So, finally it was Friday evening after a gruesome day of corporate slavery in my plush office. However, it was not just another Friday evening as the much awaited time of escaping from our concrete forest had come.
It all started, when we (me and my friends) decided to go to Manali to beat the scorching heat of the Indian version of June month. We all were elated at the thought of escaping New Delhi and making Manali as our base for four days. So, we all sent leave request emails to our respective mentally unstable bosses, the very next day. I can bet, anyone, who gets a chance of reading those emails, will cry profusely. Those emails had everything to design the script of a tragic Hindi movie of the 1980’s. I wrote about the death of my uncle (although he died eight years back) and showed the importance of my presence in the ceremony which is held after thirteen days of death (popularly known as “Teharvi” among Hindus). As usual, my boss frowned like a monster and I thought about burying the idea of the holiday in my heart forever. To my surprise, I got the acceptance email from him. It was nothing less than a miracle that we all got our leaves confirmed from our respective bosses.
We all were assembled at our travel agent’s office after packing our bags for the journey to Manali. He handed over the hotel voucher to us.
Each one of us was dressed in shorts and tees with a backpacker’s travel bag hanging on our backs. I was feeling that I was a prison inmate out for a week on parole. Soon, we all were inside the white Toyota Innova car, while our luggage was being tied up on the carrier by the driver. The driver was surprisingly cheerful, although we got to know the reason for his happiness after he sat in his seat and told us that he was on a call with his girlfriend.
We started our journey at 9 pm after buying scotch, cigarettes, glasses and a few packets of peanuts & wafers. Our car was cruising on the GT road nicely. We all were boozing, singing and making merry. After some time, our driver stopped the car at the famous “Gulshan ka Dhaba”. This dhaba (a roadside eatery on the national highway) was famous for its mouth watering hot stuffed paranthas served with white butter and milk tea. We all had paranthas, except one of our friends who had different plans. He gorged on deep fried pakoras (potato slices wrapped in flour and fried) instead.
After spending an hour at the eatery, we were back in our car. Soon, we were all asleep due to the effect of the cool air from the air-conditioner. The car was nicely speeding on the road. Suddenly, our friend who ate pakoras, yelled at the driver to stop the car. We all woke up hearing his scream. The driver immediately stopped the car and our friend went out and vomited his heart out. After, a couple of minutes, he came back inside the car and fainted. I thanked myself for not eating pakoras. We offered him water, and after drinking some of it, he vomited again. His system was not accepting anything. He was suffering from terrible headache and continuously vomiting. It was still late night, with no hospital in sight. Nevertheless, we continued the journey hoping that he would be fine in some time.
We reached Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh at the break of dawn. We spotted a hospital on the roadside and got him admitted into it. He was on the bed with a glucose drip. He was fine in a couple of hours. We paid the hospital damages and started our journey again. We all took a hypothetical oath to only have fruits and no other edible item during our journey which we all broke soon after; when we had vegetable maggi noodles at Kullu. Kullu is a small hill town in proximity to Manali. It was like a regular suburban city with shops & eateries on both sides of the road and lots of pedestrians.
The weather was cool with the ferocious Beas River flowing alongside the road. We continued our journey to again break for tea in the evening at a place known as Mandi. We were still thirty miles short of Manali, which was our final destination and it was already dusk. We laid our lethargic bodies on the lame stools of the tea shop besides the river. We were sipping hot tea when a young lad sporting designer jogging wear came to us and started pitching his sales speech for a river rafting session. He promised fifteen kilometers of rafting for “just” Rs. Nine hundred per person. He tried to impress us by telling how a bollywood crew which had Hrithik Roshan, (a famous bollywood actor) rafted with him last year. (Almost every rafting operator there sings the same story to lure tourists). We were least bothered about his adventures. I remembered paying only Rs. Six hundred for thirty kilometers of rafting in the holy Ganges in Rishikesh, Uttaranchal last year. It seemed to be very costly, so we all decided against it.
We reached Manali at 9 pm and were welcomed by massive road jams. Since, it was peak tourist season; the number of vehicles was raised to the power of infinity. Heavy honking was the favourite past time of the bus drivers on the entrance road. We were in Manali, however still hours away from our cottage resort as we were stuck in a bottleneck. As time passed, we found ourselves gradually creeping deeper inside the town. After taking a left turn from a major intersection, we bumped onto the famous mall road. (In India, almost every “hill station” has a mall road which carries stories of historical importance. A mall road is the prime area in which major shops, showrooms, video game parlours and eateries etc.are located. Tourists tend to spend their maximum time on the mall road)
The mall road in Manali was a densely populated area at that time, which had people from all walks of life. All one needed, was bare minimum intelligence to identify love struck honeymoon couples who were walking with hands holding each other together
(As if the girls would run away from their men if they did not hold their hands). There were lots and lots of Sikh families who venturing into the restaurants and video game parlours. (The Sikh families usually frequent Manali from Chandigarh in the weekends due to proximity factor) I found plenty of tourists from West Bengal roaming around the streets. (Bengalis are considered to be avid travellers) Most of them appeared like astronauts to me due to their attire which consisted of fur clothing from top to bottom.
I was not amused by their appearance as it was quite cold and I was in still in shorts and tees. (I might have appeared alien to them)
We reached our cottage resort at 10 pm after the war with traffic on the roads. We were warmly greeted by the hotel manager who tried almost every word in the English Grammar to impress us with his spoken English skills. (It was pathetic though)
We checked in our rooms, had a bath with warm water and retired on the cushioned sofas. After a long day and a long night of trouble and fun, the sofas seemed heavenly comfortable. We were served drinks and snacks followed by dinner in the balcony.
After dinner, we buried ourselves in the beds.
We slept like dead meat the entire night. We woke up at 7 am and were delighted to see the spectacular scenery from our windows for which Manali is so very famous. The sight of the snow clad mountains was stunning. I took out my digital camera and started capturing every ice cap and every snow field visible on the peaks. (Thanks to the wonderful zoom in my camera). We felt blessed to see such a sight. It has been rightly said in the “Hindu Purans” (a sacred book of Hindus) – “As the morning dew is dried by the morning sun, so are the sins of mankind at the sight of Himalayas”
We had bread toasts and boiled eggs in breakfast. After that we headed to “Solang Valley” which is considered to be a haven for adventure sports enthusiasts. It took us half an hour to reach Solang Valley as it was just twenty eight kilometers away from Manali.
Solang Valley is the starting point of a trek toward “Beas Kund” from which the mighty Beas River originates. (Kund means a pond in English). The view of the serpent eagles soaring high along the snow laden peaks in Solang Valley is highly mesmerizing. Many Bollywood movies have been shot in Solang Valley. (A recent movie shot there a few years back was a Hrithik Roshan starrer – Krish)
As we entered Solang Valley, we saw lots of people flying in the sky in Para gliders with the help of a self proclaimed pilot in each one). On the ground, the major activity was “Zorbing”. Zorbing is relatively a new and soft adventure sport for starters. There is a big plastic ball with vacuum inside which is known as a zorb. Two people are tied on the inner sides of the zorb and then it is pushed downwards on the slope. It stops in around thirty seconds and is highly thrilling. We all tried zorbing and enjoyed it a lot. Then it was time for some paragliding. I was the last person to give it a shot after long rounds of self conviction that I would be safe. The moment I took off, I was breathless however when I was in the high sky I was amazed. I flew like a golden eagle (I must have made the birds flying nearby jealous for sure)
We had our lunch afterwards, which had the basic fare – maggi noodles and hot tea. It is the only thing in Manali which is hygienic other than bottled mineral water and fresh fruits. (I often think that Nestle India has done a huge favour to the hill states in India by introducing their product “Maggi” there.)
After lunch, we started a mild trek towards the northern side of Solang Valley. Our destination in focus was “Dhundi” which is a quaint village just before the ascent to the Beas Kund starts. The distance to be covered was eight kilometers on a plain hill road (Thanks to Border Roads Organization which is constructing a tunnel from Solang Valley to Keylong. Once it is done, the connectivity from Manali to Leh and Spiti valley would become very easy). After covering a couple of kilometers, we sighted a tractor coming from Solang. We requested him for a lift and he obliged. We were in Dhundi within minutes. (A special thanks to the person who invented “Wheels”). Beas River was violent here due to the descent. The gushing waters casted a spell of intoxication on us. After absorbing the beautiful scenery to our heart’s content, we decided to head back. We got a lift in an open truck on the return journey. (Maybe, it was due to my good karma done in my previous births)
We slept soon after having dinner, as we had to rise early morning the next day. The reason was valid, as we had to go to the famous “Rohtang Pass”. It was fifty kilometers away from Manali on the route to Leh & Laddakh. Due to peak tourist season, plenty of people travel to see Rohtang Pass, and if one does not start early, he would get stuck in a pile of cars which is stretched up to many kilometers uphill. We started at 5 am to avoid the tremendous traffic snarl. We reached at 12 pm as it was an arduous drive. The road to Rohtang Pass opens only in June as it is covered by heavy snow prior to that. (The effect of the snow deteriorates the road and converts it to potholes and rough patches.). It is said that rohtang is a Persian word meaning a pile of dead bodies. As this pass was an ancient trade route, people must have died due to snowstorms and avalanches.
As we reached, we saw huge glaciers on both sides of the roads, ice walls and enormous snow. The temperature must have been around 2 or 3 degrees. The spine chilling winds were blowing like speed jets. It was the best time to have scotch so we all had it. Then we had Maggi noodles yet again and enjoyed skiing. The snow on the lower reaches was very dirty and brownish in colour due to excessive foot movement of tourists. In the higher reaches it shone like a pearl.
The indomitable Himalayan peaks were standing at their full strength and kissing the cobalt blue skies. They made me feel very small, yet secure.
It was time to return back to Manali, so we started our journey back. We reached Manali at 6 pm. We halted for a brief period to have tea and then started again to reach back at home. Slowly and steadily the mountains started getting invisible as night was setting in.
With a heavy heart and a mind full of beautiful memories, we said goodbye to Manali.
Ankur Sethi
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment