caravahan

It's #raining. And the #clouds are #painting again.

It's raining and our tent doesn't have a rainfly. We shall see.

Our #guide today is very #naughty. He cannot walk straight. Has to jump around and crawl through barbed wire.

A #primary #school. Eight students. Good use of our tax money 😀

Our #guide is feeding us #wild #berries. They are amazingly #delicious.

The #rain has stopped and the #sun is out. Photos are brighter now.

कुछ दोस्त उम्र भर के होते हैं और कुछ दोस्त, पल भर के। मगर होते तो सारे ही प्यारे हैं ❤️

दीपक का मिट्टी का मकान।

आसपास सभी के मकान अब concrete और ईंट के हैं। मकान का क्या है। दिल बड़ा होना चाहिए।

January and February is ski 🎿 season in Narkanda. You come to Narkanda town, and 500 meters from it is the ski place. Snow is two to three feet, but they pile up snow at places for skiing.

For hotels, it is an off season 😲. Rates are lower than they are now, which is peak season. The cost of skiing and equipment rental for half a day is ₹1,000. The national highway is pretty clean and snow is removed from it regularly, so it's easy to drive up.

Why do I not know of this? Who wants to come ski this winter? Decathlon was even selling skis when we visited them a week ago. But why buy when we can rent?

We have come to a resort near our campsite for dinner.

In every #campsite and #resort across India, #wood is #burned for a nightly #bonfire. There is the consumption of chips and soda by children, to the accompaniment of loud music that can be heard for half a mile around. In spite of all these arrangements, most children can't be bothered to lift their heads out of their cellphones.

Is ritualistic #consumption all that we have to offer to our children? And if all adults want to do is consume large amounts of liquor, why do they drive all the way to the hills for it? Not once have these families left their resort to enjoy the beauty of nature all around them - to meet local people, listen to birds, admire flowers.

To each their own. But observing this drama makes me feel we are doing something right.

But at least we should leave the trees out of it. Tens of thousands of resorts are burning bonfires every night. Instead of hugging and loving trees people are going into nature to burn them. Sad.

The #moon is very bright tonight

Monster #parathas gonna get you tonight. They'll om nom nom you in your sleep.

All #fruits for #lunch

Like, literally? सेब नियंत्रण कक्ष!
The #apple #uprising is coming. We need to keep the apples under #control. 🍏 🤪

M2: is this where they imprison apples?

The #hills of #Kufri are full of #trash, #tree #stumps, #people and #cars. Sad.

The #drive and the #road are amazing, just like @deepankarbasu had said.

Managed to take one photograph without any trash visible. Now to get out of here real quick. 😷

These #insects made the kids #jump. Even though they are sitting perfectly still. They're a little more than an inch in length.

It's over and out for us from #Kufri.

We indulged in some obligatory #adventure #activities 😁

Now we are #driving through the #hills of #Chail while it lightly #drizzles.

It's 7:45 am and the #skies over #Kurukshetra are #overcast. Its been a pleaseant 25°C since we entered the plains. We are actually driving without air conditioning. Did we bring the mountain #weather with us?

Met with our first #accident yesterday. A minor one. A pick up truck was badly parked at a turn on the road down from Chail. While I was trying to negotiate past it, an impatient bus going uphill dinged our car. I asked it to wait while I back out of the situation, but it kept going, rubbing the door handle.

The kids want you to know that this is our 200th post 📯

#eagle #snowcappedmountain #Spiti #SpitiValley #Kaza

Back in the #plains, we stopped over at a dhaba. They gave us a bottle of #packaged #water without us asking for it. I only saw the bottle on our table after I saw it in the bill. They were doing this with all customers.

What do you see in the pic? A stack of cold water? Or a pile of #waste #plastic. Once your perspective changes, it never goes back.

24 hours before Karnal, we had had breakfast in Narkanda. The rates for everything more than doubled in this distance. How 😲?

The #naughty #kids of #Pooh. My kids made good friends with them.

When Deepak found a toy to play with, and M1 tried explaining to him that this was a political party's symbol and flag.

At the Café #Deyzor in #Kaza, junior had the delectable #muesli with #fruits and #yogurt.

We had a lot more food there, that I did not take pictures of. Excellent food, excellent service. And then they let us park 🏕 our #caravan in their backyard and use their pit toilet. For free. Best people ever.

The #flowers of #Narkanda

#rose

Because you people like #cows so much

Moo time

#Village #Kaza

बताइए हम कहाँ हैं #whereami

#beforetherains

बरखा बहार आई

And then the #rain came down

#strawberries #cream #icecream and everything #nice

When it #rains as much as it does at #mahabaleshwar, when the #trees grow #moss

We are all #dressed to take on the #rain

Hard to take good photographs when it's pouring as much as it is. The #ghats in the #rain are something else.

#Street #food in the #rain (caption to be read to the tune of "brown girl in the rain")

The #clouds are #pouring from up above and #billowing in from below. We struggled to get where we are. Now we are hiding under a tarp and watching others have a hard time 😜

M2

S2 in a cute umbrella hat.

When you're stuck in the rain, even #Maggi looks sumptuous

S1: मेरी खाते हुए picture लोगे तो I'll act crazy.

Not a huge fan of civilization, but sometimes markets can be nice and quaint. We'd all just bought ourselves raincoats and were ready to brave the #rain in style. Except M2, who didn't like any of the choices available in his size. Being the smallest can be annoying.

If you look carefully dead center, you will see a tree partially obscured by fog, clouds and rain. I'm posting nofilter because all filters were making the tree vanish. What I really need is a filter to convert this pic into a watercolour painting 🎨

It just doesn't stop coming down.

We are hardly complaining 😁

#kids in a candy store

How now
Brown pao

Om nom nom

Shrooms!

Gnarly trees ❤️

We found a familiar friend

Because you people like #mushrooms so much. This one is big, fat and fixed on the ground.

Boom

Then we trooped into a #forest

Like me, do you also fancy #moss, #litchen and #fungi?

#nofilter #nocaption #flower #clusterflower

This reminds me of Beebop and Rocksteady

#TMNT

This is a complete #plant in six inches. Leaf, stem, #flower.

Life has tremendous #zeal to exist. It will sprout anywhere. And then reproduce in the blink of an eye.

And yet we are going through an unforeseen extinction. Imagine the tremendous force and violence that humanity is exerting on nature, in order for it to receed, and for us to prevail.

Another #mossy #tree

Deeper and deeper into the #forest we went. Farther and farther