Dev Bhoomi - Land of God

On my recent trip to Manali in March this year,everywhere it was mentioned as Devbhoomi ,Himachal Pradesh.

After staying there for around 10 days and having some phenomenal experience at Manali I could make out why it's called so.Many places of worship are here, nature's bounty is treat for the eyes and mind.

Especially for people travelling from concrete jungles polluted with noise and dust this place is pure retreat.

The Sun rising from behind snow clad mountains, the green pastures below and the landscape of changing colours make us forget where we are.The sight of River Chandrabhaga flowing amidst snow just after coming out of Atal Tunnel and the pristine air,the virgin snow and the mighty mountains. It was so mesmerizing and captivated my soul.

Yes there was crowd but since it was off season I didn'trealise when the driver mentioned the situation in summers is more difficult. He gave us an idea about how the roads and restaurants are crowded and there is no space to stand in snow during yhe months of May and June.

We could see many campsites permanently installed for trekkers alongside rivers. During our childhood trekking was rarely heard of.I belong to Nagpur and very rarely I had heard or seen group travelling for trek to Manali or Himalayas.But in recent past so many treks are organised from all over India for all age-groups.The campsites around Manali for trekking ,river rafting clearly showed how the interest is growing day by day.

The river Beas was with us throughout and it seemed so silent and peaceful.I felt I should come here often and stay for long time.

The road was tricky and narrow alongside river from Manali to Chandigarh.Since our driver belonged to mountains he knew every turn and made our journey memorable narrating various stories about how tourists from various parts of world come over and keep on visiting again and again.

After returning from Devbhoomi I myself shared with so many friends about magical experience and then came the summers.

News of overcrowding, traffic jams,and people stuck in traffic for hours started pouring in.

Come July the pictures and videos that came forward of river making its way in its full form roaring and unstoppable made it it clear why its called Dev bhoomi truly the land of God's.Even Almighty need to open our eyes and give us a reality check by being strict at times.

The way flow of river

broke the bridge and carried away whatever came in its way is clearly an eye opener.

With uncontrolled crowd and the development activities undertaken to cater to the tourism we have somewhere lost the balance aspect.We are so focused on promoting tourism that we lost sight of the capacity of nature to bear and sustain

The road widening,the upsurge in hotels and restaurants cutting down trees and encroaching natural habitats of flora and fauna have taken a toll on the ecological balance and then Mother nature decides to demonstrate that reign are in her hands always and we need to respect and love her the way she is.

Dev bhoomi is beautiful the way it is and if we try to change it we have to witness the way Mother is going to rectify it and make us understand that we can never cross the line.