Journey to a royal rejuvenation

Namah is Shakti, Namah is Shiv… and as Robin Rumi puts it, this word is all about ‘everything male and female, light and dark, flesh and spirit. Perfectly balanced in one single moment lasting an eternity…’ Sounds so much like a sublime journey doesn’t it? Such were the thoughts as I joined around a score of bloggers to go to Namah Resort in the heart of an area where the appeal to save the environment and nature is obvious. We were to travel a little ahead of a place called Ramnagar in Kumaon where a legend who we know as Jim Corbett nurtured a lasting relationship with wildlife, the flora, fauna, people, and the fascinating local legends that abound here.

Jim Corbett’s journey must have been fascinating… and so was mine as we clambered on the bus that was to take us to Namah Resort for a royal rejuvenation from the 19^th to the 22^nd of June. I call it a royal rejuvenation as it was the start of an experience away not just from the heat and dust of the Capital but also a small and meaningful conversation with yoga besides an insightful peep into the wildlife sanctuary that is close to it.

A journey of discovery

Every journey has a lot to teach and tend to be all about discovery, recovery, and the ‘uncovering of our inner nature’… and strangely, they all begin with the phenomenon we call a traffic jam! This journey too began with a restless crawl through the jams that surround Delhi but wait, there are interesting things to see even when the world waits to move on. We saw a truck with a TataSky dish installed… obviously, the driver and his friends cannot do without their daily dose of TV soaps. As we moved on, the change in perceptible needs became clear as I noticed a small truck carrying people under a canopy of jute-rope woven beds kept upside down. Our highways are insights into what people care for and are bothered about… and thus from jams we had stepped out and away into a world where basic needs were vital.

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. TataSky on a truck…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. A canopy of beds…

I had once read that there is no journey that comes without letting you know what lay ahead… and so a truck with the big cat was surely a positive omen. Well, we may or may not meet real predators during the jungle safari, but such signs seemed to lead us in the right direction.

Journeys are as much about questions as they are about answers

Every time I have journeyed, there have been questions that needed answers and answers that waited for questions. This was no different… and so when I saw an overloaded truck I asked myself, ‘Is there no end to greed?’ When I saw chimneys polluting the air in a small town on the way, I knew that the right question would be, ‘Why do they not adopt newer technologies and leave polluting solutions of the past alone?’

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. Polluting chimneys…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. The overloaded truck…

Why must I dwell on troubling questions and answers when there is so much joy in other forms to discover and savour? Well, it is only when we begin this questioning that we reach a stage when we are eligible to savour joys! And this is the reason I decided to add this part to my post on a journey.

What else?

Journeys are about surprises. For instance, coming face-to-face with a dozen smiling faces huddled on a trolley going from one village to another… or coming across a strange looking bus and being told that it was going all the way to Kathmandu… and that the bus had a Nepalese registration are all about the surprises that any journey presents to you only if you’re observant enough or are wishing to see.

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. Smiles on a trolley…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. The bus to Kathmandu…

The point that I want to make here is that journeys are about travelling with a pile of sincere wishes. Do this and you’ll see them all coming true. I know I began my journey wishing to be surprised… and they were literally offered to me at every turn.

Really? So what else did I wish for?

Well, I wished to see if the city next to the Corbett zone had shops that used this name to sell diverse things… and you’ll be surprised that I saw quite a few shops selling everything from Maggi to car accessories with Corbett added on the display board. No, I didn’t see a Corbett barber shop or a Corbett tuition centre… but I did notice Corbett Chicken Biryani on a small board that I couldn’t photograph.

Journeys never end. They lead from one adventure to another… and so we reached Namah Resorts where we will be spending a couple of days celebrating Yoga Day, going for a safari, and generally relaxing in an atmosphere that soothes the mind and the body. More of all this in a later post.

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#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. The good omen…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. Freedom from jams and a lifestyle that is so different…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. The buffaloes in transit…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. CORBETT sells everything…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. CORBETT sells everything…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. CORBETT sells everything…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. Journeys are about expectations…

#TheRoyalReuvenation Journey to Namah Resorts. Journeys are about expectations…the Namah Invite

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Arvind Passey
19 June 2016