Dalhousie Trip

Sitting Left to right: Kopal, Anjana,Lovekesh, Mudit.

Standing Left to right: Alok, Shobhit Anubha, Ankush, Shubha, Ankur, Neha, Suresh, Anshul and Supreet.

Some of us are infected by revelry ghost which instigates in us a strong desire to run to some exotic locations. The extended weekend provides us with the most propitious opportunity to fulfill such a desire. Every trip reverberates beauty, innocence, calmness and tranquility and we experience a wave of beauty rising deep inside us. The trip to Dalhousie was one such beautiful experience.

DAY 0 : Mirth and merry-making begins

The thought of the trip to Dalhousie would fill my heart with joy and thrill। The day was usual will all queries on google related to Dalhousie and places nearby. I was patiently waiting for the clock to tick 5:30 pm since morning and impatiently after lunch.

The journey began with amorous south indian cuisine at Suvarna Restuarnt in CP. From there we caught the Metro to reach Old Delhi Rly Station where others would join us. It is a stark coincidence that in my last three trips: Auli, Jammu and this time to Dalhousie we always had 14 members. Some of them were old aquinatances while a few of them were new namely Supreet, Ankur, Anshul and Lovekesh.

Among the group there were a few professional guitarist disguised as Shobhit, Ankur, Lovekesh and Anshul who played the songs on the audiences' request and their own favourites। They were such a crowd puller that six of us were squeezed and sitting meant for three. The singing and guitar performances were stellar and amazing but this was just the beginning.

DAY 1: Beginning of Idyll

The train unexpectedly running on time dropped us at Pathankot at 0730 hrs. Dalhousie is a small town in the Chamba district of Himanchal Pradesh, which is 80Kms from Pathankot in Punjab. The journey takes less than 3hrs by cab. We got into two cabs and headed for our destination. On our way we halted to have our breakfast consisting of Aloo and Onion Paranthas.

All in the garden
In the garden again.

While the paranthas were being prepared we began our guitar lessons and shot photos in and around the restaurant which had a beautiful garden.
Learning Guitar from the Master Himself.
We continued our journey to Dalhousie and were treated with beautiful scenry and picturesque beauty of the nature. We checked in a hotel at 1130 hrs. It was then and there a CONSPIRACY was hatched to sabotage the plan prepared by Kopal to go to Kalatop that very day by Suresh and his newly found 'aquaintance'. We set our foot forward for local sight-seeing consisting of SaptDhara,PanchPula and Subhash Bowli.
I would not like to say much about SaptDhara beacause then I would be writing more letters on my blog then the amount of water there.The visit to PanchPula was a quite a delight to our souls. The name PanchPula is etmylogically means " Five bridges" which come along the trek from Panchpula to Chanmari dam.

The trekking route.
Though we did not trek the entire length we travelled some distance. There was a this small and beautiful waterfall and the sound of it produced such a music that would bring ecstacy and draw oneself into deep meditation. One could fully cognise and experience the beauty. There is also a leaf of histroy attached to Panchpula.

The bust of Sardar Ajeet Singh.
Sardar Ajeet Singh, uncle of Sardar Bhagat Singh, was leader of "Pagdi Sambhal Jatta" was buried here at Panchpula who died on the fateful day of Indian Independence.

Transcription of Subhash Bowli.
Another historical place in Dalhousie is Subhash Bowli। This was the place were Subhash Chandra Bose used to come for walk when he was sick and staying in Dalhousie. We walked our way back from Subhash Bowli which is 1.5 Kms from the GPO of Dalhousie and also the town centre. Since it was little early for dinner we retired to our rooms and took the much needed rest. After dinner, we all went back to our rooms to prepare for special something coming up next day.

DAY 2: The day of Adventure and Thrill
When the clock struck 12 midnight we all gathered to celebrate the "bud day" of Kopal and also an advance bud day of Neha। Shubha, the make-up expert did her bit by doing the cake make up who was also assisted by Ankur and Mudit. The B'day girl was presented with Sword and Chakra to kill the demons and devils. Then there was performance from Kopal on Masakali where as Neha only did a little "nain mataka". Thus we began the day on such a high note. To commenrate the day with victory of good over evil it was inevitable to kill the first conspirator Suresh who in the bright day light has hatched a consipracy. But it did not end there and all the guys shared the b'day bumps on the behalf of the b'day girls. After a few performances from Slumdog and laughter riots , we all went back to our rooms to sleep.

The much awaited morning was warmer than the previous day and the sun was shining brightly with the cold breeze blowing. We started for Khajjiar which is also called "Mini Switzerland". 22 Kms from the township Khajjiar is situated in a valley surrounded by huge mountains on all sides. It is like a huge stadium and the pine and deodar trees are like spectators and cheer leaders around the stadium gathered to watch a match. The lavish green valley of Khajjiar is a perfect place for the game of cricket but here there was an altogether different ball game called Zorbing.

The Zorbing Ball.

Two of you are tied inside the ball facing each other and rolled down the slope. It was a lifetime experience for me. One the ball starts rolling it seems only two of you exist in this entire cosmos. Though it seems scary and increases the heart beat the feeling is exhilarating. It not merely please you it intoxicates you. Once you are out of the ball you cherish the beauty of the nature even more. To perceive the incomparable beauty of the Divine Mother Nature, we strolled around the valley and clicked pictures wherever possible for our memories.

The view of the Khajjiar valley

We left Khajjiar for our next destination Kalatop. Kalatop is 3kms from LakadMandi from where we began to walk as no cabs are allowed beyond this point. Singing songs all along the way and capturing moments we never realised how soon we reached Kalatop.

on our way to kalatop
Kalatop is not "Kala" at all
We had really fun packed moments as we all played the game of "Dog and the bone" and wooing the opponents down was much more fun। Hooting and shouting at the top of our voice like school kids marked the return of innocence.

It was already 7 pm when we came back from Kalatop but our energies were no where near to be diminshed. So we decided to go to DainKund as well. It is 5kms further from LakadMandi with lot of steep and curvy stretches. At Dain Kund, there is a temple which is the highest point in Dalhousie. The stretch from DainKund to temple was isolated with not a human being to be sighted on our way. Also the path is wide enough only for a single person to walk. Darkness fell and the stars were shining, since it was going to be full moon in few days moon light was bright enough to let us tread our path to the temple and back. The temple was beautifully decorated and embellished with " red chunni" all along.

We came back from DainKund to Dalhousie and directly went to restaurant to quench our thirst and fill our bellies as we were very hungry। Upon our return to hotel, we gathered together in a room for some performances and laughter session along with leg pulling. Ankur was very hilarious. He used to act out scenes so funnily leaving us all in splits of laughter. The ladies were showering stars on the guys for there enacts. Neha was continuously peeping inside the quilt looking for something which is still a mystery. The laughter and merriment continued till 2 am in the morning and then we dispersed.

DAY 3: The day of departure

The last day of the trip had come. After breakfast we set off to see Chamera Dam. The dam is built on the river Ravi. The view of the river and its surrounding are breath taking. The drive to Chamera Dam particularly the last 8kms before arriving were so exotic that it can not be expressed in words.

The view of Chamera Dam
The views are still imprinted in my memory and all I need is to close my eyes and envisage to re-live those moments again and again. They are so beautiful as if Nature itself has come down to artistically adorned it with the most beautiful and magnificent jewels.The air was so sanctimonious to give us the feel of spirituality. We spent quite sometime to assimilate the views in our visceral. We then left for Pathankot from Chamera Dam with briefly halting at rock garden. It's 4 hrs drive to Pathankot where we reached around 5pm. Since we could not lunch on our way we were all very hungry and so we decided to have our lunch and dinner combined. The meal was delectable and the rest was done by the godd gracious Punjabi Lassi. We then somehow managed to reach the station which was fortunately only few hundred meters. As our train had already arrived we took our jumbled seats. With the combined efforts of our fellow passengers we bartered our seats so that we all could be together. We played Uno and Tambola and not to mention that I won the housie.

In the morning we were back to our metro city and our journey had ended.
Trips provide me with the much needed relaxation from our daily chore of official life and provides me with opportunities to recharge and look at things from new prespective. But above all they provide with untrammeled experience which I am sure I would cherish all my life.I hope the account gives vicarious delight to the readers.

You may call it Dalhousie but I would like to call it Dil Housie "where the heart resides".

For more picture please click the below link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alokkaashyap/Dalhousie#