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Published: October 19th 2013
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Garra Guseni
Just quietly vanish inside yourself, disappear. So beautiful. Your form is still here, but inside: Nobody. Inside: Cooked. But don’t tell anybody that. Just be the peace of this world, the light and joy that shines from the indivisible Self. -
Mooji Several people (locals and tourists) had told me that the town of Garra Guseni, just 20 km from Jibhi, was worth a visit. So I had planned to do it. I had a quite calming early morning meditating and doing
hatha yoga. I felt outside of myself as I started off down the track to where Gladys is parked (Gladys the wonder bike) at 6.30 am. Look – in the mountains, if you want the best views of distant peaks ya gotta get going early before the clouds move in.
It was a clear crisp morning. At Bahu (half way and at top of the mountain from Jibhi) I picked up an old man who was walking in the direction of Garra Guseni – named Lansing. He must have been over 70 and had no padding on him at all, so each bump on the less than adequate
road rocked him to the bone as he clung onto my coat tails as if for dear life. No matter, he seemed to appreciate the lift, but I did wonder later if he might have been wishing he'd waited for the bus.
However rough the road was, the views of the
Himali in the distance were magnificent.
I reached the turn in the road that took me into Garra Guseni. It felt like riding into something out of an American western set (between shoots). There were some very old structures, some falling over, and the streets were near empty.
I had had a feeling on the way that my chances of scoring a really good Himachal breakfast (which is the traditional stuffed
parantha (a kind of thick chapatti which has vegetable mix worked into the pastry before being flattened out) were going to be good. Not that anyone had said as much – I just had this vision of a great
parantha. Himachal
paranthas tend to be served in slightly different fashions depending on which valley or town or district you are in. For example, in Banjar Valley where I was living, it usually comes with
dahi (curd),
channa (chick peas) or
rajma (beans), and
aacha (mixed pickle -often mango included).
I tied up Gladys a outside the hotel, adjusted my gun holster and .... (wait, sorry, wrong movie). I walked around town and saw what I assessed to be the right place for breakfast – where the guy was already preparing the dough for the morning's
parantha trade. I ordered a
parantha and sat down. He asked if I wanted
unda (egg) with it. I had not ever had egg
parantha before and said yes. I assumed it was just going to be an omelet along side the
parantha. Once the
parantha was half cooked, and he had beat the egg together with assorted spices, he skillfully made a small insertion at the side of what was now like pocket bread (still on the hotplate cooking) and poured the egg mixture into the bread's middle. He then proceeded to keep cooking the whole affair to allow the egg filling to cook. Brilliant, and it tasted brilliant. My vision fulfilled. A
chai and a walk around town, the invitation for a lemon tea from a local who was having horse (sorry, I mean bike) trouble, and
I was ready (after about an hour) to leave Garra Guseni.
Just a lovely way to fill a morning in the mountain
s.
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Lynn Ringland
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Testes
Having worked for a specialist physician for 18 years I am particularly interested in testes!!