Getting lost in the Mountains

Ever felt the joy of waking up to the blissful beauty of mother nature in the midst of mountains? A beauty which fades away all the worry in the world and enhances the warmth of your own smile? That’s exactly how Dharamshala welcomed us on the first morning of our trip.

Let’s roll back the clock and start from the beginning, shall we? Our journey to the beautiful Mini Lhasa started with the three of us, me and my two idiots, taking flights from three different cities and colliding together in the heart of India, New Delhi. Now it is one thing to go on a trip and another to go on a trip with like-minded weirdos! I am sure you know the madness that I am talking about. And the free afternoon that we had the day we landed, all three of us proved it. Before my amigos kill me for revealing our secrets, let me move forward.

Next morning, the boys who wouldn’t get up before 10, were all dressed up and ready at 5 am. Why? It was time to kick off the most anticipated 12-hour long road trip to Dharamshala. 12 hours of nothing but us, smiling, talking, singing and shouting together out of pure happiness. 12 hours of getting awestruck by the green fields and buffalo carts, eating desi food in small roadside dhabas, reading the tunes of songs on the backs of fast-moving trucks and passing some of the more popular and historical towns of Northern India. And yet the best part? When I lower the windowpane and feel the chill air hit my face, I get drained of all my troubles of the busy city life and get a chance to relax…a chance to breathe and breathe peacefully. One can never stop falling in love with road journeys.

As the day progressed, the roads started getting curvier with the mountains taking over the charge of mesmerising us with the best of Nature. Munching over wafers and singing our favourite tunes, we continued to soak in these beautiful sceneries.

Mesmerising Nature!

With the sun almost setting, our timing couldn’t have been better to make our final ascent to Dharamshala! We got a chance to witness a magical view of Dharamshala. The pink hue among the clouds with the whole city shining in the background, made it look like a scene from some movie. I will let the picture do the talking for this one.

It took us another hour or so as we made it to the busy streets of Dharamshala. With the rush of tourists and the monks around us, all we wanted to do was to get out of the hotel and explore the streets, but then came a heavy rain and given what would be a really exciting and challenging next day, we called it a night!

Next morning brings us to where we started from and let me tell you if you think the evenings are better, wait till you get captivated by the beautiful chill mornings of Dharamshala! It is truly a surreal experience.

A delicious breakfast and we were off for the adventure we had come for, our first mountain trekking! In about an hour, we entered the Kareri Village, our starting point for the trek. Here, we met our guide and together we kicked off! We started on a positive note, full of energy, but it didn’t last long especially for me! We were only about 40 minutes in when I said, “let’s take a break, shall we?” The high stones had begun to take its toll. After a quick five minutes stop, we were back on track. And that’s how it was, we kept moving forward, taking short breaks to regain breathe.

Every time exhaustion hit us; the hypnotising beauty of nature kept motivating us to move forward. Such was the grandeur and calmness of the place!

And then there were moments of small adventures too like crossing a stream on stones, walking up a muddy hill, resting in the middle of nowhere…it was just amazing!

We reached our midway stop, Rioti, around late noon. We were more than drained out, but all our weariness just went out of the park when we saw the view there. Surrounded by tall mountains on all the sides, we were awestruck by the nature’s wonder. One of the very reasons why the front cover for this story is from this place. A quiet stream flowing beside our lunch table (which was a tree’s bark) just made the scene out of some story book. Even though we were short on energy even after lunch, we were more pumped up and determined to make it to the lake. Some of it can be credited to the music I started off playing and most of it to the overpowering natural beauty around us.

It took us about three more hours of trekking, to finally witness the grandeur of Kareri Lake and with dusk fast approaching, we were in for a treat! The final rays of the sun made the peak, ahead of us, glitter with golden sparkle.

We sat there on the edge of the hill with Maggi in our hands, glorious nature in front of us and happiness on our faces.

It is nothing short of a dream becoming reality. What we didn’t realise then was that we had so far only seen, one side of the coin – the night was yet to come.

Once the sun had set, all three of us had cramped back to our tent for resting. When we came out about an hour later, it was pitch dark and the only two sources of light were the one coming from the small hut beside our tent and the other was the

bonfire. This was a good surprise! Given that it was below 4°C outside, I don’t think I need to mention where we went first. The warmth of the fire along with the flickering sound of the burning wood felt amazing! The mountains, which had been earlier covered with gold, were now wrapped with silvery majestic. And the best part? The stars were twinkling in all their glory. It was a sight to behold.

We woke up to a fresh shiny morning the next day and there were certainly many special things about this morning. First was the beautiful view that we saw when we unzipped our tent. And second, there was no buzzing of the mobiles and boy did we love it! It is not every day you enjoy such peaceful mornings in the mountains!

With the whole day ahead of us, we had all the time in the world to explore the grassy mountains and valleys. I will let the pictures do the talking for this one! All the effort that we put in to reach here paid us handsomely! It was one of the best days I ever had!

We returned to Kareri Village the next day and as it was again a tiring affair, all we did was rest for the rest of the day.

The next day, which happens to be our last day on this trip, we went about to explore the beautiful Dharamshala. We started with a

visit to Dalai Lama Temple, the residence of His Holiness. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in town, but the peaceful atmosphere of the monastery was just amazing. We then visited another most awaited location. Yes, you guessed it, the Dharamshala Cricket Stadium. And I have to say, the view was just breathtaking! If only we could play some cricket there!!! Another beautiful sight to visit is the St. John’s Church. Built in stones, this church, we were amazed to learn that this church has survived some major earthquakes!

After all the sight-seeing was done, it was ultimately the moment we were free to wander around the streets of Dharamshala. The lively streets which swarmed with tourists, continued to give us a feeling of calmness and serenity. We purchased many souvenirs from local shops and had a coffee break in one shop. It was so beautifully decorated and the view of the mountain from the tiny shop was just gorgeous. It is quite a beautiful bliss to move freely in the streets of such scenic places. The visit is always incomplete without them!

No one wants to return from holidays, and neither did we! But every good thing comes to an end, isn’t it? As we packed our bags, we had big smiles on our faces. All those joyous moments, those ever-lasting memories, and even the ones when we were extremely tired, kept flashing back! Yes, it was a beautiful vacation in an even more beautiful place called Dharamshala!

Until next journey, Namaste!