What can a Dairy Milk ad do to an average Indian? At best, it will trigger a craving that entices chocoholics to reach for a pip of those scrumptious brown squares. But oddly enough, that wasn't what it did to me. Every time I saw the commercial, I couldn't help but imagine myself playing in the snow. Yes, I'm talking about that beautiful snow-fight ad of Cadburys.
Incidentally, when my friend Jomy Joseph suggested we go on a trip to Kulu Manali, my friends and I were more than happy to oblige. After so many WhatsApp, office and canteen bull sessions, we finally booked tickets for our big trip. The airfare was pretty cheap, all thanks to the reflexive decision maker of the gang, Sebastian Jacob.
Two months ahead of the journey, we, the exuberant lot, had already begun preparing for our expedition. Apart from crazily sharing images and videos of the valley, we religiously read weather reports and travel routes. Our colleague Kevin Mathew Roy was tenacious enough to even change his mobile weather app's default location from Kottayam to Kulu Manali.
Days passed and weeks rolled by, and our full-fledged preparations reached its final leg. All of us bought thermals and sweaters to keep us warm in the chilly climate. In our minds, we were already there.
But what awaited us was a bolt from the blue: Jomy fell ill and he backed down. However, he wasn't ready to play the spoilsport and asked us to carry on without him. We frantically scouted for a replacement and in the eleventh hour, Sebastian's cousin Baby pitched in.
The day of our departure had finally arrived... After much organizing, 101 to-do lists and lots of discussions, we were still running around like blue arse flies trying to get everything sorted. When we finished cramming in a few last-minute supplies, our colleague Nikhil Scariah Korah drove us to the airport.
We reached Delhi at the crack of dawn. We rode straight to Sebastian's friend's cottage in Gurgaon. At Gurgaon, warm hosts welcomed us to their apartment. It was their son's birthday and we happily joined in the celebration. After a sumptuous lunch, the six of us - Kevin, Sebastian, Joice, Mathew, Baby and I - proceeded to Delhi.
Our first stopover was at the tower of victory, Quitub-Minar. Having read quite a few reports comparing the tower to the Leaning Tower of Pizza in Italy, I curiously scanned the structure to find the tilted angles. However, I couldn't find any tilt.
The all-knowing security guard played the role of a knowledgeable guide to the group. A few tidbits from his account: The tower has five parts; while the first three parts are made of red stone, the fourth and fifth structures are made of marble and sand stone, respectively.
Without spending much time there, we walked to the Ashokan Pillar, which is situated in the Qutub complex itself. It's a mystery how the pillar remains rust-resistant even though 98 percent of the structure is made of wrought iron. We were wowed so much by the exquisite Mughal architecture that we almost forgot to capture it on camera.
After striking a few poses, we proceeded to Lotus Temple. However, we couldn't get inside the temple, thanks to the long queue. Not ready to give up, we climbed up the wall and clicked a few pictures of the magnificent temple.
Our next stop-off was at Raj Ghat. If you love listening to brief spells of mystifying silence, Raj Ghat has quite a lot to offer.
As it was getting late, we moved to the Red Fort in a jiffy. We reached there at 5pm, 30 minutes before the closing time. An octagonal shaped structure made of red stones, the Red Fort's magnificence stands testimony to Mughal architecture in all its splendor. The towers and kiosks of the fort complex lend charm and grace to the walls, which glowed in the soft rays of the setting sun.
After spending some time in the Red Fort, we proceeded to the three-century-old market Chandni Chowk, which was once a hub of merchants from China, Turkey and even Holland. It has been said that this market is a spot where one can find literally anything. Starting from heaps of clothes, to hoards of hardware and tools, Chandni Chowk completely awed us with its variety and most of all, prices. If your bargaining skills have to be honed, then a visit to this market is a must.
From there, we moved to India Gate. It is said a visit to New Delhi is incomplete without a trip to the famous war memorial, India Gate. On our way back, our driver Anish showed us Rashtrapathi Bhavan, Nehru Memmorial, Parliament and other famous buildings.
The next day, we drove toward Shimla, a seven-hour journey by car. By evening, we reached Shimla. I was completely amazed by the beauty of Shimla; the breath of fresh air and the chilly wind brought the kid out of me, which had got lost in the rush of daily life. As we had booked our hotel online, we proceeded to the hilltop resort without any delay.
The next morning, we woke up to a heavenly sight – the snow-capped trees, buildings and mountains. Although the fatigue of our long journey had tired us, we couldn't wait to explore Shimla.
The major attraction of the town is the Shimla Ridge, which offers the best view of the mountain peaks. Along the famous Mall Road, there are so many shops and I am sure if you bring your wife along, you will definitely miss other locations of Shimla.
The next day, we headed to Kurfi, one of the highest point around the hill station. Renowned for its winter snowfall, Kurfi is located about 19 km away from Shimla. From the foothills to the hill top, we rode on horseback, and I must say, it was such a wonderful experience. Making snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other, we, the young adults, enjoyed as much as we can in that surreal white landscape.
We were off to Manali the next day. The six-hour journey was not one bit exasperating as our eyes were treated to excellent vistas on both sides of the valley. Manali has an exotic charm, neither too Indian nor foreign. Guarded by Manalsu River, Old Manali is another world in its own – as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean. Nevertheless, it is a well-developed village, which is connected by roads and with all forms of modern communication facilities.
We drove deeper from the tarred road, through narrow footpaths and orchards, and finally reached our guest house. As it was raining cats and dogs, there was no electricity all through the night. However, instead of venturing out, we all stayed back in the cottage that evening as sleep demons caught hold of us early that day.
Determined to compensate for the previous day, we hit the road early next day to Solang valley in Manali. The valley offers a host of adventure sports such as parachuting, para-gliding, skating, zorbing and rafting.
After exploring the valley for a while, we set off to Vashisht. Located 6km from Manali, Vashisht is famous for its hot water spring, which is believed to have healing properties. Tourists flock the place just for a dip in the warm water. Since we weren't in a mood for a hot water bath, we proceeded to our last destination in Manali – the Hidimba temple.
This is the same place from where Roja (Madhoo) lost her husband Rishi (Arvind Swamy) in Mani Ratnam's 1992 blockbuster Roja. Located in the heart of a cedar forest, the temple has a four-tiered roof and its doorway is engraved with legendary figures. Although crowded, the place is pretty enchanting with its mystic smell of deodar tress and incenses.
Early next morning, we were off to Delhi. However, half an hour into our return journey, we decided to go for river rafting. None of us had ever been to river rafting and knew nothing about it before going on this trip, heck, I didn't even know how to swim! But with life jackets on and paddles in our hands, we were ready for the rendezvous with dangerous rapids. Our guide instructed us to sail forward and we started rowing our raft. Paddling looked easy until we came across the first rapid. We could see it from a distance - violent waves, the roaring water and the stones in between.
It seemed that those things together were threatening us to go back. But soon we found ourselves combating the strong current by rowing in sync and paddling as hard as we could. The chilling water had drenched us all and we were all shivering. But that didn’t stop us. Before we could know, we were out of that rapid and out of the breath too. Although my stomach was doing flip flops, the level of fun and frolic we had was beyond words.
We hit the roads a few hours after our first tryst with the water adventure as we were running behind schedule. After crossing the dangerous three-kilometer-long AUT tunnel, we had a brief stopover at Himachal's Mandi district, along river Beas and reached Punjab by the evening.
The pristine waters of Punjab made us stop our vehicle once again. After having tea from a wayside shop, we continued with our journey, only to reach Delhi later in the night. As we were all so tired, all of us hit the beds as soon as we reached the hotel room.
The depressing last day of our trip had finally arrived and it was then that it dawned to us that that we had completely forgotten about the 'mandatory' Taj Mahal visit. Without much loitering around in the hotel, we proceeded to see the marvel – The Taj.
Like Mark Zuckerberg said on his first Taj visit, it’s incredible – what people can build and what love can motivate us to build. As morning sun's orange rays tinged the white marbles a delicate pink, the beautiful monument stood along the banks of Yamuna like a tragic, yet romantic reminder of sorts. A lover's lyric in luminous marble, the Taj Mahal's beauty is unsurpassed. After taking in the grandeur of Shah Jahan's symbol of love, we reminded ourselves to take a few customary pictures and rushed to the airport without delay.
On our journey toward the airport, none spoke. A hundred memories of the trip flashed before each of us and we made a promise to ourselves – that we will come back to this place again... and again.
