Remote Villages & A Peek Into A Forgotten Valley

We were into our hotel room by nightfall. Now it was time to order some chicken. Just half a plate. Oh wait! That can’t be it. “Hello, Room Service? I ordered for half a plate of chicken. This seems like a full plate and probably more than that.” Awkward silence on the other side. “Sir, it’s just half a plate.” Jackpot!

Left early morning from Rohru as we were aiming at reaching Chansal Pass before the sun hit mid-sky. What we forgot to account for was that it was a weekend and local people were out for a picnic. Though it wasn’t that bad and except for a few roadblocks and rotten roads, the journey was good. Orchards lined up the roads near Chirgaon, making the dusty road beautiful. I didn’t know what Shefali was feeling all along the way. She never seemed to complain. Not a single bit. Nada!

The Chanshal Pass was only paved in the year 2009 though it was planned much earlier. The people of Dodra and Kwar (the villages connected by this pass) thought that paving a road would anger the Gods. They relented and the pass was completed. These are two of the most remote villages in Himachal that are connected by a motorable pass. The pass lies at a height of 3750 metres above msl.

As we approached the pass, strong winds banged against my car and boy it did sway. When I opened the windows, my bottle of water nearly went out the window. A series of meadows greet you once you are at the pass. The valley seems distant from here and the layers of mountains just seem to be infinite. A small shrine lies at around 500 metres from the pass, near which we park our car. The road descends on the other side and there’s just a handful of people around us. I take shelter underneath an overhang on the mountain while Shefali scans the horizon.

We drive down to the villages now. Nasty hairpin bends with bumps makes my Thar wobble because of the stiff suspensions. We stop in between for the beautiful wild flowers that were growing everywhere. The first village you encounter is the village of Dodra. Though on the way you get a glimpse of the Kwar village, hanging on the mountain to the left of the road. Dodra is the smaller of the two villages and is located at the height of 2450 metres. An idyllic remote village of Himachal, life is quiet here and you can hear just about every sound around you. There’s just one forest rest house here and you really need to be lucky to get a booking here.

We didn’t push for an early morning drive down. We left by 10 am and got my car checked for a rattling sound underneath. Turns out, the bumpy roads accounted for 3 bolts of the engine-guard sheet. We entered Uttarakhand now, crossing Tiuni and Hanol before stopping at Barkot for lunch. There were hardly any cars along the way, except, of course, within town limits. After Barkot, the road passes through the shade of beautiful pine trees. Small hamlets and terraced fields soothed our eyes while hand-pumps ensured we had a cool splash to refresh our souls. The effects of the forest fire of 2016 in Uttarakhand were clearly visible. The pine trees, which were standing, were half-charred. We sat down to enjoy the silence of the woods and witnessed the spring of new blades of grass making their way out of the charred ground. “Nature finds its way someway or the other.” Random thoughts occupy my mind while I drive. Sometimes they even remain for a few odd days. I was longing for the rains now and rains they did arrive.

We were enjoying this lonesome drive up the Radi Ghati (Radi Valley), the roads were narrow but the tarmac was smooth, which made the drive easy and pleasant. Just as I wished, it began to rain and I could feel that every bit of everything around me was enjoying it. The beautiful drive became even prettier. It stopped by the time we reached the highest point of the Radi Ghati i.e. 2200 metres above msl. From here, it was a steady descent up until Dharasu Bend.

Tricky roads, lovely views, cliff face and a few waterfalls later we reach the small cantonment area of Harsil. There are a few accommodation options here including high-end homestays and cheap lodges along with a GMVN Guest House and a forest rest house. To put it simply, Harsil is beautiful. A stream flows right through this small town. You can walk for hours near the river bed which is also lined up with pine trees and also a hiking path. Needless to say, we booked a small but neat room in a lodge and just went about exploring Harsil.

Apart from the scenic beauty of Harsil, one major draw is the Bhutia village here. Bagori is reached by crossing two cute bridges over the streams that flow through Harsil. Many stories revolve around this village. Some say that when Nelong Valley (later in the blog) was closed, the villagers moved here. They also have permission to brew their own alcoholic beverage which is known as ‘Kacchi’. Wooden houses with simple and elegant carvings and small porches dominate this longitudinal village. Roses bloomed in a few households, while others had fresh green vegetables sprouting out of their kitchen gardens. Some womenfolk had gathered around a house to weave and had broad smiles on their faces when they saw us nodding in appreciation of their work. There is a small monastery here. People in this village are predominantly Buddhists and it’s definitely a rare thing in this part of the state. Small alleys had overhanging of beautiful flowers. Meandering through these alleys, we came across an old bridge, which was covered with fluttering prayer flags and a stream rushing underneath it.

On way to Gangotri, one of the most stunning views is from the bridge over the Jadh Ganga river (aka Jhanvi River). It’s a deep gorge. By deep I mean ‘throw a stone today and it will hit the river tomorrow’ deep. But damn it’s gorgeous! Sheer cliffs of white are in sharp contrast to the turquoise waters of Jadh Ganga that flows out of Nelong Valley. This bridge at Lanka Chatti is wrongly presumed to be the highest bridge in Asia. But this doesn’t take away the beauty or the sheer drop from this bridge. It is definitely stunning.