Himachal in Winter 6/ The snow-surprise of Khajjiar

There would not have been a better start to the New Year. It was a total surprising scene as I opened the door of our room. The whole field has turned white, so as the roofs of the hotels and tables that are placed in the restaurants. A thin layer of snow everywhere. 

But it actually didn’t snow in the night. As the matter of fact, there had been no snowfall since the past 15 days. The sky is also absolutely clear now, so how did the snow come? 

As I was trying to figure out what was the exact reason, suddenly a thought of a natural phenomenon came to my mid. It’s called the ground frost.

Since the temperature was below freezing point, the dew that fell whole night has frozen into snow. Let it be fake snow, for me it was the best start to the New Year. 

We reached Khajjiar, from Chamba yesterday, 31^st December. Not many tourists prefer to stay in Khajjiar. They usually come for a day trip from Dalhousie, and return back as the day ends. But we had a different plan. We deliberately planned to spend the last night of the year in the freezing cold of Khajjiar, with the hope of experiencing snowfall. Well that wish was fulfilled, though in a different way. 

Khajjiar is located just at the distance of 27 kms from Chamba. The beauty of the last 7 kms in this road is just unimaginable, with the road passing though the forests and the snow capped peaks of Kashmir and Manimahesh can be seen.  

Just a few kilometres before Khajjiar, Kalatop Sanctuary starts. We were surrounded by devdar trees all around. Suddenly, the devdar trees moved away and a giant field came in front of us. Finally we reached Khajjiar.

It was like a dream for me to go to Khajjiar, which has been fulfilled. We checked into the Himachal Tourism run Hotel Devdar. Sitting at the balcony in front of our room, I was just amazed by the view of the Khajjiar field. Being the last day of the year, the field was too much crowded. 

We decided to take a walk around the field after having lunch. There are quite a few hotels and restaurants at one corner of the field. There is a temple also, dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is called the Khajji Nag temple. The name of the place Khajjiar is derived from here. 

Situated at an altitude of around 6,500 feet above sea level, Khajjiar is known as the ‘Switzerland of India’ because of the field. Actually the ‘Switzerland of India’ recognition was given by Switzerland Government. This recognition was given by the then head of Swiss Chancery Will T Blazer on 7^th July 1992. He also put a sign board of a yellow Swiss hiking footpath showing Khajjiar's distance from the Swiss capital Berne, 6194 km. 

From the sign board, we climbed down towards the lake. This is known as the Khajjiar Lake. There was not so much water in the lake mainly due to lack of rainfall, however, the lake was full of fishes. There is a small wooden bridge in front of the lake. After having a little photo session, we again started our walk. 

With the sun bathing down the field, we had a nice time walking around. At one of the extreme points of the field there is a bungalow. This is another unit of Hotel Devdar, known as the Khajji Cottage. This area is devoid of any crowd. Only tourism, nature and wild animals have their presence here. Yes, at night sighting bears are a common thing here. 

At another side of the field, there is a forest rest house situated amidst the devdar forest. There is a primary school beside that rest house. We enjoyed the whole afternoon in our own terms. Sometimes we even lied down on the green grass. 

As the day ended, we took shelter in our room. But from our room we enjoyed the way in which night fell in the field of Khajjiar. Suddenly the entire field was empty. Visiting tourists have all left for Dalhousie or Chamba. The nice chirping of birds have paved way to barking of Dogs. We just imagined that bears could be anywhere around us. 

The year 2017 was to bid as adieu in a few hours. As the night progressed, the resident tourists’ enjoyment slowly started to increase. Frankly, it was sometimes getting unbearable for us. We decided that taking the bed early would be a nice idea.

It was a result of early to bed last night that the morning gave us such a huge surprise.  We rushed out of our rooms and enjoyed the moments of ground frost. 

The dew which fell last night, have frozen into ice. The field was too much slippery. A photo session round was also done. But the icing was temporary. As the sun rose above the horizon, the ice started to melt. Slowly Khajjiar got its usual green field back. 

Our time in Khajjiar was about to end. In a while we would start our journey to Dalhousie. But before that I personally thanked the decision of staying in Khajjiar a lot. The beginning of New Year would not have been this wonderful had we not stayed in the ‘mini switzerland’. 

How to Reach?

Khajjiar finds its place in the sightseeing package of Dalhousie. Most of the tourists pay a visit to Khajjiar from Dalhousie. Reach Pathankor from Howrah or New Delhi and head to Dalhousie. Khajjiar is 22 kms from Dalhousie. 

Where to Stay?

 The best place to stay here in Khajjiar the is the Hotel Devdar run by Himachal Tourism. Book the property online through the portal of HPTDC (hptdc.in). There are a few private properties here in Khajjiar that can be booked thorough the various booking websites.