Tirthan Diary

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...

The day comes to us (9.00 am) We had just finished our breakfast - a superlative chhole bhature (the chef here is too good) - and had walked down to a small grassy area next to our cottage, plonking down on the swing there, our backs to the sun. Our relaxed schedule whispered to us of bath and clothes washing, and a bit of water excursion by Panna in the Pah river. Today the temperature was steadily climbing with the sun, and might reach 13-14°C soon, and 20°C by mid day, so some splashing around was warranted and welcome. In fact, that would probably be the activity of the day. Or so we thought. We looked up to the road above. A couple of guys were walking to the slope that descended to our gates. A blue car stopped and some girls in traditional Himachali attire tumbled out. They greeted each other. Some more dressed-up people arrived. To us, they seemed like marionettes high up on the road, miming some act for our benefit. The whole group started walking down to our gate...