Dharamsala,India

If I ask you have if you ever  heard of Tenzin Gyatso, your definite reaction would be "who the hell he is? ". but for few millions people on earth this is a sacred name as sacred as the Buddha. You might  be guessing now a little bit of the person I am talking about. Yes, that heavenly person is Mr. Dalai Lama, the great Dalai Lama. For those guys who have a little interest on religion and world politics might know that Dharamsala is the exiled capital of Tibet.

It was not a planned trip to dharamsal. But apart from our field work as geologist to the mighty himalaya in Dhramsal we equally enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the buddist city of Dharamsala.

We travelled from Roorkee(Uttrakhand India ) on a private vehicle.

We started early in the morning travelled almost 350 kms and reached around evening. We stopped for refreshment  thrice on our way. Anandpursahib was a great  shrine of Sikh religion in Punjab that we passed by.The approximate route to dhramsala is shown on google maps.



Anandpur sahib shrine in Punjab on the way to dharamsala

 It was sunny day of February when we were on our way to Dhramsala. We crossed three states namely  Uttarpradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh (UT)  and  finally reached  destination around the evening.


 We crossed river Beas of Bishaka which is one of five great rivers that drains the fertile land of Punjab. ["Punjab" is a liaison of two words in a sanskrit the ancient language of India which means "Panch"= Five  and "Ab"=water]


Bias River, one out of five great river of Punjab[Punch (Hindi)= Five, Ab= water]


 

A dried up ravine


 

A very  recent landslide. People are working to restore the road


 

Greeneries of Foothills.....the beautiful kangra Valley,HP




DhaulaDhar Range at the background





What a landscape!!!

 Finally we reached our destinations. A hill top observatory in Naddi, near McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala. The sunset from the balcony of the observatory was awesome.


Sunset

 Next morning  greeted us with warm sunshine and a mugful of refreshing tea. We had good breakfast and started off  our fieldwork at a nearby ravine that contained a gushing stream originating from a major waterfall.


Morning at Naddi, seismological observatory



It is at the Naddi Hill top adjacent to himachal TV station



Step agriculture

 As we walked around we could see step irrigation and plantations of Mustard Seeds that created magival shades of greens on the steps.


Himachali Kids




Sunbathed Front of the Observatory



Overlooking McLeod Ganj from the Hill top

Gushing steam withing the ravine, by the side of which we were looking a  special type of rocks.



Taking  a splash from the broken spring water pipe. Hundreds of  those feed the city of Dharamsala 




Chanting monks, doing the evening prayer

 After the days work we paid a visit to the Monastery just beside Dalai Lama Temple where young monks were busy in evening prayer to a bi



Himalayan Golden eagle, an endangered species



Residence of  the Dalai Lama, at Dharamsala,  winter capital of Tibet, He stays here for  6 months.

Morning....breath taking Dhauladhar from balcony



Local women collect firewood and  fodder for cattle from forest




The green roof is where we stayes. adjacent to  TV transmission tower at hill top



An 'old monk" greeted us on our way to Triund trekking route






Trakkeng trail





Porphyritic Granite for my geologist friends




Ice  on the trail



Had to cross dangerous fissures like this one with a thin cover of ice below

Friends having hard times to climb

Looking down below

Destination ...onTriund Hill top

Had the best lunch I could ever had.

Next Morning colors of sunshine

A new day