I’m just coming back from Himachal Pradesh from a trek. In reality what I need to share is not the moments of fun but of the soreness. So sorry for the people who are expecting some fun out of it.
Any how, I’ve to start with the journey. We nine classmates were dreaming about the trek from the day we booked, ( from even before i think). Somehow we reached a place near Kullu which is called Kasol. May be no Indian outside Himachal Pradesh knows that a place called Kasol exists. But it is very obvious that most of the people in Israel know about it. In fact it’s the most loved place for them, and you’ll find them all around. We found it strange as you are feeling now, and asked our taxi driver what was the reason. He smiled and asked me back, “Do you dope?” What he meant was do you consume cocaine or opium? I was taken aback for a moment. But I had to reply.
“No, I don’t dope. But why did u ask so?”
“Then, visiting this place is a waste for you. All come here to dope. Majority of them will be the Israelis.”
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I had never imagined such a place. Only ten fifteen houses; hundreds of Hotels having a special welcome note for all the Israelis; thousands of shops selling everything that is possible to sell; the proud shopkeepers who never cared for any Indian customer; smelling “sanyasis” ( the locals said that the smell was of opium) and thousands of Israelis roaming around making shameless gestures. Few were so overdosed that they couldn’t control themselves and had collapsed across roadsides.
I asked myself, why did I come to this place? Mine was so better. Just was feeling like running away from there. But the other side if dirty mind asked me to do some research there; and we started collecting information even though that was not out intent.
The next day we went for shopping, as we had to buy some stuffs like sunglass, slippers, gloves etc. as we felt the nice breeze on the side of river, a great desire of having strong tea came out. We entered a hotel (so called), and asked him to make 9 cups of tea. The owner of that hotel looked at us as if we asked for something offensive (or he might have felt that why the hell these people didn’t ask “OPIUM”), and went in.
In few seconds, an act by a lady caught my sights. She was sitting very next to our table, and was rolling something. I observed it carefully, and showed it to my friends too. She was rolling something into paper and preparing something like “Cigarette”. Once she opened the roll and we could see dark black content mixed with tobacco. Then it flashed to us, it we some narcotic, which she rolled again and started smoking.
We had thought that she was a foreigner. One of my friends, being attracted by her charm, went and spoke to her. It was a shocking fact that she was a Bengali, and she stayed in Bangalore for two years. And she was staying there happily with narcotics now days.
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The day went in shock. I just wanted to get out of that place. Thank god, the trekking started the very next day. And we left that place climbing up the hills.
Any how, I’ve to start with the journey. We nine classmates were dreaming about the trek from the day we booked, ( from even before i think). Somehow we reached a place near Kullu which is called Kasol. May be no Indian outside Himachal Pradesh knows that a place called Kasol exists. But it is very obvious that most of the people in Israel know about it. In fact it’s the most loved place for them, and you’ll find them all around. We found it strange as you are feeling now, and asked our taxi driver what was the reason. He smiled and asked me back, “Do you dope?” What he meant was do you consume cocaine or opium? I was taken aback for a moment. But I had to reply.
“No, I don’t dope. But why did u ask so?”
“Then, visiting this place is a waste for you. All come here to dope. Majority of them will be the Israelis.”
-----------------------------------------------------------
I had never imagined such a place. Only ten fifteen houses; hundreds of Hotels having a special welcome note for all the Israelis; thousands of shops selling everything that is possible to sell; the proud shopkeepers who never cared for any Indian customer; smelling “sanyasis” ( the locals said that the smell was of opium) and thousands of Israelis roaming around making shameless gestures. Few were so overdosed that they couldn’t control themselves and had collapsed across roadsides.
I asked myself, why did I come to this place? Mine was so better. Just was feeling like running away from there. But the other side if dirty mind asked me to do some research there; and we started collecting information even though that was not out intent.
The next day we went for shopping, as we had to buy some stuffs like sunglass, slippers, gloves etc. as we felt the nice breeze on the side of river, a great desire of having strong tea came out. We entered a hotel (so called), and asked him to make 9 cups of tea. The owner of that hotel looked at us as if we asked for something offensive (or he might have felt that why the hell these people didn’t ask “OPIUM”), and went in.
In few seconds, an act by a lady caught my sights. She was sitting very next to our table, and was rolling something. I observed it carefully, and showed it to my friends too. She was rolling something into paper and preparing something like “Cigarette”. Once she opened the roll and we could see dark black content mixed with tobacco. Then it flashed to us, it we some narcotic, which she rolled again and started smoking.
We had thought that she was a foreigner. One of my friends, being attracted by her charm, went and spoke to her. It was a shocking fact that she was a Bengali, and she stayed in Bangalore for two years. And she was staying there happily with narcotics now days.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The day went in shock. I just wanted to get out of that place. Thank god, the trekking started the very next day. And we left that place climbing up the hills.
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I wrote this as my team news letter editers wanted an article for News Letter. But they found this article to be too pessimistic. May be it is so. but its the reality. Who can help when reality hurts?
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