Whispers of Joy--Himachal 4

I walked up the surrounding mountains while staying in Jenjehli. The view of valley was more like Salzburg from mountains higher up.The apple orchids are everywhere. To protect he apples from snowballs they put a net over trees that are overloaded with apples. Its a beaytful sight to see warm coloured nets aganst cool green and blue sky.

Whispers of Joy--Himachal, 3

Jenjehli is a sleepy hamlet of few hundred people. You will never find a tourist from rest of India or world here. It is not planned or marketed as a tourist region. This has helped to maintain the ecological balance to an extent. Though i found still empty plastic bottles and garbage being thrown by shops and people in the water stream. I hope Himachal Govt. works out a policy of garbage disposal and eco-education for the people.
I found a place to stay that was a new construction and nice and clean. It was a great joy to take shower in solar heated water. Pappu Thakur the tall gentleman owner was full of sweet bonhomie. Where else you come across such chaste souls than in mountains. The time I spent in a lovely small village in Austria near Leoben was akin to what I found in this place. The intonations of the language spoken here is rhythmic and reminded me of Haryanvi dialect.
What joy far from the maddening crowds!! My heart was on a song.

Whispers of Joy--Himachal, 2

I saw women working fields and also talking on the Mobiles. I saw the small shops selling rainbow coloured clothes, tea shops where locals gathered to exchange news and share bonhomie. the tea is boiled with milk and normally has cinnamon or cardamom added as aromatic choice. life is so full in these tea shops. the shop owner turning his back to clean glasses found clever little birds stealing on the sly his Dal seb (salted fried strips made of flour) from his show case. But the shop owner did not seem to mind!!
The evening in Janjehali are exotic and romantic. This I discovered as I took a lonely walk to the hill path. The water gurgled with passion in the rivulet, the fragrance of flora and young apples tingled the nose in joy, the earth was lighted by fireflies and the sky with an upturned dish full of twinkling stars. Did I want more??? Was I not happy as if I had the company of the most beautiful woman on earth!!! I was drunk on the peerless beauty and I felt not the strain of the tiring journey in my limbs. It was a magical balm that lifted my body and soul to a humming heaven.

Whispers of Joy--Himachal

Art and artists need to refuel energy in creativity. New lands, new people, new cultures and the fresh fragrance of winds that pass through sun drenched landscapes is what they need.
So I decided to break away from the familiar studio space into Infinte of Nature.
I arrived in Himachal Pradesh (India) at a place called Jenjehli about five and a half hours from the ancient trading town of Mandi. Mandi means the market place. This place had drawn traders as far as Tibet for centuries to exchange their products in the local market place. the town carries with it marvels of now derelict houses that have exquisite wood carvings and architecture as also ancient temples.
Jenjehali is a small hemlet at 6200 feet and a population of may be around few hundred people. I arrived here in the evening after a long daunting journey on heart-stopping narrow mountain roads. The driver had to reverse the bus to give space to an oncoming vehicle. Apart from this nerve wrecking adventure, the forested mountain was a green happy bride and made me hum in joy. The small hemlets where the bus gorged and disgorged locals were so quiet and peaceful. Lissome women and in their typical silk head scarves worked the fields or grazed the cows.

travels

"Far you travel from home more honey you gather" a Slavic saying
i travelled to be away from the selfsame surroundings, from linearity, from routine, from visual fatigue.