KASOL, Dark Side of Himachal

HIMACHAL - DEV BHOOMI means  “The Land of the Gods and Goddess“. No doubt that this phrase suites the beautiful state Himachal except KASOL and its nearby areas.

In the beautiful Parvati Valley, Kasol is a small village situated on the banks of Parvati River. In last 2-3 decades, the village has earned popularity not only for its remarkable views but for becoming the DRUG CAPITAL OF HIMACHAL.

When I decided to visit the place, I had no idea that this beautiful place has got a darkest side as well. To my surprise, I found that 90% of the visitors comprises of young crowd mostly students of the age between 20 to 30. Mostly this place is picked by tourists to hangout with their friends where they can get high, roam around & manage to arrange a good stock of drugs for themselves for upcoming days.

Before going to trip, I was curious to visit the place to see hot sulphur water springs, bridges which shake like anything when you cross them, trout fishing, sit on the banks of Parvati river to gaze at beautiful Parvati valley, try Israeli food, trekking and chit-chatting with the residents of beautiful place. Indeed I tried all this.

"..........ordered waffles when I was sitting & enjoying with my friends at Moon Dance Cafe, suddenly I saw a beautiful girl who fell down because of heightened impact of drugs. All her friends stepped back & I could hear a whisper about LSD, Cream etc. When she got up she did not even remember what had happened to her few minutes back. A very threatening and painful experience to see where our youth is going."

Drugs are available at great ease in Kasol. People start following you, come to you & ask you if you want to buy drugs like Malana Cream, ACID or CHARAS. It is always a choice of the buyer. SAY NO TO DRUGS.

Seeing the youngsters so much indulged in drugs was very depressing experience. For a moment, I thought to go and talk to that girl. "I need some ACID" were the words which I could hear when I approached her for talking.

Read another story(Coming Soon) - Malana, known for illegal cultivation of Cannabis.

The Travel Tart - Kullu Manali

"........Sitting on the office chair, I suddenly realized the intense desire to roam around the Himalayas. It's been so many days that I could never escape the daily routine. This time I wanted to go on a well planned trip but maybe the mountains were calling me and I decided to pack the bags & go on the expedition.

I asked my friends if they were interested accompanying me or not. I got a YES immediately. We booked VOLVO bus tickets that goes to Manali at 11PM everyday, tickets were confirmed.
Everything was going smooth till then. HOW COME???

I got a call from the bus booking centre. The person on the other side told me "We're not accepting tickets booked online and also we have cancelled the bus for today". WHOA. Now the fun began.
BUS CANCELLED, CAB did not turn up on time.

We took an auto from Mohali to Sector-43 bus stand. At one side of the waiting area, there was a huge rush. BAck in my mind, I thought that it was not the counter for Manali/Mandi buses. But no, this was the counter for Manali buses. We had to wait there for half an hour. Then, one HRTC bus arrived, the bus condition was pathetic. People ran towards bus like cats run after rats. FUN FUN FUN. Conductor asked to buy the tickets from the counter first. Then again everyone ran towards the ticket counter. DOUBLE FUN. Finally we managed to buy the tickets. We boarded the bus finally. Now no one thought of stepping back as everyone had to pay the fare even in case their mind changes. :D

Bus started, it was roaring like a lion. It boosted the fun. In actual, NO. It frustrated me more. There was not even 1% chance that anyone could sleep in that type of bus. Each & every bone was crying inside. :D

Early morning, we reached Kullu. Kullu is situated on the banks of Beas river. I was damn tired by then. But the views on the way to Manali from Kullu were breathtaking. The river was flowing alongside the road. The mountains covered with trees were so alluring that I was gazing at them constantly. Finally we reached Manali. We took a cab from Manali bus stand to hotel. The snow covered mountains were visible from the hotel room. We checked in to the hotel, freshened up, had breakfast & slept for 2-3 hours.

Around 12PM, we got ready & went to Hadimba Devi Temple. The view was nice & very peaceful.

Then we went to Mall Road Manali, not good not bad place. Tried few restaurants there. After that we went to Gadhan Thekchhokling Gompa Monastery. This is a small Monastery. The statue of BUDDHA at the Monastery is very huge. Go to first floor of the temple & statue views best from there. We also turned the prayer bells there.

There is Solang Valley(Means nearby village),is a good place for trying adventure activities and is situated on the way from Manali to Rohtang Pass. Then we roamed there for couple of minutes & decided to go back to the hotel. In Kullu & Manali, you can visit the Shawl Factory & Museum if you want.

By the time we reached hotel, we all were so tired. We finalized the plan to go to Kasol the next day. We looked for hotels in Kasol. Bad luck, all were already booked. We decided to reach Kasol & find a hotel there only. We slipped into the bed & fell asleep within minutes. Such a sound sleep after a long time."

GOOD NIGHT!!!!

Read next story(MUST READ): The dark side of Himachal - Kasol

The URGE

"......time is passing like a wink of eye and here I'm following the same monotonous routine. And what this routine is - Wake up, get ready, eat packed food, reach office, work eight hours(sometimes more than that), come back home, eat, hangout with friends, go to stupid malls, watch movie, chill out at stupid branded restaurants, shed money like anything on crap things & finally sleep at night. The whole cycle repeats everyday. All this may seem so alluring to some people as it includes every luxury one wants to have. I have got super cool parents who never stopped me from doing anything. I was sent to good school, college & university. Fortunately, I got a job in a very good company. I earn money with which I can manage to pay my bills, buy glittery things for me that I cherish the most. But still I feel bounded in this monotonous lifestyle. And to my surprise, this is not just my story. This story belongs to everyone around me. Whenever I talk to my friends, everyone tells me about his/her frustration & I share mine. LOL.

"What started as a temporary decision became a permanent lifestyle." In the race of earning money, buy a decent house, luxury cars, afford fun in those western flashy malls, we have forgotten to rest even a single day, we barely sit at home & do some self-analysis, go for a walk, call our parents, cook food & sharing with others.

If you're reading this, then please sit for sometime in a lonely place, watch the wall clock ticking & think: "With every cycle of the clock, are you winning on yourself or not?"

Your lifestyle is your choice. When we all left the colleges/universities, we had big plans for our career in our minds. We started jobs to meet our necessities which were small at that time. But now the bigger aspirations have made job itself a necessity & we all urge to have great packages & huge luxury at our doorstep. The phrase from the western lifestyle - EAT SLEEP PARTY REPEAT helps us to have fun which is temporary and stops us from bringing permanent happiness & peace into our lives. Give it a thought & decide : Is this how you want to live your life & at the last breath realizing that you never lived your dreams!!!"