Vegetables for Dinner

Van Vihar is a forest enclosure in the heart of Manali city. Moss covered boulders, tall trees, eager butterflies and frank flowers make Van Vihar exclusive and charming. 
I spot this local woman digging under a tree in Van Vihar. Curiosity gets the better of me. ‘What are you hunting for?’ I ask her. She looks up and a smile lights up her face.
‘Digging for aalus’ she says and holds one in her hand in display. She has collected a poly bag of wild potatoes!

A classy ethnic bag tucked into her waist, a bandana wrapped round her head (Thipu), a rough hand-woven cloth wrapped around her in traditional style (Pattoo), in canvas shoes (instead of a woollen Pulla), this local woman steals my heart. She will cook a meal in the evening for her family of seven. She has 3 grandchildren but only one of them stays with her. Her son is a driver, she says proudly.

Imagine digging for wild potatoes to cook the evening meal for the family.
Wow

I smelt the potato. It had a musty smell. ‘It is harder and tastes different.’ She said. I asked her permission to click photos. And she accepted with a grin. And then she wanted to see them in my camera too! Her name? She is Meena.

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patience, love and acceptance
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Ondu Plate Maggi Noodles

In Bangalore shops I need to ask for Maggi Noodles. But in Manali when I say Maggi noodles, they ask me
maggi? or noodles?
I say Maggi....very firmly. chopped veggies go into it and finely cut tomatoes. In 7 minutes Maggi is ready.

Maggi is
A harassed mom's saviour
A bachelor's refuge
A teenager's timepass
An old man's dinner
A travellers safe bet
but
on the freezing slopes of the Himalayas
it is better than the best.
A five course meal
A chef's offering
A soulful experience!!

I donnno why
but a plate of hot maggi and steaming tea poured out from a flask, taste heavenly in the snowy slopes.



maggi and chai on solang slopes

 and while we were having our plate of maggi there was this three year old who was crying bitterly. She was infact petrified. A lady was trying to pacify her in broken kannada
amma baratte
crying beda, crying beda
she kept saying!
I call to the little one and speak to her in Kannada. She is consoled for a short time.
her mom and dad have gone paragliding and she is with a known friend who has no kannada!
She looks at the vast white playground and weeps...amma kalad-hogidey (my mom is lost)

I give her my 10/- rupee stick.
idu magic kaddi. idarally dhairya idey. hidko. (this is a magic stick. it has courage. hold it) I said.
And the little one held it tight and swallowed her tears.
30 minutes of sheer hell for the baby .. that she soon forgot
and 30 minutes of awesome fun for her mom-dad...that they will never forget.

I dint think the tears were worth it.
But my younger friends seemed to think it is.

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what say you?
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Bundled up to be Free

About letting our hair down

while we are zipped up into snowsuit



Paragliders come sailing down the sky in a whoosh. This looks thrilling. But I notice they all take a rough landing on their feet and tumble into the soft snow. I so badly want to try the para gliding. But we are concerned about my knee. So we settle for the smaller thrill of sliding down the snow. We slide down snow slopes (before that we trudge to the top … no pain no gain!)

sliding down a snow hill

Snow lumps together when I roll some. I make a Lilliputian snowman and give him a matchstick to smoke.

Hubby does not find the snow too cold. He plays with it without the gloves on. A mountain of snow makes a cool mouthful.

There was this tall mound of snow. I wonder how it piled up there. Anyway we had fun conquering this mountain! One of the EASY Mountains my husband has conquered.

Do you recall our game of throwball in Janapada Loka? I wish we were a large group here too. I miss my family here. But we play throw and catch with large chunks of snow!

Do you think a real closeup shot will reveal Snow crystals? haha try and see them here...

snow crystals

Once in a while its fun to just let go. The best part was...no one knew us here...so we could just freak out! We chatted loudly in Kannada to each other, we had many more kannada families coming up to us and sharing a smile. We clicked pictures with strangers, shared chai with touring families and consoled crying babies. That is tomorrow's story.

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