Te Aroha, Dhanachuli, Uttarakhand, India

Dhanachuli is a tiny little hamlet tucked in the Uttrakhand mountains and an hour and half drive away from Bhimtal. This is where we are currently cooling out heels and toasting ourselves in the morning sun. 
This little paradise amidst a bountiful of nature that includes towering pine trees; their needles carpeting the ground beneath, wild apple, pear and walnut trees, an abundance of rose brambles in varied hues of pink, yellow, purple, rose orange; is every travellers haven. The gentle mountain breeze and the crisp, refreshing mountain air is like a double dose of elixir to our lungs. 

The placidness of this mystical hamlet is occasionally interrupted by a passing vehicle to be again plunged in the surreal quietness of a mystical kind. 

The raven that sits perched on a tree across the mountain literally sounds like a bleating sheep. He is a permanent guest on that branch ever since we arrived yesterday. The cuckoo announces its presence as the crickets sing in unison. The starlings dance around the sky as if on a flight of fancy or is it a flight of fantasy. 

The clouds suddenly hover above us blurring away the warm sun whose glorious rays we are basking in. The cool breeze prods me to pull out that light jacket. 

It’s time to go for a village walk now. To experience the rural life in the mountains and merge with the rusticity away from the urban humdrum.