Chamunda Mata Mandir Devi Hindu Temple

On the way to our next stop, Palampur, we stopped at Chamunda Mata Mandir Devi Hindu Temple. Shoes off, goat in line for the inner sanctum which doesn't allow photography. ...View image... There were silver doors on either side of the shrine and the priest put a tilak on our foreheads under the watchful eyes of an Indian Army Guard.

But it was the outside the Temple that was the highlight. Activities going on everywhere. A sacred pool with people bathing in it...View image.....the river rushing by...others who had washed clothes, waving them to air-dry...and another group sitting around a young girl, chanting. She is considered rather like a "shaman" (who could channel the spirits and gods) and sat perfectly still in a trance-like state while the people around her kept up the singing and chanting. This was interesting.

drying clothes along the bank of Chamunda Mata Mandir Devi HIndu Temple

chanting

It was still monsoon season in India until, approximately, September 15. We changed our plans every day depending on the rain probably driving Jagdish crazy. Through a small town while both Jagdish's ate lunch, watching the people sell their fruit ...View image...and always bags of potato chips hanging from all the stands...View image...don't you wonder how stale they are...sitting there for who knows how long?

town activity

On to the Taragarh Palace, our hotel for the next two nights. It was absolutely gorgeous, built in the early 1930's as a summer resort and purchased by the royal family of Jammu and Kashmir in 1951 for the home of the dowager Maharani. The present royal family now operates Taragarh as a hotel. There are tiger skins on the walls, colonial furniture throughout along with a new modern wing. We stayed in the original, heritage section of the Palace.

tiger skin rug decoration

Then a walk through a little farm village of 250 people, Paprola. ...View image... There was a tiny grocery store and the man who owned it insisted we stop and talk with him and his family. He spoke English, had served in the Indian Army for 20 years, and also wanted to serve us tea. His family and neighbors were hanging over the fence, very excited to see us - the first Westerners that had ever visited their village.

Paprola neighbors

Paprola family

His wife, son, daughter-in-law (along with their four children) lived together in the same house. (It's still typical in India for the bride to move in with her husband's family. For those of you think India and filthy are synonymous, the people try very hard to keep themselves clean. Each day, we saw the children walking to school - immaculate - the little girls in their school uniforms with freshly washed and braided hair and the boys in their white shirts and trousers. At truck stops, the drivers lathered down alongside the road using a hose or well...attempting to get off some of the grime.... We've met such nice people...