An unforgettable to trip to my village in Kangra and other places!

I am a passionate traveler to hills and especially to my village Barram in Teh (Jaisinghpur Kangra district HP). I used to visit my place during the summer vacation while being in school and would wait desperately for the next summer vacations so that could visit it again. With higher studies, job and responsibilities, I did not get many chances to visit my village and spend even a month there. In fact I once visited it after a good five year gap! But during these five years the longing to visit my “Gaon” never died. In fact, it became stronger by the day. During this “gap” I could not escape from my madness to visit hills and would plan trip with friends for two or three days to Shimla, Manali, Rohtang, Mussorie etc and would try to see my village in the homes, rivers, khadds, buses and people there.

So enough of history (my favourite subject)! Finally, when I bought a car i10(I must call it an achievement) , I decided to go there in car with my parents (have been going in HRTC buses and I must say that journey in these roadways buses is equally exciting and sometimes even more than car seeing the sun rising from the window of your seat and feeling the chill of the air on your face is absolutely maddening ) . The idea to go there in car still fills me(though went there in sep-oct-2010) with the joy, the happiness, the relax, the feelings and all the good emotions! I was ready, though little scared, (the very idea of driving on single hilly roads and giving pass to buses trucks etc would make me mute) My dad who is an immaculate driver for sure was a great encouraging company and my mother a great “sawaari”.

So all the PACKING was done (typed in caps because you can’t imagine the kind of stuff my car carried) Next day we were ready and I had the steering in my hands and at 5.30 AM noted down the KMs and the journey began. During those days it was raining heavily and that day it rained with double or may be triple power but let me tell you that it just cant be explained in words the joy of driving in rain and that too on Delhi Panipat road.It was raining so heavily that on few occasions the wiper would prove to be futile. The road is excellentisimo (simo a superlative in Spanish) you just don’t feel tired!!

Stopped at Karnal for breakfast at Zhilmil dhabha. These dhabhas are so luring and there are so many!! Had good un-fried aalu paranthas with butter and awesome chai! It was an awesome drive till Chandigarh, barring few diversions due to construction work going on on few stretches (though dad wanted to drive but did not give him). Entered Chandigarh a beautiful city and had to cross too many confusing roundabouts but thanks to the omnipresent signboards and some really helpful passerby that I did not take the wrong route. After crossing the city we were on the Nangal Una road that road was not bad either but had no comparison to Delhi-Ambala highway!

The country side was simply beautiful may be due to heavy rain the region might have witnessed it was too green! Dad started driving and drove till Una. We reached Una around 1.30PM the feeling was so good of entering your home state that too in your own car, though they charged the entry fee also (paid for going to your own place). Una is the first major town while entering Himachal from the Nangal side and we had a good lunch there. After lunch parents wanted to move ahead without wasting any time and me adamant on staying there and just wanted to witness the driving in hills in the early morning. After the reluctant yes from the parents we stayed at a guest house very economic one (Vinayak Guest House near Una bus stand). The room had TV, AC and neat and clean bathroom and they provided good dinner. Had good sleep since feeling tired and next day got up at 5 and at 6 I was ready on the driver seat.

Fortunately it rained heavily the night before and it was drizzling in the morning. The roads were wet enough and life was gradually starting. The sun had risen though hidden in the clouds and It was little dark. There are actually two routes to go till Sujanpur a small town before my village one Is via amb, nadaun and other one is via Bhota, Hamirpur we decide to go via the former one for it being shorter.

It was great to drive on the wet roads seeing the country side, traditional homes with slated roofs, and life gradually starting up. I really could not believe that I am actually going to my native place in my own car(sorry for repeating it again and again). We stopped just before Nadaun for breakfast it was a road side dhabha partially constructed and had ajwain puffs with tea there. It was still cloudy and very little rain and the experience of having bfast in such atmosphere is simply inexplicable in words.

A Temple adjacent to the dhabha was also worth visiting. Beyond Nadaun the sun was at its best and it was great to see the river Beas in the rain soaked sun light. While driving on these roads my fear of driving on the single roads, maneuvering on the dangerous curves, giving passes to other trucks, buses etc all vanished. It was like driving on Delhi Gurgaon expressway at 2 AM. That day must have been a wedding day (SAAYA) saw three four wedding procession on our way to my village. These pahari wedding are so ordinary yet so beautiful and attractive. Finally reached my village Barram at 10.30 and a beautiful journey ended. Drove in total 498 KMs.

It was difficult to resist myself without driving. Just wanted to drive drive and drive…My Masi suggested us to visit the Baijnath temple in Baijnath. Baijnath is another tehsil in district Kangra and is at a distance of around 70 KMS from my village.

We took a short cut via my Masi’s place and that day I for the first time went deep in the interiors, remote villages it looked like as if they were being explored for the first time no movement, no vehicle, though one can see the houses but it was so calm and yet so populated!! We reached Baijnath. The shiva temple at Baijnath is beautiful the scenery around the temple is fantastic. The temple complex the interiors of the temple everything looked so archaic yet so beautiful. The stones used in the construction look so ancient at the same time very strong as if not even earthquake or tsunami can dislocate them! Came back via Palampur, another beautiful town.

My hunger for drive was yet to be satisfied. Once coming back from my Masi’s village met with an old local village friend who owns a photo studio there. Sat with him and he told me about three four other guys who work for army and were on annual leave at home those days. What else I needed a good company! We decided to go to dharmashala mcleodganj. Next day four of us were ready. Dharmashala is around 80-90 Kms from my village. The road till Dharmashala was in excellent condition and the country side had no match.

It was nice sunny weather and some really nice songs I had saved in the pen drive, added to the joy. On way to mcleodganj visited the St. Johns’s church , it was an awesome place with immensely cloudy weather and little chill in the air and the church that day it seemed as if an isolated place.

There were two police women though but no other visitors. Building that kind of church at that height must have been an arduous task. Took some snaps there and moved ahead. Finally reached Mcleodganj a town with all kind of things and tourists from almost all the parts of the world! The next stop was Bhaagsu Naag.

There is a waterfall not very thick but falling at great speed, on way to Bhaagsu nag saw a funny restaurant name “No Name café” Reached there people were dying to get them clicked with waterfall in the background. My friends got crazy on seeing the foreigners and happily like never before took pics with them. They were in full “masti” mood.

There was also a short trip to the famous Sujanpur fort around 15 kms from my native place. It was one of my nephews birthday and that day he came back early from his school gathered two three more local lads and I was again on the travelling spree. That day also it was drizzling since morning, rain did play a major part in my entire trip in other words it added to the joy as mentioned above and want to mention again there is nothing more joyful than driving on the wet roads in hills, the greenery is at its peak during rainy season, the small rivulets, water flowing down on the roads the entire wet atmosphere and cool breeze is simply awesome.

Sujanpur fort was the residence of Raja Sansar Chand Katoch, the man who took kangra kingdom to new heights, the fort is at a tremendous height though the motorable road is there but I could not shift from second to third gear. The major portion of the fort was damaged during Kangra earthquake in 1905 since then the fort is in a dilapidated state though under the auspices of ASI. The view from the fort is fantabulous one can see the entire sujanpur town, the chowgan, sainik school, river beas, the small houses scattered on the hills and that day the cloudy weather added to the beauty.

In total spent two weeks in my village(did not have any camera relied on my HTC smart phone), and did go to other lesser known places explaining them as well would be a super lengthy task so just mentioned the memorable ones, and strongly felt that visiting and exploring such places is worth, the feeling is entirely different. Dont mean that Places like Shimla, Kullu, Manali, Mussorie etc are boring hill station they are great too but exploring unknown places, roads etc is equally sometimes more exciting that’s what I tried to prove in the description above. Hope people like it!!