I went to McLeod Ganj alone, and the mountains were kind

I almost did not go. My cousin cancelled two days before, and my mother was not happy about me driving up from Ludhiana alone. But I had been saving this trip for a year, so I packed one bag and left at six in the morning.

The first evening in McLeod Ganj I did nothing except walk. I followed a group of older Tibetan women around the kora path below the temple, spinning the prayer wheels the way they did, always to the right. One of them noticed me copying her and laughed, then showed me how to keep my hand flat so the wheel turns smoothly. We did not share a language, but she walked next to me for the whole loop.

On the second day I walked up to Triund. I am not a trekker and I stopped more times than I can count, but the people coming down kept saying "almost there" and somehow it worked. At the top the clouds opened for maybe ten minutes and the Dhauladhar was right in front of me, so close it felt unreal. I sat on a rock and cried a little, I am not ashamed to say.

The last evening I went back to the temple and watched the butter lamps being lit. I did not pray for anything in particular. I just felt grateful that I went alone, because I think I noticed more.

If you are thinking of coming here by yourself, come. The mountains are kind to people who travel slowly.