Habitat for Humanity
Next time you travel to majestic Manali, don’t forget to taste terrific (well, not in size) trout fish. Your trip to this hill town would be absolutely incomplete without a visit to Mayur Restaurant (Tel: 0192-252316) on Old Mission Road. We went on a road trip to Manali from Shimla via Mandi. My journalist friend Sujit (in Delhi) told me: “You must taste trout in Manali. Don’t miss that.”
Words defy to describe the majestic grandeur of Manali. In our constantly moving, 24/7 society, we’re in a frenetic rat race! With so much technology and gadgetry, we hardly have any time to take rest. Manali’s awe-inspiring beauty was a perfect resting place for my sapped soul.
Manali is named after the Hindu lawgiver Manu. The word ‘Manali’ comes from ‘Manu-Alaya’ which literally means “the abode of Manu”. Legend has it that sage Manu stepped off his ark in Manali to recreate human life after a great flood had deluged the world. Manali is also often referred to as the ‘Valley of the Gods’. The Old Manali village has an ancient temple dedicated to Manu.
We bid adieu to Kasauli and drove to Barog (19kms from Kasauli and 60kms from Chandigarh).
NH 22 connecting Chandigarh with Shimla passed through Barog till 2003. On 6 December 2003, the new section of the highway was inaugurated that connected the village of Kumarhatti directly to Solan, bypassing Barog. This was done to avoid the steep incline to Barog from Kumarhatti.
The British established a cantonment in Kasauli (6322ft) in 1842. Located in the Solan district, it is 77kms away from Shimla and 70kms from Chandigarh. We set off at 9 in the morning from Shimla. We drove past Shogi (13 kms from the capital), a Shimla suburb on the Ambala-Shimla NH. The road to the Taradevi temple goes from here which is about 5kms.
As the gleaming Volvo touched the soils of Himachal Pradesh, I got a message alert on my Smartphone: “Welcome to the Land of Gods. Don’t venture into the water or go near the river for your own safety and well-being.”
The tragic memory of 24 students from Andhra Pradesh was still fresh; they were swept away by the water released from Pandoh dam on the river Beas near Manali in June.
My trip to Beijing would not have been possible without Prof Dong, the Chinese scholar who translated Tagore’s work in Chinese. His invitation gave me a chance to explore the mainland China.
When I was in Hong Kong as part of my assignment with China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2006-2009), I visited Shenzen and Guangzhou a number of times, but never did I get a chance to visit Beijing.
When China Eastern airlines landed in Beijing, I was fascinated by the airport’s infrastructure. The capital’s stupendous development and the nation’s awe-inspiring thirst for progress took me by surprise.
I boarded the airport express subway to reach Huangcunxidajie (the subway station is 20 minutes metro ride from Beijing downtown), where my friend was staying. My friend took a rented apartment there. He was on a scholarship (Asian Ford Foundation) tour for three months.
I had read about Beijing’s mind-boggling progress, and the frenetic pace at which all development work is being done, but what I saw with my own eyes baffled me.
Unbelievable!
What struck me particularly about Beijing is the scale and speed of work! How a nation was transformed from the late seventies when it started opening up its economy.
“Never miss a trip to Hangzhou,” said Prof Dong on my arrival in Beijing. Chinese people say: “On top is Heaven, and down below is Hangzhou.” Travelling to Hangzhou, for a Chinese, is a holy pilgrimage.
My friend and I took the Bullet train from Shanghai to Hangzhou (train fare 90 Yuan). It was only an hour’s journey. The train’s swank interior and the seating arrangement were awesome
A hotel staff was waiting at the Hangzhou railway station.
From the station, we took a cab to reach our hotel Hon Lieu, located very close to the West Lake (xi hu in Mandarin)
It was 3pm when we checked into the hotel. My friend ordered two bottles of Siwo beer.
Around 5pm we were out to see the Lake.
Wow!
West Lake area comprises the Lake and the hills surrounding its three sides. The Lake has inspired poets, scholars and artists since the 9th century.
It comprises numerous temples, pagodas, pavilions, gardens and ornamental trees, as well as causeways and artificial islands.
The additions have been made to improve the landscape west of the city of Hangzhou to the south of the River Yangtze.
West Lake is an example of a cultural landscape that displays with great clarity the ideals of Chinese landscape aesthetics, as expounded by writers and scholars in Tang and Song Dynasties. The Lake’s landscape has a profound impact on the design of gardens not only in China but further afield, where lakes and causeways imitate the Lake’s harmony and beauty.
Famous Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo (960-1127) paid a rich tribute to the Lake when he compared the West Lake to Xi Zi, the most beautiful woman in ancient China.
Tagore visited the town in 1924 and was captivated by the lake’s serenity and tranquility.
As I stepped on the soils of Bhutan, a place of ancient monasteries, fluttering prayer flags and staggering natural beauty, I felt this tiny Buddhist state’s mighty heart.
In a world beset with collapsing financial systems, gross inequity, burgeoning rich-poor divide and wide-scale environmental destruction, this tiny nation’s belief in national growth measurement is uniquely different.
Bhutan believes a nation’s real prosperity lies in its citizens’ happiness, a concept known gross national happiness or GNH.
The belief that well-being should take precedence over material growth is a debatable concept, though.
Well, it’s a big idea that attracts world’s attention.
Can Bhutan’s GNH be replicated across the globe?
The tiny state has placed the natural world at the heart of public policy that has led to environmental protection. The country has pledged to remain carbon neutral and ensured that 60% of its landmass will remain under forest cover.
“We don’t believe that a country can prosper without conserving its natural environment,” says Ugyen Dorjee, a high school teacher in Thimpu. “GNH is a set of principles through which we will ensure sustainable and equitable society,” he adds.
Bhutan’s principles have been set in policy through the gross national happiness index based on equitable social development, cultural preservation, conservation of environment and promotion of good governance.
As I was speaking to Mr Dorjee, I could see the school children and their emotional well-being. “Since the GNH principles have been integrated into the education system, huge changes are taking place in the students’ emotional world,” Mr Dorjee says.
Thanks for stopping by.
