My Travelogues - Day 4

27 Dec, 2009

4:00 AM – Full night bakar session left us all with very little time to sleep. I switched off all lights at 4:00 AM in the morning only to be woken up by an alarm exactly three and a half hours later.

7:30 AM – Woke up to a very cold morning and it was extremely difficult to leave the blanket. We kept pushing each other to get out of the bed first and get ready. As therefore it became clear, it took us two hours to be ready and reach the breakfast table. Just as we were getting into our car, my stomach gave a tweaking sensation. Not sure on what it was, I decided to ignore the same.

10:00 AM – We are heading towards Manikaran, some 70 KMs or a 3 hour card drive away from Manali. The journey was expected to be a steep downhill journey with very narrow roads.

10:45 AM – We stop at a Hill Shawl factory. Perfect time to do some shopping and make best use of it to impress your mother and if you are lucky enough your girlfriend as well. One guy is married and the rest of us have never had any luck in the later department, so we just decided to impress our mothers so that she chooses the best one for us.

When it comes to shopping, I usually end up deciding on the items within few minutes of entering the shop and very much the same pattern repeated today as well. Since, others were taking far too much time to complete their shopping; I took a walk across the road to be near the river. My stomach was beginning to give me lot more problems than I had imagined. I rested myself against a rock and prayed to God to keep me fit n fine as it was a long day ahead.

Nature has its own set of paradoxes and one such was right there in front of my eyes. The river water was gushing down the stream in full flow making loud noise and yet it was calm all around, so serene, so peaceful. I wonder how the nature manages to create it. And as I was sitting in such surrounding, a thought struck my mind. Why do we drink or consume alcohol? Because all that we remember are things which have made us cry/sad at some point of time in our life. There was another afterthought however. Was this one of my serious reflections or my stomach hangover which was giving me such thoughts?

12:00 PM – We reach a temple site called Vaishnavi temple, still some distance away from Manikaran. I could not figure out much about the significance of this temple but it had some really beautiful wooden carvings. We finished the darshan in quick time; I drank a bottle of Fanta followed by a bottle of Limca and we started again.

1:45 PM – We still have not reached Manikaran and have halted at some point in between. The driver is having lunch, Shweta is munching peanuts and everyone else is busy clicking photographs and I am sitting inside the car (blame my upset/hangover suffering stomach)

2:15 PM – The driver is still having his lunch, the gang is still clicking the picture and I am still sitting inside the car. The status quo has been maintained except Shweta who within the past half n hour has graduated from munching peanuts to munching chocolates.

We had planned that we would return back to our hotel from Manikaran by 4PM that however now looks a far distant possibility.

3:15 PM – We reach Manikaran and what a nature’s site this place is. Manikaran is famous for a hot water spring in between the icy cold waters of river Beas and some wonderful landscapes. It is a famous pilgrimage centre for both Hindus and Sikhs.

According to a Hindu belief, Lord Shiva and Parvati spend 11,00 years here and once when Parvati lost her mani into the river, Lord Shiva instructed his attendants to retrieve the same. Their failure to do so led Lord Shiva to open his third eye and Sheshnag was requested to pacify the lord. It is believed that he hissed so strongly that the water spread over the entire area resulting in the appearance of the mani. However, the hiss gave rise to the boiling water.

According to a Sikh belief, Guru Nanak Dev visited the place and once it happened that he and his disciples had no fire to cook the food. Guru Nanak Dev then lifted a rock and a hot water spring appeared. This is also a reason why one can find a number of devotees cooking rice in the hot water spring as it is considered pious.

to be contd................