Mountain of light

Mcleodganj

Its funny when you hit a hill station after 10 years with memories of a quaint little hilly town which no one knows about, to see this hill station that has expanded beyond your wildest beliefs and everyone from all over the world is there. So you think to yourself this is another case study of a hill station bursting at its seams. The only saving grace is the hotel where we lived and its wonderful owner and its surrounding of majestic oak trees which caress the breeze as it makes way up the hills.

But then there is something about this hill station which brings you back again after 3 years and you think to yourself that you have seen how bad it can be and so it won’t be such a shock this time. Except it still is a shock and the saving grace is again the wonderful hotel! The place now seems to offer everything to everyone or atleast aspires to offer. The spiritual get their share of Buddhist teachings and if lucky get to attend a sermon delivered by the Dalai Lama himself. The trekkers get to trek up to the upper stretches to wonderful waterfalls and quaint little tea shops in the middle of no where. The shoppers have miles of unending of similar looking shops to go through which are full of trinkets, clothes, Buddhas with mantras stuffed in them for good measure. The party goers can choose between the various night clubs or if they listen hard enough they can hear the whispers of the next rave party. There also people like me who just park their bottoms on the nearest easy chair and just read and sleep.

In the middle of all this are majestic views of the Dhauladhar range, mounds of filth and stink, a 19th century church, voodoo on graves and a lot of Israelis. Quite a few hotel signs, internet café keyboards are in Hebrew and bookshops have Hebrew translations of some books. There are also the Tibetans and their government, which has been in exile for decades, and their campaign against the Chinese occupation of their land. But one can’t help but subscribe to the school of thought that theirs is a losing cause. I don’t see anyone in the world wanting to stand up to China for their cause.

The place is increasingly becoming a cosmopolitan village with a lot of expatriates staying there for longer durations. Sitting in a restaurant one hears all sorts of languages and talk float in the air and while the restaurants keep redoing their menus to keep in touch with the international palettes. One room movie halls have sprung up in places which offer a choice of movies in English and other languages. One of the days that I spring out of the hotel was to revisit a 19th century church which is a remnant of the Raj and among its many graves is one of the former Viceroys of India. The other graves are of soldiers and their families who died here.

The place also now has its share of its local tourists, most of them who come from Punjab and Delhi with their blaring horns, aggressiveness and loud music. You would think the hills and unhurried pace of the place would quieten them down. Well think again!