Chandrataal Parikrama – 2016

By Pahaadi Bhalu on September 16, 2016 • ( 1 Comment )

Abhishek Kaushal visited Chandrataal lake in July 2016, 12 years since his first visit. And this time he does what he couldn’t do in his 2004 trip.

The first time I had visited Chandrataal lake was in June 2004, just one day after the full moon night. The weather was clear and there was a lot of snow in the nearby mountains. We had camped very near to the lake. After visiting the lake in the evening, we all sat around a bonfire and after dinner everybody else from the group went to sleep. But somehow I could not sleep that night. There was an urge inside me to take a full walk around the periphery of the lake (Parikrama); and I gave in to my urges at 3:00 am of that beautiful night. I don’t have any pictures from that time to show the beauty of the lake that night. But it was, and to date remains, the most memorable night of my life so far.

This year, when we planned for the trip to Chandrataal on the day of the full moon night in July 2016, I wanted to click and capture and record and store as much of it as possible. I was a bit disappointed on reaching the lake as the weather was not clear. Also, as we were staying far from the lake, a late night walk around of the lake seemed a bit pointless. But I still managed to take some 100 odd photographs of the entire parikrama. Initially, I was a bit hesitant and selfish to share these images. But now I think that everybody can atleast get a taste of my experience by looking at some of the photos.