The Beginning
It was 13th of October, the day on which the most awaited trip of mine will be going to begin.
Himachal, When I hear the sound of Himachal, a torrent of excitement rushes through my veins and the inner voice says, "let's hit the road". My roommates and I were planning to explore the Himachal since so long, but finally, it was the time to make it real.
Himachal is backpackers dream around the globe, everyone wants to explore Himachal at least once, the reason maybe the majestic mounts of Himalayas, Leh Ladakh, Mother nature or the Hashish; It's a pilgrimage of hippies and wanderers. For me, Himachal is full of wonders. There is an unexplained enchantment in the mountains which compels you to stay.
Himachal Pradesh, in Sanskrit "Hima", means snow, the literal meaning of the name is "in the lap of the Himalayas".
Himachal is backpackers dream around the globe, everyone wants to explore Himachal at least once, the reason maybe the majestic mounts of Himalayas, Leh Ladakh, Mother nature or the Hashish; It's a pilgrimage of hippies and wanderers. For me, Himachal is full of wonders. There is an unexplained enchantment in the mountains which compels you to stay.
Himachal Pradesh, in Sanskrit "Hima", means snow, the literal meaning of the name is "in the lap of the Himalayas".
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| Expedition |
The Train
It was 6:00 pm and we were traveling from New Delhi railway station to Jalandhar. By the name of a railway station, the very first image that clicks my mind are people, lots of people rushing in every direction, lots of trains, the sound of horns, luggage. Honestly, I was very excited, it's been straight six years since I have traveled by train.Everything related to the train was the reason for my excitement but that's not all, this trip is full of reckless and exciting events!
I was traveling along with my two homies and three of us didn't have a reservation, we just had a general ticket, so basically we traveled without a ticket in a superfast train, but we managed to have a comfortable ride and that's all happened by some sweet little words and some sweet little cash.
It was the time when the train starts to de-board and you have to say goodbye to your loved ones but deep down, you want to run back to them.
Train, oh my god! an insight of the train was like an insane pathway to the wonderland or purgatory, I wonder! Train's final destination was Katra, which is the last stop for Vaishno Devi. So, the train was full of pilgrims. We shared our compartment with two elderly ladies and one man, who was sleeping on the upper berth for the whole time. Those ladies were going for Vaishno Devi as well. The tea was an ice breaker, we shared the tea, and the tea time gup-shup was initiated.
As the train was heading on, the gist of the conversations was also heading, from gossips to politics; politics to moral, values, culture, festivals and so on.
As the train was heading on, the gist of the conversations was also heading, from gossips to politics; politics to moral, values, culture, festivals and so on.
The festival of Dussehra was just over a day before, hence we all were indulged into the discussion of a festival, how we celebrated it!, how was it ! its rituals and eventually the question aroused, "Why we burn the effigies of Ravana on Vijayadashami?", One of the women asked. Even though the Ravana was the great scholar of all the times, he has the knowledge of four Vedas and six Shastras. Nobody in the whole universe had the power to defeat the ten-headed demon, then why we burn him every year! we all thought for a minute, but the answer was obvious because it's an old tradition.
Later she explained, Ravan was killed because of his "I" and burning of the Ravan symbolizes the destruction of "I" within yourself. Despite all these festivities, the real reason behind them is fading away.
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| Wagon |
Sher Jalandhar
It was 12:30 in the night and the city was motionless. From cantonment station we went to a friend's flat, we stayed there for a night. According to the plan, our journey for Rohtang will be going to start after 8:00 pm, so we had the whole day to explore Jalandhar.The city of Haveli that's what Jalandhar is, it holds all the spices of Punjab, narrow roads, extravagant cars, sarso de khet (a stretch of a mustard farm), hymn of Gurbani (prayer), bhangra dance, cheerful people; here you can find every color of Punjab and if you are lucky enough you may witness a live Bhangra show anywhere, I was one of those luckiest people, I'd enjoy the live bhangra dance in the middle of the road which was crazy.
Moving on food, the food at Haveli is the best thing you can gift to your stomach, trust me.
The sun went down, around 8 pm we went back to the flat, the car was loaded with luggage and necessities. it's10 pm, the time to hit the road.
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| Brewed |
To be continued!
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