Sojourning at Manali (En route to Ladakh)

Does the beauty of hills stations elude you? Are you attracted to reaching quiet and serene heights, capturing those miniscule yet scenic towns and villages in to your camera? Do you prefer mixing adventure with some solace in quiet mountains and cool hill tops? If you really do so then a trip to Manali in northern India before hitting Ladakh is the right destination for your family holidays. Welcome to the hill station of northern India that offers its tourists a pleasurable concoction of peace, tranquillity, romance and a thrilling adventure- Manali the ‘Switzerland of India’.

As you traverse your journey by road from the green city of Chandigarh upwards towards the Himalayas what you come across is a splendidly scenic grandeur that holds a classy display of natural beauty all over its hills. This is Manali, one of the classically popular spots for tourists in the Kullu region.  Famous amongst tourists and newly-married couples this hill-station serves as an ideal location for film shooting crews as well.

Spiritual and religious splendour

Don’t miss the Gadha Thekchoking Gompa which is located in the Tibetan area around the bottom of the Mall in Manali.  Built by the Tibetan refugees in 1960 this exquisite piece of religious art serves and amazes the tourists with its beautiful frescoes and a mid-size Buddhist statue.  If you are a hardcore India patriot then the list of martyrs killed in the war from 1987 to 1989 inside this temple would serve as a valuable piece of information and pride.

A four storey wooden temple of Goddess Hidimba Devi located in the middle of the forest comes as surprise attraction and an interesting place of worship.

Looking for a prowl in the wilderness?

Spread on the sprawling land of 3,180 hectares and a shelter to one of the most protected species, the Manali sanctuary is an important asset of the Manali wildlife authority. Ahead of this below the Chanderkhani pass, pops a small valley which is home to some few thousands of tribals living in this hilly region.   If you still haven’t satiated your desires for that thrilling adventure then take look at some known spots of Hanuman Tibba, chanderkhani pass, Deo Tibba and Rohtang Pass for Heli-Skiing.  The ideal time for you to carry out this sport is during late winters when the layers of snow have gathered making it favourable for it to be smooth and zesty.

As it is more convenient and advisable to use the helicopter service to drop the interested adventurers at the right height and spot, the cost is expensive and only fit for the ‘right’ people.  No wonder the sport is tremendously thrilling and invokes all the senses as the skier experiences the zing by rapidly zooming down to the white icy slopes.

A visit to the Indian ‘Switzerland’

Starting from the Manali town and at a distance of around 13 kms, you get to see the exuberantly attractive landscapes of ‘Solang valley’ encapsulated with snow capped mountains seen around and lavish green acres of curvy lands all around you.


Please note:  This article is now sold to an independent contractor and is not for sale
-Barkha verma ( Author).

we...The children of the village!

“What makes you come to our lands......we have not much to offer

Than smiles

With our red cheeks and running noses,

Some stars that suddenly twinkle in our eyes...

We only know that you come from faraway lands

With so many things studded inside your bags,

Pockets and .........mind...

What makes you come to our lands....out here you find only changing colours of sand,

Smooth and lonely sand, tall mountains hiding us from the world beyond

Its only sun that dares to rise and shine

Our only true visitor every day

Never misses his classes

What makes you come to our lands.....

Clicking our pictures every now and then...

Will you sell them to those angels

Who wish to know how we look? Or

Will you make fun of us showing them to

 those beautiful dolls or toys of the moving screen? or

You will keep them with you forever hidden somewhere

And show it to us when we have grown old.

Don’t ask our names for you will forget them

Don’t give us anything for we will be

unhappy after you have left

Just give us a handshake or a smile

Tell us about your lands of tall buildings,  big water tubs

And green lands.

Tell us a story so that we remember and tell them

To our teachers

For you come only once with your bags

To our land

From your faraway lands..............................

My window!

One fine morning
When I looked out of the window of my soul, 
I saw a beautiful road endlessly traversing
And touching unexplorable horizons.

Each and every sight was
 an experience in its own. 

Every miniscule part of it was seen
Stretching their arms out
to embrace me to their journey,
 an open invitation to the mysteries
 of the soul and its infinite route!

I froze for a moment,
 held my  horses
and 
closed the windows-
once again this time....this last time I thought.....-

 with eyes closed, still gazing at that road deep inside by the 'inner me'. 

One fine day
when I'm done
with everything else
I will jump out of this window
beyond the material boundaries

and reach out on this route
with no bags
no accessories
no tickets
no footwear
and no more 'needs or desires'

just me and this journey!!

Is Valentine approaching next month??

That element called ‘Romance’

The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial in any love story. It changes the relationship of two people much more strongly than even the final surrender; because this kiss already has within it that surrender ~

-Emil Ludwig

                                  No wonder Love and Romance rekindles that energy within you and you turn out to be  all new as if born with wings and ready to take on the whole world with a blooming soul.   Life sometimes knocks with Romance and when you open and invite this guest called ‘Love’ it fills your life with true colours that were missing earlier. In love a person ‘deceives’ and gets ‘deceived’ for as we all know that ‘love is blind’! It gives you a sight which makes you see the ‘unseen’ makes you feel the ‘unfelt’ and awakes that feeling which has been sleeping all this while.  In more pristine terms it opens our eyes from darkness, awakens our spirits and takes us to a joy ride to heaven and the divine.  When you meet that someone who makes your heart tick faster or when in that first kiss you embrace life in its completeness then it’s this time when you have actually stepped in to happiness which you had never experienced before.  Worries run far away from your otherwise mundane and stressed life and tranquillity is the one who replaces it! 

With you and your spouse no matter however old you are ‘Romance’ keeps this heart younger and beautiful and the beauty grows as years pass by. It’s that old wine which you would want to cherish every second and let it grow older as ‘the older it would get, the richer it would become’!  Life today is so much badly affected with factors such as stressed work routine, a mundane life, artificiality and materialistic urges blowing bigger and selfish goals or thirst that is never satiated.  We have come far away from breathing oxygen.  It’s only this feeling which can bring us back from the dungeons of violence, treachery and aggression.  Giving time for your love, going out on romantic evenings and having sumptuous candle light meals together are sure de-stressors in our life.  Once in a week outing to some remote peaceful location with your loving spouse, giving her that special attention for which she had been waiting for can bring oceans of changes and happiness in her. And this charm will cast magical spell in your otherwise monotonous life.   Knowing your spouse better and sharing romance for a while can bring wonders to your love life. Why just that the very feeling of togetherness with your partner can refresh the whole personality of yours.

                           Often when you might hear a ‘cliché`’ such as ‘Hey! You are really looking charming today.....are you in love’? Has got some meaning in it. Love does reverse your age and make you look younger not only from within but also the external of you. So go ahead and bring back all those romantic vibes back in your life..............you will not remain the ‘same’ again!

Please note: This article is sold along with its copyrights to 'Zeeba writers Paradise'. It now owns the copyrights of the same.

-Barkha verma ( Author )

Wild greeters

A group of friendly inhabitants of the barren and sturdy mountains greeted us on our way to the famous Pangong-Tso.

            Well, Marmots are a lot more interesting creatures than what the Wikipedia explains it as. I guess the time when we saw them making hay in the sunshine was the one when these beautiful mammals are out from their hibernating burrows.

                Bigger than the size of a Persian cat and with a richer hair texture of almond brown they display themselves as one of the most alluring wild species which remain hidden from mankind. Their fur shone and danced on their wrinkly leathery thick skin as they moved towards us, quite a few of them though.  A bunny rabbit like twin teeth popped out as it moved closer as if wanted to display its most presentable walk and look for us ‘ugly’ ones.  A piece of cheese slice which I took out from my coat pockets was now neatly tucked between my fingers held towards in their invitation.  It did play its magic as several others popped out of their holes to bag their price of the splendid sunny show.  Within no seconds the complete family had surrounded us forming a gamut which surprised and attracted more tourists to sojourn beside us with their cameras and video cams.

        Although our provision of cheese was over the Marmots got some plentiful more from other admirers; in terms of nuts and vegetables. Quite a treat I thought!  And quite a shot too for all of us to cherish it along with my kids for whom this wild gift would forever remain memorable too.