Black and Yellow

As the rains finally wind down in our part of the world, I find myself spending some quality time at home. Playing music, hanging out with friends, shopping on the internet and having morning conversations with my new friend, Eddie, a black and yellow corn spider.

Eddie has taken up residence just above my sink and has usually made a large web all night which I invariably stick my head into every morning while cleaning my teeth. First few days he tried to attack me, but he now knows better. I am a recent fan of spiders, as we have quite a few varieties living in our house.

They are brave (Eddie takes me on every day without fail), can take on prey 4 times their size, make the most beautiful webs, the web itself is a miracle material, they kind of look cool, their toxins are used for curing diseases and they take care of insects. Eddie dumps his leftovers in my sink though I am sure with a little training he can be house broken.
Cheers

mcleodganj weathergeek: monday morning (24jan)>

mcleodganj weathergeek: monday morning (24jan)>: "our monday is starting off beautifully... full sunshine and temps in the low 40sF (5-6C). we could see a build-up of clouds this after..."

mcleodganj weathergeek: tuesday morning (30nov)>

mcleodganj weathergeek: tuesday morning (30nov)>: "status quo... dullsville. this morning's satellite photo shows absolutely nothing going on across virtually all of south asia. stellar lat..."

Seven Days and Seven lakes

I live in Dharamsala and outside my windows, I can see the Dhauladhar Mountains very well. Dead North is the Indrahar Pass and the distinct Mun Peak. The walk to Indrahar is not far from my house and it would be the shortest way to get to Chamba and it is the most used trail to get to Manimahesh for the holy dip. As we cross Indrahar pass, there is a holy lake situated right under the peak called Nag Dal (Snake Lake, dedicated to the Nag Devta or Snake God that lives in the hair of Lord Shiva). The interesting thing is that this lake is situated in a narrow valley formed by the twin range of peaks facing North and South, separating Kangra and Chamba Valleys. This narrow valley, slopes downwards towards the West and hence the water from Nag Dal flows West, making more lakes.
Now i had heard about these lakes a lot and locals go to these lakes every year but somehow we never got around to visiting the Lam Dal (Shiva's Lake). This i the holiest lake after Manimahesh and attracts a lot of pilgrims during Shivratri. So around Shivratri, my friends and I decided to visit these lakes and see them all if possible.
During the course of these seven days, we got to cross unnamed passes, got rained upon endlessly and had to do two river crossings. But the reward of seeing the lakes was immense. As you enter this narrow valley over a pass, you see Lake #6, Nagara. There is a camp site here and the local Gaddis are always here to assist and to guide travelers in any way they can. The Gaddis believe that on this holy ground, Shivji comes to assist travelers and test the locals in the form of a human being. So either the traveler could get assistance from him in times of need or the locals could get tested by him as a traveler in need.
When you are climbing the Gag pass to get into this valley, there is a water fall that is gushing out of the mountain. It is literally a hole in the stone and the water comes out at great force. The story is the the Pandavas were in these mountains and Draupadi was thirsty and tired and could not walk any further. Bhim used the tip of his mace and struck the rock to get water for her. Now in reality, this hole in the mountain is connected to Lam Dal on top. The lake bed has a hole which leads to this spot!!!
Anyway, The floor of this valley between the peaks is very shallow, around 3900m at Nagara. This valley floor rises to the East and drops down towards the West. As you follow the Lake going East, it is a good 4 Km hike to the main lake of Lam Dal. Lam Dal being holy, you have to take off your shoes and walk barefoot towards it. There is a high probability of loosing your shoes as it is difficult to tell where you took them off! Anyway, our guides made sure we would find them, but the bitter cold and the fresh morning dew didn't help the feet. The lake itself is magnificent. the little temple at its bank is perfect and yes, it does overwhelm you enough to believe in God, at least for that visit.
We walked back following the Lam Dal flow downwards and saw all the little and big water bodies it was forming. The one that stood out most was Kali Kund. It is a dark green still lake where no one is allowed to bathe as it will kill you. I just feel bad as we didn't have the energy to see Chandrakoop (Moon Lake), the lake above Lam Dal.
So, in design, the lakes are named after the physical form of Lord Shiva. First there is Nag Dal, then comes Chandrakoop, then we have Lam Dal, then Kali Kund and so on until the Nagara lake at the bottom.
This area is full of stories of the Pandavas and a lot of it has to do with Bhim. When we cross over Minkiani Pass and go back into Kangra Valley, we stay on the banks of another lake, Kareri Lake which was formed due to depression formed by Bhim's knee when he knelt there as he was tired.
whatever the reasons and the stories, these lakes are an amazing feature to be seen at least once in your lifetime. The beauty of the place is indescribable. It has all the hallmarks of becoming a great trekking route - ease of access, water, adventure, beautiful camp sites and the destination itself is spectacular.

Spiti!!

Finally!!

It was a monster ride, the road is non existent, the mountains are huge but it was all made possible as the weather held for us the entire time. The week we were in Spiti, the weather was clear and the temperature steady. As we left, it all went back to normal - snow, cold, slushy roads, etc.

Spiti was a new area for all of us on the trip and nothing could have prepared us for the beauty of its villages and the landscape. It is jaw dropping! I nearly drove off the mountain road a few times as I was just staring at some insane feature.

Being an old culture it was really interesting to see the animistic traditions existing with the reformist Buddhist traditions. Over here you will find monasteries belonging to the Sakya sect and all monasteries, except the Mudh area, are built as fortresses. Reading the history of the area, it has had its share of war and killings. Being always fought over by the guge and Indian kings, Spiti rarely had a chance to govern itself. But due to its inaccessibility, the ancient culture and artefacts got preserved. But how long that will last is another questions. Our Government isn't known for a sensitive response to art or any sort of preservation. Case in point being the Precambrian/Cambrian fossils that could be found while walking in the Kibber - Komik area. The locals and tourists have pocketed nearly all of them with our Government's token law saying it is illegal to remove fossils. Another case being the roads and the dismal quality of labor that is put to work in these areas.

When you travel through these remote areas where the terrain and weather are harsh, you realise the strength of human spirit and the strong beliefs in religion. People survive on belief. The more hard your life, the more elaborate the set of beliefs that make up your view of God, the world, of your place in society. In these areas time stands still, centuries make no impact only we, as visitors, insist on doing so. We wake up the locals by telling them what year it is and that all they believe in, is cute. Patronizing.

The beauty of Kunzum La, the gruffness of Rohtang Pass, the openness of Spiti and her people is a story that reads well. The story is spiced by the monasteries, the history, the local myths and mellowed by the huge, gentle mountains that keeps Spiti far away from the hordes of tourists and corporates, not for long.

Trying to go to Spiti

Towards Jogindernagar

For the last one and a half months, Elise and I have been trying to access Spiti. The rain this year has been crazy! Lahaul, Spiti and Ladakh have been devastated by it. Dharamsala, where we live is very wet too, but we can still handle it.
The first attempt saw us stranded in Manali for 5 days and this time, Aug 5th, saw us all ready for our trip and the cloudburst in Ladakh happened. Not so devastating is the state of the Gramphoo to Kunzum La road. the weather is fickle and the roads a death trap.

But, I got a few hundred kilometers of riding :). The roads are very good connecting Mandi to Kullu, but post Kullu it is horrible for bikes.

One of my fav stretches of road goes from Jogindernagar to Mandi. Quiet, picturesque and the weather was too good.

Mandi

River after Pandoh

Dhaba Break!!!

My Hero Honda Karizma

The Roerich Museum, Naggar

The Roerich Gallery is a beautiful Museum and a sight for sore eyes. Every time I visit it, I get fired up to rival these amazing explorers of all time.

Roerich Museum front lawn

Waterfalls on the Manali Highway

So far, every time I visit Manali I meet someone really amazing. This time I was introduced to Sey Rimpoche, the incarnation of Ladakhi Tripon Pema Choegyal, direct heart student of Togden Shakya Shri .I was nervous meeting a leader of such standing face to face, but was put at ease when I met him. I hope we can work in harmony towards common goals in this land of the Gods.

Nobody's going to pat you on the back...

While in Manali, I was whining to a friend of mine about how badly run this industry is and about the loppy practices most outdoor companies employ.He turns as says to me "Nobody's going to pat you on the back for your efforts but it will definitely change/improve the way things are." Good enough for me!

The last few months have been a flurry of activity - lots of trekking, attempt to reach Leh, meeting new people, getting really good ideas and opportunities to match these ideas.

The business side of it all also became so much better because of the effort from Elise and Prateek to fine tune our presence online. The ideas flowed in due to the quality of people we met. Even so recent as a year back, I had no clue we were doing the right things. Website SEO? Blogs? Social Networks? Metatags? Key words? We were swimming in unknown waters, in my case drowning! Things worked out as I realised that one day you just have to sit down and do it. One has to, at some point, remove the thought of instant remunerations and work at the job at hand. Patience is sadly a virtue. :)

The attempt at reaching Leh; the road was blocked for the 5 days we were trying to get across, but we met the coolest people and stayed at a wonderful place in Manali called the Drifter's Inn and Cafe. Wonderful place and good peoples.