Kasol Highs

I am able to blog on this topic, courtesy Javesh Gaju, my friend from Mauritius who did his master's in Informatics with me in Delhi University. He opened the enchanting world of Kasol to me. Please do not confuse it with Kasuli or Kasuni or any other hill station. Speaking of hill stations, I have not yet mentioned that personally I think that Himachal Pradesh is the best state in India. It cradles the foothills of the Himalayas and stores so many pristine places in its nooks that it will take me a lifetime to unravel them.

Kasol is this small village situated by the banks of river Parbati. The closest well known place near it is Manikaran with its famous warm sulphuric springs. For all the rest they go straight to Manali bypassing this village. now for Kasol. It is a Hippie heaven. There are numerous Israelis here during the summer months and they have these amazing matted hair which general cleanliness seeking public loathe. I am still trying to find out a way of having matted hair without keeping them very dirty or unwashed. If anyone knows of a way pray tell me. These hippies are more comfortable than the locals there. They appear out of every possible bend that you can imagine. Someone actually sprang up on me when it was dusk and it freaked the hell out of me.

They have numerous psychedelic cafes with neon lights and pictures that look 3D when you have the right intoxicants blowing your heads out. I took up to trance/Asian underground music after this trip. As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, trance and hills are a lethal combination. Add to them a pinch of neon lights and a dash of hippies. Its the perfect recipe to trip out. Blend this with the most rickety bridge made of wood and supported by some ropes to cross a gushing river that could take a batallion down with its force. We crossed that godforsaken river to go to the other bank to be able to sit on a huge rock and gaze at the full moon shining its light over the contours of Parbati only to make it more daunting and appealing. It was a high like no high. We realized the next day that there was a cemetery right next to it and that was the last garnish of cilantro to this exotic recipe. I will never be able to forget that night.

As for the natives of that place, I think the colder a place gets, the warmer the hearts of the people dwelling in it are. They are the most friendly, energetic yet laid back people. You go to a restaurant and oder a dish, be assured you will not get it before an hour. They would actually go to their backyards, pick the vegetables and make it after you have ordered it. And I don't mean this in any bad way, the food that comes out is guaranteed to the be the freshest. The natives have set up numerous guest houses in their own houses. So don't live in an expensive hotel when you go there. Find a road that has the steepest slope, keep going up till your legs can take it no more, look around, you are sure to find a place to stay. This place will have everything, a cafe, a restaurant, bathrooms, music and a trial right next to its doorstep. You sleep at night you would be able to hear the world outside, the wind gushing, the windows rattling, the people above your room walking around on the wooden floors. You wake up in the morning and peep out of the window, you see the most magestic Himalayan mountain screaming out in front of you to come running to it coz it has loads of secrets to share with you. But mind you it will only tell if you promise to summit it :)

Now a solution for all the money that you have got along. Well worry not for you can spend all your time in te day bargaining to buy trinkets and jholas and jewelery and stoles and colourful caps and colourful socks and colourful gloves and kurtis and hippie pants and sexy tank tops with pictures of shiva, buddha and random scribblings on it. OOO i forgot to mention paper lanterns and and other decorative pieces for your home to make it more ethnic. And if you are as crazy as my best friend is you will end up carrying back pebbles from the banks of Parbati. Its a shopper's paradise if you can live without branded stuff :)


My last point to touch upon is going to be for Sandhya, the best friend I mentioned earlier, who fell in love with the street dogs of Kasol. Well they are the friendliest dogs I have ever come across. Once you pet them, be rest assured they will accompany you through all the gullies of Kasol till the last day of your trip. Finally it will be you leaving them behind. She would get up in the morning and go for morning walks alone since I will be sleeping. She would go alone but always come back with the company of these lovely creatures to tell me more stories about the bacchass with red cheeks flowing noses she met on her way who kept giggling when she tried to talk to them. They will always point you to the right way. I am envious of their existences in that place.

Kasol galore. I will be back to steep in your beauty again. Very soon. Very soon.