Isn't there a place that only exists in your mind? A 'Malgudi' which you may not be able to describe to anyone but still is as vivid as your hometown in your head? And especially for travelers like you, that imaginary village is somewhat a compilation of all the beautiful images from places your beautiful soul has been to. An assembling of beauty. Right through the middle of that quiet secluded seductive village in my head, flows a river. A blue shy river like Baspa in the evenings. And that river is everything to the village as Baspa is to Chitkul. I have always wanted to live in a small village by the bank of a river. From the last house of the village, the river must still be visible. The idea of living as our ancestors did, close to the nature, literally, for there is no other way of sustainable survival, in which we ourselves become the examples of the 'Mutualism' that we understood in our biology textbooks that existed only between cows and crows, sharks and Remora, has always been appealing to me. That was why I was in love with Chitkul even before I boarded the 8 pm bus from Kashemere Gate ISBT.
Chitkul is still not widely known among the typical weekend-getaway instagram-lightroom travelers. It may be because this small village is situated almost 18 hours away from Delhi, right at the border of Himachal. Climb some mountains and cross some gates, you are in Red China. The village starts from where the sign board reads, 'Welcome to Chitkul-The Last Indian Village', and ends at a gate where a nice army man sits who asks you with a smile, why are you there of all the places especially if you say you came a long way as from Kerala, and politely accuses you of not preferring to visit the Shrikhand Mahadev temple. The sign board near that gate reads 'The last line of Defense.' Many 'lines' more of defense are ahead of this gate starting from the Mandarin world, which may be a quiet small village just like Chitkul with the same good-hearted people.
The best way to reach Chitkul is by bus. I mean the economic. For college students like me, more often than not, best means cheap :). There is an HRTC bus which leaves ISBT Kashmere gate around 8pm which will serve you well. You can check the exact timings from the HRTC website. The bus will go till Reckong Peo. But you be a good one and get down at Karcham Dam, from where the road splits: One leads to Peo. Other leads to well...you know where. The bus will be reaching Karcham around 1 pm in the afternoon. There are buses that takes you from Karcham to Chitkul. They are not regular, but surprisingly they seem to keep up with everybody's timings. And there always is the option of a taxi. From Karcham it takes around 2 hours to reach Chitkul. Sangla is in the way. Rakcham is in the way. All beautiful places reminding that there is more to come. And by 4pm, you are there. The queen...well why should it be a queen to be beautiful?..it is more like a shy peasant girl, brown skin and honey-colored eyes, braided hair and a brave voice. 'Welcome to the Last Indian Village'.
Navigation is easy in Chitkul. One junction and from there four different roads. One goes near to the river. Down and down it goes and grows level with the Baspa. The village school is just by that road. Zostel-one of the best places to stay(maybe not the best going with our established meaning: they charge around 600 per bed!)-is right at the beginning of that path. Then one path goes to the houses of the villagers. They are housed at the lower parts of the mountains that encircle the village. At a reasonable elevation from the river. Then one is the road by which we came. And the last leads to the last gate of the last indian village where the last line of defense is set up by which a nice soldier with saffron wrist-bands sits and smiles.
There are some pretty cafes to stay. Rani-which is right by the mentioned junction- is a great place. The host is a resourceful guy if you know what I mean. The rent is pretty low, the rooms are clean, the food is good, the view is great(Come on, it's Chitkul!). The host is a young man, an entertainer. He kinds of looks like a poet, or a philosopher. Moving on, there is another place, just left to the road leading to the villagers' homes. It does not have a name board but a host that will not be missed by anyone. He is a chatter and a good chatter. The food is good there, the rooms are OK. Food is slightly expensive in Chitkul, justified by the difficulty by which raw items are to be brought to the village. Then there is Zostel, and it is the best choice really if you are ready to spend some extra money on accommodation. You get to stay with other fellow travelers, hear interesting and inspiring stories, meet maybe future travel-mates and what not. Also, they organizes various activities around the village as riverside hiking, river crossing, bicycle rides, star gazing(This is LIT! If you are lucky, milky way will color your skies), photowalks etc. And there is also a place called Wanderer's Nest, which I hear is a pretty good place. And there is always the choice of spending nights in tents. You can camp in the banks of Baspa, and fall asleep to the river lullabies. You can pitch your own or rent one in the campsites. There is a campsite, beside the Village School(CHITKUL PUBLIC SCHOOL), which is the closest to the river, often rented by the motorcyclists(Rubber Tramps:D) It is a great place and tent costs around 1200 for a night. Don't worry, you can always share. Well, people, these are the places I know well enough to say something about, but it is really up to you. I am pretty sure all the places will be amazing if you walk towards with the right mindset. You may stay in one of these places mentioned above, or like Rumi adviced, 'Go and unwind your own story'.
Zostel has a cafe with the right vibe and good food. It is beautifully lit in the evenings and the tea is A-one. Most of the homestays have their own food stalls with pretty much the same menus. Dal Chawal is without a doubt universal. Paneer is ever pervasive as ether. Maggi is the only food many people eat in the mountains. In my opinion, anything hot will do. And pretty much everything hot around Chitkul is good. There is this dhaba called 'Hindustan Ka Akhiri Dhaba',ironically placed right at the beginning of the village, with a signboard your camera can't miss. Go taste the food for yourselves.
Now, coming to what to do around the village. The best thing is that there is not much. I love the places which slows you down. The places you eat like Italians eat, taking all the time in the world, just because there is no better way to spend one's time. The places that estranges you - the product of a hectic life or atleast of a hectic mindset - with possibly nothing to do after something. It is in such places, in the absence, one is to enjoy the only moment having life-that exact moment at your hands. The most accepted way of making full use of a moment is the way in which one prepares for the moments that is believed to come in the future. Don't do that there. You don't have to make use of the moment. Just be grateful that you have that. Enjoy the peace of its non-abundance. Walk around the village if you feel like it(You will). Hike to the top of the Flag Peak if you feel like it(You will). Go sit by the river, or on that large stone cutting the flow for its length into two, if you feel like it(You will). Go walk to the end of the village where the nice soldier sits and smiles if you feel like it(You will). Then rent a bicycle from the Zostel and ride to the start of the village-GO SLOW-past the signboards and greetings and pretend you are one of those Tour de France cyclists, if you feel like it(You will). Walk across the small ridges bordering the fields-not hurting the crops and the villagers-if you feel like it(You Will). Follow the river as far as you can right by its body, if you feel like it(You Will). Watch the cows and sheeps coming down from the pastures beyond the last gate lead by kind old wrinkled faces, and ask them why some of the cows has a block of wood around their necks if you feel like it(You will). Wake early in the morning and run past the sleeping cafes with the joyous huskies and howl at the mountains if you feel like it(You Will). Wait for the midnight and then stroll past the Zostel to a spot of maximum darkness and take a look up and wink at the milky way of which you are an integral part of, if you feel like it(You Will). Go to the chatty uncle's cafe by the junction, and ask him about his days in Kerala, serving for the rich. Ask him how he feels about prawns, if you feel like it(You will). Sit with a book by the bank(Kafka's Letters to Milena will be perfect) and read to yourself and to the Baspa. Hear her giggle. Giggle with her if you feel like it(You will). Yeah! There is not much do around Chitkul.
Chitkul is a part of the Spiti circuit which you may have heard of. Starting from Manali, you can visit Spiti, then Peo, Kalpa, Sangla, Chitkul, and end up in Shimla. But in such trips, most people spent very few time in Chitkul. Chitkul is a place to stay, not to visit. Go for just Chitkul if you can afford the time. Stay for a week or two. Man, don't you atleast once thought how the lockdown has changed you in a positive way? Realised you have grown in a way, you never would have if there was not a lockdown? Chitkul is a lockdown in the mountains. With so little so that you know that little's worth. Every season in Chitkul has it's own charm. I went in a July month, after getting fuc*ed in the head by a 9-5 corporate internship. I was healed. Winter is pretty difficult to travel. Even roads go to sleep under the thick blanket of snow. But if you manage by your good luck and perseverance(of which Hemingway and I are the greatest admirers), you are there for a treat. Man, there is this sight of kids coming out of their homes in the mountain foot in the morning, and skiing(more like skidding) through the ice to their beloved school right by the Baspa. Like Tolstoy asked, 'What more can the heart of a man desire?'
Chitkul is not going to cost you much. If you are going with friends you can spent a week under Rs.5000, if you want to. If you go solo(I love you!), it may cost you a little more, but who knows..There are a lot of 'maybe's in solo travels than in the other kinds. You may be invited by a kind villager to their humble home and be served love. What cannot the universe present you with if you give it the chance to? The travels by bus will cost around Rs.2000 round-trip. Money is not often what you want in abundance for a Chitkul trip-it is time. If you have the luxury of unshepherded time- Please Do go.
There is a 6am bus from Chitkul which will take you up to Karcham Dam. There are also taxis. If you miss the bus, you may try and get rides from kind privileged travelers up to Sangla. From there on, HRTC will look after you. There are buses from Sangla to Rampur. And then from Rampur there is one to Delhi which I know of, that leaves around 4pm(Check in the HRTC Website). There is no mobile network in Chitkul except for BSNL. So, be ready to be disconnected, if you are not a subscriber of 'Connecting India'. Upto Sangla, there is good network coverage. Almost forgot! Raksham and Sangla are also pretty good places to stay and see.
In my focused intention to seduce you into going to Chitkul, it is possible that I have missed important pieces of information which you may like to know prior to your trip. I am sorry, that I could not be more factual and less emotional, but if you made it to this word, you might have made your mind to go. Will only be happy to help if you happen to have any questions regarding the trip, the itinerary, so on and so forth. But please, make time, take your backpack, and catch that 8 o'clock bus.
