A Message from the Dearest Part of Himachal Pradesh
Tourism Overview from Manali’s POV
Himachal Pradesh, a northern state of India that touches the Himalayan mountain range, is famous worldwide. Locally, it’s well-known as a vacation spot. Somewhere amidst it is Manali — the popular kid amidst the popular region.
Manali sees a few million people bustling in every year. While her neighboring villages stand ever so calmly, she keeps busy welcoming Ooohs, and Aaahs from kids seeing snow for the first time and attending to the evening market crowds.
While she smiles listening to the astonishment on people’s faces when they crane their necks up to the peak tips, she suffers deeply underneath as more and more hotels are erected upon her land. There’s only so much she can withstand.
Prices of souvenirs, restaurants, and hotels keep going up. People complain about the same yet they still come year after year, it is all confusing to her. While farmlands do protrude around her, she sometimes wonders if locals would survive at all without all these nosy visitors.
Even more so, she wonders whether she has anything authentic left. After all, everything the town vendors sold was attuned to the tourists. Even the Siddu (a local Himachal cuisine) tasted much different here than other parts of Himachal.
Finding Solace in the Stories
So she distances herself from families complaining about the river rafting waters being too cold (what did you expect anyway) and finds solace in the lesser-known parts of town.
Places where only a few trekkers pace through the woods, monasteries where people drink in its history in silence, and hostels in Vashisht (also in Manali) where travelers sneak out late to find stars lingering in the clear skies.
Listening to stories of loners in the cafe corners smoking local weed that grows in these cool regions is another guilty pleasure.
Some evenings she sits by the beautiful riverside cafes with soothing music and ponders of how different people can be.
Rohtang Pass, a road on the northern end of Manali at an elevation of almost 13,000 feet, is her go-to to have fun with the tourists.
People visit this mountain pass to touch the snow at its peak. Today, it’s so popular that there’s a whole skiing and snacks market land up here. But the number of people visiting it (and polluting it as well) just makes it a sad sight.
She finds it amusing as lines of vehicles queue for hours only to find this. Some days she takes an extra step and blows over the path, causing landslides and heavy rainfall and ultimately blocking the path.
Thus leaving the tourists stranded without food or stay for the night.
Tailpiece: A Silent Wish
Nothing here is new to her anymore. This whole tourism has been around for decades too. Even the vendors who came in from other parts of the country to sell their cuisines and warm jackets are now a part of her town.
The only thing that keeps increasing is the visitors themselves and that too isn’t a new fact. She has not much choice but to accept it. She wishes more people would realize her saturation point.
Gladly, she sees that more people listen to her now — the misfits, the wild youth, and people who’ve really traveled before. Those who rush their itinerary to their destinations never realize but at least those taking their steps consciously do.
She sees that more people are staying away and wandering off to her neighbors, giving her room to breathe. She smiles. Everything takes time.
