“Ok, I’ll take an Auto!”

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This is what I’d say to a friend or a relative who’s staying in one of the great Indian cities when they advise me not to take a taxi after alighting out of the train station.

Because it is cheaper!

Yes, the yellow and green colored bug-like three wheelers that ‘turrt!-turrt!’ in the busy city roads is one of the best means of getting around the cities of India. It is royal, cheap and fast! I mean it. Just get into one for yourself and take a half an hour city tour. It will come with your own Chauffeur, enough space to call your own, you can even sit like a King and smoke (carry your own hookah!). And when it’s over, you can happily pay him about a 100 Rupees (that’s less than 2 Euro for half an hour, my European friends!)

But what I like best about the ‘Auto’ is the ‘Air’, and you get plenty of it. It’s cool and perfect way to enjoy the hot weather of Indian sub continent without air conditions. The up, close and personal ’3D like’ lives of the Indian cities with its people, houses, cars, trucks, buses, cows and the billion other things are hard to miss as it zips through the traffic.

A point to clear: this ‘Auto’ is not the German ‘Auto’.

And yes, the half an hour city tour that you take, a quarter of it is spent on the traffic!

Is the weather going to be better?

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I am not easily convinced unless it comes with convincing exaggeration. In India, it works like a charm.  It may also be because of my profession as a guide, where exaggerations become a way of life. I remember a very poignant moment in my guiding experience. A few years back, before I started Himani Himalaya, I was guiding a European couple on a trek and the weather was really not with us. It was everything but clear and sunny. And this trekking was a bit different from the usual treks because the couple had especially booked this trip to film the majestic Himalayas. So, as a guide, I could empathize with the couple’s disappointment with the project not materializing and limited duration of their trip.

But there wasn’t anything anyone could do and  because I have a lot of respect for Mother Nature, I never question her decision. Even guides can only exude a certain amount of charm in such situation and I was out of my supply of positiveness. But still, during one dinner halfway our trek, I tried to wave the couple’s mind away from weather and brought up discussion on everything else under the cloudy night.

In the midway, past our dinner, the lady asked me, “Vishal, how do you think the weather will be tomorrow?”.

I had faced this question many times but never in such a matter of fact manner as then. I am no meteorological expert, except sometimes by looking at the sky I can guarantee certain weather conditions within 12 hrs. So, I replied, “well, it doesn’t look too good but lets hope tomorrow is better. I am sure it should definitely clear up sometime during our trek”. Now, that wasn’t a matter of fact answer, I know. It was a just an opinion during a conversational flow, though subtly exaggerated.

And she said, “You Asians are always trying to please us”.

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Moral of the story?

English is a difficult language!

 

Chimi Lhakhang – The Legend of Lama Drukpa Kuenley

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Every time I sight the ‘bosom hill” as I cascade along the narrow road of Lobeysa town, I am reminded of the free thinking Buddhist monk and philosopher that many fondly call him the Divine Madman. The legend of Bhutan is incomplete without the mention of Lama Drukpa Kuenly. Originally from Tibet, he journeyed the Himalayas inviting himself to his hosts residences, drinking chaang, making love to his female hosts, and leaving a legendary display of his tantric powers through his phallus while subduing the demons.

Chimi Lhakhag rests on top of a serene hill at the bank of River Punatsangchu and can be accessed by a pleasant hike through the golden paddy fields of Lobeysa. The small cluster of traditional Bhutanese houses makes for a memorable picture. The trail is fairly easy to make and once you reach the top of the ‘bosom hill’ you’ll understand the power of the great myth that surrounds the area. A big Bodhi tree welcomes you with its ample shades underneath where you can catch your breath and soak in the environment.

Chimi Lhakhang

A black stone stupa greets you as you enter the monastery. This is actually more important than the monastery itself because it is underneath this stupa that the demoness overpowered by Lama Drukpa Kuenley rests.

Inside the monastery, there are statues of Tshomen, Lama Drukpa Kuenly, and other deities. However, the one that fascinates is a collection of artifacts that represent the Divine Madman – his iron bow and arrow, and phallus carvings of wood, iron and ivory.

Only once you get the glimpse of the phalluses, do you understand why this monastery is called the ‘Fertility Temple’

Mystical Tiger Nest – Paro

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Taktsang - The Tiger Nest

The Himalayas are a mystic adventure for many people especially from the west and the far-east. Grand white mass of mountains, dark forested hills, beautiful waterfalls…the list of rhetoric are endless. They all seem to attract the discerning travelers as the bees to flowers. The memories are sweet nectar.

My three hrs hike to Taktsang Monastery in Paro, Bhutan, was one that transported me to an era that I thought existed only in a digital studio in some corner of Hollywood. Bhutan has always prided herself in the ‘Thunder Dragon Kingdom’ ruled by a benevolent King. So, it is a surprise not to experience that in Paro, a truly picturesque valley. There are many things to do in Paro…from admiring the Dzongs to lounging in discos. Since I am not a party animal I took the path that gradually takes one through the blue pine hills never dropping in altitude until one has the view of the unbelievable work of art resting heavily on the mystical Buddhist legend. It is so powerful, that you accept the translation ‘The Tiger Nest’ probably as immediately as Yeshey Tshogyal had transformed herself into a Tigress on whose back Guru Rinpoche flew to the grand rocky edifice in Paro in the 8th Century.

(I wrote this for other blog site few years back. Now it’s featured in my own blogsite. Great!)

Tiger Hill – Rush of the Dawn

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Many are bewildered to see people scampering at wee hours past midnight. The roars of engine revving, the frenzy of people gathering to assemble into waiting vehicles. What on earth is going on? That is what first time visitors to Darjeeling, not making the trip to Tiger Hill, question themselves.

It is indeed a sight to behold! No, not the rush. But the view of the Sunrise over Mt. Khanchendzonga. Yes, my friend, it is for this mesmering view that people cut their sleeping hours to be on top of 2585 m, freezing in its icy winds, sipping bitter cousin of Darjeeling Tea.

Mt. Khangchendzonga

Tiger Hills has its legends and its intrepretations, which can get incomprehensive at some point. But what is crystal clear is the revelation of how great the expanse of the third highest mountain in the world is. One has to hold his breath to soak into the grand sight of the Himalayas with Mt. Khangchendzonga towering the heights at 8589 m.

The sight is at its spectacular best when the first rays of the rising sun touches Mt. Khanchendzonga, turning its snow white pinnacle into a majestic crown of fiery golden red jewel.

This is the very blessed sight, that makes every foreign tourists go beserk with their digital SLRs while many a Bengali tourists shout with joy, “Paisa Vasool!”.