"Dharamshala"
It was a 3 day trip to Chandigarh, Dharamshala, McLeodganj and Naddi during the Diwali of 2008.
It was a 3 day trip to Chandigarh, Dharamshala, McLeodganj and Naddi during the Diwali of 2008.
Day 1 – we started on a Saturday, took the Shatabdi to Chandigarh and spent the day sightseeing in and around Chandigarh. Rockgarden, Sukhna Lake and a tour around different sectors in Chandigarh. It is a lovely city indeed, very planned and organized as compared to any Indian city and the people quite disciplined. Guess food is not as great as was expected. We managed to have food in Sector 22, Kalimirch Chicken with assorted naan and paranthas. We took a brief round in the local market, relishing a glass of lassi and a candy floss. People were hustling and bustling all over the place, busy with their Diwali shopping, We initiated our road trip towards Dharamshala, our next move.
It was a 5 hour journey with beautiful landscape accompanying us through out. The mountains were itseems never ending, we were continuously climbing uphill as if we were about to reach heaven……It was quite late by the time we reached our resort…We lost our way to our cottage while our hostess from Udechee Huts assisted us traverse the mountain range and helped us reach our cottage.
Day 2 – After spending a hectic day, we woke up to find the glory of Dharamshala. We were surrounded by pristine white mountains on every side. We drew the curtain to find the snow capped Dhauladhar range. It chaged colours every hour with sun rays reflecting on the snow capped mountains. We could not resist ourselves from exploring the bounty of nature, thus got ready in a jiffy and made our way to conquer the mountains.
We started with the Dal Lake, devoured mutton momos for breakfast and made our way to TCV, Tibetan Childen’s Village. Itseems The Dalai Lama had visited the village just a day before we came. The place was filled with cute looking kids with rosy cheeks, who had water rolling from eyes, nose and their mouth. They were smiling back at us every time we chuckled there cheeks. With eyes as tiny as a pea, satin like hair , fair skin , pink cheeks and an innocent smile, they looked like God’s own children in the valley. No wonder why TCV happens to be so close to Dalai Lama;s heart.
After a stroll at the TCV, we headed towards The Dalai Lama’s Temple. The main Shrine had 3 huge dazzling figurines and many small and medium sized figures inside the glass cubicles. The Dalai is being worshipped like a God in thispart of the country. The time was right, the whether pleasant and the mood nice, thus i sat down there and meditated for a while for happiness, peace and serenity. We came out of the shrine and spinned the prayer wheels while i silently prayed for happiness and peace for all the Tibetans who have been driven out of their motherland.
all of a sudden, it started raining heavily outside, thus we utilized the time by exploring the museum. The Museum spoke all about the struggle that the Tibetans had gone through in the past to make their country free from the Chinese. How the Chinese tormented and destroyed the once peace loving, spiritual and cultural country of Tibet was quite painful to watch. It was very sad to see that even after so much destruction the Tibetan refuges are trying hard to gain freedom and peace of their motherland peacefully by engaging into their rich cultural heritage.
Jimmy’s Corner is said to be quite popular in Mc. Leodganj, thus tried out some Italian fare there. The place had a nice ambience with a library, a little dias for live concerts, an open kitchen and a very lively and a colourful environment. We were greeted by the aroma of fresh baked muffins . We ordered for a Pizza, Stuffed Potatoes with Chicken, soup and a sinful dark chocolate cake with dollops of vanilla ice cream on it.
After a sumptuous lunch we walked down the local flee market. There was so much to buy, Masks, bags, incense, garments, spices, brass and copper statues, semi precious stones, thanka, beads jewellery , junk silver, woollens and many more……one would just go crazy seeing the colourful array.
After buying a few knick knacks we headed towards TIPA, Tibetean Institute for Performing Arts. We found young girls and boys rehearsing their piece of instruments, dance and song for an International performance. We chatted with an old lady and picked up a few paintings from her. She offered us an exotic herbal tea, which looked like a pale yellow tea,which itseems was of high medicinal value and they consume it every single day for general well being.We also found a group of women tailoring traditional Tibetan dresses for TIPA. TIPA also boasts of their own auditorium for screening their inhouse performances.
Post TIPA we reached Bhagsunath. It is famous for the Bhasunath temple and the water falls close by. By the time we reached, it was quite dark, so we just heard water gushing from various sides of the temple filling the water tank. We ended the day by having a cup of hot cappuccino at cafe neatly perched on the hill top. The place was dimly lit and had quite a few locals busy with there daily gossips over a cuppa. The Cafe offered a panoramic view of Dharamshala and the surrounding areas with Dhauladhar constantly accompanying each and every frame. We could see the beautiful nightscape of Dharamshala. After relishing our cuppa we climbed uphill, crossed the Cantonment area amidst the dark pine trees, the ever winding roads were never ending, which ultimately took us to our HUT.
Day 3 – We woke up the next day to find the huge snow capped Dhauladhar range embracing us all over again. The resort was very strategically placed, It was an isolated resort in the valley with all the scenic beauties that was still virgin and not explored much, though backed with modern amenities when you enter the room. We had a lazy lunch staring at the mountains for hours together, watched it changing colours from White, Silver, yellow and then Golden.We went to the Chamunda temple on Kali Puja day and offered puja to the goddess, Enroute we also saw Chinmayananda and The Vidhansabha. But the attraction for the day was Norbulingka, Norbulingka was created by the Tibetan refugees in memory of the erstwhile Norulingka palace, the summer Palace of the dalai lama in Lhasa, Tibet. This little institute have been built to keep the rich cultural heritage of Tibet alive and kicking. They have a Doll Museum , Pagoda, Handicrafts section and many more to showcase the rich Tibetan culture. It also houses a resort within the institute campus which is open to travellers on prior booking. On our way to Naddi, we shopped a lot of crackers as i was missing Diwali, thus returned back at the resort with a sack full of crackers and enthusiasm to decorate our little Hut. I lit the little hut with diyas, candles and colourful bulbs which illuminated the virgin mountains. I celebrated Diwali with the lonely mountains and made it a memorable one which would be cherished for years to come.
Day 4 – This was our last day at Dharamshala, thus we spent most of our time admiring the beauty of the mountains, greenery, villagers and a school near by. Dharamshala has every little detail which one would want to be surrounded with in one's golden days. Thus, I determined to spend my life post retirement here with a house amidst the valley., We packed our bags only to go back to Chandigarh and spent our evening with our family friend. Bursting a lot of crackers, having a sumptuous dinner and then made our way back to Delhi………..
