A nightmare of every photographer - Part II

The stay at Chitkul Devi's Home

...continued from "A nightmare of every photographer - Part I" 

24-12-2012

@ Chitkul, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

As I concluded in my Part I I reached my final destination which is also called the home town of Chitkul Devi. I was surprised. Indeed extremely surprised and happy that Chitkul was literally empty with no tourists around. There were only few houses with some residents and a military stock house. Rest every shop were closed as it was the beginning of winter.    

Chitkul -A small village at the Indo-Tibet border

Chitkul was just as I was expecting though it was late through the day. Sun was casting darkness on most of the valley but there was still some golden shaded peaks from very next grassy hills to far off snow caped mountains. Though it was late in the evening the dawn had its own effect on the way I could see the beauty and capture them in my DSLR. 

The beautiful village

Frozen

Before I decided to go for exploration I wanted to make sure I had packed some stuff for the rest of the days. I went to a near by shop. I bought some chocolates and snacks. The shopkeeper served me with hot tea. It was amazing. Chai is one thing which keeps people alive there. I inquired about the stay and food for a night. And there comes the shocker. He said there is a bungalow at the entrance of the village and his i/c is his brother. He took with him and walked through the snow filled village with no sign of water flow. All that was flowing was just frozen as if someone was playing statue game with the water. The village was almost empty with no movement till I could see. As were going towards the shopkeepers brother we could see camp fires in a basement and there were couple of people warming up for the cold night which was arriving. We inquired about the stay and he said the whole bungalow is free. Wow, that was the moment and I wished to be married and wished I was with someone... :-). It is unusual for me to be staying in village with countable residents and far off from the society. However, I visited the place and it had 4 double bed rooms which looked like designed for honey moon exclusively. There were no room heaters. All that one could do is crawl under the thick rajayi, or just close the windows. It was an isolated bungalow where chill breeze had its way easy through the windows for some times. It was a British type stone bungalow with two guards (goats) at the front to welcome me.     

The Guards

Government rest house

After offering me the best accommodation in the village they also said that there will be dinner ready by 8pm. I told them I will explore a bit and take some low light photographs. After arranging my stay and dinner I left with my camera. I didn't require the torch light as there was little sunlight and it was full moon day (I am not sure but it was not pitch dark). As I walked through the snow filled foot path I managed to follow the track which was already used and that made it easy for me to walk.  

On the high banks of River Baspa

Walking through the valley was great experience and it was little scary too. I clicked a lot of pictures. In low light the snow shades were appearing like a canvas. The river was looking greenish and white snow shade was making the view more beautiful. There were probably only 3 colors which I could make out in that situation - white, greenish brown and black.

Far off bridge which connect the village to Army base camp at Tibet border

After long walk I decided to head back as it was getting late for dinner. I could see a bridge far off where I wanted to go. I thought I shall visit that place first thing in the morning. Took some great pictures which unfortunately I don't have to frame them.  

It was 8:00pm and the last picture of the landscape with slow shutter and It just came out how I wanted it to be. 

So I will take a leave from my, 24 - December, 2012, evening's photography session in the middle southern Tibet border. I will narrate more about my experience with Pahari folks, their hospitality and rest of the things I did the on xams day. See you all. 

Prasanna Hegde 

www.prasannahegde.com