Dehradun, Uttrakhand - Shahasradhara, Dainik Jagran, FRI, Buddha temple.

Nature is beautiful, nature is fun. Recently I got a chance in month of April, to explore nature of Dehradun, Uttrakhand, it was my college trip of one day.

I, along with my teaching staff and my fellow mates left Dev Sanskriti vishwavidyalay around 8 in the morning by bus. Dehradun is 49 kilometers away from Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalay. Before reaching Dehradun we decided to pay visit to Shahasradhara, Sahasradhara, meaning thousand fold spring,

which was 63 kilometers away from our starting point. We reached there around 10:45 in the morning, just 10 kilometers before entering into Shahasradhara region the snake like road starts, which is full of adventures and these roads are really surprising you never know what is next, they have sharp curves mountain one side, trench on the other.

It took us 30 minutes to cover 10 kilometers. We parked our bus besides the mountain where there was plenty space. Next we headed towards Shahasradhara, this place has magnificent beauty of nature where water drips from the limestone stalactites, making the water abundant in sulpur and thus the place is known for it's sulphur springs. It is sulphur water spring of relatively lower temperature than its surroundings. It is a warehouse of excellent beauty of caves, waterfalls and terrace farming on stepped by the local people. After reaching this place we visited lord Shiva’s temple and took blessings this is very old Shiva temple known as Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple along with Drona Guha (Guru Dronacharya's cave) is present in this location, providing a good mythological scenario and an essence of historical importance to the place. People visit and worship here , after that we enjoyed waterfall which was coming somewhere from the mountains in small droplets, water was really cold and pure, it is said it is the water of river Ganges, it seemed like it was raining, we clicked few pictures there and than we entered in a cave which was just near the waterfall. Inside the cave water was coming from the roof, inside the roof there were strange rock shapes, few looked like lord Shiva, sheshnaga- the aasana of lord Vishnu and few were like lotus flower and many other shapes. The beauty of the place was, even after being hindu religious place even muslims were also enjoying the beauty, which is a message to the society for unity. After enjoying in water we decided mountain climbing to have better look of the place and even dry ourselves, within 10 minutes we reached the top of the mountain, this place looked even more beautiful from the top, houses and shops were looking like small shirt buttons and roads were looking like threads, we had a photo shoot there and decided to rest there for a while. There was a water park nearby. After resting and photo shoot we went downhill in the local market which was same as the other except the prices, shopkeeper were selling goods on higher prices. While coming from Shahasradhara we enjoyed ice creams and lemonade, interacted with local people and came back to our bus. We had our lunch in bus itself as everyone had their own lunch packets with them.

After that around 11:45 am we left for Dainik Jagran, Media house,patel nagar. Patel nagar is 18 kilometers from Shahasradhara. At 12:45 we reached Dainik Jagran office we were welcomed there by chief editor Mr. kiran Kumar and deputy chief editor Mr. Satish. We had interactive session with the faculty and gained detailed knowledge about media house, duties and responsibilities of a journalist, we cleared out doubts and querries.

I loved the mustaches of the security guard there in the office.

After this session around 3 pm we left for Forest Research Institute popularly known as FRI. This place is photo shoot hub for youngsters, amusement place for kids and families and great place for those people who are history freak and want to learn something new every second. FRI is located between kaulagarh in the north and the Indian Military Academy to the south. The Forest Research Institute (FRI is an institute of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and is a premier institution in the field of forestry research in India. It is located at Dehradun in Uttarakhand, and is one of the oldest institutions of its kind.

The Forest Research Institute campus hosts the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), the staff college that trains officers selected for the Indian Forest Service (IFS). It was founded in 1878 by Britishers. FRI Dehradun is one of the oldest institutions of its kind and acclaimed the world over. The institute’s history is virtually synonymous with the evolution and development of scientific forestry, not only in India, but over the entire sub-continent. Built over a lush green estate spread over 450 hectares, with the outer Himalaya forming its back drop, the institute’s main building is an impressive edifice, marrying Greco-Roman and Colonial styles of architecture, with a plinth area of 2.5 hectares. The building was listed for a time, in the Guinness Book of Records, as the largest purely brick structure in the world. The institute has a developed infrastructure of all equipped laboratories, library, herbarium, arboreta, printing press and experimental field areas for conducting forestry research, quite in keeping with the best of its kind anywhere in the world. It is 7 km from Clock Tower, on the Dehradun-Chakrata motorable road and is of the biggest forest based training institute in India. Most of the forest officers are a part of this institute. The FRI's building also houses a Botanical Museum. FRI has around seven museums which are stuffed with forest products which were made during British period and there are also the samples of various insects, reptiles and remains of animals which were found in the jungles of Dehradun. FRI also contains a museum on forestry. It is open from 9:30am to 5:00pm daily, which an entry fee of Rs 40 per person and a nominal entry fee for vehicles. There are six sections in the museum:

1. Pathology Museum- various kinds of trees and their diseases and their cures
2. Social Forestry Museum- beneficial for common people
3. Silviculture Museum- various trees and their development
4. Timber Museum- various timbers and daily use materials which were used during British period
5. Non-Wood Forest Products Museum
6. Entomology Museum- insects and butterflies.

Main FRI Building

After exploring FRI and clicking a lot of pictures we set off for Buddha temple around 5:00 pm.

It is a Tibetan religious place located in Mohabewala, Clement Town, Dehradun just few kilometers away from ISBT Dehradun. Its also known as Buddha Monestry or Buddha Garden.

Directly from FRI we headed towards ISBT (Inter-State Bus Terminal) until we reached signs for Clement Town. There are a few signs within Clement Town directing one to the temple but as you approach the top of the spire can be seen from some distance as can the large Buddha statue.

Its one of the tourist place in dehradun with greenry everywhere.

Facts about Buddha Temple: The history of Buddha temple in Dehradun started in late 1965 when it was built up as a replica of the original temple monastery in Tibet. It was built as one of the four Tibetan religion schools and was named “Nyingma”. The other three schools are called Sakya, Kagyu and Geluk and also have great importance in the Tibetan religion. It is believed that the temple had been designed and painted by around 50 artists who took three years to create such estonishing structure of golden paint.

There are also shops, restaurants and a book shop. Most of the books are in Tibetan language and are most likely meant for purchase by the large Tibetan community that surrounds the temple.

The interior of the temple is only open to the public on Sundays and one can climb the stairs though the many levels with their ornate decorations to reach the viewing platform. After reaching at the top of the building one can a panaromic view of city dehradun.

Note : Shoes must be removed before entering the temple and there is a shoe check just outside available for a nominal fee. But other days the garden and shops are open.

We clicked photos and interacted with the monks in their disabled hindi, we got to know that all the monks in the temple campus live inside the campus itself and pray. One thing which I found very amusing here was everything was written in Tibetan language but on the donation box it was written ‘daan patra’ in hindi. I have no intention to hurt anyone, its just my observation.

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There were two temples, canteen, shops etc in the premise. The architecture of this place is master piece everything is arranged and maintained beautifully, the architecture is the beautiful example of symmetric architecture, there was a solenoid shaped structure which was believed if you revolve it all your sins will be gone. It is a place of compunction or repentance. 

There was a huge statue of some warrior on the top of one of the temple and the statue of buddha on the other. When we entered the temple we a wave of positivity was observed with immense silence and peace, this place is perfect for meditation. After visiting temple and exploring the places around and enjoying, we felt hungry and decided to have snacks in the canteen. I and three of my friends had chowmein and momos. They charged us Rs. 250 for the whole meal, here what I want to tell you is hit for street food instead of canteen. Number one they serve costly and tasteless food and second thing they have very high attitude level, they won’t talk to you properly, will treat you as they are serving you food for free and you are living on their money. I have found this characteristics in almost all north eastern people and Nepalese, they treat Indians with inferiority at times even while my trip to Nepal I found the same thing. Anyway this matters from place to place, need not worry. After relaxing there we set off for our university, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalay around 7:00 pm, playing antakchari, & truth and dare.

It was our educational trip to Dehradun but we transformed it into a fun tour. In one single day we explored four places completely without any hustle-bustle.
 It was fun.

This is ME.