Bholu & Chatru gobbled enough drinks since their stay in Goa and have proclaimed breezer to be their favourite. They intend to figure a way of making it available to their village folks.....
I guess they are on their way back, 'cos their phones aren't available. Last we got from them was this picture.....wonder whats the full story.........we 'll wait till we know the complete story, so do you.
Patience pays.
TRAVEL FROM THE PAST
Kibber Village - 'rIDING on a wHITE bLANKET'
shot while moving out of Kibber Village after 3 days of snowfall
Kibber village, at 4205m, claims to be the highest village in the world with a motorable road and electricity. A small village with population less than that of my office, Kibber is like a few-man’s land in no-man’s valley. Snowfall in 3rd week of September is a little early for this place...but then, we had backpacked ‘luck’ along with us.
Kibber village - Before snowfall
....and After (aLMOST hEAVEN)
We opened our eyes to flaky-falls the next morning and it never ceased, soon changing the shades of brown into surrel-white. A thick layer of fog engulfed surrounding mountain. The worlds’s highest vilage was no longer with electricity and motorable road, and was completely cut-off from rest of the world for 3days. We enjoyed our days of solititude....snow-trekked to Kibber Gompa...hunted for fossils....befriended 2 French trekkers & a 53 old cyclist from Austrian (they were castaways like us). The Austrian man was cycling Spiti Valley....and had cycled almost half the globe....Whoa!!!!!
....our crib at Kibber
'cOLORS of Life - all wHITE'
'cAMOUFLAGED' (2nd day of snowfall)
'unLEASHED'
'pLAYING with Life'
'Life through cOLORS of fAITH'
After 3 days of continuous snowfall we finally moved out of our crib. Everything around us was white...and the mountains as if engulfed by cotton...we felt like angels (or devils, if u please) in heaven. We spiraled down 21 kms to Kaza, the main town of Spiti valley. The journey downward was nowhere being easy...right at the start my bike slipped on the snow. We had to ride on the tread marks, thankfully left by a rescue van that morning; making parts of the road visible through snow and muck.
....finally moving out of Kibber on the 4th day
thank gOD !! they didn't follow the signboard...
....long way down!!
'eNGULFED by cOTTON'
'sNOWsCAPE'
Kee Gompa - Before snowfall
Kee Gompa - After snowfall
road to Kibber along River Spiti - Before snowfall
road to Kibber along River Spiti - After snowfall
....a page from the 'motorcycle diary'
'hELLS aNGELS'
And, the craziest was our rendezvous with a landslide that completely blocked our way, and it was a good exercise, both mental and physical, to figure our way out of it (the fag end of the video).
Spiti Valley is also known as the 'fossil park of the world'. The three villages Kibber, Kaza and Kye fall on the route faovourite among those looking for fossils. Here's a video of our fossil hunt that ended at the doorstep of a small kid 'Tashi Dorje'...from whom we bought few of them...
FEATURED FOLLOWER (read: companion)
Name: Akshay-Deepti
Check out some gr8 blogs and pics by Akshay & Deepti at;
http://methehiker.blogspot.com/
http://picasaweb.google.com/akshmet
P.S.This column will feature work of one companion everyday. Please send your pic. and links at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
to be featured here.
Hey! We are grateful for the bunch of followers and friends who never cease to inspire or remind us of things from the past.
Thanks to Jyoti's comment, it instantly sent me down the memory lane. I was at a factory in Ahmadabad and was asked if I'd like to have some snakes.
I did nothing to hide my bewilderment but politely said "Thank you, I'm a vegetarian".
At this I was told "we also eat only vegetarian, but some snakes you must take with tea. Its way past four". Then I realised it was the mother tongue Influence (MTI).
Mother tongue, which like a true mom never ceases to check out what the child is up-to.........even if the child is being fostered by another language.
I wouldn't quote all the examples over here....after all, I'm not wanting to lose friends because of spilling some beans, but some incidents are irresistible & will give me discomfort if not shared. During the same trip I also went to the store of the retail chain I work with and was very sweetly asked by a young lady, "There's a rape top which has come and we don't know how to sell it. Can you please help?"
I wondered to what level of obscenity my co-workers had taken a design, for it to be christened "rape top".
On seeing the garment I figured it was just an innocent wrap.
That should call for a stop...I didn't really want to get started on this cause I have heapful of accounts to share....they can wait for a personal narration. So I'll quickly change direction to the misspelt words I've come across.Not that my own spelling are something to be proud of, but its always easier to take someone else's case.
* snakes & tea (as mentioned earlier & bet many have witnessed)
* Sandwitch
* Chainis.... (a tough one for the Chinese)
* Chowmen
* Chopsee ( I tell you we hold something against China)
* Ice kreem ( often spelt correctly but usually pronounced aiscream).....
* Cartoon ( almost always in factories----is the pronunciation for carton)
* gold loacket free. (only if you understand, you'll come to claim it. Tricky, eh!)
* talk about the LOVE in the lowly pronunciation of (LOW / LAU)
Similarly when Indians move abroad the first thing getting wounded is there name, ego can follow.
1) Shambu usually ends up being shampoo,
2) especially in San Jose, Manjit becomes Manhit,
3) Mani is thought of as money.
4) Hetal is thought of as hate all & is hated for the same reason.
As for my own personal experience talking to my British boss who said, "Devender is in China" while I kept telling him the vendor is in Ludhiana.
Free Love + Peace + Flower Power.
Hippies have contributed to the world much more than this.
Tremendously well known for sex, drugs & rock n roll and the bands that followed them; and much less known for their wonderful gifts to the world. The most beautiful culture gifted by these flower children to the world is freedom of thought, freedom of expression & travel. Hippies have promoted travel right from the San Francisco's "Summer of Love" "Nambassa" to the more popularly known "Woodstock".
People each year have traveled across the world to be a part of these music movements. Hippie is not a cult, or a way of life, it is a state of consciousness. Here's the recipe of being the new age hippie:
* Be a non conformist - believe & support what you feel is right. Not what others have made up their mind to.
* Promote peace - Sure we all want it. None of us wants a war. Lets get more peaceful in our daily lives, give anger one BIG break.
* Freedom of expression - Don't let emotions, feelings or thoughts bottle up inside you. Give expression to them all. So what if its only through your blog, your speech, your art.
* Seek yourself - exploring yourself is wonderful if you only give a little time to yourself. Find out your hidden talents, what you like & what you enjoy the most.....then go about doing it.
* Dream Big- if hippies could dream of Global peace, you can dream of anything and it'll be more achievable.
* Conserve : do not waste or litter.
* Flower Power :add color & freshness to your life.
* Hippie Bus :Creatively paint your vehicle....whatever it is, even a toy will do.
* TRAVEL: the hippies traveled all across, though the most commonly known is the hippie trail.
The hippie trail began from Europe to Asia, covering India, in the common places like Benares, Manali, Goa, Pushkar, Dharamshala & Auroville and going towards Nepal & even further to Japan. This was usually by the cheapest means possible. You might not necessarily want to do so.........i do remember your turning to a non-conformist......but the travel is assured. You may travel to all these places or make your own new trail.
* Free Love - love is the most beautiful feeling. Love freely & open heartedly. Love everyone around.
Yipeee....finally Bholu & Chatur reached Goa....and they found it much more beautiful than the pictures I had sent (well i take no offence, as Goa’s true beauty can only be captured by one’s eyes). Bholu & Chatur are both in love with Goa and they relished the day at Baga beach. At first a little amused at how people around were, they laughed the day off, as they found a lot of people funny. Chatur being a woman had her set of complexes, but Goa has a way of making people feel at home....finally they were happy being themselves.
Today was the day of discoveries....while the duo were discovering Goa, we discovered the romantic side of Chatur, clever indeed. She called up Jace to know what could be done to make that evening special, and was suggested to dine by the beach. Little did we knew that we'd get pictures to treasure the occasion. We were surprised to get a mail from them, with a picture of theirs....and Bholu described how they savored the sea-food and wine looking at the moonlit waves.
I've just messaged Bholu "friends you just have had your first sip-date"....many more shall follow
TRAVEL FROM THE PAST
Nako Village - 'the wHITEHOUSE(s)'
We left Rekong peo & headed for Nako, a high altitude village with a serene lake. Knowing that there is no petrol pump until Kaza, we carried 5 ltrs of extra fuel on each bike. We soon came across a bridge that was being repaired, which meant a long desperate wait on one side....the river gurgled so untamely below. After a long wait of 3 hours we thumped again on the road meandering its way through threatening mountains....and then a series of hairpin bends followed taking us to dizzying heights and we could see Spiti river flowing some hundred feet below.
16 Swiss bikers riding on the same route
'nAKO in sIGHT'
The little Nako village (12,010 ft) has houses of white mud bricks, all stacked in rows around a small Nako lake and appears like a white singleblock with small connecting lanes. A place known for its little legends, The Nako Gompa is almost 1000 years old and has beautiful stucco images & murals and rests on the other side of the lake.
'wHITEHOUSE in nAKO'
'dONK's the kONG'
We were to stay at the Lake View camping site, but the tents were taken by the 16 swiss bikers who made made it before us. We came across another camping site next to the lake, Natural Lake View, and luckily got taken in by the host. We were clearly told later that he prefered foriegners over Indians as guests. Considering he was the only guy managing the place; which meant cooking, cleaning, getting supplies etc, it gets tough for him when his guests get demanding....the foriegners are little more adjusting when it comes to food....as even a not-so-good tasting food is relished without complain under an illusion of a local recipe.
Tents at Natural Lake View....facing the Nako Lake
....inside the tent
ginger-lemon-honey by the lake
We decided to change the notion and cook for ourselves, as well as the host. While cooking the meal almost in dark (it was a windy night with no light) we became friends with our host, Mr. Devinder Singh Negi & he told us his survival stories. He grew his own vegetables, and depended upon the local supplies to be bought from Tabo, which required atleast a monthly errand. He himself had been a keen traveller and trekked most part of himalayas, had worked in big cities like Delhi, visited Bombay but knew Nako is his ultimate abode.
Negiji in his Tent Kitchen
We also met a Swedish lady biker, who had been travelling for over a year and had spent last six months in Pakistan. Riding all the way from Sweden, she was exploring Spiti and it was her thirteenth trip to India. Speechless, we were!!
....Honda that covered half the world
The relegious beliefs about the place were evident from the buddhist flags that adorned almost every house of the village. Nako was the most eco-friendly village we went to, the dustbins read 'Keep Nako Green', polybags were banned and also we saw our host seperating the garbage as wet and dry; the wet one was used to feed the cows as the vegetation was scanty.
....leaving Nako
Time and again we remember & miss Nako and often the the memories have voices of the Nako kids ringing in the background, "Namaste - Julley, Nako kabhi na bhuley"
FEATURED FOLLOWER (read: companion)
Name: Rajesh & Anirban (RA)
Rajesh and Anirban are maverick designers who just quit their jobs one day to follow their dreams. Here's a little article on them;
http://www.zeenews.com/zeeexclusive/2009-04-13/522346news.html
P.S.This column will feature work of one companion everyday. Please send your pic. and links at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
to be featured here.
Amit Singh ( read: the tranquility of the Himalayas) Jasleen Chopra (read: the effervescence of the Ganges) In the little journey of knowing us better that we are about to take you through, we hope to give you a reason to hook on to us.
This Dehradun guy has a keen interest in photography & observations he always seems to have a new muse. Travel albeit has remained a constant. Jasleen, a chatterbox, is happy with whatever comes her way.
