Karsog, a hamlet that you just might miss unless you take a detour at NH22, is the best place to catch a spring break in Himachal Pradesh

Karsog, a hamlet that you just might miss unless you take a detour at NH22, is the best place to catch a spring break in Himachal Pradesh

The snows still shone on the high mountains that looked close enough to reach out and touch, pine trees covered the mountainside in green and other vegetation added touches of pink red and white. Far below in the valley the river sparkled, growing stronger every day as snow continued to melt rapidly. A cowherd coaxed his herd through the narrow pathways with a sharp word here and a gentle tap there.

It's moments like these that keep drawing me back to the Himalayas and Himachal Pradesh.

The previous day, I was at Thanedar, a quaint hamlet high on the old Hindustan- Tibet road. My plan was to go over the Jalori Pass to Sojha. Jalori is a scenic mountain pass that cuts through the range that lies between the Sutlej and Beas valleys in Himachal Pradesh. But Thakur Saab, a friend who runs the Banjara Orchard Retreat in Thanedar said Jalori was still snow bound and impassable. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because that's how I ended up discovering the Karsog Valley.

The road to Karsog branches off the main Shimla-Kaurik road that is NH22 at Sainj. The road from there on is SH 11 and it crosses the Sutlej at Luhri. From here, one road runs up to Ani, Khanag and Jalori, while another goes to the Karsog valley. This one is brilliantly scenic, with hilly forests on one side and the sandy banks of the Sutlej on the other. You can frolic in the river as you would in a sea.

Thanedar to Chindi was meant to be a five-hour drive, but with our tea and photography breaks, we rolled into Chindi within eight hours. The locals we encountered were effervescent in their need to spread the joy of spring; each insisted on at least a five-minute conversation, which we enjoyed. After all, you experience a land best when you take back what the locals have to offer.

Pitstop at Chindi
Finally, when we got to Chindi it was dark and just when we parked our car, AD Sharma came running down from the reception. The Himachal Pradesh Tourism head honcho was there and Thakur saab had informed him about our arrival. The poor man had been waiting for four hours and was about to mobilise a search party and a rescue mission. We offered him a cigarette to calm his nerves, and apologised for the delay. By the time we'd moved our luggage to the room, he'd unwound with a certain old monk, and was in the mood for some good conversation over dinner.

Love in Karsog
The next day we followed his advice and drove down to Karsog. It is on this drive along the valley that the impact of the beauty of spring in Himachal hit us. I'm not even going to try to describe it; let the pictures do that. I thought to myself that this is the best part of Himachal I had visited. And then I realised, it is not the place, it is the time of year. In spite of visiting the state so often, I hadn't come here in spring.

The town of Karsog has a few temples that are worth visiting. The route to them is past the bus stand. Take the first left hairpin bend down into the market. The market is narrow with shops lining both sides. You'll need patience to negotiate it. The first temple is the Mamleshwar Mahadev temple. Go to the fields behind it, and you'll find a smaller shrine. It makes the perfect Himalayan postcard picture. The other is seven km from Karsog along a scenic road that skirts the valley; this is the Kamaksha Devi Temple.

Trekking to Shiva
On our return to Shimla ,we stopped at Tattapani, to make a quick stopover at the Shiva cave there. I ran down the 700-metre descent, and did it a bit too fast because by the time I got there, my legs were trembling.
We just had a weekend for this trip, and since we tried to cram in a whole lot, our return was a night drive from Tattapani to Shimla, and we made it just in time to catch the 6 am flight back to Mumbai.

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