Winter is In and Pula is Out - Grass footwear from Himachal Pradesh

My pair of Pula

' Cannabis sativa ' not only sounds exotic, it also means a bit devilish for many for its obvious reasons. The palmate-leaflet plant though in fact ,is a big contributing product to the thriving cottage industry of Himachal Pradesh in the form of Pula Chappals.

Himachal Pradesh was known as the land of the gods , hence footwear made of cowhide ( leather) was considered inappropriate to wear around the religious places.Hence, the Pula came to evolve as an alternative for the Paharis of Kulu region to be worn during the religious ceremonies and to walk on the snow.

Dried trips of grass or Bhang as it is popularly known are converted into rope form and are strengthened by a process of twisting and stretching to make these colorful footwear.The upper exterior are stitched using the wool of contrasting colours. 

Chad, a village near Banjar is the main market for these chappals. On an average you can buy it for around Rs.60 /- . I bought mine from Manali near the main bus stand area. A great souvenir for oneself or to gift to your loved ones, dont forget to pick a pair when you are in Himachal .

Explore Great Himalayan National Park - Day 2

Myself ,Ghanshyam and Captain Chatterjee decided to go for the morning birding trail early in the morning. The sky was cloudy but the weather was pleasant. Around our cottages itself there was a pretty good number of birds were seen, verditer flycatchers,himalayan woodpeckers,flycatchers etc.

We went for around two km of walk from the main gate on the road.

The droplets of mist was afresh on the leaves

The valley was looking picture perfect!

We returned back to Mother's Lap for our breakfast.

After our sumptuous breakfast, we began our 6 km steep trail to Chaini Village .The weather kept worrying us from being clear to cloudy and a bit rainy. All of us enjoyed the trail. 

The bird life along the way was awesome

It was a tough trail, but both Mohan and Captain Chatterjee , both of whom I was worried ,managed it well.

The villagers on the way were curious about us and were peeping from the windows. I saw a kid busy doingher homework and curiously gazing at us

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Captain of course kept resting his feet as often as he can !

Someone was enjoying her school holiday by just relaxing in the sun !! How lucky!

We were told that the villagers are also famous for their wood craftsmanship, which can be seen from these beautiful wooden houses on our way to Chaini

Small shrines are built in wooden structures can also be seen all over the place

The mountain hawk eagle soared high up in the sky!

And at last we could get a glimpse of the set of temple towers in the distance

We also passed by a small temple revered by the locals.

Enjoying our walk and the shoot..:-)

Finally reached our destination!

The structures were huge and intimidating. We were disappointed for not allowed to enter the interiors as a safety precaution

Visitors are also not allowed to enter this temple dedicated to Krishna.

Murali got interested in buying the locally woven shawls when we were passing by the village.

Their beautiful daughter happily posed with all of us 

Everyone was curious about us!

The hardship faced by the mountain people in their daily life, shatters the myth of living happily in the mountains.

And when we reached back Mother's Lap, we had a lifer for a sighting. Eurasian Hobby perched right at the entrance on a dry tree.

And as with many of my tours, this dog decided to escort us back to the guest house

I loved the view one got just lying on the bed and rested well till the evening

Enjoyed a nice bonfire 

Dhankar Monastery - A safe sanctuary among the rocks

Dhankar Monastrey

Dhankar Gompa is a Buddhist monastery situated in the Spiti Valley of India. It stands perched at a height of 12,774 feet and falls between the towns of Kaza and Tabo. Dhankar was the erstwhile capital of Spiti Valley Kingdom during the 17th century. The citadel of Dhankar was built on a spur which projects into the main valley and ends in a precipice. The location of this fort is strategic as Spiti always had to suffer innumerable aggression by its neighbors.The location allowed the Spitian to keep vigil on the approaches and to submit messages to surrounding localities in case of danger. Whenever the Spitians were attacked, they built huge fires to signal meeting in the safe sanctuary of rocks, i.e., Dhankars. In the meeting all men and women decided the course of action to be taken against the aggressors.

Queen's Palace

The monastery was built approximately one thousand years ago. One of the major attractions of Dhankar Monastery is statue of Vairochana (Dhayan Buddha), consisting of 4 figures seated back to back. It also houses a collection of various crumbling thankas.

During the tour of Spiti in the year 2011, the group was dead tired of the long trek the previous day ,and were not at all in the spirit of visiting the monastery,hence I ended up clicking this pic from a distance