First Time in the Mountains - Part 2 - Rewalsar, Padmasambhava, Naina Devi
Image 1: Somewhere on the way to Rewalser from Mandi
Day 3: Back to Mandi
By about 7, almost all the tourist battalion there had woken up from their slumber. But Varun, Major, and I were the only ones packing our tents and bags. As the gang slowly regained its bubbling powers, they also started cooking for breakfast (a large amount of Maggi noodles). So, when they invited us to join them, we couldn't resist. Somehow, in the mountains, the lore of Maggi acquires a legendary status. No one is safe from it.
Even the Major joined in. But he was also the first to start his bike and rush down the hill. And even though I was feeling the Army vibes, Varun seemed to question the place for something. Ah! Yes, the lack of toilets. He had to attend to nature's call in the morning before he could ride back to Mandi. So he took some time to find a hole and fill it.
Anyway, being lighter does make you a better rider. Even though I already knew that weighing just about 64-65 kgs myself, it was a valuable lesson that aided my future rides. Also, another valuable lesson was that when you pitch your tent, you won't necessarily find the comforts of a toilet's privacy.
We reached our new favorite Hotel - Chawla's Kitchen at Mandi, by about 4:00 PM.
Excursion Towards Manali
We took a room to refresh and wash the dust off our bodies. A small mistake in the process exposed me to the viral elements, and I immediately started to feel feverish. Varun had planned to go to Manali the same evening and stay there instead of here. But my feeling sick put a brake on it.
Still, sitting around and dining at the same hotel twice in one trip seemed too much. We decided to do the least and visit about 30 Km from the hotel towards Manali. A Maa Baglamukhi temple is constructed at the edge of the Dam on Beas in Pandoh. It's a small temple en route to Manali from Mandi. But it stands for as long as people started building the dam, blessing the work and workers alike. I doubt you can find it now. The route is littered with tunnels. The old road is only visible in a few small corners.
At 8 in the evening, the temple was locked from the outside after aarti and pretty much deserted, with only the occasional visitors stopping and bowing to Maa before going about their business. We spent about an hour there chatting and enjoying ourselves, away from the noise of the town.
Somehow, I forget the time I spent on the regular bustling places. Yet these places where noise is not a distraction are hard to ignore. The feeling lingers for a long time and stokes a fire to take a time out and revisit.
We had no plans to go further and wanted to try something new. On the return, we stopped at a dhaba for dinner and realised that Chawla's kitchen is perhaps the best food in Mandi. Anyway, the next day was Tuesday, and we had to start early to cover a few planned destinations.
Image 2: Varun checking his photography skills somewhere on the way to Rewalsar
26 Jan 2016 Day 4: Tuesday Temple Run
It was Republic Day, so a holiday, and we started at about 6:30 from the hotel. The route was a little different from the regular bustling and wide (at least 2-lane) highways. It's an internal arterial road connecting several mountain villages. Our aim was to reach Rewalsar Lake. Good cold weather and early morning empty roads winding down among the forest. For me, it felt like heaven.
Rewalsar is an ancient town full of stories and spiritual significance. The lake is surrounded by temples, gurudwara, and monasteries. Varun felt lucky and wouldn't stop mentioning that he had completed his routine Tuesday temple visit even hundreds of kilometres away from home.
After finishing our temple activities and darshan, we roamed around a bit and checked the Nyingmapa Monastery. I happened to also reach the Gurudwara while Varun was busy with his Tuesday prayers.
I love the fact that many of the monasteries have preserved the calming nature and spiritual character of the place. Something I find missing in most temples. Sitting for a while in the temple is almost impossible with the constant rush of pilgrims. Often, the pujari would not like it. However, despite all this hustling, I have found temples where I could just sit and make a calm connection without much action (more about these places in later blogs).
For now, we were just tourists, and staying at one place longer than necessary was unwarranted. So, we checked with locals and found two interesting places to visit further up the road - Padmasambhava Cave (Buddhist call him Guru Rinpoche, and Rewalsar hosts a large statue of him overlooking the lake), and Naina Devi (or Tara Temple).
We reached the Padmasambhava Cave first. There, too, is a monastery that welcomes guests with special Tibetan salty tea. The tea is unusual at first, but as it hits the insides of you, it instantly relieves the consumer of fatigue and dehydration. Once again, the cave is somewhere you'd like to sit and be enchanted by the calmness. There were a few ladies singing praises to the Guru and Bhagwan in the cave, and it was hard to just leave the place.
Returning from Naina Devi
But time was of the essence. Today was the last holiday we had, and we must return to our respective duties tomorrow. So the tour must end sooner than later. Starting early from our hotel had given us a few extra hours, and thus, we headed to our next and last destination of the trip - Naina Devi Temple.
This temple's history is as old as the story of Rewalsar itself. It finds mention in the Skand Puran where it hosted Maa Parvati and Rishi Lomash. Also, the new temple is a much smaller and decadent replica of the older temple which was lost in 1905 due to an earthquake. You can find the whole story briefly on the ASI placard beside the temple.
After the Tuesday Temple run, it was time to make an office run back in Delhi. But how can you leave such a place as Himachal without a proper farewell? We found a small empty piece of land, more like a park, descending from Naina Devi and decided to leave the road and soak in the Himalayan Spirit for a while.
This is where I had the third and last fall of the trip with the help of a rigid front brake and tight turning angle. Thankfully, I was so well-armoured that I didn't feel anything, but I did start rolling down the track. Varun left me to roll off the road and took care of my most precious possession - the bike. Anyway, I dusted myself up and took care of the situation as Varun laughed.
Hours of driving had made my ears full of engine sound. Sitting still in a quiet place made me realise the adrenaline rush I had, perhaps due to the fall. As in most such places around Himachal, which are accessible to tourists one way or the other, you just can't miss the remnants of a daroo party. Beer cans, bottles, and wrappers of snacks.
Fun Incident with Police
We left the hotel reluctantly after a tasty lunch at about 2:30. Now we had to race, and the good roads of the region made it a contest to ride as fast as possible. This ride being my first, I did not know how to ride the cruiser on sharp turns and happened to touch the foot pegs on sharp corners.
The day being Republic Day, security on all roads going to Delhi is extra tight. Even though we knew, we couldn't resist the thrill of riding on smooth serpentine mountain roads. So, at one turn, Himachal police had made a checkpoint where we suddenly appeared. Policemen were too confused about whether to stop us or let go. However, just as I thought we were out of the woods (Varun was just a few meters ahead of me), a constable, who was walking back to the side of the road, raised his hand.
As law-abiding as we are, we instantly applied brakes and stopped within a couple of meters. I was still wondering whether he wanted to stop us or just wave his hand for something else. Anyway, the officer there asked for our license, insurance, and pollution. We knew Varun was riding only with a copy of his license. As he walked towards the officer with his document bag, I embraced for a long and hearty discussion without tea.
"Bullet hai? (Is that Bullet?)" The officer asked, pointing to Varun's bike. Varun nodded happily, seeing a sliver of hope in the looming darkness.
"Theek hai, thoda araam se chalao, bahut tej jaa rahe ho." I'd say those words felt like a soothing breeze, and we wasted no time climbing our horses and scooting off from there.
We drove fast and almost through the night, reaching our respective abodes by 3:00 AM on 27th Jan.
Comments
Post a Comment