We travel to Kullu (11.30 am) Today was a big day, the first day of the Kullu Dussehra festival, and we had decided to go down to the festival grounds and attend for a few hours. Today was the day all the deities from all over Kullu district would check in there (more than 300 deities), and pay their obesience to Raghunathji, the primary resident deity. We had decided to live simply and go by bus. Today no buses were allowed to enter Kullu proper but were terminated near the fair grounds at Dhalpur, which was okay by us. We waited by the roadside from 11.30, but the bus came one hour later, and that too, jampacked. We squeezed in anyhow. It was after ages that I was riding in a bus, even longer travelling standing, and perhaps never on a twisty mountain road. It was an ordeal I tell you. People simply kept boarding since no one was getting off before Dhalpur today. Finally, after 25 mins of this, less than half way through, I simply decided to get down. Panna scrambled...
A bus ride (11.30 am) This morning was colder than usual. We avoided tea outside, opted for breakfast in the room, and snuggled in bed till it was time to leave. Where? You remember Shankar Dev, the folk singer who was filming here? They had invited us to their house and we decided to take them up on it. We would visit them from 12.00-1.00 pm. That was the plan. So we were up on the road, slowly walking uphill towards Pahnalla village which was 3 kms away. We were sure that some bus would pass us, and sure enough, very soon a rickety private bus did. The house (12.15 pm) As we descended from the bus, we found one of the daughters waving to us. A few rustic steps up, and we were standing in front of an unexpectedly well-built pukka house. Ramdei, Shankar's wife, welcomed us effusively. The daughters milled about. The grandfather gave us a gap-toothed smile. We were inside the building that had a central hall, two bedrooms and two sitting r...