Manali -What a place! What an experience!

It was in the month of May 2004 that I completed my B.E Degree.It was a hot summer day and it has been a very long time since we had planned for some long vacation. One of my Dad’s friend who resides in Delhi had been calling us for a long time to spend our vacation with them. So my dad planned for a trip to Manali via Delhi. But I was least interested bcoz I knew that the temperature was around 45 degrees in Delhi and the scorching sun would be unbearable. But somehow we packed up and started towards Delhi. We went to Chennai, stayed there for 2 days and then to Delhi.
We reached Delhi at 6 am and my uncle had come to receive us. We reached his place by car, met his family and had breakfast. Uncle had made arrangements to take us to Manali.
We started in the eve and reached Manali at around 11 pm . Manali, in the Beas River valley, is an important hill station in the Himalayan mountains of Himachal Pradesh, India, near the northern end of the Kullu Valley.It can be called as the originating place of the 5 rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The route towards Manali was too narrow with more hairpin bends,which made me feel dizzy and frustrated. By the time we reached Manali,I was sooo tired.We stayed in a hotel that night and the next morning started our way towards Rohtang pass, the highest point on the Manali-Keylong road that provides a wide panoramic view of mountains rising far above clouds, which is truly breath taking. The atmosphere was soooo beautiful with snow covered mountains, gracious trees found in the tropical areas, apple orchards and lots more... Being a well known Honeymoon destination, u can obviously find more couples there. Got a chance to look at the rivers Sutlej,Beas…as we had to pass thro’ them to reach the glacier…. Finally we reached the snow point at Rohtang pass, covered fully with snow…
We were given woollen clothes,socks and shoes to wear as it would be too cold and sticks to help us climb the snow clad mountain.There were so many people,playing in the snow,people posing for photographs,children throwing ice cubes on one another and women selling out the traditional himachal dress.I bought one of them and wore it for a snap.There were so many games to play with…U can hardly see any dry land in and around that area….There was a dome and a sage was sitting inside it…The dome was the starting place of the river Sutlej. There was a small crevice from which the Sutlej was emerging…Down the valley it was becoming wider and wider descending downwards…Throughout ur travel from the floor of Manali, till u reach the glacier..u will be accompanied with the melodious sounds of the beautiful rivers striking against the pebbles and stones…We spent the whole day there and in the evening,made our way back to the footsteps of Manali..We did some shopping in the town, visited a temple and the location where the movie ”Roja” was shot. The next day we started our way back to Delhi crossing the states of Himachal Pradesh,Haryana and Punjab.In Haryana,we made a halt to visit Kurukshetra, a place where the Kurukshetra war as depicted in the Mahabaratha had taken place centuries ago. It was altogether a very beautiful experience and I’m still looking forward for a chance to be there again.What a place! What an experience!