Traveling from Delhi to Mussoorie

                                                                             

1. On the way

                                                                                                               

                                                                               

2.  Mussoorie in my dreams

Travelling by car from Delhi to Mussoorie*                  

Sights and sounds all for free

Rumbling horse carts, trudging bullock carts

All things sold on the road, from spare parts to papri chats**

3. Bullock Cart side by side
 with modern traffic

                                                                                       

4.  Traffic congestion and on the
 road celebrations

5. Peaceful as I can be
Lakhnauca Chowk, near Deoband, UP

                                                 

Thatched houses, rest houses                                                        

Cycles vendors and tourist buses

7. Dusk is here,
 night soon follows

The most enjoyable ride 

Our hearts bursting with pride

                                                

                             

Children bathing in passing streams
Roads laden with fallen trees***
Rumble strips and brick filled trolleys
Rushing maruti's, tractor trolleys



Various places we pass through
Modinagar, Muzaffarnagar through we move
Roorkee, Purkazi, Biharigarh
Chutmulpur, Sherpur, Mohand



Bundles of firewood, burden of children
Wayside dhabas, scattered brick kilns
Ganga dhaba with huge chimneys
Farm houses and maternity houses

8.  Colorful wayside
     feast to the eyes
Mohand, UP 

Peaceful towns with stout jawans
British bungalows and bougainvilleas
Cow dung mounds and sugar mills
Grazing cattle on undulating hills

9. Roorkee it is, eyes do behold 

Travelling by car from Delhi to Mussoorie

Sights and sounds all for free...................

10. Winding road tells of  home around the corner

11. Destination Mussoorie

 Notes:
*Come summer holidays for children and we used to move to the
 alpine haven for 2 months.  The journey mentioned pertains to the
 period 1995-2005.
**Papri chats is a delicacy sold in north India. Crispy round papri's
are eaten with curd, tamarind chutney, sweet chutney, coriander chutney
 and what not.  But ultimately the end result is just awesome and in the
 end you wash it down with green (totaly herbal-finely ground coriander
 leaves and mint), sour, chilly water all spicy and hot.
***The day the poem was written we were travelling seeing the aftereffects
 of  a thunder storm very common in summers in North India. Many trees
 both young and old  were uprooted and seen lying on the road obstructing
 traffic, but giving ample fun to the village kids.


Pictorial sources:
1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 from mary's archive
2 I will tell u soon
3. flickr.com
9. same as 2
11.same as 2