Chamba – The Valley Beyond Nature

I still remember when we were coming back from Ladakh we just decided to have a look at the places around and then get back to college. We were coming back after a field visit to Ladakh. So we went across to the hill station at Chamba. There were no plans or any hotels booked. It was the month of June and we really had no idea how we were going to go about it. But we wanted to go to Chamba as we had to explore the deeper areas in India.

As we went in the rocky terrain of Himachal Pradesh and looked forward to lot of unexpected excitement at Chamba, we were struck by the raw ambience of the place and the intermittent snow filled roads we were traversing on. The van in which we were travelling was squashed with 10 people and I dozed off. After some time, when I woke up, I found all my friends asleep and the van stationed in the same place where it was when I slept. I took Harminder’s hand out of my shoulder, and slowly opened the back door of the van. The creaking noise in the middle of the night was eerie and sent chills down my spine. All the horror movies that I would have seen came back to my memory and with trembling feet, I made my way towards the driver’s seat. I saw that the driver with his woolen cap over his head had fallen asleep on the steering wheel. I patted his shoulder and he just mumbled a “Please soney dijiye” meaning let me sleep in Hindi and went back to sleep. Not knowing what to do, I sat on a stone beside the van when suddenly I heard the van roaring and setting to go. I yelled “ Roko! “ meaning stop in Hindi and just managed to jump into the van as it sped past. Strange palace stranger drivers I thought. The commotion that the van made as it started had woken up Rahul, Harminder, Natasha and Nikhil my friends who were with me.

We just had a little bit of hot tea which Rahul had managed to sneak in when we had halted in the last stop. His mother’s idea of carrying a flask paid off as he had taken tea in the flask. Sipping into it we decided what to do once we reached Chamba.

The slow lightening of the sky as the sun rose in the wee hours of the morning, set the horrible memory of the night that passed behind us and soon we began to enjoy the picturesque beauty that the entry to Chamba offered. The small huts in the villages below as we were looking at it from the top and the magnificent snow clad peaks of the Himalayas in the distance and the superb view offered by the valley set our hearts racing and we thanked ourselves for having planned to come to Chamba. The shisham, papal and the acacia trees seemed to race with our van as they too looked like they were speeding past us.

Rahul’s mother called just then and we heard Rahul telling her “ Haan! Aamra Chamba jachi.” Rahul Sengupta, the Bengali from Assam, who had joined us at Ahmedabad in our college, the meekest of the lot, used to get calls from his mother every two hours. She was mentally sick so she needed the assurance that nothing was wrong with him. He was telling her that we were going to Chamba. He  hung up and smiled. We asked him what happened. He shook his head and said “ My mom gave me Chamba’s history in toto.! That it was discovered by Raja Sahil Verma in 920AD. That the name of the place is Chamba after his daughter Chambavati. That the city is on the banks of the Ravi River.  Mom thinks I am writing my history exam.” Though it was humorous that she gave the details yet it pained us that Rahul couldn’t enjoy the joke as she was not mentally stable.

“Yeah , and I also know that it is a valley where the best of flowers and herbs are found” Rahul added ruefully. We just consoled him and we were just going to tell him and explain how difficult life gets sometimes when the van came to a sudden halt.

“Chalo utro utro Chamba aa gaya.” The driver yelled. We were relieved that our ordeal with the driver was over and we got out and paid him the money.

“Sahib, aap log kahaan rahengey?” the driver queried. We looked at each other and wondered how it mattered to him. Looking at our doubtful looks, he added hurriedly, “Sahib, mera bhai tourist guide, abhi season hai aapko room nahin milegi.” Meaning in Hindi that his brother was a tourist guide and we wouldn’t get a room in this full season.

The room was decent enough and we were happy with it. But the problem was Natasha had to share the same room. The hotel didn’t have a problem and we only needed to know if Natasha would. Natasha was quiet okay with it. Finally we got a room in a nearby hotel. After the short discussion we had after the driver told us about his brother, we decided to go by what he said and with the help of his brother got this room. Strange ways, strange driver, stranger brother but a good decent room at the end of it all.

We were very tired after the long bumpy ride to Chamba. So we decided to rest for the morning. Lunch was nice hot rotis with tasty vegetables and salad. Refreshed we went out to go round the city. Darshan Singh, the tourist guide and our driver friend’s brother, came up and asked us where we wanted to go. We left it to him as we ourselves were new to the place. He told us to wait till he got the van to take us around. There was this family which got down then on the way to the hotel. They had come from the Gaggal airport in the valley of Kangra. Darshan came back and told we could go to see the Chaurasi temple at Bharmour, we could see main Chamba, and we could go to Saho to see the Shiv Temple.

We agreed and set forth. As the van nudged its way past, we saw the beautiful surroundings with the mist in the air still there. It was slightly chilly even now in the afternoon and we just put our jackets around our shoulders ready to wear it the moment it got chilly. The lovely Shivalik ranges decorated the entire valley and we could see its beauty stretching far and wide. The snowy ranges rendered a lot of pristine value to the place and the magnificence o the area was seen to be believed. The three ranges of the Himalayas, the Zaskar, the Pir Panjal and the Dauladhar, were the main snow clad peaks dotting the valley and the effect of these on the valley’s beauty was breathtaking.

The serenity here is what the tourist craves for and students like love the change of place occasionally. The mystical touch to the place along with the lovely vistas, and the majestic mountains, gave the valley its reason to be so beautiful. The hills, the plateau regions and the water bodies made the place look like a paradise and anyone would have every logic to believe that this is the ideal resort for someone who wants a small lovely holiday. Natasha, was a painter and she asked us to halt at a place and sketched the area that she saw. Her sketch book was getting filled by the second and Harminder was clicking away on his phone camera. I was very happy I had brought my SLR along and thanked dad silently for giving me such a wonderful gift.

The van came to a slow halt and we went to the Lakshminarayan temple. This was again built by Raja Sahil Varma, the founder of Chamba. Harminder, the architecture student told that it was the Shikhara style of architecture and the temple had a Shikhara. There was also a Garbh Griha and a small antralya.

There was a structure which was like a mandap. We walked around and saw the wooden chhattries in the temple, the roof made of shell and the reason the shells were there. It was because of the climatic conditions here. We prayed in the temple, marveled at the architecture and the ancientness and went ahead.

We got into the van and proceeded to the next spot which was another temple , this time the Chamunda temple. We passed the hub of Chamba, Chaughan as we reached this temple which was just around a kilometer away from Chaugan. The temple was in front of the Chamunda fort and near the River Ravi. Many people nearby come here for picnic. The place where the temple was located also gave a complete view of the entire place and the villages looked like small hutments from a distance. We enjoyed taking pictures from this spot and this really was a good collection.

After this picturesque surroundings in the temple, we proceeded further and then reached the Katasan Devi Temple. This is a very popular temple in this region and is around 30km from the main town. This is located near the Baira Siul Project. The place is very serene and the tranquility of the place was enough to calm frayed nerves. This place is another favorite picnic spot and the tourist would feel absolutely relaxed here.

The lovely drive up to the temple was beautiful and we returned back to our hotel and relaxed for the evening. We had a light dinner and had a good night’s sleep.

The next morning we set out for the Maharaja’s Palace Chamba. We had a roadside breakfast of puri sabzi on the way and went to have a look at the palace. Harminder had a camera stand and I used that to take pictures of the surroundings. As we approached the palace, the beauty around the magnificence of the architecture, enthralled us. There were many buildings around and the Rang Mahal was the best of the lot. As we walked into the Mahal, there was one room which had beautifully painted murals on the walls. These murals depicted scenes from the mythological epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The tour guide in the palace was telling us “ this was built by Raja Umed Singh in the 18th century. There was a lot of Mughal touch in the architectural designs of the palace. The paintings on the walls were exquisite and they depicted stories of Lord Krishna.

It was an enlightening visit and we all jumped into the van again chewing into the mango pieces that the old lady on the way outside the museum was selling, and also had some lemon juice which we picked up from a vendor there. The day was not as chilly as the previous one and we went to the Bhuri Singh Museum next. This place was a total encyclopedia of paintings from the Kangra and the Basholi schools of art. There was a lot of information about the history of this region . Many ancient manuscripts and woodcarvings were also here. The murals that we saw in Rang Mahal were also depicted here.

The visit to the two museums took up most of our afternoon so when we reached Chaugan, the heart of Chamba, it was almost late afternoon. We had an impromptu brunch and then went around the promenade in Chaugan. This grassy land with all the trading activities going on busily is the site for the fair that normally is held here for a week. This is a fair for all kinds of cultural and sports activities.

We crossed the Church here – the Prsbyterian Church at Chamba while we are at the museum. From here , we went to a place called Khajjar. This place with beautiful greenery all around had a lake which had pristine surroundings. Pine forests formed the background and the temple at the end of the lake – The Khajji Nag temple was another attraction.  We liked the ancientness of the temple. Apparently it was built in the 12th century.

We could have gone for treks in Bharmour, Triund etc but we didn’t have time. We also wanted to the nearby towns of Dharamshala, Purthi etc but we had to rush back to college. The driver was telling us that Chamba’s annual Suhi Mata Festival was very entertaining and nice and was nearing but we couldn’t wait for all that.

Whatever little we saw in Chamba was good for a tourist’s blog and as I sat in the train to get back to Ahmedabad, I just wrote this blog.

Parting Say : Just let yourself loose at Chamba.