Horrifying Memories Of Binsar

It was in the month of June 2013 when we decided to visit Binsar in Kumaon. I along with my daughters, grandson, and granddaughter. My elder daughter’s birthday was on 20th June so that was the main motive of going to Binsar. Binsar is a picturesque, sleepy hamlet and one of the most scenic spots in the Kumaon Himalayas. Encircled by a vast wildlife sanctuary, a home to many rare animals, birds and wildflowers, Binsar is a truly fascinating spot at the impressive altitude of 2420 mt. Being lovers of flora and fauna, we chose Binsar.

It was the night of 16th June 2013 when around 11.30 pm we left for our destination from Gurugram by road. It started drizzling at that time. In summer it is like blessings of God in the scorching heat. But reaching at Moradabad for tea we noticed that it had started raining cats and dogs. Most of the vehicles stopped at Moradabad and waited for the rain to stop. But somehow we never wanted to stop and our driver kept on driving. The rain didn’t stop even for a while. The road was deserted and even the stray dogs were hiding near the closed doors of the shops on the roads. It was thundering. One could not see outside due to foggy windows. We were driving over rough and slippery roads continuously for 4 hours till we reach Almora. We stopped there for refreshing ourselves and to give some rest to the driver. We saw the news on the television of a shop that Kedarnath was badly hit by the floods and many buildings and shops had been destroyed. The landslides had made it more difficult to move on. I saw a huge traffic jam behind us. And we were standing near a bridge. We had to go straight but due to landslides, we were stranded along with other people. It was already ten o clock in the morning but seemed like 6 pm due to dark clouds. We checked from the traffic police regarding the clearance of the debris and were told that it might take a day or so. He told us that if we go by Nainital route which will be 95km extra then we could travel to Binsar easily as there no landslides had been reported so far. In that matter, we had to go to our left side crossing the bridge. It was a horrifying scene as the gushing flood water was just a few inches below the bridge. One could touch the water from the bridge. We decided to try our fate and made our way to cross the bridge. People advised us not to cross as it was risky. But we prayed and crossed the bridge.

I had to take this quick decision as it was difficult to wait there in the car for there were no arrangements and secondly we had four nights reservation at the resort of Binsar. We started our journey thinking that we would be away from this devastation. We did not find any road sign en route to our destination. There was not even a single vehicle, a person or a house on the road. We were not even sure whether we were going on the right path. And above all, we were running short of fuel due to this extra mileage. I must mention here about my driver Tika Ram, a young, matured and expert driver who was the only hope for us on this slippery, dark and deserted road. We tried for the petrol pump but found the tag stating “No Petrol”. I had a firm belief that Almighty God must have kept some hidden blessings upon us. We contacted the resort manager and requested him to keep our rooms ready and asked him about the route map. After driving for 17 hours we reached at Eco Resort in Binsar at 7 pm. It got very dark and was thundering. It was quite a horrifying experience we had gone through. We thanked God for keeping us safe. We were tired and I was more concerned about the driver. I asked him to take dinner and rest. We were told by the resort staff that the supply of petrol was affected due to heavy rainfall. At around 4.30 am I was told by my driver that down the valley at one of the petrol pumps, we could get petrol. I went along with him and we were lucky to get it. Two more drivers got petrol and after that, the tag of no petrol was put on.

After spending four nights all alone at the resort and viewing the beauty of the area, we came back to Gurugram. Why I said that we were all alone because all the bookings got canceled. It was only the fourth day when two families arrived. Whenever I think about our visit to Binsar, all the events come alive in my mind. It’s a true story.