The Manali Expedition

'Drive fast, we are already late' said gurwinder in a concerning voice, as he has catch a train back to home.

'Trains are always late' i said in a take-it-easy tone, as the rest two persons sitting on back seat of maruti car also nodded in consent.
Train was to arrive at 2 pm and we reached the station at 2.10 pm.

Running at his full pace, he went to the inquiry counter.

"Is train number XXXXXX gone"

"The train is running 2 hours late".

Left with no choice but to wait for another 120 minutes, we decided to feed our stomach.

"Let's go to McDonalds" suggested one

McDonalds in patiala is just 5 minutes drive from Railway station

"We have been there many times" contradicted other

"Not this one"

"Then"

"At Kasauli"

A drive to kasauli will cost atleast 4 hours of time.

"What about my train" Intervened gurwinder

"You can catch another train that comes at 7"

A drive with friends is always fun.

Everyone readily agreed.

As we were to make our way to kasauli

"Lets drive to a place where we have not been till now" I suggested

"Where?" came a question from back seat.

"Manali"

Everyone remained silent.

I knew from inside that if i give a little more push, they'll be ready. Then came the master dialogue.

"Soon the college will be over, forget traveling, even we'll not be able to meet after that"

Emotional Dialogues have the potential to win almost all conversations.

'Off to Manali' Reads my facebook status, with other 3 friends tagged.

Manali Nightout
On the way to manali
Battling bad roads, we reached Manali at 2 in the night. Luckily we got a room at  that time in the night and that too for only 400 bucks, as it was not a peak tourist season.


manali morning
Morning in manali

"New Morning, New place, Old Friends" a dream for any traveler


Manali is a hub for foreign nationals, it holds a great natural beauty. There is another place known as old manali, which is also a famous tourist attraction.

We had our breakfast and started to explore the town. Interacting with locals, we discovered that a place 'Solang valley' has some great adventure sports for tourists and is only 35km drive.
solang valley
On the way to solang valley


Driving to solang valley from manali is not a child's play. Rough terrain, snow covered roads, their is always a possibility that your vehicle could skid. It was a thrilling experience.


rohtang
Way to Rohtang


way to rohtang
Random click
Solang valley is tourist spot situated at rohtang pass. Rohtang is 400km drive from there. There is not a single petrol pump on the way, you have to fill the tank at Manali.

What a day it was.... Unplanned trip... there we were, 450km away from home.... enjoying sunshine in snow.


A LASTING IMPRESSION


On the way back, we stopped at a small roadside hut (not shop) to have tea. A small girl, with front two teeth broken greeted us with a smile.

"Chai Milegi (could we get some tea)"

"Kitne cup (how many glasses)"

"4"


Her mother was inside, feeding a little baby. The whole scene appears to be Rabindranath Tagore's painting.

I looked at the little girl sympathetically that how at such a tender age, she has to work.

As we were about to leave after having tea, she said:

"yeh paisa le jao (take the change)" she was signalling to Re 1 change that she had kept on table.

With Rs 6/cup, Rs 24 was the total amount, we gave her Rs 25 and were unaware that she had kept the change on the table.


How much honesty and presence of mind the little girl showed.


Despite being uneducated, she was honest and gave us the due amount.

In contrast, Despite being educated, we lied to our parents that we are in university for the last two days.


She surely did teach us an important lesson on honesty.

Moral education is more important then reading just school books.


We took the change and said thank you to the little girl. She smiled in return



With such a great lesson learnt which even the best teachers failed to taught us, we pledged to never being dishonest to ourselves and said a final goodbye to snow covered mountains.





KEEP SMILING

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