The Dream Catcher (Part 3)

The Package

I left Kasol with lots of questions in mind and thinking of the possibilities that if I get a chance to meet her again. Isn’t it obvious with human beings? We always think that the outcome of various possibilities is always in our favor. We are happy with that even if it was for a moment. Best time pass of a leisure person. The bus was good and the route from Kasol to Rohtang pass is awesome. It was from Parvati Valley to Beas Valley and then into the snowy mountains on jeep. You will fall in love with the journey itself. It is strange that at first I was avoiding to come here and now it is turning to be a game changer for me.

I have been in Manali and Rohtang pass before. First as a college student with my friends and then as traveler for my livelihood. I have taken this road many times and every time I fall in love with it. This time I am delivering a package to Leh as a request from one of my best friend. As he is busy and we don’t have any options left. So taking this package to Leh where my other friend is doing research on Buddhism. It’s like a dropshipping, but here I am doing it for free. I don’t know what is in this package? And what is special about it? But he insisted of delivering it in person instead of using some courier service. The suspense will break when I reach Leh.

You must be thinking then why took a road trip to deliver the package? Why not take a flight? The thing is I have heard many people say that if you are going to Leh then you must go through road once. I have been to Rohtang only, not beyond that. So that is one reason. Other reason is money. I don’t have enough money to book flight tickets in such a short notice. And in one way flight ticket, I can do whole trip. The thing is a traveler is rich when he has foreign sponsors because Indian sponsors can’t pay much. When you get paid in Euros or Pounds or Dollars then it is convenient to book flights from one country to another and can wander whole world. This trip is a favor to friends, not official trip. Also sponsors from India, they pay less in Indian rupee and you can only afford a road trip from that. So you have to be multitasking. You have to find other means of earning like blogging, giving reviews on everything, photography and freelancing sometimes. It always tough in the start but you will get used to it. One advice from my side is always keep some backup for hard times or whenever you are going to start something new.

I reached Rohtang in afternoon. The snow valley is all white. You can’t see without sun glasses. Pulled out my camera and sunglasses and started wandering around. Families were making snow man. Kids were playing with Snow. All people were happy. What a positive and happy ambiance! After some clicks, my stomach started growling. Good thing in snow that we have hot tea, coffee, Maggi and omelet etc. in India. Bad thing is that you get 20 bucks Maggi in 50 bucks or sometimes 60 and same for tea and coffee. At least something is there in this cold. I waited for my order i.e. a tea and an omelet.

In this cold where the temperature is touching 2 or 3 Celsius when you take first sip of hot tea. It travels through your throat via food pipe to the stomach. You feel each organ within your body that they exist. You feel the hot thing travelling inside your body. It feels consoling. People were doing skiing and parasailing. This mountain zone of India is completely different from other India. Well each part of India is different from other. You can visit various forts and deserts etc. in Rajasthan. There is so much green mountains,beaches and temples in Kerala and Tamilnadu. A variety of forests and lakes in Madhya Pradesh. India is full of varieties from beaches to desert to forests to lakes to snow. You can never get over with it. The thing drawing us back is the hospitality and maintenance of this wide range of heritages. If we can improve these things then we can attract more visitors from within India and outside of India. Our people are going out on holidays. Why? May be the answer I have given already.

With all these thoughts in my mind, I finished my tea and omelet. I wandered around for some time to get some positive vibes from kids and happy people. This is the fuel for every traveler. Or I can say it is the fuel for life. You can’t be negative all the time with all the bad things happening all over India. We have to find small objectives and positive attitude to carry on our own life. Well for most of the people it’s true that I came across in my life.

Until Rohtang I have been before. I am also excited to see beyond this. Next destination is Spiti Valley, which Google map says will take 2.15 hours for 145 kilometers. It’s no exact but it will take around 3 to 4 hours depends on traffic and road conditions.

So we left again in Jeep. I was sitting in middle and it’s very cold. I kept track of the edgy road for some time and road going between two snow-made mountains. It’s very cold, so I started feeling sleepy. I was feeling tired and the cold did the rest. After 5 hours of bus journey from Kasol to Rohtang and now again on road, one repower nap is must. I planned it for 5 minutes.

But it lasted for 2 hours. It is one of my specialties. I can sleep while sitting position also. And I thought there will be some speed bumps and huge pits which will wake me up but nothing. Why the road was so smooth? Incredible India. While in cities we face big pits and pot holes but here nothing. I am little disappointed with me because first time I came through this way and I slept. But not all route is gone. I woke up near the Spiti which is on the mountain and we can see that from a distance. I requested driver to stop and click some snaps from here. But I am not the owner of the jeep. Why would he stop? So I have to convince everyone in jeep to stop. That was a tough job for me because I am not convincing at all. I started requesting to others. But why would they listen to a stranger? I started showing my previous clicks to everyone. At last my work talked. That convinced them all and we stopped at one point.

I clicked some snaps and a group photo of jeep crew. It was nice. A wide range of mountains and a city at top of mountain and Spiti river flowing side by side. It is new for me. I have never seen this before. It’s like a small paradise among these mountains. Very well made and I don’t how they got idea of making a city here. Might be history can help here. So after my work is complete, we started moving to Spiti village. While going there I asked people what I missed during my sleep. They told me that we came through Kunzum pass and Spiti river going through mountains. Also we had chats around to Spiti Village.

I reached Spiti Village. I can’t believe what I found there. We have met before in Kasol and now here.

The Dream Catcher (Part-2)

The missed out Information(Part 2)

We spent some time there in silence. The cold breeze passing through my warm cloths and touching the body. It feels like cleansing my body and soul. And the bright sun is burning all the dirt coming from body. Hearing the sound of breeze as well as flowing river. The breeze makes us colder and the sun makes it even. It’s all magical and something in the moment that can only be experienced. I was spell bound and sat there until the girl stood up and started walking. I saw that and still the time was passing in slow motion. When I came to my sense, she was long gone. I stood and up started running. While running I wiped out my tears. The girl was walking and I joined her. I stopped and after taking a long breath.

“So you were right” I started the conversation. She chose to remain silent and continued walking.

“Okay. No talk protocol activated”. After saying this I picked my camera and started clicking around.

After click here and there, I clicked a pic of her. Checked the pic, it was a blur as she was moving. She got angry and rushed to me. She tried to see the pic but I hid it from her. She ordered me to delete the pic. But I smiled and replied “I want all these for my blogs”. She asked to delete her pic. I said “no and no means no”. She got angry and said “I will kill you”. I said “okay kill me but after seeing the pic”. She said “okay”. I showed it to her. It was a blur only colors visible but not exact images. She calmed down and asked for camera to check the pics by herself. I gave it to her and told her that it is a part of my livelihood so please handle with care. She scanned all pics clicked since last night. And by the expressions of her, she seems impressed. She handed me the camera and started moving forward toward camp.

And she talked “so you are photographer?”

I am amazed by her deductions and replied “Does this look like a DSLR to you?” turning my Point to Shoot camera around. “And I don’t even have a tripod”.

She was still waiting for the answer. I can say with the look on her face.

“No, travaller” I said

“ohh” in a low tone she replied.

“You don’t like travelers. You think photographers are better” I counter attacked her “ohh”

“No, It’s that you click nice shots”

“ohh okay thanks”

After some pause I thought as she now knows what I do so I should also ask.

“So what do you do?”

She remained silent and waived to her friend in camp.

“My bad, the walk was over” I became sad.

“I am an artist by the way” and after saying this she left. She joined her group. I left for my tent. I packed my bag to leave. I left the tent and I started searching the guy to whom I have to do the payment. After half an hour, someone told he is in another camp. I went there and started asking for the guy. I met the “bridge girl” again.

“hey! the bridge girl”. I called her. But she did not reply. I again called her “Hey Miss Artist”. Then she turned back and said “yes”. I offered my hand for handshake and said “It is very nice meeting you”. We shook hands. I was looking into her eyes and I felt something special. But the special moment finished soon as the guy appeared. And I broke the eye contact and hand shake. I paid and thanked him for the night stay and food. The guy left after that.

I turned around to see Miss Artist but she left. And it stuck to me that I don’t even know her name and contact. What a fool I was? I asked profession. I said nice meeting you, but never asked her name or any contact. It felt disappointing. I realized that I have met many people in my traveling days but she is special. I have met many girls also but never felt like this before. The Kasol air has something to do with that.

I ran to the guy and asked if he knew the group or the girl. But he did not. He told me that She left for Manikaran Gurudwara with her group. And there is one suggestion book where we take suggestion from groups visiting here. Might be you get something there. He showed me the book and there is one feedback written there. Group Name, Contact, Address etc. I clicked the pic of that in my phone. I tried calling the number. It is picked up by a lady living in Lucknow. And address was also from Lucknow. One thing is sure that the number or address is either belong to the girls’ house or someone in group.

Being a traveler I am very strict of schedule. I have to leave from here to Rohtang pass. Someone is waiting there for me. It was a memorable day at Kasol. Let’s see where the steps take. Or will they take me too Lucknow? Kasol is done for now.

Small Places make Big Impact

I often observe that travelling to different places in different countries, there is always a lot of learning from small places. And trust me the real culture and originality of people is hidden in small cities only. They are not popular and you will not find them when you do Google search for "places to visit in a country". It’s that you have to be there and search and hear it from local people because metro cities of a country are already modernized and they have lost their originality and roots. How? Let’s get down to that road.

The metro cities are building sky wrappers, while small cities are nurturing the nature in the form of agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, orchids etc. You can't find these in big cities. You will only find the big service apartments, pubs, clubs, hotels and restaurants with a lot of noise. You can’t find peace in big cities. While in small cities we have natural sanctuary, ponds, small and big waterfalls, fields and crops, where you can breathe in fresh air and find peace. The sense of self-realization is often observed when you find peace. Peace outside and inside. On the other side in cities, you always feel people are rushing and so much crowd and noise that you can’t hear your own voice. You are more close to nature in small cities. I think that’s why we feel relaxed in a farm house rather than a pent house in city.

Apart from feeling good from within in small places far from cities, I have observed that most of the world famous people come from small places only. Be it Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama or Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa etc. All came from small places and made a big impact in changing our society. There is magic in air for those cities.

Most of the people already knew this. But they don’t want to give up their current livelihood to enjoy peace in small cities. More people are moving towards cities for earning money and from money they can buy comfort. And later they realize that the real comfort is when you are close to nature.

Adding to that, current status is that the small cities are moving toward of becoming metro cities because the facilities and ease of living they see in big cities. But still bloggers, photographers, travellers and even stand-up comedian get their real stuff in small cities. There is no variety in big cities, only taller building pubs and restaurant. But in smaller cities we have a lot of varieties from natural landscapes to different kind of people and their culture.

You can spot these differences in big countries like USA, Australia, China, India etc. But in small countries like Hong Kong, Macau, Japan they have managed a very good balance between the big cities and their culture. Small countries don’t have much space, so they have preserved their culture with use of technology very well.