Summer Vacation Excursions- Part IV

Summer Vacation Excursion Part IV

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

My younger son had completed his graduation and post graduation at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Mohali, Chandigarh. As usual we had gone to Punjab during summer vacations. I and my wife hired a cab and came to Chandigarh to attend the convocation ceremony in which my son was to receive his degree from some eminent science administrator of the country. We attended the ceremony which was full of serenity and gaiety and we stayed for the night at the house of our relatives. In the morning we started for Himachal Pradesh. But before entering Himachal Pradesh we paid a visit to the historic Gurudwara of Anandpur Sahib and the famous sikh museum known as Virasat-e-Khalsa. We were four passengers in the taxi, I , my wife , my younger son and me. It nearly took us an hour to see this museum which has been aesthetically designed among dual water pools displaying rich cultural heritage and history of Sikhism and Punjab. We entered Himachal Pradesh through Una district after crossing Nangal. On the way I came to know that our driver was hard of hearing and he could not hear properly from his left ear. So he had to bend towards me to listen to my suggestion. The first stop in Himachal Pradesh was at Temple of Goddess Chintapurni. There was a great crowd at the temple and due to mismanagement it nearly took us three quarter of an hour to get the glimpse of the deity. After that we entered Kangra district and passed along the famous Kangra fort which was nothing but ruins. By evening we reached Palampur and as the darkness of the evening descended we reached this town which was headquarter of a unit of Gorkha Regiment, Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University and ICAR Institute of Medicinal and Herbal plants found in mountains. We stayed at the residence of father-in-law of my niece who was working as Senior Agriculture Scientist at this institute. Their accommodation was in the campus of this institute So we stayed at their residence whish was on ground floor of the residential complex. After the night stay with the family of three members- my niece’s father-in-law and mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Dr.Gahlan who was father –in-law of my niece though walked with crutches but he could drive his car perfectly. In the morning he took us to a nearby temple of Jakhmi Mata who had injured during the struggle with demons while saving her devotees. After breakfast my niece’s sister-in-law Parul was sent along with us for the sight seeing to Dharamshala and Mcleodganj. Dharamshala was administrative capital of Tibetan refugees who had migrated from Tibet after China occupied it in 1962 and spiritual leader of Tibetans Dalai Lama took shelter in India. Though we did not stay at Dharamshala but we passed before the Parliament House of Tibetian Government in Exile. The roads of Dharmashala were quite narrow and flooded with traffic so we chose not to stop her but to proceed towards Mcleodganj which was a place 23 kms away from Dharmashala. After passing Cantonment area whose gates were named after great military leaders of independent India like Field Marshal Carriappa, Field Marshal Maneckshaw, General Thimmaya and the like. Our first stop at Mcleodganj was at The Forest of the Whispering Woods which was a grave yard with tall Deodhar trees. When breeze blew through the trees its leaves made such a sound as if some giant was whispering. It included a number of graves including a large grave of one of the Viceroys of India who had passed away in India after working as Viceroy of the Carribean. Besides a large grave there was also a large metallic bell of the Church that had faced a thunderbolt. After this graveyard we went to visit Dalai Lama’s famous Buddhist temple where cookies, chocolates, cakes, candies and other biscuits were offered as tribute. After seeing the temple thoroughly that had wooden rolls which was one of the ritual of Buddhist prayer. We also saw another Buddhist temple that had intricate wooden carving and paintings. After it we went to see the temple of demon deity Bhakasur that sent me into confusion whether Himachal Pradesh was only an abode of Angels known as Devbhoomi but it had also accommodated demons like Hidimba, Bhakasur and Ravana or rather demons co-exixted peacefully with angels in this land. Outside the Bhakasur temple I saw a Rajashani men laying a folk tune on a stringed instrument. That was my another observation during my visit to Himachal Pradesh that wherever there was a worship place of demon there was a Rajsthani folk singer outside it. After seeing the Bhakasur falls where only my younger son could go we came back to Palampur as the darkness of the evening descended. Next day the family with who we were staying took us to a nearby place known as Baijnath where Ravanna along with his brothers Vibhishan and Kumbhkaran stayed and prayed to Lord Shiva to get more powers. Ravana was steadfast in his prayer so he succeeded while Vibhishan and Kumbhkaran squandered away the opportunity. It was just a coincidence that we met another relative at Baijanath, my Brother-in-Law’s elder brother who had also come to visit Himacha Pradesh and were coming from Manali and stopped at Baijnath. So we came back to Palampur along with then and while Gahlans were entertaining new guests we took leave of them and came back to Punjab.