Kirti Stambh:: © 2012 Sriparna Ghosh

This is the unedited version of the same story published by The India Tube

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If I were to be absolutely blunt, I went to Chittaurgarh with a two point agenda.

One: to acquire a kaavad from a village in the outskirts of Chittaurgarh.

Two: to click a photo. A specific photo, which I had seen in one those ‘lists of places to see before you die’.

In all the selfishness it had completely skipped me that I was going to the largest fort in the world Asia India (still disputed, two certified guides and a few Wikipedia articles later). That Bundi preceded and Udaipur succeeded this Rajasthan train-trip (best option from Delhi is the Mewar Express, 9.40 hrs) could also have some bearing on why I had ignored its history and latent charm.

We have two days in the city and one of the best decisions that was made in the pre-trip planning is to stay within the fort walls, and give the dusty-characterless town below a miss. There is just one option, the Padmini Haveli Guest House. So to say, it is a homestay. But a stylish one at that; minimally decorated yet tasteful; a bathroom that can make bathroom-going a real pleasure; children of the house running around helter-skelter; random Bollywood related graphics and more-randomly placed installations from Hermes, with a big laser-cut serif H. The half owners of this property, Sudhir and Parvati are both powerhouses of historical data regarding the place, splendid storytellers and great hosts. The other half owners are a Swiss couple (the random Hermes connection, perhaps).

There is hardly anything to complain about the PHGH. It is tucked into a narrow and unsuspecting lane, and is the best place to start ones authentic village tour from. Cows are wandering about and Langurs are lunging over our heads. We get used to it.

The meals are priced abruptly steep. But we chomp down the Rs 400 per-person-per-meal of simple chawal-sabzi-dal without complain. There isn’t much option otherwise, at least not within the next 8 kms.

We leave in a tuk-tuk on a day-tour of the fort, that once housed a whopping 84 water-bodies (a handful remain now) and 113 temples (some in-shape, some in shambles and a few be-headed) among other famous cenotaphs, towers, palaces and tombs. The impact of last evening’s educative light and sound show is making me curious; I am so full of questions; we hop from one ancient spot to another despite the winter sun that is harsh in the open and kind in the shadows.

One of the most popular sights is the Padmini Palace, a part of which is submerged in water and used to be rani Padmini’s summer palace. Visitors spend quite a bit of their time in a room that houses the much-famed ceiling mirror, in the reflection of which Ala-ud-in Khilji took a sneak peek at Rani Padmini and had catastrophically wrong desires. However, what stands inside the very frame now, is but a modern mirror.

Due north is another cluster of sights that attracts a big chunk of visitors (us included): Gaumukh, that literally means cow-mouth, is a perpetual spring, the source of which no one knows, goes the local belief; Mahasati and Sammidheshwar Temple; and the Victory Tower, that is a122-foot exquisitely carved tower offering nine storeys of narrow stairs for you to climb.

Other sights not to be missed (for those with the luxury of time and a motivated historical curiosity) are the Meera Temple, Ratan Singh Palace and Kirti Stambh, and lastly the light and sound show that plays every evening at the Kumbha Palace.

The fort complex is simply too vast to cover in a day, or two. And its effect on me, much greater. I board the train from Chittaurgarh to Udaipur in the dawn and I leave with an unexpected feeling. I feel humbled to have brought two such minor agendas to a place with much better plans for me.

Triund :: © 2010 Rohit Chaudhary

Triund is like a Friday night. You can very well see what is ahead and you know what you have just left behind. The tingling of a cool weekend to look forward to and the madding week left behind. We all know what that feels like. And Triund feels just like that.

Triund is that more-than-welcome flat bit of land at 2890 metres, and it sure makes you work hard to get there. You can get there only by walking, and just a few shortcuts are allowed. Let me correct myself there, the shortcuts aren’t allowed, they must be looked for, and must be analysed for their eventual benefits. And then you can decide to take them, if you must.

You would encounter a lot of two-way traffic enroute to Triund. Some would politely overtake you, some making a lot of unnecessary noise but not really making any headway and also those that greet you. As on any other journey, these passersby’s make for good conversation topics with your other co-travellers.

To set your sight on the destination can be a good way to beat any Monday-morning-blues you might be facing. A quick but bone-jangling auto ride from Dharamkot might also lessen the number of kilometres you have to walk by one and a half. This auto journey might just be the scariest one ever (valid till they construct a pakka road).

Since a good way to commence a journey is by getting some blessings on your side, you could go and ring some bells at the Galu temple, beyond which no vehicle will be willing to take you. From here on in, you start, on an uphill journey, on foot.

The path either goes flat or up. The flat parts are pretty hard to come by, and hence a considerable amount of time is spent on them: taking breaks, enjoying the view, discussing how much of the trek is left etc. The HPCA stadium is your constant companion throughout the trek, since its recent addition to the Dharamsala geography.

The views are spectacularly plain, cause all you see are the plains. On a lucky day, as was ours, you can catch a glimpse of the Pong Dam reservoir, in the Kangra valley. It is a huge lake that also doubles up as a well known wildlife sanctuary. A few scattered hazy hills can be seen, but they don’t lend any beauty to the landscape at all. Of course, for those with a love for concrete jungles it might be a wonderful view.

If you walk as fast as we did, then within 90 minutes you should be at the halfway point. There are a couple of dhabas, one of which is very famously knows as the Magic view Cafe. The newer one, with a ‘better’ view that looks directly at Triund is called Best View. I leave it to you to make the painful decision between magic or best. This being my 3^rd time at the half way point, and having firsthand experience with both, I chose the latter.  Have some drinks at double the cost of MRP and proceed to walk on.

Further the path is a lot of uphill task. It is continuously tilted at an angle ranging between 15 to 45. Never a 0. This is the part where the shortcuts are appealing, and you must keep out a keen eye for them. And some steady feet. Shortcuts have the known ability to cut your distance, but they also add the gift of danger.

Dhaba at Triund :: © 2010 Sriparna Ghosh

The last stretch takes your breath away, and so does the first view of Triund. They somehow compensate for each other and allow you to become a kid wanting to roll down the meadows. The Indrahar peak stands upto you. And in between the snowy ranges and you is that bit of grassy land called Triund, like a carpet of green, interspersed with tarpaulin blue dhabas. But dont be mistaken; there is a well hidden deep gorge that separates the meadows from the mountain up ahead.

Triund is like a Friday night. You can see the snowy peaks at stones throw and if you just spin at 180 degrees, the plains stare back mundanely at you.

How and what?

Triund is roughly 7 kms away from Dharamkot which lies another 2 kms above from Mcleodgunj, and that is 9 kms from Dharamsala. But people dont start their trek from Dharamsala, and it is only prudent to start from the Dharamkot. Those wanting to cut down further can also start from Galu temple.

Mcleodgunj is connected with Delhi through regular buses. The roadways buses are fairly frequent, while there are 2 deluxe options: TATA AC (Rs 735) and VOLVO (Rs 950). Tickets for the latter can be booked either from ISBT Kashmiri Gate or Himachal Bhawan, Mandi House.

If you prefer trains then you can catch an overnight train to Pathankot, from where there are plenty of vehicular options available.

If you prefer airplanes, you should probably go to Goa.

There is plenty to do at Triund and nothing at all, depending on your choice. You can eat, drink, read, walk, trek further, hang out with sheep,  click photographs, eat, roll on the grass, ride a unicycle (one of the tourists actually did that), sit by the bonfire and gaze at the numerous stars. Or you could just borrow a blanket from the dhaba and laze around indefinitely.

I highly recommend you spend at least one night up there instead of returning to civilisation the same day. It lets you enjoy both the walks and the stay.

Sheepathon :: © 2010 Sriparna Ghosh

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view from urgos :: © 2009 sriparna ghosh

I was sold on Chitkul more than two years back. And I have tried to sell it ever since. To whoever has 4 days or more, and is willing to travel. I, in all my sincerity, urge them to fit in another one and half hours into their bone-jangling 10-hour journey time starting from Shimla. 90% gave me the do-you-even-know-what-makes-a-holiday-look and stopped at Shimla. And well, went to Chail and Kufri. Then there were a few who saw the pictures and got tempted. But, 10-hours, they said, was more than enough and got off at Sangla.

But for me, Chitkul was calling. The underlying reason was that it was the last village on that route. Last villages are like final frontiers. They have their own charms, as do the firsts, tallests, fastests, highests … and so on.

In our travels, we always try to reach where the road ends. And we did so, this time as well.

The road in subject here starts in Manali, and goes through the Rohtang pass. This is where the families, couples and groups of friends from all over India stall their cars, jump out into their hired fur coats and gum boots to frolic on brown coloured snow that is not even snow-ballable.

A scattered few switch to neutral gear and gravitate down the mountain, on the other side, on their way to Ladakh.

But Ladakh wasn’t on our agenda; it was Lahaul. Lahaul is considerably unexplored, Keylong being the only well-known district, owing to the fact that it falls on the Manali-Leh highway. Our predetermined plan took us to a couple of monasteries around Keylong (Kardong and Billing), and to Udaipur, uptill Tindi village (the last village of Lahaul on this road). And a river gone beserk did not take us to Purthi and Killar, which fall futher up on the road beyond Tindi, and are in the Chamba district of HP (famous for Dalhousie). To fill in came the village of Urgos, in Miyar valley, which is at the end of the road that turns east right before Udaipur.

Urgos was also calling, like chitkul had. For the same reason, and also cause secretly I was considering it to be a village straight out of Lord of the Rings, thanks to its mysterious sound to the name. Not to mention, according to my mother, “we would find khargosh in urgos”.

So we kept a few rabbits and some elves on the radar, and continued on this superbly coal-tarred road. True to my observation of roads throughout Lahaul, that every new detour starts off like silk, and turns to jute, even for this, we were led from bad to worse, to driving on the river bed(with rocks and boulders). The views were spectacular. A number of villages fall enroute, each with a great setting: Shakoli, Chimret, Karpat, Tingrat, and finally Urgos. At tingrat, the only village which boasts of a hotel, we were made to fill in details at the check post, and a solitary string is what stops you from driving by without stopping. Noone breaks any rules here. That’s for sure.

on the way to urgos :: © 2009 sriparna ghosh

A newly built bridge on a river-tributary is what separates Tingrat from Urgos, and it owing to that, buses can ply till the last village, Urgos. So could we.

Reaching there, I was torn between my love for Chitkul and an imminent likeness towards Urgos. Pretty and identical in their settings, of green forests in the vicinity, and pointy snowed in peaks in the distance and a river cutting through the valley. These are the last villages, but the scope doesn’t end with that. There are fabulous, even if tough, treks starting at both places that take to places like Zanskar(Ladakh), Netwar(Har-Ki-Dun) etc.

What you should be doing there: Of course, if you are a hustle-bustle lover, this is not your place. Moreover, once there, through one of the worst roads in India, after 24 hours of leaving Delhi, you wouldn’t be in the mood. Depending on how deeply this article moves holiday makers (I’m counting zero impact) and how many gladly make their way to Urgos (Zero again), you might or might not find hotels to welcome you there. We did not find any, as we were told we are the first real Indian tourists. Urgos is frequented by foreigners out on expeditions, and a few photographers here and there. If you are there, without any plans to trek (plan well in case you do cause we were told people die on the glaciers which stretch out after Urgos) then you should do what we did. Play ‘Upwards’ on the low tables while watching the rain and sipping Saunf tea (read: tea innovation ought to be tried back home) sitting on locally hand woven carpets, go out for a pee to a locked bathroom 200 mtrs away, then walk down to the river through the fields, try some slow-shutter-photography of the water flowing by, enjoy dinner made by the family you are staying with (read: home stay), and off to the most peaceful sleep (on the same carpets) while you check out a few stars peeping from behind the clouds.

Not having found any images of Urgos on flickr search before leaving, we are doubly excited to publish these online, to give a glimpse to those who are planning to go there, and to simply answer ‘why you should go there’ to those who aren’t.

urgos village :: © 2009 rohit chaudhary

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We didn’t really think of Yuksom as anything more than a ‘starting-point’ of a trek. And considered it to be true even upon our arrival. As our jeep entered a relatively open area after hours of winding, climbing, empty road, all that we could see were a couple of hotels and 3-4 restaurants, kind of shacks. It was almost dark and bodies were too lazy to venture out on walks.

It was only the next day that we could marvel at our beautiful surroundings. Neatly spread out houses, within an area of a square kilometre, a small murky lake and a temple gave the whole area an impression of being some sort of a ‘model’ village. Our guide offered an explanation; Yuksom lacks a direct view of Khangchendzonga or for that matter any mountain range and so this place hasn’t seen much ‘development’. All that you could see around you would be land rising to a couple of thousand feet with thickly forested slopes of Rhododendron and oak. And that’s where in lay the beauty of this place. It seemed disconnected from the outside world and yet one could feel the presence of colossal Khangchendzonga just behind one of those hills.

Yuksom (1780 mts.) literally means meeting place of 3 lamas, the lamas who crowned the first chogyal of Sikkim here in 1641. It’s now called Norbugang Park. And so Yuksom is supposed to be the first capital of Sikkim. The Norbugang Chorten still has the evidence of the consecration ceremony in the form of stone seats and a footprint of the head lama on a stone.

We had to leave early, for we had a long day’s walk to reach our first camp at Tsokha village (3050 mts.) and so couldn’t really venture out into other attractions of the place. On the top of the agenda should be a visit to Dubdi monastery (45 minute’s trek). Established in 1701, Dubdi gompa is touted as Sikkim’s oldest monastery. Then an additional whole day could be spent relaxing at the beautiful Phamrong waterfall, which is roughly 8 kms from Yuksom.

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