Manali

Have you ever wanted to go on a trip so desperately? Just get out of the mundane? See incredible sights? Experience something visceral? I wanted to. And my college gang wanted to as well I guess. We planned for a grand trip to the north once before as well, only to abandon it for some lame reason. But not this time. This was it. The planners were on fire, citing places worth visiting. Trekking is a prerequisite in our trips. Somehow most of our group agreed to come and make this an unforgettable trip.

So the fun actually started around 10 days before. Conversations from Pune to Bangalore to Hyderabad to Delhi about where to go, what to do, who will make the bus reservations etc. etc. From Kheerganga, we came to Great Himalayan National Park, and then finally settled on Patalsu for trek. What about the other days? Kasol and Manali were the chosen places. Everyone gathers at Delhi, then we leave for Manali, and then return back to Delhi was the plan. What about stuff to buy? I had no trekking shoes, raincoat or for that matter, a lot of things. Three of us went to Decathlon, the sports store in Hyderabad to buy everything we could need for the trek. I myself ended up spending around 10k that day for a rucksack, shoes, raincoat, ponchos, a nice chair for myself, badminton shuttles and some other stuff which I can't even remember. Seeing all trekking stuff at Decathlon made me want to go on a long trek even more. Everything from jackets to thermal wear to shoes to scarves to tents to kayaks, it was so much fun to just window shop. I checked the prices and decided that I needed salary in a heavier currency to even think about such stuff.

We met at a friend's place in Delhi, and did nothing but some gupshup. Then left for the metro to reach the bus boarding point. From here, the actual adventure starts. 9 people in 3 taxis to the nearest metro station which was MG Road. The driver of my particular cab turned out to be a really cunning guy, and took advantage of our nescience about Delhi Metro. After telling him our drop location, he took us to a totally different station. I was really annoyed, how can drivers dupe us? We were becoming increasingly wary of Delhiites. Somehow reaching the boarding point, and waiting for an hour or so, we are greeted with a bitter news: buses start from the Haryana border, and boarding points were a sham. How the hell do we go 20 km to the border? There's another bus for that. After sitting very uncomfortably with luggage on our laps, we finally reach the border, and there's our bus, standing proudly. The drama doesn’t end here though. The bus operator doesn’t let us occupy the seats we booked! He tells us we should take the seats at the back! Nobody needed this farce at 11:30, yet we kept arguing with the operator to no avail. So three brave men amongst us sat and slept on the 5 rear seats for the entire 14 hour journey. We got down at Bhuntar to go to Kasol, which was our first destination.

Bhuntar to Kasol is approximately 40 kilometers, which should have taken 2 hours due to the hilly terrain, but it took us 4 hours due to traffic! The last place I expected traffic to delay us. But still it was okay, the drive was great, we got to see a lot of scenic beauty. We saw the confluence of rivers Parvati and Beas. We could tell them apart by their distinctive colors. Our co-passengers were interesting. A teacher from Rajasthan, a working woman from Delhi, a couple from Delhi who study architecture, and a couple of guys who were mechanical engineers, all going to Kasol for a weekend of fun and haze. Not us though.

The place we got down at in Kasol was very near to Beas river. Getting down, a few of us went straight to the river. After taking a few customary photos, we just sat there for a while, relishing the view, the cool breeze, and the cool water against our tired legs. After refreshing ourselves quickly, we went on a small walk on a trail adjoining the Beas river, which was around a kilometer. If there is one thing I miss, it is the sound of gushing water, absolutely amazing. Kasol was pretty much a bust, since we reached late, and we could not do anything else.

Next day, drive to Manali. Despite leaving Kasol quite early, we reached Manali quite late, around noon, courtesy the never-ending traffic. It seemed we picked the wrongest possible weekend to be in Manali. With Srinagar closed, it seemed the entire north had congregated in Manali. We visited the Vashisht Mandir in the remaining sunlight we had, and started shopping for granola bars and water bottles. Yep, you heard it right. 30 granola bars for 11 people, since we can't exactly carry anything else on the trek. Along with that, we also took bread, butter and jam, the easiest things to carry. We were keenly awaiting dawn, ready for the trek.

Come dawn, everyone was ready in shoes and track pants with bags filled with water bottles and granola bars. We reached Solang Valley in 30 minutes or so. After having hot aloo pranthas and maggi, we started towards the base village of Solang. We crossed the Beas river on a threadbare wooden bridge, one by one, and walked through the thin jungle to reach Solang at around 8. The beauty of Patalsu lies in the fact that not many people visit it, in spite of its proximity and ease. We seemed to have the whole mountain to ourselves. After striking a deal with a local guy for being our guide, we set off from the foothills of Patalsu. One thing is quickly noticeable: no trail here, we need to go through the jungle, and the bushes. In my mind, I was excited. We were taking short breaks every 30 minutes or so, and bags were exchanging shoulders. The slope wasn’t gentle, and neither slippery for which we were glad. Certain portions seemed to be at an incline of more than 50 degrees, yet we laboured on, marching from one scintillating view to another. Hanuman Tibba besides Patalsu provided a constant reminder that we were at very low heights. Another mountain, whose name I do not remember, seemed to be even higher, would have easily been 5500 metres. The temperature was just right, not too cold, not too hot. With high spirits we continued on. A dog followed us all the way up and down, giving some pleasant company.

This mountain is such a tease: just a bit further, just a few metres more. I don’t know how many times the guide consoled us that we are very close to the peak. I wonder to how many people had he done that? If I were him, I would be doing an evil smile inside. He seemed to know the mountain well, he was taking us through the best path where we could climb a bit easily. I was, as usual,  the less followed route. I was rewarded with a few sights: a one foot snake, which was surprisingly quick, and a few streams with cold water. I made sure my feet are well covered, and warned the others as well. Then came the steeper parts: the gradient was higher here, a stick seemed necessary. I found a stick nearby, and proceeded further. People behind me also found sticks, and thanked the heavens. Somehow climbing with sticks became a lot easier. Maybe because some of the pressure we put on our knees was passed on to the stick.

75% done, and we reach a grassy stretch. Perfect for photos. Not that we did not take photos before. This particular spot was unique: grass, and flowers, and cool. The kind of places you would imagine in fairy tales or something. Except for the incline, I guess. This mountain is relentless, it will tease you, it will show you some incredible sights just to make you walk. Finally around 11:30 we reached the semi-peak. I say semi-peak because we were around 200 metres below the actual peak. There was a stretch of 3.5 km more, which would have taken more time. We needed to be back downhill by 5 max, so we decided not to do the full 4200 metres. The point we stopped was also a show stopper. This was the place where trekkers normally take the day off, spread their tents and lay on the grass gazing at the star studded sky while listening to the crickets screech and cold winds howl. But we did not have that option, so we started the biggest photo session of all time: 6 out of the 11 made it here, and were trying out a variety of poses on different rocks. Every time a cloud came up behind us, we would take a million photos. The silence, cool breeze, the picturesque scenery everything made the trek a million times better.

We started eating what was left of the bread, butter, jam and the granola bars. We offered some to the dogs as well, thanking them for their company. As expected, the descent was much more difficult than the ascent. I was so thankful for the stick I found in the woods earlier in the day. Taking lesser number of breaks and photos we reached downhill in around 2.5 hours. Thoroughly exhausted, but sated. I was entirely pleased that we did Patalsu instead of Rohtang Valley. After having pranthas and chai, we started walking towards the bus stop to catch a bus to Manali. The second innings of the trek starts here!

What we saw was mayhem on the road. People out of their vehicles shouting at others, cars jostling for space, and pedestrians walking among the vehicles. What was happening? A 5 km plus traffic jam! Vehicles were turned off, and it seemed they were so for quite a while. The bus that was supposed to pick us up at 5 hadn't even made the journey! We were totally screwed. Tired from the trek, and seemingly no other option but to walk 10 more km. So we set off, on one of the walks to remember.

Just as we set off, one person twisted his ankle, and was in a lot of pain. One guy was already suffering from shoulder pain, and was putting on a brave face at this daunting challenge. We had to find a way to get them off to Manali in some vehicle. We started calling out for lifts, and fortunately two vehicles offered the two guys a way back to the city. The rest of us continued walking on the road, along the traffic. We took some shortcuts, in which cows ambushed us. But mostly we were fine. At least I wasn’t feeling pain. We had the Beas river to keep us company, with its strong current and loud thuds and crashes. There was no place to sit and take some rest, you had to keep on going. It wasn’t raining, so that was a positive. We did not stop asking for lifts, though. We were showing the thumbs up to each and every passing vehicle, in the hope that one would stop. No such luck. I was quite optimistic that some truck would stop, but we couldn’t see a single truck and the ones we saw, didn’t stop. Somehow, I wasn’t exasperated or anything. In fact my mood was quite good, I was enjoying the walk. I knew I'll suffer the consequences later, but the present was quite interesting. After walking halfway, we got a call from one of the guys who reached the city that he is willing to bring two cars for the rest of the 9. We told him okay, bring the cars, and we would be standing where we were. One of us ditched and started walking the rest of the way as well. Who does such a thing? That was selfish to do, in my opinion. The cars came surprisingly quickly, maybe showing how close we were. Nonetheless we took the cabs and started back towards the city again. 9 people in two cars. We reached the outskirts of the city in 20 minutes or so. From there, the jam began. No way forward. On a two lane road, vehicles were lined up in three lines. The smallest of the vehicles were at a clear advantage, and drivers who were extremely alert were having fun cutting the queue. Fortunately our driver was one such guy. 3 km to go. Police standing nearby. Cars moving at less than snail's pace. After covering around 1.5 km in the next 60 minutes, we were totally frustrated, and paid the driver and got out. We walked the rest of the way back to our hotel. There we got divided, since me and another guy went to have tea, while the others moved forward. We two were at the doors of our rooms when the others called for dinner. We had no option but to go, since Manali doesn’t stay awake late at night, and there was a real possibility that we might not get anything to eat except juice. So we walked back two more kilometres to the restaurant. Being ravenously hungry, we tore into the food, and ate a lot. Then we began the slow walk towards the hotel, totally drained, but hearts filled with great memories.

Next day we had to leave for Delhi, and our bus was at 5 in the evening. To pass the time, we played some uno, and some other card games. The effects of the previous day's labor wasn’t visible on anybody's faces. The bus this time wasn't good, it didn’t have curtains, and he drove rashly. After having a few morsels of rice at some dhaba for dinner, we just fell asleep. The nightmare doesn’t end here though. Again our bus dropped us at some random place outside the city, from where we had to take an Uber to our friend's place. Why can't these idiots tell such things in advance? Beware of booking buses from Delhi to anyplace, and confirm such things beforehand.

After freshening up, and having some snacks, we had to leave for the airport. I was sad that the trip came an end so quickly. Saying adios and all the best to the Baporia boy who was going for his Masters, we were reminiscing the last few days and some other trips that we had done together. Our Uber came and we just had to go. An exciting week finally came to an end. A week in the North well spent. Let’s start planning the next trip people!

(Need to add photos, I'll add them later!)