Pahadi House in Kanatal, Uttarakhand, is the perfect place to savour the simple life of the hills and also to see the Himalayan landscape, writes AMITAV CHAKRABORTY

Tired of three months of driving and high altitude treks with my St Bernard, leo, I decided to call it a day and decided to check out some resorts in Uttarakhand where my travels were taking me to. I found a lot of options but my search continued for a place that is pet-friendly as many resorts don’t take kindly to dogs or other pets.

What piqued my interest was a place called Pahadi House in Kanatal, so I decided to drive over from Moriyana Top aka Tingling Point halfway between Uttarkashi and Mussoorie where I was shooting the peaks of the Western Himalayas — ranging from Srikanta to Chowkhamba with faint views of Nanda Devi and Trishul in a haze.

In 2003, I had driven to Yamunotri and trekked 6 km to the temple, and while returning had driven straight to a hotel on library Point, Mussoorie. The hotel owner had asked me to visit his other property at Kanatal. But as destiny would have it, my wife insisted on me fixing the car at Dehradun at a Fiat service centre and take her to her long-desired destination, Gangotri. But being destiny’s child, exactly 13 years from that day, I was back searching for Kanatal as I had to rest after two and a half months of relentless driving and trekking to high altitude locations to view the Western Himalayan peaks.

Having heard about this fabulous property called Pahadi House, I got off my viewing point of Swargarohini and Bunderpoonch peaks and drove down towards Uttarkashi and then drove to Chamba via Ratnogadh, where I stopped to enquire about directions. Many people in Chamba had heard of this place and they asked me to continue 8 km uphill to Chaukhal where up above stood the Pahadi House.

I followed the instructions and soon parked my car below the property and walked uphill with my faithful companion of many high altitude treks like Bedni Bughyal, Kartik Swami, lata Kharak and Pangu Top among others. There stood a yellow hut made in the Pahadi style with slate roofing; I was greeted warmly by the caretaker, an affable young man called Rohit Rayal.

Rohit got me a dinner of chapatis smeared with white butter and two vegetable dishes and dal, which I washed down with buttermilk. I had bought from Chamba town fresh cottage cheese for five-year-old leo, who had slowly turned into a vegetarian as Uttarakhand is Dev Bhoomi, the land of vegetarians.

Sleep came fast in a beautifully furnished cottage with wooden rafters which was equipped with all modern amenities such as geyser, beautifully tiled bathroom with shower, and tastefully designed wash basins. My sleeping quarters had rough cream coloured clay walls with huge windows that let the light in during the day.

In the morning over breakfast of whole wheat parathas with yogurt, Rohit informed me about the real objective of the Pahadi House chain in Kanatal and Hathipaon near Mussoorie — to give employment to the local youngsters. Here I found a retinue of young men who easily slipped into their roles, cleaning the place, setting up tents for new arrivals when the cottages were full. After breakfast, Rohit took me around the massive property to show me the vegetables grown organically without any pesticides.

The evenings were great as we were served delicious vegetarian meals by Rohit and a bonfire was lit surrounded by guests from all around the country, who had driven up to this resort to savour the simple life in the hills and see the Himalayan landscape that stretched from Gangotri to Kedarnath biosphere and stretched till the Nanda Devi biosphere in the east.

I found out that the owners were building a chain of Pahadi Houses, starting with one in Hathipaon near George Everest’s house. It is about 12 km from Mussoorie and I would surely visit after it opens in April this year.

My days of clicking pictures of the Himalayas and also my dog cavorting with his new friend Julie, the Pahadi House mascot, were coming to an end. I didn’t realise that six days had gone by, and finally, I drove off to Pauri with a heavy heart. Pahadi House had left a lasting impression on me.