A Silent escape to quietude | Kangra and Chamba (Jan 2014) - Part 1

 

 

Strange are some things!!

 

It had been almost been a year since I became a part of a niche online travel forum called Devil on Wheels (DoW), focused entirely on the Himalayas. They have periodic meetups, usually in Delhi, where like-minded folks gather to talk travel plans, experiences, stories, and what not. I’d missed the meetup a couple of times and was longing to make it at least once.

 

Problem: Getting flight tickets at an affordable price from Bangalore.

 

My previous trip to the Himalayas was in October 2013 to Spiti. Though that was a mega trip by itself, reading all the posts on DoW and staring at the wonderful pictures everyone posted kept tempting me to head back to the mountains.

 

Problem: Escaping from the office.

 

But then, when your heart longs to do something, there’s usually some divine intervention to make sure it somehow happens.

 

The time was ripe, and so was the moment. An official court hearing popped up in Delhi where I had to be present—usually a standard fly-in morning, fly-out evening drill. And this was scheduled for a Monday. The DoW meetup was on the Sunday right before it, and I had two official meetings scheduled for Saturday. Perfect! I flew into Delhi on Saturday, attended the DoW meet on Sunday, cleared my office work on Monday, and then—escaped for the rest of the week to the Himalayas! What more could I have asked for?

 

Where in the Himalayas to go wasn't a tough choice this time. Itineraries centered around Dharamsala were floating around, and fellow DoWians Aashish and Sany had dropped quite a few solid suggestions. Given that I was traveling solo and relying entirely on public transport, it suited me brilliantly. I prepared a tentative itinerary based on Aashish’s inputs, keeping the ‘in’ and ‘out’ dates fixed while leaving the days in between completely flexible.

 

To top it off, someone on the forum had recently posted asking about toy train availability to Kangra. I had already done a fair amount of online research on this, so it was time to validate my reading with an actual site visit. I booked tickets on the Delhi–Udhampur AC Special Express to Pathankot—luckily snagging confirmed tickets despite booking just two days in advance, that too after landing in Delhi!

 

With the planning wrapped up, all that remained was the execution.

 

Yaay... Cheers to some good times!

 

 

* * *

 

 

Day 1 : Pathankot-McLeodgunj

 

The train to Pathankot was scheduled to leave at 1015 in the night from Delhi's Sarai Rohilla. I reached the station a little early to avoid getting stuck in traffic. The train left Delhi on time.

 

It was supposed to reach Pathankot at 5:30 AM, and the connecting toy train from Pathankot to Kangra was at 6:45 AM. Alas, things were not meant to be that smooth. The train reached Pathankot only at 7:30 AM! I decided to wait for the next train to Kangra, scheduled for 10:00 AM. For a moment, I was tempted to take a bus to Dharamsala, which would reach much faster... but then...

 

Happiness Often Lies In Little Things

 

I came here specifically to go on the toy train, so I decided to wait for the train even if it was late  I had some piping hot Aloo Paranthas at a roadside Dhaba. With great difficulty I had managed to finish off the two parathas when I was offered the third .. Thanks, but NO, thanks… A cup of hot chai over that, and I was all done with my breakfast.

 

 Info : Pathankot has three stations – Chakki Bank, Pathankot Cantt and Pathankot Jn. The Kangra Valley mountain trains (toy trains) depart from Pathankot Jn. If you arrive at other stations, you can get a shared auto rickshaw to Pathankot Jn. I arrived at Pathankot Cantonment and it was very easy to get to Pathankot Jn from there.

 

It was 830 by the time I came to Pathankot Jn. I got a ticket to Kangra for 30/- [Yes, thirty rupees only]. I whiled away some time at the station reading a book till it was about 930 am and then picked up my luggage [I had a duffle bag plus a backpack plus a laptop !! I’d come to Delhi on office work you see..] and went to the platform where the toy train was waiting. There were enough seats, and I occupied a window seat on the right side. I came out to click a few pics of the train, 3 pics and… Bummer.. tej camera was out of power . Luckily, it had AA cells, and then I tried with my spare cells (Duracell), which again was out of power!! So, I was now left only with a mobile phone.. which also would run out of charge in sometime.. I just switched off the network for the charge to last for a longer time :-P

 

The toy train-

 

 

 

 

Of Humble Beginnings

 

Soon, the train started chugging and the green fields of Punjab were a treat to the eyes..

 

 

 

 

 

In about 45 minutes, the train was at Nurpur Road Station. After this station, the scene changed almost dramatically. Green fields gave way to rising mountains, and the dramatic snowline of the Dhauladhar range swung into clear view. Seeing snow-capped peaks always triggers an indescribable excitement in me. I am not sure what exactly triggers the excitement, but there’s a satisfaction and happiness deep inside. I was seated on the right side, and all the view of the Himalayas was on the left side. The train was also full by now (locals seem to use this as their basic connectivity rather than the buses) so I couldn’t get a window seat on the left side now.

 

Nevertheless, I could see the range accompanying us and it did till I got down at Kangra. On the right side though, I could see the deep valleys in stark contrast.

 

 Tip: Take a window seat on the left side if you want unhindered view of the Himalayas throughout  

 

 

 

 

 

After sometime, I was tired of sitting. So I walked upto the door and stood in the passageway to stretch a bit.. and the views from that side ensured that I do not return to my seat soon !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

See this – Isn’t that cliff face just like a natural fort wall ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was about 3:30 pm and the parathas from the morning were able to sustain me till now. A few biscuits and I was ready to go without food for some more time  At last, the Kangra station arrived. There are two stations in Kangra – one is called Kangra and the other Kangra Mandir – both stations are well connected by bus to the Kangra bus stand. A small discussion with the locals on the train and I was advised that it would be better to get down at Kangra station itself since there was a possibility of getting a direct bus to Dharamsala.

 

There... But Not So Soon

 

Heeding to their advice, I got down at Kangra and walked the 200m downhill to the main road. After about 10 minutes, we saw the Volvo to Dharamsala pass by, he did not stop though it was empty  .. then, after 5more minutes, there was another bus, headed to Dharamsala. I got in, and got a comfortable seat, though it was a bit difficult to accommodate my luggage too  Apart from me, there was a family of a brother and sister with her 2 kids who’d traveled by the train, and they got into the bus too.

 

It was growing cloudy by now, and the crisp, clear views of the Dhauladhars began to fade behind gray mist. It was around 5pm when we reached Dharamsala, and now had to wait a bit before we got a bus to McLeodgunj. It was quite a long wait to get the bus McLeod and I reached there by around 630pm.

 

At Dharamsala Bus stand:

 

 

I walked a bit to the McLeod Square [or whatever it is called – the chowk from where there are multiple roads to different places] – and thought I’d head to Pink House, a guest house run by a Javed Bhai [recommendation by Sany of the DoW forum]. I politely refused the approaching touts, but they were decent to guide me to Pink House – coming to think of it, it is not a complicated route to get there. Just walk down the Jogiwara Road, you will find a school to your left, take the stairs that go down from there.

 

Yes, Now I’m There

 

I reached Pink house, spoke to Javed Bhai, and conveyed Sany’s regards. The room rent varies by the floor you take – I took the no so cheap-not so expensive middle floor, he said it’d be 800/- a day, but we can talk about it when I settled the bill. I got to the room and just freshened up and just as I did … it just started pouring all of a sudden.. I mean, pouring like cats and dogs !!

 

Thankfully, the rain stopped in about half an hour.. I got out now for dinner – but the first thing I did was walk into a shop and get Duracell batteries for my camera.. thank god my camera uses AA cells  Sany had suggested a few restaurants to try. I headed to Nick’s Italian kitchen, on the Bhagsu road. Due to the increased number of foreign tourists, most of the restaurants offer free wi-fi internet access. I had a Pasta and a hot ginger-lemon and I was full… probably one of the better pastas I’ve tasted

 

I got back to the Pink House after that, cleared some pending office work and then went to sleep. Next day, I had planned to hike to Triund Hill.