An eventful trip to Dharamsala

Dharamsala, the land of Dalai Lama's Government, is one of the natural beauty spots untouched by tourists.


It turned out to be a beautiful eye soothing trip to Dharamsala. As it is said, that we go to temples when God wants to see us. I went when Buddha wanted to see me, but He made me struggle a bit to meet Him. My flight from Delhi to Dharamsala was canceled due to incessant rains.

I had to take a flight to Amritsar and then by taxi to Dharamsala. It took about 7 hours through long mountainous route which did not have even basic tea shops on the way.

All the more it was raining and to make matters worse the driver stopped the car at a junction and was wondering which road would be open and which one would be closed by landslides. The only good thing was that we were four of us talking about everything on earth.

We stayed at a hotel for the night. The next morning was bright and sunny. I could feel the fresh air and see the green clad mountain slopes. I saw the native boys taking a few donkeys for work and the native women accompanying the goats for grazing.

We scheduled to go for the site visit first. The site is for a hydro electric power plant, a small sized one without any dams. It is to make electricity from running water in the river. It was a majestic view from the hills. There were small streams flowing into the river. The streams had water as clear as one can imagine. It is said that it is so pure and fit for drinking. The streams are of the size of what we get when corporation pipe lines break. There are other bigger streams also.

We had to trek a small distance, may be a kilometer, as the car couldn’t go near due to landslide. There was an old power house of about 20 years functioning nearby. We paid a visit the power house. I could hear the alternators humming. We went to the basement to have a view of the turbines. It was a splendid scene when I saw the turbine shaft rotating. Also, I could see the valve at the end of penstock and the related auxiliary systems to control air lock and balance pressure. There was a spare pelton wheel which had come for replacement for a turbine. When asked, the person there could just say that it would be costing in lakhs. It was a memorable experience as I got the opportunity to visit a power plant and see it in operation. I never expected this would happen as I had left engineering field for finance. Finance has helped me understand engineering better through the projects.

We gathered information about the site, inspected and then started returning down the hill. It was at this time that the climate changed, all in a matter of a couple of hours, and started pouring heavily.

We proceeded to visit McLeodganj, the place where Tibetan settlements are there and where the monastery is located. The museum there depicted the sufferings and suppression that Tibetans have undergone. The monastery is an awesome location to have great peace of mind. I could feel the calmness in mind and felt like meditating for some time. My achievements and losses, esp. those of loss of contact with my dear friends came to my mind as lightening. May be Buddha wanted me to have some quiet moments to understand myself. Some of my team mates bought a few mementos while returning. We had lunch at our hotel and packed for yet another grueling 8 hour car journey to Chandigarh and then by flight to Delhi.