Page 25 - Seniors Today - May21 Issue

mountain views. On reaching Munsiyari, you best guesthouse in Kalga. Raja Bhaiya turned
were upclose to the Himalayas. It was bitterly
cold, the homestay as basic as you could
get, and I slept in my sleeping bag, covered
with blankets. The hikes around Munsiyari
were beautiful, but I could not take the
unwelcoming accommodation (the woman
managing the homestay did do what she could
– so no negatives for her – but the place was
just not liveable. Nothing but a direct entry
to your room, no lounge, no decent views, a
tent in the meadows or the forest would have
been better. I hope to return to Munsiyari on a
better organised trip.
April 7-14 Parvati and Tirthan valley
Himachal Pradesh
I learnt about Kalga from Shazia, a Pashtun
girl I met while exploring the slums of
Dharavi. She told me about Kalga, a village
in the mountains of the Parvati Valley, in the
lap of nature surrounded with an almost 360*
circle of mountains. A village, where people
came to visit but stayed on and never went
back - mesmerised by the beauty and peace,
living the simple life. Germans, Englishmen,
Israelis, Indians from different parts of India,
businessmen, doctors, engineers, scientists,
entrepreneurs, et all who had seen various
degrees of success in their careers, and who no
longer felt they could get anything more from
life. The simple pleasures of everyday life in
Kalga without worry or stress drew them to
this beautiful place.
She told me about Raja Bhaiya, who ran the
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #23 | MAY 2021
out to be a retired Punjabi armed forces chap
who had worked for the UN in Greece and
other parts of Europe, parted with his Greek
wife and came back to settle in Kalga, married
a beautiful Himachali woman and from whom
they have a lovely daughter. Raja Bhaiya had
taken up the sanitisation programme for the
village and due to his efforts, it is probably the
cleanest village in Himachal. He is a man for
all seasons — driver, handyman, innkeeper,
guide, teacher, philosopher and policeman. It
is difficult to find a man of such character and
drive in a village, but there he was, larger than
life.
I flew to Kullu airport, where Raja picked
the Pashtun girl, another guest and me
and drove to the base of Kalga town in his
car, shopping for provisions, vegetables,
and bedding in Kullu town on the way. We
arrived at Barshaini, which is at the base
of the hill on which Kalga is situated and
hiked the 45-minute trek to Kalga and Raja’s
guesthouse. Two girls from the village had
materialised. They and Raja made light work
of carrying up our luggage, bedding and all
the purchases made.
Yes, the only way to get to Kalga is to walk.
It’s a pedestrian village with houses strewn all
over the intermediary plateau and the hillside.
The guesthouse was all it promised to be,
comfortable, warm with running hot water.
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