Manali - Travelogue

It was a bright monsoon day when parents and I took off for a trip to Manali. It was a long distance drive. We travelled by road from Lucknow to Delhi. The newly built Yamuna express highway was a beautiful path. We moved again and stopped for lunch at a nearby dhaba then we kept moving ahead and reached Delhi.

We haulted in Delhi for a day and then again started for Manali the next morning. At 5 in the morning we started driving down to Manali and reached a wonderful Dhaba that served us breakfast. It is to be noted that Punjab and Haryana side has more developed Dhabas and highway inns. The word “Haveli” is used for denoting a dhaba or an inn and has comfortable stay and relaxing packages. The highways have all basic amenities including shops and malls.

As we started reaching Manali we saw the Beas river right aside us from our car window. The sight of the Beas river and the beautiful snow laden mountains made us feel having come into the Indian Switzerland. The Beas river was sea green in color right near the Radha Swami Satsang Ashram. We stopped at Manali for some tea and again started driving down alongside the mighty Beas river.

We crossed a dark tunnel which was lighted and was ranging for about 2.5 to almost 3kms. The picnic spots were beautiful and were in plenty alongside the road to the top of Manali. The picnic spots were small places aside the Beas river and provided Hotel accommodations, cafes and tea points. The drive is long and it took 16hrs in total to reach our destination.

We reached in the late evening and our Hotel was Portico Sarovar that was built aside the Manalsu river. Manalsu river is the river that flows there and the name Manali is derived from her.Early morning when we opened the curtain we saw the beautiful Himalayan range shrouded with Deodar trees. The day was followed by a buffet breakfast at the hotel and then we visited the lovely Manalsu river and dipped our hands and feet into it. We clicked pictures and laughed and played with the stones of the river.

Next day we visited market i.e. the Mall of the hill station. We purchased typical Manali wear and other items from the Mall. The himcoop products are quite authentic, supported by the HP Government and consist of the best fruits of Himachal Pradesh (“HP”). HP is considered to be the fruit bowl of India. Two days went by walking down the mall, observing the Manalsu river and visiting the Hidimba Temple.

We saw the lovely ice-capped mountains while sipping tea and coffee at the hotel. Most of the hotels were built of wood and glass windows in order that the tourists feel the surroundings while having food at the café.

There is a Manu temple also that is built in Manali is dedicated to Manu who is considered a saint. Manusmṛti (written also as Manusmriti or Manusmruti) (Sanskrit: मनुस्मृति), also known as Mānava-Dharmaśāstra (Sanskrit: मानवधर्मशास्त्र), is one metrical work of the Dharmaśāstra textual tradition of ancient Vedic Sanatana Dharma, presently called Hinduism.^[1] Generally known in English as the Laws of Manu, or Dharmic discourse to vedic Rishis, on 'how to lead the life' or 'way of living' by various classes of society.

The text presents itself as a discourse given by the sage Manu, to a congregation of seers, or rishis, who, after the legendary great floods in the vedic state of Brahmavarta in India some 10,000 years ago, beseeched him to guide them in how to face such calamities in future though an organized life with "guidelines for all the social classes".^[2] His response was captured and preserved in memory as a dialog between himself and the sage Bhrigu in some 2685 ślokas, the compilation of which is called Manusmriti.

What I could gather by the Manali trip was that the trip should be splitted in various parts. From Lucknow to Delhi, then from Delhi to Ambala and finally from Ambala to Manali. This causes less exhaustion to the traveler and keeps the energy quotient alive as the road gets covered into milestones.