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.