Dharamsala....in the lap of mountains

Dalai Lama is not the only reason people should talk about Dharamsala.I know people would say Cricket Stadium is another one. Agree , but there are many other aspects of Dharamsala beyond Dalai Lama and Cricket stadium.

I have had a chance of observing Dharamsala very closely. Thanks to the  school vacations which gave me chance to spend my time  in Dharamsala with my grandparents.This is the place which is literally at the footsteps of mountains.If you start trekking up , It will take maximum of one hour to land your foot at one of the hills of lower Himalayas.The hills have little streams which turn to gurgling rivulets while their journey down the hill.Few steps up the hills and you get closer to clouds.You can see yourself walking in the clouds.The flora changes as you go up. One can see pine tree line getting changed into cedar tree lines as the gradient increases.

Dharamsala is also known for it's incessant rainfall.The rainfall brings that magnificent shine in flora.However in summers , Dharamsala can be quite harsh.It can get quite scorching in summers but the heats gives way to cool breeze as soon as rain arrives.Rain is quite a frequent visitor.This is the place which can boast about beautiful temples like Kunal Pathri  and Bhagsu Naag. Kunal Pathri is in the heart of pine tree forest.I am not sure of now but few years back it used to be like that. One had to trek through pine forest (Cheel gaadi in local language) to reach this temple. Bhagsu Naag is located in higher parts of Dharamsala. One can have beautiful bird's eye view of Dharamsala town on way to Bhagsu Nath.

Civil lines have some old nice looking palatial homes.It is home to many prominent people of Dharamsala. Kotwali Bazaar is the main market .Few kilometers up from Kotwali bazaar is Mecloed Ganj.This is a Tibetean center and one can shop his or her heart out here.It has wonderful eateries both national and international cuisine.You can not miss the confectionery shop by the name of Narojee's .It is there since British time.It still has old world charm to it.On way to Mecloed Ganj , there is a cemetery which is straight out from pages of Gothic Novel.The character of Dharamsala town is very different from the character of it's upper parts .Upper parts have been more taken by foreigners and it seems more of foreign land than Indian.
But whatever it is , Dharamsala still remains the quaint town which just takes pressure off you.

Are gadgets making us under utilize our brain

I have started struggling for words .Sometimes they just sit on tongue but  never come out :(  Has it been happening to you guys too. Well I can understand that I am not that young but I am not that old too  that I start forgetting stuff.

I gave it a little thought and after a while I realized that this is nothing to do with age. It is to do with practice.I think I have been not using my wits as I should have been. I have been just whiling away my time and doing absolutely nothing constructive. Though I certainly feel that life is not all about taking pressures especially when they can be avoided but  is always better to have one challenging task at hand  at a given point of time. It really stimulates brain and keeps brains and emotions in control.

We belong to always online kind of generation.Our reliance on gadgets (read smart phones/tabs ) is getting heavier day by day. For any single piece of information we just punch in some keys on our gadgets and we are served with express information . Even for doing simple math for day to day transactions , gadget comes as a savior. What a brain wreak we have become. We are not doing any mental calculations , we always have internet at a click away .Whatever information we want to seek , we never query our brain instead go straight to our phones.There is a lot of information lying in the brain unused as we are not even getting it used.What is the use of tools which never gets used so what is the use of accumulating information when you are not using it !It is obviously turning to fossil.

I get so amazed when I see how people of non internet era do calculations so fast and remember so.Even if they are carrying gadgets , their reliance on them is just for a voice call and nothing more than that.Unlike us who see gadget as panacea.

I have decided to decrease my dependency on gadgets from now on and start taking services of my own CPU rather than some artificial CPU .I have decided to start using less of gadgets for day today life.Starting with  remembering phone numbers of near and dear ones and dialing them by numbers instead of stored names. Saying bye to plastic money wherever I can , doing crosswords ,Sudoku ...

Lets see how far can I go !