Sunday, April 8, 2012

Himachal Pradesh Stole My Heart…

After leaving Jalandhar, I was so excited to see the Himalayas for the first time. While on the buses, I kept texting my host in Palampur, Vishal, to let him know of my progress. I didn’t quite know how to get there, but I was enjoying the adventure of getting lost, taking the wrong connecting bus, still floating on a nostalgic cloud after leaving my Punjabi family. But I eventually still ended up where I needed to be. (August retrospect edit: And oh man did I ever! :D) I chose Palampur because, along with needing some company after two difficult goodbyes, I thought that knowing someone there would offer better insight about this new state, Himachal Pradesh, and about Kashmir also. I thought it would be best to get informed before heading to the touristy places like Dharamsala and Manali, of which I knew nothing.

What drove me to do this, even though Palampur didn’t sound that appealing initially, was my experience last summer in Northern Norway. I had insisted on getting to Nordkapp on the first day I arrived in the area, before going to stay at my host’s place in another town some distance away. And it was a mistake. It turned out my host had valuable information about Nordkapp, which would have saved me a lot of money and trouble and would have made the journey oodles more fun. So I told myself: next time, I will spend time with the locals first and not rush to the final destination so much. Well, with a few months’ retrospect, going to Palampur was one of the best decisions I’ve made as a traveller, I think.

So. Getting there. I thought to myself that if I get the wrong bus, I would spend one night at the wrong destination, and if I liked it, it would become the right destination. And I could continue on to Palampur the following day. Either way, I was excited. I was appreciating having some freedom after staying with my incredibly sweet but very protective family.

While on the bus, I witnessed rain. It put such a huge smile on my face. I hadn’t seen rain in months! Since Pondicherry! And then they popped up… Looming snowy peaks, silent and immortal, beckoning in the background with the setting sun. I could not take my eyes off them. I knew I was meant to be there then (or rather, for the less esoterically inclined, I knew I wanted to be there at that time). I needed to spend the next months in the mountains.

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