To Siddhibari

Panduri got me dropped off at Old Delhi Railway station for my night train to Pathankot, Dauladhar Express. The journey there, from NOIDA/Indirapuram was somewhat surreal, the kind of scene you might see in a Mad Max or waterworld picture. Most of the way, the power was off, including the streetlights and it gave a surreal feel (driving through the capital of the country and you can't see squat). The traffic was heavy and messy and towards the end when we hit old Delhi just a crazy mass of humanity. At Old Delhi station I was stressed out and trying to get my bearings. I was trying to find out the platform for my train, but everyone spoke Hindi and I didn't understand. Finally I played it safe and got a porter to take me there. As it turned out, it was the same platform I was already standing on, he just walked me down it to the location where my compartment would be ! Oh well. The weather was unbelievably sultry (Delhi had not yet got the monsoon but was overcast and humid), and waiting there for the train stands out as one of the uncomfortable experiences in recent memory. The train journey was interesting for being my first in *real* north India (and I was travelling sleeper), but nothing specific to report. I got off next morning at Pathankot, which more or less fit the description of Lonely Planet as a 'noisy chaotic city that you want to get out of as soon as possible'. I got onto a rickety Himachal Pradesh Transport Corporation bus that took me to Dharmasala. It was a 3 hour-odd bus ride through some very scenic terrain in Himachal, but unfortunately I was tired and interested in getting to my destination so did not have the eyes for it. At Dharmasala, I lugged my suitcase from the bus stop up a steep flight of stairs to a taxi stand to take me to the "Chinmaya Tapovan Ashram" at Siddhibari which turned out to be a 10-odd km journey. I was of course interested in Dharmasala and trying to see signs of the Tibetan government in exile but of whatever I saw it had a lot of goverment offices and small shops and pretty much that was it. The Tapovan ashram was in a very scenic location (see photo) and I was welcomed by my parents and some decent food, which was very welcome.