The time of our lives.

We, ‘a group of 5 friends’ were struggling with our families to get an approval for this trip to Himachal Pradesh which we called as ‘Brotrip-2016’. After much difficulties and rejections we all somehow managed and made it through the approval phase and were out on a journey to explore the beauty of nature.

We boarded our train to Chandigarh on 9th June and then on 10th we took a taxi till Kasol. As we were on our way, we were already occupied with the ravishing view of the Parvati River. It felt as if we were not following the road instead we were running from our bustling lives to seek peace in the lapse of nature.

When we reached Kasol, nature gave us a warm welcome in the form of a drizzle, we got a whiff of Petrichor in the air. Our first day in Kasol wasn’t much productive, since most of it went in searching our stay for the night. In the evening, we could see people roaming across the streets, smoking rolled papers, this is how we realized why it was called ‘The Stoners Heaven’. Almost in every café we could see people rolling the ‘Malana cream’ and smoking the pot. Next day we went for a small trek called as ‘Chalal Trek’. We were captivated by the place seeing the different types of lifeforms around us. Everyone around us found their happiness, some found it in smoking up the stuff while the others found it in capturing that beauty. That place was a wonderland for everyone. Next day we headed towards a village called ‘Kalga’ via ‘Barsheni’. We climbed up a steep mountain to reach the destination with all our luggage packed on our back. 100 meters on a mountain feels like a kilometer when you are climbing it with all your luggage.

We sighed a sense of relief as soon as we reached the top and were lucky enough to get a room at a cheap price. Then at night, we went to a nearby cottage in pursuit of a bonfire. Bonfire, friends and a couple of strangers smoking together sharing different stories, what else a heart desires? We made a few friends that night, including ‘Superdogs’.

Next day we were out for our next trek ‘The Kheerganga Trek’ our new friends also accompanied us during the whole trek. We were filled with so much of zest that we reached Kheerganga in about 6 hrs. During which we captured a lot of scenic views. The views which cannot be described just by my words or pictures. One must take such an experience at least once in a life. We took a camp in Kheerganga for our night stay where all eyes around us were red. The night was starry with a pleasant view of snow covered mountains. We were shivering to see that beauty. Starry night, with snowcapped mountains looks so magnificent. Next day, we headed back towards our hotel at Kalga. During our return we lost our way in the woods. Then, suddenly out of nowhere a mountain dog appeared and guided us our way back to the track. Since then we termed the mountain dogs as ‘Superdogs’. On Earth there can be no creature more loyal to a human being than those Superdogs. We covered our return journey in about 3.5 hrs.

Then, we took a taxi from Barsheni till Manali via Manikaran. We reached Manali at around 11 PM. Next day we covered few of the tourist spots of Manali like Hidimba temple, Vashishta temple etc. The best thing we discovered about Manali was that the city was alive till 2 AM. On ‘Maal Road’ we could see families and children having fun at such an hour while we were discussing our lives and future with a cup of icecream in our hands. That was our last night of that trip and we wanted to enjoy it the most so we were awake for the whole night until we got on board at the last bus and came back into reality from that dreamy place. That adventure will always be missed that time will always be cherished.

Wish, we could turn back time to the good old days, since each one of us miss that ‘Time of our lives’.

-Sagar Narula