Jim Ankan Deka | Music, Photography and More

I was kind of little reluctant about my trip to Dehradun, because I had just over 24 hrs at hand. What could I have accomplished in one day, trying to travel the beautiful land of the Gharwalis on the foothills of the Himalayas. But being a travel addict, I had to give into my passion. So my travel partner Parmita and I booked the tickets from Bangalore and reached the Jolly Grant Airport on September 21, 2013. Though we went to Mussoorie before, we had little clue about Dehradun. And as this was more of an unplanned back-packing kind of visit, we did not even book the hotel in advance. So, after reaching the city, we looked around and checked into a neat hotel - Hotel Doon Castle . The hotel was clean and what we found out was that, the 'Queen rooms' are far better than the 'King rooms'. Clean toilet, decent food and less charges - 3 things a traveler looks for before choosing a hotel. Doon Castle did provide us with all of those. Though we would have loved to re...

Last September, when we visited Dehradun for a short documentary, first thing we noticed was primates. On the streets, at homes, near the water streams, in the jungles around and even in the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun. Here are few moments from our visit to Malsi Deer Park and Sahastradhara falls in Dehradun. An Indian monkey (bandar) at Malsi Deer Park (photo - Jim Ankan Deka) An Indian monkey (bandar) at Malsi Deer Park (photo - Jim Ankan Deka) An Indian monkey (bandar) and her child in Sahastradhara falls in Dehradun (photo- Jim Ankan Deka) An Indian monkey (bandar) at Malsi Deer Park, Dehradun (photo - Jim Ankan Deka) An Indian monkey (bandar) at Malsi Deer Park (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

Central Braille Press, Dehradun (© Jim Ankan Deka) Situated in one of the pristine parts of Dehradun known as the Rajpur Road, the Central Braille Press is the first press of its kind in India and one of the oldest braille presses in Asia. It was set up in Dehradun, Uttarakhand in 1951 after independence by the Government of India, Ministry of Welfare to make braille literature available to the blind. This was followed by the setting up of NIVH (National institute for the Visually Handicapped) in 1967 in an area of about 43 acres on Mussoorie-Dehradun Highway. It is a training centre for the blind. Central Braille Press, Dehradun (© Jim Ankan Deka) If you are in Dehradun for a day or two, you should not miss this place. The old British styled house gives a serene feeling and once you are inside the building there are many things to see, just like a museum. The old manual printing, cutting and perforating machines to the new age digital printing devices - all under the same roof...

How often does someone get a chance to hang out with a king and a queen together? How often someone spends few days in a grand palace in the cusp of enchanting hills? Well, it did happen to me when my wife came home from office one day and told me that we should take a trip to Mussoorie, the beautiful hill-station in Uttarakhand. Thrilled as I was, I readily booked the flight tickets to Dehradun , as Mussoorie doesn't have an airport. It's about 30 kms from Dehradun and 60 kms from Dehradun airport. Paintings by Vijender Sharma, Delhi The journey in the Kingfisher flight was little tiresome as there was a halt in Delhi for about 5 hrs. Instead of hanging in the Delhi airport, we took off to the DLF Promenade mall in Vasant Kunj, had lunch and walked to the DLF Emporio mall near by. Surprisingly apart from the regular consumerism driven products we also came upon many beautiful paintings on display. Having feasted our tummies and eyes we went back to the airport to catc...