When you have a stunning view like this every morning when you open your eyes, who would feel like going back to the concrete jungles of Mumbai?

Well, we were destined to spend time in the lap of nature, because the train tickets we had booked prior to leaving for Parvati never got confirmed.

Woohoo, the voice in my head went, when a friend of ours checked the ticket status online. In the end it turned out that all of us were happy to spend more time in Himachal.

Walking on Green Pastures

The local guy, Ramu, whose rooms we were staying in, took us for a walk around the village. Early morning it was good to stretch our muscles as we got a glimpse of the rustic landscape - the fields, houses, orchards and everything around.

The wooden houses had a striking resemblance to the houses of Manali, the structure and the way it was built. Its partially made on stilts, small windows and doors and the lower section is generally meant for their cattle.
The pretty purple flowers we saw on the way and the insect caught on camera, which I realised only on seeing the picture on the laptop. Ramu showed us his apple orchards, unfortunately this year he said the produce hasn't been too good due to the lack of rain. Generally by this time of the year the apples are fully grown, alas, climate change is slowly altering things in the Himalayas. Himachal Pradesh, known as the 'apple state' of the country supplies nearly 30% of the total apple produce. But this year the production of apples is likely to drop by nearly 50%. We were disheartened, the village depends on fruits and vegetables to make a living, but if that falls, wonder how they would survive? Moving on to greener pastures, colorful flowers of different varieties were growing around his fields, with bees hovering above them. It is sights like this that make us wonder, what are we doing in Mumbai, when there is so much to absorb and learn from.
He also showed us fields of rajma, garlic and wheat. It was easy to walk around as the farmers start to work only by late afternoon, nobody works in the morning here. This is called life, they are living it, we yearn for it. So the visual treat was soon followed by treat for the taste buds, as Ramu's wife had cooked Aloo Paranthas for breakfast to be eaten with home made ghee. Believe me when I say, I have never tasted such delicious ghee before, even if you are calorie conscious you have to try it out. Kasol, The Hebrew Heaven

We had to go to Kasol to book the air tickets for Clyde's friend, so he bid farewell to Ramu's family and we were on our way. The weather had turned out to be quite pleasant, other wise it gets hot during the day, and the beautiful view around us added to the immense joy! While the three stooges stood in the middle of the bridge to strike a pose. Kasol is synonymous with Israelis, its one of the many villages in Parvati that has more Israelis then any other tourists. They have literally taken hold of the village, which is easy to say when you move around in the streets of Kasol and find numerous shops displaying boards in Hebrew.
So we went to a travel agent, booked the ticket and went looking out for a wine shop. If you have read our Manali post, we in awe of the apple and plum flavoured wine. So we bought 2 bottles of Waterfall wine for Rs 220 each. We made a brief stop at the shop next door selling psychedelic t-shirts and wall pieces. Such shops hike up their prices because of the high demand, so we soon walked out and decided to head back to our lodge. On this trip we have always been on the move, constantly traveling somewhere or the other. This time we thought of chilling at one place for few more days. Ramu told us he would take us fishing in the Parvati river after the sun sets. What a brilliant idea it was, I had never been fishing, nor do I eat fish, but still I was excited!

To warm up for the evening adventure, Clyde suggested that we head to the stream, that we passed while going to Manikaran. Find a spot next to the flowing water, drink some wine and play few games of UNO, told you that was our favorite past time on this trip.:) After a bottle of wine comes naturally made toupee for Clyde, don't worry all of us were in this state. The serene surroundings, clear water gushing through the streams and nobody to bother you, I was overwhelmed by the occasion. The Fishin' Expedition

We made it before time to accompany Ramu on his fishing expedition. He had gone to finish off some work, so his wife asked me if I would like to wear her traditional outfit. I couldn't refuse, and I was ready to don the outfit for the second time.:) There you go, I was wrapped up in a shawl neatly pinned up together. The shawl was actually weaved by her and she had a glow in her eyes when she finished dressing me. Totally embracing the culture, I thought of going one step further and pretending to weave yarn on the complex machine. While we waited for Ramu to get back, we just took some pictures around his house. The sweet little girl who we met on the day of arriving, is seen playing with the plants. Some more pretty flowers here growing in his backyard. He returned with supplies for dinner. There was going to be something special for dinner, Ramu's wife explained in her Pahadi Hindi accent, we couldn't wait! The hospitality we received here was heart-warming, they were always so open and straight-forward. I like people from the mountains!

Soon Ramu's friend and brother came to help him get the fishing net ready, tie few knots and we were set to go. The fish we going to catch is English Trout, majorly found in Himachal. Ramu goes often to fish, but last couple of days he was tad unlucky, so lets find out if we can change his luck.

We began our walk towards the river, and came across farmers working in their fields. As mentioned earlier, they only start by late afternoon. Here a local woman was digging out garlic, harvested and ready to eat! There is enough light at least till 7.30 pm to walk around without a torch, so the only problem we faced was to keep up with Ramu and his friend, who were racing ahead full speed. They are so use to the terrain, unlike us who lead an inactive urban life. Ramu carried the net, while his friend did the strenuous work of throwing it in the gushing water. The net had weights attached to it at various spots, which it made it really heavy, almost 3-4 kgs. This thin-looking guy gathered all the ends, tied one end around his wrist and flung the net with full force in the water.

He repeated the same step countless times, that left us awestruck in amazement, he sure is a strong fella! He kept trying, throwing the net in water from various spots as we walked ahead on rocks next to the river. We almost reached Manikaran, and just then I saw the happy look on Ramu's face. His friend successfully managed to catch a female English Trout and a another small one. The thin boy's effort had finally paid off, as all of them got super excited with the prospect of eating fresh Trout for dinner, to be prepared by Ramu himself.:) He pushed his thumb through the gills to hold the black and red-spotted trout. We put our torches on to climb the rocks and the slippery path to come back on the route. As soon as we reached, Ramu got to work instantly. His wife doesn't eat or cook non-veg so Ramu did the cleaning, cutting, and cooking.:) They shared a good rapport in the sense that both of them divided the house work and performed the daily chores together. I was really happy to see that, because in some of the villages in Himachal only women do the work while men sit and relax!

The bigger fish had roe as well, and that made Clyde, in particular, very happy. He loves Fish roe, nay, who am I kidding, he just loves to eat. Ramu cooked the trout in turmeric, salt and a variety of other powdered spices, making it sligtly yellow in colour. He then deep fried it for while, until it was ready to eat. I was hoping in the meantime that my food is tasty as well.:)
The trout turned out to be delicious, the fins had turned crispy like masala chips, the flesh was tender and according to Clyde it was the freshest fish he has ever eaten. It was only prepared using simple, home spices, no exotic ingredients but yet mouth-watering. That's the beauty about such places, it lies in its simplicity! For me Ramu's wife had cooked huge Momos stuffed with chutney made from some plants. It was delicious, and to dip it in the sweet-tasting ghee, simply made my day! One was enough to fill my stomach, then we watched some TV and played with his kids. The next day we planned on going for a trek to another village around the place, and Ramu agreed to accompany us. We were glad about that, but how will we match up to his speed, is something we pondered over! Read the complete post...

Our long stay in Old Manali came to an end as we decided to proceed to Parvati Valley, stay in Kasol perhaps and take a look around. To reach Kasol we had to go from Manali to Bhuntar and then board another bus from Bhuntar to Kasol.

Manali to Kasol, a Bumpy Ride

A scenic bumpy ride in the local buses of Himachal Pradesh awaited us, the cost from Manali to Bhuntar was Rs 45 and from Bhuntar to Kasol was Rs 55. Not too much since the journey was approximately five to six hours long. The bus schedule at Bhuntar, you can go almost any where in Himachal from here.
A school bus passing by on the way to Kasol. We arrived in Kasol to be welcomed to some beats playing at the Indrasan Music festival, excited with the thought of an all night party next to the river we scouted for a room. Nothing seemed to fit our budget as people quoted around Rs 600 at the hotel we first asked and as we walked further away from the market we reached Lucky Dhaba.

Run by a group of Punjabi women, she gave us one room for Rs 300, that was reasonable but it wasn't hygienic. However we wanted a place to crash just for one day as we planned to move further in to Parvati, so we adjusted in a messy room.

We refreshed ourselves with Dal, Chawal, Chapati, Salad, Papad and Subzi (vegetable) for Rs 40, made by the Punjabi women, and later on we spent some time on the terrace absorbing the view of the Parvati river flowing just a few meters away. As evening drew by we went towards the party, we were stunned to know that it was Rs 600 to enter and it would last only till 10 pm, that was just two hours from the current time. We were delayed as Bhavika had left our room keys in and locked us out, but with someone called XNoise playing at the party we didn't regret our late entry.

Paying Rs 600 was definitely not worth it, so we just walked around and jumped in from the river side, thankfully we entered free of cost because the music was terrible. There was no flow, the music did not match my taste and I was dissatisfied, anyway we were happy that we got to go for a free party and went back to our room that was now uninviting with a lot of creepy crawlies on every wall.

Into the Wild

We were eager to get out of Lucky Dhaba, it was our priority for the next day. So we began our backpacking journey, on the way we picked up some supplies to have our breakfast while trekking to the interiors of Parvati. The higher altitude comes with thinner oxygen and since we had our backpacks with us, the frequency of our stops was increasing, although the view itself was something that we needed to ponder about. We walked through the forest with birds chirping, the rivers flow varying as per the terrain, speeding up at times and mellowing down at broader spaces. It was beautiful, the trees delightful, the formations that the barks created as they grew in age were vivid.
Experiencing the joy of just us and nature since the possibility of bumping into someone here are rather slim, except the locals who frequent this route to go back to Kasol for their supplies.

We walked for a good two hours to reach a small village in Parvati, it was suppose to be a stop over for our trek to a village beyond that, as the sky was clearing up and it was beginning to get hot. Luckily for us a woman came running up asking if we were looking for rooms to stay, Yes, we replied and followed her. As we walked towards the house we hoped it would be that gorgeous wooden house with a hammock hanging on the porch of the first level.

To our surprise it was, as compared to Lucky Dhaba this was something different, a refreshing change, the spotless carpet, the well made beds, the colour, the sheets, the wooden planks on the floor and ceiling, a lovely room it was. The cost she said, we would have to wait for her husband to come, and as we anxiously waited we thought we would pay about Rs 300 and not more. But we were shocked when he asked us to pay Rs 100, an awesome price that worked out to Rs 50 a day for each of us in this home-like accommodation.

The village was quiet with around 100 people living in 20 odd houses, which were well spaced out.

All the houses seem to be equipped with a shawl weaving machine and the women spend at least an hour everyday to make the shawl, it seemed to be a complex process to us. The good thing is that it gets the family an additional source of income.

We were told that this village too has a hot water stream like Vashisht, so after resting for a while we decided to go for a stroll to the stream. It was early evening when we set off, the temperature had fallen quite a bit. We passed by a statue of the local deity in the picture decorated with colourful garments. The view as you can see is quite interesting, but the walk itself is good fun.

We had to walk for a good 20-25 minutes before we could reach the hot water spring and prior to that, we ended up going down towards the river assuming that the hot water would be there. But with the help of few locals who were passing by, we managed to find the spot where the hot water emerges.

We got to see some lovely patterns formed on the banks of the river.

Unlike the hot water springs in Vashisht, this one was lukewarm a pleasant temperature to the cold outside, the only problem was that it was merely 6 inches deep so you had to pour the water on yourself. I just sat down in it, splashing some water in myself. Unfortunately it started to drizzle, we could feel the cold drops of rain hit our wet bodies, it was time to run for cover.

As we walked back to the village the weather started to clear up, we reached in time for dinner. Rajma chawal and subzi, it was home-cooked food that was simple yet satisfying and definitely tasty. After eating our fill, we crashed and had a good nights rest. The next day we decided to go to Manikaran, pilgrim place for Hindus and Sikhs, and also known for its hot water springs.

Mellow in Manikaran

On the way we went to a restaurant and tanked up on something known as Shiva Lassi or bhang. The walk to Manikaran is two kms from Kasol, once again this is a beautiful, scenic trek.


With the Bhang beginning to take effect in some time, the colours seemed to get nice and bright, the sound of the river forming tunes in the head and by the time we were in Manikaran it had fully kicked in.


Manikaran was bustling with activity, not just human, but there was steam oozing out from many places in every area, though the streets were wet and quite mucky nearly everyone was walking barefooted. We stopped to refresh ourselves with a chai and Aloo Parantha, I took a walk around capturing glimpses of the place.

There are quite a few temples, some old some modern, but you will actually see the similarities in the old architecture in these places, the temple in the picture is similar to the one at Vashisht. There are temples of Lord Ram, Krishna, and Vishnu in Manikaran.





We were quite disappointed with our visit to Manikaran, it was overcrowded and well not peaceful like the surroundings, so we decided to walk back. But before that we were asked to buy a couple of vegetables for our evening dinner from the market place. The vegetable seller was a friendly man with a well-arranged display of the vegetables.


We noticed that the river gets quite dirty as you approach Manikaran, a lot of their trash is dumped into the river. Its really sad, in fact most places where there are too many tourists coming in like Hemkund Sahib in Uttaranchal as well, the surroundings tend to face an upcoming environmental hazard. Although we passed by a raddi walla who fished out plastic and other recyclables from the river.
The scenic route embraced us as we walked back home.


Back to the house to eat some delicious home food before calling it a night.
We still have so much more to display, it seems never-ending but it just keeps getting better! Read the complete post...

We woke up to the sound of the drum beats coming from the street and we rushed to the balcony to see what was happening. It was a religious procession with the villagers carrying the local deity on a palkhi, beating drums, holding flags and a long trumpet-like musical instrument, I guess they were heading to Hadimba temple. Another day of drinking and celebrating for them, I assumed.

The Crowded Hot Water Springs of Vashisht

I had not visited natural hot water springs before, neither of us had, so we decided to head to Vashisht, which is known for its natural sulphur springs and is situated 6 kms away from Manali. We had a quick bite at German Bakery and walked all the way to the market place in New Manali to catch a rickshaw to Vashisht. Its a pleasant walk but at the same time the amount of the vehicles constantly moving about can drive you crazy. We weren't in a city but it felt like we were.

These beautiful flowers caught our eye as we were passing a hotel, they were growing in the garden, so we just sneaked in to take some photos. The big roses adorning the lawn with some unusual flowers too.

After some 30 minutes of walking we reached the rickshaw stand. Its best to haggle before settling for a fare with the rickshaw guys, he charged us Rs 80 for the 4 of us, which was a decent deal.

A lovely view of River Beas and the snow-covered mountains greeted us as we took the road going up to Vashisht. The peaks were far away but we got to spent good amount of time on snow in Spiti, photos of that will come in the next few posts. The settlement at Vashisht is at the foot of the mountain, you can feel the buzz as lot of Indian tourists come to visit the temple. The rickshaw dropped us in the parking lot and just few steps away was the temple. We walked through the busy market that had concrete structures on either side of the road. One of our friend who had been to Vashisht 2-3 years ago said that it changed drastically, the green fields and meadows have been replaced by cafes, guest houses, shops etc. A sleepy village has been transformed into a place hustling with activity.

This is the temple outside the main Vashisht temple, with the wooden carvings and the phirang (foreigner) sadhu sitting at the entrance distributing prasad. You will find many such foreign tourists who stay permanently in the mountains or spend long time here, learn about Indian culture, or start their own cafes or lodging facilities.
A local Himachal woman sitting outside the temple with a huge rabbit, she charged Rs 10 to hold the rabbit and take a picture. Everything seems to be big in Himachal, the flowers, monkeys, dogs, who are nice and furry, cattle, etc. That's what fresh air does to you, even the locals are so strong and fit, without any modern gym or health club. The entrance to the main temple of Vashisht, the intricate wooden carvings on the door forms a distinct feature of the temples in Himachal. Various deities have been etched on the wooden surface, that appears to be quite complex. The main temple is dedicated to Vashist Muni, his idol remains unchanged for centuries but the things around continue to change rapidly. Next to it are two separate water tanks for men and women to bathe in natural spring water. The ladies section was empty when I entered so I happily put my leg in the hot water tank. Ooops, the water was too hot to leave my foot in even for a minute. The water is suppose to have curative properties, so I splashed it on my face and hands and I was out. Few of them also dived in the steaming water, wonder how that was possible. Several taps were placed next to the tank for people interested in taking a shower. Apparently for the convenience of visitors modern bathhouses with Turkish-style showers also have been made.
Even outside the temple people can have bath under the hot water tap. You can see the steam oozing out at so many locations.

Opposite to Vashisht temple is the ancient Ram temple, made of stones, where idols of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana have been installed. It was closed when we reached, but on walking around the temple we could see that the front part was just an extension, probably to support the old structure.
This picture gives you a closer look of the stone architecture of Ram temple. It was closed at the time of our visit so we went further up to get away from the concrete walls in order to get a better view of the valley. We walked past lodges and went through houses to find an isolated and peaceful spot.

There were so many pretty flowers on the way, am sure if you have read our previous travel articles you would know that we are fond of floral delights. A bumble bee feeding on nectar from the flowers.
We reached high enough not to spot any houses and that's when we soaked in the beauty around us. Dark clouds began to gather above the mountains and it was soon followed by a shower. We ran for cover, because if we get wet the cold would be unbearable. I didn't even carry my jacket, so we took shelter under a rock, a natural protection from the mountain rain. It was big enough to accommodate all 4 of us, comfortably. It was already 4 pm, so we started our descent and caught a rickshaw straight to Old Manali. We thought of skipping lunch and going for dinner to our favorite restaurant Green Valley View, for an Olive Pizza.

Stroll Through the Wheat Fields, Apple Orchards and More

It was a late start to the day, almost noon when we woke up. A lovely day in the offing, the sun and clouds were playing hide and seek in the skies. Before enjoying the weather, it was time to fill my growling stomach. Besides, in such beautiful weather you just feel like eating all the time.

The guest house we stayed at served delicious food from the next door Simpy restaurant. The food was reasonably priced and well-presented as evident from the picture below. Going from left to right - Fruit Salad with Curd, Potato Egg Salad, Paneer Mutter, Dal Makhani, Chapatties, Mango, Banana and Chocolate Shake. My mouth is watering profusely as I write. Simpy restaurant serve moutn-watering food, so if you visit Old Manali and want to affordable food, then Simpy and Green Valley View are the places to eat.:)

The story of Manali is similar to Vashisht, rather worse, as I have spoken about it in my earlier post. But today we explored a different side of Old Manali, which was always the real side. A short walk from our guest house took us to vast expanse of wheat fields, vegetable farms and apple orchards. There are just handful of guest houses, but on walking further inside, there is nothing but fields.
You are totally cut off from the developed side of Manali, with no one but farmers doing their work. Fields of Green peas were spread far and wide, that was the first time I saw the plant and I love Green peas :). We plucked some of them and started to eat, so sweet and juicy, you can eat them raw.
I was overjoyed with the feeling of being one with nature, with all her beauty as far as I could see. On the periphery of these fields marijuana grows in the wild, it grows everywhere, outside the temple or school, its perhaps what draws some of the local and mostly foriegn tourists to Manali.
There are small narrow paths between fields, so its easy to walk through them, you can find a spot to relax in the afternoon under an apple tree. What a life would this be, if you are harrowed or sad come to the fields or the apple orchards and absorb the positive energy around you. It felt so good walking through the green patch. There were couple of houses on the way, and this cute boy had just woken up from his sleep, you can see the dazed look on his face. While this little girl came chasing me asking for money, then I gave her a Rs 10 note and clicked this photo. We reached a spot where the view was fabulous, we had a view of the entire place with the mountain range at the end.

Flying high in the blue skies,
over the forests and snow-capped mountains,
that's where my heart lies! ~ Bhavika Jhaveri

I am not too good at rhyming words, but at that moment I wished I could fly!
This cute dog sure was lucky to be staying here. Many houses in Himachal had a dog to protect the house and their fields, but robbery is not at all rampant here, so I guess they just love dogs.
The path was running parallel to the Club House road, so we looked down on the road and said how lucky we were to find this route instead of walking among annoying cars. In the distance a hot air balloon is getting ready to take off! We walked on the path parallel to the road and then reached the other side of Beas river facing Vashisht, wandering in the mountains, didn't know where the path was leading, it was great fun! The view kept getting better with every step we took. We waited for some time enjoying the scenery. The sun was setting and it was time to reach the guest house before dark. We slowly started the walk back, looking at the mountains and the reflection of the sun rays on the snow-capped peaks. We got back on the path to walk through the golden wheat fields, which were gleaming under the setting sun. We lost our way as well for a while, but were right back in no time. On reaching the guest house we ordered for some simple Indian food from Simpy's, played UNO, a favorite past time on this trip and went off to sleep. The next day the plan was to catch a bus to Kasol in Parvati valley.

Last Day in Manali

We had to postpone our plan to Kasol by a day since one of our friends was unwell and unable to travel. One more day to roam around in the fields of Manali for us.:) While he rested we thought of going to Naggar, a small town around 15 kms away from Manali, but the cost of a rickshaw ride was working out to be too expensive for 3 people. So we cancelled the plan and started to walk towards Old Manali village.

We see this really funny sight of group of Indians clicking photographs with a foreigner, I think she either owned one of the souvenir shops or was a tourist. Each one would go up to her, give her a hug and pose for a picture, it was hilarious. Some of them also started to clap while the photo was being taken. A brown bird hopping close to the bridge that separates New and Old Manali.
With nothing to do we went to German bakery, bought bread rolls and Yak cheese, went straight to the fields and made ourselves sandwiches. It was different in taste, less salty and went perfectly well with bread and butter. You have to try it the next time you come to Himachal.
The last day in Manali was just spent lazing around, doing some shopping and chilling in the room. We had spent way too much time in Old Manali, Prakash at the guest house was sad that we were leaving. We on the other hand were extremly happy to be making some progress with our travel plans. Read the complete post...

Our travel plans are generally made at the end moment as we decided to explore Himachal Pradesh, the place blessed with the most varied landscape. With no fixed itinerary or any hotel booking, we took off on a journey to get close to the Himalayas.

Our first stop was in Manali (we will take you through each place we visited in several parts).

Journey from Mumbai to Delhi

We were fortunate enough to get train tickets in spite of booking just 4 days before traveling. I clearly remember the countless number of times we refreshed the Indian Railways reservation web page to check if we were on the confirmed list :)

We managed to get RAC tickets (Reservation against cancellation) on Golden Temple Mail where one sleeper had to be shared by two people, and the agent charged us Rs 900 for that, which was too much for no proper reserved tickets. But that was barely an issue as the excitement started to build up.

The crowded Mumbai Central station, so many people sleep on the platforms waiting for to get tickets or to board the train.

The train getting loaded with goods before the train departs at 9.30 pm.
More passengers started trickling in from various stations, and if you have traveled by Indian railways before you would know how crowded and chaotic it can get. The pantry guys are regularly walking up and down the aisle selling food and refreshments, shouting chai every time they walked by.

The journey got really tiring in the afternoon due to the scorching sun and hot breeze coming by, especially when we passed Rajasthan. The picture below shows a small girl begging on the tracks in Rajasthan. We were waiting to reach Delhi now, we were quite drained out. The train arrived at Nizamuddin station around 7.30 pm, and soon we were on our way to a friend's place in Gurgaon to spend the night.

Idyllic Locales and the Traditional Dance of Manali

A night's rest was enough to get the excitement levels up again. We didn't waste any time in Delhi, and boarded the bus to Manali late afternoon from Connaught Place. We got the tickets for Rs 550 from a friend who works for a travel agency in Manali. He also sorted our accommodation in Old Manali for Rs 300 a night.:)

The bus started at 4.30 pm and made several stops before it actually hit the highway. It always takes time to get out of the city also due to heavy traffic. But it was a decent ride, that takes around 16 to 17 hours to reach Manali bus depot. It was a chilly morning, the sun rises early in summers, so by 6am its quite bright.

We were in the mountains, the fresh air, pure water, green pastures, apple orchards, and more, I was feeling relaxed already! Everything around us transformed into beautiful gifts from above. Even the fat and furry monkeys on the windy roads to Manali looked so cute. On reaching the depot we took a rickshaw up to Old Manali, which is much more chilled out and has many affordable guest houses as compared to New Manali. Since the road to Old Manali is uphill, the rickshaw charged us Rs 70 to drop us till the guest house.

The Guest House is run by Prakash, a friendly guy who always wears a smile on his face. The room was spacious with hot water facility, that's a must because no way you want to bathe in ice cool water. It was time to have a cup of hot tea and catch up on sleep before we venture out.

Later on we headed to Manu Rishi Temple which was a short walk away from the guest house. Prakash told us that the village was having its annual fair where the locals dance, smoke and get drunk. On the way we witnessed the ethnic side of Manali, the old wooden houses partially made on stilts and small doors with designs drawn around it, that sure made a pretty picture. The pagoda-styled Manu Rishi Temple dedicated to sage Manu, the local deity. Everyone had gathered close to the temple - locals and tourists - to watch the colorful and rhythmic dance performance called 'Naati' accompanied by traditional musical instruments. In Himachal the tribes and local communities love to dance, it forms an integral part of their vibrant culture.

Dancers, traditionally only men, join their hands and move in steps to varying rhythms. They were dressed in tunics, churidaars, stoles and decorated head gear, and in the centre were people playing drums, shehnai or Indian Oboe and many more instruments. Even tourists were encouraged to join in the fun! Some of the locals, who were quite drunk, were swaying to the beats and few of them were dancing with swords. You can watch the video below to see the local tribes performing Naati.


I don't know what this instrument is called but it sure made a powerful sound and is used on many occasions in Himachal. Clyde posing with the locals along side the idols of local deities. They love to be clicked!
There were couple of food stalls selling Momos, Chowmein, and Indian sweets; momos are widely available in Himachal, because of the Tibetan influence. We had plate of those delectable momos and proceeded to see the temple. The temple had detailed woodwork on its entrance and interiors, even the temple roof was made from wood. This is the idol of Manu Rishi. There were idols of different deities including Hanuman, Ganesha, Shiva, Krishna and many more.
After all the action it was time to eat dinner, we went to Moon Dance cafe in Old Manali, where the food was not good. We ordered for Salsa with chips and comes is French Fries with some red sauce. That was the first and last time we ate at Moon Dance.

The Israeli Factor

After spending a whole day in Old Manali, we realised that the place is dominated by cliquey Israelis, that's the reason why they are well-catered as compared to Indian tourists. There were many instances where we felt like strangers in our own country. Every restaurant serves Israeli food, there are shops with things written in Hebrew, its a haven for Israelis, who in order to escape the gruesome reality in Israel travel in large numbers to various parts of India.

Everyone is welcome in this country, but the attitude you carry in a different country makes a lot of difference. We saw few of them carrying air-guns and shooting at a bottle in a guest house opposite to ours. Its a scary scenario when you see the big picture.

Away from the Chaos

Moving on the next day we rose early to go for a 3 kms trek to Goshal village, that's beyond Manu Rishi temple. The streets were empty with only handful of locals doing their morning chores. Look what we bumped into, the long-haired bovine - wild yak - being washed by his owner. So Clyde and myself decided to pose next to it, the story is that the owner insisted that Clyde held his horns but the yak refused by shaking his head violently. But somehow Clyde managed to say cheese before being kicked. The nervous look on my face says it all! :) We heaved a sigh of relief after the picture was clicked. Imagine nibbling on freshly plucked cherries early morning, then we met this cherry vendor who had just gathered bunch of cherries from the trees. We paid him Rs 20 and he willingly gave us decent amount of cherries. They were delicious! We walked towards Manurishi temple, after which you will see a signboard pointing towards Goshal village. It was simple straight route through the picturesque Deodar forest and the majestic pine trees. The trek is alongside River Beas that gushes along its rocky course, it was lovely, away from the hustle and bustle of Old Manali, which is cluttered with guest houses, restaurants, travel agencies, money changers, Internet cafes, souvenir shops, etc. Manali was full of big size, beautiful roses, I had never seen roses of such enormous sizes before, and they had such sweet fragrance too. The majestic pine trees providing some shade to passer-bys. Fractals are found in abundance in nature. The pine cone is a perfect example of that, we came across whole lot of them dried and scattered on the path. The pretty pink and blue flowers caught through the cameras macro mode.
The elusive lizard totally camouflaged against the rock. I took several shots before finally getting a clear image.
There were mountain sheep grazing in the forest and horses strolling, the rural side is definitely much more happening than the concrete Manali. Caught in the spider's web, aren't we all caught in a web?
After walking for 1 1/2 kms we could see Goshal village at the end of the mountain, and one villager passing by told us that its just another village. Since one of our friend was joining us, we had to return to the guest house. This was the view from that spot, you can see Rohtang Pass in the background towards the right. From Goshal one can also trek further to Solang Valley, that offers view of glaciers and snow-capped peaks. I only got to know this while writing the post, otherwise we could have trekked up to Solang. Alas...

The only food that are stomachs had were the fresh cherries, after the long walk we had to get some breakfast. This time we stopped at Shiva cafe, that was another expensive place, breakfast for 4 costed nearly Rs 500, that was way too much! Cafes in Manali are expensive and they mostly have the same touristy menu as well. The afternoon was leisurely spent in the guest house and we ventured out in the evening to Hadimba Temple in New Manali, around 1-2 kms away.

By the time we reached there it was already dark, so we couldn't get a full shot of this beautiful temple. I was quite impressed with the architecture, it had a four-tiered pagoda shaped roof with intricately carved woodwork of mythological figures at the entrance. Built in 1533, the temple is dedicated to Hadimba, wife of Bhim, one of the Pandava brothers. Its believed that she meditated here, so the temple was constructed in her honour. Photography is prohibited inside the temple, there is no idol only footprints of Hadimba on a stone. Huge footprints too, make you want to believe that mythological figures were huge in size! The temple is built in middle of the Dhungri forest, but there are cemented steps leading to the temple.
Outside the temple there was a woman who dresses up tourists in ethnic outfit of Himachal. She insisted to put on the outfit for me, "Gudiya, main Rs 10 main tayar karongi tujhe" (doll, I will dress you up in this outfit for Rs 10). Since she was so sweet, I agreed to be dressed like a Himachal woman.:) I was made to wear this traditional outfit at least 3 times on the trip.:) From there we moved on to a riverside cafe, just across the bridge in Old Manali called Green Valley View. That was the best place we've eaten at in Manali, good view, tasty food and more importantly affordable! It was freezing outside but we were getting use to the cold.

We ordered for one Olive Pizza that was oozing with cheese that set us back Rs 80, we bought a bottle of Apple wine for Rs 200 that went very well with the food and the ambiance. Pizza was followed by Chicken and Veg Sizzler and cheesecake to complete the meal. Although cheesecake we bought from the German bakery, there are plenty of them around in Manali.
Next day we go to the hot water springs in Vashisht, wheat fields in Manali and much more... Read the complete post...

Hello readers,

We are back in Mumbai after traveling in Himachal Pradesh for nearly a month and what a wonderful surprise was in store for us. Fractal Enlightenment has moved up to Page Rank 5, thanks to everyone who likes to read this blog, it wouldn't have been possible without your support!

Speaking about the trip, there are lots of pictures (more than 5 GB) coming your way of the snow-covered mountains, fresh air, local customs, scenic landscape, monasteries, our trekking expedition:) local tribes, and much more. We had an adventure-filled trip and we were lucky as well in some cases. (you will find more about that soon) Here is a glimpse of the few places we visited!


The route we took was crazy from Delhi to Manali, then to couple of places in Parvati valley, from there we took a long route to Spiti, trekked through Kunzum Pass and reached Manali again, and from there we moved on to Dharamshala-McLeodGanj and back to Delhi from there.

There are lots of updates coming up, we just got back this morning so are sorting out pictures first! Stay connected :) Read the complete post...

In the first part of Kashmir where are you now? we took a look at the trauma that the woman in Indian occupied Kashmir go through with rape cases. In this post we shall take a look at Half widows, what are half widows and their suffering.

Many people mostly males and some of the rape victims end up disappearing, sometime huge graves are found where bodies have been buried to hide the evidence.

So what are half widows? When a woman's husband goes missing, the mostly never reappear. They are half widows, unable to remarry because their husbands are not dead, unable to have a right to the property, and sometimes with children they are ostracized by society.

How does this happen, heres' a short documentary on how a husband is taken from his home by the Rashtriya Rifles a regiment started specifically for Kashmir, in front of his wife and children, never to return on the claims of being a militant.


Half widows who marry generally have to face the wrath of not only their previous in laws but society as a whole. There are few NGOs who are working to help these woman not only by supporting them but also trying to find clues as to their disappearance.

If you watched the video above you would realize that the numbers are not small, there are over 20,000 woman who have been widowed in this manner, and still every month that count gets higher.

The future is bleak for the half widows of Kashmir, according to womansenews.org, during the last 15 years the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, an organization of the relatives of the disappeared in Kashmir, claims that about 10,000 people have been subjected to enforced disappearances by state agencies, mostly taken by armed personnel.

Of the disappeared, they say between 2,000 and 2,500 people were married, and almost all were males. Read the complete post...

Kashmir, if there's heaven on it they said its Shangrila in Kashmir, I have been deviating from this topic for a long time. Every India for some reason perhaps its what we are born and brought up with this inborn hatred towards Pakistan and that Kashmir is ours.

We spend millions of our tax rupees to enforce law and order in Kashmir, as usual the main stream media does not cover issues that glorify the pain and suffering of the day to day Kashmiri. So after going through Kashmiri blogs, the picture of heaven on earth seems to be taking a change at least when it comes to the lifestyles of people over there.

I shall start off with Rape cases in Kashmir, a study done by Medecins Sans Frontieres in mid 2005 reveals that Kashmiri women are among the worst sufferers of sexual violence in the world. It further mentions that since the beginning of the armed struggle in Kashmir in 1989, 11.6% of the Kashmiri woman are sexual abused or molested.

In Kunan Poshpora, a small village in Kashmir, the soldiers of fourth Rajputana Rifles allegedly raped about 30 women on the night of February 23, 1991, during a search operation while men were taken away from their homes and interrogated. The ages of women raped ranged from 13 to 80 years. According to newspaper reports, on June 17,1994, troops of Rashtriya Rifles accompanied by two officers Major Ramesh and Major Rajkumar entered into village Hyhama and allegedly raped and molested seven women.

In another incident, troops raped a mentally ill old woman in her house in Barbarshah in Srinagar on January 5, 1991. Medical reports confirmed rape and locals lodged an FIR with the concerned police station, but the police did no investigation. She later died in 1998 while the FIR still awaits action from the state government. In another gruesome incident, an army Major in Badra, Handwara, raped Aisha, a 29-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter, Shabnum.

These are few of the incidents that I have picked up from this article on Wailing woes from Combat Law, the heading of the article states, women in Kashmir suffer rape, molestation, kin's disappearances, psychological trauma and torture, while the much-hyped slogan of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proclaiming 'zero tolerance' towards human rights abuse stares him in the face!

According to Dr Maiti, a professor of political science at Rurdwa University, West Bengal, explains, "Rape continues to be a major instrument of Indian oppression against the Kashmiri people while the majority of victims are civilians. This concept stands fortified by a report of ICRC dated March 6, 2001, where it has been mentioned that women are raped in order to humiliate, frighten and defeat the enemy 'group' to which they belong. Rape in a war is not merely a matter of chance; it is rather a question of power and control, which is 'structured by male soldiers' notions of their masculine privilege, by the strength of the military line of command and by class and ethnic inequalities among women."

One of the reasons given by Radhika Coomaraswamy for sexual violence in armed conflict is that violence against women may be directed towards the social group of which she is a member because 'to rape a woman is to humiliate her community'. Complex and combined emotions of hatred, superiority, vengeance for real or imagined wrongs and national pride are engendered and deliberately manipulated in armed conflict.

We have also written about the sexual molestation of woman by the Indian army. Here is the firs part of a documentary called Kashmir - The Truth.



Kashmir, where are you Now? : Part 2 will be published shortly. Read the complete post...