As a younger boy I had attended Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and one of our most favorite weekend trips when we were able to sneak away was to the lovely city of Manali. Back then Manali was less crowded and the city was nearly empty. It had been a while since I returned to the hill station, where me and my friends have had many fond and unforgettable memories. SO one fine day I decided to get the old crew together and head back up to relive those wonderful memories. Me and three of my best friends packed up our stuff and headed out the next weekend. The timing was right because the season had just ended and we were looking forward to a not so hectic trip. We left Delhi Friday morning hoping to reach within 12 hours. Our luck was very good the entire way as we eased through Chandigarh and Rupnagar with no hassle. Soon we were entering the lower regions of the mountains and our excitement could not be contained.

We crossed the villages of Sundernagar and Mandi and before we knew it we were in Bhuntur. To our surprise we were amazed to see the same street vendor who served us breakfeast when we were children, unfortunately he had forgotten us, but we were still happy to see him. Already we were reliving our past and we could sense the rest of the journey would be fantastic.

We had a nice late lunch and headed for Manali. We finally crossed Kullu and entered Manali by 7pm, exactly 12 hours since we had left Delhi. Our first plan was to check into a hotel, but the city had changed since the last time I was here and there were hundreds of hotels to choose from. Since were no longer school kids we had enough cash to find a nice place, and so we checked into Johnsons Resort which is wonderful. We had an amazing dinner such as Fried Trout and Italian dishes and we were soon fast asleep in our rooms. The next morning was magnificent. The beautiful mountain air was refreshing and the views were very nice. We decided to trek up to an old farm house we use to hang around as kids. The trek takes about 1 hour from old Manali but when we got there we could not find the house. It seemed as if it had been destroyed. We met with a local Shepard on the trail and asked him if he knew of it. To our amazement the Shepard claimed that he was the original owner of the house and that he had to break it down because he needed more grazing land for his cattle. We had a brief conversation with the gentle old man and shared our stories with him about our childhood in the house. He seemed happy and even apologized for tearing down the old empty house.

Lickily we packed some food and sat down and had a picnic at the top of the hill where we had a 360 degree view of the valley. It was amazing. The day was almost over and it was getting chilly so we made our way back to the hotel had a small dinner and sat around afire before we slept. We were amazed at the way the city had changed and we were sad in a way. The next day we drove to the city of Naggar to check out the old castle. The castle is now a museum and nothing special, but the drive through the hills is always beautiful. On the way back we stopped at a fish farm which mostly farms Trout fish. We were fortunate enough to meet the owners who treated us to some lovely trout snacks. The day was however soon over again and we found ourselves sitting around a fire again telling jokes and stories. The trip was good and we had a wonderful time reliving our childhood. The next morning we were up but we took our time as we enjoyed every moment on the road driving though the hills. It felt as if were not going back home, but we were leaving a home behind.