Himalayan Saga- V

I woke up with a start at 6 AM on Day 5 as Raja excitedly punched me and pointed outside the window. What I saw, took my breath away. The morning light was falling on the snow peaks alone, making it glow. Today's plan was to trek to Kardang gompa(monastery). Its a monastery facing the Keylong village and guards over it from the opposite hill. So, first we had to go down all the way from the first hill, cross the river and then begin the uphill journey. After losing way at first, we found ourselves in some beautiful fields cultivating green peas. We saw houses with cow dung pasted like cakes on the walls to dry.

the scene from the window of our guest house

The sky getting clearer

a snow mountain near Keylong

Blue..

Soon, we were on our way. A long flight of stairs took us downhill. The bridge was tied with Buddhist prayer flags, as is the tradition here. The path up was adorned with wild flowers. We were soon found gasping for breath, not because of the beauty of the flowers but because of the steep climb and lack of oxygen. The packs of chocolate that we stocked helped us out at this time. We saw the skull and bones of an unknown animal near a stream. We reached an agreement that its the skull of a goat. The climbing went on for more than 3 hours. And the funny part is, there's a road which can take your vehicle straight to the gates of the monastery. But, minus the excitement.

Livin' on the edge.

Its a long long journey

sheep grazing up the hills

a house made of stone, near Kardang gompa

a hoopoe..seen on the way up

a goat skeleton found on the way up

Kardang a 900 year old monastery. The old one was destroyed in rains in the 90s and then they rebuilt it. Its a simple one. We had to ring a bell for a monk to come and open the gompa for us. Thankfully, only four of us were there at that time and it was tranquil. We walked around the gompa turning the prayer wheels. They say turning the wheel gives the effect of reciting the mantra. So it helps if you dont know sanskrit. The view of Keylong village from top was splendid, though it was much below compared to where we were standing.

keylong town, as seen from Kardang gompa

Buddham Sharanam Gachhami

Prayer wheels..

the long winding road leading up to kardang monastery. we preferred walking straight up. we were dead tired by the end of it is another matter :D

a monastery 'on the rocks'...opposite to kardang

The trek down went faster through an easier route. We ran down through cabbage plantations and beautiful gardens. Our driver was waiting for us, half way down the road. The road back to Keylong was a long one spanning 20 Kms. We had a second sighting of the last petrol pump before Leh(almost 350 Kms away). Back at room and a good rest before the roadtrip resumes the next day!

your crusader Praveen

Himalayan Saga- IV

Day 4. Morning 4.30. It was time to hit the roads. Our driver Manoj was ready with his qualis. For the next 9 days, this guy would drive us all around Himachal. Our immediate aim was to cross the dangerous Rohtang pass before 9 AM, because it closes down for maintenance at that time on every tuesday. It was more than 60KM from Manali. But the dangerous roads made sure that it will take many hours to traverse the route. The mist was clearing slowly. Scenes started to unravel and we realised that what we saw in Manali was just a sampler. The road to Leh also follows the same route till Keylong, our destination for the day. The air was getting colder as the vehicle began winding up the hill. Before long, we were almost passing through clouds. We wondered how those poor cows and wild horses survive here.

on the way up to Rohtang..

The only guest house at Marhi

two men wearing kullu caps having a serious conversation by the roadside at Marhi..

The small buddhist temple at Marhi

The road to Rohtang...one of the most dangerous...

Our first stop was Marhi, a small place comprising of a Buddhist temple and a couple of shops. Another round of Maggi later, we were all set to cross Rohtang. The road that awaited us was one filled with danger in every turn. It was slushy and slippery. The vehicle glided along the slush and almost swerved off the road. The sight from the side seat was even more horrible. This was the point where we thanked our driver Manoj bhai in our minds. With deft moves, he saved us many times. The sight of some vehicles that had fallen into the gorges in previous days didn't provide any solace. Rohtang came on view amidst heavy mist. Few shops were visible. There's a ved vyas temple here, from where the River Beas originates. Its an igloo like structure. Its believed that at this place, Ved Vyas did Tapasya for 12 years and wrote some parts of Mahabharata. Here, you can pour yourself with the holy water and cleanse your dirty souls :P. Passing the Rohtang pass was an achievement.

Ved vyas temple at Rohtang...Inside is the origin of river beas

on the road..

yaks and horses grazing at a meadow near Rohtang

yak..up close

After the heights of Rohtang, it was downhill all the way. The sun came on view, so did snow capped mountains. A green meadow and a lake with yaks grazing all around was seen. Our first ever sighting of Yak. Our next stop was near a glacier. There was a small dhaba old by an old man Daulat Ram, who lives in the village down below. He was a cheerful man who smilingly asked me to click him during cooking. The roti and noodles he served were the best during the entire trip. This is where we realised that maggi noodles is the national food of India. Wherever we went, this was one thing always on the menu. We proceeded to the glacier nearby and had our first touch of snow. Thought it was black ice, it didn't reduce our glee a wee bit. We drained off our mineral water bottle and collected crystal clear water rushing from the spring nearby. We bid goodbye to Daulat Ram and started our trip.

Daulat Ram, the man who served us noodles and roti near Rohtang

One of the best memories of the trip. Old Daulat Ram offering food with a broad smile. Couldn't help clicking before accepting.

one of the snow mountains up there..

Filling the mineral water bottle with fresh sparkling water from a stream...

The Himalayas started unravelling itself over the next few hours. Lush greenery, flowery meadows, snow mountains..all were there. It rekindled the interest in geography. The school geography texts have done us a great dis-service. All I remember are the black and white hazy shots of the himalayas which put me to sleep during school days. A single proper photo of the majestic ranges would've gone a long way in making us love the subject. As we went further down, we saw this amazing sight of a foreigner pedalling up the hill in a reclining bicycle. Instinctively, I clicked as he passed by the window. But beyond all my expectations, the man got up from his cycle and began hurling abuses in an unknown language. Thankfully, our driver sped away and that probably saved me from getting beaten up. I'm still searching for the meaning of that stupid word!

winding down

sissu waterfall...a breathtaking location

sissu waterfall..up close

a click that earned me a 1000 abuses...the man on the reclining bicycle who hurled abuses at me for clicking him...

As we neared Keylong, we passed the picturesque sissu village with an amazing waterfall near it. Keylong is a small sleepy town nestled between snow capped mountains.Our guest house was the surprise package. The top room at the Nordaling hotel provided the best possible view in the whole of keylong, much better than from the world peace cafe at Manali. We spent the evening in walking along the narrow streets and exploring the market. A plate of 10 momos each was enough to make us go to sleep out of tiredness....

your crusader Praveen

Commonwealth theme song & a scapegoat

I had vowed not to write on anything else until I finish the 14 part Himalayan saga. But seeing the cacophony surrounding A.R.Rahman's commonwealth theme song, I couldn't help but deviate from the travalogue. Some days back, before the release of the theme song 'O yaaro', media was running mad with reports of large scale corruption in the organising of the games. We listened in total shock as details of how the men behind the show made money out of procuring items ranging from toilet papers to treadmills. Everybody was baying for Kalmadi's blood. And rightfully so. Then came the release of this song. Not Rahman's masterpiece, but certainly a real good song. But suddenly someone from the organising committee raises a complaint about the song, someone whose only connection with music is the action song he sang for the school day during his LKG.

That was just the start. Then the media catches on to it. They conduct polls as usual and rig the results to their advantage, to match their view points. CNN IBN went as far as to write an article titled 'Rahman's top 10 duds' and listed 'Vinnaithaandi varuvaaya', 'kaathal desam', 'yodha', 'jeans' and 'raavan' as some of those. A badly researched article which will get top rating in the competition for 'worst journalism awards'. The poll question is titled 'Why does the CWG anthem not work for you?' with choices 'slow-paced', 'lacks punch' and 'rahman is missing'. So what about those people for whom this song works? What is the point of conducting such an one sided poll which was created under the assumption that not a single person in India likes this song? Some say it doesn't feel like 'waka waka'. If you want to feel like 'waka waka', go and listen to that song. And if you wanted a song like that, you would've done yourself a favour by hiring someone like Anu Malik. People throwing mud at Rahman should first list out memorable sporting anthems that were churned out from our country in the past. The same people who sang praises for him after the oscar are slinging mud with vengeance. When will we learn to be balanced! Its the same thing that happens with Sachin. A man gives his all for 20 years, win match after match and still people attack him if he under performs in one match. Those who criticise such talented men should first look at themselves and think why they still haven't achieved anything to speak about.

This whole controversy is nothing but a ploy by Kalmadi and co. to deviate the attention from their own wrong doings. Suddenly, everyone seems to think that the only thing that the games is lacking is a good theme song. There's no more news on the murky dealings that went behind the games. They are now planning to get a new theme song. And then, everything will be fine and we can match Beijing olympics. What about the unfinished infrastructure, the incomplete games village and approach roads and the half made stadiums? What about 1000s of crores that disappeared into thin air? Changing the theme song(a good song at it) is not going to bring about a change in all this. And its time the media and public realised that they are dealing with conmen in the garb of politicians and that they dont mind making one of our best musicians a scapegoat to keep their slates clean. They should also know that all Rahman did is to compose a song. You may like it or not. But he certainly doesn't deserve this criticism. We should learn to respect our artists, especially truely gifted ones like him

And its not right to stop this post without sharing this great song by the great band 'Thermal and a quarter'(TAAQ). The song titled 'Kickbackistan' is being promoted as the official anthem of the Uncommon wealth games. Hope you got an idea...

your crusader Praveen

Himalayan Saga- III

We woke up to a particularly lazy day, where we wasted the first half of the day except for the successful planning of our 9 day road trip around Himachal. By afternoon, we headed to Vashisht, an interesting town near Manali. It is believed that the great Vashishta maharishi has spent a lot of time here. Our first stop was the Sita-Rama temple opposite the Vashisht temple. A special bhajan by some ladies were going on there. It was fun and frolic. Spirited singing, native music and rhythmic dancing made the atmosphere lively. A swami wearing sunglasses was seen listening intently. After the performance, he got his old transistor radio and played songs. Quite a swami!

swamiji enjoying the bhajan at sita-rama temple

one of the ladies singing the bhajan.

a naughty kid tries to grab the percussion instrument from the lady.

the kid's good at posing too

some stone carvings at sita-rama temple

the sita-rama temple

Next was the Vashishta temple. This is famous all over for the natural hot water spring inside. Its an enclosed bathing ghat where natural hot water from a spring slightly uphill is circulated. One dip and I jumped back. It was much hotter than the jacuzzi am used to. It took a long time to get used to the hotness and then it was heavenly. The slight drizzle was a perfect combo and so we spent quite sometime there. We saw some old men who were jumping in as easily you jump into a normal pond. They turned out to be regular visitors there. We also met a couple of spainiards who been in India for the past 8 months. Besides tripping, they are also doing social work in villages. After the bath, we proceeded uphill to find the starting point of the hotspring, expecting to see a hot waterfall. A school kid educated us that the spring doesnt start like a waterfall. It just originates from the earth somewhere above the temple. Truely humbled!

Its clody now...view from world peace cafe..

one of those dangerous narrow roads..

Manali is at the foot of these hills

Luck..

Another view from world peace cafe...Beas flowing peacefully

If you are ever going to Vashisht, don't forget to visit this small house screening classic movies. A big TV inside a small room with a good sound system. You can watch movie lying down or sitting up. You can select the movie you want to watch if nobody else is watching. When we went there, a foreign couple had just started watching 'water'. They rewinded the movie so that we could also watch from beginning. A superb movie at an even superb place. For 50 rupees, I enjoyed it more than the exhorbitantly priced multiplexes.

We reached the world peace cafe, near to the temple. This was one of the best views I ever had from a cafe or hotel. The jasmine green tea cooled my mind and heart. The report in the papers there suggested that spiti valley, one of th destinations of our planned road trip, was cut off due to landslides. It was total disappointment. Our Plan B was also in shambles. Ideas of heading to Uttarakhand and making it a spiritual trip touching rishikesh and haridwar were floated. Thats when we saw some photos of spiti valley and surrounding monasteries on the cafe walls. Now, there was no doubt on anyone's mind. We were all set for the 9 day trip, come what may.....

your crusader Praveen

Himalayan Saga- II

Continued from here...

the sunrise at pandoh...our 1st view of the Himalayas...

I woke up from my wet dream as the bus stopped at Pandoh, in Mandi district of Himachal. As we stood sipping hot tea in the balcony of the cafe overlooking Beas river, we witnessed the visual treat of the sun painting a masterpiece in the sky. This was our first view of the great Himalayas and we felt blessed. Later our bus passed over the Pandoh dam, the water in the reservoir covered by mist with an yellow glow. We proceeded forward over narrow roads lining deep gorges. The hills on both sides were cradling the Beas river, which was violent at some places and deceptively calm at others. We passed through a tunnel at Kullu and came face to face with a fresh landslide which might have missed us by a couple of minutes. Some of us proceeded to remove the stones and cleared the small landslide soon.

We reached Manali around 8.30, when the locals were just waking up to a lazy sunday. The hotel facing the Beas river din't have such an awesome view as was advertised on the net. Our first trip was the walk up to the Hidimba devi temple, where the famous scene from 'Roja' was shot. The deity is Hidimbi Devi, wife of Bhima. Its believed that Pandavas visited this place during their exile. The temple is situated in the middle of a large deodar and pine forest. The view of the temple was blocked due to arrangements for the annual fest and so my cam got some rest. The entry to the temple is of very short height. Once you enter, you need to bend and get under a rock to see the deity. Only one person can do this at a time. Later, a lady sitting there puts a tilak on your forehead.

huge deodar and pine trees near the Hidimba devi temple.

himalayan apples...I ate these 2 after this shot :D

yawwwwwwwwwn!.....a Himachali lady carrying her baby

grass!!!!...The cannabis plant is common on the road sides of Manali...doper's heaven:P

view of Manali town from near the Hidimba temple.

Our afternoon trip was to old Manali. We had the trip's first encounter with the evergreen Maggi noodles, which turned out to be our major food in the coming days. We walked up along narrow roads selling shawls, bags and curios. We saw some steps leading up to a side road, which made us deviate from the main road. There was an apple tree in full splendour in a lonely place at top. Without second thoughts, I plucked and ate one. It tasted heavenly, free from all pesticides. Everyone savoured the gift of nature. A 'firangi' was seen on top with his laptop. Guess he didn't know about the free facebook provided by airtel mobile.

Old Manali provides you a splendid peek into the village life here. The roofing material of houses were neatly cut stones. Young pretty faces were seen peeping from the windows. The children here were hostile to the camera. One little girl shooed me away when I was clicking her playing with her little bro. But, she later asked me to click her toy arrangement, which I happily obliged. We reached the Manu temple, after a pretty long walk. Its a temple dedicated to the man who wrote the Manu smriti, some contents of which I don't like particularly. The temple is a fully wooden structure. It overlooked the Vashisht hills. After spending some pleasant time there, we walked down hill a bit and entered a cyber cafe to chart our new travel plans to spiti valley. Just after a minute, an accent car sped down uncontrollably through the road we had walked. It smashed into a shop, injuring two of the shop guys and one foreign passerby badly. As I ran down, I saw blood all over the bonnet of the almost overturned car. The shop guys were lifted up from underneath a stone block. Thankfully all of them were alive. Also, we four missed being hit thanks to the cafe on the way.

a typical house in old manali...well cut stones on top, wooden beams and windows and clothes hung out for drying all around....

near the Manu temple..

view from a local teashop...two heads watch intently as a girl walks by...bird watching is the same everywhere:P

a home in the valleys...surrounded by pine trees and the mountain air...

Manu temple..

The lady who gave us directions to the Manu temple..

We walked further down for dinner. My tibetan dinner ended up as a disaster-a momo without stuffing, chicken curry which was like sambhar and tasteless rice. Happily for me, everyone else had similar experiences in their foodie experiments. And that was the disastrous end to a wonderful day...more in store....

your crusader Praveen