Himachal :Dharamshala and Mcleodganj

TYPICAL BUDDHIST ARCHTECHTURE











PRAYER FLAGS :WINDS REACH THE BLESSINGS TO AS FAR AWAY

INSIDE THE TEMPLE

Tibetans have a strong connection with highlands and their music also reflects the msuic of the elements of highlands. Wlaking along the streets of Mcleodganj you observe tibetans all around you. Momo Shops C D shops garment shops memorabilia shops. But the air is different around you -its the divineness that is magnified by spiritual chants of Om Mane Padme Hum being played at many C D shops. Visit the Monastery visit the temple sit at a restaurant enjoy tibetan momos and some beer.
The one thing that puts Tibetans apart from others humans is their self belief . A resistance that has persisted itself in the most non violent form cant be crushed so easily. So cant be their spirits be put down.
Come down to the valley and you are in lower dharamshala enjoying the market and a picturesque valley view. Dharamshala will be known in history for two things : India 's tradition of welcoming guests like Gods and the Tibetans tradition of will to fight all odds and contribute to their society. No wonder the place is called Dharamshala : The Religious House.

Himachal :The Great Himalayan National Park

The entire higher Himalayas is the home of the snow leopard

A VIEW WHILE GOING ACROSS THE TREK TO GHNP

PISTOL BUTT IN TREES : YOU CAN USUALLY

SEE THESE ON TREES ON THE SLOPES

HIPPO POINT: CHECK THE ROCK LOOKS LIKE WHAT


Forests for long have cradled rivers and streams to flow towards the plains and infuse lifeblood to many civilizations. Glacial melt as cold as the word itself rushes through stones through rocks changing directions , varying dimensions sometimes flowing below the ground sometimes over the rocks and yet making the same vibrations in your ears and the nerves and the brain .This sparkingly clear water has been disciplined in its flow and noise for ages. Even our forefathers sat on the same sand at sairopa hearing the same noise and threw a pebble on the water. The pebble richocheyed over the rocks and reached the other side where stands a forest rest house : accomodation for the trekkers to the Great Himalayan National Park. Welcome to the gateway of this park ... welcome to Sai ropa.

Few kilometres uphill along this stream can be motored. At the end you see a market with a traditional look . Shops of Wood , thatched roofs some better constructed but all having the same hospitality. Walk along this stream and you will find the lap of nature . Nature Fotography could be done nowhere else . You see butterflies , flowers and greenery all the way and alongwith it the clear water rushing into the opposite direction bubbling with energy.
Sometimes you see a few shops and stop for tea smoke aor maggi. Sometimes you observe fields of Ganja and other times orchards of apples. you venture into one of these and pluck a green unripe apple. The taste is bitter initially but the feeling is sweet :the feeling of having eaten a himachali apple right from the orchard.

Small rapids cascades are encountered and and then a bridge across the stream. Imagine a stream flowing in a valley with a hanging bridge that connects the two slopes . As you proceed the river goes much below you and you can hardly see the water but the music is still playing in your ears . Hold on and you see an excellent cascade -locally called hippo point : so called because the water falls on a big rock which has the same shape as of a hippo. Another half a kilometre and you have reached the gate of the park. Proceeding further is a challenge as the body is tired but the spirits are still alive.
The major preservation in this park is for the snow leopard , martens , serow etc . HImachal is known for multicolored birds called pheasants.

http://www.greathimalayannationalpark.com for more details

Himachal: Khejjiar

THE MEADOW AMONG THE THICK FORESTS
The journey is mostly down and surrounded by pine deodar forests . When you reach the place you realise that the pain was worth taking. They say it was a tectonic lake surrounded on all sides by hills draped in deodar and pine and one day the water subsided to the centre as a beautiful meadow emerged amidst thick tall forest slopes. Welcome to khejjiar-the jewel of Dalhousie.

Himachal : Dalhousie and Kalatop

DEODAR AND PINE FORESTS IN DALHOUSIE

THE LONG BOLES OF THE CHIR PINE KAIL PINE AND DEODAR

THE SKYLINE AS SEEN FROM KALATOP

HIMACHAL THE LAND OF MOUNTS AND VALES

Himachal Pradesh is the land of the himalayas: himachal meahing the lesser himalayas . A word about himalayas:an emerging chain of beautiful snow clad , meadowed stretch of peaks and valleys .
The gateways of the heaven open via Pathankot in Punjab and airport connectivity is through Jammu or Amritsar both of them lying at a distance of 188 kms. As your vehicle rushes throgh the snaking narrow roads ( either National highway 33 or National Highway 35 ) you feel the fresh air revitalising your innate energies . The trees around you have changed and the landscape is emerging like a phoenix . Welcome to the Deodar –Pine belt of India. Sometimes you climb up the road sometimes down the road as you see the mighty mountains which give a stark silhoutte against the flaky red setting sky . A few lights shine in those mountains indicating resthouses settlemenst or checkposts . The collage contrasts further as the deep valleys holding the dammed river Ravi touch your feet.
The lights have increased not only in number but also in intensity . Tin shacks tea stalls and the fragrance of a hill station-named after Lord Dalhousie the Viceroy of India who used this place as a summer retreat for his troops. You are now in a small hill town which has sufficient hospitality for you and great mix of natural and cultural heritage.
Entering the hotel you find the fragrance magnified-you realise the wood panelwork on the walls: the pine has its own aroma. You are reminded of the long boles of pine forest which spread their drooping arms filled with long needle like leaves. These forests are generally found above deodar forests and their wood has an oil which intersperses with the surrounding air . Burn the wood and you get a much magnified smell of the same. Imagine sitting around a campfire with logs of pine spreading fragrance all around you. Sometimes you stoke the fire with a half burnt log and if that does not suffice you try to blow really hard at the slowly dimming pieces of fire. The faded dimmed pieces turn red and intense and suddenly a flame or two reemerges from the logs.the long stands of pine and deodar silhoutted against the clear moonlight and some stars peeping at you from the carpet above.
Have you ever walked in a pine forest. Do it now. The slopes are covered in thick carpet of yellow green dried needles which prevent any grassy undergrowth . Sometimes a deodar emerges here and an other there . The difference : Deoadar has smaller needles and its arms are well spread out as if inviting you for an embrace . Rustling of the needles as you walk along the carpet disturbs the calmness of the serene environs . But never throw a burning matchstick on the floor as the leaves form an inflammable layer ( one of the causes of the forest fires in the temperate belts is the fact that fallen needles accumulate and don’t decompose soon enough and additionally the oily content of the leaves and the resinous canals of the wood provide enough incentive for an ignition.)
Just look over to the other slopes and you realise an otherwise yellowish green stretch scarred by barren brown patches. The anthropogenic interference that hits at nature makes you realise that there is need for protection of our natural heritage. The government has come forward with a unique timber distribution policy that takes into account the needs of the local people and maintaining the green.You walk across into the heights and realise that there is a beautifully built rest house in Kalatop. On the way don’t forget to check the vegetation some fallen trees some meadowed patches. You wish to sleep over the green carpet close your eyes and talk to the breeze that whispers into your ears the songs of the divine : budhists believe that winds when they blow pray to the almighty and that same prayer strikes your ears. Just a few metres across and you may have stepped onto the roof of a villager,s house. You realise this when you reach the edge and discover innocent little eyes looking at you with a strange welcome from below . Well the houses in hilly villages have a different construction : there is an overhanging porch over the open verandah on the uplifted groun anf with all wood construction the mostly two storeyed houses carry a charm to itself ;sometimes you observe tibetan prayers singing flags fluttering on the ropes in a pattern of colours aong a rope tied from the top of the ceiling to the ground.
But don’t forget to experience the unique scottish and victorian construction that is prevalent in the bungalows and churches in the locality.
Roads are well maintained and sometimes borderd by short walls that come straight out of a Robert Frost poem. A Himalayan Marten might be peeping behind this . Don’t adventure a lot as this creature can attack you . Just the sight of this beautifully painted shy creature should be enough excitement.
The evening deepens its dark cover and the stars come peeping out . The milky way flows right over you as you prepare to venture into the MALL road and most importantly the tibetan market.