MANALI - The God's abode

The GOD's abode

A daily usual traffic

Did you feel awkward looking at this picture? I bet the answer would be NO, because we are so used to it that it feels common even if it eats us up over time. Now, look at the picture below.

On the way to Kullu

I bet you have glanced through it. Give it another try. Look at the picture again...... close your eyes and picture yourself there.
.
.
.
.
.

Did you feel a cool breeze touching your skin?
Did you listen to the chirping of birds?
Did you overhear the whispering of the leaves?
Did you feel the droplets of water on your face, giving you a sensational feeling?
And, did you listen to the silence?

Snow-capped mountains at Rohtang Pass

Life has become so aggressively fast that we don't even have time to ponder on these things that matter to us and would matter to our coming generations. Principles of sustainability and preservation wear off when it comes to the greed of humans. 'Cutting trees to create a concrete jungle' would not be a sufficient justification for our future generations.

Relaxing with nature

Every human in this world comes back to nature whenever he or she needs some peace and serenity. And so we headed to Manali from our busy and tiring professional life. We boarded the bus from Delhi at night and reached Manali the next morning. We were expecting a town with no honking of the vehicles (of what we are used to), less crowd, clean streets, clean air, basically, we expected a perfect town. But on reaching Manali, we were welcomed by a continuous honking of the vehicles and we stopped expecting anything. So our first impression about Manali did make an impact but a vague one.

Solang Valley

Manali is north of Kullu valley, which is known as the valley of Gods. The name Manali, given after the sage Manu, means abode of Manu when pronounced derivatively. Legend says that sage Manu (Lord Manu, as others call it) stepped off his ark in Manali to recreate human life after a great flood had deluged the world. (One could relate to the story of Noah's ark with  this.)

Once a small secluded village, Manali, came under the limelight during the British era and had gone through this transformation after Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru chose this village as his preferred holiday destination. On the way to Solang Valley, you can find Nehru Kund, the name given to a freshwater spring after Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.

Hustle and bustle at Manali Market

We checked in to the hostel, freshened up, had breakfast, rented a bike, and tried again to escape from the busy canvas with what the Manali town had welcomed us. Our first destination was Jana waterfall, 35 km from Manali town. Although the journey to the fall consisted more of off-road than the pitched road it certainly gave us the chance to witness the spectacular terrain of the north and eventually we found what we came for: serenity in mother nature's lap. When we reached the Jana fall, expecting a spectacular view of the fall, we found a small stream of water falling off the rocks. "Not the destination but the journey matters", we realized later.

White Water Rafting (Kullu-Manali Road)

Rohtang Pass

A view of Rohtang Pass

Being at the top of a mountain, looking at other snow-capped summits, gazing down to the horizon, one does not feel anything. He or She just sits and admires the beauty and while doing so, one realizes that how everyone gets dwarfed by the nature.

We reached Rohtang pass at around 6 in the morning. The sun has just woken up and we had come a long way and as close to it as we could, just to say 'Good Morning'. The sun greeted us back by spreading its arms on the snow-covered mountains. We rushed to its arms and explored the warmth. We could not help but release our child's side to it. Running, rolling, jumping, sliding- we did everything we could do till we got exhausted and said Good Bye.

On the way to Solang Valley

Solang Valley: This is the second most visited place in Manali after the obvious Rohtang Pass. The drive from Manali town to Solang valley was one of the most beautiful rides I had encountered. The roads are carved through mountains which give you incredible views of the valley which make you stop in the middle and admire the beauty of nature. Snow-covered mountains at a distance certainly gave us a feeling of warmth and we just didn't want to leave that place.

Valley is mostly famous for adventure sports: paragliding, horse riding, skiing, zorbing. Although we didn't try any of those, me- due to my fractured leg, for Amit- reasons unknown. 😜We took a few photographs, good or not, you are to decide.

Up top at Solang Valley( paragliding )

Near Manu Temple

Old Manali:  The only thing I got disturbed at old Manali was by the temple bells and the twittering birds. The mythological history this town has engraved in it, helped me to find the answers I had been looking for. Visit to Manu temple forced me to ponder on my existence, our social history, how we evolved as social beings, and our responsibilities to our future generations.

Beas Temple ( on the way to Rohtang Pass )

During our three-day visit to Manali, we never went to some fancy restaurant to have our food. We mostly had food at a small Dhaba-restaurant run by a family of three- husband, wife, and their daughter. Husband usually cooked the food, wife served food to the customers and daughter controlled the counter. The food tasted so good that it took us back to our homes as if we were eating in the comfort of our home.

The same happened to us when we were coming back from Kullu, we stopped at a place to have our lunch. Chicken curry served out there was one of the most appetizing we had tasted so far. " We serve what we eat ourselves on a daily basis "- told the owner when we thanked him for the chicken curry.

A view from Solang valley

When I look back what I recall is the old lady, with a smiling face, requesting to pose a picture with the furry rabbit, that family Dhaba food, that insanely toothsome chicken curry, the obvious snow-covered mountains, that snow slide of Amit at Rohtang Pass 😝, old Manali's rustic charm and the ever-flowing white water throughout the valley.

Tree's selfie with sun

Like every journey teaches you something, this trip taught me that beauty lies in simplicity and one can find happiness even in the hardest of situations.
The trip was full of mixed emotions for both of us and it certainly made us quite emotional while leaving MANALI.

I hate one who photobombs ( the guy with yellow helmet 😜)

Photo contributions: Amyth

If you loved reading this story I wrote for you, you could at least buy me a coffee ☕, or else if you know someone who would love reading about this, please share this story with them. Just do the good deed. Cheers. 🙌

Until the next time...

Before you go... Subscribe to this blog to get email notifications whenever I post awesome content like this. Will you?