Delhi - Mcleodganj trip

I love to travel. Given a chance, I would love to travel at least for 3 months in a year. After Nishad's arrival in our life, our world was completely centered on him and travelling did take a back seat. This was the first time Nishad boarded a flight, train and bus. He was totally excited about it although he is too small to remember any of it later. Our first stop was in Delhi. We took the Pune Delhi Indigo flight.

Day 1 - My sister in law had planned some sightseeing for us. It was a hot day and we could feel the heat even though the car ac was full on. First we went to the Bahai temple. I loved the architecture of the lotus building. Once inside, I did feel a bit lost. I am not used to meditation. I tried to focus on it but found it quite difficult so I chose to quietly observe what others were doing.

Our next stop was at Iskon temple. However we were a bit late and the main temple had closed so we made the last stop for the day at Delhi Haat. I just loved it there. Food, chaat, kulfi and some shopping. We drove through the upmarket south Delhi area our drive.

Day 2 - We spent most of this day at leisure and the only place we visited was the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara. I will recommend this place as a must see. I liked the bhajans, the sacredness of the place. I connected immediately to this place. Nishad thoroughly enjoyed and he went on "Waheguruji ki khalsa, waheguriji ki fateh". It sounded so nice when he said it in his cute kid voice.

Tonight we boarded a train to Pathankot and thus we were off to our second destination 'Mcleodganj'.

Day 3 - I had always wanted to go to Dharamshala. It was on my list ever since I heard about it, when I had gone to Manali (around 13 years back; time flies). Nishad slept through the whole journey, so his first train journey was uneventful. A car arranged by our hotel, picked us up and thereafter we headed through the narrow and sharp turning roads of Himachal. So basically, from Delhi, Mcleodganj is a full 12 hours journey, be it by road or combination of train and road travel. The road only gets steeper and steeper. I had booked a homestay called 'The flourishing flora'. It is a small hotel run by the Sarin family and I would like to highly recommend it to people who love to stay in homestays. It has its own pros and cons. I chose it because Nishad's food was my priority and the hostess, very kind lady, provided us with non mirchi, kid friendly food.

Mcleodganj is a very small place. It has a main square, where you have a rickshaw and taxi stand and 3-4 main roads at various levels in typical mountain style. Out there, a main road is still a galli which can accommodate one vehicle at a time. Just to give you a perspective, a person on foot will also have to climb on to the steps of a shop or a nearby rock to let a big size vehicle pass. The homestay is on TIPA (Tibetan institute of performing arts) road. This is also the road that leads to Dharamkot, the next uphill establishment or village. Many people trek up this road to go up to the snow line and the trek is a good 4-5 hours.

The next road is Bhagsu road, which leads you to the Bhagsu Nag temple and then to the Bhagsu waterfall.

The third road leads us to the Dalai Lama temple and is called the temple road.

Another road is called Jogiwara road. Last road goes down to Dharamshala. For people who are without baggage, TIPA, Bhagsu Nag (Shiva temple) and the Dalai Lama temple and museum can all be done on foot. The distance is short from the main square although I am not saying that all can be done in one day. I hear the waterfall is quite a distance ahead of the temple but since I did not go to the waterfall, I will reserve my comments on it.
After we checked into the hotel, we decided to roam around the place on foot. Mcleodganj basically came to the fore after the Tibetan settlement in 1959. Before it was just a jungle and local people were mostly shepherds. Now the place buzzes with Tibetan culture. The road side shops sell a variety of items created by Tibetan refugees like statues of Buddha in all sizes, prayer wheels, thangkas - wall hangings depicting some Buddhist paintings meant for good luck, jewelry and much more. The place has multiple food joints with a variety of cuisines. Today we did some shopping and mainly enjoyed the cool weather and the valley views. The days are hot due to global warming (as per locals) while the nights were cool.
For non-locals, the climate was perfect for sightseeing.

Day4 - We visited the Dalai Lama temple. I have personally been to various monasteries in Ladakh region and hence this temple was quite - how do you say it - simple. At the entrance, you will see many hoardings supporting the cause of 'Free Tibet'. There are some book shops selling books on this subject. We preferred to read it online. Nishad learnt the mantra "Om mani padme hum" which is the mantra inside the prayer wheels and the mantra of the deity Avalokiteshwar.

Although we walked to this place, I will suggest that people hire a car. This way it will be faster to cover more places in a short time. Since this was the first major trip for Nishad, our itinerary completely revolved around Nishads sleep and food timings and I confess we did not do a good job of it. It was late in the afternoon and we thought of going back to the hotel but Nishad wanted to see the temple of his favourite God Shankar. Now you may find this farfetched but surprisingly Nishad is extremely fond of Gods. His list includes (sorted as per his favourites) Vithoba, Ganpati, Shankar and then Hanuman and Krishna. So we did go and see the Bhagsu Nag temple.

Day 5- Today we hired a car 0for the entire day and decided to target most of the tourist spots. Our hotel owner gave us a list and our driver decided the order in which we could visit these places. So first we were off to the Norbulingka institute. The place itself is very well made. Gurgling streams and lush greenery - you will love to spend a day here. This institute showcases the arts of Tibet region which include thangka painting, woodwork, clothes designing etc. What I liked - the place itself, the Buddha temple was nice and quiet with its intricately painted and carved decor and the doll museum. The doll museum really gives a snapshot of life in Tibet. The dolls are dressed up as per the different regions in Tibet and in varied timelines. They have placed in the dolls in various settings like the market place or the boats used to cross the rivers or the palace etc. The cafe here is also good. We had a Tibetan lunch just a day before and hence we decided not to go for Tibetan food here. The previous day, we had thukpa which is a noodle soup, shabableb and some other dish which had glass noodles and chicken in it. The hotel was Norling (supposed to be authentic Tibetan restaurant) and both, I and Kaustubh realized that we need to develop the taste for this cuisine before we can enjoy it. Hence at Norbulingka, we ordered some tried and tested stuff.

After Norbulingka, we went to see the Karmapa monastery. Actually we ended up going to Tantric monastery. This is confusing, isn't it? Well both monasteries are housed in the same complex. What we saw was the Tantric monastery. The complex is quite beautiful. The main monastery hall was filled with lamas seated for a religious discourse from one of the guru who is higher up in the ranks. So we were able to witness a classroom in progress. It started off with some chants which sounded similar to Hindu mantras. We did not wait for the entire session and moved on. We enquired about the Karmapa monastery. Only one of the available 4 -5 lamas there knew Hindi/English. He explained that the Karmapa monastery can be seen only twice a week and at specified timings. Apart from these you will need special permission which granted only to a select few. Karmapa, it seems, used to be seated in the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim but since he has fled from there, he has made Dharamshala his home.

Once out of the monastery, we stopped briefly at the Dharamshala cricket ground. Wow what a setting to watch a cricket match. The ground is in the midst of snowcapped mountains and it makes an awesome view. Preparations were full on for the next IPL match.

We skipped the tea gardens since we wanted to go to St. John’s cathedral on our way to Naddi to watch the sunset. Since I have visited Kerala, I did not miss the tea garden much. Nishad was also getting cranky due to the continuous travel. The cathedral in itself is very small but peaceful. Behind is a cemetery and it has a monument of Lord Elgin, who was a viceroy in India. The forest area is intact here and that is what I liked the best. Nishad was also happy since we allowed him to play in the mud. Finally he was able to relax.

Next we set off to Naddi. We reached early and so we settled for some tea. Nishad was super excited since he spotted around 5 grazing horses. Horses are his favourite and he actually wanted to go to the opposite hillock to meet them :). In this trip, he got to see many horses, cows and lots of monkeys. When it was time for the sun to set, we moved to a point from where we could get a nice view. I have a habit of doing hand gestures while talking. Unfortunately, I touched a shrub and my whole palm felt sharp stinging sensation all over. My palm started turning red, had a little swelling and it hurt like crazy. I searched around for some local person and spotted a woman. I called out to her and she assured me that it was nonpoisonous. It is called bicchu gutti and the name itself suggests that its touch is like a scorpion sting. I was unable to move my fingers. Nishad was also losing patience and so just a few minutes before sunset, we decided to go back to our hotel. Our driver mentioned that they eat the leaves of that plant in a saag and it cleans the blood. Our hotel hostess confirmed that it was not 0poisonous and there are palak like leaves that grow nearby which when rubbed will stop the stinging. However she did not have it with her at that point. I suffered for many hours due to this.

Day 6 - Tonight we had a train back from Pathankot but unfortunately, our seats were not confirmed so we had to cut short our beautiful stay in Mcleodganj by half a day and decided to take off in a taxi to Delhi. We bid goodbye to the mountains, valleys, the monkeys and our hosts. It took us more than 5 hours of descend though the winding roads to come out of Himachal Pradesh and enter Punjab. Some stretches of road from Dharamshala to Una are being made which makes it a bumpy ride from time to time but the natural beauty of this place surpasses any small trouble it takes to go and come. We had lunch at a dhaba and it was yummy. I had missed having lassi last time enroute to Manali so I made up for it. Yum yum. As you travel, the terrain itself will let you know that Himachal is over and Punjab begins. We took the Manali Chandigarh road. Let me make a special mention that the road we travelled in Punjab is really very good and it was a pleasure to drive on it. In Punjab, you see many confectionary shops. It’s just a little later that I realized that the word confectionary is very loosely used for any shop which sells Bisleri water bottles, lays, bread, eggs etc. and also for some grocery stores. It was past midnight when we reached Delhi.

Day 6 - Since our last part of the itinerary was changed; we had nothing planned for today so we hired a cycle rickshaw to the metro station and took a ride in the metro. We went to a nearby mall where they had a nice kid’s play area. Nishad had a good time here. We took a metro back home and post lunch, it was our time to pack all the beautiful memories in Delhi and Mcleodganj and fly back to Pune.

The other side of Mcleodganj -
Kaustubh and I love to explore the history of the region we visit and love to read about the place. I like to chat up with local people and know a bit of their lives. In Mcleodganj, I was really curious to know how this place was before the advent of Dalai Lama. The information I am giving here is completely hearsay and I cannot claim any authenticity to it. So this is what I gathered. Mcleodganj was a forest area and some local pahadi people have lived there for generations. Their lives as shepherds were really basic and in very natural environs. Then one day, a specified piece of land got allotted to the refugees who had fled from Tibet along with (and under the guidance of) their religious leader, The Dalai Lama. In an attempt to preserve the culture and religion of Tibet, the whole area was transformed into a mini Tibet and the "Free Tibet" movement gained ground. With this, hordes of tourist started getting attracted and over a period of time many foreigners started visiting this place. The whole place got transformed into a bustling tourist destination. Simultaneously, a whole new generation of Tibetans was born right here on Indian ground, a generation who has never really seen Tibet. They were born in a free country. Although they are not allowed to buy land, they can surely rent it from Indians and many people run restaurants and shops. They have learnt Hindi and also pahadi. So although they are accustomed to their own culture they have never really lived in Tibet and never faced any of the hardships which the older generation must have faced. They live a carefree life on the refugee status and on the pension which comes from Dalai Lamas fund. I have no knowledge of this fund but what I heard was that this money is mostly raised by foreigners. With a secured life, they are hardly struggling to make their own living. Drugs are a big part of their lives and so are other vices. Some people even say that they may never return to Tibet even if conditions change. They live as a unified group and some people of the group are a cause of trouble in that area. There can be another side of the story which I am unaware of. This is Mcleodganj for you. As for me, I was a tourist looking for a break and some few relaxed moments. If this is what you are looking for then I recommend this place for you.