Mashobra, Himachal Pradesh

_{A weclome from the devdars!}


Mashobra (31.13°N 77.23°E) is a little town nestled on a Himalayan mountain ridge to the north east of Shimla at a distance of about 10 kilometres.  From this altitude of about 7,000 feet, facing east one sees the vast expanse of the Himalaya's, rising range after range, skywards. 

Outside the town, the Mashobra range itself is covered with thick evergreen conifer and oak forest.  The ranges further to its east relatively bare and brown with the final ones proclaiming their presence in snow clad white.  One can see the snow laden Gangotri-Gaumukh peak from this town.  The landscape is striking contrast of deep green, brown and white snow ranges.

Shimla was India's erstwhile summer capital during the British raj.  Today it is the preferred location for training, study and research.  Institutions
such as the Indian Army Training Command, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Civil Supplies and Agriculture Research institutions bear testimony.





The forest on the Mashobra range is mainly pine (chir), cedar (devdars) and oak.  In April, beautiful red rhododendron blossoms add colour to the range.  Every now and then on a walk, one sees its deep green foliage decorated in bunches of red flowers.  It's a charming sight.  The tree also appears to stand with dignity on a red carpet of fallen flowers.  Locals told us the flower is good for the heart, lowers blood pressure and is used to make medicine.  Rhesus monkeys like to make a meal of the flower which has a bitter taste, a little the tamarind. 





_{Rhododendrons in red}


There are some lovely long walks one can take around Mashobra. To the east a trail leads through the forest around the boundary of the President of India's retreat estate and onwards to the higher grounds of Kufri some 7 kilometers away.  To Mashobra's north one can take a quiet winding country road to Craig Nano, a peak on which water reservoirs which provide Shimla its drinking water are built. 

With a car, about 40 kilometers north of Mashobra, one meets one of India's best known rivers, the Satluj, at Tattapani.  As one descends the mountain, one catches sight of the Satluj's gorgeous brown-green waters flowing swiftly through the foothills. In April, its water level is low though the river is still quite wide.  Being snow fed the water is chillingly cold.  Incredibly, at Tattapani, one finds a number of hot sulphur springs along the river bank.  The locals dig up some sand on the river's bank and one finds a stream of clear, hot flowing water come up from the ground, form a pool and join the Satluj.  It's nature's gift of a cold plunge with a sauna; a wonderful opportunity to take a refreshing dip in the icy water of the river and then soak happily in the warmth of the hot spring.

_{Satluj running a swift course in the foothills}


In April, Mashobra's forest resonates to the soft twittering of a number of birds.  We saw a grey bushchats, doves, mynas and on one forunate walk a beautiful pair of Indian fairy-blue birds. 

A pair of red-rumped swallows had made a mud nest below a balcony of the hotel we lived in.  Through out the day the couple made aerial sorties in the cold mountain air.  Now and then they'd settle on a chosen perch, a vantage point close to the nest, to bask in the gentle sun and preen. 

_{Red rumped swallows}

In this season the chestnut, peach, plum, pear and apple tree have still to bring forth a coat of leaves.  The treecreeper, a busy little brown bird that hops its way up tree trunks looking for insects, makes frequent visits to its favoured moss-laden, bare and gnarled deciduous tree trunk. 

Rhesus monkeys are abundant in these parts and occasionally one sees a few langoors. At sun up the rhesus monkeys start off on a beat of frolic and forage.  And often you will catch one warm and stretch itself in the morning sun on the small town's corrugated iron roofs.

Minakshi Chaudhry in her book 'Whispering Deodars' invokes Kipling's verse that quite aptly sums up the mood when one watches their carefree caper:

His hide was very mangy and his face was very red,
And ever and anon he scratched with energy his head.
His manners were not always nice, but how my spirit cried
To be an artless Bandar loose upon the mountain side!

_{Mashobra in the mountains}

_{Author: Ruchir Bansal 
Photos:  Ami, Vinay and Ruchir Bansal
Information Sources:  Wikipedia
Updated:  April 14, 2014}