Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Jab They Met at the Naggar Palace




Many saw JWM for a lilting fresh love story. Few others saw it to catch up with the blossoming chemistry between bespectacled Shahid and sparkling Kareena. I had my reasons to catch it up. One logical one being that it was the next movie of the Socha na Tha director, the celebrated love guru Imtiaz Ali. Pritam's music was great too, but there was this hidden charm in the movie as it was shot partially in the beautiful locales of Naggar and Manali of Kullu, Himachal Pradesh.

Now a days, when even a B-grade movie is filmed abroad, I was overjoyed at this choice of location. The place is cliched like a girl next door. But, still it has been shot so specially, just for people in love.

How can one forget the scene where Kareena says goodbye to Shahid for that pesky character Anshuman. The white vapors oozing in background out of the 70 mm screen added clutching impact to the pain of Shahid. And, in the song “Yeh ishq hai…” a full-rounded view of the Naggar castle comes up. There were also glimpses of the snow-clad La Rohtang Pass in the beginning. The song was majorly shot in the premises of Naggar Palace. It was choreographed by Saroj Khan featuring local folk dancers, who looked beamingly different from typical Bollywood style extras.

And, finally here is the travel angle to this story. Naggar was the capital of the former princely state of Kullu for over 1,400 years. Now, it is acknowledged as the third heritage village in Himachal after Pragpur (Kangra) and Kalpa (Lahaul). The castle is around 500 years old and is made up of big stones and wood. On the East side flows the river Beas. The 6-minute song was pictured in the backyard of the castle that opens up to the valley where generally gliding and ballooning takes place. The riot of colors as shown in the song was not real though and seemed like a made-to-order Tibetan carnival.

The castle, built by Raja Sidh Singh, had survived the devastating earthquake of 1905. It has now undergone a facelift and been converted into an HPTDC hotel. The small wooden castle has many fables associated with it. One being that the queen of the castle died after jumping down. Another one is related to the construction of the castle. It is said that the stone for building it was brought from the other side of a river via a human chain of laborers, passing stones from hand to hand! The stones, collected from the ruins of Gardhak, a fort of Rana Bhosal , gave the king his castle.

A basement of the castle, from where Kareena walks down a ramp, is a small dingy museum showcasing Himachal’s arts and crafts like patoos, shawls, gudmas, nagaras, carpets, including figures of devis and devtas in traditional attire.

The castle also has the revered Jagti Patt stone inside. Many believe that once Naggar was chosen to be made as the celestial seat of all the Gods in the world. The Gods converted themselves into honeybees and cut a sample of Deo Tibba and flew it down to the present site of the temple.

There are few temples around, namely Vishnu, Tripura Sundari & Lord Krishana. Vehicles can go up to the castle, but the remaining way is best enjoyed on foot. Few kilometers ahead is the Roerich art gallery, erstwhile home of the famous Russian artist Late Nicholas Roerich, who came to India and decided to stay here forever in 1929. The house has now been converted in an art gallery, which displays his masterpieces. The museum is still maintained by the Russian government and is definitely worth a visit with a camera. Naggar is also a base for pursuing treks to the Chanderkhani pass and the mysterious tribal village Malana.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Thursday, March 6, 2008

To Bolo Hanuman Ki Jai!


No bridge over a sea? No worry, coz he will fly over to cross it! Can't locate a particular tree among many on a hill? No worries again, he will dig up the entire hill! Well, these stunts are not in a Rajni sir film, rather they are just few of the ritual acts performed by my favorite God, Hanuman Ji.

The monkey God who helped Lord Rama in winning the fight against Ravana in Lanka and is worshiped to be fearless... has numerous temples all over India. In this blog, I want to write about the four different temples I have seen of him and certainly cannot forget them.

1. Hanuman Tok in Gangtok

Tucked away at an altitude of over 7000 ft, along the tortuous roads, lies Hanuman Tok (Tok means Hill). Soon after you enter the premises; a big statue of Hanuman Ji greets you. If you have as much time as we have over hills, do chant the aarti written on the wallstone. Else, take off your shoes and climb up the icy-cool cemented stairs towards the main temple (we visited this place during early February).

Unlike any temple that I have seen so far, this temple is maintained by the Indian army. So, instead of seeing a dhoti-clad pujari in the temple, expect a man in uniform to smear a vermillion mark and pass you the sugary prasad. Needless to say that such a system helps in keeping the temple very clean and quite. Apparently, the temple is also not surrounded by small shops (selling flowers and sweets) which otherwise camouflage the temples with their commercial existence.

Take a walk around the temple to soak in the misty views of Khangchendzonga, the third-highest peak in the world. Near the temple is Lukshyama - the royal cremation grounds for the erstwhile royal family of Sikkim.

2. The Jhakhu Mandir in Simla

We went to Simla-Chail trip during 2006 April. After doing a to/fro walk over the Mall Road and a mundane visit to Kufri, I wasn’t delighted yet. The overcrowded Mall road looked like a Lajpat Nagar set up amid hills. Kufri minus snow appeared nothing but just a yak junction. Much ado about nothing! And, then my husband decided to take me to Jhakhu mandir. I wasn’t very excited till he told me that it is Hanuman Ji temple over a steep hill. After an exhaling walk over the hill, the normal setting of a temple appeared (prasad and flower sellers, chaat-wala and blah blah). In addition, there were countless monkeys, affirming one’s belief that Hanuman certainly existed here.

The temple is small and has a legend behind it. When Laxman ji fainted in the war at Lanka. Hanuman Ji flew to the Himalayas to fetch Sajeevani booti for him. There, he dug the entire hill as he could not recognize the exact plant. On way back, the tired monkey-God rested for a while at the Jhakhu hill, which is said to have got suppressed since then. The main temple has colorful illustrated scenes of Ramayana over its walls featuring Hanuman ji. In the other annexe, footsteps of Hanuman ji are preserved.

The temple looks bejeweled among tall devdars and one can spend hours gazing Simla from a distance and wowing at the playful monkeys.

3. An Ashram in Sitabani, Ramnagar

In our Corbett post, you can find more details about the Sitabani ashram and jungle. For the first-time I saw Sita ji without Sri Ram. Her temple consists of a white-stone murti (statue) in which she is shown holding her sons Luv and Kush. In the temple above, an unusual statue of Hanuman ji exists which has several faces depicting his powers.

You would be astonished to see the verdant surroundings and the silence would seem everlasting.

4. The Masroor Temple in Kangra

The Masroor temple, in Kangra Valley of Himachal Pradesh, is said to have existed since the 8th or 9th century. In fact to put it correctly, it is a complex of about 16 temples carved out of sandstone rocks. To few aficionados, it reminds of the Khajuraho caves.


This is primarily a Ram temple, as one can make out from the statues of Ram, Sita, and Laxman inside the shikhar. Outside which, is the cut-out of Hanuman Ji, as shown in the picture. The temple got severely damaged by the earthquake of 1905. So, this Hanuman Ji structure appears like a fallen off pillar.


Being the only monolithic structure in the Himalayan region the temple in Lanj Panchayat has huge historical relevance. The gentleman from Chamunda who accompanied us also told that because of architecture, the temple was declared a protected monument of national importance by the Archaeological Department of India.

Adding to the look is a rectangular water tank located in front of the temple complex. Climb up the intricate stair cases to take a panoramic view of the temple and villages around. A nominal fee will be charged for the visit (and extra for the camera).