The rainy night ride to Prashar...

I woke up early next morning by the gleam of the sun rays. I enjoyed the feel of the himalayan mild morning sun on me.

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Later I went downstairs to find a washroom and was astonished to know that most of the people here defecate in the open outside the village because Malana is supposedly a sacred place. Very few houses here have a toilet facility. Also they have limited water resource so I skipped my bath.

Edited By : Kathak Mehta

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with Galaad Astier
Afterwards I went to the kitchen of my host family. I talked to the husband wife duo, who had provided me shelter for the night. I asked the lady as to where she was from before her marriage and she pointed towards the entrance to the village. She was from the Malana itself and her parents lived nearby. I was a little surprised because from where I come it is traditionally not common to see a person getting married to someone from the same village. But I was also happy for her because this way she could meet her parents everyday. I told the lady about the customs and tradition of the place that I come from. This way we talked about each others' culture and lifestyle. I was very happy to hear from her about how women in Malana and also majorly Himachal, go out for work unlike traditionally in other parts of rural India. Infact, here, as I understood from what my hostess was saying, women carry out all kind of work from household chores to helping in the farms. The more I was hearing about their culture, the more I started liking it. After a while I bid them goodbye and went on my back to Kasol. Before leaving I decided to meet up and thank the two guys (visitors in Malana) who had introduced me to my host for the night. As I reached the hotel where these people were staying, I met Prembhai whom I had encountered the previous day in my search for a place to stay in Malana. He spoke to me fondly and asked me where I had stayed for the night. He also said, "If you were cash crunched you should have told me."
That is when I told him that I was looking to stay with a local host and not at a guesthouse/hotel. And that my quest for stay was fulfilled. I further explained, "I try and look for staying with local hosts during my bicycling trips and that way I get to learn and know more about different cultures."

There I also met a foreigner on a trekking expedition of the Himalayas. He sold books while travelling. We soon became friends and shared our travel experiences with each other. I suggested a few interesting places of Himachal for him to visit. We started trekking together, joined by one more person from Bangalore who had been with the foreigner since last 2-3 days. By 10am we started trekking towards Kasol. On the way back we talked about travel and more. And then some distance later, we happened to meet the same group of women that I had met on my way to Malana the other day. We were all very happy to see each other and one of the women asked me about where I had stayed for the night. What she then said was touching. She said that she told her family about me and they scolded her for not taking me to stay at their place! And all I had been hearing about Malana was that the people there would not let you stay with them. I was overwhelmed. Not only that, the lady invited me to go to their place and stay with them today. Staying back for one more day was not possible for me as I had to go back to Kasol, get the bike repaired and then reach Kullu. So I gently told her that I would stay with them on my next trip to Malana.
Some 40 minutes of trekking later we reached the highway leading towards Kasol. We walked along - the foreigner, the guy from Bangalore and I. A few minutes later, I signalled a Jeep passing by for lift. The Jeep stopped and gave me a lift. The other two did not join but I had to reach fast to get my bicycle repaired in Kullu, so I left.

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with Deepak
Soon I reached Kasol, got my bike from Sunil and bid him goodbye. The damage to the bike was beyond repair in any other nearby place except Kullu which is 50 km away from Kasol.

The bike was still not working but this time I had to take it along to get it repaired in Kullu. So I had to get a lift, along with my bike, from a Jeep till half way and later from a Tata SUV. The SUV guy stopped by when I waved for a lift. He said that he would charge me for a lift. I backed out saying I will look for another lift when he laughed and said, "Come along, dude. I was just kidding."
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On the way, I found out from "Deepak" that he was a national skiing champion from India. He organizes short skiing camps in the Himalayas and is restaurateur. He runs a restaurant in Solang Valley where he invited me to come and stay, upon hearing about my bicycling expedition. Amidst the conversation, we reached Kullu and it seemed like we had reached too quickly. As I got down from the car to leave, the gentleman gave me goggles saying, "Accept these as a small gift from me, it will be useful to you."
In Kullu, I reach a cycle repair shop to get my bicycle fixed. The cycle shop guy gave me one of his client's bicycle which was already serviced to go around till he fixed my bike. I also had to get some cash from ATM. So, I borrowed the bike and set out for a spin in the markets of Kullu. While moving around in the markets, the owner of the bicycle that I had borrowed, saw me with his cycle and came over to check with me. I told him the story of how I had ended up using his bicycle for a while. He found my bicycle journeys interesting and invited me to his place to stay. I went back to the cycle shop where I found my cycle fixed and ready to ride. It cost me some 890 rupees to get the bike repaired. With the bike back and all set, I was prepared for my onward journey. But before leaving Kullu, I went again to meet this person who had invited me to his place. I thanked him for his kind gesture but couldn't stay back with him as I had to go ahead on my journey. He gave me a wallet and some batteries for my torch as a present.
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I started riding towards Mandi. 10km later, I reached Bajura and stopped there at a shop for refreshment. It was 9pm. I sat there at the shop sipping a cold drink and watching TV when 2 men came up to me asking me about my bike. They asked me about its features and its price. I was proud to talk about my bike to them. Afterall, my bike has been my true companion for numerous trips!
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The shopkeeper where I was hanging out for a bit, was a nice person. He took interest in my travel stories and plan further. He told me that I had chosen a good time to explore the Himalayas. He was saying that most of the tourists visit Himachal when the snow starts to melt, but the best time to visit is between December and March. He said, “Bina him (snow) ke Himalaya adhoora hai” which means, Himalaya is incomplete without the snow. He showed me some pictures of the scenic beauty of the glorious Himalayas in peak winter and I could not agree more. While browsing through the photographs, my eyes fell on a picturesque landscape of a lake with a small island in the middle. I asked the shopkeeper about the place. He mentioned that it is a place called Prashar lake. Prashar lake is known for the moving island floating in the middle. He said that the place is some 40 km from where we were but would be covered in 5-10 ft deep snow. Yet again, I made an impulsive decision to visit this place. That is the beauty of my journey. I keep the itinerary flexible enough to accommodate destinations, as I explore ahead. I gathered the direction to reach there from the gentleman. However, he suggested that I should not go as it is a difficult route. He also invited me to stay back with him for the night before I resume my onward journey. But, I had already made up my mind to go to Prashar lake and looking at my excitement, he did not stop me from going then itself. If I started now, I would reach there by morning.

A 15 year old Girl become Host

An hour of a ride later, I realized that I had taken a wrong path and could not see anyone around to ask. It had started drizzling. The moon was playing hide and seek with the clouds which made bouts of moonlight and darkness. It was romantic and I continued to ride ahead cherishing the atmosphere.
A little further ahead, I could see some torch light. As I neared the light, I saw a young girl and a boy standing across the road. I went upto them and asked them for the way to Prashar. Both of them looked at me in amazement. Then the girl replied, “Prashar is very far from here. How will you go all the way in this rain? Moreover, you would not find anyone on the way ahead to help you with the directions. Wait, let me figure it out for you.” Saying this, she asked for my phone and made a call to her sister for whom they were waiting there and told her about me. She then called up her father, telling him about me and asked if she can take me to their place to stay.
I was astonished that a 15 year old girl was trying to help a stranger and also trusted me. I felt happy thinking how there is some place in India where a young female does not have to be scared of talking to/helping a stranger.

I realized she might be right about going further ahead at this time was not a good idea and agreed to go to her place. We went to her home; her father was asleep. She showed me to a room and gave me a blanket and pillow to sleep. She asked me if I had food and brought me food to eat in spite of my saying no. She brought some food in a plate which looked bland. I could not decline, so I ate 2-3 spoon-fulls after which I could not eat any more because the taste. I cordially asked her as to who had cooked the food and what was it. She said that it was prepared by her father and that it was a Buddhist recipe which is generally made without oil and any spices. I gently told her that I regard the food with respect but I would not be able to eat it. She added some salt but I could yet not eat the bland food and finally she let it be. She left to go to sleep.
I left the door of the room open. It had started raining heavily by now and I could hear it pelting outside, against the walls. I did not realize when I fell asleep. The girl’s little puppy came over to me and snuggled near my feet. I let it stay and its fur gave me warmth.
I wake up the next day around 7 am, pack my stuff, take a bath, clean my bicycle and decide to go ahead towards Prashar. As I was ready to leave, the little girl stopped me stay back as she was preparing breakfast. Her father also insisted that I have breakfast and then only go. The girl’s younger brother came to me and asked for a ride of my bicycle. We went out in their compound where he rode the bicycle and was overjoyed. As breakfast was ready, we came in, sat in front of the TV where Cartoon Network was on. I had some yummy breakfast while watching Tom & Jerry in the middle of the Himalayas!

We clicked some pictures together and finally rode on towards Prashar. I thanked them for their warm hospitality and bid them adieu as I left with affectionate memories!

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Credits : Himanshu ( Blogger with Pahiyaa)

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Awesome this traveling.... i appreciate this adventure. all the best

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