From the Office to the Mountains: A Journey to Rewalsar Lake

This is from the time when I was working in the private sector. My friends took Friday off so that we could go out on Thursday night and visit Patsio beyond Darcha and join the office on Monday. I would call that job bad because we used to work for almost 12 hours. We reached at 9 in the morning and sometimes the work would go on till 9 in the night and sometimes it would go till 11 in the night. Our team was really upset due to the pressure of work and not getting leave even on Sundays.

We used to meet every day during lunch time and keep on saying that one day I will leave this job. My team leader told us that it has been 3 months without a leave and today we will have to talk to the manager otherwise we will not be able to take a leave or go anywhere. On reaching the office on Wednesday morning, all three of us went to the manager's cabin where we asked for leave on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When the manager asked, we said that we have not taken any leave for the last 3 months, so we need this leave so that we can go for a trip.

The manager understood that if we don't give them leave today, these boys will leave the job, so after a long argument, he gave us leave. After 3 months, we had got a holiday which we wanted to make memorable. At that time, we did not know much about it, but we knew about Himachal Pradesh and thought that we will have fun in the mountains. Since we did not know much about the places, we decided to take a bus from Delhi and take a direct bus to Manali, after which we will think about where else to go.

After a 14-hour bus journey, we reach Manali, where we roam around the whole day on Friday and then head towards Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, where we plan to visit Rewalsar lake. Manali is about 110 km from Manali and the government bus drops us at Mandi at 9 am on Saturday. Now Rewalsar lake is 24 km from here, to reach there we take another local bus which drops us at the bus stand near Rewalsar lake in about an hour.

After getting down we first have lunch, while eating all three say that it is so much fun but tomorrow we have to go back and live a life of hell again, none of us three felt like going to work at all. In our minds we were dreaming of settling down in the mountains forever and marrying a girl from here and taking our family forward. The dream was shattered when the hotel owner asked for the bill for lunch.

Situated at 1360 meters, this lake named Rewalsar is also known as Tso Pema. Due to not being at a very high altitude the weather here is good all the time of the year and many tourists come here throughout the year. Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh is an ancient pilgrimage site and it is known for its pilgrimage because of the presence of Rewalsar Lake, Parashar Lake, Hindu Temples, Buddhist Temples and Sikh Gurudwaras. Religion makes this city unique and a symbol of respect.

Rewalsar has a huge statue of Padmasambhava, known as the second Buddha. There is also a Sikh Gurudwara associated with the 10th Sikh Guru Govind Singh and it is called Khalsar Gurudwara. There are 3 Buddhist monasteries in this holy place. There are also temples of Hindu Gods like Krishna, Lord Shiva and Rishi Loma located on the banks of the lake. This place is also considered to be the Tapabhoomi of Maharishi Lomesh. There is another lake Jai which is associated with the Pandavas. Sisu and Baisakhi fairs are held every year.

We visit the huge statue of Padmasambhava, and a Lama is painting the prayer wheels of the monastery to enhance the beauty of the temple. They talk to us very lovingly and ask where we have come from? To which one of our colleagues replies that we have come from the office, Sir. Hearing this, they start laughing as if they have understood our sorrow. The chirping of many birds is coming from the lake shore, which is very charming.

We enter the Padmasambha Monastery where there is a huge statue of Mahatma Buddha, we move forward with folded hands in front of it. I tell all three of them in a low voice that I wish we had stayed here and never had to go to the office. It was a pleasant experience to see the Rewalsar Lake from the roof of the monastery, there are temples and houses built along the lake shore, among these there is also a small market where the local people get their daily needs.

The day is clear, there is sunshine, blue sky and nature is at its best on the lake shore. We three are cursing our manager and are planning that we will find a job in a good place after going back where at least we get Sunday off. All three of them agree that they will change their job soon even if they have to leave it after going back. We shake hands and finalize the deal.

At one place near the lake, Buddhist prayer flags have been put up where some naughty monkeys are creating mischief and tourists are getting scared. There is a cave here which has footprints of Lord Vishnu, ancient idols and ghee lamps are burning in the cave. By evening, when we had toured the whole of Rewalsar, we took a bus to Mandi which took us to the temple by 6 pm. After staying here for the night, we will leave for Delhi tomorrow morning where we want to go back and start a new life.

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from Sony h100 point and shoot camera and edited in lightroom, post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.