Manali

The hill station of Manali, located at an altitude of 2000 meters in the picturesque state of Himachal Pradesh is well known. We decided to get a feel of this extremely popular weekend getaway spot. The month of April, when we visited Manali, marks the end of the long and snow-dominated winter season. By this time, the snow has bid adieu to the town of Manali and is present only on the upper reaches on the way to Rohtang pass. However, the Rohtang pass still remains inaccessible and can be assessed only from mid-May onwards. While tourists like us from the furnaces of Mumbai may find the weather a bit chilly, the locals find it most pleasant and the best time for exploring the outdoors. From the tourism point-of-view, April is an off-season, being exam-time throughout the country. It is also that time of the year when the apple trees, the lifeline of Himachal, is at the peak of its flowering cycle.

 Our son had just finished writing his Xth Std exams and this was the just the break we were longing for, after an extremely stressful year. The flight from Delhi to the Bhuntar airstrip at Kullu takes just an hour. Only Deccan and Jagson Airlines operate single daily flights to Kullu and we had taken the former. The airport of Kullu has a fairy-tale look to it with the gushing Beas flowing alongside. The Beas River was to keep us company almost everywhere we went during our sojourn. The Himachal Taxi Operator’s counter is the only car hiring option at Kullu airport, but is operated very efficiently at fixed pre-determined rates.

 It would be a cliché to say that the drive to Manali was fascinating. With the Beas rapidly flowing on one side, the uphill and winding path is flanked with apple trees, over-laden with white blossoms. It takes an hour-and-half to reach Manali, from Kullu. We stopped for lunch on the way at a beautiful hill-side hotel. The Club Mahindra Snow Peaks Resort looks very ordinary and nondescript from the outside but has rooms that are all facing the north, each providing extremely awesome views of the snow-clad Himalayan peaks. As we stepped into our room, we were stunned by the view that accosted us. The man at the reception had said that he was giving us the best room they had to offer and we had instantly dismissed it as mere marketing talk. The glistening snow-clad peaks left us transfixed and frozen in our tracks. Cold and aloof, the Himalayas just stood there- stately, lofty, pompous and in regal splendour.

It was quite some time before we regained our composure. Never had we seen the Himalayas from so near. Our unit had a living room, a balcony and a bedroom with large windows to provide the most unhindered view of the Himalayas.


The balcony of our room was the perfect place to enjoy the welcome tea provided by the resort. It was in this room that we spent the next few days.


In the daytime we explored Manali and it nearby attractions, the evenings were spent in chilling out in the interiors of our resort and the nights were spent sleeping snuggled under quilts and blankets. The resort is surrounded on all sides by apple trees all in full bloom.

 The local Manali tour was the first one that we undertook. Manali offers a few attractions that are all within a short distance of each other in and around the Mall. The main attraction at the ancient Vasistha and Ram temples is the hot sulphur spring nearby where you can bathe and cure yourself of many illnesses.

It took us less than a minute to see both these temples and ten minutes to remove, deposit and wear our shoes.
They are as ancient as the Mahabharata, when Bharat was really mahaan. Here I did away with the shoe ritual, preferring to offer my salutations from outside the temple precincts. The temple of Manu rishi, the Manu temple is another primeval structure. What excited us somewhat was the Club House run by the HP govt. Here we all tried our hand at river crossing and Go- karting .


We also posed with a white hare and a white lamb whose fleece was white as snow, for a small fee.

Every eatery at Manali displayed boards exhorting tourists to try the “Himalayan Trout fish”. We located a smart looking café called Johnson’s café to try the same. The Johnson’s Café was set up by one of the first British settlers in Manali called Mr. Johnson. We realized that we had chosen the perfect place to sample the trout as we discovered that the Johnson café was the place that started the trend of serving this delicious and fresh local fish. Today, every menu in every restaurant worth its salt, boasts of the trout as specialty item. The grilled trout was served whole, in a white herbal sauce with boiled vegetables and an accompaniment of bread and butter. It was not only delicious but easy on the stomach too. The café also served an appetising Chilly chicken served with green capsicum, fried noodles and focaccio strips. The meal left us satisfied mentally and physically. Normally all meals at outside eating joints leaves me feeling fully filled instead of fulfilled. I strongly recommend everyone to try the ‘Grilled Trout’ at Johnson’s located on the road to Vasistha off the Mall road.

The next day’s tour was the one we were eagerly looking forward to, as we were to experience, feel and touch snow for the first time in our lives. Tourist cars normally drive you up towards the Rohtang pass to the nearest point which has a fairly extensive snow cover. This point is then called the Snow-point for that day. This snow-point changes everyday. We had to drive just 20 kms on the Rohtang road to locate snow at a place called Gulaba Camp. Beyond this point the road was closed. Rohtang was another 31 kms from here. Once you are through the Rohtang pass, you would have gained entry to the Lahual-Spiti region. Further down this road you can keep driving another 400 kms to reach the fascinating, remote and uncharted locales of Ladakh and Leh. We resolved to come back some other time to explore these virgin extremes of our vast country.

We had picked up fur coats, gum boots and gloves on the way which are rented out by the enterprising local folks. These heavy clothing items were not really required and only hindered our movement. Thankfully, we decided against carrying skis, which are also given on hire. Jumping out of the car we plodded on the snowy slopes, frolicking, sliding and throwing snowballs at each other. The snow was too less to sculpt a snowman. Yaks roamed the hills inviting tourists to pose on their backs for a price.

Small shops served coffee, tea and snacks. Slipping and falling on the slippery snow were a source of amusement rather than injury. Thus ended our first tentative tryst with snow and ice.

On this road, a small off-shoot leads to the Solang valley. This is a verdant green, open and sloping area proving to be an ideal locale for Paragliding and Zorbing. Less than minute of paragliding sets you back by Rs. 600.The extremely hair-raising take-off and rough landing on your buttocks dissuaded us from going for the paragliding experience though we enjoyed watching others do it. The exhilarating feeling while being airborne must be indeed great.


Zorbing was another sport on offer, in which you are seated inside an inflatable circular balloon and rolled down the slopes while your insides are churned upside down repeatedly. Quite naturally, there were absolutely no abzorbers. Such adventure sports have never been my cup of tea.

The last tour was to nearby Naggar, which served as the capital of Kullu. It drizzled lightly throughout the day today. The Roerich Memorial and the Naggar Castle are the only attractions here. The famous Russian painter Nicholas Roerich had made Naggar his home which remains preserved till this day. A small museum displaying paintings by Nicholas and his son Stanlislav, and a Himalayan art museum are also housed in this complex. Devika Rani, the first heart throb of Hindi cinema had married Stanlislav and spent a large part of her life here before passing away at Bangalore in 1994.This was her third marriage, the first one being with Himanshu Rai who established New Theatres, one of the earliest film making companies of India.

The Naggar castle is a brick and wood castle built by a local Raja around 500 years ago.

It has been turned into a heritage hotel run by the government. It looked haunted even at daytime but had a good-looking restaurant with a great view of the valley and the Beas. From its spooky interiors, the restaurant cooked up a fairly decent meal and served it in style. Again, I recommend everyone to try something at this restaurant just not only for the ambience but also for the food.

A bit of trivia - some portions of ‘Jab we met’ were shot at this castle.

On our last day at Manali we explored the Mall which was not a very great experience. The Van Vihar garden is best to be avoided. Most of the shops at the mall sell woolens which are of no use to us. A HPMC juice shop sells a large variety of exotic juices like plum, litchi and rhodo. Bengali tourists, who are always in majority everywhere, should try the Bengali eatery on the Mall road that serves typical and homely Bong food. Another specialty of Manali is the large array of fruit wines available here at affordable prices – plum, rhodo, strawberry, apple, kiwi and the apple cider. We tried the apple cider, which tastes very similar to champagne, and the rhodo wine. We also had a go at the momos from the Tibetan eateries and sampled the local chowmein.

It rained very heavily one night accompanied by heavy light and sound waking us up from our peaceful slumber. One day we tried the food package at our resort which consisted of breakfast and dinner. The Club Mahindra Snowpeaks has a fairly well stocked bar, a multi cuisine restaurant, a gym and a massage centre. In the evenings it arranged DJ nights and also a Himalayan folk dance to keep their guests entertained.

On the way back from Manali we drove down 8 hours to Chandigarh and from there took the Shatabdi to Delhi.