Dodi tal was the terminus of the first part of our trek. We had a rest day here.
The word tal means lake. There is this huge lake was about 2 Kms in circumference and at a height of 3,100 mts. It was a very pleasant place surrounded by mountains and pine trees.

The first night we reached there, we were all very enthusiastic about getting a big campfire going. So we all set out to find some wood, we found lots, but finding wood is one thing and getting it to burn is another entirely different thing.
I discovered a totally new dimension to the saying "there can be no smoke without a fire". There can, believe me, there can.
Here we are trying to get the fire going by blowing at it. Chetan blew the most, I guess he also inhaled the most because next day he was down with pain and migrane.

Okay here is one of the famous ODOMOS sessions captured on film. Mouneet has this impression that his blood is the sweetest blood known to mosquitoes and they are addicted to it. So he used to have this routine, every time when we set up camp he would strip and cover his whole body in ODOMOS and then put sunscreen and cold cream. This procedure would be repeated every three hours. By the way Chetan and I never needed to put any ODOMOS because no mosquito dared to come within a 2 mile radius of Mouneet. In the photo he has just finished layering himself. In the background are Chetan and the caretaker of the campsite

THE STORY OF DODI TAL

This is the place where Lord Ganesha (Ganapati, the elephant headed God) was supposed to have been born.

The story goes that, Shiva (the Destroyer) had been gone for a long time and during that time his wife gave birth to a son (Ganesha). Now Ganesha did not know his father, Shiva, nor the father the son. One day when Parvati (Shiva's wife and Ganesha's mother) was having a bath in the lake she asked her son to see that nobody came close.
Shiva came back at that time and Ganesha stopped him and in the fight that followed Shiva cut off Ganesha's head.
When Parvati saw this she was livid and demanded that Shiva get the head of the first living creature he comes across and bring her son back to life. The first living being Shiva came across was an elephant. Hence Ganesh got an elephant's head.

The whole detailed story is written in a book (in English) and kept in the Mandir (temple). The Sadhu in the Mandir will be most glad to tell you the whole story.And you could also read it if you ever go to Dodi Tal.

ODOMOS

A popular mosquito repellent cream.