Friday, November 18, 2011

Return of/to Chamba

October 7th,2011

Early morning and I am staring from the balcony at the same landslide view. Hadsar is one such place in the trip, where I wished I had an extended stay. It was time to bid goodbye to Hadsar now. Shared jeeps to Bharmour were in action as early 7 AM the previous day, but there were no signs of the Boleros till 7:30. I shamelessly asked the Sundarnagar family for a lift till Bharmourin their Chevy Spark, but they refused citing their aching legs needed space. Fair Enough. That day no Bolero guy was in a mood to start before 9. The first vehicle refused to take me. I was WTF! It was meant for the school kids, which every Bolero guy does on a rotational basis as a service to the village.

The next Bolero arrived in 10mins and I had to share the front seat with a drunken old man. It was 30 mins of pain till Bharmour. There are two main places of interest in Bharmour, The Bharni Mata temple and Chowrasi. Former required a trek of two hours one-way, on hearing this I immediately looked up in the sky and nearby mountains and a not-so-loud Jai Mata Di !from my heart. Next up was Chowrasi, a complex of 84 temples, 5 mins walk from bus stop. The only temple dedicated to DharmRaaj Ji is in this complex. There are two schools in the complex; students of the school were busy doing their Mass and prayers. The echo of the prayers created a strange but calm effect.

Of the 84 temples only 15-20 are big temples. Rest are small, some as small as 1*1 foot. I was just roaming there for an hour. It felt nice, the ambience was great, and the mountains were a perfect background in the scene. Lakhna Devi temple was the only one where I entered, because it was the only protected monument in the complex. Had a quick brunch and boarded a bus to Chamba. Window seat again. YAY!!!


Reached Chamba and got a dorm bed at Hotel Champak for Rs.165. Chamba had put me off few days back, but now a laid back hill town of my liking. The reason for the crowd was the famous Ram Lila on Dusherra. Around 2 lakh people had gathered for the occasion from all over HP. I finally had a much deserved bath, one after 3 days. Now it was time to take a stroll around Chamba. There is nothing much Chamba has to offer other than few temples, a park and over priced markets. I went back to the dorm after paying a visit SwamiNarayan Temple. Omar Abdullah was on TV defending himself in the Yusuf Murder Case. Then Barkha showed no signs of stopping and I had enough of it.

I went out in search of dinner. After enquiring with around 4 guys, Gupta Vaishno Dhaba was the unanimous choice for good vegetarian food. I ordered aalo mutter and 3 rotis and was eturned with a bill of Rs.29. Food was simple, not-extraordinary, delicious and filling. On the way back I had brought some Jalebis and Samosa, which should have been avoided as most of were awful and went straight to the bin. I had to spend a night alone in this 500sq. ft. dorm. It was noisy initially as the reception was just outside; then followed a peaceful night.



Route to Kugti Pass


The vistas make mornings special.


The Landslide view from my room


Entering Chourasi- Bharmour


Biggest Temple structure in the complex.


Poor Ponies


One of two schools inside Chourasi





The huge Deodar tree . Couldn't manage the entire thing in a single frame




An Enormous Deodar



The vistas surrounding Bharmour


Khadamukh


Raavi Valley


Raavi snake


Chamba


View from the Raavi view cafe - Chamba


Dorm at Hotel Champak(Chamba)

Monday, November 7, 2011

Trek to Danshoo Jharna and back (around 12 kms)

October 6th,2011


“Tourism mei itne paisa hai toh Kheti kyun karte ho”
“Khana toh khet hi khilati hai, tourism toh sirf paisa deti hai”


Day 4 started at 6:30 as Sundarnagar family began their trek. Negraj arrived on time and my laziness meant that we would start only at 8 from Hadsar. Bought some biscuits and begun the trek. It’s an easy trek till Danshoo but on gains altitude quickly. By noon we reached the Danshoo and I was ready to give up and begin the return trek. But Negraj insisted that we visit the Waterfall nearby as it was awesome and not worth missing after coming this far. I still didn’t budge.

“Bhaisahab Camera de do, kuch tasveerein keech aata hoon “
“Rehene do yaar wapas chalte hai”
“Tasveerien dekh li toh aap zaroor chaloge “

Next moment I as up and walking towards the Jharna. Neither I nor the pics can describe the magical feel of the place.

While ascending, I met three Bengali families on their descend trail. Each family didn’t know the other two families until they met in Hadsar before the trek to ManiMahesh. Now they were together completing the trek.

On the return Journey we decided to drop in at the Baba’s ashram at Danshoo. For the first time I was interacting with a sadhu. After spending 8 years in Amarnath-ji, he has now made Mani Mahesh his home for pas 3 yrs. met two more trekkers from Kolkata in the ashram. One of them was an experience trekker Mr. Sachidananda . He has been trekking Himalayas for past 25 years. Their plan was to do ManiMahesh and Kugti-Duggu and some other places before returning home. He mentioned a few things praising the local guides and dissuading from hiring Nepalese and Tibetan guides.

1. Local guides value the place and don’t spoil the place.
2. Locals take more interest in shown around the place and making sure you have seen everything beautiful because you have come from far.

The latter I had already experienced. After 2 hours of bakar session, I and Negraj left the ashram with 5km descend remaining.

“Baba, Agli baar aaoon to milte hai”
“Indira Gandhi nei chowrasi mei yehi kaha tha, kal ka koi nahi jaaney”

Most of the things said by this baba were bouncers to me. I dragged myself to Shanti GH by 5:30 pm. The Kolhapuri Chappals never gave away.

“Bhai, yahan STD kahan hai?”
“Ek hai, lekin who bhi ab bandh hai”
“Yaar, ghar fone karna hai, Mumbai mei”
“Koi nahi, meri fone lelo”

On the way I met this stranger, who offered me his fone leaving me humbled for the kindness Himachalis have shown in the entire trip.

During the entire trek, Raavi River was giving me company. The silence of the hills with the music of Raavi was the USP of Hadsar.


The trek begins








My Guide Negraj

Yours Truly















End of Trek

My Stay