Manali

Well somebody has rightly said, ‘the journey is always better than the destination’ and holds somewhat true for this drive to Manali. High raising mountains on one side and the loud noise of river Beas gushing on the other, the scenes get imprinted on your mind forever. Again we reached really early in the morning and roads then weren’t really meant to travel in a public transport and we shook each and every bone on our back.

Next morning around 7am when I looked outside the huge French windows of our hotel I was seeing heaven literally. Snow caped mountains and endless pine and eucalyptus trees everywhere is just unbelievable at once. Had never seen snow before this and for me that first sight of snow is immaculately engraved on my mind. Unlike Shimla, Manali had a lot of life since it had snowed and that drew flocks towards the hills. Our first foot out was the mall road. Most of the hill stations have this mall road which is the hub of the city. So we strolled along the street to acclimatize and feed our faces we again had giant sized paranthas. They are all over it seems.

Manali by the night is even more mystic and romantic. I have always been drawn to mountains and my love for them was apparent because I was the only one going bonkers over it. It was biting cold and I was roaming around soaking up the misty moonlight and seeing flakes of snow sparkle under the moon. Next day we left for the Hadimba Devi Temple. This temple is situated on a top of a hill and the walk up is amidst pine trees winding around the hill. The shrine is surrounded by tall trees all around and just outside the temple are small shops selling stuff required for the temple. It’s a tranquil surrounding and totally cuts you off from the world. The silence can be felt in your brain where you can actually hear the sounds of wind blowing through the bunch of hustling leaves, of migratory birds and the silent smile of those gigantic mountains sitting and watching you fall in love.

We then left to see an apple orchid, again a first time for me. This was a private orchid and my uncle knew this family who took us around their plantations along river Beas. I could hear the water rushing from a distance and the sight of rich red apples against plush green leaves. After a walk into the orchids I was drawn to the river like a magnet. Had been hearing those sounds ever since I came to Manali, but hadn’t seen it yet. So when I first saw the heavy flow of Beas that carried chunks of snow that fell from the mountains it felt like a dream. The sun was setting down and I lay quietly on the grass simply sinking into the sounds of water. The sounds that I heard could easily make you slip into trance and were any day better than the sweetest lullaby. Just then my trance was broken by some cracker sounds. It was Diwali that night and the whole town had come out on that one narrow Mall road and was bursting crackers to celebrate Diwali. It was delightful to see how festivities had brought the entire town together and celebrations were in full swing. At that moment there was demarcation of caste, creed, race, and color or socio economic class for that matter. I could see everybody wishing everybody on the streets and even foreign tourists had joined in the celebrations.

Next morning when the celebrations died down, we left early for there was more snow to be seen infact to be touched this time. Rohtang Pass was our next and last stop. We drove up in a cab from Manali to Rohtang Pass, which is the 2nd highest point in the Himalayas. I perhaps do not need to mention how cold it would be up there some 10,000 ft above sea level. The drive was picture perfect. I particularly remember this one spot where there was a huge mountain up ahead and a deep gorge where the river flowed from under a heavy iron bridge. This bridge connected two plains, the one that we came from to the one that would go ahead to mix into the mountains caped with snow all over. As we neared Rohtang I could feel blood rushing to my head not only because I was terribly excited but also because it was getting really cold up there. We had to buy fur coats and gum boots to protect our lives but that was of little help. Like I said I had never seen snow before in my life and I was going to die of excitement very soon. We reached Rohtang and even before the jeep could stop I opened the door and ran out into the mountains. Kilos, heaps, piles, tones and all that of snow. Sadly I was only wearing on coat with just one layer of thermal wear with ordinary shoes and I did not realize it was cold because I was excited. We played in that snow which was then 10 days old, for hours. From noon to sun down we made snow men, snow castles and everything that could possibly be done on snow. There were hundreds of people like us who were ice skating and having a blast. The valley was awesomely beautiful. From the top we could see the Himalayan range and the sun going down on us. As it went down it spread a golden hue in the sky and the canvas lit with colors that nature had painted glowed the valley. Colors of blue, brown, yellow, white and green merged to create an unbelievable site in the sky.

Then suddenly I realize my feet were swollen due to extreme cold I had to move out of snow. There were shacks a few meters away where a lady was making piping hot tea and some grub. We had enough to warm us from inside to get on with the backward journey. Our car wouldn’t start because the diesel had gone cold. Worse was another bus full of college girls got jammed and the diesel had frozen in the tank. The foolish driver had burnt pieces of log under the fuel tank to melt the frozen diesel and we were all having a good laugh watching all the fun. But my uncle wanted to play angel and went to help them. We waited for 2.5 hours until the bus finally struck ignition. By then my feet had frozen to double the size both vertically and horizontally. I had to dip my feet into warm water to bring them to normal. I loved every bit of it. We were all so tired that I could hear every bone in the body crackling and every human snoring in the room. When we got up it was time for us to leave. Ofcourse I dint want to leave so early and just to say bye-bye I decided to walk down Mall road again to fill my senses with the freshness of that docile town. When I was traveling back to Delhi I was seeing all the pictures of Manali and was stunned at this amazing creation of God. Just wished it stays away from commercialization forever to remain as virgin as it was when god must have made it first.