A week in Dev Bhoomi, to realise Human body is a Miracle and people cannot be bought.

Chander Verma is a father of 3, a local resident of Munsyari. Having done various jobs in the past and now running the Mayank Homestay by himself, on lease at 3.5 lakh a year. The day I reached, I told him that he was paying way too much but he already made an agreement for 3 years. He did magic with his hands when it came to cooking though. No bad habits, would smoke a cigarette rarely if someone offers, humble and a neat gentleman. Lovely kids and a beautiful family, living life on what they could afford. He knew his expenses would gradually increase so I asked him to think wisely before he did anything. I had long conversations with him, numerous times during my stay. When I called him to discuss my bill he was kind enough to offer the room at 500 and dinner at 150, even suggested that I extend my stay till the roads ahead were open. I wasn't moving around much but had to be paying rent for my stay and took only 1 meal. Dinner. Survived the rest of the day with biscuits and tea or anything that I could find.

When I woke up the next day, I had a clear view of the mountains. The sun was at its peak after 3 days, I put a chair outside and sat in the sunshine to finish my writing with a Black tea and cigarette. I can't write when I'm too high or when I'm completely sober, it's a state of mind in-between. On my last day in Munsyari, I wanted to make the best of it.

It was by chance that I was forced to stay there for a week. 8 days in Munsyari, 7 days in the snow, for the first time of my life and hats off to the creator for guiding me there. Temperatures dropping to minus in the nights and days as chill as a freezer. I felt nothing. No thoughts. At least I didn't get many thoughts. Lazing there I used to be around the locals either chatting or smoking, or helping Chandra Ji in his kitchen.

The next day there were two more guests, Pradeep and Geeta. A newlywed couple from Nainital on their honeymoon. Pradeep, a chef on a cruise ship abroad and Geeta was a bakery chef in Hyatt, Ahmedabad. They managed to find a longer route to reach because snow had blocked the main road. I was living like a local in Munsyari, picking and dropping people, buying things from the market. I kept myself occupied and moving around to reduce the feeling of freezing. Either stay tucked inside the blanket or keep moving around.

Something held me in that place, It felt like home, the silence, the people, the survival, the feeling of owning nothing, the feeling of wonder over the way our body could handle such extreme weather, and the simple life. They call it Dev Bhoomi and it surely is with so much energy. Even spiritually when I meditated, I felt so good, even the cold was just an outer cover. Suddenly when I was there, I started to hear a chant, a chant that I did not meditate on in my past and it kept repeating in my ears, om Shree Vasudevaya di Namah. I started to wonder what Vasudeva means and why suddenly I had it going on in my mind. I continued to listen.

I remembered the day I reached Munsyari. It all started with a picture I had requested a boy to take. He took it for me and said his brother had rooms if I needed though they weren't siblings. So I had left the luggage there, came out and met brother Kailash Burma who had handed me charas filled beedi. The first drag just opened me up. I had not smoked since the past few days and that hit opened up something inside. Chander said the higher the altitude the better the dope. I scored a stick here a long cool one that caught my sight. Bargaining for 500, he handed it to me. A stick about 15 centimetres long and a centimetre thick. But there were many people who came to smoke. With no jobs during snowfall, weather as cold as ice, they just hang around and relax. I tried to save as much as I could for the journey ahead and I really didn't want to be sober on the new year. I ended up having a combination of 3 different varieties. One from Kasar Devi and two from Munsyari. I was so attached to the place, I realized I wasn't wanting to go. Again!

Reluctantly, I started along with the couple towards Jim Corbett. We had a good ride that day and parted near Nainital. I booked a room as they went home.