Me, Balaji, Sinu and Praveen in front of Hidamba temple
"A five day trip from Bangalore to Kullu-Manali and Agra"
Bangalore......
Jan25, 2006
Wednesday, came back from office with Balaji at 1200, and went to buy torchlight and medicines which might come in handy. The call taxi came at 1300, we were all packed and reached airport around 1400;the flight was at 1600 and so had bit of a time to spend at the airport. The check in seemed to be a smooth affair, only Sinu our HAL employee was questioned for having forgotten to bring in the tag. Except for Sinu, this turned out to be the first flight for all of us. It was a Jet airways flight; Praveen, Balaji and Sinu were lucky to sit together whereas I had to put up with an old couple to the right. Started thinking about all the untoward incidents I had heard and all the NatGeo episodes that Balaji and Praveen had forced me to watch .The numerous plane crashes, collisions…… Finally the plane started to move along the runway and Sinu starts off narrating his HAL experiences, spending long hours on the runway eyeing Kingfisher and Jet air hostesses’ et al. A 3 minute drive along the runway was all it took; I was chewing the toffees the air hostess had given me when suddenly the plane starts gaining speed and takes off. Hats off to our first flight!
Felt great when I turned left to see all three chums sitting tight , they were all silent; well, I felt great to have not felt any disturbance.But that was only for a minute. Then on I started feeling uneasy, as for the other three, they were looking out of the window and enjoying the view of Bangalore from the skies. Here I was sitting dumbstruck and the old lady had closed down the window. Thought of asking her to shift places? I took a magazine and started going through. To my left the three were still having heated discussions now. Pressure variations, Thrust, combustion, it went on; Praveen started off and Balaji was in no mood to give in .Sinu who was at the extreme to my left was in a world of his own. After an hour and a half, they announced that we were above Hyderabad city and the temperature outside was -35C. There was no time to loose. I made up my mind and started talking to the old man and asked him why the window was closed .He replied in Hindi saying his wife was afraid of looking outside. I asked him in whatever scraps of Hindi I knew whether we could change seats. The result was quick, the reason I came to know only later on!!!!!!!!!!! So now I could see the long winding rivers, small houses, apartments, hills, mountains all through the journey. Occasionally the plane would ascend/descend and the pressure change was felt quick enough.
By around 1830 , we neared Delhi and it started getting dark .It was wonderfulto see the lights in the city, as if they were some huge golden necklaces lying across the earth. Took our luggage and went to the exit; funny to see many people catching placards and staring at us. I got myself readied for the next part of the trip; met the taxi driver and started off; crossed Delhi, Haryana onto Himachal. We passed through Chandigarh and thought of traveling a bit on the grand trunk road. Can still remember a funny caption on a truck which just passed by, a contact number in bold along with the word tag “Mubail...”. Stopped on a wayside dhaba,started to feel the chill. It was around 2200, all took hot roti and pickle except for me who asked for some hot rice. By now we were all geared up with sweater, jackets and all. Stopped at Nehar, had tea there and proceeded to see the river which was flowing towards china; well that’s what a passerby commented! It was already 0100. I was snuggled up in the car and could see the others shivering and moving around outside; got out of the car and walked around confidently, didn’t feel anything but then it started,out of the blue I started shivering and wouldn’t stop. Oofff!!! Praveen was not able to hold even the tea cup. Near the Nehar River, we could hear the sound of the fast currents and feel the chilling cold.….a reminder of what was to come in a few hours from now!!!
Jan 26,2006
Everyone moved out of the car, to view their first glimpse of the snow, all truly excited but I was still sleeping…The Snow …No one cared to put on the thermals and the woolen socks which were neatly packed up in their bags! In all excitement, we had jumped out of the car to enjoy the scenes around, as a result of which our legs went numb. Still in excitement all the three, except me, jumped out to see the sunrise over the snowy mountains. Then on we spend some time searching for the Youth hostel in manali; finally found the place, it was just across an apple orchard.Threw down the luggage and geared up in thermals and all woolen attire to fight the cold. All sat in front of the electric room heater, but still took a long 20 minutes to get the feel back onto our toes. They went out for a walk but I crouched back into bed; felt like freezing. I was lying down and watching through the huge windows, starting out at the snow covered orchard. That was the gloomiest moment, did I come over all the way just to lie down like this; I slept off…… Woke up after a while had breakfast - alu parata/pickles/omlette; this menu would remain the same for the next two days, but it tasted real good! By now I had gained my strength and was quite excited to travel forth!
Hadimba........
Off we went to Hadimba temple. Evening around 1630 we reached Hadimba temple; danced to the tunes of Oslakutti hayi-ra-rabba osallakutti re …. a typical Pahadi song. There was snow all around and this reminded us of the scene from the film Roja (the scene of the terrorist kidnapping the hero was shot here!). On the return trip we roamed around the marketplace and visited a Buddhist monastery reverberating with chants of Om Mani padme hum, had a chance to rotate the Buddhist prayer beads too. For shopping we split - Balaji/Praveen, Sinu and me….Everyone bought few dresses, feng-shui, custom made key chains and dry fruits. The streets were all dirty with the melting snow making it far more worse and slippery.
The Buddhist monastery in the Kullu
Returned back to the youth hostel at night... It was chilling indeed, while lying in bed, a wrong move to one side, and the bed would give one an icy feel…..
Solang Valley......
Jan 27, 2006
On Friday, got up with a vengeance and along with Praveen took off to Oshins house atop the hills! We had to pass through the apple orchard where we could see white blankets of snow littered all across the landscape. Climbed a lot, until we could go no more in the thin air; returned through the orchards, it seemed very silent except for the chill we felt from the icy winds blowing across. Had breakfast from youth hostel, and started off for Solang Valley deviating from the manali-ladakh highway around 40 kms from Manali. Solang Valley is famous for skiing, paragliding and winter games. The landscape changed almost suddenly as we started climbing up, we could now see entire mountain ranges covered in snow !
Scenes along the way to Solang Valley
On the way, we saw a range of small shops very much alike identified by different number tags ( understood the importance of the numbers when we returned back from the valley, without the number tag, one would never be able to identify the exact shop to return the jackets and boots ). We bought jackets and boots for 150 each after so much of negotiations. On our way, we saw the road to Rohtang pass, which was entirely covered in snow. There was a traffic jam, which forced us to so get out and we started walking all the way to the top. The entire area was covered in thick snow…and to the side laid a frozen Beas; the roadside was covered in snow just like scoops of ice cream…..
Thick Snow on the road sides 
Praveen , at the top of the Valley
We paid 100 each for the skiing gear and did everyone try his best to ski! Everyone said I had spoiled the group photo of all of us in skiing gear, well.......
Trying a hand at Skiing
Untouched Charters
The weather was perfect for skiing and there we were at the top of the valley which was surrounded by snow covered mountains which in the distance seemed to be tainted with silver and sparkling in the bright sun; had hot tea and snacks from the valley which was now brimming with lots of adventurous visitors.
Trudging along a different path, Sinu trying out his skills
Back from the Valley;Sinu,me and Praveen
On the way back, we trudged through the snow, well we took the route less traveled by and that had made all the difference that day!. Sinu lost his favorite muffler while posing around for the countless photos taken there! This half an hour trek through the deep snow was the most wonderful part of the trip, but a bit dangerous too; in some places we fell right into holes covered by snow; at some points we sunk deep upto our hips! We could hear the sound of the Beas now reduced to a rivulet, silent with the banks covered with white puffs of snow….It was marvelous!
Banks of the Beas
Traffic Jam along the Narrow Pathway
Off to Vashisht, the hot geyser next to the temple of Ram and Vashista . Sinu and Praveen went off to have a steam bath, while I and Balaji went around roaming. Quite accidentally we were about to venture into the women’s bathing area; Now, someone needs to keep a visible railing warning us, Offfgh!!!
In between a snowy ridge- me,Sinu and Balaji
Jan 28, 2006
Saturday morning,Balaji and I left in search of Chillu guddu –dried flower of the deodar trees .Made a mistake of not carrying a shawl, there was icy winds blowing which had my nose and ear chilled. Had breakfast and listened to the weather forecast which said it could snow heavily that day, so we left early for Naggar castle, and the Russian artist Roerich’s gallery; on the way we could see people busy shoveling away the snow. Our driver was a very soft spoken fellow, Tilak Raj who spoke about the Jwalamukhi temple in his home town where he had some land and even invited us to visit him after everyone’s marriage. Balaji keeps telling about devadharoo, the deodar trees and we stop on the wayside to take some snaps along with the driver, and I hear Sinu promising him to courier the snaps to his home address. No one knows what has happened to that!
Temple at Naggar Castle - Alongwith our driver,Tilak Raj
Together along the way
Naggar Castle, smaller in size, was almost fully made of wood and had recently been converted to a hotel; the Russian gallery was closed. We stop by to have tea at a small tea shop run by a lady…Praveen was busy snapping and playing with the dog there….Me, Praveen and Sinu went offto see the Trimoorthi temple , temple of the three main goddesses. The temple was closed but all the nursery children of the school nearby rush to us, we took a few snaps with them and moved on.
River Beas
View of the town from atop the hills- Note the Beas flowing beside the main road
On the way down, we found Beas, now suddenly brimming with life, recklessly meandering alongside the city. We stopped by the banks of the river Beas and trotted along the banks. The water was freezing cold and the bank was covered with pebbles. Praveen had other plans and within a few jumps he was almost in the middle of the river, standing on a huge boulder. All of us took a pebble or two,Balaji was the luckier one who got a “mortar and pestle” combination, which is still being put to good use back in kottaram.
Further down,we stopped by the Kulu Shawl Factory, where we bought shawls and carpets…We were in awe, seeing all the rose-cheeked and fair salesgirls, well was that the reason we ended up shelling out almost 10000 there?.
Left kullu finally, and lo, just on the outskirts we were waylaid by a traffic policeman…..He asked us to follow his car to the police station next to the bus stand…He spoke rudely to the driver and the offence was for not stopping the vehicle when ordered to! Tilak Raj tried lying, saying that the car was belonging to sinu’s uncle’s friend Rtd army Cmdr Amarjeet Singh!...At the police station we were told to wait outside; and there we were next to the fruit market waiting for an hour! An awesome sight it was, school girls waiting for their buses, fruit sellers with fresh apples and the market women all around us. We waited outside the station, cool winds sending shivers across; after an hour we met the chief there and voiced our concerns, but to no avail. He asked us to pay 300 or else answer in court, only later when paying the fine we realized that they were using old receipts and that this was just another way to increase their own revenues! The trip back was through numerous hills and huge tunnels, it was a sight worth seeing, with the Beas flowing in full force alongside, but sad to say I dozed off in between. Well, nausea, weariness all bore me down, I used to signal them when the car had to stop and would jump out and rest for a few minutes. Got into one fine looking hotel and had some food, I made the mistake of ordering an omelet to everyone’s surprise, and later to everyone’s horror including mine, when we saw that it was black in color. Whatever I ate, I vomited on the way, felt like jumping out and sleeping on the roadside.
Jan 29, 2006
Well, Sunday morning we crossed over Chandigarh onto Delhi and Agra. At Delhi, Sinu left for his uncle’s house. Reached Agra at 0830 and lodged into a motel, where they charged 200/- just to finish our early morning chores. Barged into a restaurant where the menu seemed to relate more with some western lands with an omelet costing $1! We had no other choice, but escape and found refuge in a local hotel where we had some bread toast. Well to our surprise we learnt quite a few phrases, the phonetically correct but misspelt “vash vasan” (wash basin). Onto Taj Mahal, the journey took just around 15 minutes. It was too hot, the earth was heating up, it was around 1100 and we did have the privilege of feeling a temperature difference of around 45degrees within a span of 24 hours (-10 to +35). Obtained the tickets and got into the campus. Even the gates were majestic. Well, we stood in awe looking at the majestic Taj; from a distance it looked white but as we neared it we found a yellowish tinge over the main domes. Plus the Yamuna was in a pathetic state, it was all parched up and all we saw was a few muddied pools of water along the river bed. It was definitely an architectural wonder and we spend around two hours enjoying the sheer majesty of the Taj. Got into a posh restaurant and had a gorgeous meal. Left for Agra Fort where the most beautiful sight worth remembering was the Taj seen from the fort.
After roaming around till 1600, we decided to leave Agra to reach Delhi early. We were too tired and had the plans of compensating previous night’s loss of sleep. The journey was comfortable and we glimpsed the sun setting on one side of the straight and wide highway. Stopped on a way side dhaba for tea and biscuits. We reached Delhi by 19 00 and began searching for the International Youth Hostel. Chanakyapuri, where the hostel is situated is the home for most embassies and foreign consulates. Hence the traffic rules keep changing according to VIP visits and security reasons. Certain sections of the roads are closed to the public even by 2000hrs. Finally we reached the youth hostel. To our surprise, the hostel quality and service was way above our expectations. Since it was directly run by the youth hostels association of India (YHAI), the rules and regulations are strict. Only members are allowed to stay and in case you are not a member, you have to take atleast a temporary membership. Since it was already late, the warden allowed us to take membership the next day. Found a good restaurant Nirula’s and had a heavy meal, the food quality was too good (later came to know from others that the hotel was a famous one indeed). We had a sound sleep in the a/c room (though the a/c was never switched on).
Jan 30, 2006
Monday morning, we visited the parliament building, the war memorial at India Gate and the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Roamed around a bit, had a glimpse of the Delhi Metro and shopped at the Pallika bazaar for a few leather accessories. But didn’t have much time to spend there, we had a flight to catch. The flight was scheduled at 1530 and we had reached an hour before. But one person was missing, Sinu! And we kept waiting! God, were we tensed. Praveen kept roaming around from one counter to the other muttering whatever came into his mind, balaji was off his boiling point and had become senseless and as for me I got my normal bout with migraine. Two minutes to check in time and in came our hero in an autorickshaw- he had come all the way from noida halfway by bus and rest by auto! We had to run back to the plane, was dead tired indeed. The flight by Sahara turned out to be similar to an auto ride through the sky. Well again went through the awful dreams of the plane crash landing and many a times I did ponder over the idea of having bought in a parachute!
It all ended up as soon as we touched down at the HAL airport at around 1745; I was bought back to my senses by the honking of autos, arguing taxi drivers and the rude behavior of passerby. Well, that’s city life for you…welcome back to Bangalore!!!
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