naadanblog

The Lonely Wanderer In Spiti Valley -Part 2

2015-09-17T14:42:00.002+05:30

It was almost 6 p.m. so I guessed Nako couldn’t be far from there. I asked the Lama about whom I had mentioned earlier, how far Nako was and he said it was not very far. He was also coming from South India, Karnataka actually. I knew there were a few Tibetan monasteries in Koorg and he was coming from there. He came to Spiti to visit his parents who lived in a village near Nako. The bus stopped in front of a small tea shop and the conductor told me to get down there. I was shocked when I looked around because there was no sign of hotels or even any house. The Lama laughed and told me to look behind the tea shop and as I looked I saw the whole Nako village in the distance. I said goodbye to him and started walking towards Nako. Nako is a small village but definitely bigger than Pooh I guess. 5 minutes of walk and I reached Nako, I went straight to the first hotel that I saw but there was no one around to make enquiries. Luckily there was another hotel adjacent to it and the caretaker took me to a room. The room was nice with water heater and all. There was an open passage to the room where one could sit and see the entire Nako valley from the top. I paid Rs 300 for the room and decided to take some rest before having dinner. I slept for almost an hour and when I woke up there was no power. Luckily I had managed to charge the phone and camera earlier. I went outside to have food. There was a small dhaba next to the hotel run by the same guy but since he wasn’t there at that time I went to a restaurant inside the hotel just opposite the road. There were plenty of foreigners staying in the hotel and many of them were in the restaurant too. For the second day in a row I had candle light dinner. While I was having food I talked to the waiter there. He said the chance of power coming that day was really low. It could be raining or snow falling somewhere in that region, so they must have cut off the power supply as a precaution.

Its beautiful as heaven - a view from Nako village

When I came back to the room after dinner I was thinking of going straight back to bed but the awesome climate there changed my mind. As I said earlier one could see the entire valley from the passage to the room in that hotel and even though it was dark at that time I still could see it by the light of the vehicles coming from down the valley. I sat on a chair which was in the corner, looking at the valley. But I couldn’t sit there for long as the cold started to cover Nako. I went to the room and picked up a heavy blanket, covered my whole body except for the eyes and sat on the chair listening to music. Through the light of the vehicles I saw the mist coming from down the valley and slowly starting to cover the entire village. I didn’t know how much time I spent there looking into the darkness. Many things came to my mind that night- my life, my profession, friends, family, football! I think that night I spent there alone, was one of the highlights of my trip. The whole long hectic journey to reach there was worth it just for that night. At some time during the night I went back to the room as my eyes wouldn’t keep open any longer.

Day 4

I woke up past 8 a.m. the next day, the power hadn’t come yet and also there wasn’t any water in the pipe. So I went out looking for the caretaker but couldn’t find him. When I returned I saw a foreign lady coming out from the next room. She took a bicycle from her room, and headed outside. I asked her in English whether there was water in her room. She replied ‘Nahi he… kal se hi nahi he’ (No, not since yesterday) in Hindi. I was stunned by her reply, that foreign lady spoke better Hindi than me! Luckily last night I had managed to save some water in a bucket so somehow I managed to do the morning chores with that and went outside again to have breakfast.

The white cloak of nature! Mist covering a Nako morning

The caretaker was there at that time and he agreed to make me parathas for breakfast. As he started cooking we had a conversation. His name was Sonam and he was coming from Ladak, Kashmir. Sonam told me to go check out the Buddhist temple on top of the hill and take a walk to the Monastery down the road as I didn’t know much about Nako. He advised me to hurry up because I should get back there by 12 p.m. in order to get the bus to Kaza. The bus could come any time after noon. The weather was all cloudy in the morning and even snow started to fall but only for a very short time. As soon as I finished breakfast I started trekking towards the temple as Sonam had suggested. The narrow pebbled pavement to the temple on top disappeared a little while after I started climbing up. I looked up, the temple was made up of rocks and I guessed it wouldn’t take more than an hour to reach there. On the way I saw the Nako Lake on the right side, it was nothing to boast of, probably a little larger than a pond. The trail completely disappeared after a while, so I had to stop at many points to find a way to the top. While climbing up I saw a giant prayer wheel on the edge of the mountain and made a quick detour towards it. The view from there was spectacular. The sky was getting clearer after the morning snowfall. All the reddish mountains that I saw the previous day had put on the white cap of snow by then! The white clouds were flying through the gap of the mountains on top of Spiti. I turned the prayer wheel a few times and listened to the sound of the ring echoing across the valley. I sat there for at least half an hour gazing at the flying clouds. In that mesmerizing land, you could be alone but never lonely. I think sometimes we feel more human when we leave all the civilization far behind and come closer to nature.

Nako village - a view from top

I started climbing again towards the temple after a brief moment of philosophy. At some point I saw a glimpse of the trail on the other side; I guessed I took the wrong path from the start itself. After a half hour of trekking I looked up again. The temple looked just at the same distance as when I looked from below. How could that be possible? I was quite sure that I was not going to make to the bus stop in time if I was going to continue with the trekking, so I decided to come back. From the top I saw the Tibetan monastery on the far side of the Nako village. To reach there I would have to cut through the village or walk the whole way to the hotel and then take the road. I decided to go with the former option which seemed easier and less time consuming. And by doing so I could see more of the village also.

The forgotten trails - Trekking towards the old temple in Nako.

I asked a few guys for the route once I got down from there and they showed me a tiny footpath going through the village. As I walked through it I realized I had made a big mistake. The roads through the village seemed more complicated than some maze you found in the newspaper. It split into a dozen paths as I went further and I didn’t know which way to take. The worst part was that there was no one there to ask for directions. I was pretty sure I was circling for a while at the same point. There were a number of cattle and sheep and donkeys adjacent to some houses. Somehow I managed to escape the maze and reach the road which led to the Monastery. But disappointingly there was nobody there and it seemed to be closed, so I roamed there for a while and decided to go back to my room since it was getting to be noon. On the way back I purchased some souvenirs from a shop. I packed up my entire stuff, said goodbye to Sonam and started walking towards the junction. On the way I saw an old man coming from the opposite side. I wasn’t looking at him but as soon as he reached beside me he asked where I was going to. When I told him I wanted to go to Kaza, he pointed to the bus stop. He advised me to get some rest at the tea shop which I had seen the previous day because the bus would come only after 1 p.m. probably. This was what I loved about the people here……. everyone you met on the way is really friendly and helpful even though you weren’t asking for it. I went and sat there on the chair outside the tea shop from where I could see the bus from the distance even as it came through Nako village. The minutes passed by and there was no sign of the bus. I had rice and curry from the shop while waiting. As I was standing there I saw a bearded guy with beanies walking towards the junction carrying travel bags. That guy reminded me of the hero from the movie ‘In to the wild’. He asked me what time the bus was and I said I had no idea as I had also been waiting for the bus. He asked me to come to the junction so we could chat till the bus came. I picked up my luggage and followed him. That’s how I met Nikhil.

Nikhil who was from Mumbai was working with an advertising firm, later quit his job and had been travelling around in Himachal Pradesh for a month with his friend. But from Peo he split up with his friend and came to Spiti alone. Actually he had a really funny story- he was staying in Sichiling (27 km before Kaza) with a few foreigners he had met during those days. But the snowfall which occurred that morning was quite heavy in those areas and they decided to come down as fast as possible because in those areas the road might get closed if the snowfall continued. But while coming back, he saw the weather getting clearer and so decided go back to Kaza because after coming all the way and still miss the Key monastery would be a pity, so he got down at Nako. As we were talking, an Italian couple (Marco & Sabrina) came to the bus stop. Actually I had seen them that morning; they were also staying in my hotel. Soon our conversation moved along various topics from Indian culture to Mao se Tung to Italian weather! We didn’t realize the time was already past 2.30. Finally we saw the much awaited Kaza bus coming through the Nako village. I wondered whether Vasu and his friends were in the bus, even if they were, there was a chance they would get down at Nako village (later I learned they weren’t in the bus).We kept our luggage on top and went inside the bus. It was jam packed; Nikhil and I had to stand beside the door. The condition of the road was getting worse as we travelled further but Nikhil said it was actually better compared to what we would have to face shortly. There were a number of migrant workers in the bus coming from the Northern States of India----Uttar Pradesh and Bihar mostly and some foreign and native travellers. Nikhil said it was really difficult to get a seat from Peo in the Kaza bus unless you came to the booking counter early in the morning. The decision to take the Nako bus instead of Kaza bus on the other day turned out to be a great decision even though it wasn’t planned.

After an hour of journey we reached a place called ‘Sumdo’ where there was an army check post. The foreigners had to submit their in line permit which they got from Peo to travel beyond that place. We resumed our journey and later stopped at ‘Hangring’ for tea break. This time I ordered mutton Tupka as per Nikhil’s suggestion and it tasted much better than the last time. There in those mountain areas mutton seemed more popular than chicken mainly due to its availability I guess. The journey continued- the constant twists and turns made standing beside the door really uncomfortable but it gave us an amazing sight that I would never forget. On the opposite mountain there was a man leading a group of sheep through the steep cliffs. The sheep were all either black or white in color so from the distance they all looked like a moving chessboard! It was one of the most spectacular scenes I had ever seen in my life, too bad I couldn’t take a picture of it. The bus reached Tabo after 6 p.m.. Marco and Sabrina along with many foreigners got down at the bus station. Since Nikhil had already stayed in Tabo a few days earlier, he knew all the places there to see and so he advised them on their Tabo itinerary. Finally we managed to find a seat in the bus. Apart from the few migrant workers and natives and us, there was a Gujarati family also in the bus. It was so refreshing to see an Indian family with small kids coming to these unexplored areas rather than going to some usual places like Shimla or Manali.

In to the wild - Heading towards Kaza from Tabo

I felt really enthusiastic on seeing the sight in front of me as I put my head out through the window. The road was leading straight towards the big mountain which was partially covered with white clouds. The cool breeze coming from the mountains just wafted through my hair. I started listening to music. The light began to fade away after 7 p. m., the clouds were gathering in the sky probably for a snowfall and I wasn’t wrong. We saw tiny pieces of snow falling down through the headlight of the bus. The members of the Gujarati family I talked about earlier were getting really excited seeing this, probably first time in their life they were seeing a snowfall. Nikhil and I weren’t really excited, he just had been through one that morning and I had seen plenty of it last time in Gangotri, but still it was beautiful. Finally after 9 p.m. we reached Kaza. We climbed to the top of the bus to get our luggage and it took a while to unstrap all of it. So by the time we got down, everybody in the bus had left the bus station. Snowfall was getting heavier, so we started walking from the bus station to find a hotel to stay. There was no electricity just like the previous day and all the shops were closed. Nikhil said it felt like we were walking through some deserted town that we saw in the video games and I couldn’t agree more! Soon my hands started to shiver because of the cold. I saw the light of a tiny candle coming from a small shop on the left side. I went close to look; yes it was a liquor shop! I pointed out to Nikhil, he stared at me and said “Yah let’s have some booze”. Getting liquor became our priority rather than finding a place to stay the night in that cold weather! We bought liquor and went in search of a room. Finally we found an open restaurant, and asked for a room. The waiter arranged a room in a hotel just opposite the restaurant for Rs 400. After dinner we went to the room, shared the drink and chatted for a long time until I fell asleep.

Day 5

Getting up past 8 a.m. the next day, we wandered through the streets of Kaza after breakfast. There was one SBI ATM in Kaza, so the information that I got earlier about the last ATM being in Peo turned out to be wrong. I bought a few more souvenirs from a small fancy shop. While coming back from the shop I saw Nikhil talking to a guy. He introduced him as Nithin - the biker. Nithin was travelling alone in a motorcycle and these guys had actually spent some time together a few days earlier. Nithin introduced to us his lady friend he had met the previous day and it was none other than the Hindi speaking lady I had seen at Nako hotel. Small world!!!!. He introduced her as Kim, the cyclist. She had come all the way from Chandigarh in her bicycle! Soon we left them. Our plan for the day was to go to Key monastery which was 12 km from there. We enquired about the bus availability to Key but learnt that there was only one bus and that too only in the evening, so we decided to get a taxi to get to Key. From the taxi stand near the bus station we managed to get a taxi for Rs 800 which would get us to Kibber village (a small village which is hardly 5 kms from Key) and then to the Key monastery.

Spiti valley

The sceneries you find on either side of the road to Key were absolutely mind blowing. The Spiti flowed through the wide stretch of areas between the mountains on the clear sunny day. There was a small village (Rangrik) on the banks of the river on the opposite side. On the way to Kibber we stopped at Key village to take a look at the Key Monastery and later we resumed our journey. By 11 a.m. we reached Kibber village. We told the driver that we would come back by 12.30 and went out to roam through the village. Kibber is one of the highest villages in the world with an altitude of over 4000 meters. At the Government High School a few students were sitting outside to study. I guess sunlight there was a luxury, that’s why probably they were sitting outside even though there were class rooms. We saw the neighboring village called Chitkul when we reached the top, which was on the other side of the village. But walking till there would take hours, so we didn’t even consider going there. One farmer was taking his yak to the paddy fields but by the time we got to him, he would have covered a lot of distance. A local man standing there said couple of years ago they saw a snow leopard in the village!

On top of the world - Kibber village

Kibber felt like a pitch inside a giant stadium, surrounded by snow capped mountains instead of the gallery. I was totally unaware of this place but was so glad that I could I visit there. There was a Monastery in the village but it was closed at that time. The locals said the Lama could come at any time and we should wait if we wished to see him. While waiting for the Lama, our attention shifted to a very pleasant sight. We saw lots of small kids sitting on the ground to study in a pre-school. What were the chances that it could be the world’s highest pre-school, I wondered. No matter where you were and in what condition you live, education is a birthright for you, isn’t it? We went near them and took some pictures. They were all looking at us possibly wondering what was so special about the whole thing! Surely they were the cutest kids that I had ever seen; their cheeks were pink as if they had applied some make-up! Apart from their teacher there was one more person to help them with their studies and it was none other than our driver! Guess he worked as a part time teacher also. When we came back the Lama had arrived at the monastery and we went inside. Apart from a prayer wheel and some old paintings there wasn’t much to see there. We decided to go back to the cab since it was already 12.30. Before leaving Kibber we had lunch from a nearby hotel, since we heard there won’t be any restaurant in Key village.

Sarva Siksha Abhiyan - Pre school in Kibber village Pic courtesy: Nikhil Anand

Finally we reached Key monastery. We said good bye to the driver and started walking towards the entrance. Young Lamas were playing cricket outside, which seemed to be their only leisure activity. There was a board in front of the gate narrating the history of the monastery which is one of the oldest monasteries in the world with over 1000 long years of history to tell. The stairway to the monastery led us to the top of the building where the main prayer flag was situated. The building had a unique structure which helped to survive the earthquakes. The Key monastery consisted of small rooms all in rectangular shape. In the prayer hall a lot of monks were praying and young Lamas, carrying tea pots, filled their tea cups regularly. We could walk through the hall while they were praying but had to maintain absolute silence. Outside the prayer hall there were lots of old Buddhist paintings depicting the Buddhists beliefs. We talked to a few monks who were sitting there.

Its not a painting! The mesmerizing Spiti valley

One Lama was particularly very friendly towards us and led us to a room on top where they had some sculpture and all. The narrow corridors and rooms could make you feel like you were in the temple where, in the ‘Batman Begins’ movie, Bruce Wayne was taken for training by Ras Al Gul! As we entered the room, the Lama started explaining about the temple’s importance, how they chose the Dalai Lama and about their life in the monastery. He was talking really fast in Hindi so I couldn’t actually understand all of it. But I did understand the procedure by which the young Lamas are selected. The second boy in a family in that region was the one selected to be a young lama and that too with his and the parents’ absolute willingness. Later we went on to the balcony to have a better view of the Spiti valley. I felt like seeing a painting as I gazed at the valley. It was so unrealistic.

In this valley you could be alone but never lonely. At the Key monastery

The Lama had earlier said that the Buddhists believed that to enlighten one’s minds, one needed to live in a peaceful and beautiful atmosphere and that was why they chose to build the monasteries in those remote places surrounded by great natural beauty . When we came back, our Lama friend served us Tibetan tea which tasted so different yet delicious. He said we could stay there for just Rs 200 per day which included food also. Nikhil said he would definitely come back there and stay for a couple of days after I left the next day. We said good bye to them and started our return journey to Kaza. This time we left through the back side of the Monastery which reduced the travelling distance.

Partner in crime - Me and Nikhil on top of the Monastery.

When we reached the road, Nikhil started climbing up through the sides of the mountain to take a better picture of the Monastery from a distance. The monastery looked absolutely spectacular from the distance. It looked like small match boxes arranged in a mischievous way. I sat there for sometime thinking of that moment when I saw the picture of that monastery long ago and how I decided to come there. It was a hectic journey to reach Spiti valley but it was worth every penny.

No better place to enlighten our mind isn't it? Key Monastery in the Spiti valley courtesy: Nikhil

After a while we started walking back to Kaza all the while admiring the beauty of the magnificent Spiti valley. We had to do some risky trekking at some places in order to reach the main road. On the way we got a new friend, a boy from Rangrik village. He came to Key to take his broken cycle which he had left at Key village last day. While walking we shared some chocolates I had with me. The decision not to take the cab back to Kaza turned out to be a good one because I never got the opportunity to walk around much since most of the time I was travelling by bus. Realizing that my trip was almost over, I felt a little bit sad inside.

Funny thing about this pic, you could see an entire village (Rangrik) through the gate.

As we were walking we saw bus coming towards Key,we realized it is the evening bus to Kibber from Kaza. As the bus approached near us a guy was waving at me and I couldn't recognize who he was. I looked closer and and realized its none other than Vasudev! So sad our reunion couldn't last more than few seconds. I waved at him as the bus passed by. After covering almost 10 kms my legs were getting tired, so I decided to ask for a lift and luckily for me I saw a cab going to Kaza. We were 2 km short of reaching there. They stopped for me but Nikhil decided to walk the rest so I took the cab. Inside the cab there was a Russian couple and a Japanese woman. They were also planning to go to Peo the next day and needed a room to stay overnight. So when we reached Kaza, I guided them to our hotel to get a room. Luckily there was one room left and the Japanese woman agreed to sleep on an extra mat they provided. The room key was with Nikhil so I had to wait outside until he came. While I waited I went to a restaurant nearby and ordered mutton momos. I don’t know if it was because of my hunger or the tiredness, those momos tasted just so delicious that I had to order another plate.

We got company. Nikhil and I walking towards Kaza along with the boy we met on the way.

I went back to the room and saw the Japanese woman outside. We chatted for some time, her name was Miho and she was visiting India for the second time. Miho said she was very much interested in coming to South India when I said I was from there. She was very keen to watch the dances like Mohiniyattam, Bharathnatyam etc. Nikhil arrived finally and we all went to have dinner. She suggested a Tibetan restaurant and do I need to say we had food by the candle light again? I honestly didn’t know the name of the dishes that I had for dinner, it was Miho who suggested it. Nikhil asked her what she did back in Japan and she replied she did whatever job she got, like farming or work in some restaurant, anything. This kind of attitude you wouldn’t find anywhere in this country. We all look for some white collar job, settle down in our life doing what the society thinks is right and leave all our dreams behind…….. Finally we reached the hotel and it didn’t take much time for me to fall into deep sleep since I was so I tired walking the whole 10 kms.

Day 6

I got up at 5 a.m. the next day and started packing all my things. Last night Nikhil had promised to come to the bus stand but he seemed so moody when he got up. So I told him to sleep some more time and not to bother about it. What really happened was that after we reached back last night he went outside to get something and met Nithin, the biker and Kim, the cyclist. Nithin had bought some booze earlier and those three hung out till early in the morning. I came to know of this only when Nikhil rang me up after I reached back home. I went to the bus stand with Miho and the Russian couple. I bought the ticket to Peo and went inside the bus. On internet you would find that the bus timing was about 7 a.m. but when you asked the locals they would say it was around 7.30 and they both were right. This was how it worked………. the driver would start the bus at sharp 7’o clock and would go to the petrol station straight and then he had to wake up the worker there. After filling the tank the bus would come back to the bus stand and finally at 7.30 it would start its journey to Peo. And thus began my long 36 hours of return journey to Delhi. My plan was to reach Peo by evening, catch the last bus to Shimla which was at 7 p.m., reach Shimla early morning, take the bus to Delhi and reach Delhi by evening. Unless you had a tight schedule or some really good tolerance level, don’t take a full stretch, it’s really deadly!!!

The bus I got in was a new one with really good leg space and all, but the luxury didn’t last long. After about 2 hrs of travel the bus broke down. We had not one, but two flat tyres on the back side! The driver and the conductor had to wait for a long time to get a vehicle going to Kaza to get us a spare bus. We all waited there, some went for a walk, others walked towards the bank of Spiti and sat there but I decided to sit inside the bus. We waited three long hours until they returned with a spare bus. I was sure that bus was the oldest in the route……. there were even some seats missing in it! But we were lucky to get at least that. Anyway the rustiness of the bus didn’t affect us as the driver accelerated it along the curvy roads. Unless we reached Peo before 7 p.m., I won’t get the bus to Shimla. If that happened I would have to stay back in Peo and that would ruin all my plans. I was starving to death because I hadn’t taken anything in the morning not even a cup of tea. Luckily for me there was a packet of biscuits to survive by. Usually the buses there stopped at a number of places for tea and lunch break but since we were already behind schedule by 3 hrs, we didn’t stop anywhere except at Hangring, to have a late lunch.
I heard the conductor calling the Peo bus stand and telling them to wait for our bus to reach there. There were ten other passengers beside me who all wanted to go to Shimla. Among them there were two soldiers who joined us from the Sumdo check post. One was from Tamil Nadu and one guy from Andhra Pradesh. I talked to them in Tamil, and just like everyone else they were surprised to see a guy from Kerala alone there. I told them about my experience there and how I had planned to go to Manali from Kaza earlier and later changed it since the pass from Kaza (Kyelong pass) to Manali wasn’t open. One of the soldiers laughed and said he was in charge of clearing the road and it won’t be open until he came back after the vacation. We passed Nako and reached Kaza around 4 p.m. I saw Sutlej after a few days. She was still very muddy, probably the rains hadn’t stopped at Manasarovar ,I guessed. I looked at Spiti for one last time and cherished all the good things I had on its valley. Surely this won’t be the last time I am coming here, I decided in my mind.

The famous Kaza bus broke down at nowhere

Finally we reached near Peo around 8.30. The Shimla bus was waiting for us on the way at some point, so we stopped on the road and quickly changed buses. I was really feeling tired and hungry. The lunch I had from Hangring was all that I had the whole day, so I immediately fell asleep in the bus. I opened my eyes when the bus stopped at some place to have food. I rushed to the restaurant to have food and realized it was the same hotel I had food with Vasu and friends when we came from Shimla to Peo in Jeori. We resumed our journey. A little after 4 a.m. I opened my eyes as we were nearing Shimla.I looked through the window and saw a starry sky and when I looked carefully I spotted the ‘Milky Way’. There wouldn’t be any better way to end my trip than this. I had everything and more than what I hoped for during this trip, when I got in the flight from Kochi. I didn’t go to sleep again, but sat staring at the starry sky until we reached Shimla. The bus arrived at the new bus stand around 5 a.m. Along with the two soldiers I took a Punjab RTC bus to Chandigarh. I asked the driver when it would reach there but he said he didn’t know because it was his first time on these routes. I didn’t believe him until I saw him put his head through the window looking out for sign boards and even ask the traffic police officers for the way to Chandigarh!

Finally we reached there and this time I didn’t take chance by taking a non AC bus to Delhi , so I waited for an AC bus and got onto it and reached Delhi by early evening. Just like the last trip, in the end I went to my uncle’s home in Guragaon and stayed there for the night. I was eager to take a shower; it was over one week since I had taken a bath! I had all the dirt in the world on my body. When I looked in to the mirror, honestly it took a while for me to recognize my own face! Next morning I went to the Hazrat Nizamudin station to catch the Mangala Lakshadweep express train to get back to Kochi. Each time I traveled to different places and had different stories to tell but the ending was always the same…. return by the Mangala Express!

I will be back for sure...

The only regret I have is that I had only a few days to spend in that mesmerizing land. In the end I was just like Ramesh who came all the way up to meet his sister. I too had time to just have a glimpse of what I wanted to see. But within my tight time schedule I enjoyed, experienced and saw the maximum that I could. All my misgivings about travelling alone had vanished by that time. I would say every one of us should travel alone at least once in our life time. It is the perfect way to meet random people, make friends and wander around......

The Lonely Wanderer In Spiti Valley -Part 1

2015-08-30T12:09:00.001+05:30

Every one of us probably has some memorable trips we have had in the past and sometimes some pictures, videos or even some words that we see will make our mind travel back to those moments. For me the trip to Gangotri - Gaumukh in the Himalayas with my friend Sudhin will always be a special one. The snow clad mountains, the risky trekking route, the heavy snowfall - everything that we saw and experienced that day comes to my mind each time I see some pictures of Himalayas or even any mountains. But besides all that there is one more thing that reminds me of that beautiful mesmerizing land - the night sky. Every time I look up to the sky at night, I think about the night in Himalayas where we stood still watching the starry sky and the Milky Way. Here back in my home town all I could see is only a few bright shining stars because of the light pollution. It makes me want to travel back to the Himalayas.

From the day I got back from Gangotri, my friends and family have been asking me where my next trip is to. And I didn’t have an answer, all I knew was that it would be to the Himalayas. In February 2015 I booked a flight ticket to Delhi for 23^rd May. Yeah I booked a ticket without setting a destination! I had plenty of time for that. One day while browsing the internet I happened to see a picture of a Tibetan monastery which was covered with thick snow. It was a picture of Key monastery in Kaza. That spectacular picture made me search more about it and I learned that it is in Himachal Pradesh in a place called Spiti valley. The river Spiti flows through it and hence the name. The name Spiti means ‘The middle land’ that is the land between India and Tibet.A few weeks later I watched an advertisement of mineral water on the TV which was shot in front of the same place. I didn’t think too much. Spiti badly needed my visit and hence all these signs! Just like last time I searched a lot of online forums to collect every bit of information I could get. So I would like to thank every member in these forums especially in Indiamike and Devils On Road who helped me to answer my queries.

Key monastery in Kaza, Himachal Pradesh,India

When I came back from my last trip, many of my friends showed interest in coming with me for the next trip. So when I booked tickets to Delhi in February I was certain that at least one of them would come with me for the trip. But as the days passed by, everyone skipped it. Two weeks prior to the trip I was certain that I would have to do this alone. I was a little skeptical about going all alone and also some personal issues which happened a few weeks before the trip made me almost cancel the whole thing. But when I thought about my dad who is one of the greatest inspirations for me to travel, I didn’t hesitate much.

Ok for those who seeks quick travel itinerary I am going to list it out before going to describe it in detail. This wasn’t exactly like I planned at the beginning but had to make some adjustments as I travelled further. So finally it looked like this.

· Day 1 - Kochi to Delhi by flight, Delhi to Shimla by bus. Stay at Shimla.

· Day 2 - Shimla to Reckong Peo. Peo to Kalpa. Roam around Kalpa in the evening and stay there for the night.

· Day 3 - Kalpa to Peo. Peo to Nako. Stay at Nako.

· Day 4 - Roam around Nako. Afternoon go to Kaza.

· Day 5 - Visit Kibber village and Key monastery in Kaza.

· Day 6 - Kaza to Peo. Catch the last bus to Shimla from Peo.

· Day 7 - Shimla to Delhi

· Day 8 - Delhi to Kochi in train.

My travel route map

Day 1

Finally May 23^rd arrived. Just like last time it was my friend Alfred who agreed to drop me at the airport in the morning and exactly like on that day, it was drizzling outside. We reached the airport around 6.45, my flight was at 7.15. I was somehow lucky to arrive before the check in time closed. The usual late work shift of mine made me really tired in the morning, so I was hoping to get some rest in the flight. But I was so wrong. I was sandwiched between a monk and a lady, with an infant baby, who was travelling alone. The baby started crying as soon as the flight took off and I had to help her to console the baby by playing with some toys. The lady and I immediately became friends. Her name was Dhanya, a Delhi Malayalee visiting Kerala after 8 years. She was surprised when she realized that I was travelling all the way to Spiti alone. She told the story of how her brother once visited Spiti a few years ago .He loved to travel a lot in the Himalayas with his motor cycle. Dhanya advised me to never stop this habit of travelling and visit more places soon. It was really sad that we couldn’t say proper good bye because we took 2 different buses to reach the terminal from the flight. Around 10.30 I reached Delhi airport and from there I took the metro to the Kashmiri gate where the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) is situated. The airport metro to Kashmiri gate, lunch from the Punjabi dhaba near the ISBT -all these became my regular thing over the past couple of years.

My regular lunch from the dhaba in Kasmiri gate

My first destination on the way to Spiti valley was Shimla which is around 10 hrs of journey from Delhi. From ISBT you could get buses to almost all the neighbouring states of Delhi. I had already booked a ticket for the 12.30 bus to Shimla through Himachal Pradesh Road Corporation’s online site. I specifically booked a side seat. In the bus I met Ramesh Kumar, a Nepali who was about my age. He was a construction worker currently working in Gujarat and going to Shimla to meet his elder sister who stayed with her husband. I told him I was going to Reckong Peo from Shimla and he said he was also on the same route so we could go together. I must confess my Hindi is not very good as it’s not my mother tongue and I only speak Hindi whenever I came to North India on tours. So many times I had to use sign language to communicate with him because he didn’t speak English.

I was hoping to get some rest finally since my first attempt failed, but again I was wrong. It was the hot climate which troubled me this time. May end is the hot summer time at its peak in North India and the bus ride through the wide NH1 made it worse. The seats were burning with hotness. I was advised to get an AC bus but at noon there was no AC bus available to Shimla. So my advice is that if you travel to Shimla from Delhi during summer time and no AC buses are available in your journey time, take an AC bus to Chandigarh and then take a bus to Shimla from there. At that time I didn’t know that all the buses to Shimla go through Chandigarh.

The bus passed Karnal, Panipat, Ambala- places that I had studied in the history class, and finally reached Chandigarh around 5.45. Ramesh and I became really good friends by that time. He bought me food every time some local vendors got into the bus. I refused it first time but he kept on insisting. So when we reached Chandigarh I bought him a sandwich. I asked Ramesh whether his village was affected by the recent earthquake which hit Nepal and he said everyone was fine in his home. In Chandigarh, the bus went to the Sector 43 bus stand from where you could catch buses which go only to the northern side of India (Himachal, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir). If it is a bus which goes only up to Chandigarh, it will not go to Sector 43 but instead it goes to Sector 17 and then you may need to catch a city bus to get to Sector 43 in order to catch the Shimla bus. I learned all these things on my return journey to Delhi only. After half an hour’s halt at the bus station, we resumed our journey to Shimla.

On the way to Shimla you pass a place called Kalka from where the famous Shimla toy train route starts. I was earlier thinking of taking this toy train but there was no train available in the evening so I changed my plans. From Kalka, the road started to climb up. From here onwards you are entering the world of never ending journey through twisted and curved mountain roads... You could see the toy train rail line passing through the sideways of the road at many places. Soon we passed Solan and I had the first glimpse of Shimla town high above. Glazed with lights the town looked like a group of tiny flashy birds.

Finally at 10.30 we reached Shimla. The bus halted at the old bus stand. I was planning to get a room and stay overnight there and start early morning to Reckong Peo (locally known as just Peo) which was my next destination. But Ramesh said it was better to keep going, as we could get a bus to Peo and thus avoid staying in Shimla which could be really costly. I guess he didn’t have much money and his limited time constraints made him say that. But I was really tired and preferred to stay there and call it a day. I asked a guy at the bus stand about the room rates here and he said it could be around Rs 3000 for a decent room since it was tourist season. His response made me change my mind and follow Ramesh’s advice. We asked a shop owner about the availability of a bus to Peo at night and he said it could come at any time. So we waited. But the wait was too long. We asked a few more people and each of them gave different answers. Some said there were no buses at night and some said we must get to the new bus stand in order to get the bus. I was totally confused what to do.

It was almost midnight and the bus stand was getting deserted. We met two young boys with a drunken old man who were going to Peo. They said they were walking to the new bus stand which was about 4 km from there and we could join them if we wanted. I turned to Ramesh for his opinion but he was on a call with his sister. He then handed over the phone to me as she wanted to talk with me. I honestly had no idea which language she spoke… Hindi or Nepali. All I said was ‘ok accha theek hai’. I handed over the phone to him. After the call I felt that he was more confused than me. What he said next I won’t forget in my life. He said his sister told him that it was not safe to stand alone at the bus stand at this time because people might even cut your throats in order to rob you!! I asked-- what the hell did you just say?! “Some people may even kill you in order to rob you,” he explained with hand gesture. I felt my head was spinning. I looked around and all the people standing there seemed to stare at me. That is it, I had had enough. I am going to get a room here and stay overnight. I asked a guy who was sitting beside a shop to arrange a room. He immediately called his friend who said it would be Rs 500 for a bed but only one was left so we would have to share it. I didn’t bother to look for any other solution. I agreed and they took us to the room. They guided us through some really smutty dark alleys beside the bus stand. I looked back at Ramesh who was following me with fearful eyes. He kept on whispering to me not to trust those guys as they could cheat us. I must say here that the walk to the room from the bus stand was one of the scariest moments in my life. I didn’t know whom to trust. We stopped in front of some old building and my jaw dropped as he opened the room.

It was a dormitory and there were at least 20 people sleeping there and the bed he was talking about was too hard for even a single guy to sleep. But we had no other choice. Before they went back they said they would come back the next day at 4 in the morning to wake us up since we had to get the early bus to Peo. I went to use the toilet, a guy with 36 inch waist line would probably get stuck between the doors, it was that tiny. I would rather not speak about the condition of the toilet. I went back to the bed, Ramesh and I somehow managed to fit on the bed and went to sleep. The loud snoring coming from some other bed didn’t even bother me because my tiredness put me into deep sleep within minutes. There I was sleeping on a single bed with a Nepali guy, whom I had met just a few hours ago!

It always makes me laugh whenever I think about that night. I don’t know why I was paranoid to that extent, but honestly I was scared to death that night.

Day 2

We woke up at 4am hearing the alarm but both of us didn’t get up until a guy came knocking at the door. We had to move the bed in order to open the door. He asked us why we hadn’t left yet if we wanted to catch the bus to Peo. I had no idea who he was or how he came to know about our plan, anyway we didn’t waste much time. I didn’t even brush my teeth because I never wanted to go back to that toilet. It was early in the morning but the light had come up early. We went straight to the bus stand and asked a few people about the bus timing. Just like last night we got different answers. In the end a police officer said we should either go to the new bus stand or one other place (I don’t remember its name) and suggested it was better to go to the latter since it was nearer. So we took a cab and went there. A few people were already waiting there for the bus which they said would arrive at 6 am. While we were waiting I was thinking of all the incidents which happened last night. I had a lot of doubts in my mind whether I could do this trip all alone but after all the things that happened last night I thought I could survive anything!

The bus arrived at sharp 6 am. It was coming from Haridwar and was jam packed. I bought the ticket to Peo and Ramesh bought for ‘Autti’ where his sister’s house was located. The rush inside the bus was getting less as we travelled further and I managed to get a seat after 30 minutes. Around 8 am we reached ‘Autti’. The driver stopped the bus for a 30 min tea break. Ramesh called his sister and asked her to come there. We had breakfast from a nearby restaurant even though Ramesh insisted he didn’t want. I asked him why he asked his sister to come there instead of going to her house directly. Ramesh said he didn’t go to her house ever since he had a fight with his brother- in- law last year. So he was going to talk to her for some time and then go straight back to Delhi and then to Gujarat since he had only two days off! Now I knew why he didn’t want to stay in Shimla, he had a really tight schedule. I felt really awful about it. It must be so hard for him to travel half way through the country to just see his sister and spend a few minutes with her. I gave him some chocolates that I had bought last night, for his sister’s children. We hugged each other and said goodbye as the bus started. I had spent hardly a day with him but it still makes me really sad when I think about the moment we said goodbye.

An umbrella by the nature. Somewhere in Hindustan Tibetan Highway. Sutlej on the left side

The driver rushed though the roads which snaked across the valley. I felt lonely. The guys sitting near me were sleeping and I had no one to talk to. When I boarded the bus I had noticed two guys who were about the same age as me sitting in front but they were sleeping earlier. I guessed they were also travelling like me, seeing the camera which one fellow was holding. But then they awoke and one fellow came and stood beside me. I asked him whether they were heading towards Peo and he said yes, pointing to his friends who were sitting behind me. I was relieved that I got company till Peo. He was surprised to know that I was coming from Kerala, which is the southernmost State of India, to Spiti all alone. He said this loudly to his friends behind me and suddenly one of his friends poked me from behind and asked “naatil evideya?” (Where are you from in Kerala? -in Malayalam)! It was like Indian film stuff!! . And that’s how I met Vasudev. It is usually said in light humor that wherever you go, you would find a Malayalee and it is generally true. I was so relieved when I heard Malayalam being spoken. Vasu introduced his friends Jayesh, Jay and Abhimanyu all coming from Mumbai and working in the media industry. Vasu is a Mumbai Malayalee basically from Trichur, Kerala. He and his friends liked to travel on mountain areas just like me. We talked about our adventures from the past and it didn’t take long for me to become friends with them.

The Mumbai gang - Vasudev, Abhimanyu, Jayesh, Jay

Around noon the bus reached Rampur and it stopped for a 15 minutes break. From the bus stand we saw the river Sutlej for the first time. Before this trip I had looked up the map of Himachal Pradesh and found that much of the road that I had to travel passed by the side of the Sutlej. The road from Shimla to Peo is known as the ‘Hindustan Tibetan Highway’, one of the most treacherous roads in the world. I have seen a lot of stunning pictures of it on the internet and a few scenes from the Bollywood movie ‘Highway’ which was shot there.

The iconic tunnel of the famous Hindustan Tibetan Highway

Jay and Abhimanyu shifted their seat to the front near the driver, who was wearing sunglasses (I shall tell the story of it later) and started chatting with him. I looked at Sutlej, she was all muddy and flowing like mad. I guess may be somewhere on top of the Himalayas near the Manasarovar where it originates, it must be raining very hard. We stopped at a place called Jeori for lunch and after 30 minutes of break, we resumed our journey. Somewhere between Peo and Jeori we stopped in front of a Sikh temple. It seemed they were having some celebration and everyone was given free kesari(dessert), chana and some drink. I must say that it tasted really great. Soon we left and I saw the first glimpse of the world famous snowcapped Himalayan mountains in the distance which was Kinnaur Kailash range by the way. Though I knew I was going to spend a number of days on these mountains and that this was not the best position to take pictures, yet I became so excited that I started clicking photos even as we were travelling. Such is the influence the Himalayas has on me.

The first glimpse of the world famous snow capped Himalayas!

The road was really narrow at many places and we had to take reverse for some distance whenever a big vehicle came from the opposite side. In the whole journey we wasted nearly an hour doing this alone. As we travelled further we got a full stretch view of the Kinnaur Kailash range. Finally the bus reached Peo around 4.30.

The Mumbai team’s initial plan was to do the Kinnaur trekking but soon they realized it was closed due to snowfall. So they decided to stay at Peo and look for some other plans. My plan was to go to Kalpa, hardly 10 km from Peo, which is quieter and more beautiful than Peo from the information that I found on the internet. When they heard my plan they also agreed to come with me. We took the 5 pm bus to Kalpa, which was the last one for the day since it was Sunday. The local people here in the Kinnaur region, both male and female, wear a special type of hat of green and grey color. Along the way there was some regional music playing inside the bus. It was very rhythmic but all I understood was that they kept on singing ‘Rekkaang Peo’ which is the actual pronunciation. Peo has its own song. Cool!

It took hardly 30 minutes to reach Kalpa. Kalpa was the former capital of Kinnaur district which later shifted to Peo. Jay, Abhi and Jayesh went to look for a room as soon as we got down from the bus while Vasu and I went on a different way. We didn’t have to go long, we found a small guest house on top and luckily they had 2 rooms available for just Rs 600 each. The view from the room was absolutely spectacular which you cannot see anywhere else in the world. The Kinnaur Kailash range looked like a big white gate in front of us.

Couldn't ask for a better spot. View from our room in Kalpa

We kept our luggage there and went down to inform others. Soon all of them came to the room and put their things down. We heard some music coming from the Tibetan temple down in the distance and decided to visit it before it closed. Vasu and I went together first while the other guys were freshening themselves up. We reached the temple. There were lots of prayer wheels surrounding the temple. We walked around the temple turning those wheels. The typical Tibetan prayer music coming from the temple and the chilled atmosphere made us feel that we weren’t in India any more but in Tibet itself. Spiti and Peo are known as ‘little Tibet’ but I guess ‘little India’ would be more apt!! We also visited a Hindu temple nearby. You could see the vast valley from the balcony of the temple which is just awesome and I wished I could stay there for my entire life.

After that both of us went to a small restaurant to have some veg momos while the other guys also joined us. It was 7 pm in the evening but the daylight hadn’t gone at all. It was in the middle of the year and also because of its geographical location this place became dark only after 8 p.m. For a guy who lived closer to the equatorial line, all this was a wonder. We decided to go back to the room but Jay said they should order food then because it would take a while to prepare. Here in these mountain areas they only made food as per order, so everything would be all fresh and hot. We went to another restaurant and Jayesh suggested to me to order something Tibetan. I ordered a chowmeen which is a kind of Tibetan/Chinese noodle. He ordered a tupaka. We went back to the room to charge our cell phones and cameras and came back after an hour. But the food was not ready yet and also there were some foreigners sitting inside the restaurant, so we all waited outside. Darkness had spread everywhere by then. Nobody was there except for us and the guys inside the restaurant. It seemed that Kalpa went to sleep very early. The caretaker of our room Mr.Thotharam informed us that we could go trekking to a village on top of Kalpa when Jayesh asked him about the local sights. We had seen the snow covered mountain top earlier while coming in the bus, so they all were so excited about going there. Before I came to Spiti I had checked the weather forecast and so I told them that there were chances of snowfall for the next two days. The guys were so happy to hear this, because they all wanted to see the snowfall. But I had seen plenty of it in my last trip during the Gangotri Gaumukh trekking. I told them about my Gangotri adventure, how I saw the moving satellites and Milky Way and all. While I was talking, the power supply went off and it was totally dark everywhere like an omen. I immediately looked up to the sky to see the Milky Way but it wasn’t visible much. But I saw a few moving satellites and I showed them to my friends and all of them were astonished on seeing the sight. They never knew we could see them with naked eyes. You could see the moving satellites on these remote places as there is very less light pollution on a clear sky. They shine like stars because of the light reflecting from the solar panel and also move constantly round the earth. I think I have become an expert in spotting it.

Wonder what she is praying for. At the Tibetan temple in Kalpa

While we were talking, Jay was busy feeding the stray dogs with biscuits that he had bought. We then talked about our journey of that day and then only I came to know about our bus driver’s story. It turned out that he wasn’t wearing those sunglasses for style. He had an eye surgery a few days before and he practically couldn’t see with his left eye for a few weeks and hence the sunglass to protect it. Jay said that at one point he even put his head outside through the window to check whether the tires were all on the road while turning some sharp curves!! We laughed so much thinking about it. The food was ready at last and we all went inside. The power hadn’t come yet so we had to light up candles for light. The chowmeen tasted a little bit salty. I remembered my uncle once saying the real Chinese food tasted a little too salty for our liking. The food there didn’t taste like what we got in the so called Chinese restaurants back home. Jay shared his tupka with me. Tupka is a kind of noodles with lot of water in it. It was really great to have a candle light dinner on that cold night.

We headed back to the room after finishing dinner and I was already thinking of the next day’s plan. Those guys were planning to do trekking the next day and then go to Spiti the day after that. Actually their plans were similar to mine but they had one day extra. I thought a little adjustment in my plan could match with theirs but I decided not to do it. Even though I felt really comfortable with them, travelling alone has its own perks. I had confidence by then that I could do the rest of my trip alone. Also there were chances that I might get friendly with some other guys in the rest of my trip!! So I said that I was going to leave the next day for Tabo which was my next pit stop. I asked Thotharam how to get to Peo in the morning from Kalpa. I knew the bus to Kaza is at 7 am so I had to reach at least by 6 am to book the seats. But he said there were no buses to Peo from Kalpa until 9 am. He then suggested a different plan- to get the 11 am bus to Nako which would reach Nako by evening and stay there and the next day go to Kaza by taking the afternoon bus. So for that I might have to skip Tabo. I was really confused what do to on the next day because Nako wasn’t in my plan initially. After a few minutes Jayesh came to the room and said that he had talked to Thotharam and he suggested that I could walk to Peo early in the morning like a lot of foreigners do rather than taking a bus or cab. I thought that was a good idea and decided to go for it. I kept the alarm for 4 am and went to sleep.

Day 3

I woke up early in the morning. If I were to get the Kaza bus I should leave the room at least by 5 am. I snoozed the alarm for 1 hr and went back to sleep since I felt lazy to get up so early. When I woke up at 5 am, I could hear the rains outside. It was so cold inside the room even though I had put a heavy blanket on top of me. Walking all the way to Peo in this weather seemed suicidal. I decided to go for the plan B (Nako) so that I could get some more time to sleep. Finally we all woke up after 8 am and realized there was no power. I washed my face and we all went outside. It was really cloudy outside and drizzling also. The mountains were only partially visible. There was a Belgian guy near our room who also came outside to check the weather. I told Jayesh that if it was raining here, then there were chances of snowfall on the top of Kalpa where they were planning to do trekking. Jayesh and Vasu were so excited on hearing this. While we were talking, Thotharam came and said it was better to leave then to catch the Peo bus. I thanked him for suggesting Nako, said good bye to all, hoping we all could catch up later somewhere in Spiti valley and left the room. I had hardly spent a day with him but we had really become good friends. Vasu accompanied me to the bus stop.The bus arrived at 9 am sharp. We had one last hug and then I boarded the bus.

Reckong Peo bus station.

There I was all alone again. But I was sure something unexpected would happen any time, wondering with whom I was going to end up by the evening. I enquired about the Nako bus when I reached the Peo bus stand. It was around 11.30 but the booking counter hadn’t opened yet. I went to an ATM counter nearby to get some cash as I was afraid there won’t be any ATM available as I went up towards Spiti. I had some food and came back to the counter which had opened by that time. I specifically asked for a right window seat and got it. The bus took off finally and after some distance it reached near the river Sutlej. As I travelled further I saw several sign boards saying ‘You are travelling through one of the most treacherous roads in the world’ and I couldn’t agree more. The condition of the road was quite dangerous at many areas. You would become sacred by looking at the side of the mountains near the side of the road. It was not green as one could see from Shimla to Peo but instead it was all sharp rocks bulging towards the edges of the roads. I started listening to music but didn’t close my eyes for a second even though I was really tired because I didn’t want to miss out anything. You never knew what was going to come up next after each turn around the corner.

Here the bridges not just connects roads but the civilizations itself

The bus stopped for lunch at a place called Spillow, a small town. I talked to a local man while having lunch in the restaurant. I told him I was coming from Kerala alone. Here is the interesting thing, these people see many foreigners both male and female travelling alone there knowing nothing but English yet it didn’t surprise them a bit. But as soon as they realized that you were an Indian especially from the South travelling there alone, they found it hard to believe! I noticed this reaction every time I mentioned it to the people I met there. He told me there was nothing to worry about there,as the people there were really nice and helpful which was true every bit as I learnt from my own experience.

We left Spillow after a half an hour halt. If you have ‘Airtel’ mobile connection it was better to make all your calls before leaving Spillow because there won’t be any network further from that point. After we passed some distance, the bus stopped and I looked outside to see why it had stopped. The road ahead of us was blocked due to a landslide. I went near it to check the condition. The road was completely blocked as some very large heavy rocks had fallen from the top of the mountains.

Road block! BRO cleaning up the landslides near Spillow

I realized it would take hours to clear the road so I went back to the bus. While I was walking back, I saw a lady running back in to the bus, and then I looked up and saw some small pebbles coming from the top of the mountain and hitting the bus. I immediately ran back in to the bus. There were some sign boards along the road warning about these falling stones. They said ‘watch out for the shooting stones’ and I wondered earlier why they were called ‘shooting stones’ instead of ‘falling stones’, but now I understood why. They fell so fast from the top like someone was firing a bullet from up there! A small stone falling at that speed could really hurt if it hit you.

I didn’t feel like talking to anyone in the bus and moreover most of them were sleeping. There was a Lama sitting behind me but he was reading a book so I thought not to disturb him. I slept for almost an hour inside the bus and when I woke up I decided to go check out what was happening with the landslide situation. The roads there are maintained by BRO (Border Roads Organization). They came immediately whenever a landslide occurred and cleared it fast with big bulldozers and all. One officer stopped me from going further as I was walking towards the rocks. He warned me to stay back because they had drilled down the rocks and put some dynamites inside it in order to blast it. One guy who was sitting on top of the rock ran towards us after he lighted up the dynamites. Everyone gathered around there waited with anticipation to see what would happen next. The rock shattered into small pieces with a loud explosion and the sound echoed through the valley of Sutlej. BRO cleared the roads immediately after that and we resumed our journey.

The never ending journey through the twisted roads..

We passed a village called Pooh/Puh. I knew this place from the movie ‘Highway’ which I had mentioned earlier. It was this tiny place which had sparked my ambition to come here. As we travelled further I saw a bridge cutting across the river Sutlej and I noticed a river joining with it from the left side. It must be the famous river ‘Spiti’. Sutlej was all muddy but Spiti had more clear water. Good bye dirty Sutlej , see you back in a few days and hello Spiti!

Spiti(on the left) merge with Sutlej at Ka

If you went straight instead of taking the bridge you would reach the Indo - China border which was hardly 10 kms from there. Looking at the map in my phone I learned that the place was called Ka (The name of the snake from the Jungle Book J )! The change of scenery from Ka was unexpectedly breathtaking. The bus immediately began to travel through a steep road and the sides of the mountains on either side made you feel like you were travelling through the ‘Great Grand Canyon’. The sides looked like some painter had brushed that whole area with some big brush or something! I had never seen anything like that before. As if that wasn’t enough, the views dramatically changed as we climbed up further. How could I describe the surroundings there- let me say if you looked around there and compared it with some photo which the NASA’s Mars rover ‘Curiosity’ had taken from the Martian surface, you could never differentiate them! The land there didn’t look similar to anything that you saw not only in India but in the whole world! All you could see is a lot of reddish mountains with no sight of vegetation at all till the horizon. The only thing that made you feel you were still on the earth was the snow capped Himalayan mountains on the right side.

Where am I, at the Martian land?!

The river Spiti wasn’t visible by then. From Ka it was better to sit on the left side of the bus which provided more scenery.I sat on the bus wondering what all I am going to see more on this strange land...

To be continued....

Himalayan Diaries! Gangotri Gaumukh Trekking

2014-11-21T00:00:00.004+05:30

Ever since I saw the film ‘The Motor Cycle Diaries‘ I have been dreaming about travelling around the world. It is the story of young Che Guevera and his friend travelling across Latin America on a motor cycle. That movie influenced me very much, imagine just wandering around the world with your best friend! But for that, you need preparations, have to set up a vague plan, find out about the places that you intend to visit, the time estimates (especially if you have a job)…. Leaving all these to a tour package kills the thrills for me. Last year (Sep 2013) I travelled to Rishikesh, Haridwar, Mussorie and Devprayag with my cousin. The view of the Himalayan peaks in the distance that I had that day is still fresh in my mind. Due to the heavy floods which had hit Uttarakhand a few months before that, the roads to Badrinath ,Kedarnath and Gangotri were under construction. Also my limited time constraints made the Himalayan trip impossible. But I knew that was not the last time I was going there.

One day I will be there! Himalayas - behind the valley at Chamba

I was planning a trip to Badrinath ever since that. One day I came to know about the Gangotri Gaumukh trekking. I learned more about this trekking through Indiamike.com forum. I highly recommend this site for those who seek travelling plans and various kinds of trips across India. Many members in the forum were kind enough to provide answers for my questions. Without their help it would have been very difficult for me to prepare. Now let me say a few words about my travel companion, his name is Sudhin (Sasikuttan!), one of my best friends from college. We were roommates for four years in our college hostel. Currently he is working offshore in Dubai. We planned this trip according to his vacation.

Day 1

And finally after collecting all the necessary information and things we needed, we started our journey on October 11 2014 Saturday morning. We planned to reach Delhi by flight so Cochin airport was our first destination. The departure time was 6.15 am, my friend Alfred drove me to airport in his Deo. Sudhin was already there at the airport and we boarded the flight. It was my first airplane experience, so I was really excited. We reached Delhi around 11 am (After travelling in almost all types of transport modes I would say there is nothing better than an Indian railway journey through Konkan in monsoon). We took a bus to the Aerocity metro station and boarded the Airport Metro express to New Delhi station. The metro terminates there and we had to change the line. We took the yellow metro line to Kashmiri gate station which is located just two stations from New Delhi. We had a delicious lunch at a small food corner there, we ordered two varieties of paneer curries and it was for the first time Sudhin was having north Indian food. Kashmiri gate has an Inter State Bus Terminal where we can catch buses to almost all the neighboring states of Delhi.
Around 1.30 we boarded the bus to Haridwar. The journey took 6 hrs with a short stop for refreshments. So around 8 pm we arrived at Haridwar and checked into a room just opposite the Railway station. We took a walk to Har ki pauri (shores of Ganga). On the way we had the famous hot milk and jilebi! But I was little disappointed as we approached Har ki pauri because the Ganga’s water level was too low unlike the last time I saw, when it was flowing like mad. We had dinner from a nearby hotel and went back to the room to sleep.

Hot milk and Jilebi - Haridwar special

Day 2

Early next morning we woke up and got ready for the long Journey awaiting us .We had to reach Gangotri which is 300 km from Haridwar, by night Since there aren’t any straight buses to Gangotri from Haridwar, we were to go to Uttarkashi first and then take another bus to Gangotri. So we took a bus to Uttarkashi via Rishikesh around 5.30 am. We reached Chamba around 9 am where the bus stopped for quick refreshment for the passengers and driver. From there we saw the snow covered tops of theHimalayan peaks from the distance for the first time in our journey. The tallest mountain ranges in the world, the natural barrier of our great nation was shining so bright in the sunlight. But disappointingly that was the last time we saw that magnificent view till we reached Gangotri.
The driver of the bus rushed through the narrow road which snaked across the valley. Soon after crossing Chamba you will get a companion up to the destination, it is none other than the mighty 'Ganga'. But at that point its name is Bhagirathi, the river which came to the earth from the heavens because of the prayers of King Bhagirath! It becomes Ganga after joining with Alakanandha at Devprayag which is not quite far from Chamba. Bhagirathi looked like a lake in those areas because of the Tehri dam which is constructed across the river at New Tehri, I thought. But as we passed a few kilometers we could see the real face of Bhagirathi. She is very thin but flowing really fast, cutting the mountains into two parts. One of the things that astonished me was that there are countless numbers of small streams joining Bhagirathi from its source in Gaumukh but still I felt the water level of the river is the same as its beginning. May be it is because she flows very fast! There are huge rocks in the river that got there probably because of landslides.

Bhagirathi (Ganga) rushing through the valleys at Uttarkashi

After 8 hours of journey we reached Uttarkashi and had lunch there. Shortly after that we headed for Gangotri in a shared jeep. Even though heavy trucks could go through those roads there was no regular bus service from Uttarkashi to Gangotri, shared jeeps are the only source of public transport. The condition of the road is very bad at some places even though most of it is fine. There are a few small towns on the way. We could feel the chillness in the atmosphere as we approached Gangotri. At last around 7 o clock after 12 hrs of tiring journey we finally reached Gangotri. We took a room there and headed for dinner. First we had tea at a nearby tea shop which was owned by the guy who also owned the lodge. There we met Jayveer who is working as a guide for Gangotri - Gaumukh trekking. We agreed to hire him for our trekking and he accompanied us for the next two days.

Gaumukh is an ice glacier under the ‘Bhagirathi’ and 'Siva ling' mountains which is the source of the Ganga. To reach there you have to walk 18kms from the Gangotri town through the Gangotri National Park, and for that you need to get permission from the national forest authority. We initially thought of getting permit the next morning but Jayveer said that it’s better to get permit then itself so that we could start our trekking early in the morning. So went to the forest office. Even though it was closed by that time, we got the office opened and got permit using Jayveer’s influence! You have to provide the Id proof of all the members who want to travel and also the details of your guide or porters if any, accompanying you.

Bhagirathi (Ganga)at night in Gangotri

By the time we left the office it was past 8 o clock so almost all the shops were closed except for a few hotels, so it was a little bit dark around there on the way back to the lodge. I was leading the line when I heard a voice from behind 'Aliyaaa just look above you', I looked back and it was Sudhin. He was looking up at the sky, astonished. I looked above and it was one of the most astonishing views that I have ever seen in my life! There were millions of shining stars above us in the sky and all look much closer than we see them usually. I guess it is because of the altitude of Gangotri which is located 3500 meters above sea level and also because of the less light pollution. There was a better view of that starry sky the very next day so I am not describing it now. We had dinner on the way back from forest office. Then we went back to the lodge to get some sleep, promising Jayveer bhayya to meet him at 6 o clock in the morning to start our trekking. We lay down on our bed thinking about what tomorrow was going to be like!

Day 3

The 6 o clock assembly was just a false promise. How could we get up early in the morning in that shivering cold weather? Somehow we managed to get up at 7 o clock. There was no water heater in our room. We decided to skip the brushing so just imagine the coldness of the water there ! We went down to the tea shop where we had agreed to meet Jayveer (Of course we didn’t take a bath!)We had a quick breakfast and also got our lunch packed (stuffed parathas). Initially we thought about going only to Gaumukh but then decided to go to Tapovan (5 kms away from Gaumukh) which would take the total days of trekking to 3. Before beginning our trekking we visited the famous Gangotri temple. This temple along with Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath is known as the 'chota char dam'. These are well known Hindu pilgrim centers.

In day light we saw Gangotri town much more clearly. The town is surrounded by three big mountains, but their top wasn’t covered with snow unlike the ones we saw from Chamba. There is a small bridge connecting the opposite side of the Ganga, we walked across it. We came back to Gangotri temple and started our trekking. There is a check post after just 2 kms, where you have to show the permit to enter further. There they write the date and time of your crossing. For each person including the guide we had to give 150 Rs as deposit per day. The rest of the amount was to be collected when we got back there.

After walking some more distance we saw the Gangotri town from a distance. We continued with our journey. The path was steep at some parts but most of the way there was just a gradual increase in height. But the sides were so steep that even one slip could lead to a fall from a great height and probably a holy dip in the Ganges!

The ancient route!

We made the huge mistake of carrying all the way, heavy bags which contained two pairs of dresses and blankets which weren't needed at all. Because of this heavy luggage we had to halt at so many places to take rest. We ate chocolates and drank water to gain energy. As we headed further we could see the giant Bhagirathi mountains from a distance… it was a remarkable view. We had to reach near those mountains by the end of the day. That’s an awful lot of distance to cover, I thought.

Bhagirathi Mountains in the distance, Ganga flowing at right side

We passed many people coming from Gaumukh, most of the them foreigners. This trekking route is one of the ancient routes in the world where civilized men travelled through thousands of years before. Its beauty is surreal, the accessibility for us Indians is very easy since it is in our country. Yet the fact that very few Indians visit here compared to the foreigners disappointed me. The foreigners hire porters to carry their luggage. Some of them travel all the way to Badrinath from Gangotri which could take up to 10 days. May be next time I thought.

The trekking continued. I had walked 7 km at night for second show movies after bunking hostel during my college days, but this was different. My shoulders began to ache because of the baggage, and my heart was beating fast. We drank a lot of water on the way. There was no shortage of resource to replenish once the bottle was finished. There were plenty of small water falls coming down the mountains on the way. The water was so pure and cold. It was a sunny day, even though a cold breeze blew throughout the day. We used sun block to avoid sun burn.

Water streams coming to Ganga from mountains nearby

After 9 kms, we reached a check post. After lunch there, we resumed our journey. Soon after, we passed through some areas where there was a high chance of landslides to occur. Jayveer told us to walk fast. As we went a little bit further we saw a few fellow natives but they weren’t people. They were goats which live in those mountains. Some of them just looked relaxed and was monitoring our journey from the top of a rock! The change of geography was very clear as we walked further. The vegetation that we saw in the banks of Ganga earlier was becoming less and less and it was rubbles everywhere. After 14 km we finally reached the place called Bojwasa - our pit stop for the day. Bojwasa is the base camp for the trekkers en route to Gaumukh. At Bhojbasa there is an Ashram called ‘Lal Baba Ashram’ for travellers to stay, and also a government lodge and a police station. Jayveer arranged a room for us in the Ashram. There were a lot of foreigners staying there. We got into our room to put all our things there and went to the cafeteria to have tea. The rate at the ashram is Rs 300 per person for a day which includes food. We had lunch (again) there (rice and dal curry). Just after finishing lunch we immediately went back to the room to take rest. We were so exhausted and I had a severe head ache also.

Lal Baba Ashram Bhagirathi mountains are behind

Around 6 clock we woke up and went outside. It was getting dark as the sun was already behind the tall mountains. At the ashram dinner was served at 6.30pm. All of us who stayed in the ashram assembled there and had dinner. Some of the foreigners were struggling to have food without spoon and knife. But the most difficult part was to wash hands in the ice cold water after dinner. We met two Malayalees there, in their mid-thirties. We talked to them for some time and then went outside.

We looked up at the sky, this time the view was much more spectacular. Millions of stars were shining in the dark sky in different colours. But the most astonishing thing was not the normal stars but the arrangement of stars that were grouped in a certain pattern as a thick line which split the entire sky, known as the 'Milky Way'. Milky Way is the galaxy (group of stars) in which our solar system is included. We could clearly see the bright white light of the Milky Way in the sky. I always wonder how our ancestors wrote and studied about Milky Way when there weren’t any telescope in the ancient times. Now I know the answer. The light pollution back home is clearly hiding the sight of this spectacular natural phenomenon. We lay down there for a few more minutes for a little space exploration. I remembered how long ago on my 8^th birthday my dad gave me a book about the space exploration and stars named “Manathunokkumbol” . That day we lay down in the farm at night as he told me about the ‘Orion belt’ and a few other star groups. I tried to find the Orion belt but it was in vain. Those three stars which shine so bright and easily identifiable back home are now along with the other countless shining stars in the sky! But we managed to observe a few satellites orbiting around the earth.

A moving satellite in the starry sky

Before starting our trip we had gone through the weather forecast of Gangotri and found there was a chance of rain for one day. As we prepared to sleep I asked Jayveer about it and he said at Bhojbasa there wouldn’t be any rain. We lay down thinking about the next day’s adventure. The sound of Bhagirathi flowing nearby was the only sound that we could hear at that time.

Day 4

I hadn’t recovered from the shoulder pain completely even the next day when we woke up. Sudhin was also feeling ill, he had breathing trouble because of the cold. Yesterday on the way to Gaumukh we had decided to go to Tapovan (which is 5 kms far from Gaumukh) if possible. The route to Tapovan is very tough compared to Gaumukh. You have to walk over the ice glacier for some distance and a guide is a must. At Tapovan there lives a Baba named 'Mauni Baba' who hasn’t talked for 7 years. I have seen a few documentaries about him in Discovery and National Geographic channels. When the winter season starts all the people in Gangotri and Bojwasa leave the place, come down from the mountains and live in the outskirts because of the deadly cold weather but the baba lives in Tapovan throughout the year. I told Sudhin about this guy and even though Tapovan trekking wasn’t in our plan he agreed to go there. After a brief discussion about it inside the room we finally went outside to have tea. We stood still for a few seconds witnessing the sight in front of us. The weather had changed completely .It was dark clouds everywhere, and we felt that a big storm was on the way.

'I told you there won’t be rain here in Bhojbasa but I didn’t say there won’t be a snowfall' Jayveer said .Oh yah very clever! He said we had to start trekking as early as we could if we wanted to go to Tapovan and Gaumukh, so we wasted no time. It was around 7 o clock when we headed for Gaumukh just after having a cup of tea. The route to Gaumukh from Bojwasa which is 4 kms far is quite easy comparatively. There was no vegetation at all on our way, it was just rocks and pebbles. We saw the huge ice glacier from the distance. Finally we reached Gaumukh around 9 o clock. To our disappointment the Bhagirathi and Siva Ling peaks weren’t visible at all due to the cloudy sky. But the view of Gaumukh ice glacier was breathtaking.

Gaumukh ice glacier - The source of the divine river Ganga

There it was…..‘Ganga’ the holiest river in India which flows through thousands of miles, serving half a billion of people and countless number of animals, originates from that huge ice glacier. One wonders how this small stream could make such a huge impact on India’s history. Here the water is in its purest form and the goddess is the river itself! It melts from the pure ice glacier untouched by humans or animals.

Here I am. After countless nights of dreaming and preparations I have finally made it. I remembered a story from Mahabharata in which Arjuna had gone for a one year journey throughout India, he had started his journey from here! Even if it was just a story the man who wrote that had to visit this place for sure. It could be here that our ancestors wrote the Upanishad thousands of years before, which meant the name 'Nachikethas' had evolved in some one’s brain here millenniums before!

Here we are finally! Sudhin and me at Gaumukh glacier 4000meters above sea

There was a small Siva temple near the Gaumukh, its top decorated with beautifully coloured prayer flags. The Gaumukh ice glacier was hardly 250 meters from where we stood. We were so eager to go closer to it. But suddenly a small breeze started and there we witnessed the first snowfall in our life! It started so slowly that we were eager to catch the tiny snow in our hands.

Siva temple at Gaumukh

The sky became cloudier even than the morning which made the Bhagirathi and Siva ling mountains totally invisible. We were thinking of capturing closer shots of those mountains yesterday, which by that time was next to impossible. To add more disappointment to that, Jayveer said that it could be really difficult for Tapovan trekking since the snowfall could be heavier in those areas , so we might as well skip that. He even prohibited us from going closer to the glacier since it was really dangerous. He also wanted us to return to Bhojbasa if we were to return to Gangotri that day. In this weather staying at Bhojbasa for one more day would be of no use if we could not do the Tapovan trekking. The cold weather was bearable for me at that time since it had only started so I intended to stay there a little more time. We captured a few more snaps there and took a bottle of Ganga’s water. My fingers were almost snow bitten by the cold water of Ganga. The temperature of the water could be closer to its melting point for sure! At that time a few travellers that we had met at our ashram last day reached Gaumukh and said they were heading for Tapovan. When we said we were skipping it because of the weather, one guy said they were continuing with the Tapovan trekking because 'Zindagi na milegi dubara'! (You Only Live Once). I didn’t want to leave that magnificent place so soon but we had to. It took another 1 and a half hour to return to Bhojbasa.

We had breakfast just after reaching Bhojbasa from the GNVM tourist home and also packed our lunch. I thought the snowfall would be over soon but when we went outside it was still falling. By 11 o’ clock we started our 14 kms return trip to Gangotri. On the way we met a lot of trekkers coming to Bhojbasa. Jayveer told us to walk fast because there might be chances of landslides in some areas due to the snowfall.

We spent only two days there but had the chance to experience two extreme weather conditions! The disappointment about not going to Tapovan and the cloudy skies which prevented us from enjoying the magnificent view of Siva Ling Mountain was getting lesser as I walked through the snowfall. I always wanted to experience a snowfall and now my dream was being fulfilled….. I cannot describe how we felt when we walked across that beautiful valley. The sight of Ganges flowing through the mountains which were covered in white thick snow was absolutely breathtaking.

Its beautiful as heaven! Ganga started its thousands miles journey

At that time the colorful vegetation that we saw yesterday was fully covered with thick snow. Slowly we started to feel the real difficulties of that cold weather. Since we were climbing down we didn’t need as much energy as we needed for yesterday’s trekking but still we by force had to take a few minutes of rest at regular intervals. But the moment we stopped, our body temperature would drop very much. Even though I was wearing gloves my hands were aching very badly. Initially we took a lot of videos and walked slowly admiring the beauty of the mighty Himalayas but as time passed our only thought was about getting back to Gangotri as fast as we could. On the way we saw a few guys coming from Bhojbasa, carried by donkeys .They were none other than the guys we met at Gangotri who were going to Tapovan.What happened was that they went half way up to Tapovan but their legs got snow bitten because of the heavy snowfall which made three feet height of snow.So they decided to end their journey.'Zindagi na milega dubara' right!

At one point we stopped to have lunch but I couldn’t stay there even for a few minutes, so skipped it and started walking again. Sudhin accompanied me but Jayveer said he would catch up. That man had walked countless times through this way in different weather climates, this was nothing new for him. I walked as fast as I could but it seemed we weren’t getting any nearer! To be honest I was close to tears at the end of it.

I just need to get in to my room! Walking through the snowfall to Gangotri

Finally we reached the check post that we had crossed yesterday. Soon after we passed it, I saw the Gangotri town in the distance. I felt as if I had seen an oasis after days of travel through the snow desert! When we finally reached there I laughed like a marathon runner who had just reached the end point.

At Gangotri it wasn’t snowing but raining. Up in the sky we could see the snow falling but by the time it reached the ground it melted. Jayveer told us to change our wet dress so that we would feel better. But I couldn’t even bend my fingers to unbutton my shirt- they were snow bitten! I somehow managed to change but there was absolutely no energy left in us to go outside and have some tea. Out of sympathy Jayveer bought us soups. We had the soup and took some rest, it was 5 pm in the clock. We could tolerate the hot weather but there was no way to escape this cold weather, I thought while lying down. At night we went outside to have dinner, it took us 10 minutes to walk 1oo meters. The power was gone in the whole town, it was so dark out there and the mesmerizing view of the starry sky was missing. It took me hours to go into deep sleep.

Its not going to end soon.

Rest of the days

Next morning we woke up and went outside. It was really sunny as if yesterday hadn’t happened at all! How mysterious are the ways of the Nature!!!!. I thought about the power of our technologies which correctly predicts the weather 2 weeks prior. The power hadn’t yet come. Our phones were off. I was so eager to upload the pictures in What’sapp and Facebook. In a way we all travel to upload the pics online, don’t we? I looked towards the mountains near the town, all of them were covered with snow. We had breakfast and said goodbye to Jayveer. It took some while to get a jeep from Gangotri since most of them were pre- booked by the tourists. The whole day we travelled and finally after 9 pm we reached Haridwar. We were thinking of going to Mussorie earlier if we got a day extra but then decided to avoid any place with cold weather. We had had enough of it at the Himalayas. The next plan was to go to Agra and visit the Taj Mahal.

We immediately got in to a bus to Delhi from Haridwar after realizing there was no train at that time. Reaching Delhi early in the morning we took a room near New Delhi railway station. In the morning we went to Agra to see one of the most beautiful buildings on the planet, the ‘Taj Mahal’. I felt like Taj Mahal is more beautiful from a distance than when we see it closer. We didn’t get enough time to visit Fatehpur Sikri so decided to go back to Delhi.

The most beautiful building on the planet - Taj Mahal

The next day after checking out from the hotel room, we went to Chandini Chawk in Metro. We did a little shopping there and also visited the Red Fort which is nearby. Personally I find the Red Fort more interesting than Taj Mahal since there are lots of places to walk inside it. We went to my Kunjammavan’s home in Gurgaon for the night. The following day we left Delhi to come back to Cochin by train.

At the station we bought two novels - one of them was the ‘The Alchemist’. I had heard so much about the book and finally had a chance to read it. It was really a good coincidence….. reading a book which inspires us to travel a lot while travelling. The hero in the book is made to travel for a treasure which is actually buried in his native place only. But he later realizes how travelling around the world has changed his life for good. Most of the incidents in the story could relate to our life very easily. There is one moment where a merchant dreams all his life about going to Mecca. When the hero asks the merchant about it he says if he achieves that dream he will not have anything left in his life to live for. I had dreamed about this trip for many months. After I finally achieved it, I thought ‘now what?’ I think in our life we need many dreams to keep us alive, not just one.

I will go there again for sure!

Travelling is one of the most enjoyable and beautiful things in our life. It is the perfect way to understand our world and life. By reading this travelogue I hope somebody who hasn’t travelled much, will get inspired and do it soon.

On 20^th Oct 2014 we reached back in Kochi after an adventurous and memorable trip .I need to find another dream as soon as possible, I thought, as we left the railway station.

Innovative reports

2010-12-05T19:48:00.000+05:30

Following are the links to some of the innovative reports related to the computer science which i have done.

3 presentations

2010-12-05T16:08:00.000+05:30

Links to some presentations that may be useful for engg students..
datamining
bluetooth
firewall

Hello world in java

2010-11-23T19:27:00.000+05:30

This blog is about how can u make a simple java program in your computer using netbeans.
For this u need 2 things
1.The Java SE Development Kit 6 (JDK 6)
2.The NetBeans IDE

First u need to create a new project in net beans

File->New project
select the java application as the project type.
In the Project Name field, type Hello World App.
In the Create Main Class field, type helloworldapp.HelloWorldApp.
Click finish.

Type the code

Replace

// TODO code application logic here

with

System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string

```
Compile the program
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Run->Build Main project
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Run the program
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Run->Run Main Projeect  
```
You will get the output as above if u r successfully run the program. Dadaa thats ur first java pgm!!

from scratch

2010-11-23T15:38:00.000+05:30

hi friends
now i'm also entering into the world of bloggers.i dont no much about it and as a final year computer science engineering student its really embarrassing for me :(
hopes it all go well .what do u think about my blogs name(naadanblog),i didnt get a better one!
i think i can post something useful for everyone and please give your valuable comments.