“Dharamshala” A Travelogue........
When we were planning our next
holiday, it had to be Dharamshala, the Mecca for the Buddhists where The Dalai
Lama resides.
We quickly chalked out a 3 day
trip to Dharamshala, McLeodganj and Naddi via Chandigarh, we packed our bags
and headed towards our destination and
decided to spend our Diwali away from
the maddening crowd.
Day 1 – We started on a Saturday, took the Shatabdi
to Chandigarh . We spent the entire day in local sightseeing. Chandigarh’s
famous Rockgarden and Sukhna Lake and a short trip around the different sectors
in Chandigarh. It is a lovely city indeed, very planned and organized and people are very disciplined. Surprisinly I did not find the food very interesting . We managed to have food in Sector 22, Kalimirch Chicken with
assorted naan and paranthas. We took a quick round
in the local market relishing candy floss. The shops were all looking so
colourful, all stocked for Diwali. There were buyers stacked with money
shopping for the most grand festival of the year. The entire town was bustling
with happy faces all gearing up for the festival of lights. We then started our
drive towards our cottage that was booked at Naddi further uphill from Mc
Leodganj.
It was a 5 hour journey from Chandigarh to
Dharamshala with beautiful landscapes that constantly accompanied us through
out our drive. The mountains itseems were never ending, we were continuously
climbing up as if we were about to reach heaven……I felt like capturing every moment in my camera, nature’s
myriad colours. It was quite late by the time we reached Dharamshala, we lost our way enroute the cottage and it was pitch dark all around, not
a single person to be seen neither a sign board or a milestone which read
Naddi…..my mobile battery had already drained out and Anindya’s cell was
blinking it’s last few seconds of battery life. We were trying to get in touch
with our hostess at the cottage , but
every time the call connected the battery conked off. We could only see the
stars above us and the headlight of the car that we had parked on the narrow serpentine road
in the mountains. We went a little further ahead insearch of a shop, a human being, little light, but it
was of no use. We had almost decided to
spend the night in our car when Anindya decided to try to awaken his technical
skills. He took out the battery from his
mobile and rubbed it against his sleeves to charge the lithium battery and then
tried calling up the Cottage. Fortunately the call went through and our hostess
from Udechee Huts helped us with
directions . We were happily traversing the mountain range onceagain and at last reached
our destination. Around midnight we found the owner of the cottage with a battalion
of dogs waiting for us at the entrance. There was no dinner for us, so we
checked in to our cottage which was in a remote location crossing the garden, at
the other end of the property. I had
after thoughts of shifting to some other hotel at a prominent place as the
surrounding was too spooky for one to spend even a single night. A small cottage enveloped
by darkness everywhere….The stars above the sky gave a ray of hope, we bravely checked in and hit the bed and were
fast asleep.
Day 2 – Day 1 was very hectic, thus we decided to
chillout the next day and woke up late only to find that we were surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides. i drew the curtain to find the snow capped Dhauladhar range, i had a mysterious smile on my face... I was so thrilled
for last night’s decision of staying back in this cottage, I was sure one could
have had the best view of the ranges from here. The Dhauladhar changed colours
every hour with the sun rays reflecting on the snow capped mountains. It
changed from a pristine white to a shimmery silver to a glittery golden…….Our
cottage was at the end of the valley as if hanging from a cliff. There was a
beautiful manicured garden with the most colourful flowers I had ever seen. We could not resist
ourselves , thus got ready for the day in a jiffy, grabbed a quick breakfast in the dining
Hall overlooking the beautiful orchid garden on
one side and valley on the other side. We packed our rucksacks and made our way to conquer the mountains.
We started with the Dal Lake, which was
surrounded by monks in saffron robes sitting on yellow coloured wooden benches all
around the lake trying to absorb the
beauty of nature. We devoured some steaming hot mutton momos and
made our way to TCV, Tibetan Childen’s Village. TCV is very close the Dalai
Lama’s heart, it seems The Dalai Lama had visited TCV just the day before, it was all
decked up with colourful strips of clothes, ballons and paintings on the road. The place
was bubbling with energy as cute little kids were all over the place, water
rolling from their eyes, nose and mouth. They were all smiling back at us every
time we chuckled their red, apple cheeks. With eyes as tiny as a pea shining brightly,
satin like hair , fair skin pink nose , red lips and an innocent smile,
they all looked like God’s own children in the valley…
After a stroll at the TCV, we headed towards
The Dalai Lama’s Temple at Mc.Leodganj. The main Shrine had 3 huge deities and
many small and medium sized bronze figurines inside the glass cubicles. Dalai lama
is being prayed like a deity in this part of the world. The time was right, the weather pleasant
and the mood just perfect, thus we settled inside the shrine against a huge pillar and meditated for a while for peace and
serenity for one and all. We came out of the shrine and the touched the holy prayer wheels which had prayers written in ancient Tibetan
scripts. Monks from various places worldwide were paying their visit and were
all over the Temple premises. They were all dressed in saffron robes, with
beads in their hands, heads shaven, walking
slowly towards the shrine. They all
looked so happy and peaceful, itseems
they have found their ultimate source of happiness and mission in life. Overlooking the temple is
Dalai Lama’s residence, a modest two
storied house with a garden and a tiny letter box and an instruction board at
the entrance gate.
It started raining heavily all of a
sudden and we got stranded in the temple premise. Thus we utilized the time by
exploring the museum next to the Dalai Lama’s Temple. The Museum was speaking aloud about the tumultous struggle that the Tibetans
are going through, to free their
motherland from the Chinese. It showcased how the Chinese invaded Tibet, the
peace loving country and devasted the beauty and innocence of the land. How the
Chinese tormented and destroyed the country which was so rich in Culture & spirituality. My heart pains every time I see the Tibetans struggling
peacefully to free their homeland from the invaders . Even after so much
destruction over so many years, the Tibetan refugees of Dharamshala are trying
to keep their rich cultural heritage alive through intricate handicrafts,
performing arts and spirituality. They all want to go back to their homeland
which they left several years ago and do not want to be called as refugees any
more. I agree they can no more be called
as refugees as they are a part of India which is their home for so many years.
By the time the skyline was clear and the
rain god happy with the shower, we were quite hungry, thus we headed to pacify
our gastronomy. Jimmy’s Corner is said to be quite a popular bakery cum eatery in Mc.
Leodganj, thus we gave it a try. They serve the best Italian gourmet. The place
greeted us with freshly baked muffins. It had a cozy ambience, it has a mini library, a dias for live
concerts, knick knacks like T-shirts and
coffee mugs which had, “Free Tibet” message on them, an open kitchen and a very
lively and a colourful staff. The walls were adorned with old Hollywood classic posters. We ordered for a Pizza, Stuffed Potatoes with Chicken, soup and a sinful dark
chocolate cake with dollops of vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce.
After a sumptuous lunch we walked down the
local flee market. There was so much to buy……..no wonder why there were so many
tourists especially foreigners in the lanes and by lanes all busy shopping, Masks, colourful
zardozi bags, Herbal Agarbatti, spices, brass and copper statues, semi
precious stones , beads jewellery , junk silver, woollens, Retro outfits, curios
and many more……
After stacking our sacks with goodies, our
driver recommended us that we visit TIPA, Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.
We found young girls and boys rehearsing their piece. Playing instruments,
dancing and singing for an International performance. They were so agile, it
looked like a Tibetan folklore in the form of a ballet . We chatted with a friendly
old lady selling paintings of Tibetan
Gods and Goddesses from an outlet within TIPA. I picked up a few paintings from her. She
offered us some yellowish liquid in a glass which was herbal tea and is of high
medicinal value. She was narrating how she fled her homeland as a young lady
with her family in a day’s notice leaving all their belongings back home. She
walked all the way from Tibet to Dharamshala traversing the mountains, the rough weather with her two
little hungry kids . Now that she has become old, she is desperate to go back
to her motherland. She is longing to see her house where she came as a young
bride but had to abandon her home. I just wish from the core of heart that Tibet
becomes a free country very soon and may every Tibetan go back to their home fearless and stay
happily everafter. We also found a group of women tailoring colourful traditional
Tibetan dresses for the students of TIPA who perform globally and spread the
message of peace. TIPA also has an auditorium for screening their inhouse
performances.
After an emotional trip to TIPA we reached
Bhagsunath. It is famous for the Bhagsunath temple and the water falls. By the
time we reached it was quite dark, so we just heard the sound of water gushing
from various sides filling the water
tank inside the temple premises. We ended the day by having a cup of hot
cappuccino at a hill top coffee house, it
was placed atop a hill. The place was very dimly lit and had tourists from every corner of the world. We could see the beautiful nightscape of Dharamshala. After relishing our cuppa we headed
towards a pub to check out the night life in Dharamshala. We were quite
surprised to find that the nightlife here can give any metro a run for their
money. We had a quiet dinner amidst the 70’s music playing in the background
and then decided to call it a hurricane day. We climbed uphill, crossed the Cantonment Area
amidst the dark pine trees, the never ending gaut roads ultimately took us to
our HUT. Dharamshala has the perfect combination of a spiritual destination, shopping,
adventure sports, night life and scenic
beauty.
Day 3 – I woke up the next day to find the huge
snow capped Dhauladhar range embracing us once again. I had done a lot of homework before we booked
our cottage, it was very strategically placed
amidst the valleys and the mountains in that location which gave the best scenic view. It was an isolated resort in the
valley with all the scenic beauties that was still virgin and not explored
which formed the landscape aroud, backed with modern amenities and luxury as
soon as you enter the room. We started
the day with a lazy brunch and kept staring at
the mountains for hours together, watched it changing colours from White, to Silver,
to Yellow and then Golden. The
shepherds with their cattle made a good view of the valley suddenly turning from green to patchy white from a distance. There were tiny water falls all along the mountain range.
Little children playing on the streets,
women gathering wood from the forest, a group of men huddled together to plan for the evening as it was Diwali. In the
evening we went to the Chamunda temple and the day coincided with Kali Puja, so
we offered puja to the goddess as Anindya was born on the auspicious day of
Kali Puja. The head priest was offering
arati while the other priests chanted vedic shloks . Enroute we also saw Chinmayananda Mission and The Vidhansabha, but
the attraction for the day was Norbulingka, which was created by the Tibetans
in Dharamshala, it houses a Doll Museum , a Pagoda, a section selling Tibetan
handicrafts a guest house for the
tourists and many more sections to showcase the Tibetan talent. While returning
back to Naddi, we bought a lot of crackers and candles from the local market.
As soon as we reached our hut we covered
ourselves with layers of woolens as by then it was freezing cold outside. We
decorated the interioir and exterioir of our hut with colourful lights, candles,
diyas and flowers. The diyas and the tiny colourful bulbs illuminated the
virgin mountains. The colourful light from our crackers were looking
magnificient with the dark Dhauladhar in the backgrounds , as if the Dhauladhar
was quietly enjoying the festival of lights with us. We were the only one’s
lighting crackers amidst the mountains there. It was a scenic beauty which I
would remember for years to come.
Day 4 – This was our last day of our trip and we
spent most of our time reminiscing the past 3 days of our trip glaring at the
mountain range. One could stare at the Dhauladhar for hours together without getting
bored or tired, that is the beauty of the mountains. Looking at the mountains I
determined to spend my post retirement life in Dharmshala in a tiny cottage amidst the valley. I
promised the mountains to return back again and enjoy their company. We packed
our bags and returned back to Chandigarh and spent the 2nd
day of Diwali with one of our close friends. We once again lit a lot of crackers, though this time the experience
was a little different as we were back in a city celebrating Diwali with
hundred other people amidst the concrete jungles. We had a sumptuous, home cooked dinner and
then we marched towards Chandigarh railway station to board our train to Delhi…….back
to the humdrum of a fast life, where everyone is running, everyone is busy,
nobody has the time to spend an idle moment watching the sunset or watching
little children play………..
