Photofeature

How green is my valley: An enchanting trip to Jia/Badsar/Dhanauta

                                 

On a grey, rain-free, late, mid-August morning, I set off with my two dear friends RG and Satinder to explore and savour the lushness of a relatively lesser known part of our green valley. Taking the Palampur-Dharamsala-via-Nagri road we diverted towards the right after Gopalpur, taking the Jia road. The view was fabulous. As we looked down below, to our left, there lay before us on the nature’s large canvas the sprawling Jia valley enveloped in purest emerald. The terraced fields dotted with trees with red, green, and grey-roofed houses interspersed here and there presented a magnificent spectacle. Far in the north we could glimpse a serpentine white ribbon of a stream streaking down a hill slope. There was a shroud of mist all around preventing good view of the Dhauladhar and also making it difficult to take good pictures. But at the same time this sheet of mist and fog had lent an aura of ethereal, surreal charm to the whole landscape. Monsoon clouds hung thick, dark and low over the sky and clung to the Dhauladhar as if as a matter of right. Having disembarked from the car, we spent time taking in the entire view, feasting our eyes and souls, and clicking photos to our heart’s content. Then we made it to a roadside hotel nearby, ‘The Whispering Pines’, stretched our limbs sitting on a roof top and sipped lemon tea. The tea was indeed good and refreshing.

Then leaving the Jia road, we headed off to the right towards the Tibetan monastery nestling in the nature’s wilderness. The verdant green of the meadows, the dainty little Paharan girls with their sheep and rain-weary umbrellas, clouds hanging low and surveying the scene, the all-pervading calm and soothing quietude made it look like a perfect ‘picture post-card’ scene. It seemed like being altogether in a different world, the world of peace and bliss away from the cacophony and chaos of city life.

A Gurudwara still under construction lay about a 100 meters ahead of the monastery. We opted to go there first. At the very entrance there was a shrine to our left. We walked in and paid our respectful obeisance. There, we got talking to one of the staff, genial Shri Vijay Singh, who filled us in with the history and other details of the Gurudwara. On his suggestion we went trudging down to the cave, Anand Gufa where Baba Nanak Singh Kaleranwale, we were told, had done his penance and meditation. Later we went through the Gurudwara and, being now hungry, gorged on the simple but very enjoyable prashad of dal-roti to our full satisfaction. Clouds had by now ganged up against us setting off a drizzle. Therefore we hurried to the monastery resplendent in vibrant colours, clicked pictures of the stupa, the magnificent image of the Budha standing tall and erect and of the main sanctum. It was now time to bid adieu. Refreshed and happy, detoxified and feeling blessed by the divine caresses of nature at its most sublime and beautiful, we were now heading back home.

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When sad and sullen, lonely and lonesome - for whatever reason - or even feeling the itch to just spend a few soul-enriching moments in the lap of nature at its purest, I/we strongly recommend this short outing, not too far away from your Palampur town. If you are a good, cheerful company (and not tied-up in self-made knots), I could join in too!!!

ठंडी ठंडी हवा चलदी ओ झुलदे चीलाँ दे डालू , जीणा काँगड़े दा !

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