It is a day off and you want to be out and about but if you don’t want it to be about visiting your favorite mall for the nth time or eating at your preferred restaurant again, then what do you do ? There are options like you can go all the way to one of the monuments or markets in Delhi but in the scorching heat that is more a task then rejuvenation. Perhaps a drive to Murthal, early morning, some might say but for me the place has lost all its charm now with almost productionised Parathas. How about just a drive, do almost nothing and come back refreshed, relaxed. So we had heard about The Leopard Trail, only a few kilometers away from our place, and we decided to check it out today.
It is a stretch of a few kilometers branching off from the Southern Peripheral Road, a few minutes before it merges into NH 48. The beauty of this short trip lies in a meandering drive which goes through one of the hills of Aravalli which flank the burgeoning city of Gurgaon, at least for now. There are small hiking trails which take you up a few of these hillocks, we saw others doing that but then they had started much earlier than us. We have parked that idea for the next visit, for which we would have to reach around sun-rise in the current weather.
Once you are done admiring the drive through this quiet and natural abode or exploring one of the hiking tracks, there are quite a few cafes to take a pitstop. We found one in Rathi Cafe right at the end of this trail. As rustic as it can get, in vicinity of Gurgaon, this café was a perfect place to unwind on a relatively pleasant summer morning, deep in the countryside. As we savoured our tea and parathas served with fresh white butter the peacocks in the surrounding fields kept squawking and birds kept chirping. Nature’s ambient music was at play elevating the experience like no other melody can do.
We are sure that we will be back here again to explore more of this natural abode in the neighbourhood.
Location in Google Maps is in the link below: