Almora is more beautiful when you see it from local people's eyes.
Almora is a municipal board and a cantonment town in the state of Uttrakhand, India, and is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of the Himalaya Range.
This is a tourist destination because of its historical significance. Many famous people like Mahatma Gandhi ji, and Swami Vivekanand Ji visited this place in the past and now many great people keep coming to visit this beautiful place not only to cherish the beauty but also for religious purposes.
I started my journey from Dehradun, India, it is the capital of Uttarakhand by train the night 11 pm (IST). From Dehradun to Kathgodam is 335 kilometres and depending on the train you book it takes 8 to 10 hours to reach Kathgodam.
I reached Kathgodam at 7:30 am. There is no railway station in Almora so from Kathgodam to reach Almora either you can go by bus, share car or hire car. I chose a shared car which took 400 rupees and took 3 hours. I reached 11 am to Almora and Mr. Ashish Pant and Mayank Pant received me from taxi stand.
We went straight to the hotel, I rested and we all met again in the evening, the plan was to visit the local market which is very famous in Almora and has a historical mark that people still carry from generation to generation.
As I was here to visit their organisation Ashish and the team were taking care of hotel booking and leading what place I should visit.
When I started my journey from Kathgodam to Almora I was falling for this place step by step. However, the moment I reached Almora, I realised I was falling for this beauty not only because it has beautiful views, but also for the energy of this place.
Visiting the market with locals gives the stories and proper explanation of this market and course I have so many pictures of mine as they made me feel special and clicked my pictures.
It took us almost two hours to visit the market the moment we came out from the market this is the view I saw and I was stunt.
We sat for some time to just feel it and went to have coffee and momos. Momos here was special as it was made by local flour, which we called Kwad ka aataa, and the momos filling was by Mushroom. So, in short local ingredients to make momos, which was special.
The Market History- Lal Bazaar
This market is the center of Almora, with colorful shops and a wide selection of Kumaoni goods. It used to be a pathaal market ‘pathaal’ a kumaoni term for a kind of flat stone used on the market surface. According to Mayank, now only some areas of the market have retained this traditional stone, while the rest has been modernised.
The Bazaar of the Almora established in around 1560 by Raja (King) Kalyan Chand.
Another amazing thing to know about this market that it was divided by the work and some of it street name is unique because of it works like Kachahari Mohalla (all the cases were discussed here), Paltan Bazaar, Lala Badri Sah House, jauhari (jewelry making).
What made this evening special was these two boys Ashish and Mayank as visiting places and hearing some stories that might be tough to find online and, in the book, made everything special.
Thank you for reading this blog.
in my next post, I will write the journey of these young boys who not only comprehend gender issues but also showcase empathy by turning their voices into actions. They aim to educate girls and women in remote areas of Uttrakhand about menstrual hygiene. This initiative not only prevents unhygienic practices during menstruation but also talks about conditions like PCOD, cervical cancer, and other infections.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 29.58910 lat 79.64622 long Almora, Uttrakhand (India) d3scr)
