Manali - A trip in the Himalayas

by Kshiti Jhala (India)

A leap into the unknown India

There are times when you see and experience, things and incidents, that you yearn to capture with the mere desire of reliving it all over again while sitting on your couch on a Sunday afternoon. My trip to the hills of Himachal has been one such affair of escapade that is dying to form sentences. Manali, the beautiful backpacking centre, a town amidst the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, is going to be my first encapsulating destination. It was my ride back home, or so I felt. The bus was cutting the hilly roads from the valley of Kullu on a 6 am the morning of 24th December 2019. The sky was a water splash of light blue and the mountains were pitch dark. As the wheels moved upward, I encountered the river that follows, Beas, from the foothills to peak and back again. It was a clear white or a transparent blue, I couldn't tell, but it was heavenly. When you travel to places like this, you know one thing for sure, that although the destination would certainly be breathtaking, but the journey to the destination would be soul-stirring. 11 am and we were settling down at the high-landers campsite, a place just at the banks of river, with folding mountains all around; a treat to eyes. In between this classic soul searching moment, my head turned towards a mountain in the north, that was faintly covered with snow in the morning but now was covered all over with a white sheet. It seemed to happen in blink of an eye, which was certainly untrue, and also un-extraordinary, but that very moment was my true travel beginning. Before visiting Solang Valley, the four of us detoured to the banks of Beas. Words would fail here for describing the feeling, but I will try. We sat on the huge rocks, one each, with soulful music playing by our side, staring unblinkingly at the transparent aqua blue water flow in front of us. The water touched the autumn tree at the side and made sounds that were no less than music to ears. The narrow rays of sun touched our face, making it impossible to leave the scene. With zero hyperbole, I would say, these were the best 30 minutes of my life, that made me feel alive, all over again. A temple of Lord Shiva, located 7500kms above sea level, was our final destination. The trek was 9.5kms altogether. For me, this trek was the life-changing experience. I had never trekked before, there was fear and lots of profuse panting. At so many stops, I had given up the willingness to climb further, but I had the single best motivator with me, because of whom I was able to climb up and reach the final destination, and hence, honestly, I would never in my life forget this trek. Once I was up, I, within seconds had realized how much would have I missed if I had given up. You see a part of the Himalayan range, surrounding you from all the four sides, A tall Trishul of Lord Shiva, the yellow-green grass field that I was standing on and oh yes, the SUN! It wasn't just the rays this time, it was the Sun! We sat on the most farthest mountain, with nothing else visible around except other mountains. Few minutes after gazing at this divine beauty, we laid our backs on the grass, closed our eyes and simply let the scene take us away. The way down was just as pretty as the view up. We saw the sun setting, the sky changing colours, the town lit up like a Diwali night and the stars! Oh, the stars! It was a Starry Night! The ride after was filled with silence and sleep and the morning of the way back to Delhi, was filled with heavy yet warm hearts and a bunch of memories, each of us had captured in our own way with the mere desire of reliving it all over again while sitting on our couch on a Sunday afternoon.