There is a beautiful grassy expanse just about 500 metres eastwards and about 100 metres higher elevation from the road head of Jalori Pass. It takes about 15-20 minutes to climb up to this fantastic panoramic vantage point. You can see the Pir Panjal, Dhauladhar as well as the Shivalik from this location.
Me and Neelam took it real slow while climbing up to the 360° viewpoint, as it is called. It is also called the ‘Yeh Jawani Yeh Diwani’ point as the 10 minute scene in that movie was shot at this location. Personally I took it real slow, taking steps of just 6 inches, and this way I never had to stop until I reached the top. ‘Go Slow to Speed Up’ is the mantra in climbing and it does work, maintain a pace at which you can climb continuously without getting all huffy and puffy, and you will be quicker to reach.
You reach the top-most point and then you realise that there is another interesting and slightly higher point another 500 metres away towards the eastern direction.
Some workers had all the welding equipment and they were constructing a metal gazebo at the top and I mentioned to Neelam that when the gazebo is complete, it will be a nice shelter for when we come here for an all-night astrophotography shoot. We could even carry some bedding along 🙂
While climbing there were people engaged in various activities, taking selfies. What amazed me was that several people were sitting on the grass and reading. Now that I have never seen anywhere else. Maybe the serenity of the location coupled with a lovely soothing sunshine was the catalyst, to make people relax and read a book.
Me and Neelam were busy taking out our camera to put up for shooting time lapses sequences towards the west as well as the east. Once the cameras were working, we became relatively free.
There were amazing natural colours in the sky. Apart from the sunset hues of orange and yellows there was a peculiar green colour towards the east. The sky had turned a very interesting shade of Aqua colour, blue with a greenish tinge, instead of the regular blue that we normally see. The sky was exceptionally clear and we saw the pink ‘Belt of Venus’ towards the eastern direction just after sunset. It was short-lived and was replaced by the rising grey colour of the shadow of the Earth.
As it normally happens at such locations, just after sunset all the visitors left the place. There were only four of us left behind. Panki & Sonu Sood were with us for this evening shoot. Panki shot several fantastic images of the Belt of Venus and also a nice image of Sonu playing with the crescent Moon that was visible right on the horizon, understandable as the football world cup is going on!
A small pond at the location completes the scene of this meadow. Relax at the edge of the pond looking northwards and you can see the entire Jibhi Valley and up to the town of Banjar. Looking up from the valley, you can see the dome shaped Deo Tibba and other snow-capped mountains.
Here is a short (40 minutes) polar star trail shot near the pond, along with the lights from the Jibhi Valley. You can also see the dome shaped Deo Tibba in the image.
This looks like a perfect spot to organise a Sky Photo Trip. We will be working together with Panki to schedule a Night Landscape workshop soon at this location and other scenic places around Tirthan. Stay tuned for this.
Neelam & Ajay Talwar
