In the north eastern corner of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh dwells Spiti Valley. To the east of Spiti Valley is Tibet, Ladakh is to the north while Chamba and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh lie to the south and west.
This is my account about Spiti, I hope you enjoy reading this series, get to know the place a little better and perhaps have something to take back too.

As I hardly had any friends coming for this trip, it meant higher chances of building bonds and I was all up for it. Yet, I felt a little nervous and a little excited as I hopped in the train.

It was more than a day’s travel from Bandra Terminus to Kalka. We reached in the evening, ate and slept. Next morning we left for Sangla in two buses. The shades in the sky, the changing terrain was all worth to stay awake on the long bus ride. It was around sunset when we reached Sangla.

After being briefed for the next day we had dinner and got some time to walk around. The moon lit road was perfect for a peaceful walk. I and a friend headed out. We had seen the stream on our way and wished to go near it, however couldn’t find the way.

We decided to try to listen to the stream and so picked a spot and stood there quietly. The sound of the stream from a distance became more soulful with calming breeze and smiling moon. After a while we headed back to our rooms. The serenity of the moment stayed in me, I hadn’t felt that beautiful in a long time. But I decided to do something more.

I never talk to my college professor with whom I travel, because of various reasons, mainly because I don’t feel knowledgeable enough to begin a conversation with him and that I never have the courage to do so. But, I decided to change that. I bundled up courage and walked to his room.

‘Sir,’ I knocked his door. ‘It is open, come in.’ he replied.

‘Sir, thank you. I wish to say thank you.’

‘For what’

‘For letting me come for this camp. The moonlight walk was beautiful. I am just grateful to be here. Thank You’

Then I saw the rarest sight ever, he smiled. He gave a smile to me. I had tears in my eyes, I fumbled a thank you and left. I rushed to the washroom in my room and wept. I never felt so happy before. In that moment I knew that there was much more joy awaiting me in the entire trip and I need to be prepared.

I got out, scribbled in my book for a while and slept. Next day we left for Chitkul at 4:30am. We reached this last village before Tibet around 5am. It was a delight to see the quite village next to Baspa River in the backdrop of giant mountains.

Sir took us near the river and asked us to spend some time alone. All my preparations from last night went in vain. The flowing river, the steady mountains, the chirping birds, the colorful pebbles, I was so full of joy that it had to flow out through my eyes.

I sat there and opened up to Baspa, about my life struggles, about last night, all about Maa, about everything I had in my head and heart, it was so serene receiving responses from the river in various ways. I felt so much lighter after this, I could totally fly!

Time is never enough when I begin talking to the river. Half-heartedly I followed everyone into the village. We saw the Buddhist temple but it was closed. The deity is related to Deity of Gangotri and the pundits had taken it to the Deity of Gangotri.

We saw another small temple but it was closed too as the Pandit had gone out. We saw the structures of both the temples in awe and left to our vehicles. On the way back a lady sat outside her stable and looked at us in wonder.

As I passed her, I smiled and said Juley (hello)! She smiled back. She belonged to one of the first families that dwelled in Chitkul. There were only five families here when she was a kid and now there are over seventy. She told me that the place has changed significantly but not the people.

There was a friend ahead of me as I stood talking to this lady. I saw her take a right. After my warm conversation I went to the turn and saw two buses, recognized them as our buses and waited there. By this time the quite city of Chitkul had awaken. There were people all over, the lady I talked to, had left to graze her cattle, tourists had also started to move around, I couldn’t see a known face, and I panicked.

I went to the buses again to realize they weren’t our buses, I froze completely. My worst nightmare had come true. I stood there blank trying to gulp the truth of being lost. I was about to cry feeling extremely sad and stupid.

I finally saw a known face waving at me, it was Sandesh Dada, and I rushed towards him.

‘Is Sir angry? Will I be punished?’

‘I don’t know, walk fast’ he replied

We reached where the buses were. All were inside the bus waiting for me. Sir was about to leave in search for me. He caught my hand and I managed to fumble a few words like-I was here only, I am…’ Dada said ‘she was right here Sir at the turn’. Sir saw my face that was about to cry, so he gave me a knock on my head asked me to be careful and let go.

I got in the bus, curled up in my seat and tried to breathe in everything. I saw the mountains pass by, saw Baspa flow through, saw clouds, bright meadows and so with such ease I calmed down.

We reached Nako around afternoon and headed to the monastery. I have been to many monasteries before and Nako is surely the one in a real bad shape. Nako monastery is a testimony of well-developed Vajrayana Buddhist iconography in India.

However very difficult to understand figures in the condition it is now. The paintings on the walls are ruined, many structures are lost. There is a board outside that gives details of the monastery but not all of it is seen. The monk we met didn’t allow us to take pictures as well.

He did tell us that funding is an issue and that the monastery got ruined with an earthquake a while ago but no real help was received. We wished to click pictures and spread the word about the state but he was bounded by rules and didn’t allow us to click.

After we had seen the entire monastery he headed in and got us all postcards. He said I couldn’t allow you to click pictures but I can give you some.

We had postcards in our hand as we headed to Nako Lake. It is said that the lake attracts boating in summers, and when frozen in winters, attracts ice skating. However, when we saw the lake, it looked more like a pond. There wasn’t enough water with algae layer forming on top.

We left from Nako to reach Tabo late in the evening. We were going to be in a homestay and I was excited. Prior home stay experience went back to Nhatang valley in Sikkim in a small, cosy place with delightful food!

When we reached we entered a huge bungalow. We entered the spacious dining area with small dining tables. We had dinner after which all girls were headed to another place. This time we entered an even bigger bungalow.

It was only two of us in one huge room. I was shocked to the core looking at the luxury of this home stay. I slept that night on a bed which could fit me four times! I got up with zeal to know the reason behind such luxury at a home stay.