An Enlightening Journey Through Time I, along with a friend, planned a trip to Dalhousie. We left Delhi on the 13th of August, 2003 at 11 am for Chandigarh, reaching there at 3:30 pm. but as we could not get a direct bus for Dalhousie, we ended up going to Dharamsala first We managed to get stranded between the two bus stations of Chandigarh till 8 pm, waiting for a bus to Dharamsala. Finally we were able to get a bus till Kangra and reached there by about 2:30 am on the 14th. From there we took a bus further to Dharamsala, which took us about another half an hour. We decided to take lodging at McLeodganj as there were no proper resting places at Dharamsala. As luck would have it, we had to spend the whole time from 3 to 7:30 am at the Dharamsala bus stand itself as no bus left for McLeodganj before that time! �BUDDHAM SHARANAM� UPPER DHARAMSALA/ MCLEODGANJ We reached McLeodganj by about 8 am. McLeodganj is a Tibetan refugee town where the Dalai Lama resettled after escaping the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Restaurants and hotels run by his followers abound. In the center of the town, the colorful prayer wheel outside the Namgyalma Stupa is never still as passing worshippers run their hands over the revolving poles in deliverance of their prayers hoping their Karma is good. A number of shops embrace the road on both sides with little cafes where one can have a cup of steaming hot Jasmine tea. Here you find everything from monks to restaurateurs and hippies (in search of Nirvana?). Sometimes foreigners here, sell off their personal possessions to be able to stay on till their money lasts! We checked into the Mount View Hotel with beautiful panoramic view of the mountains. After freshening up, we took a walk around the surrounding area. It was drizzling outside but that did not deter us from our mission. We took a long walk towards the Bhagsunag temple, 2 kms from McLeodganj. Its waterfall also makes it a popular picnic spot, but we were not able to go all the way as rains dampened our spirits. Women along the roadside sold spices, herbs and mementos. We had lunch on our way back from the walk at a dimly lit cozy looking restaurant and dinner of Momos at an eating joint where Pierce Brosnan (agent 007) is supposedly to have once eaten to his heart�s content! We also visited the serene Anglican Church of St. John in the Wilderness, which sits halfway between Dharamsala and Palampur. This building with its stained glass windows and monument to Lord Elgin is a reminder of the days of the British Raj. In its forlorn graveyard lie the tombs of many British officers from the former cantonment of McLeodganj. The place though very peaceful, certainly gave me the creeps due to its forlorn, eerie appearance! The next day, on the 15th, after having breakfast of Jasmine tea, toasts and honey and banana pancakes at a friendly little food joint we took a 3-wheeler to the famous Dalai Lama�s Monastery, the Namgyal Monastery, situated not far away. As you near the monastery, prayer wheels and carpet shops fade into the distance and the enchanting, purifying hum of Om Mani Padme Hum fills the air. The monastery sprawls over a vast area and evokes a feeling of divine peace and contentment Here you experience the deep spirituality and compassion of the Tibetan Buddhism in its true form. Photography is prohibited inside the temple but we managed to take a few snaps outside the temple The temple premises feature spiritual drums having religious text/mantras engraved on them It is believed that spinning the drums in a clockwise direction equals chanting the mantras as many times as they are written on the drums We were also lucky to be in time for a prayer session of the monks. They sat in neat rows on the floor inside the temple with religious texts spread in front of them, deep in prayer. During this session, the visitors are not permitted to enter the temple from the front (main entrance), which is covered from visitors who have to go in around through the side if they want to pay homage to the Buddhist Gods inside the temple. Some of the idols of Lord Buddha inside the temple are said to be of gold! The several monks strolling all round the monastery premises emphasize the importance of Buddhism for the people of McLeodganj. We also visited a museum on Tibetan history within the monastery premises, depicting the Chinese occupation of Tibet forcing the Tibetans to flee their own homeland as refugees, to India. We took a walk on foot from McLeodganj all the way to the famous Dal lake, about 5-6 kms uphill, considered sacred and teeming with goldfish, and trekked further 1-2 kms up to the Naddi village which offers a serene view of the Dhauladhars to people who come here to have some quiet moments with their families or on their own and to be away from the maddening crowds of the cities. There are some good hotels around. We took a taxi back to McLeodganj. By the time we reached back we were so tired that we decided to take a rest at our hotel before pushing off again for a taste of the life of the people around! And we sure did! It was Saturday night. We had dinner at 8 pm at another restaurant, which bustled with activity. Seeing many foreign tourists with weird attire and hairdos teeming in and going straight upstairs into the restaurant evoked our curiosity. The owner on being asked what was happening, gave vague replies, which heightened our curiosity and we decided to check out ourselves! What we saw amazed us beyond belief! We had come to a Hippie Haven! Phirangis from all realms of earth were strewn all around a dimly lit room, smoking, drinking and having a merry time! Some of them took the center-stage of the room to entertain their audience with their hidden talents brought out on the flute and guitar and also some original music and songs they had composed themselves! It was a great place to be. It seemed as if the rest of the world ceased to exist for them. They were happy with just what they had, oblivious of a world beyond the den. For them, this was heaven! No worries, no tensions, no regards to time. Time was at its unlimited best! Pity we had bought a ticket for a movie at 9:30 pm, which prevented us from staying longer in the heavenly world we had just witnessed. But then as luck would have it, we reached the cinema only to find that the movie was cancelled due to a brawl having taken place at the cinema. So we made our way back to the restaurant to mingle with the people we had just left and perhaps get a chance to make a few friends ourselves by offering some entertainment of our own! But Alas! On reaching there we found the atmosphere had quite changed. By 10 pm, the amateur artists had already packed up and the crowd was busy having a serious dinner. We sure did lose our chance! But we knew we had to come here yet again, sometime soon, in the near future! We took a late night stroll along the deserted lanes before retiring to the confines of our hotel room. The day had been an enlightening one for us! �DULL OR LOUSY?� DALHOUSIE On the 16th, we took a taxi from McLeodganj to Dalhousie (the summer retreat of Lord Dalhousie during the British Raj in India). It took us about 3 hours to reach the Dalhousie bus stand. It was a long, steep climb on foot from the bus stand, all the way up to our hotel, the Mehar Hotel, belonging to the famous artist, Manjit Bawa (where Subhash Chandra Bose is said to have stayed in his times!) The hotel itself sprawled over a large area and we got a nice room with a huge terrace yard in front, which gave an excellent view of the sights around Dalhousie. Students call this quiet Himachal town Dull and Lousy, but that is just missing the point. Sleepy Dalhousie is ideal if you want to retreat to the mountains for a quiet break without the crowds that throng most other hill stations. It has a toy-town beauty that other Himalayan resorts so often lack, and a sensibility that translates into sprawling bungalows and charming cottages reminiscent of European villages. A great part of the town is under army occupation, which may also be the reason that Dalhousie has retained so much of its character. We had an evening tea in the cool, crisp air on the terrace where we were also visited by a troupe of huge black-faced langurs leaping through the trees right behind our overturned backs! We spent 2 nights in Dalhousie, walked through the Mall on the Gandhi Chowk (earlier known as GPO), enjoying the sights and sounds. We also visited the Tibetan refugee market. On the 17th, we made our way to Khajjiar (known as the Mini Switzerland), 22 kms from Dalhousie, It indeed is a Mini Switzerland, with a vast saucer-shaped meadow and a lake set in the middle with perfect greens nearby where cattle and horses can be found grazing. In the distance are oak, cedar and willow trees and an abundance of wild flowers. A forest rest house, a little temple with a golden spire and a golf course complete this pretty picture. There is a small huddle of shops around the lake area where we had our lunch and took a short walk in the drizzling countryside before returning to the comforts of our taxi. After a relaxing time of about 2 hrs at Khajjiar, the lap of heaven, we made our way back to the hotel. And just to be able to adjust to our normal routine back home (away from civilization!), we watched TV within our hotel room, ordered dinner and retired to bed early, to be in time the next day for a bus to Pathankot from where we were to take transport back home, to Delhi. (Other places worth visiting in Dalhousie were the Kalatope wildlife sanctuary, Chamba, the Chamera lake/dam, the Catholic Church of St. Francis and Panjpulla, but as we were running short of time, we decided to put those off for a later date, perhaps a second trip to the colonial resort of the rich Lahorians and the British.) The hotel staff with their excellent service, arranged for a taxi to the bus stand from where we took a bus at 1 pm to Pathankot after a brunch at a nearby hotel restaurant. However, when we reached Pathankot at about 5 pm after a not-too-comfortable ride in the Punjab Roadways bus, we decided to take a train rest of the way back instead of the bus. We managed to get a train (Delhi-Jammutavi express) in time after an hour and a half wait at the station. And was it another experience, or should I say, an ordeal! We got a ticket without reservation in the general Class III compartment of the train and had to sit on the upper berth, on wooden planks, all cramped up throughout the rest of our journey back home! We reached Delhi at about 6:30 am on the 18th We managed to enjoy all means of transport right from a 3-wheeler to the train on our overall unique and evocative journey through, it seemed, an altogether different era on the face of the earth!
Copyright © 2003 Ananya Rohini |