My Travelogues - Day 2

25 Dec, 2009
Merry X-MAS

And what a Christmas all of us were having. It was freezing cold outside and all six of us were inside the car with everyone under the quilt. Chetan was on the front seat accompanying the driver, Praveen and Shweta sleeping in the back seat and Shikha, Nitin and I in the middle seat fighting for the extra piece of quilt. By the early hours of the 25th morning, we had begun our ascent up into the Himalayas. There was no snow yet but the mountains were beginning to look heavenly. At this point, Chetan began to feel a bit nauseating and out came my most trusted remedy, “Hey, have this avomine tablet and trust me it would not only stop your vomiting but it also does not have any side effects”. I am still figuring out what made this statement legendary to be repeated time and again by everyone with a teasing punch added in the end. I on the other hand was just ensuring a vomit free journey for all.

8AM: We make a stopover at Mayur Hotel, some 10Kms from Bilaspur. Manali is still 148Kms away from this place and from now onwards we only get the mountainous terrain comprising of the usual turns, twists and wonderful scenery with mountains on one side and the river on the other. The temperature is 3 degree C and there are strong winds blowing. We order omelettes and while we were settling in for a cosy breakfast, Nitin packs a punch, “You know guys, I have a strong feeling that this hotel is fake. It says it is an AC hotel, but even in extreme summer conditions, I doubt if they would ever be using an AC”. There was no reaction from anyone except the usual statement made by me crediting his talent, “Isko yahan pe laya kaun hai yaar”.

As we were about to leave, Shikha announces that she has lost her cap and begins a fight with Chetan. Lancercoolgang conducts a search operation, locates one cap but the satisfaction on Shikha’s face was only temporary as this was just one amongst many caps lost. Her favourite was still missing. We resign to the fact that it must be inside the car somewhere and hope to find it once we reach our destination. With our driver completing some of his lost sleep, we begin the journey again.

From here one, one more companion joined us in our exciting journey – the river Beas. Our driver also pointed out that the river would continue to accompany is till Manali and even beyond. The road ahead was smooth, there was some fog but much less than what we had expected given the extreme winter conditions. The speed of our car came down from 100kmph to about 50-60kmph now. Though a little slow, we were anyways heading up the mountains. Everyone was beginning to show some signs of being tired, the long journey was beginning to take its toll, yet the prospect of seeing snow kept everyone’s spirits alive.

12:15PM: We halt at a road side dhaba. This place is around 69Kms before Manali. Everyone steps down the stairs to reach the river side. Living in Delhi, cannot imagine that water can also be so pure, clean and transparent. River Beas was flowing in its full glory and it separated us from the tall mountains on the other side. There was not much snow yet, no sun either. The weather was cloudy and very windy. We struck some conventional and some unconventional poses for Chetan as he donned the hat of being the official photographer of the trip. Sometimes you pay a heavy price for even carrying the camera. We order maggi and it vanished even before it arrived.

Mountains on one side, river on the other, 6 friends and a plate of maggi – Ah! What a life – that is our Maggi story.

2:15PM: We reach Manali and check into our Hotel. Its called Hotel Beas and is situated right on the river beas. We can see the river from the windows of our room and it makes a gushing sound as it flows in full speed and might. If you close the curtains of the room, the sound is so loud that it appears as if it is raining outside. So, Chetan and Shikha in one room, Shweta gets the luxury of having one complete room all by herself and the three of us are therefore left with no other option but to share one room. By this time, the Maggi had completely digested and we felt a strong need to fill our stomachs once again. A quick shower for everyone and we headed out for much needed lunch.

I was still wondering why anyone would need to take a bath in this cold weather. If I can recall it was Praveen who initiated a discussion on taking bath and he went ahead and had one. I guess the rest of us had a bath only to prove that we are not left behind either and can also bare all in this chilling weather. From inside, none of us really wanted to try bathing in such weather. Chetan and Shikha were the only intelligent people not to take the risk. Cheers to them.

4:30PM: Lunch at Mt. View restaurant, Chinese food. I never like it that much, was much more in favour of Italian, but nonetheless ate whatever was ordered by the group. We just did a little stroll at the mall area but since everyone was so tired, we all decided against going any further and headed back to the hotel.

8:30PM: Candle light was a perfect thing to happen at the hotel. It was pitch dark outside and the moon was shining brightly up in the sky. I remember someone loved looking at the moon while in college. How much I wish for that person to be here with me today and indulge in a romantic candle light dinner under the moon. WOW, lovely. Fortunately the food was good as well with dal makhani, paneer and custard in the end. A small walk on the dark road post dinner, hand in hand was something that just remained a fantasy for me. I guess something needs to be left to do in the next trip as well.

Tomorrow, we plan to go to Rohtang Pass and Solan Valley and hence needed to get up really early in the morning so as to avoid the peak traffic time. With no energy to do anything else, we crashed into our beds. Good night!

My i-pod goes romantic, “na hai ye paana, na khona hi hai....tera na hona, jaane kyun hona hi hai.....tum se hi din hota hai, surmayi raat aati hai....tum se hi, tum se hi”