Himachal

The north of India is built from 5 states, most of them are smaller and less populated than their southern counterparts, with the exception of Punjab, India’s bread basket. Punjab looked like what I expected it, it’s a mainly flat, isotropic, with some water features, and some trees and shit. This makes the landscape good for farming, and the farms they are a plentiful. They seem to grow cash crops such as rice and wheat, wheat being the staple of the northern Indian diet, along with some cotton and occasionally corn.

We had left the plains to travel to Himachal, named for the Himalayan Mountains that are contained within in for more research and some fun. I had expected to see some of the mountain towns that I have become familiar with in North America; small towns located on meadows, shallow slopes and valleys, with small populations and usually free of water features aside from some lakes. What I found was totally different, and shockingly magical.

I had my nose pressed to the bus window as we navigated the switchback roads with little concrete guards to prevent us from careening off the side with its seemingly impossible angle. There were terraced gardens and farms as far as I could see, with buffalo and human working together happily. The unworkable greenness swallowed up every possible spot, aside from a few gigantic boulders that were to large and to beautiful to remove from the hillside. Towns were in every conceivable place, with houses built tall. They were atop hills, and at the bottom of them, they were on terrific slopes and gentle ones, and were populated by a mix of Tebettian, Indian, and foreign tourist from god knows where. Our first little town was called Manali. It’s a valley station, and mainly populated by tourists come summertime, the tourists are mainly Indian, but with a large contingent of Israeli whom have come to smoke the weed that grows wildy and in wild abundance. The town is made from little narrow streets and walkways and cross back and forth up the mountain, it would seem impossible to get a car up some of these roads, but the Indians seem to manage just fine with a few inches to spare.It’s worth exploring google earth to know exactly what I am talking about…

We stayed at the 7000 foot level, and peered up at mountains that jutted up from the ground in defiance of earthly elevation, mountains that seemed taller than possible. This was truly a magical place, and to describe it is a complete failure, akin to describing how soft a bunny feels, or describing the grandeur of a painting, or the feeling that music gives you. This is a place that must be seen to be believed.

This post to be continued on the morrow.