Manali - The abode of Manu, Vashisht and Vyas!
I have earned a reputation of a footloser amongst my family and friends so the onus of choosing the destination for the summer trip lay on me, albeit I suggested Gurez in Kashmir ,the bunch of cousins accompanying plumped for Himachal so I gave in ,but having visited Dalhousie and Dharamshala in April this year, I settled for Manali. Ours was a group of nine and I felt in my bones that it was going to be a wonderful trip , being in company of loved ones ,time grew wings and six days passed in a jiffy amidst beauty galore. There was no pecuinary sense in travelling by air as the fares were devilishly high and a total rip off so, boarding Vandebharat train up till Chandigarh and a road trip ahead fit the bill perfectly. Trip to all hill stations are hackneyed ones as you find same old same old mall roads with maniac footfall, miffing traffic snarls, Tibetan markets...