DAY5 (ONDAY6)

Guys,
I’m so sorry I could not give an entry yesterday. But seriously I was too tired, and my stomach was not up to its finest too. So I thought, I’d pass for the day.
I’ll give you an account of yesterday’s events and then move over to today’s.
Yesterday started with a lazy morning and an argument with Mom. I wanted to go rafting, but according to Mom, it was too whirly and risky, and the entire day would be spoiled if we went down to reeling or getting sick (CLARIFICATION: that used to happen to me ONLY when I was a kid..). Finally, I was bribed with a visit to a dam site under construction nearby by L&T, and I finally had to give in. (The visit to the site was worth missing the rafting, though!!)
That day I decided to have a heavy breakfast ( a decision I would regret later) and I had Poorie, Aloo Paratha, and Bhaji. Quite heavy!
Then we set out to a shawl factory, nearby. Now, I had studied all about these handlooms and power looms, and how it’s imperative that we should have more handlooms than the latter ( refer Geography textbook of class X, cbse), but I never had a chance to see one for myself. So this was a good chance for me to see, how a handloom worked. The visit was an enlightening one.
It was really amazing how the machinery worked and how the workers incorporated beautiful designs into the shawls that they weaved. We took many pictures too. I’ll post them. After that we went to one of the shops of the same cooperative society. There mom bought a truckload of shawls and I bought a local Himachali cap( although it looks better on Dad).
After Bhuttico( the shawl making cooperative society), we headed straight to Manikaran, a place about an hour and a half from Kulu. It has a huge Gurudwara and hot sulphur springs. The sight was amazing! The huge river Beas flowing, and at its sides, hot, steaming springs bubbling forth. I don’t know for sure, but I think the sulphur, present in the springs were responsible for the dark yellow colour of the rocks around them. ( For further reference, ask Pranav Garg). Then, we went into the Gurudwara. It was a big building and an inner sanctum around which prevailed an atmosphere of peace and faith. We all had to tie something around our heads, before we went into the sanctum. It was really soothing to be in there. I had never seen a gurudwara before, and my first experience one. It’s really plain and holy, hardly any extravagance you know. The Prasad they gave in the sanctum, which was only a spoon of some sweet, hot rice, also was delicious! After that, we headed out to have langar, which is like the holy lunch served in gurudwaras. It was soo good! They serve only simple food like rice dal and raita. But, I don’t know, if I was very hungry or something, but I gobbled it up!! Yum!
After langar we headed outside, where a market was there, along with several Hindu temples of Ganesh, Neela Devi and Lord Ram. Just adjacent to the Ganesh temple there were hot springs(I am not sure if they had sulphur). It was so hot, that people had small sacks of rice submerged in the water to cook! We touched the water…so hot! While returning from the temples, I bought a Punjabi kada, a steel bangle.This may sound ridiculous, but I feel a certain kind of power when I wear it. Then, as it started raining, we returned to Kulu. On the way, the driver had to stop to have his lunch, so we had tea and coffee too.
While coming back to our hotel, we decided to skip our hotel and move over to main town Kulu (our hotel was on the outskirts). Apparently, there was a Vaishno Devi temple, and obviously my mom wanted to visit it. But, seriously, the temple was great. It was all quiet and peaceful and the sculpture on the wood was unbelievable! After that, we were all tired and headed back to our rooms. On the way, we stopped by a rabbit breeding farm as well. I didn’t like it very much, as the poor rabbits were in cativity, and I did not like to see them imprisoned like that.
Anyway, after that trip, we returned to the hotel where I started reading ‘The holy blood and the holy grail’. It’s a bit confusing in the beginning, but as you read it, it becomes interesting.
For dinner, I committed the mistake of eating butter chicken, which caused me to rush to the bathroom right after dinner! Thank God I’m fine now!
Well, that’s all about yesterday….I’ll post another entry about today!