1. Home
  2. Authors
  3. Places
  4. Tools
  5. Write for Ghumakkar
  • Browse Stories By Popularity
  • Browse Stories By Time

In the lap of the great Himalayan Ranges lies this mesmerising state of Himachal Pradesh. Possessing an enviable diversity of natural beauty, Himachal Pradesh cradles snow capped mountains, snow fed rivers, dense deodar forests, cultivated terraces and apple orchards within itself. Fondly calle... Read More

By :     36,678 views    Comments :  54
After knowing about this place from my friend Vikas, we planned a trek of Shrikhand Mahadev. Before going there I had totally different views about the place. I had no information about trekking before visiting this place. We were four out of which t... Read More
By :     35,121 views    Comments :  16
My visits to places are normally more comfortable journeys, maybe I am getting old and don't feel like roughing it out any more :-). So, I planned a 3 day trip to Dharamshala, and the first thing I looked for was how to get there. Not a bus, not a tr... Read More
By :     31,734 views    Comments :  136
Its not very common for me to not rush my road-reviews. Yeah thats two nots, read again. Its not very common for me to not rush my road-reviews. But as you grow up (and old) you sort of start to mellow down. In my case I would still blame on office-w... Read More
By :     26,368 views    Comments :  42
Himachal is an interesting place. Isn't it? I would like to post my writings on unexplored Himachal to give a off the road view and a different Himachal to let you all see. Shrikhand Mahadev is one such place. Its hidden. Its unexplored. Not many peo... Read More
By :     23,272 views    Comments :  46
When we, five members of our family,decided to have a week's break after the 10th Board exam of our grand daughter,we thought of Shimla which we have not visited for many years, though we go to hills almost twice a year. The drive to Shimla from Gurg... Read More
By :     20,274 views    Comments :  50
I came back just couple of days before and I am still dreaming how those four beautiful days passed in Himachal Pradesh.It had been few months that I had done a road trip. So It was time to hit the road again. But I was really being superstitious whe... Read More
By :     18,943 views    Comments :  7
Around a month back, I had written an article about the first day of a visit to McLeodganj and Dharamshala. This article is about the second day into the same trip. Given that we had covered McLeodganj on the first day, the objective was to cover the... Read More
By :     18,387 views    Comments :  51
Many years ago, my wife read about a place called Lahaul-&-Spiti and somehow fancied the idea of going there. When the time came, we actually had no idea on what exactly it was. We knew that its in HP and that its far. After some digging, the fact ab... Read More
By :     17,270 views    Comments :  71
I love the name of this site as it defines my aspirations. I have been thinking of writing on this site for long but somehow could not and may be the culprit is yet again the same old “starting trouble” and its first cousin “will do it tomorrow... Read More
By :     15,354 views    Comments :  20
Last weekend, I drove to Kalka, rather Parwanoo, on my way to Timber Trail Heights, its one of those hotels perched on a hill top and the only good way to reach their is through a cable car, good nice clean place and more on that in a later post. Thi... Read More
By :     15,342 views    Comments :  19
Kalpa/Sangla/Chitkul (Mar 2010) We managed a full week break (09 days in effect, Saturday to next Sunday) thanks to the rare confluence of three variables, Mine & Sharmi’s  leave and Deboshmita’s school holidays. Having covered Kumaon (Na... Read More
By :     14,886 views    Comments :  42
Ambitious two day trip to cover Narkanda , Jalori Pass, around 1100 Kms in chilly weather of December 2009. Narkanda is at 2621 metres (8599 feet), about 65 km from Shimla and surrounded by the Shivalik Ranges that span a large part of Himachal Prad... Read More
By :     14,330 views    Comments :  45
Give peace a chance ! This very famous hippy quote made me to search more and more about the hippy culture. I watched a documentary 'Last Hippy Standing' and finally decided to spend a few days in Kasol. I have been to the place once before, with ... Read More
By :     14,156 views    Comments :  21
It had been quite some time since I rode long distance on BB.  being out of action due to a bike crash, has a damping effect on a rider's life.  The effects of the nearing D-day were numerous... swinging between excitement and some feeling of fear... Read More
By :     13,620 views    Comments :  14
The trip to Dharamshala got planned just like that.One fine evening as we didn't have anything to do to pass sometime prior to dinner we ended up planning a trip to....I don't recall now what was the initially intended destination.....but there must ... Read More
By :     13,334 views    Comments :  26
Kalpa (2960 mtrs ASL) is a sleepy Himalayan outpost, with abounding greens, offering a vantage view of snow clad Kinner (derivative is the newer version, Kinnaur) Kailash. The place has true Himalayan flavour, devoid of hordes of noisy, haranguing ... Read More
By :     11,762 views    Comments :  25
The "car-driving-bone" was predominantly present, had tickled at will and left it's mark on a number of occasions. In 1995, newly married, from chennai to tirupati, on bike, was it's start. Thereafter, post-arrival of santro, mumbai-lonavala, mumb... Read More
By :     11,735 views    Comments :  30
Me and My cousin Gaurav decided to take this unusual route on a week long trip and cover these many hillstation in one go.Best thing was that we had no plans and just decided to follow our instinct and thats what we came up with. Must say it was real... Read More
By :     11,617 views    Comments :  27
Why Keylong? It is an ideal destination for nature lovers and adventure freaks. The place is full of breathtaking landscapes, the enchanting rives, snowcapped mountains complimenting the blue sky, time stopping silence and pleasant weather, in short... Read More
By :     11,587 views    Comments :  23
Recap – This is the last leg of our 08 days trip Delhi – Kalpa – Sangla – Chitkul- Shimla – Delhi. Though Sangla was the intended halt, we ended up at Rakcham, about 12 kms beyond Sangla by the evening of Day-5. Rakcham boasts of a PWD ... Read More
By :     11,180 views    Comments :  10
Hello People!!! Last year, I had the oppurtunity to take one of my groups to a campsite in Himachal which is closeby... 377 Kms from Delhi, 17 kms from Shimla, and yet is untouched by the daily clamor of a hustling bustling town next door. The pl... Read More
By :     10,851 views    Comments :  24
As heat in Delhi became unbearable, as we gave up on staying alive in the huge bar-be-que that seemed to follow us wherever one would go, and finally as our frustration psyched us out since we could not find an appropriate, worthy, exciting place for... Read More
By :     10,601 views    Comments :  18
I hope you all found the writeup of our ride till Baralacha La  pretty interesting... allow me to regale all you readers further about our sojourn with destiny and the realization of a dream to ride to Leh. (more...)... Read More
By :     10,302 views    Comments :  6
K5 is an unofficial club made by five of us (Gaurav, Randish, Arun, Vipul and I). The name K5 is because, most of the time we used to cruise to Kasauli. As our college days at RIMT engineering college were approaching an end, we were getting really ... Read More
By :     9,882 views    Comments :  19
I just got back from the famous Delhi- manali-keylong-leh--kargil-dras-zozila-srinagar-patnitop-delhi highway and the writeup from bikerdude is really gr8. Atleast for me it would have been of gr8 use...if i would have read it before my trip...prima... Read More
By :    13 days ago   Comments :  11
My Wife is from pune and she has seen very few places in north India, so I decided to take her to Shimla on our first anniversary. This trip was exciting since beginning. Our train (Howrah - Kalka express) was supposed to arrive Delhi at 2045 hrs. on... Read More
By :    52 days ago   Comments :  23
Day 3 (24th June 2010) : Manali – Rohtang – Koksar – Pagal Nullah - Keylong (118 Kms) We approximately covered 600Kms & we all knew that the easy part of our journey is over. Next morning we were all set & excited for our onwards j... Read More
By :    55 days ago   Comments :  5
We started from Delhi and after doing the long loop of Delhi-Shimla-Sarahan-Kaza, we were now in Manali. Now further. Day 7: Manali to Shimla via Kullu, Mandi Day7 and it was the time for the final leg of the journey that completes the circuit.... Read More
By :    58 days ago   Comments :  36
(22nd June 2010 to 7th July 2010) Ladakh - ”The Roof of the World” does not need any formal introduction to a bullet rider. We all know Ladakh for its, seamless beauty, age old monasteries, virtually hanging from cliffs, high altitude passes &am... Read More
By :    58 days ago   Comments :  8
Day 6: Kaza to Manali via Losar, Batal, Kunzum Pass, Gramphu After a good sound sleep, we got up early around 7AM. A lovely view of the beautiful Kaza city in the morning, a lovely breakfast, couple of tea breaks, and by 9:30 AM we were ready for ... Read More
By :    61 days ago   Comments :  4
To re-cap, we began our journey from Delhi and after Shimla, Sarahan, Narkanda, Chitkul, we were last at Kalpa. Day 5: Dhankar Monastery, Key Monastery, Kibber, Pin Valley, Kaza Up early in the next morning, lovely breakfast in the hotel makes a... Read More
By :    62 days ago   Comments :  13
As I sit down to write this, I realise that for a photographer, wielding a pen comes less naturally than composing a shot. I am writing after two years, having just returned from a trip up north in the mountains – to Kalpa, Reckong Peo and Chitkul.... Read More
By :    65 days ago   Comments :  6
We started from Delhi 3 days back and after spending first night at Shimla, we moved to Kinnaur. In Kinnaur, we visited Chitkul Village and then returned to Kalpa for the night stay. Now, we take the journey further Day 4: Kalpa, Khab (Entering th... Read More
By :    68 days ago   Comments :  15
We reached Shimla from Delhi, the first day and had a good time there. Now, we were ready to move on to our dream circuit. Day 2: Narkanda, Sarahan and Sarahan Local It was a nice early morning in Shimla the next day, raining slightly. We got up ... Read More
By :    70 days ago   Comments :  11
Since quite long it has been going through my mind, how to cover two of the existing heavens in the world: 1) Leh Ladakh 2) Lahaul and Spiti Many people consider Leh Ladakh as one of the most beautiful places in earth, but then a minor porti... Read More
By :    79 days ago   Comments :  20
प्लान के मुताबिक सब सुबह 05:00 बजे तक उठ गए। देर रात खाने और सोने की वजह से कोई भी फ्रेश नहीं हो पाया।... Read More
By :    82 days ago   Comments :  8
9-सितम्बर ठीक 4 बजे मैं अपने घर से बाकी लोगों को लेने निकल पड़ा। ठीक 30 मिनट बाद मैं नोएडा सेक्टर-62 प... Read More
By :    100 days ago   Comments :  43
तो मित्रो आपने पढ़ा कि अपनी हिमाचल यात्रा हमने नैना देवी, ज्वालाजी, कांगड़ा, पालमपुर बैजनाथ होत... Read More
By :    104 days ago   Comments :  6
Manali-Rohtang-Keylong (मनाली-रोहतांग-केलांग) As we were travelling on a non-HP/JK vehicle, we needed a pass to travel beyond Kothi towards Rohtang and beyond to Leh and the passes are issued by SDM of Manali. B... Read More
By :    107 days ago   Comments :  13
In this may, we planned to make a road trip to make it to Manali-Leh highway which is supposed to be quite difficult with treacherous passes and roads. Going from Kanpur on road wasn't going to be an easy task given that none of us had much of expe... Read More
By :    108 days ago   Comments :  30
We got down from the car and after descending some uneven stairs reached the PadamSambhav Gompa.  The Gompa was colorful and mystic.  It was huge with traditional depictionof various symbols of Buddhism.  We climbed the long stairs and reached t... Read More
By :    111 days ago   Comments :  39
  I had fallen in love with Rewalsar Lake when I saw Vidhu Vinod Chopra's film "KAREEB".   I had travelled on Manali route many times, but no one ever told me about this lake.  After seeing Kareed,  in 2004 I alongwith Laxman  visited thi... Read More
By :    115 days ago   Comments :  50
  The journey was going on well... after visiting Naina Devi, Jwalaji, Kangra and Palampur, we finally reached  Baijnath.  I had earlier passed through this sleeping village 3 times but everytime missed this art work, for no reason.  I was... Read More
By :    120 days ago   Comments :  35
Kangra accomplished, and then we proceeded towards Palampur, famous for its scenic beauty and tea gardens.  Passing by YOL military camp we crossed Chamunda Devi temple. We have visited this temple many times and given the tight schedule that we ha... Read More
By :    123 days ago   Comments :  30
Hi Friends, [caption id="attachment_79506" align="alignleft" width="300"] Our hotel was at equal distance from Rly Station and Bus Stand. (Click to enlarge)[/caption] You might have read from my previous post that starting from Saharanpur (U.P.... Read More
By :    124 days ago   Comments :  29
So after paying my respect at Jwalamukhi temple, we proceeded towards Kangra.   The divine flames of Jwalaji had filled our heart with energy and positive feelings.  We were very happy and in good mood for our onwards journey to Kangra. [caption... Read More
By :    126 days ago   Comments :  23
It seems as if it was only yester year when two and half years back,  my bitter half ( No, it is not a typo! :D ) instructed me to plan a 4-days trip of Shimla so that she and her children may go and enjoy there.  When I asked incredulously, “Wha... Read More
By :    133 days ago   Comments :  19
Fading autumn and silent footfalls of coming winter have made these Devdar forests even more intriguing. Standing on a quiet road in Dalhousie in a cold and beautiful afternoon, we watched the widespread panorama of Pir Panjal with mute admiration. ... Read More
By :    135 days ago   Comments :  31
After having visited Naina Devi, and viewing Bhakra Dam, we reached Jwalaji by evening.  In the way I wanted to visit Praag Pur, a UNESCO Heritage village, but we lost way and reached Nadaun from where Jwalaji is just 10 Kms.   Jwalaji wa... Read More
By :    138 days ago   Comments :  31
After having good time in London for about 5 days we reached India.... finally.  We were welcomed by hot weather, mosquitoes, dust, traffic jams and noise pollution.  After spending 2 years in Iceland, these things pinch more... at least for a few ... Read More