By: Eram Fatima, Asstt. Editor-ICN
Maybe John Keats really observed the beauty of nature like I saw because if I was in his place I would have said the same: A thing of beauty is a joy forever, indeed.
NEW DELHI: Since childhood I had a yearning to visit to places which I haven’t before. I have a fetish for travelling. When finally the opportunity arose out of the blue, I decided to make it my one of the memorable experiences ever. I always had an illusion in my mind that India can’t be that much beautiful like foreign countries until I visited Manali some days back.
I have seen pictures and read about these places but my mind was refusing to accept that it’s worth praising. It’s an enchanting place just some kilometers and 6 hours away from Shimla. I went through an appointed bus with a big group of peoples through my school where I taught. It’s an almost 18 hours long journey but if you travel fast one can reach as soon as in 12 hours.
During our journey we were really enjoying the bus moment and nothing can beat the pleasure of travelling in groups. You get to delight in with lots of people of every age, sing songs, loud music, and delicious snacks end to end with either restless night or just too somnolent and bushed.
Some people really faced difficulty in travelling as I observed some of them having motion sickness and it’s completely a mood spoiler. We stopped at a lavish restaurant where we had delicious dinner following with scoopful of ice-creams. We were quite away from the Delhi but far from Manali but the very biting and chilling cold were piercing through our nerves. It was the symbol that we were approaching near the vibes of that cold environment.
In the morning, the fresh air, the biting and foggy wind whispered in my ears to wake me up and feel the new abode. I opened my eyes and what I saw through my window is inexplicable. Huge and giant mountains in row were staring and waving at me. It was luscious green and besides a long wide river with crystal clear water was flowing. It was soothing. I kept staring until we reached.
When we reached in our hotel, I took my keys, went straight to my room, unlocked it, threw my luggage on the sofa and just relaxed. Precipitously, the phone rang, I picked it up. It was the call of the receptionist for informing us for breakfast.
That day it was the plan to visit Rohtang. We went there by taxi. It was almost 3 hours away from our suite. As we were approaching near the place very cold wind started. We reached and came out of the taxi. I didn’t take any heavy jackets, gloves and caps with me as I thought that there’ll be no snowfall because October usually doesn’t have much. But I was wrong it was devastatingly cold.
The temperature was -2 degrees. The wind was badly piercing my ears. My hands were frozen and so were my face. Blood inside our body got frozen too. We were not able to click pictures even.
The sun was bright but it was not helpful. The water in the lake was cheerfully blue and was shining like diamonds and created illusions of emerald, sapphires, ruby, pearls as if we were watching a rainbow. We decided to climb the highest peak. We did. But our luck the snowfall started and I felt tiny pearls were falling from the sky. I tasted but it melted. Rohtang is the place which will take your breath away. It’s the most enchanting place I ever saw.
When we visited The Solang Valley, the rain started and the weather became so beautiful. I could easily smell the fresh soil. The fragrance, the rain, the wind, the sky, those mountains, the snowfalls all I wanted to capture in my hands and never let them go.
