Off beaten track

The Parvati Valley Is one of the lesser known valleys near Kullu, however at the beginning there are prominent places like the hot water springs at Manikaran and Kasol, a smoky destination for the Great Indian Tourist.  The areas served by a road are perpetually full of tourists seeking easy reach and harder stuff.  On the other hand the places where one has to walk to are beautifully calm and isolated.  A sketch of the Valley A schematic sketch shows the Burshaini bowl, the road goes upto Tosh whereas the other villages are on foot tracks. If one wants solitude, then walk...  There is a large dam being constructed across the Parvati river at Burshaini, I wonder how this will affect the ecology when this is completed.  Khalga under snow I found just the village - Khalga which was off the beaten track. Early March offers a very different experience, it had snowed a day prior to my arrival and a carpet of white covered everything. It was cold, most often bitt...

The Tirthan Valley Solitude of the upper reaches  The lower Tirthan Valley is slowly being strangled by the tourist rupee, ubiquitous resorts and hotels  mushroom  along the river. it is a moral dilemma, tourism begets income but with it also come also indiscriminate construction and garbage. But beyond Gushaini towards the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), the area is only accessible only by foot and perhaps this inaccessibility to traffic still keeps this corner of paradise relatively untouched. Compared to our lives, local people live in comparative physical hardship. Long mountain trails mean walks of many hours to work and back to their lonely homes.  Carrying heavy loads, as everything is backpacked up to great heights, I saw ladies carry 35 kilograms of flour to villages three hours away. Harsh weather ranging from mild summer storms to bitter winters lashed by snow and wind. All these take a heavy toll on these people who age befo...