Monsoon Magic in Mandu (India Immemorial, November 2009)

Click here to go to the link. Pages 37, 38, 39.

A Stopover at the Border: Amritsar (The Hindu, March 18, 2006)

Click here to go to the link.

Look, no plastic! - Himachal Pradesh

A little after Mohali, the cabbie asked if Joginder Nagar was the name of the person or the place!! :)

JOGINDER NAGAR at the altitude of 3,300 feet in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh commands a spectacular view of the majestic Dhauladhar (literally, White Mountains) range of the Himalayas.

Dhauladhar, the white mountains. 

In 1925, Raja Joginder Sen and Col. B. C. Batty planned a hydel power scheme and a narrow-gauge railway track was laid from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar (1,220 m) to carry the heavy machinery transported from Britain. A Haulage-way system was laid from the site of Shanan Power House to Barot, where the reservoir was constructed on Uhl river. After tunneling and piping the water over several kilometers from the river Uhl to Joginder Nagar, the Shanan Power House (110 MW) was built by a team of engineers headed by Colonel Batty. Shanan Power House was the only hydroelectric project in northern India which fed undivided Punjab and Delhi. The vision of the hydel project scheme was to construct five power stations using the same water that is drawn from the Uhl river but the plan could not be executed following the death of Colonel Batty.(WIKI)

It took us 15 hours by road to traverse through 3 states and reach JN from Delhi – via Zilmil Parathas of Karnal; Krishna the charioteer at the gates of Kurukshetra; peach-laden carts of Ropar; the hospitable people of Mohali - to this lovely house of our gracious hosts in JN. (Below) View from the house and the hotel.

The plan was to take the haulage trolley from JN to Barot - to Winch Camp then trek 4 km to Head Gear - some steep, some level and roughly a downhill trek to Barot – in all a 16 km walk. I chickened out! I wanted to breath in the beauty of the mountains and not pant it out :) Being Sunday, the haulage trolley wasn’t working and we decided to spend the day visiting people. First to Lad Bharol - such a sweet name but didn't prepare us for the sweetness that was to come...

 

And then to Sindhol. (Below) A steep walk down to the river Beas. A boat to cross the river and a rough ride to the village of Sindhol.

(Above) The river Beas. The ride to Sindhol was through villages so small and sparse that the signboards read: Population: 21(!)


(Below) Our wonderful hosts at Sindhol who welcomed us with beautiful food, beds to relax, gardens to roam, mango trees to pluck fruit from, a cow to pat and warm hugs to last a lifetime.

 

These wonderful women gave us beautiful rainbow bangles and loads of love. (Below) The house of this wonderful family. From here we drove to Palampur to visit relatives. It was a wonderful ride with the Beas running along a long way with us first a gold streak, then a band, a strand, and...

 

Day 2: The trek: Traveled from Joginder Nagar to Jhatingiri -20km by car. Then took the path up - Jhatingiri to Phooladhar - 4 km to reach the height of 9000 ft.

Our guide-porter-cook, Ravan. I persisted and he told. Imagine calling Robin Singh, Ravan!! The dude was a charmer. Here, he climbed this tree right at the edge of a great fall as we looked on with bated breath to get me these flowers that I wore in my hair :)

(Below) View from half way up!

Fellow trekkers? nah...the wonderful women each carrying more than 10 kg of rations up there where they live. Later they invited us to their homes and gifted us bags of elephant garlic and dried Brah (the flower Robin got) Edible, the flower is a key ingredient (with loads of garlic, yum-yum) in their delectable chutney.

(Below) Potato farms on the way and a potato farmer’s stone house. Curiosity gets the better of the children.

Tops! – Phooladhar – Mountain of Flowers!  The flowers come a little later, after the rain. Some of the party. Needed some rest here. Then the climb down.

Drove down into the valley - Jhatingiri to Barot - 20 km. Reaching Barot evening. Roamed the area around the town - the reservoir, walnut and apple trees, a weeping willow and these wild flowers!

The campsite with the river Uhl flowing by. Lovely! the weather was cool (cold for us bangloreans and our sweaters, jackets, mufflers and my cap were out immediately :) )

(Above) Waiting for tea and the special treat. The moon's up early and the tummies are growling.

Here the much awaited maggi! on Anando's recco that maggi tastes even more (possible? yeah!!) wonderful in a camp!

 

 

In spite of the cold, the river was so tempting that we were soon into the chilled waters. This bravado won us a hot meal of dal-chawal and aloo-gobi – the yummiest ever – cooked and served by Mr Robin Hood. And then it was time for a bonfire and a warm tuck zzzzzzzzzzz...

Day 3: The morning cuppa in wondrous sunshine! loved, loved, loved!

 

Crisp morning, crisper aloo parathas and we were ready for the onward journey…. Goodbye Robin...

 

And more goodbyes back in JN to our gracious hosts Dr Singhla and his sweet wife, Dr Aruna who are also the owners of the camping resort - Trekkers' Nest at Barot and Trekkers' Nest Hotel in Joginder Nagar. 

For more details: http://www.himachaltrekinfo.com/

 

Onwards to Dharamshala. Stopped for darshan of Chamunda Devi in the Kangra Valley and reached Dharamshala evening. (below) view of Dharamshala from our room. That's the brand new cricket stadium which hosted the T20. 

McLeodganj is a suburb of Dharamshala and the headquarters of the Tibiten govt-in-exile, the seat of the Dalai Lama. We drove down to Mcleodganj soon after checking in. The main street leading to the  road to the Dalai Lama's temple has this beautiful monastery and compulsive shoppers like me are in danger of going totally berserk!

(above) Inside the temple. (below) View of McLeodganj from the Dalai Lama's temple.

 

Day 4: A darshan of Jwala Devi in the Kangra Valley. The temple has permanently burning flames. It is believed that Emperor Akbar paid yearly visits to the Jwalaji Temple after he became impressed with the holy flames that kept burning even after he had put a massive chatra or canopy over it to extinguish it. The silver canopy is on display here. 

And it was time to bid goodbye to the Devbhoomi - land of gods - where we saw god in the eyes of every person we met. 

 

Himachal Pradsesh has a ban on polybags and polythene - strictly implemented. All you polybags-loving folks, get ready to buy fruit in newspaper! i know who's cringing :))

MA - L - PE

...the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land
Listen!

(Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold)

 

Shadows under the eyes, bone tired and needing a rest, that’s what a MA –L–PE holiday can do to you. All because of its quaint loveliness that wants you to waste no time resting or sleeping or being away from the beach. Especially if all you can see from your hotel room is the beach and the sea beyond.

Soul soothing sound of waves, the sound of eternality, the eternal note of continuity. It makes one want to believe in the certainty of life and at its deceptive consistency all at once.  

450 km from Bangalore, 60 km from Mangalore, 7 km from Udupi, is the small beach town of Malpe. We followed this oil tanker for much of the route - through verdant Sakleshpur and the ghats leading to Mangalore.

This picturesque drive is so suffused with greenery that the chance waterfalls that you hear before you see, still surprise. The falls on one side and the pebbly stream running along on the other go a long way in keeping the spirits intact even as the bones crunch on the terrifyingly potty road (nah, no Pa effect this, just borrowed from a friend). But this is true only on a good day for the mindless quarrying has everything covered in dust. We were fortunate to catch the beauty on the way back thanks to the rain. 

 

There is only one property – Paradise Isle – well intentioned - clean rooms, obliging staff, okay food but poorly managed. They can’t handle the pressure of the ‘season’. With no clear check-in/out policy, they cannot help people overstaying. We were witness to some drama there and in the restaurants too for lack of place or food being late or cold or something… Avoid weekends, especially long, Christmas, NY ones. On these, the place has people waiting in the lobby like at a fast food place. Waiting for someone to check out!

Weekend, day time, this is a very crowded beach. Best to stay away. Spend that time exploring the little town and the nearby Udupi. But early mornings and late nights is the time to be on this beach. We walked the shoreline till midnight and were back before sunrise to have the beach all to us!

St Mary's island from a distance.

Other things to do here are to take speed boat rides and visit the St Mary’s Island. Neither of which we did. First for the fear of vertigo and second for the fear of vertigo in the blazing sun!

UDUPI

The Sri Krishna Math in Udupi is seven kilometer away from Malpe beach. One of the holiest places for pilgrimage in southern India, the Shri Krishna Math was founded in the 13^th century by Shri Madhvacharya, the founder of the Dvaita school of Vedanta.

The interesting legend here is about the 16^th century ardent devotee of Krishna, Kanakadasa who was not allowed into the temple because of his low caste but Krishna pleased by his devotion, turned to face a hole at the back of the temple wall from where Kanakdasa could see him. This window known as Kanakana Kindi can be seen today.

Early mornings and late evenings are a good time to visit the temple as the queues get too long during the day and there are no ‘paid’ darshans to help you skip the queue. Finally, a temple where all are equal before God.

Firewood stored in the shape of a rath.

  Madhwa Pushkarani/sarovar

While we roamed the streets, a festive spirit suddenly seemed to take over and before we knew there were dancers in colorful costumes and in oversized masks that took over the street from both sides. On asking some students, we came to know that a month long celebration was on as a navratan chariot had been gifted to the math.

The Karaga Kolata started with what looked like dandiya – with the sticks and had many bhangra steps too!

Then the majestic rath came in a large procession.

 
We were told to eat at Maitri Samaj. Only, we had no clue there were so many. Did peep in at a couple but chickened out :D

Below, some shots from the moving car on the way back.