Panoramic Parashar

First Sight of Parashar lake

It is past midnight. I suddenly wakeup by the hissing sound. Raindrops are falling on my tent and the entire tent is shaking due to heavy wind. It is a stormy night indeed. I try to gather some sleep with eyes closed and ears open.

It is difficult to sleep inside when wind is playing with the tents. As I hear people outside, I gather courage and come out of my tent. As the wind is blowing wildly, I somehow reach the kitchen tent and fetch some hot water. Within a few minutes, Sun God makes an entry. We try to catch some sunshine. We jokingly tell Shardul to hold on to something so that the wind won’t blow him away.

Meanwhile my tent has collapsed. Tanaya

The Temple

has come out in time. We are clueless as to how we are going to gather our things. Dineshji tries to fix it but wind does his job playfully and effortlessly. I burrow inside the tent like a mouse, put everything in my sack and come out. Everyone hurries up to leave the campsite.

As we start our descend, the wind calms down. It was probably sending out signals not to hang on to the accomplished and look forward. We now simply want to walk on the snow. These are last few moments we are spending in the company of snow. I suddenly notice something lying far away. Tanaya runs and brings it. It is a skull of a horse. She convinces Chandan to take it along. We deliberate as to how it will fit into our bags. Finally with lot of thought we decide to send a parcel from Manali to avoid any security issues at the airport.

The descend is absolutely pleasure sum. We chat, crack jokes and reiterate how enjoyable the trek was. As we reach Gulaba Check Post we get into the vehicles and reach Manali in an hour. The hustle and bustle of Mall road is no more enchanting. We dislike it so much that we are eager to reach our next destination.

Temple along side Lake

Next morning, as we wait for the vehicle, we eat our breakfast of paratha. We are now used to eating anything that is hot. The vehicles arrive and we head to Parashar Lake, our next destination. This is the place I had wanted to visit since two years. Parashar lake is about 5 hours drive from Manali. Closest place near Parashar is Mandi. This beautiful lake is situated 2730 meters above sea level. This mesmerizing place has a holy touch of Parashar Rushi who stayed here and  meditated.

I strongly believe that the Ashrams of these ancient Sages were the universities in themselves, they practiced and perfected various fields of knowledge, did research for the betterment of mankind and experimented on new techniques.

The vehicle is taking twisted turns as we cut our way through the valley. I realize  Rajkumarji

Himachali Woman

is an expert driver. He owns Apple Garden in Manali and has accompanied us to oblige his friend Mitraji. We exchange pleasantries and within moments are engaged in deep conversation. Rajkumarji tells me about the life of Himachali people. It is interesting to know about their culture. As we pass the deadly turns effortlessly, Rajkumarji tells me that he has seen the trees grow in front of him. He feels that mountains have grown greener in the recent past. There is more restriction on cutting trees now.  Hence the greenery is increasing. As we reach mid way through the Camper comes to a halt. There is a café on the road side. This small café is run by Pyarelal. Mitraji requests him to make tea for us. He says he will make it in cow milk and also shows us the milk. We are amazed at his simplicity.

Our bigger vehicle has gone ahead of us. We want to catch up with them now. Rajkumarji

Pranav and Kalyani 

swiftly finds his way through the thick forest. And here we are at Parashar Lake.

As soon as we climb a small hill we see the expanse of Parashar lake in front of us. We run towards the temple at the foot of the hill which is adjacent to the lake. We are now joined by the remaining group members. Kalyani quickly guides us to the temple.  This ancient Pagoda style temple was renovated by King Baansen in the 13^th Centruy. This huge temple is constructed from stones and wood.

As we take a look at the idol of Parashar Rushi, the priest updates us on the peculiarity of Parashar Lake. This beautiful lake has a floating island in it. The island is about 29% of the size of entire lake. This is

Parashar Rushi

the same proportion in which earth is divided between land and water. This green piece of land in the lake keeps moving all the time. It floats on the water and keeps shifting its position without any fixed routine. The depth of this lake is also unknown. The lake is surrounded by hillocks. We decided to take a walk around the lake. As we walk bare foot, the land around it feels soft and has slight bounce.

We are totally mesmerized and do not want to leave. There  is something mysterious in the environment. The entire area is guarded by hills. The water is stagnant. The island is peacefully floating in the water.

I am sure Parashar Rushi would have known the proportion of water and land on the earth.

My mind ripples  with emotions. Emotions of Pride, curiosity, interest and much more. But the Parashar is stagnant and silent, scenic and soundless, and above all   panoramic and peaceful.  

Bhrugu and Beyond

The day begins : Mitraji overlooking the group

We wake up at 5.00 am as Mitraji calls out for us. Moon is not willing to go off duty and Sun is already sprinkling golden rays on the mountains. It is a marvelous site indeed. We quickly get ready and eat our delicious breakfast of Upama and Daliya.  It is extremely cold at the moment. It takes some more time to prepare packed lunch for us hence we busy ourselves in taking picture. It is already seven in the morning. All sixteen trekkers are eager to make an appointment with Bhrugu Lake.

Snowy Campsite

After basic instruction for the day, we step our feet on the snow. It is hard at the moment and hence we are more careful while stepping on it. As we proceed on our route, we realize that, the day is going to be as hard as the snow is, at the moment. We cross one hill and another snow covered hill is in front of us. There is one campsite on the hill. As we go closer,  we notice that the tents have been erected on the snow covered land. We are told that some of the tents flew away from this campsite last night.

Some Rest in the snow

There are no trees now. There is only white snow spread everywhere. Karan is heading the team with snow axe in his hands. He cuts the steps for us so that we can climb faster. We are heading towards Roli Kholi  which is mid way through. Sun is now peeping out from clouds. The rays bring some warmth and also lot of hope that we will do the summit. We now need to traverse a patch very carefully. This almost half a kilometer patch looks dreadful. There is valley on one side and mountain on the other. We need to watch our steps and have to fall in line. Everything looks white ahead of us. 

Thrilling Climb

Dineshji walks parallel to us on the slop to protect us and also to give us confidence.

It is already 10 am and we have not reached Roli Kholi yet. There is a rockpatch waiting for us eagerly. We rest for a few minutes to drink some Water, since Dineshji persistently tells  us to drink lot of water.

We now proceed further fervently. There is another traverse we need to cross. The snow is almost 10 to 15 feet deep. Dineshji walks on the slope with ease and encourages us to keep climbing. His enthusiasm is infectious. We gear up to cross another mountain.

Everybody is enjoying every bit of this climb. Sachin is making short videos on his mobile with his patented ‘love you’, ‘miss you’ etc. I try to crack jokes which no one wants to listen to. Suhani and Sushant, father and daughter duo is busy taking selfies. Narendra and Anirudh feel they are on the top of the world.

Roli Kholi : Water amidst snow

We now reach Roli Kholi. This is an amazing place. In the midst of the snow covered mountains there is a very small water reservoir. Everything around this very small pond is cover with snow. Nature is magical. It has a  touch of mysterious and mind-blowing setting. The water is really cold but it is so fresh and Devin. This place is truly mesmerizing. I have already decided to come back to this place another time. In my entire lifespan if I want to live in tranquility this is the only place where I wish I would live forever. There is some kind of stillness about it. Nothing seems to move here not even your thoughts.

However with great difficulty I move ahead with the group. The ascend is getting more and more difficult now. Months of our practice is coming to our rescue. Mitraji and Sachin walk ahead of us.

Shardul a young lad is climbing with determination. His fragile frame keeps taking tiny steps on the snow. I walk side by side with Chandan. It is amazing how nature has given up all the colours except white. White earth is inviting blue skies to meet.  

United we stand with Tricolour

We finally decide to wait for others since there is a lot of gap between us and the rest of the group. It is already mid day and we need to take a call as to how far we can go. Chandan spreads his poncho and sits on it. I decide to lie down on the poncho. Cold snow feels good for my back. After taking rest for a few minutes I come back to senses. Mitraji briefs us that Bhrugu is almost one hour away. Even if we go up to Bhrugu Lake it is going to be frozen. As we are discussing, others arrive one by one. Most of us are tired yet eager to go to bhrugu lake. Clouds have started accumulating and weather is changing swiftly. Dineshji is fearing sudden change in the weather. The decision is left on us as to whether we would like to proceed further or would like to return. It is tricky and we are in a dilemma.

As we deliberate without reaching consensus, nature comes to our rescue with flakes of snow. Snow fall starts suddenly and without any doubt we take a collective decision that we will come another time to meet up with bhrugu Lake. Whatever we accomplished is good enough and it is better to return. Himalayan mountains can mislead you if there is low visibility. It is extremely dangerous not to listen to the signals sent by the nature.

Shardul and Sharvari

As we decide to return, everybody gets busy in taking pictures of point of return. Sushant takes out a tricolor which he had packed carefully in his back pack. All of us are thrilled with the presence of mind that he has exhibited. We get together for a group photo with the tricolor.

Suhani and Sushant

Tanaya and Sharvari are busy taking pictures. Chandan is hurrying everyone to return,

Ashok is busy observing the surroundings, Sachin is trying to look as far as he can to check if he can get a glimpse of Bhrugu Lake. I run on the soft snow as if it is a sea shore. Each one of us try to absorb the intimacy of Himalay. We feel the warmth of these cold snow covered mountain. The warmth within.

As we start our journey towards our camp, Dineshji promises that it is going to be easy and enjoyable. We need to traverse the same patch again. There is a group of people returning from Roli Kholi itself.

We are now on gigantic slopes. Dineshji guides us on how to slide down. Each one of is wears the raincoat pant and slides on the snow. It is amazingly thrilling. All of us enjoy this part of the trek the most.

Descending Delightfully

The descend gets more and more delightful due to the sliding expedition. I doubt if any amusement park will be able to provide such experience. We slide down at least 50 feet at one time and are astonished at how we climbed these slopes in the morning.

After sliding down atleast 6  to 7 times we are able to see our campsite. We are drenched in snow and rainfall. The shoes are heavy and wet. We quickly change and go back to the dining tent. Steaming hot Maggie tastes heavenly. We chat and try to recollect our experiences.

Sun has set and the sparkling moon has returned. Slivery mountains shine in front of us. We try to look at Bhrugu and beyond. Beyond Bhrugu there is perseverance, there is teamwork and above all there is unity.