Shiva, Charas and the Waterfall (Hidden Tremors-Part 3/4) : The Young India

Kartikey Sehgal
–Drugs and economic disparity in the Indian home of the Dalai Lama
A standalone story. Part One and Part Two of the series.

McLeodganj, with its constant buzz of commerce may not be comfortable for everybody. On all the streets you see some hapless faces calling out to you to buy their products. There are noticeably no beggars but the sellers—especially some of the Indian locals—have little self-respect; some of them try to trick you into buying authentic Tibetan goods until you tell them that you are not a foreigner and that their product is available in Mumbai and Delhi at lesser rates.

“Less money, so they want to make a quick buck through drugs Sir. You know how much you can earn through one sale to a foreigner?” asks a sixty-plus year old seller of shawls and clothes who has a pretty Tibetan girl to help him make sales. He doesn’t tell me more about the drugs.

I am on route to the Bhagsu Nag waterfall; among the most popular and scenic places at McLeodganj. The climb is a narrow path made up of broken stones and concrete tiles. The government has widened the path and earlier it was very risky and slippery, a local tells me. Even now it is easy to slip from the path; there is no fencing and at some places the turns allow for only one person to walk. Some Indian tourists who are walking with me decide to discontinue their journey.

It starts raining and I am witness to the first monsoon rainfall in the region. I am wet and reach the waterfall area along with a family and their baby. We cover the baby with handkerchiefs and a towel that a shopkeeper gives us.

“Which God’s image did you see on your way up to the waterfall?” the shopkeeper asks me.

Easy; there were several eating joints along the way that had their interiors decorated by paintings of Lord Shiva and Dalai Lama…

“Why do you think Lord Shiva is so popular here? Foreigners come and worship him for many different reasons. The most important reason being that he consumed lots of charas”.

The shopkeeper continues, “Foreigners sit here by the waterfall and smoke joints. But they don’t trouble anybody. Things are smooth here. The sky is blue and the water is cold. Everything is nice. Maybe all due to Shiva”.

After a short stay and a small meal at the waterfall, he informs me. “Maybe you’d like to climb a little way up”.

There must be a good reason why tourists would like to climb vary narrow and steep paths. Maybe Lord Shiva himself!

I discover a café with a swimming pool made up of water from the mountains. The cold mountain water is also used to cool soft drink bottles. There are large and well-groomed blue colour flowers; a lodge if you want to stay over; hand-drawn paintings of different Gods, including Lord Shiva.

“Do you sell charas here?” I ask the café attendants. They are dressed in ragged clothes and their menu includes a variety of pancakes and different flavours of tea. They smile and say that they don’t sell any drugs. A foreign couple that I had got acquainted with some time back are also in the café. There are some Indian men relaxing under the shade of the mountains. One of them is a Delhi-boy and we discuss the place, the weather and charas.

“Do you see that plant over there?” We walk to a plant that is close to the Shiva painting. “It is cannabis; used in the making of charas. Just take some of it”.

He breaks the leaves and stuffs them in my pocket and gives me directions as to how to get a “mild high”. We shake hands and I am on my way down from the café. I then meet the shopkeeper who is on his way home and tell him about the experience at the café.

“For proper charas,” he opens up now, “you have to contact any of the several Indian guys”, he tells me about the shops and the men. “And this one chap is old and black, sells shawls and…”

And he has a Tibetan girl in his shop.

(The rain-day photographs were lost to camera malfunction. The author climbed again the next day for these photographs)

Bhagsu Nag Waterfall

I am on route to the Bhagsu Nag waterfall; among the most popular and scenic places at McLeodganj.

Four men from Punjab on route to the waterfall. They also looked at women and felt happy.

“Why do you think Lord Shiva is so popular here? Foreigners come and worship him for many different reasons. The most important reason being that he consumed lots of charas”.

The cold mountain water is also used to cool soft drink bottles.

Bhagsu Nag Waterfall

I discover a café with a swimming pool made up of water from the mountains.

“Do you see that plant over there?” We walk to a plant that is close to the Shiva painting. “It is cannabis; used in the making of charas. Just take some of it”.

The Bhagsu Nag trail

Share This Story

The Young India

Shiva, Charas and the Waterfall (Hidden Tremors-Part 3/4)

on January 6, 2010

Elsewhere

Site Navigator