31st Jan, 2013
My friend and fellow TBHPian
n.devdath's brother-in-law, Deepak Rannot was getting married on the 1st of Feb, 2013 at his ancestral village Patti, Jogindernagar, Lambagaon, Dist. Palampur. Dev had invited my family & I and had insisted on coming.
Dev's Father-in-Law works for CSIR, Delhi. CSIR has a unit in Palampur called the
Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT). A few rooms in the Institute's guest-house were booked for the wedding guests. Dev had asked me if I would require two rooms, but I said we could easily manage in one.
Had heard that Palampur nestled in the Dhauladhar ranges was a serene picturesque place and 5 most famous Devi temples, Dharamshala & Mcleodganj were nearby.
I've always believed that visit to divine places is possible only when the Almighty wishes so.
Way back in 80s we three friends were sipping tea in a restaurant in the evening, that suddenly one of them said & I quote - "Can we go to Vaishno Devi"? In a chorus we answered in the affirmative and started pooling whatever money we had in our pockets. Informed our parents and boarded a train to Jammu at midnight. We were college students then.
Well to cut the story short, we had a fantastic sighting (it was lot easier those days) and came back spiritually satisfied.
Today I have the means, the resources to go to Vaishno Devi whenever I want but till date the "call" has not come.
Anyway, coming back to the journey, I checked for the route on the net and settled for this:
Gurgaon - Chandigarh - Anandpur Sahib - Una - Amb - Kangra - Palampur.
I had decided to leave by 4 am and had hoped to cover Mata Chintpurni, Brajeshwari Devi, Chamunda Devi & Jwala ji enroute to Palampur. That would end my pilgrimage and leave me free to roam around Palampur during the stay.
Man proposes and God disposes. This saying fitted well; atleast in my case. As scheduled, wife, daughter & I left Gurgaon at 4 in the morning. I was very apprehensive of the Mukerba Chowk near Azadpur as that is a known traffic bottleneck. Leaving early would have helped me beat the traffic.
The weather signs were a bit ominous. There was haziness in the air and though fog had not settled, visibility was little low. But nothing to worry. How would I know what lay in the store for me.
Reached Mukerba Chowk in about 40 minutes and felt very happy. Had planned a pit-stop at Oasis, Karnal, that I had hoped to reach by 7 am latest.
And then disaster struck. As I reached Narela, hit a white wall. One of the densest fog that I had ever seen. Dev had left for Palampur two days back and hadn't reported anything of this sort. The drive became a crawl with following the vehicles in front.
A boring & frustrating drive with no visibility at all. It also was tiring because all faculties were on the alert while concentrating hard on the road. One slip and it would be dangerous. I was desperately waiting for daylight as that would improve the visibility. Reached Karnal two hours late than scheduled. The flyover is not yet completed and the traffic was very slow on the side road. Fog was unrelenting and daylight made it worse. Did not stop at Oasis as that required a u-turn and I was not taking that risk in zero visibility.
Just after Karnal spotted a roadside tea-stall and stopped for a hot cup of tea and loosening of the limbs. I was feeling lethargic too. Switched on the hazard lights & the parking lights along with the DRLs. Didn't want anybody to crash into me from behind. After that brief stop-over proceeded to Chandigarh. Ambala was crossed in the fog and I was wondering when would it dissipate. The fog started clearing near Dera Bassi and I could see the Sun and its fain rays trying to warm-up the atmosphere. The visibility improved a lot (almost 3000 mtrs) and now we could see heaps and mounds of Kinnow fruit on the roadsides.
Kinnow (taken from my wife's mobile)
As I was about to enter Chandigarh I made a phone call to my friend Vikram (wanderernomad) who was based in Mohali. I needed a route bearing. He was thrilled to hear from me and insisted that I should proceed further only after meeting him. So, an impromptu mini TBHP meet in Mohali. The clock read 11:30 am. Seven hours to Chandigarh from Gurgaon...aaarrgghh!
Reached Vikram's office with route directions being relayed on phone and he had sent his assistant to fetch us to his cabin. Unfortunately I did not read the name of his office. With a a warm hug & a big smile Vikram welcomed me and we started chatting. Soon hot cups of aromatic coffee arrived and that lifted the spirits. Since we had lost enough time, Vikram suggested that we should visit Chintpurni Mata and then proceed straight to Palampur as it would be quite late by then. The rest of the Devis could be done on 2nd Feb. That was a sensible advice.
Vikram then asked where in Palampur we were staying and I told him that it was the CSIR-IHBT guest-house. On hearing this he burst out laughing. I had a puzzled look on my face. He said and I quote - " you are staying in my house only ". This puzzled me more and seeing that look he explained. Vikram works for CSIR-IHBT in a senior position and the Palampur unit is controlled/administered from Mohali. He asked his assistant to call Palampur and instructed them to take good care of us as we were his personal guests. I was earlier scheduled to return on 2nd, but then I requested Vikram if our stay could be extended by a day. He immediately issued instructions to that effect and we had one extra day in Palampur. Niceties over, I bid good-bye to Vikram and told him that on my way back if I find time then would have dinner together in Chandigarh.
Filled diesel on the outskirts of Chandigarh & found that it costed Rs.46.04 to a litre; Cheaper than Gurgaon. Inspite of driving slowly in the fog, I got a mileage of 13.2 kmpl.
Clear weather, the Sun warming up raced towards Anandpur Sahib and stopped just a few kilometres before at a road-side Dhaba for lunch. Awesome Gobhi aur Aloo ke Paranthe with makkhan, curds, Yellow Daal.
After that sumptuous lunch crossed Anandpur Sahib, Nangal Dam and reached near Una. Saw this horrible accident on the road - a bullet m/cycle was hit by a car and a man & woman on the m/cycle were badly injured. people were putting them in passing-by cars to take them to a hospital.
The Una - Amb road was the only bad patch on the entire journey. Expansion work is being carried out and once that is over this stretch should be nice as well. Crossed a small tunnel on the way.
By 3:15 pm we had reached Mata Chintpurni and was parking my vehicle. Parking fees - Rs.50/-. Vehicles are not allowed right till the temple gate. One has to walk almost a kilometre to reach the temple. Photography inside the temple is prohibited.
Miss Scowl at the parking Temple entrance
There wasn't any crowd at all and on enquiring I got to know that this was off-season and during cold weather the foot-fall decreases. After having a nice satisfying "darshan", we proceeded towards Palampur. It was getting dark slowly. I searched for the CSIR-IHBT on my Garmin GPS, but couldn't find it. Entered Palampur around 8 pm. Like all other hill stations Palampur is no different. Devoid of any night-life the town wore a deserted look. Passing through the market found a lone policeman. Asked him for directions and he guided me to the Baijnath road. The Institute was situated on that road on the outskirts of Palampur. After some time found the board and then the gate. Turned in and the guard came running in. Told him about our bookings in the guest house. He confirmed the same with the guest-house, made entries in the register and allowed us in.
Reached the guest-house, was shown to my room that was on the ground floor, luggage transferred and we settled down. The geyser & room-heater was switched on. Ordered dinner that was a simple fare of aloo-gobhi, daal, chapatis, rice & curds. Had dinner in the dining room. We all were tired and the next day was the wedding. The room was cosy & warm when we came back after dinner. Went off to a deep slumber.
Before sleeping I asked the caretaker about the Dhauladhars. He said, it is visible from the terrace. Made a mental note to get up early at the crack of the dawn to capture the peaks in the rising Sun....
to be continued.../-