Travelogues

The three day weekend followed by another leave for Parsi New year meant that we had to pack our bags and take off for yet another unexplored location for a break. This time we opted for Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Reasons? –

• Due to the monsoons- it was ‘off season’ for Manali which meant that hopefully it would not be crawling with tourists,
• also we had never been to HP & hence wanted to experience the beauty of the terrain
• and the final clincher, our discovery of quaint cottages featured in Traveller - Strawberry Garden Cottages run by a foreigner some 15 kms from Manali guaranteeing a peaceful, cosy stay

We decided to take a direct flight from Mumbai to Chandigarh to save on travel time and maximize the 5 day holiday. However, fate had something completely different in mind for us. We landed in Chandigarh at 5.15 PM on the 15^th of August. The plan was to drive till Bilaspur around 150 kms from Chandigarh and then continue onwards to Manali through Swarghat the next morning. However, on reaching Kiratpur Sahib, at the beginning of the Himalayan foothills, we were told by the policeman on duty that there has been a landslide ahead and we’ll have to travel to Manali through Una (which is double the distance – around 120 kms extra). Since it was already 8.30 PM we decided to stop for a bite at a Dhaba in Kiratpur and look for a hotel nearby to spend the night. We found Hotel City Palace at Anandpur Sahib- 10 Kms from Kiratpur and checked in around 9.45 pm- completely exhausted with the travel and a little disappointed to see our planned trip hijacked by the landslide. We spent some hours looking at possible destination option in the Outlook Traveler but eventually decided to take the next day as it comes and follow the revised route to Manali.

Anandpur Sahib is second only to Amritsar, the city of Golden Temple. The ninth Guru, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur ji, near the ruins of an ancient place, Makhowal, founded Anandpur Sahib in the year 1664. It is also known as the "the holy City of Bliss." Takhat (a seat of authority, one of five in Sikhism) Kesgarh Sahib is the centerpiece of Anandpur Sahib. Our hotel was very close to Kesgarh Sahib Gurudwara- an impressive structure in white, hence we decided to pay our respects and pray before starting our journey. The soothing tones of the Gurbani and the peaceful surroundings of the gurudwara had a calming effect on us as we restarted our journey. Our driver informed us that devotees travel from far & wide to pay respects at this holy site.