Rider on the Storm

A Family Outing - May 2007 All 4 of us – i.e. my wife Namita, son Abhi, daughter Pankhuri and I- went for this outing to Tehri Garhwal in our Innova. At Rishikes we visited the Lakshman Jhula, strolled through the bazaars and in the evening we went to see the Ganga Aarti. Ganga Aarti at Parmarth Ashram at Rishikesh is held at sunset every day. It is a soothing, becalming experience and evokes the images of importance of water in the minds of primal man resulting in such deep reverence. The sunset over the Ganga is spectacular. Abhi also performed the Ganga Aarti. Next morning we were off to Tehri. We passed through Narendernagar. It was the summer capital of the Kings of Tehri. The Royal Palace is at the crest of the hill. Almora, Srinagar and Narendranagar are a few of the hilltop towns that predate British by many centuries. Most of the hilltop towns were setup as hill stations by the British to combat the summer heat. The forests around this region and herbal research gardens are a

Part III - Andhreta and Baijnath Next morning we go to Andhretta. It is a small village made popular by a group of artists who made it their “Indian Utopia”. Nora Richards the playwright, Sobha Singh the painter, Gurcharan Singh the master potter along with many other theatre actors and cine stars built cottages in this picturesque village. It is lush green with small trickles and cottages built in their own vegetable patches. The valley is agog with bird song. Scarlet sunbirds, magpie robins and wagtails lend their song to the beauty of this Eden on Earth. We visit the art galleries and walk through the bamboo glades. A group of young local girls are taking lessons in pottery making at Master Potter Gurcharan Singh’s factory. A small stream runs around the complex trickling over the boulders while nimble hands shape cups and saucers over spinning wheels. Little children plod to school weighed down by heavy satchels. A very pretty girl with flowers in her hair paints sitting in the stu

Part II- McLeodgunj and Palampur We tear ourselves away from the Temples of Masrur and scoot towards Dharamsala, retracing our route till Gaggal. Beyond Gaggal the road climbs steeply and soon we are at Dharamsala but we decide to ride on to McLeodgunj. We stop just short of McLeodgunj in a church in the middle of a cedar forest, aptly named as ‘St. John in the Wilderness’. It is the oldest church in north India and built in a very peculiar style which is generally not found in any other place. It is surrounded by meticulously maintained garden and the graveyard with poignant epitaphs. Some of the graves are adorned by angels and cherubs. We reach McLeodgunj and check into a hotel. The day is young so we walk to Bhagsu Nath. It is a village which has sprouted lots of concrete and multi-storey buildings since the influx of foreign tourists. It was famous for the Bhagsu Nag Temple but now infamous for rave parties, drugs and pizzas. The Bhagsu Nath Shiva Temple is built in typical pahari

Part I - Kangra and Masrur Autumn arrives with its yellows and rusts, rousing the wanderlust in me so we decide on the Kangra circuit. This time again after many yeses and no’s, it is the same five, by now the famous five! (The famous five are- Inderjit Singh, Viteshwar, Gagan, Gurinder and I). The route we are to follow is circuitous. We are to reach Kangra from Anandpur, Nangal, Una, Dehra side and come back from Palampur, Mandi, Bilaspur and Swarghat. We have six days to do it and have planned some fun as there would be no off- roading or high altitude rides. We make the first stop at Anandpur Sahib and pay our respects at the Gurudwara Keshgarh Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh the 10th Sikh Guru baptised first Khalsa on 13th April 1699. From here we move towards Kangra but the road is a nightmare. They have laid a fresh layer of fist sized stones on the surface without any tarmac, so the bikes slither and slide all over the road! We reach Kangra and the fort looms in to view. It occu

Last June we* biked to Jalori Pass. Even though it is one of the lowest passes (10,580 ft) in Himalayas, connecting Shimla district with Kullu, the drive is a biker’s delight. The ride up to Shimla is as usual a drag and a bore because of traffic, diesel fumes and crowds. As soon as we cross Kufri the fun starts. One can breathe the fresh mountain air and the hill sides are covered with trees. The temperature drops perceptibly which is a welcome change after the sweltering heat of Chandigarh. The road descends till a village called Matiyana and then starts climbing up. Patches are being repaired after recent landslides, leaving them bare broken rock. Bikes raise a dust cloud and you can imagine the state of the guy riding drag! But good roads follow and soon we are zipping on freshly laid tarmac. The bikes roar uphill to the ever beautiful Narkanda. Here we stop for much needed rest and lunch at the HPTDC Hatu. They have a beautiful garden where we sprawl after lunch and sip hot tea. (

Three of us made this journey on our motorcycles to Chhitkul in the famed Sangla Valley of Himachal. We went in September-end as it is the best time to visit this area when the apples ripen and the monsoon rains have washed the world clean. Sangla lies in the valley of River Baspa, a tributary of Sutlej. This is the land of esoteric, the abode of Gods; Kinner (smaller) Kailash being the summer Capital of Lord Shiva and Sangla of his pantheon of Gods. The local legend has it that the Kinnauras were the first people to settle the Earth. They were not only very good looking, honest and saintly but also sang very well. One day as one of them was singing while herding his flocks of goats and sheep some Godlings happened to hear him. They were mesmerised by the resonant voice which was even better than the Gandharv’s. That very instance they decided to make it their summer home and even persuaded Lord Shiva to make Kinner Kailash his summer home. The Devtas and Devis taught the Kinnaura wome