Bring home some hill peace

Taking a break into the uncharted is the ultimate rejuvenator, says Meenakshi Rao after wandering into the lush green hilly interiors of the Kangra Valley

What would you expect from a hilly stretch that connects two towns of a mountain State — the celebrated Dharamsala with its touristy twin city McLeod Ganj, to a comparatively lesser known Palampur with its relatively unsung tea gardens?

Yes, a serpentine road to start with; forest land escorting the mortar path; hills graduating into mountains in the distance and, of course, unknown unsung and unvisited villages along the way, not to mention a clear blue sky above you and fresh enervating air resuscitating your Delhi burdened lungs as an emergency relief measure.

Such uncharted stretches have, by the way, gained currency among the Indian traveller fed up with the humdrum and the routine. And that’s where this verdant terrain capped by the majestic Dhauladhar range comes in. The snow is yet to cap all the peaks though it’s December settling in but the one or two that tower above the rest with their white mane unshed from last year are the showstoppers of a clear and bright winter day.

It is a strangely ennui inducing terrain, calming you down with its peace and tranquility where the only sound intrusion is a passing vehicle some kilometres away. You move with the sun, you sway with the pine trees and you peep through the distance to delightfully spot the visage of a quaint monastery beckoning you from another hilltop on the other side of a gentle valley.

“It’s places like these that are the flavour of the travel season. The ‘middle of nowhere’ tourism is on the rise and you will be surprised to know that it is the Indian traveller who has started looking for such remote places where he can relax in comfortable luxury,” says Rajat Rialch, the adventurous owner of the luxurious Rakkh Resort which sits pretty on two hills, well, in the middle of nowhere really! “That’s the USP. A complete disconnect from usual (no noise, no TV, no Internet) and a complete connect with Nature,” he says. The nearest town on either side of this experiential resort is an hour away and all it looks down upon is a lush green pinewood forest and a sleepy hamlet emerging in patches to the eye, just like the scattered white clouds punctuating an otherwise spotless blue sky.

Rialch launched this becoming resort a year and a half back with no serious intentions of making a profit from it. “This was not a business venture for me in the real sense. I hail from here and wanted to showcase my land in a different garb,” he tells you. Indeed, he has made it with an eye of an arrived local. The spaces are stunning, the wood huts going up the hill one by one designed for comfort and the sprawling terrace over the sole restaurant which is over a cliff, takes your breath away. Rakkh is a tribute to the local in many ways. “Ninety per cent of my staff is Himachali and of that, around 70 per cent is from a few kilometres around the resort. So local economy survives and for me personally, there’s hardly any attrition,” he explains.

But it is not just the staff. The local flavour is all over the place and it is inviting. The restaurant is aptly named “Dham” meaning temple feast and that warm salted water placed in an urli in your room to soak your tired feet in after a day trek honours the age-old tradition of the hard working Himachali farmer returning from the fields with the women of the house washing is feet to rinse away the tiredness. There’s more in weaving classes, pottery-making and self-do Maggi and juice counters to make the slopes interesting when, that is, you are not mountain biking or rappelling, or rock climbing or being escorted for a night trek into the dark mysterious land with spotted big cats looming around somewhere by the enthusiastic owner himself.

Rakkh is a perfectly “away” stress buster and it has been done up with a lot of taste, thought and polish. “All of it has been done to propel local mores. A museum to showcase Kangra’s everyday life down the ages is coming up on the second hill,” says Rialch whose bread and butter business is his consultancy firm which is into hospitality designing projects.

Black and white pictures of “just Kangra” adorn the cottage walls and some really artistic pottery work on the outer walls invite you into the comfortable confines.

This brings you to another quaint place — the amazing hub of art and culture — the Andretta village where a surprising movement in theatre, painting, pottery and sculpture started way back in the 1950s and has survived the rough and tumble of remoteness. It’s where great minds used to meet with artist Shobha Singh’s paintings museum leading you through an amazing era of artistic endeavour.

Close by is Andretta Potteries working out of a humble and thatched premises, established by legendary potter Mini Singh but now being managed by 22-year-old potter Shubham Sakhyan who teaches students in the morning, makes pots and pans through the day and goes live on instagram in the midnight to show the excellence of this unique pottery work pegged on natural material and local manpower. “We bring out the colours with natural clay, no chemicals,” he insists and a look around the make-do museum tells you why this brand of pottery based on the local rangoli tradition is so differently beautiful.

Not far away is Bir Billing, India’s emerging paragliding and air sports hub. The 2015 paragliding world cup was held here to avid interest and its yet to be fully explored natural potential has just about begun to call in the young roving tourist. The colourful umbrella birds gliding in the open skies over an unending green valley take you into unforgettable flights with paragliding experts insisting that the aero sport is safer than driving a bike on an empty road.

There’s much more on the other side of the valley with the Tibetan town of McLeodganj rising from the hills with its absolutely delicious eateries, lazy coffee shops and the thupkas and the momos drawing you in. Even if the great Dalai Lama is not in town to meet up with you, there’s a lot to savour – the atmosphere, the temples, the monasteries and a lifestyle that forces the hardest of cynics to relax, like on a sedative. Go up further are there is the village of Dharamkot surprising you with its Israeli cafes working out of local huts. That’s the last signpost from where long and hardy treks begin up the mountains that can stretch into days and wonderment in equal measure.

In short, as Rialch says, “it’s about time we celebrated the unsung.” Indeed, it’s about time for that unvisited stretch between Dharamsala and Palampur to gets it due — and somehow still remain delightfully remote.

‘I WANT CHILDREN TO RETURN TO GOVT SCHOOLS’

Rajat Rialch is leading a small revolution to propel Kangra’s culture. Meenakshi Rao speaks to him

Can you lead us through the initiatives you have been taking to boost the local economy?

I have hired a wall artist to paint the local Government school. I want the children to return to Government schools and come here not looking at grumpy walls. The project has worked well and in the next phase students will get furniture & comps. We are adopting 10 schools to build toilets and also giving free computer education. I am also working on a Kangra museum where artefacts displaying the life and times of locals will be on display alongside agriculture products, handicrafts etc. Local artisans can sell their wares here. The structure would denote Himachali architecture.

How is the hospitality industry emerging in small town tourist destinations?

The maximum growth in the hospitality industry is happening in this segment. People are fed up of hotels and looking for experiential resorts, like Rakkh. For an experiential resort, you have to create something different. It is not just a brick and mortar project. Experiential travel is about stress busting, being with Nature, adventure, peace, local culture, craft, hiking and the like.

Has the Indian traveller upgraded to “middle of nowhere” luxury tourism?

Big time. People want a break from what we call branded hospitality. They are looking for product differentiation for their family, unique stress busting accommodations. My main clients are 35 to 55 age group Indians looking for a clean break from work and quality time with the family. With the disposable incomes going up, Indians are having four vacations instead of just the annual one previously. And every time they do not want to go to a hotel.

What’s the profile of guests for a no-gadget resort like Rakkh? Adventurists?

Indians are pretty averse to hard adventure. For our 6 am to 5 pm day trek only 4-5 guests opt for. A majority just wants to do a light village walk, some go for rappelling, mountain biking, or cycling to the nearby monastery. These activities get the family involved.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 10 December, 2017