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Published: November 2nd 2014
Soja, Saraj Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
November 2nd 2014
“
Comes a time when you're drifting Comes a time when you settle down” Neil Young
“
Fields of forest green Where the mountains touch the sky A dream come true....” Don McLean “
Excess should be avoided. Excess of anything is bad. Balance” from the Bahagavad Gita: Ati sarvatra varjayet
No, I am not hanging up the sandals. Certainly not. But sometimes you just find a place where you keep coming back to and then an opportunity comes along, and vanishes, and another comes along ….and you grab it.
I first time I came to the Saraj Valley in 2009 after meeting a young Israeli couple in Om Kareshwar (Madhya Pradesh, India, on the Narmada River). They swore me to secrecy about a place called Jibhi and a man called Rana who ran a guest house there. That time I was just traveling in India for a mere 3 months after not having come for 23 years. It was a kind of a rebirth and reconnaissance trip (to see
The house from Jibhi
This is the view looking south from Rana's cottage where I am staying now.... Rockey's place is smack in the middle of the picture about 700 meters higher and on a walking track from the road about 4 km away from my current cottage.if the India I remembered still existed). In both cases, a very positive experience. Jibhi was my last port of call, and I stayed my last week there in late Spring. I walked and explored a lot and managed to get lost in the mountains (literally - I ended up in a town 30 km away for the night and nearly had the police called out to find me) and had a wonderful time. Rana, a Rajput (high caste) elder of the valley, has since become a good friend.... a man of high integrity and eco-conscience.
Since then I have spent 2 weeks again at Rana's (Doli Guest House) in Autumn 2010 on the way back from a motorbike odyssey (on my trusted 'Gladys' Royal Enfield) to Leh and Spitti Valley; a further 5 weeks in Autumn 2011 in one of Rana's cottages; another month in the same cottage in Autumn 2013 followed by 5 weeks up in a remote village (accessible only by track 1,000 metres up from Jibhi) in a house that Rana has there; again for 5 weeks in Spring 2014 in that house; followed by the current 6 week stay in Rana's cottage again (the
The view from the house
looking north down the Inner Saraj Valley from Rockey's house. house in the village is now required for one of Rana's sons and his family).
What I have enjoyed is introducing good friends to this place.... Carolina (Spanish) who traveled with me across India in 2011, my brother and sister who came here (their first time in India) for just three lovely weeks in 2013, Ashley and Richard (Canadians I had met while volunteering in Odissa in 2010) who came for some mountain peace in 2014, and now Mark (my Leh /Spitti co-conspirator) who now lives in China and has come for just a few weeks visit (Mark has been before of course – for 4 days after our bike trip in 2010).
I had hoped the remote village house was to become a fairly stable 'base' for me to come to again and again. That was not to be. And so I started thinking about whether there might not be another opportunity here. Several options later, a lot of thinking, and a plunge into the abyss of uncertainty, and I have now taken out a 5 year lease on a living space (to be renovated for me over the next 6 months), again up in a remote
'My' end of the house to be renovated
This is the sunny end of the house. The glassed in covered verandah will be the main living area and kitchen. The bathroom will be built off the side of the house in view here. spot (about 2,500 metres above sea level). It is a gorgeous spot where I will be able to view the snow-caps on clear days, and spend time in the sun overlooking the valley and surrounding mountains.
Rockey (his real name Krishna) lives there with his mother and 11 year old son. He had built his house 10 years ago. It is on family land and quite isolated from other places in the village (Soja). It’s perched on a flatter part of the mountainside jutting out overlooking Gyagi below. Rockey is 35, divorced, and as a young man spent 6 years working in Goa (so he knows westerners ways well and speaks good English). I had met Rockey a year ago when I offered him a life to Banjar on the back of my bike. When I visited his house this last month I really had no intention of thinking about it as a possible place to live. But sitting in the warm sun in the corner of his glassed in verandah and looking down the Inner Saraj Valley to snow-capped peaks, my mind began to go into overdrive. Rockey also said in passing that he was thinking of dividing
that end of the house off. A week later I was there to spend the night to 'get the feel' of the place, and we had agreed that should I decide to do a deal, we would separate off two bedrooms, the end of the verandah (with wall and benches and ceiling /walls lined, to serve as kitchen and living area), and that Rockey would construct a new bathroom off the side of the house.
The process of deciding (as always) was full of doubt and indecision... with many moments when I thought to just forget the whole idea as folly borne of some senseless need for security and denial of the temporary and illusory nature of things. Why do this? Why complicate your life?
A second option also came up whereby a brand new house would be built and I would have the first 5 year lease there. That option was also very attractive, but a little more remote in terms of access to things than Rockey's. As it was, Rockey's is either 15 minutes straight up a track from the main valley road (and about 4 km up from Jibhi); or 25 minutes flat walk starting
Formal Signing of Agreement
Rana advised me to get the formal 'Judicial Papers' which is a Himachal Gov't numbered letterhead ...and put our 'conditions' etc. in it... just so we are all clear about our 'deal' at about 5 km up the road from Jibhi.
In the end I took the plunge for better or worse..... with not a lot of money risked.... and the prospect of some really nice times ahead. Once decided, monkey mind receded and I owned my decision fully and happily.
Of course I am not intending to (nor could I due to visa restrictions) live here for 5 years continuous. It will just be a Himalayan base... somewhere I can leave mountain gear and 'things' (like a guitar) and come and go to and from during other sojourns across this country. AND.... I will be able to offer use of the place to friends for a peaceful stay should they so desire.
On a gorgeous Autumn day (October 31
st)I went up to my future mountain home with Rana and my visiting friend Mark with prepared 'Judicial Papers' to be signed as an agreement with Rockey, including the clause whereby I give him nearly half the agreed 5 years rent up front as capital for him to fund the required renovations.
And so.... a plan to come back again in April 2015 to take up one (I hope)
Rockey's Winter Den at other end of house
A rather innovative design (Rockey built the place) and inside this round thick stone walled room is a cosy den with tandoor (wood fire) in the middle and lots of cushions and mattresses around the walls..... and of course a TV receiving signal from Rockey's satellite dish. of many periods of residence in 'my' new home in the mountains. I am lucky.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Wow!!!
What a decision, and what I nice base of operations!