What’s the scene with Manali.
I came to Manali for my first Solo trip in 2019. A year before lockdown when everything seemed possible and nothing was out of reach.
It was two days before my birthday eve in late May, that I saw the white glistening peaks of Manali for the first time (considering family trip in 2004 doesn’t count, thanks to really flippant memories). But the journey in an overnight bus from Delhi to Manali, was as memorable as it could be. Beautiful landscapes, flowing river, turning roads and an excitement of beginning your first solo trip. The questions in my mind was — how would it be to spend time on my own for 8 whole days in a completely alien place? The answer would unfold itself in the upcoming days.
Let it be known that I am someone who used to travel with family, friends as well as other relatives since I was 5. My family lived and breathed travel. I had graduated from school to find myself living in a hostel for my college, where l was blessed enough to find friends who became roommates and life-mates in the next 8 years in Mumbai. Throughout my work life I went to many countries across the globe as well as many parts of India for work assignments, with teams. However #solotravel hadn’t been on the cards yet. I was all of 29 years old when I made this Himachal Trip happen. And I definitely have to credit the FOMO generated by Instagram, that motivated me to walk in those tiny paths that led to nowhere in particular.
When I reached Manali, I was open to saying yes to every new experience that came my way. But as soon as I kept my luggage at a homestay and settled in after my afternoon nap, I found myself being very still. I was very unsure now of what I should do next, but the mountains came to my rescue. They allowed me to sit in silence doing nothing. Somehow it didn’t feel odd anymore to not have anything to do. No agenda, no goals, no rush for anything really. Anyways, I never came to tick mark a bucket-list. I came to experience myself. And I could see everyone around me going through a similar experience.
I had planned an 8 day trip for myself out of which 3 days were in Manali and the rest of the 5 days were for Dharamshala and the many villages that surround it, including an overnight trip to Triund top. Witnessing the milky way was definitely the only agenda I had for this trip. However as it happened I ended up staying for all 8 days of my trip in Manali. Albeit suffering losses from my non-refundable booking in Dharamshala. But you see I had been working in Mumbai for all of 8 years and had a really cushiony job with a very happy salary. What I lacked was a certain courage in my work life as well as my personal life. I made that solo trip happen, to peak into that untapped courage inside of me.
Why, you may ask, that I stayed in Manali for all of my trip instead of exploring the big wide world?
It is because I found a big wide world inside this small prism of a town called Manali.
There were days when I would just sketch. Sitting in my room, or the balcony or the floor of the property. It was all very unpretentious and casual. People simply lazing in the sun around me. Then there were days when I endlessly heard the stories of others. Stories from travellers as well as people who were settled and living in Manali, became etched into my mind so deeply, that everything changed post this trip. I witnessed sunsets and partied inside a forest. I hiked with strangers and the cutest dogs. I borrowed fruits from strangers and walked the entire stretch of the town. Only to realise later that what I saw was a fragment of this place. I took local buses and went to meet entrepreneurs and artists who lived in nearby villages. In fact just sitting in the sun felt like such a precious activity.
Above all I realised that life has many forms and flows in many diverse ways, and not just the way in which I had already stacked up my life at 29. I realised I was a frog in a pond. My happy safe pond. Can you imagine me calling Mumbai a pond? However that’s exactly what it was. I was surrounded there by people I knew, places I frequented and habits that were hard to break out of. I loved them all to bits.
But a pond was never my place. Manali made me realise that.
It was just the right amount of wilderness for me to find myself and not get lost.
It was the right amount of energy for a city girl to feel at home, yet find patience and silence in the midst of it all.
It was the right kind of people, to make me dream brave dreams, and yet make it feel so achievable.
I went back from this trip, wanting to quit my job and get out of that pond. While the plan never was to move to the mountains and live here, but, I had become flexible enough to flow with it when the opportunity showed itself. I was also careful enough to plan for it financially and otherwise.
To think back, If I knew what a monster 2020 would be, I might not have been so brave, but there I was happy and unaware, holding courage as my guiding light, as I went on to find a new self and a new home.
We all have a different reason to find solo travel. But being comfortable solo is the only way to being comfortable within a community. And hence I wish we all find our reasons, pack those bags and give it a shot once in our life. No matter the age, no matter the restrictions.
P.S. Never made it to Triund top but I saw Milky Way on a clear night right from my balcony in Manali.