Getting away from gunshots

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Dharamkot in Himachal Pradesh, where many Israeli tourists come to relax, after a period of conscription. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

It has been over a week since Jish (name changed to protect privacy) arrived in India after completing his mandatory military service in Israel. He savours a lemon pie and ginger tea at a popular vegan bakery-cum-café located in the narrow market lane of Dharamkot, a misty village in Himachal Pradesh’s rain-washed pine forests. A popular destination among Israeli backpackers along the Hummus Trail, Dharamkot is about two-three kilometres uphill from Mcleodganj. “This is my second visit to India,” he says, just before setting off for his painting class — one of the ways he chooses to unwind in the Himalayan landscape.

He felt compelled to visit last year in May, hearing stories through the drumbeat of social media and his friends’ first-hand accounts. He stayed in the country for nearly five months, first alone, and then for two and half months with his wife. “I travelled mostly in the Himalayas on a motorcycle. I came to Dharamkot, then went to Manali’s Parvati Valley, and then to Ladakh. On my second visit to India, we [my wife and I] have come together,” says Jish, who has served his conscription term of two years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)’s reserve military service.

Even as the former soldier made plans to travel, the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran left its mark on his life. “Since October 2023, we have lost many friends and many civilians. It’s like an endless war between two nations, the Jewish nation and the Arab nation. Just one month before Hamas attacked us in October 2023, I got engaged. I was on the battlefield. My fiancé prepared all the stuff, you know, the wedding dress, and so on. It’s difficult,” says 25-year-old Jish, who says he joined the IDF when he was 19.

Dharamkot is known as Mini Israel, because a number of Israelis flock here after they complete their conscription terms. Around 80,000 Israelis visit India annually, according to a paper, ‘Decoding the hummus trail of India: regaining the lost prudence’, published in 2022 in Anatolia , an international journal of tourism and hospitality research. “Last year, a little over 1 lakh foreign tourists visited Himachal. This included visitors from Europe, Canada, the U.S., and Israel among other countries,” says Bhanu Gupta, joint director at Himachal’s Tourism department.

This year, however, Dharamkot’s narrow, stone-paved roads lined by tall pine trees look relatively deserted. The influx of Israeli travellers has been skewed and uneven, according to local hospitality players. Yet, over the years, the steady footfall of foreign tourists has helped the economy of this tiny village, even as the locals worry about the adverse impact of drug-laced raves in the forest.

Jish says he and his wife are “here to relax” and will soon head out on their hired bike to Delhi and onward to Rajasthan.