A pleasant visit to SMTA - Vikasnagar

1st Feb 2018

Places to see near SMTA Vikasnagar.

I spent the first couple of days in SMTA Vikasnagar as a solo traveller. Abhinav was to join me

after few days and then we planned to visit the school in Chakrata where SMTA has its school.

The first day I was in the august company of Sachin Sir, and I got to know about the lay of the SMTA  operational complex in Vikasnagar. Situated at the border lines of 4 states , vikasnagar provides ample space for visiting tourists.

We made our way to Aasan lake, the Siberian birds had migrated all the way from siberia to uttarakhand for a relatively warmer climate as the lakes and vegetation are frozen in siberia at this time of the year.

We were joined by our TISA friend Pawan Singh Rathore who is working as a teacher in a nearby school.

We were having pakodas and chai when a stray hungry monkey visited us. It seemed very confident and bared its teeth at all of us. After a couple of failed attempts it was able to take one pakoda and a bowl of sauce. It licked it clean before throwing it down the rocks near the lake.

After chatting there for sometime ,  Pawan and me landed up in Paonta Sahib Gurudwara which is half an hour away in Himachal pradesh. Paonta gurudwara has weapons of Guru Gobind Singh ji, who was tenth Sikh prophet.  We filled our tummies with "langar" meals, and proceeded back to the quarters.

The next day I travelled to "Ashoka Edict". This is an rock at a nearby place in kalsi ghat where king ashoka's anoouncements are engraved. This is written in pali and prakrit. The mode of transport used in there parts is a 7 seater "Tata Magic".

It is a local and most economic means of transportation here. you may have to cram yourself in , but the cheap ride with pleasant conversations with the locals make up for the crammed space.

There is a place where ashwamedh yag was performed 1000's of year ago. This is an ancient site and protected by the archeological site of india. It is located in the midst of the mangrove and litchi's garden. There is a "kali maa" ka mandir on the way and a hike through the trees is worth remembering.

5km down the yamuna river, there is Dakpattar barrage, this is a long dam constructed to block the flow of yamuna river and used to generate hydel electricity. They have a nice park and tourist area to spend some time near the barrage. Bakery, Coffee house, rabbits , ducks :). You can walk over the dam which divides the 2 states himachal and uttarakhand. Take out your google maps and take a screenshot when it shows you standing at the line dividing the 2 states :P.