Manali and Manikaran

Manali and Manikaran, originally uploaded by sunpreet28.

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.