Oct 7, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 8 : Tabo Monastery

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Spiti River
Spiti River

We went close to the Spiti River. Spiti River originates near Kunzum Pass and flows in the southeast direction before it meets Sutlej River. The dark color water flows over the pebbles peacefully. This tranquility is a characteristic of the Spiti valley and its deep relationship with Buddhism. As there is not much rainfall in the Spiti Valley, the river gets most of its water from the Himalayan glaciers and many streams join it. Pin river is one of the most significant ones to join it. We had read somewhere that Pin Valley National Park also provides beautiful views but we could not go there. Pin Valley starts near the Dhankar Gompa in Spiti Valley. Spiti River occupies only a small portion of the bottom of the valley. The similar pebbles near the course of the river suggest that either the water level of the river increases as some point of the year or the river has changed its course. Normally in India, September is one of the months when rivers carry a huge amount of water because of the monsoons. The same cannot be said about Spiti River.

Unlike Kye Gompa, Tangyurd Gompa, and Dhankar Gompa which are situated at cliffs, Tabo monastery is at the bottom of the valley. Tabo monastery was built in 996 AD and that makes it the oldest in India. A few years back it celebrated its thousandth anniversary which was attended by the Dalai Lama. Inside the monastery, we were allowed only to visit the main temple. There was a big buddha statue and the temple was naturally lit. We were told that there were old wall-paintings in Tabo monastery, of which we could only see glimpses in the temples. There were stupas built inside the monastery. Like Dhankar monastery, Tabo monastery also belongs to Gelugpa sect. Due to its very old wall-paintings and manuscripts, it is also called the Ajanta of Himalayas.

Tibetan Buddhism is the religion of this part of the India and also of the Ladakh, Sikkim, Tibet and parts of Nepal. The sixth century onwards, the rulers of Tibet showed interest in Buddhism for various reasons including their marriage to Buddhist princesses. Then a tantric Padmasambhava from India arrived in Tibet and preached Buddhism in Tibet. Later on, folk elements were assimilated in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is different from the Buddhism practiced in other parts of the world like Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. Buddhism spread in these areas much earlier and is based on the early interpretation of Pali Canons. Tibetan Buddhism was inspired from Indian Buddhism which in turn borrows few elements from Hinduism like multi-armed statues of deities. Tibetan Buddhism believes in the reincarnation of Dalai Lama.

Keeping up the spirit of trying new things in the trip, we tried Thukpa in Tabo. Thukpa is a noodle soup with its origin in Tibet. Apart from the noodle, it contained tomato, capsicum, and few other ingredients. In Tabo, there are only a few places to eat. Someone told us to go to a home where they provide some food items. It was a small house. The Dhaba was operated by the family only and not many people were dining there. We did not find too many tourists in Tabo. We might have been there in the off-season or Tabo is still not that popular destination. Few houses in Tabo had apple gardens. Tabo was the last destination of our trip. The road from Kaza to Tabo goes to Nako also which is very close to India-China border and then continues to Shimla as part of the Hindustan Tibet Road. It was time to return to Manali.

When I look back and remember the days spent in Spiti Valley, it brings a joy and satisfaction. I do not know how to summarize the trip in a paragraph and I would not dare to. Probably my remembering-self has remembered too many things. I do not know what to say about my experiencing-self because whatever bliss it achieved was left there in the Spiti Valley. Those high barren mountains; those long and narrow roads and paths on pebbles; those peaceful and crystal clear streams; those villagers and their hospitality; those Gompas and learned lamas; those high-altitude lakes and reflection of mountains in them; those deep valleys with layer after layer of its sides telling the history of tectonic activities; those strong winds making their mark on the mountains; everything is etched in my memory like all of this happened only a few days back. When one comes to the Himalayas, a part of oneself is forever indebted to nature. And in that moment of gratitude, I promised to return to the Himalayas, again and again.
The entrance of Tabo Monastery
The entrance of Tabo Monastery
Tabo Monastery
Tabo Monastery
Stupas in Tabo Monastery
Stupas in Tabo Monastery

Sep 30, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 7 : Dhankar Gompa And Lake

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Dhankar Monastery and the confluence of Spiti and Pin rivers
Dhankar Monastery and the confluence of Spiti and Pin rivers

In the local language of Spiti Valley, Gompa means a monastery. Dhankar Gompa is also an old monastery like others in the region. Belonging to Gelugpa sect, it probably dates back to 12th century. 25 kilometers from Kaza, towards the road to Tabo, there was a diversion for Dhankar Gompa. It was situated on a cliff overlooking the confluence of the Spiti and Pin rivers. Few hundred meters below the Gompa, there was Dhankar village. In the Dhankar village, there was the same pattern of white houses with step farms in between. In the local language, Dhankar means a fort on a cliff. Near Dhankar Gompa, there were other structures too like a fort. Do not compare it with the usual forts that you have seen. Built on the cliffs with a small area at the top, forts in the Spiti Valley are bound to be small. It would have been very difficult to transport materials for building a big fort at such height and so far-removed from traditional population centers. Also, the number of persons that these forts had to host was small. Once upon a time, the Spiti kingdom was ruled from Dhankar. Inside the Gompa, near the entrance, there was a chamber of protecting deity. Supported on the pillars from inside, Dhankar Gompa also houses a small museum.

There is a lake near Dhankar village. It is a high-altitude lake named after the village. The way to Dhankar lake starts near the guest house. We decided to trek. The trek was, by no means, easy. Although, it was not too long and was not too steep, but at the heights above 4000 meters ,if one has not become used to thin air, then such treks are difficult. The water of the lake was very clear - so clear that you can see the reflection of hills on the opposite side. Half of the lake was shadowed by the hills and that shadow was increasing. Sunset was approaching. There was a small Pagoda-like structure near the lake and the beautiful colorful prayer flags around that. The pattern of thorny bushes near the lake was interesting. If you would see the barren land you would say no vegetation is possible here but then you would see these bushes artistically sprinkled here and there.

Returning from the lake, the lunar-shaped village of Dhankar and the Gompa were seen in the background of the confluence of Spiti and Pin rivers. This scene was the nature’s imagination at its best. It looked like the picture coming straight from the artist's canvas. In the valley below two rivers met and decided to continue their journey together peacefully forever. In the valley above, men met the religion in search of the peace. Men came to the abode of enlightened Lamas to be guided in their spiritual journey and the fire of knowledge was kindled in their souls. Men came to the Gompa, dwarfed by the high mountains and unable to move out for months in snowy winter. Men climbed the cliff to recite a verse in the worship of Avalokiteśvara. When men met religion in its true sense, it was like men met nature. The peace was established in these unapproachable mountains. That peace and tranquility are what attract the travelers today.
There is this thing about sunrise and sunset in the Himalayas. Because of high mountains on both sides of the valley, it is very difficult to see the sun rising. When you can actually see the sun, till then it is already a bright day. So a sunrise does not have the feeling of light fighting the darkness or slow spread of the light in all directions. I remember being awake in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand once to see the sunrise but when we had the first glimpse of sun, the day had already begun. The beautiful thing about sunrise in the Himalayas is the reflection of sunlight on snow-clad mountains which is reddish in color. This we had witnessed in Kaza and a few years back in Ukhimath, Uttarakhand. Like the sunrise, sunset also is different from the sunset that one is used to seeing. The sun hides behind mountains well before the first shadow of darkness creeps in. By the time we reached Dhankar Lake, a portion was covered by the shadow of mountains. This shadow only became larger. One starts to feel the chill. After sunset, the strong and cold winds take over.

While going to Tabo from Dhankar Village we saw few flex boards outside the fences surrounding trees. Seeing such tall trees was a surprise in itself. The location of Spiti Valley is such that the Monsoonal clouds do not cause rain here. The Harsh climate and small population mean a large area remains without any vegetation cover. Throughout our journey in the Spiti Valley, we did not see any place where you see grasses, bushes, or trees as you normally see elsewhere in the Himalayas. Those flex boards had details about the Desert Development Schemes of the government. Later when I searched about this, I got to know that governments are spending crores of rupees for this scheme. It creates a green cover and provides employment to the local people.
Dhankar Village
Dhankar Village
Dhankar lake
Dhankar lake
Spiti river from Dhankar Monastery
Spiti river from Dhankar Monastery

Sep 23, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 6 : Langza, Koumik And Hikkim Villages

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Buddha statue in Langza village
In the second part of this series of travelogues on Spiti valley, I said that I will talk more about remembering and experiencing. Normally, we do not separate these two aspects. In his book Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman talks about two selves - experiencing-self and remembering-self. Experiencing-self lives in the moment and remembering-self keeps those moments in the memory. That is what we cherish after a long time. What Kahneman says is that we focus more on remembering than on experiencing. To prove the point he says that we are blind towards the time-integral of happiness or sadness  caused by a stimulus. Say, you are moderately happy or sad for a year in one condition. In the second condition, you are extremely happy or sad for a month. It is more probable that five years hence, you will remember the second condition. We humans are too prone to peaks in happiness or sadness. This is the background for the discussion that I intend to take up in this part of the series. If we are to remember only peaks of happiness or sadness why do we want to live a well-settled life which does not contain surprises? The things which we normally call surprises are expected surprises - a contradictory term but yes, that is true. Where should we invest more time and resources - in remembering or in experiencing the moments?

While visiting few villages near Kaza, this struggle between my two selves got worse. When you see those mountains, villages in a valley and a small road disappearing under a hill you become awestruck at once. There is a feeling of being mesmerized. After few days you do not remember all those experiences exactly. You only remember that there was something which was very beautiful but when you try to remember what was it exactly, you are left to find words and memories, searching for those moments. Here comes the question again - if we cannot remember those feelings, should we stop on hill trail and think about the surroundings? People prefer the remembering-self and that might be the reason behind why tourists as soon as reach a place, start clicking pictures without even seeing the place fully. There is a feeling to capture all those moments into some sort of mechanism where it can be taken out of the memory black-hole again, and again. Pictures are one such mechanism. I have assumed that people prefer the remembering-self. At least that is what see around on a trip. That would be a generalization. I leave it up to you to decide on your next trip whether you feed your experiencing-self or remembering-self.

13 kilometers from Kaza, there is a small village - Langza. With a population of around 130, this village is first that one encounters while coming from Kaza. There are two parts of the village - Lower and Upper Langza. Lower Langza is near the fields and is few meters below the road from where you see the village. The Upper langza was closer to the big statue of Buddha. In this village and most of the other that we passed by while coming to Kaza, the outer decoration pattern of the houses would remain same. The houses will be painted white. That white color is somewhat worn out maybe because of six months of snowfall or maybe it was painted a few years ago. At the point where the walls met the roof, there would be a strip painted gold or brown. When you see from a distance a row of similar houses, you can wonder about their coherence to a tradition. The Buddha statue was considered to be hundreds of year old by the villagers. The location of the statue was good. It was placed there overlooking the village, then farms, then roads and then the tall mountains of Spiti village. On the internet, I found that Langza village is famous for marine fossils which are found in abundance here. I did know this when I was in the village. Few kids brought something to sell near our vehicle. We thought that these were small craft items and gave it a pass. With the benefit of hindsight, I think they might have been the fossils. 

Next, we went to the Koumik village. It was one of the highest inhabited villages in the world. Few claim it to be the highest one but that is disputed. The village is situated at the edge of a deep canyon. There were few farms and few houses in this village. While roaming around in this village, we met a person who has invited us inside his house for the tea. We were also curious to see the house from inside. The house had all the provisions for long snowy winters such as a small fireplace in the drawing room and thick mud walls. Most of the villagers had gone to bring back the yaks from the other side of the hill. Our host was studying in Shimla and was there in his native village for few days. He said he would leave before the snowfall starts. I remember one more interesting thing about him. Whenever we would ask him how much time will it take to walk to a hill, he would say, for example, that one hour for him and three hours for us. That was true but we found it interesting that he already took account of our difficulties at high altitude. We enjoyed his hospitality. It does not happen that frequently in India when few strangers are allowed in one's house.

Tangyud Monastery is situated in Koumik village. Along with the monastery at Kaza, it is one of the few monasteries of the Sakya sect left in Spiti valley. Like other monasteries in the region at Key and Dhankar, Tangyud Monastery is also a fortified structure, suggesting that in ancient times there were attacks on monasteries or that religious head was also the ruler of the country. Tangyud Monastery is made up of mud walls and boundary is in a rectangular shape. Inside the monastery, you find all those colorful objects which we saw in other monasteries in Spiti. Built in the 14th century, it is one of the highest monasteries in India. 

The last village that we visited was Hikkim. Hikkim village contains the highest post office in the world. That post office is manned by an old employee of the postal department. There were many colorful cards with images of the places in Spiti. He was enthusiastic enough in showing us those cards, but it was difficult for him to find a plain postcard - a relic of the gone era. I thought that I will add a new ritual to my trips - to send a postcard from that place. I started that from Hikkim. That post card never reached home. I tried again from Pondicherry. Even that did not reach home. I thought that it is now outdated to send a postcard. Even the postal department might think that a person is not serious enough in communicating something if he is sending a one-rupee postcard. Hikkim village is also the world's highest polling station.
Near Langza village, Spiti Valley
Near Langza village, Spiti Valley
Inside Tangyud Monastery, Koumik
Inside Tangyud Monastery, Koumik
World's highest post office, Hikkim
World's highest post office, Hikkim

Sep 16, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 5 : Kaza Town And Kye Monastery

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Kye Monastery, Spiti Valley
Kye Monastery, Spiti Valley
In and around Kaza, we met many foreigners. Near the main monastery in Kaza, we met a group of Israeli tourists who came to India after their compulsory conscription was over. This is the trend with tourists from Israel as we saw in Kasol too. While talking to one of them we got to know that he had plans to go to Rishikesh. He was in India for a month. He told that “You work between two trips. That is how you live.” In Kaza, there were programs to know more about the culture of Spiti valley. Not only know that as in reading somewhere but living those experiences. For example, there was a program where you can live like a Buddhist monk for a day and get to know more about Buddhism. 

We got to know these things by a list of such programs handwritten a medium-sized slate outside a small cafe. The cafe was not bigger than an average grocery shop in an average Indian city. To inquire more about these programs we went inside. To my utter surprise, this program was conducted by a lady from the Netherlands. A tailor-made tour of an Eastern cultural practice by a Westerner who came to India for a month. That’s what it was. She was there with her husband and her little son. I hardly meet a person from India who goes to travel for a month. So I am assuming that it is not too common. Maybe those who come to India from outside come with a plan of a month or so. If they do not have sufficient time, they may prefer places in their own country or in nearby countries. 

The local market of Kaza was similar to the market that we see in hill stations of the Himalayas. Wooden crafts items like key chains, cutlery, and showpieces, were in abundance. Being a hill station it was common to see shawls and other winter clothing. Spiti valley is not too much known to the outside world as compared to Ladakh, but it is getting popular. The Greater number of visitors brings the diversification of market and the options increase like for dining. I wish that Spiti valley remains what it is - serene, secluded and less crowded by visitors. 

Back in the hotel, there was a dining-room-cum-cafe. There we talked to the owner of that hotel Mr. Tsering Bodh. While deciding on the best route to Kaza, we chose the one via Rohtang La as it was closer to Kaza from Manali. The other one was from Shimla which was part of Hindustan Tibet Road. As we had asked a contractor in Batal, we asked Tsering which one was better. He told us, "If you see the quality of the road, definitely Hindustan Tibet Road is better as it is well kept. The road from Manali to Kaza is not very good and some parts of the road are very bad, but this road offers you more diversity. You cross passes, see rivers and pass through places where there are no roads. Compared to this the road from Shimla is monotonous." We agreed with him. A journey is not only about arriving. A lot has to be experienced in the travel itself. In that hotel, there were encyclopedias dedicated to the Spiti valley. We got to know few things about the history of the valley. Also kept were the collections of photographs taken in Spiti valley, hard bound like an old epic. Indeed it was epic, where the picture is shown and verses have to be formed by you. 

In the hotel, folk music was being played. Being a fan of the folk music of India, I asked Tsering if he could share the songs with me and he obliged happily. When I returned from Spiti Valley, I played those songs. Needless to say that I could not get the lyrics of most of the songs as they were in the local language of Spiti valley, but music is much more than the language. It is about the experience when those instruments are played in harmony. It is about feeling the ascent and descent of the voice of the singer and then sink in that. Few of those songs were religious in nature as I deduced from the repeated chant of 'Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami, Dhammam Sharanam Gachchhami.' This is the feature of the folk songs of North-Indian Plain too. Most of the folk songs are about deities or a historical hero. Tsering told me that few songs are recordings of the festivals that are celebrated in the Kaza or nearby villages. 

About 15 kilometers from Kaza, Kye monasteries is situated. Variably pronounced as Ki, Key, and Kee, Kye monastery is considered to be more than a thousand years old. When you enter the monastery, there is a board which has details of the history of this monastery. The history tells us about the repeated sacking and looting of this monastery by different forces. This monastery had to change its affiliation to a sect when it was attacked by a more powerful sect patronized by Mongol kings. Belonging to Gelugpa sect today, this is a major place of learning for young Lamas who have to go to Tibet for higher studies in religion. The Kye monastery is situated on a hilltop. In the backdrop of high mountains this monastery and related settlements, look so small and it is a perfect symbol of the harmonious relationship between man and nature. While on the roof of the monastery, you can get the panoramic view of the valley and it needs to be said that the views from each side of the Spiti river in the valley complete each other. This whole picture looks so poetic that I should call nature a great poet. 
Spiti Valley from Kye Monastery
Spiti Valley from Kye Monastery
Top of the Kye monastery
Top of the Kye monastery
Inside Kye Monastery
Inside Kye Monastery

Sep 9, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 4 : Kaza - The Heart Of The Spiti Valley

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Sunrise in Kaza, Spiti Valley
Sunrise in Kaza, Spiti Valley
In the morning, we could see the golden sunlight on the mountains on the other side of the Spiti river. Kaza is a small town located 200 km from Manali and 427 km from Shimla via Nako. The district 'Lahaul and Spiti' comprises of two Tehsils - one headquartered at Keylong and the other at Kaza. Keylong also serves as the district headquarter. There are high mountains on both sides of the valley. In the valley, Kaza town is located and the Spiti river flows in the valley. You can find amenities like ATM or petrol pump only in Kaza after Manali in this route. At the petrol pump, we also saw a signboard mentioning that it is the highest petrol pump in the world. I think on this trip we got used to the adjective 'highest.' A peak, a petrol pump, a post office or a village can be the highest in the world or among the highest. Given the proximity of places from here, to visit in Spiti valley Kaza can be made a base camp if a long stay is planned in the valley.

While seeing towards the mountains on the other side of the valley, there was something different from the previous day. It was the snow which was covering the greater part of the mountains than it did on the previous day. Our driver had told us yesterday that if it would rain like this for the whole night, then the temperature would drop and we might have snowfall in the night. I did not know the exact science behind the snowfall, so I believed him thinking that his experience in the hills might enable him to predict correctly. The very next day we got to know that there was snowfall in the night. I thought more about this incident. Very often we consider such things against science and deem them to be trivial and is not based on solid logic. In the Bollywood movie Swades, Shahrukh Khan is working with NASA and tells that his work is concerned with meteorology. Then he is ridiculed by villagers for that as even a layman from the village can tell when will it rain just by seeing the sky.

Now, here we assume that the layman is not a scientist. When we observe closely we can see that he is following the scientific methods unknowingly. The moment we place science as something practiced by highly trained professionals, we lose the essence of science. Any discipline or work which uses the scientific methods to reach a conclusion is a science. It raises a question now - what is the scientific method. I will not go into details of scientific method here, but broadly any work where you think of a hypothesis and then do experiments to verify your hypothesis can be called to be a scientific method. Remember, this is only a broad definition.

A layman predicting the weather is based on the knowledge passed on for many centuries. Observation tells him that a particular pattern of clouds and a combination of temperature and wind causes rain. If this cause-and-effect relationship proves wrong too many times, then this has to be changed. Some other relationship between those environmental factors will take its place after being tested by too many persons for too many years. That is how the science works - the science that we have been taught, the science that takes its form in laboratories. Had it not been a science, there would have been a discussion on whether the observation is right or wrong, but only observation, in this case, is either it rains or not. So if the theory of the layman goes against the observation too many times, he has to change his theory or he has to come with a theory which can explain the anomalies. And, here it can be distinguished from the arts where there is no clearly defined hypothesis to be followed in order to produce a beautiful piece of art.

In the morning, we went to the monastery in Kaza. Compared to other monasteries in the region, it is not very old. It was blessed in 2000 by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In that monastery, we saw few patterns which will be found in all the monasteries in the region and in monasteries beyond the Spiti Valley like one in Dehra Dun. First, the monasteries were very colorful from the outside and inside. Rarely you will find so many colors in the places of worship of other religions. The art in sculpture is seen in the Hindu temples but it is a different matter here with the colors. Well, the Gopurams of Meenakshi Temple in Madurai can be the exception. Second, in these monasteries, a big picture of a religious teacher is kept like of Dalai Lama and is given a place which is reserved for the deities in temples. Hinduism has its own tradition of deifying the religious preachers but that is not as universal as it is found here in these monasteries. There we had a talk with a monk, in their language a Lama. He told us that this monastery belonged to the Sakya sect of the Buddhism. We came to know that there are different sects of Buddhism alive in Spiti valley and they have separate monasteries. Even then, the Dalai Lama is such a towering figure that he is respected by almost all the sects. We waited for the morning prayers in the monastery. It was a sober affair. Three Lamas chanted sacred verses and at fixed intervals they would beat the drums, blow the trumpets and play the cymbals. We were served tea there and I took it as Prasad served in temples, although, I am not sure if monasteries have a tradition of distributing Prasad.
View of Kaza town
View of Kaza town
Lawns of the monastery in Kaza
Lawn of the monastery in Kaza
Inside the monastery in Kaza
Inside the monastery in Kaza

Sep 1, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 3 : From Chandratal to Kaza

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Chandra (Chenab) river near Batal
Chandra (Chenab) river near Batal
Normally, we use words travel and tourism interchangeably. I think there should be a difference between these two. Tourism is just reaching the destinations but travel is more than that. 
 
When we left Batal, we headed towards Chandratal. Chandratal is a small lake – like what you see at Deoria Tal or at Dhankar. The road from Batal to Chandratal is not very good in condition and I think by now in this series of travelogues, it has become a cliché to describe bad conditions of the road. The road was parallel to the Chenab river for a good stretch. Few kilometers before Chandratal we saw camps, where tourists might have spent the night, but the chill that we experienced the last night made us think that it was a wise decision not to go for the camping. It becomes too windy in the valleys there and if you have not come prepared for that, it is better not to be too adventurous. There are treks too for Chandratal from Kunzum Pass but before that one has to get acclimatized to the height.

In the previous posts of this series, I have discussed why do we travel and what is more attractive – the destination or the travel itself. In this post, I want to discuss the difference between travel and tourism. Nowadays, we see a plenty of tourism websites and tour planners. They emphasize too much on the destination part. You can go to this place, then to that place, take a few days of rest and then reach to some viewpoint. What they miss is the experience part. We hardly get to know what we will experience at a certain place. At most, we are shown pictures of a place. There is a subset of tourism – pilgrimage. In pilgrimage, we get satisfied by seeing a temple and its deity. What we forget is that we should also ponder over why that city was chosen as the abode of the deity when thousands of other places were available. Why that place still sees thousands of devotees when there are hundreds of other big and small temple all around the country. I think when we ponder over all these questions, when we take a moment on our trip to be conscious of the surroundings and the effect that they have on us, we become travelers.

The dictionary, the one I referred to, says that meaning of tour is 'a journey for pleasure.' For travel, it says 'a journey with some length.' Although not clearly visible, some distinction can be found between these two meanings. When we associate travel with pleasure, we have a picture in our minds of some viewpoints, a weather, and some monuments. Then we associate a certain type of experiences with these imaginations. We reach the destinations, get those experiences and come back. This is a tour. We have toured a place. In travel, you go beyond all these typical experiences. You go to a place without a predetermined set of expected experiences. You create your experiences as you travel. You take a moment to look at the sunrise and get mesmerized by what you see and when you realize something so beautiful – a phenomenon happening every day but we do not find it like that any other day. You see a stream of water and then wonder that this small stream of water dug a significant portion of that valley. You see a mountain that has been there for millions of years and you have been there only for few hours. When you plot this on a time scale, you look like a tiny dot as compared to the time that has evolved to enable you to undertake this journey. Of course, these are few things that travelers experience. The list is not exhaustive. Far from it. You can count multiple other experiences. The whole point of travel is to experience something which is unique for an individual.

We parked our vehicle few kilometers before Chandratal. It was a small trek to the lake. Recently this lake was included in the lakes of Ramsar convention for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. The way to the lake was a narrow one and we could see a stack of rocks finely balanced. This might be a pastime for travelers as well as it might be a ritual. There was no one around whom we could ask those questions. The lake had colorful flags, something we had seen first at Rohtang La. Little we did know that it would become such a common occurrence throughout our travel in a Buddhist land. Surrounded by high hills from two sides and few meters high rocks on remaining two sides, Chandratal lake had crystal clear water. This place was so quiet. Towards the high hills, you can see snowy mountains and it would look like those snow patterns are the source of water for this lake.

After Chandratal, we continued our journey further. The ascent to Kunzum Pass was steeper than that towards Rohtang Pass. When we reached Kunzum Pass, it was raining. Situated at 4500 meters, Kunzum Pass should provide a good panoramic view of the surroundings but nothing could be seen in the rain. While returning we could not see anything from Kunzum La as it was already dark, but we saw remnants of a day old snow. At Kunzum La, we observed a tradition or ritual performed by drivers. There is a small monastery at Kunzum La. One can cross the Kunzum Pass without going to that monastery but we saw that every driver took a detour and drove around the monastery before moving on.

After Kunzum pass, we entered the Spiti Valley. The Spiti River flew in the direction of our travel. Although opinions might vary on this one, but I will say that the stretch from Kunzum pass to Kaza is the best part of this trip. The valley is wide. You will see mountains on both sides of the road – barren and dark. The river occupies only a small portion of the valley but it seems that the whole valley was occupied by the river at some time of the year or in the past. The terrain of the valley says that. It consisted of small rocks and pebbles and was flat. A typical scene of any riverbed. As it was raining, we could not see too far and hardly anything was visible above those mountains. One might think that all this is a picture and we are invited to be a part of that. As soon as you try to be a part of that, the picture moves. You also move with it. And the journey continues.

Final few kilometers before Kaza were somewhat different in terrain then what has been described above. The river flows deep in a small ravine like structure. The valley is almost flat from one end to another. Small villages are situated here and there. And we can find few stretches where there is a straight road for a significant length. There you stand. With mountains. With small grasses. With chilling winds. Nothing else could be seen. No signs of life. At that moment, it might strike you that you are so small compared to nature.

The view of Kye monastery from the other side of the road is something to be remembered. Again comparing with the movie trilogy – The Lord of the Rings – one can relate with this. When armies of Mordor attack Gondor, a view of Gondor from a distance is shown. Needless to say, that Kye monastery does not look like Gondor, but the view from that distance surely reminds you of a city on a hill. It will seem like a miniature sculpture carefully constructed by a power equipped to do so. By evening, we arrived in Kaza – the heart of the Spiti valley.  
Towards Chandra Tal
Towards Chandra Tal
Chandra Tal
Chandra Tal
Start of the Spiti Valley
Start of the Spiti Valley

Aug 26, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 2 : From Rohtang La to Batal

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Chandra Valley
Chandra Valley
While descending Rohtang La, I was thinking which is better - the journey or the destination. When you travel to a place, a significant portion of your time is consumed in the journey itself. True, we search for beautiful viewpoints and sceneries or places of historical importance but I think that the journey is where we get more experiences and destination is what we remember more. This theory derives from the description of two selves as presented in Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow. More about those two selfs in the sixth part of this series of travel memoirs on Spiti Valley. In the journey, we see all things changing - the river, the roads, vehicles, the landscape and then we can correlate all those things with the life that we live. The equilibrium with the surroundings never sets on while traveling, but at a destination, the ambiance, and your thoughts are in a dynamic equilibrium. Not to take away the credit from a person who sees a landscape and can think something creative on that, while traveling, the mind wanders on too many things induced by the changing terrain.

Henceforth our journey was in a valley where Chandra river, an upper tributary of Chenab river, flowed although Chandra river and we were moving in opposite directions. Till Kunzum Pass, we traveled in Chandra Valley. On a cloudy day, the view from Chandra Valley while looking towards Kunzum Pass was breathtaking. As described in previous part the coming and going of clouds and getting glimpses of sunlight in between was enthralling. Not to frighten someone, but such a weather resembles what was shown as Mordor's weather if you are a fan of 'Lord of the Rings' series. Black clouds hovering over high mountains. There was some construction activity going on that road and because of that many bulldozers and earthmoving machinery was present there. We had to stop many times before that array of heavy equipment could make way for vehicles to move on. When enquired we got to know that they were laying optical fiber cables (OFC) to bring connectivity to one of the remotest regions of the India.

The conditions of roads till Kunzum Pass deserves a mention. While the initial stretch of the road was good, roughly till Chhatru, road after that was very bad. Chhatru is a small village which is situated at almost equal distance from Rohtang La and Batal. Like Chhatru, we came across many such villages in Spiti Valley - small villages housing very small population where life seemed to be almost at a standstill. Saying that would be little preposterous because I said this when I compared this with the life that I am used to living. When seen from the other side we could be seen running day and night without even knowing why are we doing that. After Chhatru, the condition of roads deteriorated so much that we could not see any road for long stretches. There were pebbles all around and few of them were arranged in a less disorderly way which was to be assumed the road. Add to that water streams emanating from a sidehill.

I do not know how to describe Batal. I could not any see any village houses there. There was one small dhaba providing food and stay and there was one government guest house. Apart from that nothing else was there, save few construction workers celebrating a hard day of work with music system powered by a bulldozer. The small dhaba was run by an elderly couple who used to run that dhaba in summers. In winters, they used to move to Manali because Batal would be covered by few feet of snow. They also saved lives of many people who got stuck in heavy snowfall. For this humanitarian work, there were newspaper reports on them and they have posted those reports on the walls inside the dhaba. Called fondly as Chacha and Chachi, they were jolly in nature. Chacha used to respond 'hazaar' (a thousand) when enquired about the price of any item. We stayed in that dhaba that night, but it was too cold and difficult to sleep. There was a plan to camp near Chandratal and we thought that it was a good decision, in the end, not to go for that. Strong winds blowing in a cold weather would have frozen us.

There are two ways to reach Kaza, the center of Spiti valley. One was from Manali via Rohtang La which we had chosen. The other was from Shimla. We met a contractor in Batal and out of curiosity we asked him out of the two roads to reach Kaza, which one was better. He said definitely one from Shimla because that road is better kept than the one we were traveling. The terrain that we saw from our journey Chhatru onwards was getting familiar as we moved on. There were high mountains on both sides of the valley with a steep slope. You could not see a tree or a bird flying casually. Even villages were not that frequently sighted. This was a reason why Spiti valley is called a cold desert.
Chhatru Village en route to Batal
Chhatru Village en route to Batal
Condition of the Road to Kaza
Condition of Road to Kaza

Aug 19, 2016

A Trip To Spiti Valley, Part - 1 : From Manali To Rohtang La

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Way to Rohtang La
Way to Rohtang La

Whenever I remember the mighty Himalayas, many pictures dance in front of my eyes, like they do in front of Sherlock Holmes when he makes mind castles. Pictures which were part of memories, but slowly became part of my life so much so that whenever there is any discussion of travel, a story or two of Himalayas come inadvertently. I cannot help it. Those pictures tell us the story of the men meeting the mountain. Those pictures show how mighty turbulent rivers get transformed from a small stream of water. Those pictures show us the resolve of tall mountains which are thousands of years old but still young when the timeline of mountain formation is considered. Those pictures which we were able to bring with us also remind us that we have also left too many things there. And we might have to make many more trips to try and bring them back. Those pictures in which you will not find any sign of life but you will realize at once that it was full of life in its own way. I am not talking about the pictures that I have taken with a camera but ones that have been deeply entrenched in my memory. 

My trip to Spiti valley begun from Manali, a popular hill station which was not that popular few decades ago. Then militancy in Kashmir led to a major drop in the number of tourists in Kashmir Valley. Once a sleepy little village, Manali transformed into a major tourists attraction. I have to admit that this transformation has taken a toll on the beauty and tranquility of Manali. The streets of the Manali were so crowded that it never looked like that we are in a Himalayan town located far from the hustle of a big town in Gangetic plains few hundred kilometers away. Well, Manali is also like a base camp. Trips to Spiti Valley, Leh, and many other popular tourist destinations start from here. Mall Road in Manali was small but still very crowded. We hired a taxi in Manali for Spiti Valley. We were warned in advance of the dangerous roads and low temperatures. Also, being inexperienced we did not decide in favor of a bike trip to Spiti valley. And thus began our trip to Spiti Valley.

I have wondered many times that why do we travel. Those who travel frequently, why do they do that? One reason can be that getting away from daily routine is always refreshing. Do the same thing again and again, and one day we think why are we repeating it so many times. Then we try to escape to where we can forget what we have been doing. The second reason can be the curiosity and an eagerness to talk to new people, to explore previously unexplored areas (unexplored not necessarily by the humankind but by the person himself/herself) and to know more about oneself. This purpose of traveling closely resembles the purpose of reading books - to know more. In its purest form, the purpose of knowledge should be to become enlightened, to be in a state of bliss and to be awakened. The purpose of knowledge should not be to win debates, to show off or to dominate the discussions.

The distance between Manali and Rohtang Pass is about 45km. Rohtang Pass was very crowded that day and we got to know from the driver that during the season (mostly summers), it is like that only. There were many small waterfalls on the way to Manali and we could see vehicles parked near them. I was thinking that the tour plans sold by the tour operators for these waterfalls are making tourists myopic. They do not know what lies beyond Rohtang Pass and with a tendency to settle down for these tour packages they will never know. At Rohtang Pass, we saw tourists in full snowfall gear. They must have been convinced that it will be extreme cold at the Rohtang pass. In the language of the Ladakh region, Rohtang means the pile of corpses which is a reference to frequent deaths caused by the unpredictable weather at the pass. Our driver told us that frequent landslides happen on the road to the pass. Once he was stuck there for a week. He used to climb down the hills to go for food and then come back again to the vehicle.

At Rohtang Pass, it was all cloudy. There were beautiful colorful flags with which we encountered at almost any place of significance during our journey to Spiti Valley. This is a Buddhist tradition. Legend has it that these flags were used in battles with the prayers of Gautama Buddha written over it. From Rohtang Pass, we could observe the changing views because of clouds coming and going. Normal process was like this - there would be a valley which would be dark and then slowly it would become silver in color. Then that valley would seem like a source of light for the area. While descending from the Rohtang Pass, we reached Gramphu where there is a diversion - one road goes to Leh and another goes to Spiti Valley. This time, we chose the one less traveled by - the road to Spiti Valley.

View from Rohtang La
View from Rohtang La
Prayer Flags at Rohtang Pass
Prayer Flags at Rohtang Pass

Feb 1, 2015

Kaddukhal and Kanatal : A Jungle Safari to Remember

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Nearly 8 kilometers away from Dhanolti, lies the Surkanda Devi Temple on the top of a peak. Nearest point till one can get conveyance is Kaddukhal. Buses and Taxis are available from Chamba and Dhanolti to Kaddukhal. From Kaddukhal there is a steep trek of about two kilometers to reach Surkanda Devi temple. Seeing the horses which some people use to climb the hill made me remember a road in Kufri near Shimla that was so dirty because of these horses. To my surprise, the way to the Surkanda Devi temple was not full of horses and it was very clean.

Surkanda Devi Temple from Kaddukhal

Seeing the Temple from the gate makes the climb difficult. It looked like it was situated very high and very far. This can give you mixed feelings, first, of a task that is very difficult and second, of a challenge to achieve something that is very difficult. With those feelings, we started the climb. We would stop at many points to see the beautiful surroundings and also the road to Dhanolti where moving vehicles looked so small. Kaddukhal was a very small settlement as looked from the steps. Beyond those shops which give you items of worship there were few step farms. As with the human thinking of "The grass is greener on the other side", I wanted to be on those step farms which looked like they were so carefully constructed with few trees here and there. But before that, I had to complete the trek to the temple. 

View of Kaddukhal en route to Surkanda Devi Temple

With the lifestyle that we live of a sedentary worker, this climb was difficult and we had to rest few times. There were good arrangements for that and this also provided an opportunity to stop and look around and capture the shots. Seeing from there the clouds which were touching the other shorter peaks were looking as if they were originating from those peaks. Deep down between the two peaks we could spot few houses. In the next moment, clouds would block the view. That day the weather was so pleasant due to the presence of these clouds that we reached the temple in less than one hour without too much effort.

The legend behind Surkanda Devi temple is that while Lord Shiva was carrying the dead body of Sati after she jumped into the fire, her head fell at this place. That is why it was named Sarkanda which changed to Surkanda Devi with the passage of time. This was a small temple where an annual fair is held. We were thinking that how difficult it would be to reach the temple when snowfall begins and also how fabulous would it be to look, from the temple peak, 360 degree around covered in snow. We got to know from a board that we could see cities of Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Roorkee from there, but we could not do that because of thick clouds. 

Clouds and beyond, from Surkanda Devi Temple

While exploring the area nearby we went outside the temple from the other gate directed towards Chamba. This place was not crowded by pilgrims and tourists and we spent some time there playing hide and seek with clouds. We were standing on a peak and the valleys should have looked very deep from there but we could not see that because of ever-present black clouds. Sometimes sunrays appeared at the distant end like silver linings. 

Invitation to Kaudia Park

From Surkanda Devi temple we went to Kanatal, approximately 10 kilometers from there. On the internet, it was one of the famous destinations near Chamba, but there was not much to do apart from a jungle safari. This place must have been popularized by the Club Mahindra resort situated just outside the gates of Eco Park, Kaudia Range. We started our jungle trip after taking passes. It was a jungle trek of around 8 km to the hilly village of Kaudia. Initial stretch was covered with tall Deodar trees but as we went deeper into the jungle those long trees disappeared gradually and were replaced by the trees of all shapes and size. We were very hopeful of seeing snowy peaks from the jungle as suggested by the local people but could not get that too because of clouds. 

Deep inside Eco Park, Kaudia

Now deep into the jungle, going up and down with sometimes barely a foot-wide path, meeting small water streams, we kept on moving towards Kaudia. We could not meet any person, no wildlife creature could be spotted except occasional chirruping of the birds. There we thought that we should at least had a small knife or a torch for our safety. Moving on we saw trees with strange shapes, leaves with interesting colors. There came a moment when it was so dark that in photographs only outline of a person could be recognized. We estimated the time it would take us to reach Kaudia and then come back to the main road and that did not allow us to complete the trek. We abandoned the jungle safari midway and left for the Haridwar via Chamba. 

Dec 20, 2014

Dhanolti : The Clouds and the Valley

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I got to know in Dhanolti that what impact weather can have on the characteristics of a place. I visited Dhanolti twice and each time I experienced a whole new Dhanolti, so different that it was difficult to believe that it was the same place which I visited few years back. That is the beauty of Himalayas. The presence of clouds and rains will completely change the ambience of a place, so different from one experienced during sunny days. While going to the Himalayas one always wants to have cloudy weather as they take shelter from the scorching heat of great Indian summer and in winter one always wants to have snowfall when they visit the Himalayas. Having said that one has to be very lucky also to get what he has expected. 

Beyond the Echo Park, Dhanolti
Dhanolti is well connected and there are two routes to reach Dhanolti: one is via Mussoorie and other is via Chamba. Both are in good condition and which one you choose in the end depends on your other plans too. Dhanolti is not as popular as Mussoorie or Shimla, so you will not get too many high-end hotels. I always look for the guest houses of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Limited (GMVNL) first, while in Uttarakhand, because they provide good rooms at reasonable prices. But as they provide advanced booking too, many times they get filled up early for weekend stays. I follow the first principle of travelling that never plan too much while travelling, it makes travel less enjoyable and staying to that principle we reached to Dhanolti to find GMVNL rooms all booked. We took one room in one of the hotels which provided a nice view of a hill slope. 

The setting of a horror movie, Dhanolti

When I first visited Dhanolti, it was all sunny wth no sign of clouds and sky all blue. Even the moon was visible on that day. We went to the Eco park in Dhanolti. There were several rides for the kids and some of us could not stop themselves and took few of them. I still remember that under a square hut we played 'Kona-Kona' in which four people occupy corners of a square, swap the corners intermittently and the fifth person tries to snatch one corner while they interchange ('Kona' means corner). Then we took stairs to go up and to our surprise it was all open, like the hills as you see on the other side of the valley while moving on a hilly road. I was so close to the top a hill for the first time.

There was no sign of any settlement as far as we could see leaving few houses on the slope of hills. There was valley downwards and terrace farms chased the valley to the very bottom. We tried to go down in the valley but gradually, the size of the steps became larger and thorny bushes started piercing us. So we abandoned that plan. Seeing towards the opposite of the valley, that hill looked like a giant stone placed there deliberately.

Stairway to nowhere

When I visited Dhanolti for the second time, the memories of the first trip were still fresh in my mind. I expected to have the same view of the hill opposite the valley in Eco Park. When I reached Dhanolti it was all cloudy with clouds passing very close to us. I was thinking is it the same place that I visited few years back. The Eco Park now had beautiful flowers and these flowers sometimes confuse you that how a plant can have two different type of flowers. May be they are at different stages of the same flower, we just wondered. This time, all those high trees were waving with clouds and whole placed had a misty look, something which you find in horror movies. Looking upwards trees looked like embracing each other in the darkness provided by clouds. 

Between Chamba and Dhanolti
When we reached the point from where the valley was visible it was a completely different scene. Leave about seeing the hills on opposite side of valley one could not see thirty feet away. I sat there and tried to ponder over something, but it was so chilling that I could not focus on anything. Normally when I go to hill stations I don't keep warm clothes as I never felt that it was really required, but this time, a got to know that one should have some arrangement as weather may take a whole new turn. Behind that point, there was a place to sit and have candid discussions. That place also had few small elevated stages for Yoga. It was one of the best places to meditate and I must admit that this place must help in concentrating while doing Yoga.

From Echo Park, Dhanolti

We continued our journey upwards. The narrow walkway was now like one shown in movies: one could not see too far, stairs with gentle slope surrounded by trees and over that every now and then mist will come in front of you from sideways. We reached the end of the Eco Park and there was a gate there which was, fortunately, open. We trespassed and were now inside farm fields. And here it felt like paradise. We were literally on top of the nearby places and we were surrounded only by clouds. It was time to click few pictures but it was beyond the capacity of any camera to capture those moments, those clouds and the sheer bliss which one feels in such a settings. Even wild flowers there were so happy that they refused to come to a standstill so that we can have a picture with them. There were few houses in fields and we thought that such a house was all that we wanted then.

Never before I experienced such bliss apart from the first experience of snowfall in Deoria Tal. We could not stay there too long as we were shivering and the temperature was dropping further. We had to descend. The small town of Dhanolti sleeps early and there is not much which you can do apart from taking a walk on empty streets. Who knows few walks can easily become a walk to remember. Next day we left for Surkanda Devi temple in Kaddukhal but I will always miss such a weather in my trips to any hill station. 

Aug 11, 2014

Kasol : mini Israel in India

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From Barot, we went to Kasol, another small town of Himachal Pradesh situated in the Parvati valley. From Ghatasani, we boarded a bus to Bhuntar via Mandi. We came through a tunnel in Aut, which is situated little before Bhuntar. These engineering marvels always fascinate me. Bhuntar has a small airport with few flights to Chandigarh and Delhi, mostly catering to the tourists arriving for Kullu and Manali. Kullu is just 5 km away from Bhuntar. I bought, at last, the traditional Kullu topi in Bhuntar as a souvenir of this trip. In Bhuntar, Parvati river meets Beas river and they continue their journey as Beas river. One could easily distinguish two rivers at their 'Sangam', one was rich in silt and other was cleaner and greener. 
Sangam of Parvati and Beas rivers
Sangam of Parvati and Beas rivers

We boarded a bus from Bhuntar to Manikaran. Manikaran is 34 km away from Bhuntar. Kasol is 3 km before Manikaran. Manikaran is a famous pilgrimage destination and we saw many pilgrims flocking to Manikaran having orange and yellow flags on their vehicles. Manikaran has a famous Gurudwara, Manikaran Sahib, a temple and a hot water spring. 
Parvati river in Kasol
Parvati river in Kasol

The journey from Bhuntar to Kasol was the most pleasant one in our journey so far. We were on a bus with the mighty Parvati river flowing in the valley, lightly raining, cool air blowing and with mind lost somewhere. Not to forget the dangerous roads. On our way to Kasol, we saw baskets moving on wires from one hill to another on the other side of the valley. This motorised apparatus was installed to transport materials to inaccessible villages. 
Road to Manikaran
Road to Manikaran 

We reached Kasol in the evening and after searching for hotel rooms, we settled for one cottage on a hill slope, little secluded from the main market of Kasol. We then went near Parvati river. The roar of running water was splendid and so were the rapids formed by rocks. On one side was Parvati river and on the other side was a jungle of chir trees. It was a beautiful setting. From Kasol, we could see snow capped peaks in distance shining because of the reflection of the red sun. 
Snow capped mountains towards Manikaran
Snow capped mountains towards Manikaran

We continued our journey along the banks of Parvati river on the road to Manikaran. There we came across a small bridge on Parvati river meant for a small village on the other side. While crossing this bridge, it started vibrating which frightened us, more so in the backdrop of the river colliding with rocks and increasing turbulence. 
in Kasol
in Kasol

It was already dark and we started to return towards the market area of Kasol. This small village was particularly famous among Israeli tourists. We saw many of them. In fact, one of the shopkeepers told us they have been living here for months and are hundreds in number. Many of them are living in villages on the outskirts of the Kasol. The importance of Israeli tourists can be understood by many signboards which were in Hebrew. One of the signboards described Kasol as Chabad of Israel. Even restaurants served Israeli cuisine.