Three Days in McLeodGanj – III
As I walked through cedar groves, grassy slopes and small lanes with cafes selling cappucchinos in McLeodGanj, I was distinctly aware of a few things I was going to miss during my visit. I so wished to see and listen to His Holiness, who was away travelling on the days I was in the town. I also wished to go higher into the mountains, visiting the snowline and go beyond with Gaddi Shepherds, exploring the highland pastures in Dhauladhars. All of them will have to wait for another visit – my stay at McLeodGanj this time was going to be a short one, allowing me just some glimpses of its beauty.
And beautiful were the town and its surroundings. I wandered the streets watching smiling monks in ochre robes walk by, chanting slowly as they turned their prayer wheels or counted rosaries. The shops along the narrow lanes sold prayer flags, thangkas, small prayer wheels, cham-dance -masks and everything that can be sold to devout Tibetans as well as the tourist looking to carry home some memories. Modern-looking restaurants frequented these roads, selling garlic bread, lemon tart and apple cakes. The option in cuisines were wide enough to take you on a world-tour-in-a-day, starting from Indian and offering Mediterranean, Italian, Japanese, Mexican and anything else you can imagine.
In the middle of these was a bright gilded shrine that was visible from most parts of the small Temple Road. An array of prayer wheels dotted the walls of this shrine, occasionally visited by elderly men who walked slowly as they turned the wheel. I walked behind them, turned a large number wheels in on stroke and watched the brightly painted sacred letters – om-mani-padmeham go round and round on one wheel after the other.
I walked out from the town downhill, in the direction of Forsyth Ganj along the main road connecting McLeodGanj with rest of the world. It is a main-road for name’s sake but was quiet and vehicle free, ideal for long walks but convenient enough to catch the next bus when the legs give away. I was looking forward to visit ‘St.John in the Wilderness’ – a quaint church introduced to me by Shalabh. To repeat his words on the history of the church: “First built in 1852 in neo-Gothic architecture and repaired multiple times subsequently, the cathedral’s graveyard is also the final resting place of Lord Elgin, viceroy of India from 1862-1863. The church is known for its Lady Elgin donated Belgian stained glass windows. Also of note is the church bell, made by Mears and Stainbank Founders, London, installed in July 1915. This church bell replaced the bell tower destroyed in the 1905 Kangra earthquake. Set in a thick, old Deodar jungle with its collection of old graves, the church yard seems to take you into a bygone era.”
The Church is a small hall with its own history, whose location in a cedar grove is as charming as the church itself. A small grave behind the church has plenty of history buried under it, but it was such a pleasure being in this forest and wandering freely as the legs decide, I allowed history to take backseat.
That evening, my last day in Ganj, I made a quick visit to Bhagsu Waterfall before rushing to catch my bus. The walk to the falls is through a small alley past the ancient Bhagsu Temple, passing through shops selling merchandise of worship. Going past these settlements, McLeodGanj offers more possibilities as the bridle path to the fall opens up to the vista of beautiful hills and small paths leading into the heart of the mountains. I thought of walking farther and farther, past the cleverly named “No Name Cafe” and into the cedar trees beyond to explore the higher regions in the Dhauladhar. The Ganj needs another, longer visit.
End of series.