Himachal Diaries: Chandratal Lake

There is something very contagious about Himachal which makes it impossible not to fall in love with that place. Himachal holds the old travel adage true- a piece of you stays back in that place and a piece of that place stays back with you.

Chandratal Lake- An artist’s perfect sketch

If perfection was a sight, Chandratal Lake would be it. No photographer’s lens, no writer’s words and no artist’s pastels can do justice to this place. I could write a thousand lines for its beauty, but in one line this is what it would be. “Listen to your favourite music that soothes your soul, now imagine you could see it and now feel it. That is Chandratal for you.” Surreal? Well that is what it is. One of the many people we met on our Himachal trip described Chandratal as the most beautiful place in the world and has been there thrice already.

Nature has its own way to make its humans appreciate its beauty. Chandratal Lake lies protected between mountains on all sides. If Chandratal is as artist’s sketch, the mountains guarding it are the artist’s colour palette. To see the colours of these mountains change as you get closer and as the sun sets in- is an experience in itself.

The only way to set foot in this beautiful water body is to trek from the base-where cars drive up to. The trek from the base to Chandratal Lake is 30-45 minutes. At that altitude for someone who has no trek experience, the 30-45 minutes could prove to be quite grueling. We had skipped lunch that day and that made the trip a little more difficult.  But the moment you get a small glimpse of the beauty that awaits you, peeping at you from the mountain ranges, it definitely becomes one of your best travel moments. My friend and I, forgot hunger, forgot the trek drill, forgot everything and all we could do was smile. The lake was inviting us, as it enveloped us with the warmth of its beauty, to come drown in its splendor. And we did.

Ever known how it feels walking in a pool of refrigerated water? I don’t. But I am sure it would feel similar to walking at the Chandratal Lake. Cold water at your feet, dazzling beauty around you and just nature’s song to hear- that is how it feels. One of the best things about Chandratal is, very few tourists visit it. Our driver, who was a local from Himachal Pradesh, had never been to the lake before.

You feel blessed to have a piece of heaven to enjoy with no one else vying for the same pie. We decided to lie by the lake and devour the clear blue sky’s beauty. Do that and you would know what ‘overwhelmed’ means. Chandratal’s charm is capable to disarm and over power you as you stand helplessly like a speck in a vast sea of beauty.  

Once back, someone asked me is the water salty. The lake is music to ears, beauty to the eyes, soothing to your skin, then how can it disappoint in taste? The water was as sweet and as fresh as first love could be.

P.S. The lesser mortal in me chose to leave a part of myself there by making the eight -stone structure of small stones in the lake. The mini stone structures are a common sight in Spiti which was earlier used to mark ways for fellow trekkers to follow.

Himachal Diaries is a series of some short and some long blogs from my recent 10-day trip to Himachal with four of my friends. The multiple blogs will cover places we saw, people we met, funny experiences and some instances which amuse us at a personal level. This is part three of the Himachal Diaries series, Hope you enjoy, feedback is welcome!

Himachal Diaries -- Lost and Found

Himachal Diaries is a series of some short and some long blogs from my recent 10-day trip to Himachal with four of my other friends. The multiple blogs will cover places we saw, people we met, funny experiences and some instances like the one below which amuse us at a personal level. This is part two of the Himachal Diaries series, Hope you enjoy, feedback welcome!

It is a nice rainy morning, perfect drive from Chembur to the Mumbai airport, no traffic, no delays, no queue at the check in counter and no great delay at the security check too. We walk happily towards the boarding gate and then we realize Indira’s boarding pass is missing.

With this starts our first walk of the journey from gate A-7 of the Mumbai airport to the security check area, this would safely be  the fastest we would have ever walked. Boarding was to start in the next ten minutes. As we walk we scan the airport floor for one piece of paper- the boarding pass, but nowhere to be found.  And then, Indira spots a kid playing with a boarding pass. Before we can react, the kid has walked past us.

We rush to the security check-in counter and a lady police official is busy screaming “Sardarji ki checking kisne ki?’ The poor Sardarji to my eyes looked quite law abiding, wonder what caught the woman’s attention. Amid the significant question of who ‘checked him out’ we pop our humble question “ Koi boarding pass mila kya” As we brace to hear a earful from the police officials, to our surprise they help us search for it. Within in sixty seconds it is concluded, there is no boarding pass to be found, so we make a new one at the boarding gate.

Now starts our walk to the boarding gate again, this time at a faster pace. The smiling young lady at the boarding gate then directs us to the check-in counter again, which now seemed to be the other end of the world. She adds a word of caution, we start boarding soon, if you do not get your check-in done in time, I am sorry you may miss the flight. We thank her for the kind information.

“Anyways what is your name? “The lady at the boarding gate asks, so she can make a note before we head to the check-in counter.

“Indira Thakur” the friend answers.

“Oh take this,” the lady says.

 That was quite quick to make a new boarding pass, I wonder.

“No, we found it,” the lady says.

 “Did you find it with a kid,” Indira asks.

 “No, our airline porter found it,” she says.

“Not a kid, oh how boring,” we both think.

 And then, that is how we fly. 

Beaches and the night!

                           

                                      

The sun surely brightens the sea shore, but it is the moon that illuminates it.  Never miss to see a lovely beach its starry night glory.

Each beach is someone’s first love

 I fell in love with the beaches and night at the most predictable place- Goa. There is something very beautiful about the darkness, the stars in the sky and the moon drawing the perfect white line on the sea waves with its light. I walked this private beach in Goa a few years back close to midnight and the love has been eternal.

                          

Each beach has its own night glory.

For me surreal came to life at Puri Beach a couple of years ago. It will always be one of my cherished moments. We as a group had just managed to convince the policeman to let us stroll the beach and promised we would not be a nuisance. A few minutes of dipping our feet in the Puri waters and we saw the water come to life with small shiny particles across. These first shined a little and then a little more and after a while in its full glory. The effect these had on the water was similar to that of the fluroscent plankton, but these were not planktons. They were small very fine particles. I attempted picking one on my fingertip, it stopped glowing. My heart skipped a beat, did I just kill a life unknowingly. Thankfully, I hadn’t. The minute you dip your hand back in the water, the particle would shine again. I am still to find what they are exactly called and if they are regularly seen at Puri. But, for the longest time, this would be my best beach memory.

                                   

Each beach has a night lullaby to sing.

If you ever wanted to feel part of this whole universe, one sure shot way to do so is to fall asleep to the sound of sea waves crashing. A group of friends and I did this close to Ladgaon beach, Dapoli in Maharashtra. We hired a house which was exactly a five minute walk from the beach. We chose to sleep on the terrace of the house gazing at stars and listen to the sea waves crash. The sound of cricket and other night animals also create a fear of the unknown, but listen to sea waves alone and you would feel home. The experience has been awe inspiring that it puts a smile on my face even as I write this. Do allow yourself this privilege in this lifetime.

PS: I lack both the right camera and the right intent to waste my lovely night moments with the beach on clicking picture.

PPS: The pictures shared in the post were clicked over a span of five years, bear in mind the mobile camera quality and bear with me too!