Tibetan Spiritual Leader His Holiness The Dalai Lama (left) walks through a crowd of devotees as he arrives at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, 31 March 2006, to attend the annual Shoton Festival. Shoton literaly translates as yoghurt festival during which traditional Tibetan operas are performed and yoghurt is distributed among celebratants. [...]

April edition of TIME magazine has an excellent article about global warming. Himachal contributes a lot to this without adequate planned mining as well as bigger dams. Few excerpts: The photograph taken in 1928, right, shows how the Upsala Glacier, part of the South American Andes in Argentina, used to look. The ice on the [...]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060329/sports.htm#6 Mahesh Chander Sharma Sundernagar: Soon after shooter Vijay Kumar won the first of his two gold medals at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, his father Banku Ram got busy attending congratulatory calls at the Sub Post Office at Harsaur village in Hamirpur. The reason: there was no telephone at home. When Vijay won his second [...]

Beautiful snow fall near snow point in Manali, Kullu Valley.

Sundernagar – The state-level Nalwar Fair is the biggest cattle fair of North India and cattle from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are brought here for sale or exchange. This year about 20,000 pairs of bullocks were brought here and sale proceeds of the cattle touched Rs [...]

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 19: Pemba Tamang and Vijay Kumar of India pose prior to receiving their Gold medals for the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Pairs Final at the Melbourne International Shooting Club during day Four of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games March 19, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Samresh Jung won the another gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth games. This is Jung’s fifth gold medal in Melbourne, taking the 35-year-old to a new Commonwealth Games record for India. He now has the most Commonwealth golds won by an Indian. Putting in an outstanding performance that broke the games record in both the qualification [...]

By: Rishad Saam Mehta Narkanda is a typical Himalayan town with its share of fruit vendors lining the bazaar, Nepali porters scurrying around like headless chickens, snow-capped peaks in the background and jeep taxis bursting at the seams with humanity. The national highway number 22 takes a sharp U-turn after the market and continues towards [...]

Himalaya Rally 2006 The Himalaya Rally 2006 got underway on March 15 in Islamabad. Eighteen vintage cars and 36 racers — from Korea, Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Australia — roared out of Islamabad, headed for the hills. The drivers will steer their ancient cars through the Himalayas from Islamabad to Kolkata via numerous picturesque [...]

In September 2006, Chess Edwards is taking trekking tour to Great Himalayan National Park. Here are few details from his site: Described as “Like Nepal 40 years ago” the Great Himalayan National Park, in the far northern reaches of India, provides us with a pristine environment untrammeled by tourist influences. This is a true journey [...]

The Khajjiar Lake.

Khajjiar is a forest glade of great beauty, 6400 feet above sea level. It is also known as Switzerland of India.

The saucer shaped lake, fed by slim streams, rests in the center of the large glade of Khajjiar.
It’s embedded beneath a dense pine forest surrounded by high mountains, and fringed by gigantic deodars.

Adding to the charms of Khajjiar are the sacred temple of Khajji Nag (after whom the place is named) belonging to 12th century A.D.
and a golf course set in the midst of the idyllic surroundings.

Khajjiar is 22 km from Dalhousie and 24 km from Chamba.

http://kulluproject.org Unlike most gap year agencies, Kullu Project does not pre-arrange rigid teaching placements for volunteers before they arrive in India. We think it’s important that volunteers have a large amount of input in shaping the work that they do. After all they understand their own skills and strengths better then we do, and may [...]

Gliding becomes Himachal’s favourite sport—and cottage industry. Almost every village seems to want a piece of the sky SANJAY VERSAIN BILLING, HIMACHAL PRADESH THERE’S a continuous warbling in the air about 8,000 feet above sea level in a thickly forested hill. In the flurry of activity—the unbuckling of rucksacks, unfurling of sophisticated plastic stuff, beeping [...]

http://www.jagritikullu.org Jagriti is a Community Based Organization (registered as a Society) working for empowerment of poor, disadvantaged hill women. We believe that the key to lasting change in iniquitous societal structures lies in nurturing the inherent strengths of vulnerable groups especially women, to change and build a more equitable society. The Lag Valley despite its [...]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060110/mailbag.htm My Himachal The creation of an international forum called ‘My Himachal’, by non-resident Himachalis, is welcome news indeed. Himachal, with its unique geography, climatic, culture and richness of resources, is poised to take a quantum leap forward. However, the neighbouring states have blindly followed the flawed and dubious Western models of development leading to [...]

Every work of art is fragrant of its time, said Laurence Binyon. The religion of Vaishnavism provided Kangra painters with inspiration while in the ruler, Sansar Chand, they found a patron who honored and encouraged them. It was in such happy circumstances that these artists created a style which combines elegance with nervous grace. There [...]

I am back into US after a wonderful trip to Bharat. I was in Bharat (India) for 25 days and all the time I was in Thural (Palampur) only. Please check the pictures that I uploaded to http://himachal.us/gallery and let me know what is your take on these pictures. I do volunteer for http://www.sewausa.org and [...]

As reported earlier by Ben Heron from Kullu Valley, the same meeting he attended there was on news and gives more picture about the pico hydro capability of the state: http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=20661 Himachal watermills generating electricity By Baldev S. Chauhan, Shimla: Traditional water mills on Himachal Pradesh’s scenic riverbanks, used for grinding grain and irrigation in [...]