby village Nathuakhan. Had fun time interacting with locals and having local sweets and snacks. After a tiring day, my evening was spent relaxing at the resort and enjoying the play of colors on the sky that created dramatic patterns along with clouds.

Picture by Vinod Verma

WHAT I LOVED:

The location:

A cozy corner in my room

The place had a welcoming aura to it.  It is placed beautifully on a hill amidst pine forest with a wonderful view of Himalayan peaks and is perfect for those looking for a relaxing vacation in the lap of nature.  Most of my time was spent by the huge glass window in my room sipping tea and watching the sky and peaks changing colors. I wasn't surprised to hear that Aamari is built on the same hill where the famous writer & poet – Rabindranath Tagore wrote the verses of his Nobel Award Winning Epic Geetanjali and also Poetess and Freedom Fighter Mahadevi Verma got the idea of writing her famous story “Lachma”.

The pool
The infinity pool overlooking the Himalayan ranges and the valley is the highlight of the resort. 

The range of activities:
Inspite of its remote location the resort has a wide range of activities to offer for all age groups and interests. The games room for kids, outdoor activities for the teenagers and adventurous lot, a well equipped gym for health freaks, the spa and sauna for relaxing, nature walks and bird watching for nature lovers. This makes the resort ideal getaway for group of friends, families and corporate, precisely everyone!

Activities in the resort

The classy restaurant and the smiling staff:
Tastefully done interiors combined with the tasty food and perfect service made the dining experience something to remember.
The well groomed local staff ever-ready to talk and help was commendable.

Picture by Vinod Verma

My cozy room, sleeping to the sound of wind passing through the pines, waking up to see the valley being slowly lit by warm sun rays, the nature and village walks in the day, the evening snacks and hot cup of tea by the pool side, watching the changing colors of the evening sky and sleeping while watching the stars at night... I loved it all!

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The Calm in the Chaos - VARANASI

A humble try it is to understand the phenomenon called  Varanasi, not as an expert but as someone who has visited it just twice.

It is a city full of chaos. Be it the slow paced traffic of cars, cows, rickshaw, cycle and pedestrians all on the same bumpy road with continuous honking from all sides; or the streets and lanes, not even wide enough for 2 people to walk side by side, full of people, cows and even bikes running on them... You can expect anything to come from anywhere and hit you. And mind you, don't expect a sorry. The accused will smile at you and move further.
Inspite of all the chaos hardly did I see anyone getting irritated or shouting at each other. There is a strange calm that drive these people. It's hard to say where it comes from. It can be their faith in the place they live in and the spiritual aura that surrounds it. Or it can be the patience they have developed over time by experiencing the chaos day and night Or have they gotten so use to of all this, it no more feels like a chaos? Whatever it may be, it is exceptional.

Another aspect that attracts my attention is "Thugs of Banraras". I have heard stories about the pandas... how people would give all their belongings to them and get killed at Banaras to attain salvation. I hope it no more exists but till today people are being fooled on the name of salvation. Pandas take huge amounts to perform rituals and collect money. And faith makes them do it all. They get robbed willingly and return happy. Who would decide if they are fooled or they get (bought) what they were looking for - the inner peace, at cost of  whatever. Who cares!

The ghats are no less amazing. While one ghat gives you a calm serene feeling with cheerful crowd hanging around and nice book stores and cafes to be at; some other ghat gives you an eerie feeling with strange looking people hanging around as if each one is carrying a secret within.
At some place on the same river they are dumping garbage and at some other place they are taking holy bath.


There are ghats that are cursed and there are ghats that give you salvation.

Every day thousands of dead bodies come here for burning. I am amazed to see how normal it is for the people here, or so it seems. They seem to be unaffected by the presence of dead, mere thought of which shakes us from within. Again in the chaos of burning the dead, there is a peace and calm. There is a silent understanding that what comes has to go one day.


Strange chaos it is,  full of calm!

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