Earlier this year, on a brief visit to Manali, I took out a day to trudge up to the Jogini Falls with a group of guests at the Himalayan. I say trudge, because to call it a trek would do the real McCoy a huge disservice. It can take anything between 45 minutes to an hour to walk through Vashishth village, and up through a wooded (mostly) path to get to the falls. Able-bodied sorts can make it in less without breaking a sweat.
An ancient (is there ever any other kind?) temple greets you halfway; its green front curiously dotted by hollowed stones. Legend goes, they’re bowls out of which the Joginis eat offerings made by devotees. Be that as may, it is a recommended jaunt for those looking to stretch them muscles a tad. Walk along…
Vulnerable architectural heritage, Vashishth
Looking back at Manali
Beaten Path…
For the very fastidious!
Alpine woods
Midway Cafe
The falls, as seen from the Shiva Temple
Crockery cast in stone
We have arrived…
…and we have posed. Our work here is done.
Nature’s infinity pool
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, travel enthusiast and the author of Adrift: A junket junkie in Europe is the youngest of four siblings born into an aristocratic family of Punjab. Dogged in her resistance to conform, and with parental pressure easing sufficiently over the years, she had plenty of freedom of choice. And she chose travel.
She was born in Shimla, and spent her formative years at their home, Windsor Terrace, in Kasumpti while schooling at Convent of Jesus & Mary, Chelsea. The irrepressible wanderlust in her found her changing vocations midstream and she joined Singapore International Airlines to give wing to her passion. She has travelled extensively in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and SE Asia; simultaneously exploring the charms within India.
When she is not travelling, she is writing about it. Over the past decade or so, she has created an impressive writing repertoire for herself: as a columnist with Hindustan Times, as a book reviewer for The Tribune and as a contributor to travel magazines in India and overseas. Her work-in-progress, the documenting of colonial heritage along the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road, is an outcome of her long-standing romance with the Himalayas.
