Tourists visiting and guests staying in Rishikesh, near Ganga or any other part of Himalayas are looking for pure and fresh ambience for peace and relaxation. Anand Lok, across River Ganga offers you beautiful accommodation in the foothills of Himalayas. We deliberately designed accommodation to stay away from noise but not very far from Rishikesh city.

With no interference from outside world, we have discovered piece of heaven for nature lovers not very far from Rishikesh. In our quest to offer perfect ambiance to our guests, we have

added new organic store to our services. Now our guests or any one may buy organic agricultural produces from our store. With no chemical fertilizer ever used in this part of Himalayas, our store offer purest form of agricultural produces.  To start with, we have Lemon grass oil, Turmeric and Ginger from Himalayas.

As a part of our social responsibility, we extend our support to Shin Shiva Charitable Trust and assist them financially by purchasing agricultural products from them and nearby farmers and started our store.

Thank you for reading this blog!

The history of Diwali is replete with legends and these legends are moored to the stories of Hindu religious scriptures, mostly the Puranas. Though the central theme of all legends point out to the classic truth of the victory of the good over the evils. Lord Rama returned to his Kingdom after killing demon Ravana of Lanka. In Ayodhya (Lord Rama’s hometown), the people welcomed them by lighting rows of clay lamps. So, it is an occasion in honor of Rama’s victory over Ravana; of Truth’s victory over Evil.

Anand Lok, across The Ganga is a part of Garhwal hills, Uttarakhand. There is different time when people of Garhwal celebrate Diwali, that’s called Bagwaal: Garhwali Diwali. A month after rest of India celebrates Diwali – the festival of lights.

At Anand Lok, we celebrate Diwali on both the dates. We celebrated Diwali on 5th Novemeber, major celebration take place after sunset; we lighted whole Anand Lok with candles, clay lamps and bulbs, it was more like a peaceful Diwali this time. We would also like to thank all our guests who gathered outside temple for laxmi puja and later assisted us in lighting candles and clay lamps around Anand Lok.

 “Happy Deepawali to all of you”

Since the time Lord Shiva brought River Ganga to the Earth from heaven, she is nurturing us like mother, giving us life in every sense. It is worshiped by Hindus and for people who don’t believe in Hinduism, they must understand that there is logical reason associated with every mythological story. River Ganga was brought down to Earth to save Earth from famine. From Gaumukh (starting point of Ganga stream) till its last destination – Sunderbans of Bengal, mother Ganga gives us life in the form of water to drink and to irrigate our farmlands, brings essential nutrition from Himalayas for agricultural land in the plains.

Today, Ganga attracts lots of domestic tourists from nearby cities for white water rafting to Anand Lok and nearby areas. Due to extraordinary rainfall this year, rafting companies are not able to start their activities as per scheduled dates. Some of them suffer loss of their rafting equipments stored next to the river.

Color of Ganga is changed from blue to brown. It is no more life giving river. Depth and flow of water increased every day from 16^th to 20^th Sept. At time, water level rose to national highway no. 58 and road was blocked. Unfortunately during same dates, Anand Lok was managing group of 30 tourists (mostly students from German university). This whole group enjoyed their stay at Anand Lok but their departure was quite adventurous. It was purely dedication of our team that helped them to reach their respective destination and later Nicole, Veronika and whole group appreciated our commitment.

 Thank you Team for making us proud! 

See you again group…

Anand Lok and whole Uttarakhand is facing severe rainfall during this monsoon. While I am writing this blog, I am witnessing continuous rainfall for last 24 hours. Jagdish(local villager and our team member) told me that he has never witness such a heavy rainfalls during monsoon since he was a young boy.

Can we control Mother Nature?????

Their was no or very little water in most of the natural spring nearby Anand Lok for last few years but now we will see water stream from them for many years. Jungles next to Anand Lok are all green, it looks beautiful. At times, when there is no rain and few clouds in the sky during sunset, guests sat on our rooftop restaurant and enjoy heaven on the Earth. Window of every cottage gives you perfect picture of  Monsoon. Sitting on the balcony, enjoying cup of herbal tea or Masala Chai (Tea), reading your favourite book…

During monsoon, River Ganga is overflowing and only way to reach Anand Lok is 2.5 kms of trek alongside River Ganga. It will take 30 minutes to 60 minutes depending on your speed.

But its time, when we say bye bye to this year monsoon and hope for perfect monsoon next year.

Anand Lok, across The Ganga is a small but beautifully located accomodation near Rishikesh. Cut off from any motor road network, we try to provide every food item from our own land. Starting from fruits in the morning till food grains during dinner time. To offer our guest, bunch of organic services we have dedicated team or family. Some are directly and some are indirectly servicing our guest and nature.

We have our dairy farms which provides milk and milk related products to guests. In total,w e have 9 animals. Three beautiful cows, four calves and two bulls.

Last month, two of these three cows has given birth to new babies. As on date they are just one month and two month old. We happily added these two members to Anand Lok family. These animals are the reason for pure and organic milk and milk products at Anand Lok.

Date: 13^th March-19^th March 2010

Duration: 7 days

Yoga Teacher: Mr. Mansoor Khan

Group leader: Ms. Susie Roy

Anand Lok saw yet another group for yoga retreat. Guests came from different part of world, some from South Africa, United Kingdom, Italy and India. Ms. Susie Roy is organizing this special yoga retreat for last ten years only on demand by yoga students. She was looking for a special place away from hum drum of Rishikesh city but close to world’s yoga capital. 

Anand Lok is located 22kms ahead of Rishikesh, across holy river Ganga, no road link (only way to reach Anand Lok is a small boat ride). Specially designed Yoga Hall (designed by Shin) for yoga exercises, cottages with separate balcony overlooking Ganga and very special restaurant to eat. We thank Renu for supporting our kitchen staff for adding special ayurvedic menu. Food was very special and every food item severed was purely organic. Salad from our kitchen gardens, milk from our dairy farms and food grains from our farm land or nearby Himalayan villages.

Sitting at your balcony, having herbal tea from our organic farms, watching holy Ganga and listening to its song, reading your favourite novel, watching colorful birds - we request you to switch off your mobile and laptops and feel the peace and tranquality of this place.

Anand Lok welcomed its first south american group to Anand Lok. It was a yoga retreat for three days.

Anand Lok is located across holy river Ganga, away from any modern city close to nature. We tried to bring it mor closer to nature by selecting natural colors for painting cottages. Accommodation in the foothills of Himalayas, near Rishikesh…

Here I am uploading some picture of  Anand lok in winter season.