Happy Himachal Day!

I’ll be leaving you with some pictures of Shimla by Himanshu Khagta on this occasion, an incredible Photographer from the Himalayas.

Simply Incredible isn't it !

Photo Courtesy http://www.khagta.com/

Cheers!

Happy Snow Fall, Shimla: Jan 2013

After a very a long time Shimla receives a heavy snowfall that too in the month of January. Along with Shimla other upper reaches of the received quite a heavy snowfall. This would prove to be a boom for tourism as visitors would throng.

The minimum temperature in Manali was 0.6 degrees Celsius below freezing point. Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state at minus 3 degrees Celsius.

It was 9.4 degrees above freezing point in Dharamsala, minus 3.2 degrees in Kalpa and 3 degrees in Shimla.

  Njoy the cold!!..........Peace!

photo courtesy: Sunny Thakur

CAUGHT BETWEEN WORLDS 

- MALANA VILLAGE, HP

 Hands on experience... by Parikshit Sharma 

I stood on a stone lined path as my guide told me to wait, “Don’t touch anything here and wait till I come back” he said. And in the next five minutes I spent waiting for him, I stood bemused as lackadaisical old men sitting in the proximity began to lay their watchful eyes on me. I still couldn’t believe I was in the picturesque Parvati valley in Himachal. I had reached this small Himalayan hamlet after a thirty minute “trek” on a cemented trail which left me panting as I ascended from an altitude of 2200m to 3100m.Compared to other shrine villages in the valley Malana is different. And I could certainly see that in just five minutes, eventually my guide came back and I spent my entire day in Malana. The entire day’s happenings left me with a stream of ambivalent thoughts and forced me to deliberate about what I encountered.

Malana has been drawing travellers such as Penelope Chetwood daughter of Lord Chetwood; Commander in chief of colonial India to western bag-packers and social scientist /anthropologists. 

View from a local home with dope trees.

Travelling in Himachal has caught my fancy ever since I was a little child. The pristine beauty of tranquil evergreen forests, pellucid blue skies and serene valleys vivaciously brought to life by the torrid white waters of glacial rivers has made me a tenacious admirer of this great hill state. My trips in Himachal over the years have been essential in forming my understanding of Himachali traditions, cultures and social/hegemonic structures. And it was Malana with its rather peculiar social structure and its unique mystical identity has long intrigued me and eventually provoked me to go to there.

Tales, myths and mysteries work in tandem to accentuate the exotic and esoteric identity of this village. It is a popular myth that Malanis (inhabitants of Malana) are descendants of soldiers from Alexander’s army who averted the treacherous journey back by taking refuge in the Parvati valley. However this popular myth has been debunked by recent DNA typing of the inhabitants, the haplotypes of the Malanis resemble that of Indo-Aryans who predated the former by roughly a thousand years. Although it has been ascertained that Malanis’ have an Indo-Aryan origin, the indigenous language kanashi is so arcane that it is spoken only in Malana and only by Malanis. Outsiders; who in Malani tradition are untouchables and forbidden to speak this Language. Kanashi is today an endangered language as classified by Ethnologue. Its peculiar amalgam between Sanskrit and Burmese- Tibetan dialects distinguishes it from Indo-Aryan Himachali dialects as well as other Tibetan- Burmese dialects of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts. As the legend goes-Jamlu; a sage from the early Aryan period conjured the reward of Hindu God Shiva and was told to settle in the Himalayan paradise of Malana. When he got there he was confronted with a demon and eventually they had entered a treaty wherein Malanis would follow the norms and guidelines laid down by Jamlu and follow the lifestyle of the latter. The guidelines which Jamlu laid down were the formulating blocks of the existing social structure. The title of “World’s oldest democracy,” has long been a famous exposition Malana has received in travel blogs, books and researches.

A make-shift local gambling game.

Malana is today caught between worlds; the present day Malanis face a challenge to keep their identity as descendants of Jamlu and confront development and rapid changes in the world around them. Geographical isolation, huge language barriers, and a regressive hegemony along with a notorious marijuana trade circle have transformed the social milieu into a convoluted discourse. This can be felt as soon as one reaches Malana. I started my hike one a dusty road built by the Malana-2 Hydropower project. Though the project has brought the Malanis’ close to rest of the world it has perturbed the tranquil equilibrium of the inhabitants. Present generations are attracted towards the job opportunities which the projects provide. 

A Hydro Power plant in Malana

   
 However, they have been far from successful at work due to lack of education, cannabis addiction and persistent absenteeism. In addition their culture to regard all outsiders as untouchables and recondite language make it really difficult for them to cooperate with the staff.

Hydropower is not to blame here, India’s mistaken modernity and the trend to perceive technological acquaintance as development is the main cause of this difficult situation faced today.

Written by - Parikshit Sharma

Parikshit Sharma is a passionate trekker and poet from Shimla. He is currently pursuing his 12th standard from Mahindra United World College, Pune.
 The above article is based on experiences of his recent visit to Malana.

     WINTER SPORTS
    
     " ALPINE PREMIER LEAGUE" 
         at Solang Nala (Near Manali), H.P

“What a nice ski slope,” remarked Canadian skier John Lee. Lee and his friends are skiing on the Solang slopes near this picturesque tourist resort and are among the 336 participants gathered here for a four-day Alpine Premier League that began on Monday.
“It's really not so crowded (like the slopes in Europe), we are here for the first time,” remarked Aiden, another skier. According to event organisers, the participants included 12 foreigners from Canada, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and France.
The competitions to be held are slalom, giant slalom, snow-board giant slalom, snow-board cross-country 5-km race for men and women and giant slalom both for junior boys and girls, and men's veteran (40 years and above). The championship is organised by a private firm, Ski Himalayas Ropeway Pvt Ltd, in association with the local ski clubs and the state Tourism Department.

The state-run Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports is providing technical assistance to the event. The Solang slopes had more than three-and-a-half feet of snow, Randhir Singh Salhuria, director of mountaineering institute, said.
“In the past two days, the slopes piled up around 2-feet snow. This time the snow is plentiful. It will stay here till the end of the next month,” he added.
Amitabh Sharma, the skiing event organiser, said teams from the Indian Army’s High Altitude Warfare School in Gulmarg, the Indian Air force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and various clubs from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and the host state would participate in the championship.
After a gap of seven years, the Winter Games Federation of India allowed the Himachal Pradesh Winter Games Association in 2010 to hold the National Senior Alpine Skiing Championship at Solang. Besides the event, the mountaineering institute is conducting skiing courses both for professionals and amateurs in Solang. The courses began last month and will continue till the slopes have snow.
The Solang slopes offer a challenging run to both beginners and advanced skiers and are of international standards, said Salhuria. For newcomers, the institute is conducting basic, intermediate and advanced ski courses at Narkanda, 65 km from Shimla.


info courtesy — IANS (INDO ASIAN NEWS SERVICE)
presented by- Pratik Awasthi

RAID-DE-HIMALAYA
 World's highest motorsport rally


Raid-de-Himalaya is World's toughest, highest and most demanding motorsport rally covering some of the highest areas in HIMACHAL PRADESH and J&K. It is open to both car and bike enthusiasts and for professional as well as amateur motorsport lovers.

It is flagged off from Shimla (HP). The participants drive through some of the world's highest motor-able roads and passes in the Himalayas like Jalori Pass (Kullu distt., 3223m), Rohtang Pass (kullu-lahual border, 4110m), Kunzum La (lahul distt., 4551m), Baralacha La (H.P – J&K border, 4890m) in Himachal Pradesh , Tanglang La (5359m) & Khardung La (5602m) in J&K, through the inhospitable terrains in the Lahual and Spiti valleys in H.P and the Ladakh region.

Most of the drive is through boulders, snow-capped peaks, gushing streams and at times, temperature below -25 degree Celsius. On an average, a participant covers a distance of 300 kms every day in this approximately 1800 km and week-long motoring event.

Every year, more and more people participate in the Raid-de-Himalaya, many of them from abroad. In past few years as many as 175+ teams participated in car and bike categories. Raid-de-Himalaya is the only Indian motorsport event listed on the off-road rallies calendar of FIM (Federation Internationale Motorcyclisme), Geneva, Switzerland. Only 12 international motoring events world-wide are listed in this calendar.

Raid-de-Himalaya is held around October, just before the onset of winters in the Himalayan region.

The event runs in three separate versions:

1. Xtreme: This is the toughest of the lot and is open only to those 4 wheeler drivers who have prior rallying experience and have competed in one of the earlier editions of the Raid-de-Himalaya

2. Adventure Trial: This version is open to those motor-sports enthusiasts who would like to take on the Himalayas but without the tough competition, difficulty and stress involved in the Xtreme. This section is open only to stock cars and only certain safety related modifications would be allowed in the competing cars. This is where first timers would fit in.
Car Category 
SUV Category
The "Adventure Trial" was born in 2003.

3. Bikes Xtreme: This section is open to bikes of all types and makes but there are certain regulations that they have to adhere to. The bikers are probably the bravest of the Raiders, as they have to face the hostile weather, terrain without the comforts of a cabin surrounding them.

--- compiled and presented by PRATIK AWASTHI