Bike, Clouds and Spirituality!

Biking or rather floating through the clouds is not a bad idea at all. Murari Devi temple is one such place where you get to know how one makes his way through the clouds, fog and mist. It is located near the Sunder Nagar town and it is one great place to visit while you are moving towards Manali or Lahaul Spiti. Exploring new regions is not a bad idea at all.




To read more visit: tinyurl.com/2ccknan

And I go back to Spiti Valley

Day Zero | Day One | Day Two | Day Three+Four | Day Five

After coming back to the normal world, we had to go back to the same place one more time to get our things+car back. This time we had no camera, and no plan whatsoever to rescue the vehicle. We reached Manali and I have forgotten the dates as well. So, we will move randomly and in case, if I remember them, I will let you know. And this time, we had a new partner with us, the legendary Kamal Thakur.


So after we reached Manali, we went to our semi-permanent residence, means the very homely hotel of ours. The caretaker/receptionist was too happy to see us, as if he was saying, "किसने कहा था जाओ, मनाली घूम के निकल लेते".

We called the mechanic and asked him to come with us. Next day, early morning, we reached at the bus stand at 5 A.M, as the first bust runs from Manali to Kaza at 5:15 A.M. the bus was full of foreigners of different colors and bus was loooking nothing less than a multicultural meet. Back on those roads, I felt very sad and strange. The road condition was not good but when you go to Kaza, you do not expect road condition to be good, you just expect the road to be there.

We reached our semi-permanent resident [Batal Dhaba] and I was amazed to see the car intact. The uncle [dhaba owner] kept his word and the tires were not missing, which I had imagined considering the pessimism this trip had put into my head. The mechanic started off with his work immediately. He toiled hard with the vehicle for few hours and made it work. The car started, its engine roared, well actually cried and I felt like the inventor of first vehicle on Earth.

But Murphy did not want us to go out of that place, that day, so car could not run more than 200 meters. After working on/with the car for another few hours, we decided to get a towing vehicle from Manali and rest our case. I slept with a heavy heart and could not think anything. Next day, early morning, the mechanic decided to work on the car one more time and he made its engine work one more time. But again, 200 meters and dead engine. However, the towing vehicle reached in time and he got additional tools with him. The mechanic gave his last shot and guess what, he made the car work. It ran more than 200 meters and covered the next 107 kilometers on its own.

I thanked the people inside the dhaba, outside the dhaba, on the hill, below the bridge and I thanked Murphy as well for letting us go unscathed.

Coming back to the point, Manali was 108 Kilometers from Batal and the car could travel only 107 kilometers. For the next one kilometer , the car had to be towed till the workshop because it broke down. What a shame!

Again, things went bad, the car could not be repaired that night, we had to go to the same hotel again and I could read the eyes of receptionist, It said, "दूसरी बार में तो आ गयी समझ "

Next day was day of happiness and joy. The car came out of the workshop and we drove back to our respective places with a happy heart.

Moral of the complete story:

1. Do not take a Maruti beyond Manali

2. Spiti Valley is beautiful, एक बार तो सबका जाना बनता है |

3. ChandraTaal Lake is beautiful

4. Murphy Law is a neutral law. It depends upon the mentality of the person

5. The Journey continues., forever!

Tour Diary -Trip to Spiti Valley-Day Five

Sleeping in backseat of the car is never a great idea, especially when the temperature is almost Zero degree Celsius and all you have is a wet pair of socks, waterlogged shoes and a thin shawl in the name of blanket. There were more than 100 tourists trapped in Chattru, a group was to leave for America-they lost their passports, as their car fell into the river. Another person was to leave for USA, his flight returned back from USA and he was still in Chatrru :P

The Beautiful Chatrru, count the number of cars and multiply it by 8 = trapped tourists

The driver of our car was a brave man. He decided that he will take us out of this place. However, after moving 3 kilometers, things became clear or rather totally unclear. The road was nowhere to be seen, it was replaced by a 8 meter wide ditch that run 8 meter in depth as well. It was impossible to cross it on foot, forget about moving a car over it. Things could not get worse, we were running out of cash as well :)

The Road that was not there

Naveen - The Brave Driver

The dinner that cost you 25 INR one day, cost you 30 on the same evening and the very next day, it was priced at 35 INR. However, Ujjwal had all the money and he decided not to give me any because he somehow foresaw the problems, we were about to face. A group of foreigners decided to move towards Manali on foot through the Hamta Pass. Ujjwal was getting impatient and he asked me to come with them. I never doubt my ability to walk in any condition but I was skeptical about Ujjwal's capacity+ ability to walk long distances. Secondly, we did not have any trekking gear or to put it in a sensible manner, we did not have enough clothes to cover ourselves. The snow was falling, the weather was beautiful and we were about to commit the biggest mistake of our life.

Fresh snow, they say is the most dangerous thing as it absorbs you as a whole and even the dogs/vultures do not get a hint of your flesh/bones. Luckily, the trekkers had only one spare jacket and it saved us from 'becoming one with the ultimate'.

I still do not know what happened to those trekkers and if they made it, they were indeed brave men [under the influence of Holy Marijuana] and even if they did not, they were 'the visionaries' :)

We decided to stay inside the car and I promised Ujjwal that tomorrow we will dine in Manali at the Khyber's [actually name of the restaurant, I did not say :P] We slept in the backseat and early morning decided to walk all the 17 Kilometers towards the National Highway. I doubted Ujjwal's capacity to walk but, as usual surprises waited me on every turn. The first few kilometers were fast, smart and easy. However, after 8 kilometers, I started hallucinating and my body started paining. [Reference: Accident I & Accident II]

And to see Ujjwal walking faster than me was even more painful, male ego I guess :P

However, as I have already said, I can walk any day, any time and any number of kilometers, we kept moving towards the destination. We encountered water-ways, devastated roads and waterfalls.

They were the same waterfalls, which Ujjwal wanted to capture while going towards Chandrataal Lake. However, the return trip changed his mentality and now he was not even looking towards them. In this event of National or International Crisis, a childhood friend helped us a lot.

The not-so-beautiful waterfalls

जुराबें कैसे सुखाएं

Parle-G, the glucose energy helped us to move briskly, smoothly, without falling.
The taste was sweeter and the grass was greener, indeed.

Walking Warrior [Fucked Up Me]

Ujjwal was telling me that if someone falls down in the water, then he will definitely feel the pain in this bone-chilling weather. He fell down the very next moment he uttered the sentence. :P Luckily, the weather was clear and after walking for 4 hours, we reached the destination of ours. As we were running short of cash, we decided not to eat anything at Gramphu, so that we could pay the taxi/bus fare. We asked some tourists to take us with them but none of them agreed. Probably, our appearance was 'not-so-well' and the language I spoke was 'Our Mother-tongue'
As soon as I switched to English, the very first vehicle took us in and I was happy that we were saved.

We reached Manali after walking/trekking/swimming for two hours, met Jp+Varun, they both were looking even dirtier+filthier than us because they had even more difficult task to do. To explain the situation to parents, friends, girlfriends, brothers and sisters. They lied to everyone and they framed a new lie for every different person.

That night, as I had promised, we were dining in Manali and for the very first time in my life, I tasted Vodka [in the form of Cock~Tail], which actually tasted like poison or nothing less than that. Two sips and I decided that I am never going to taste this thing again.

However, Murphy was still with us or probably with me and the trip was not yet over ;)

Pic of the Day ;)

P.S: People can check the most beautiful and most-unexplored regions of Himachal at CrazyTravelGuide

Tour Diary -Trip to Spiti Valley-Day Two

Day Zero
Day One

One more night at the rest house and we were all charged up to move towards the Snow Deserts of the Spiti Valley. We all underestimated the natural beauty of the Spiti Valley and what unfolded in front of us was nothing less than a miracle, as we survived on that rough terrain on the bloody Maruti of ours. Actually taking a Maruti towards Kaza is inhuman, sadistic and brutal, for the vehicle obviously.

One more time, we found ourselves at Koksar, eating the Paranthas [परांठा] and stuffing our bags with chocolates, biscuits and water. Gramphu [ग्राम्फु] was the first place that looked like a village.

.Gramphu.

For the next 17 kilometers we kept looking at each other because things were complicated and difficult. JP decided to sit on the front seat with the driver and he became our permanent assistant. As the road was full of stones, he kept saying 'एक ऊपर , एक नीचे ', which none of us could understand, initially. All he wanted to say was to keep one side of the vehicle on the top of the stones and other on the safe side to keep things safe and smooth. However, maintaining 'एक ऊपर, एक नीचे' approach was very difficult and we kept fighting, abusing and scolding each other until we reached Chattru.

Just an example: I was driving, JP was sitting besides me and we saw a pile of stones on the road, he shouted 'ऊपर से, ऊपर से' and I took those stones directly below the vehicle. I thought he will praise me for it and he started scolding me because he meant to take the one side of car above them and not the central bisection of the stones. The car became a drum and we could hear the sonorous musical tone inside the car. :)

After 17 kilometers of swimming, pushing and walking [ there was little bit of driving too], we reached Chattru. We inquired about the road ahead and all people could do was look at our vehicle and tell us that road is OK. Next destination was Chota Dara [छोटा दड़ा] and road between Chota Dara and Chattru was horrible and it felt nothing less than sliding on pointed sharp stones in a cloth less form. We almost gave up after that, the car moved at a speed of 12KM per hour and it took 50 minutes to cover 10 kilometers. The sight of river Chandra on one side in the backdrop of the Great Himalayas was breathtaking. The word cold desert actually made sense there as all we could see was snow, water and stones. The sight of another village like place made us happy. The place was Batal [बातल] and it was going to become a semi-permanent residence for few of us in the next few days. The place had two Dhaba's [ढाबा] and both of them were nothing less than the best restaurants of the world.

Varun+Ujjwal+Snow+बेवकूफी

.Snow+Posers.

.Batal Dhaba+Aunty+Tarun.

.Snow Habitat.

After staying there for a while, we decided to go towards the Holy Chandratal Lake [चंद्रताल], birth place of the Chandra River. It was just 14 kilometers away from Batal and Kaza was still 88 kilometers away from there. We decided to see the Chandratal and halt for a day at the Batal Camps/Tents.

The road towards the lake was unexpectedly well and good, good is an understatement actually. However, we got to know that few MLA's of Himachal Pradesh were visiting that place and that was the main reason behind the good condition of that road.

Road to the lake was beyond the scope of our Maruti or any Maruti for that matter, so we decided to walk the remaining 5 kilometers. However, a group of tourists asked us to join them in their Tata Sumo and we were happy again. The lake was full of policemen and सरकारी बाबु and as it was about to rain, we decided to make it fast and straight.

.Men at Work.

.This is Road.

One of the MLA's happened to be our college senior and we were happy to meet him. Actually, he spotted us and asked us about our whereabouts. Considering our condition, we looked less like tourists and more like mentally challenged people thrwon into the snow deserts. [This is what a small car can do to you in that part of country] He must have thought of helping us but he was very Eco-friendly and he asked us to join the lunch party with him, which we did not refuse ;)

While coming back, we met a foreign couple on Bullets. The lady and his man, both were on their independent Bullets and it was then the Murphy Law struck. It struck badly and the life was never same again :X

.The Holy Chandratal Lake.

Coming Soon: Murphy Law and Snow and Lack of Money and Struggle

Tour Diary-Trip to Spiti Valley-Day One

Day Zero

Ecstasy, emotions and happiness was all around because the car performed much better than our expectations, as it worked perfectly well on the not-so-perfect and 'not expected condition' of roads.

.The rest House.

We stayed in a Rest House at Dalang Maidan [दलंग मैदान] and decided to move towards Keylong early morning. The caretaker of the rest house was a cool man. His name was Nand Laal [नन्द लाल] and he helped us a lot by allowing us to stay in that rest house. The place was located on the banks of the 'Chandra River' and they were growing wheat and performed different experiments on wheat and its derivatives in their acres of land.

Early morning, we started moving towards Keylong. We all expected Keylong to be a great place and it turned out to be one great place as well. While moving towards Keylong, you reach a place called Tandi Pull [टांडी पुल] where the Chandra and Bhaga Rivers merge together and give birth to the famous Chandrabhaga River [चंद्रभागा].

..The Legendary Tandi Pul.

.Birth/Formation of Chenab.

The Chandrabhaga River then starts flowing towards Jammu and then enters into the Pakistan Region through Akhnoor Border in Jammu.[अखनूर]

On our way towards Keylong, we met three young guys going towards Keylong. The special thing about their journey was that they were all on a single bike and the bike was not a Bullet/Royal Enfield. They were riding on a 150 CC bike and they traveled 200 kilometers on that bike with only one driver among them. They were real crazy people and I thought no one could match us, as we had our Maruti with us :P

.3 On 1.

.Varun+Ujjwal.

Keylong is a small town with two banks and no ATM. The place has few temples, few hotels and a great bus station. The bus station of Keylong is far better than the bus stations of other 'major towns' of Himachal Pradesh.

.Welcome to Keylong.

.Wherever you go HRTC Follows.

There in Keylong, we decided that Leh would be an atrocity for the poor Maruti and moving towards Leh would be a fatal mistake [which turned out to be one the many wrong decisions of this trip, which we realized later]. There we decided that we will go to Kaja and from there we will go to Shimla through the mysterious Kinnaur District. On our way, we got to know about the Udaipur Town and the Trilokinath Temple. [त्रिलोकीनाथ]

However, considering the heat[ yes it was hot there] and the tough road conditions, we decided to call it a day and returned towards our rest house. Trilokinath was still 20 Kilometers away and we did not feel like going there. The last petrol pump you will see in that place is located near Tandi Pul and you will have to pay two/three rupee more per liter of petrol.

There we saw a signboard pointing towards a monastery and we started climbing uphill. The name of the monastery was Tupchiling Monastery [तुपचिलिंग] and it turned out to be a beautiful place.

.Incredible India.

.Tupchiling Monastery.

Informational Content:
Do not drink and drive :P
Take a break at Tandi Pull, you will love the place.

Note: Second day was quite an uneventful day because we expected Keylong to be a snow covered region and it was not. We thought of visiting the temple and we could not. So this post consists of more pics than text.

Day Zero

Tour Diary-Trip to Spiti Valley-Day Zero

Day Zero – A Random Start

The much awaited Leh trip started on 1^st July with numerous confusions and no tour plan. We had decided to go to Leh in March, then we decided to go to Mumbai and then finally, we decided to go to Manali. However, none of the plans could be materialized and we decided to go to Keylong. (केलोंग)

.Those who traveled together and never agreed with each other for a single moment.

.The Pandoh Dam.

We planned to go by bike but then, there were five people and one bike. Thereafter, there were five people and one car and lastly there were four people and an Old Warrior.

Keylong is a famous tourist spot, which is just ‘365’ kilometres away from Leh (लेह) . We thought of hitting Keylong on 2^nd July itself and as it was just a random decision, I decided to call it Day Zero.

.The Rohtang Pass.

The Good:

We finally got a camera; in fact a DSLR, Nikon 3000 and for the first time in my life, I got a chance to travel ahead of the Solang Nala. The weather was pleasant, birds were chirping and I was happy ;) People were cooperative and we met a group of bikers traveling from Delhi to Leh on their bikes. A German or French or I don’t know what, was traveling alone and he did not know [proper/understandable] English that was the most adventurous part of his trip and that is why admire Europeans. They don't fear anything. Few cyclists were traveling on their hi-tech bikes [cycles] towards Leh or [China probably].

The Bad:

The worst thing that can happen to you is injury or loss because of someone else’s mistakes. The fast travelling tourists drive rash and inflict damage to other people. Blowing horn is out of the syllabus and overtaking is their inherited property. However, I (and JP + Varun as well) kept hurling abuses at them and I am an expert in driving-cum-kickboxing.

Informational Content:

The roads never looked like National Highway 21 but it is an admirable fact that the BRO and HPPWD have maintained the standards of the roads. Water, snow and rocks keep coming and the labourers and the engineers never say no. Hats Off to their good work.

Those who intend to go towards Leh from Manali-Rohtang route must ensure that they get their tanks filled at Manali itself because things become nasty after you leave Rohtang pass.The next petrol pump is at Tandi and the pump owner sets the price on his own. On 2^nd July, he was selling petrol at the price that would be implemented by Government of India by December 2011, considering the current price movements.

Khoksar is a place where the road diverges to Kaja and Leh. Just opposite to the Police Chowki, there is a Super-Economical dhaba that cooks/sells delicious food. The most interesting fact is that the Dhaba Owner never charges you more than the printed rate, which is an uncommon practice in every other part of country.

At some points, the roads were like devastated oil mines of Iraq and Afghanistan. We had to get down from our ‘vehicle’ and remove the stones, sand and soil from the road to make way for ourselves.

Day Zero ends:

As we were getting late, we started looking for accommodations in the villages, 10 Kilometres before Keylong. Luckily, we sneaked into a rest house belonging to the Agricultural Department where people drank beer and enjoyed a nice and sound sleep.

And by any means, did I tell you about ‘The Warrior’?

Yes, It was a 'Maruti'

We wanted to travel/drive on our own and thus hiring a cab was totally out of question. Four people riding a bike is unhygienic, unsafe and totally immoral, so we decided to take this 1997 model with almost 85000 kilometres under its belt.

Varun+JP+Old Warrior

The Route Map:

Sundernagar-Mandi-Kullu-Manali-Marhi-Rohtang-Gramphu-Koksar[eat parantha+tea]-Sissu-Gondla-Tandi.

Day One

मसरूर मंदिर -The Masroor Temples

The journey of life is strange. The Pandava's stayed in jungles for I do not know how many years, but even then they managed to build beautiful temples and tunnels and what not! And today I am privileged to see those places, which were an outcome of their अग्यात्वास।

मसरूर मंदिर -The Masroor Temple is a beautiful temple located in the Kangda District of the state of Himachal Pradesh. Most of the tourists visit Dharamshala and Chamunda Temples but they miss this extremely beautiful spot, which is not yet developed by the Himachal Tourism but it looks better undeveloped and in its raw form only.


The legend says that भीम and his allies built the temple to please the local deities. The temple is monolithic and carved out of a small mountain or a big rock. The temple is rock-cut temple and no part of the temple is modular or designed separately. No doubt, the man of caliber of भीम only could do such wonder.

However, during the 1905 earthquake, the temple was damaged badly and it resulted in destruction of some of the parts of these temples. The Tourism Board says that the whole site consists of 15 temples. However, I couldn't find any different temples and concluded that there was only one temple there. :)

The Tunnel

The temple also has a small tunnel/सुरंग that connects the lower part of the temple to its upper part. There is a pond in front of the temple, which is just beautiful. Just next to the temple, a Government School is there and these kids are privileged to study at such a serene place.

The carved faces and designer walls of the buildings left me spellbound. The building is however, losing its strength and the government has installed some steel plates to add strength to the walls of the temple.

Designer Walls :)

Carved Faces


Carved Face-II



The School and the Pond

How to Reach there?

Those who come from Shimla need to head towards Dharamshala and take a right turn just after they happen to cross the Ranital Railway Station. The distance between the link road and the National Highway is just 22 kilometers, which would take not more than one hour.

Those who come by air, need to get a taxi from the Gaggal Airport and head towards Kangda, as soon as you leave the airport [ say 25 meters], a link-road goes towards the temple towards the right hand side.

One can from Pathankot towards Kangda and just leave the National Highway near 'Nagrota Suriyan' [ नगरोटा सुरियाँ]. One can find such boards all over the place to guide them.

Moral of the story:
1. भीम was a very strong man.
2. The temples are breathtakingly beautiful.

Edited Part: Some years ago, probably in 2004, a sunslik advertisement was shot in the temple.

And they saved our lives-Chamba Diary!

Traveling is fun but traveling with insufficient preparations is dangerous.

We left from Chamba to Hamirpur after enjoying the scenic beauty at Khajjiyar Lake.

Its disheartening to see people throwing plastic and water bottles not in the trash cans but just outside them, even when the trash can is empty. May be they are too busy to notice that.

Anyways, after feling mesmerized by the giant शिव मूर्ती at Khajjiar [image], we decided to leave. This time we decided to take the Dalhousie Route as it was raining and the road condition was not good through the Jot Pass. Jot Pass is good when you are traveling in a group, if you are alone then it is not advisable to go through Jot Pass, as no one will get to know if you happen to encounter any accident, which has very high probability. We went to Chamba through Jot Pass, but the adventurous spirit sped away when it started raining. It was raining and as soon as we left Khajjiyar, things became difficult. I was wearing sports sandals and the rain water was so cold that it did beat the shit out of me. We traveled for ten kilometers and my back was numb. JP had his fingers glued to the handle because it was very cold and we did not have any sweaters, gloves or jackets with us.

Then we saw them, the PWD Laborers, smoking बीडी and enjoying charcoal fire. They were sitting there and we saw them as our saviors. We helped ourselves by heating the 'crucial parts' of our body and also dried our T-shirts and shirts. The place was लक्कड़-मण्डी, which happens to be the highest point [2250 meters] in and around the Chamba town and Dalhousie town. Their bonfire helped us to save ourselves from the chilling rain and windy conditions of Dalhousie.

I noticed in Chamba, that almost every single village/house in the hills has electricity. Abdul Kalam once said that Himachal is blessed and a privileged state because those twinkling stars are actually bulbs lighted inside the small houses on the mountains. Honestly, I felt proud to be a part of this beautiful state because people do not have to worry about the electricity, which is not the same story at a place in Bihar, 200 KM's away from Patna.

It takes just 4-5 hours, if you drive like me, otherwise it is 6-8 hours journey from Hamirpur to Chamba

The travel route >>> Hamirpur---Jawalaji---Kangra---Dramman--Chuwari--Jot--Chamba

The safe route>>> delete the Dramman to Chamba part and add Dramman--Nurpur--Dalhousie--Chamba.

Moral of the story:
1. Wear Shoes while stepping out for a long journey
2. Carry jackets/woolen clothes
3. Do not take the Jot Pass route if you are alone.

The Dharamshala Stadium

Two weeks back, I and JP decided to go to Dharamshala on one of our random journeys. The Dharmashala Stadium is where two matches of IPL will be held. The stadium was still under construction. The left portion of the stadium, if you enter from the main gate, was under construction. It reminded me of Delhi's preparation of the Commonwealth Games :P

Himachal also belongs to India, i felt suddenly :D

The left side is completely nude and they are working on dressing it up.

The HPCA Pavillion, Dharamshala

If you join the top of the Red Building with the top of the flood light and then extrapolate its bisector towards the Dhauladhar Range, the point where it meets the hilly terrain was my colony in my 9th and 10th class :)



The place is cool and somewhat like New Zealand Grounds . However this ground has a capacity of 400 runs in a single innings.

I was about to go to see the match but ICICI dumped me for the first time and now we are going to Chamba. Just another of our random trip \m/

You can read more Chamba stories at this site. Trekking and Riding in the Chamba Himalayas.