The journey begins....

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always wanted to start of with my travelling experiences long back..but then was a bit lazy, and also the lack of writing skills,and other such reasons...reasons being many...so will start off with my first travell experience..although it has been almost 3 yrs since then, and my hairs grown pretty longer, memories are still vivd....for that was the time that sparked my dormant instinct..the love for travelling...and after that i was never satisfied...FLASHBACK....

TIME: 6 pm.
..1st july 2008..tuesday.....
DESTINATION..macleodganj

On our way to DHARAMSALa...me and few of my friends..... my first trip ever..so full of excitement....we took a bus at around 9 pm from isbt,delhi..nothing notable during the bus ride.. wasnt really a comfy one.. except for the excitement what lays in store...some imaginations about the place and the trekking as to how it would be...and i feel that really is the best part of travelling to new places...reached at around 7 in the morning...took a 10 mins taxi ride to macleodganj and there we were....happy happy...stayed in this guesthouse called TIBETAN ASHOKA GUEST HOUSE..good price..just 100bucks for a double room with shared bathroom...pretty decent place to stay with good views of the dauladhar mountain range..i would recommend it the best place to stay in macleodganj...macleodganj is best known as the abode of His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama..and is the headquarter of the tibetan government in exile who fled from the chinese invasion of tibet in 1959...
this busy little town is full of backpackers from all over the world...some of them volunteering for the projects for the betterment of the tibetan community...one of the most sought after destination in INDIA..other then the temples, musuem, monastery, art and craft centre preserving the tibetan heritage etc., the mighty dauladhar mountain range offers scenic and breathtaking views...on the temple road down macleod lies the Tsuglakhang temple along wiTh the residence and private office of the Dalai Lama. It also has a museum,depicting the history of tibet and its culture, old tibetan artefacts, blood stained clothes of those that died during the chinese invasion,few weapons used by the chinese..etc...short films are also shown in regular intervals..outside the gate were big banners with photos of many victims of the chinese attrocites..we were really moved and shocked at the same time as to how brutally they were killed...it was then that we really understood wat FREE TIBET meant...
we then took a refreshing walk to the CHURCH OF ST. JOHN IN WILDERNESS built in 1852,that stand amidst gaint deodars...and the only monument that survived the earth quake of 1905..next to it also lies a cemetry that of all the quake victims..CAN BE SCARRY SOMETIMES...and then there is the short but scenic walk to a small waterfall crossing Bhagsunag temple, which became even smaller the next few times i visited...need'nt mention the plastic packets of maggi all around..thanks to us INDIANS..we are all so good in this....and there is a SHIVA CAFE(must visit) on the top.can be little tiring..but a good place to relax, get stoned and spend ur time in leisure...where religion and culture seem to blend harmoniously..(TIP..hashish supplied on demand)....
IT was drizzling in Macleod(most of the times it does) recieves the second highest rainfall in india...the next morning..so we were all a little sad and worried about our trek to TRUIND and a little above..but soon the dhauladhar was clear enough to be seen..that brought smile to our faces and we set off...was a pleasant walk amidst pine and rhododendron forests...and great views of the the dhauladhar range...reached the campsite at Truind after about 5 hours...since we ddnt have tents along with us, we booked a small house that belonged to one of the two shops over there..accomodation was just like two attached rooms enough for us to fit in..aimlessly loitered around the nearby areas for a while and soon it was dark..SILENCE could be heard....we had our dinner of daal-bhat and then retired off to bed of thinking about all the mesmerisng views and the day long trek...WONDERFUL...
got up at early next morning..had breakfast and prepared to move further on uphill to lakagot..we reached there after about 3 hrs of trek...the only few people seen were two shepherds grazing their goats...reached a frozen glacier...but soon we had to come back without further moving to the lahesh caves, reason being we ddnt have tents and we had to descend back to macleod...DEPRESSED....it was drizzling..so had to be a bit carefull while descending..the air was filled in with the song 'WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD'..hummed by one of our team mate in his melodious voice..reached macloed..hogged down on some momos and thukpa..was about 3pm..had a quick shower and lied down for a while preparing for a drinking session at McLlo, one of the best restaurants in the town with good music in the background..has a rooftop and is well-lit during the night..Quite popular at the centre of the town..'CHEERS FOR THE SUCCESFUL TREK'..here we met a korean guy..LEE..talked about his country..and was kindda tipsy..by the time we were done it was almost 11 pm...the little town of macleod was getting ready for the night slumber...few drunk tourists could be seen here and there.....
had our breakfast at OOGOS...a good place to have breakfsat and start of the day with the refreshing tone of OM MANI PADME HOM, a tibetan mantra..what amazed me was this little town or 'LITTLE LHASA' has the best food-joints in the whole country to meet all types of taste buds-israel,german, italian, korean, japanese...u name it..u will have it..we met the korean guy again the next day along with one of his friend..we were to visit the nearby village of DHARAMKOT..and they joined us...DHARAMKOT is a peaceful little village about 2-3 kms away...another option to stay with relatively less number of backpackers...we also walked to the dal lake full of gold fish.....paid a visit to the tibetan school...saw little pink cheeked children and they really touched my heart...at an age when we were playing with toy cars and toy guns and stuffs like that, these small children were hand washing their own clothes and doing other household chores..some of them were hardly like 10yrs old....walked back little depressed and cursing the CHINESE all the way back....a couple of beers again in mcllo for the night sleep.....quite drunk...
the next day was HIS BIRTHDAY..the DALAI LAMA..people were distributing sweets and laddoos all along the road with broad bright smiles....and perhaps we were the only ones that were'nt smilin..i LOST my camera the other night..this guy was carrying it and he ddnt know where he dropped it..and mine was the only camera in the group..the MEMORIES captured seemed to fade...or rather GONE..didnt know what to do...enquired here and there for the lost camera..IN VAIN...it was the last day and evrything was FUCKED..ALL IS NOT WELL THAT DOES'NT ENDS WELL....we packed our bags and got ready to check out from the hotel to catch the bus back to delhi...among the hustles and bustles of the city...no one really wanted to come back...and then..the CLIMAX...the owner of our hotel handed me my camera saying 'he kept it over there'..pointing out to my friend..evryone seemed to take a huge sigh of relief...and the lost smile was clearly visible in all our faces...the brightest being in me and my 'CULPRIT' friend's face...SMILES TO GO....
REACHED the bus-stand of dharamsala and we boarded the bus..NOT to DELHI...but to KULLU..IMAGINE our happiness...from kullu we were to head further on to KASOL, a place in PARVATI VALLEY...with relatively few back packers but amazingly peaceful...the bus to kullu took us around 10 hours and from there to kasol was another 3 or 4 hours i guess...basically nothing to do apart from relaxing...a tiring walk to not so nearby FORBIDDEN VILLAGE OF MALANA is recommended for those craving for HOLY SMOKES or the LEGENDARY MALANA CREAM...
THE next day we went to the village of MALANA...we took a bus till jari..from ther we hired a taxi till an unknown spot and then from there you have to trek your way uphill to MALANA...it was about 3-4 hours of tiring walk with up, up and only ups.....the people of this valley claim themselves to be the descendants of ALEXANDER THE GREAT..(or his soldiers)..who were lost in this valley...This village has some strange customs and practices..the people of the outside world are not allowed to touch them or their belongings..but a few of the open minded ones are open to hand shakes...at this point we noticed a pair of foreigners who bought a bottle of water...the bottle and the remaining change was'nt handed directly to them..rather it was kept on the ground for them to pick it up...strange are the ways...all around the valley were tall plants of CANNABIS..and that was their principal cash crop..it seems they export the hashish, popularly known as the MALANA CREAM, all the way to AMSTERDAM..and other areas...but their standard of living in no way reflected this fact...
drove back to KASOL...its always better to be careful on your way back from malana if you bought some MALANA stuff coz there are a few check post on the way..
the next day we took a walk to MANIKARAN a few kms away from kasol..there was a natural hot water tub kind of thing, a holy place of the sikhs..they would wrap few grains of rice in a piece of cloth,dip it in the hot water and after a couple of minutes..BEHOLD..THE RICE IS COOKED..this they would consume as prasad (religious food offering) which they believe has the power to cure any disease..but that could'nt cure our troubled mind..troubled because we would soon be leaving for delhi finally...and that was against our wish....with a promise to return again AND AGAIN to little lasha..untill the melodic tune of OM MANI PADME HUM fades...


visited macleod twice again in the subsequent years..not surprisingly to find more number of people and crowded streets..water has become scarce...so scarce that even the dal lake with gold fish dried up..this is surprising because macleodganj recieves the second highest rainfall in india.. and the small little town is slowly getting to get dirty with garbage here and there...THE FOREIGNERS ARE MORE KEEN TO KEEP IT CLEAN AND GREEN AND SOME OF THEM EVEN TAKE UP TO VOLUNTARILY CLEANING THE PLASTICS IN THE MOUNTAINS OCASSIONALY..THE IRONY IS THAT MOST US INDIANS TAKE THE PLEASURE OF MAKING IT DIRTY AGAIN...WAKE UP MY BROTHERS AND SISTRES...WAKE UP...ITS TIME WE CARE....

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Comments

[secret admirer]

mesmerized
this one is really mesmerizing piece of info about the place. Thanks a ton. peace .