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Lost in The Forests of Kareri

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Just couple of minutes away from Norbulingka Institute in Dharamsala is Gyuto monastery, known as home of the Karmapa. It was a hot sunny day, seemingly different climate as compared to the cold desert of Spiti, so we were struggling to get use to the heat again. Situated against the backdrop of the majestic Dauladhar mountains, Gyuto is a beautiful monastery that specializes in the study of Tantric meditation. Once you enter the main gate, its a long walk to the main temple and on either sides of the path are housing facilities for monks. The temple was closed, so we asked few monks, drying some kind of cereals in the sun, whether we can enter, and one of them pointed towards the back door. As we proceeded towards the back entrance, we saw one Tibetan woman meditating and chanting prayers in front of Karmappa’s picture. Gyuto was re-established in India as a result of the Chinese invasion in 1959 in Tibet. Now to accommodate the growth of the monastery to over 500 monks it has recently been relocated to Dharamsala. We entered the prayer hall of the monastery and were greeted by absolute silence, since only one monk was clearing up the place, refilling the bowls of water, etc. There was a big statue of Buddha at the centre surrounded by various Buddhist deities. . The walls were decorated with colorful thangkas and frescoes and also on display was the Kalachakra mandala covered in a glass box. One of the wooden framed shelf displayed the intricately carved butter sculptures. After seeing the way its made at Kee monastery in Spiti, we were in total awe of this wonderful masterpiece and the chanting, that keeps it intact, forms an important part of the entire process. A closer look at the detailed work of this butter sculpture. We had less time on our hands, since we had to trek to Kareri village as well, so we moved out quickly. We noticed there was a prayer session going on in one of the halls adjacent to the temple. We did manage to distract few of them, but some of the monks were engrossed in reading the holy scriptures. While the younger ones were taking a breather and admiring the motorbike. As soon they saw us taking a picture, they were quick enough to move out from there. That was funny! Back in the cab, our last stop was going to be at Ghera village, from where the trek to Kareri begins. It took us around an hour to reach Ghera. We paid off the taxi driver and sat in a shed, as it was too hot to start the trek (besides we also had a strong beer on the way so that made us sluggish). We were starving for food, so I ran across the road to a tiny stall, hoping he would make us some maggi. We were lucky since he had only two packets left, we gobbled it down and started the trek, which ended up being very steep. The gushing stream on the way flowing from the melted glaciers, gave us some refreshing energy. The initial climb is steep, as we walked up the steps that led to another village. The path then becomes relatively easier, as we walked through the village, passing the fields and rural houses. A cute girl on the way with immense joy and excitement in her eyes, she was so happy to be photographed. These two shared the same emotion. We noticed that their features were different than the kids we saw in Parvati, Kinnaur or Spiti, that explains the diversity of this magnificent country. Now they all got together for a group photo, the innocent faces and twinkle in their eyes brought a smile on our faces. This is my favorite picture, the entire setting just looks complete and vibrant with the mud house, local women and cattle tied to a stone in the backyard. That was the end of our smiling faces, because an uphill climb beckoned us, as you can see in the image below. As we moved higher up the view got even better. The setting sun cast its shadow over the flat and fertile lands of Himachal and Punjab, which seemed to stretch on to infinity. We took breaks quite often, with an excuse of admiring the view, but we had to catch our breath to continue. A flight of cemented steps towards the end takes you to Kareri village, and that’s when you heave a sigh of relief. We had reached Kareri finally, before it got too dark. We asked one of the local villager for Kareri guest house for us to spend the night, and he said that it was towards the end of the village after all the jowar fields. We trudged along, looking around, and passed this house where a calf was drinking milk. Its a 20-minute walk from the start of Kareri to the guest house. The only question on our mind was whether we will get a room for a night, as we had planned to go to Kareri lake the next morning. We heard noises outside the guest house which meant there were guests staying there, and this is the only guest house in this village, so we approached the manager with our fingers crossed. The guest house was like an old wooden cottage with several rooms, and since the group was occupying most of them, the manager had to convince them to spare one for us. All four of us had to fit in one room, but it was just a matter of one night. What a room it was, it had a fire place, spacious, wooden interiors, tall ceiling for Rs 500. We went for dinner at a separate cottage, couple of steps away from our room, where the manager and his helpers stayed. The food served to us was delicious, khichdi and curry with papad and pickle, village food has a taste and flavour of its own. When its cold outside, this dinner combo was just perfect. We asked him about Kareri lake and how far it was from here, he explained that it was 13 kms uphill and there was no place to stay near the lake unless you camp it up. We didn’t carry any tents, so the only option was to come back down the same day, which means to cover 26 kms the same day. That put us in a fix, because the room wasn’t available for next day, so we would have to come down to Kareri village and leave for Ghera on the same day, which translates into over 30 kms in one day. Our two friends backed out, so myself and Clyde had to decide whether to go on the trek or leave back for Ghera. Personally, I wanted to trek to Kareri lake, after coming so far, and even Clyde was convinced to take up this challenge. So we decided to leave at 6 am, have breakfast and carry some food as well. Did we make it to Kareri Lake? On a cold morning in the mountains, we were up by 5.15 am and out of the room in 20 mins. The manager was kind enough to give us tea and jam toast and he also parcelled some for us to carry on the way. A look at the old guest house in daylight. We geared up to embark on a long journey to Kareri lake, the guest house manager gave us directions – first 2 km is a level walk and then there is steep ascent along Kareri Nallah (stream) which has to be crossed a number of times over improvised wooden bridges. That’s all we knew, and there were no signs marked on the way. The trail passed through dense forests of oak, rhododendron and pine trees. We followed the trail until we reached a point where we could go no further, we saw no bridge around, just a dried up waterfall, which was difficult to cross. So we thought we were on the wrong path, looked around, tried another route but in vain. It was slippery and a narrow path due to the dried leaves spread all along, so if we slipped we would be history. I almost got cold feet at one point of time during the trek. So after trekking for 3 hours we were lost in the forest of Kareri, with nobody around to ask for directions, or any signboards, we had to give up. Disappointed with the outcome, we sat in a open spot in the forest wondering where we went wrong. There was no choice but to return to Kareri village and from there move on to Ghera. I really wished we had made it to Kareri lake, but to my dismay a journey back was scripted for us. Next time we will certainly come with a guide, we said to each other. We were back down in Kareri in about 2 hours, it was quite hot so we rested under the shade of these massive trees. A close-up shot of the colorful bark. If not the lake we got a chance to see Kareri village closely. The stepped fields of jowar spread all around the village. We asked this old man the way to Ghera, and the woman carrying water walked with us to show the way. The villagers were hospitable, just like Parvati valley. Here’s a look at rural life in Kangra valley. There were lot of mud houses in Kareri. Two women chatting on the steps of a colorful house. The Dauladhar mountains in the background. The distance from Kareri village to Ghera would be around 4-5 kms. But we had to cover that in a short time to catch the 3.00 pm bus to Dharamsala. The descent is generally easy, but at the start of the trek some of the steps are right on the edge of the mountain, which made me feel a bit giddy. With aching feet we walked at a quick pace, we reached the village that falls on the way. Here’s a cute baby looking at me with surprise, while I took a picture. We spotted the bus from far, waiting for people to board, by now we had already picked up pace even on a dusty, muddy road. But by the time we reached the bus had already left, the next one comes by 4.30 pm. What a day it was, first we lost our way in the forest to Kareri lake, now missed the bus as well. So we headed to a small tea stall, asked for samosas and tea. Samosas for Rs 5 were so delicious, no wonder there were locals, young and old only eating samosas there. We were quite tired and dehydrated, both of us almost dosed off at the stall. After a long wait the bus arrived to Dharamsala. From Dharamsala we took a cab for Rs 200 up to Dharamkot, back to our guest house. It was going to be our last day in Dharamkot, as we were heading back to Delhi the next evening. A way to get rid of our aching body was to have a nice meal in the cozy environment of Radhakrishna restaurant. We didn’t eat as much as our earlier visit to Radhakrishna, but we enjoyed the meal that included Hello to the Queen for desert. That’s not the end of our adventure, more drame unfolds when we reached Delhi and how we ended up at Udaipur for four hours. Hang on…

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