Himalayan Saga- II

Continued from here...

the sunrise at pandoh...our 1st view of the Himalayas...

I woke up from my wet dream as the bus stopped at Pandoh, in Mandi district of Himachal. As we stood sipping hot tea in the balcony of the cafe overlooking Beas river, we witnessed the visual treat of the sun painting a masterpiece in the sky. This was our first view of the great Himalayas and we felt blessed. Later our bus passed over the Pandoh dam, the water in the reservoir covered by mist with an yellow glow. We proceeded forward over narrow roads lining deep gorges. The hills on both sides were cradling the Beas river, which was violent at some places and deceptively calm at others. We passed through a tunnel at Kullu and came face to face with a fresh landslide which might have missed us by a couple of minutes. Some of us proceeded to remove the stones and cleared the small landslide soon.

We reached Manali around 8.30, when the locals were just waking up to a lazy sunday. The hotel facing the Beas river din't have such an awesome view as was advertised on the net. Our first trip was the walk up to the Hidimba devi temple, where the famous scene from 'Roja' was shot. The deity is Hidimbi Devi, wife of Bhima. Its believed that Pandavas visited this place during their exile. The temple is situated in the middle of a large deodar and pine forest. The view of the temple was blocked due to arrangements for the annual fest and so my cam got some rest. The entry to the temple is of very short height. Once you enter, you need to bend and get under a rock to see the deity. Only one person can do this at a time. Later, a lady sitting there puts a tilak on your forehead.

huge deodar and pine trees near the Hidimba devi temple.

himalayan apples...I ate these 2 after this shot :D

yawwwwwwwwwn!.....a Himachali lady carrying her baby

grass!!!!...The cannabis plant is common on the road sides of Manali...doper's heaven:P

view of Manali town from near the Hidimba temple.

Our afternoon trip was to old Manali. We had the trip's first encounter with the evergreen Maggi noodles, which turned out to be our major food in the coming days. We walked up along narrow roads selling shawls, bags and curios. We saw some steps leading up to a side road, which made us deviate from the main road. There was an apple tree in full splendour in a lonely place at top. Without second thoughts, I plucked and ate one. It tasted heavenly, free from all pesticides. Everyone savoured the gift of nature. A 'firangi' was seen on top with his laptop. Guess he didn't know about the free facebook provided by airtel mobile.

Old Manali provides you a splendid peek into the village life here. The roofing material of houses were neatly cut stones. Young pretty faces were seen peeping from the windows. The children here were hostile to the camera. One little girl shooed me away when I was clicking her playing with her little bro. But, she later asked me to click her toy arrangement, which I happily obliged. We reached the Manu temple, after a pretty long walk. Its a temple dedicated to the man who wrote the Manu smriti, some contents of which I don't like particularly. The temple is a fully wooden structure. It overlooked the Vashisht hills. After spending some pleasant time there, we walked down hill a bit and entered a cyber cafe to chart our new travel plans to spiti valley. Just after a minute, an accent car sped down uncontrollably through the road we had walked. It smashed into a shop, injuring two of the shop guys and one foreign passerby badly. As I ran down, I saw blood all over the bonnet of the almost overturned car. The shop guys were lifted up from underneath a stone block. Thankfully all of them were alive. Also, we four missed being hit thanks to the cafe on the way.

a typical house in old manali...well cut stones on top, wooden beams and windows and clothes hung out for drying all around....

near the Manu temple..

view from a local teashop...two heads watch intently as a girl walks by...bird watching is the same everywhere:P

a home in the valleys...surrounded by pine trees and the mountain air...

Manu temple..

The lady who gave us directions to the Manu temple..

We walked further down for dinner. My tibetan dinner ended up as a disaster-a momo without stuffing, chicken curry which was like sambhar and tasteless rice. Happily for me, everyone else had similar experiences in their foodie experiments. And that was the disastrous end to a wonderful day...more in store....

your crusader Praveen