Music Festival In Manali

After coming back from Kareri lake trek, we had settled down in our home for rest. Soon after few weeks, Madhu had her birthday. House was full of friends. That was a grand celebration. I made new friends from Punjab that night. They were fun to be with. They told me that they were going to Manali next week to attend a music festival. So they insisted I join them. They explained to me how that music festival would break all my self-limiting beliefs and would bring clarity to my life. I had never gone to such parties before, so I was clueless about how attending that event would solve my problems. They also shared their experiences in dealing with their personal issues and how some substances helped them to come out of their brain fog. That seemed like worth the chance as I was struggling to get out of my dark phase. Such time had come that I would have done anything to get out of my depression. I happily agreed to join them.

We left for Manali by 9:30 at night in one of our friend's SUV. Manali was an 8-hour drive. We planned to reach there by dawn and rest till 9 am as the event would start at 10 am. On the way, we took a short halt for dinner at some dhaba. On that pitch dark night, my friend was driving through the winding roads and often through bad patches. There were only three of us in the car. We were sharing our life stories with each other while in the background trance music beats were vibrating the car. That was a memorable 8 hour-drive. We reached Manali around 6 am. I instantly recognised the roads as that was my second visit to the city. My first visit was when I had come to Himachal for the first time. Our other friends also joined us soon who had come from Delhi and other cities. We were 25 among us. Our guesthouse was booked near the event ground. Everybody crashed on the bed after the long night drive. We got up at 11 am with news that the event would be starting late around 1 pm. There were many apple trees outside the guesthouse. That was the first time I had seen them. We all were plucking apples from the tree for our breakfast. A lot many things were happening to me for the first time in that magical Manali. Soon we all got ready and headed towards the event.

I was stunned looking at the event place. It was situated at the bottom of the mountain, a big stream was crossing from its edge, on which they had built adventure sports activities like, zip-lining, rock climbing etc. The whole event ground was covered with colourful canopies, a Dj area at the front covered with designer canopies, a food stall on the left, washrooms at the back and many volunteers at the front gate to check the tickets. We entered the venue after clearing the formalities. There were more than 500 enthusiasts in that place and more than 1500 were expected to join by the nighttime. The majority of the crowd was of Israeli backpackers. I wasn't surprised. For my friends that was a usual experience as they were regulars to attend such parties. It was me who was awestruck with such an environment. I was made well aware of what the party would be all about. I was ready to experience something which I had never experienced before.

The main event was expected to start after 4 pm. The techno trance music had already started. The lineup of Dj's was such that the famous ones were to play at night. Slowly the music had started drawing people on the floor near the Dj chamber. Everyone was grooving to the initial beats. Seemed like a warm-up for the main event. The kind of people I was witnessing on the floor reminded me of the Arambol beach in Goa. Unusually dressed people with dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings on their body. I would always refrain from judging people by their looks and clothes. On the contrary, that would ignite a curiosity in me to know such people closely. There was beauty in appreciating diversity. After chit-chatting with my friends, I was roaming around the place in complete gratefulness. Life was presenting me with such unique experiences which I could have only imagined. The music had started casting its spell over everyone while I was waiting for the substance consumed to take effect.

A Mind-Altering Experience Was Dawning Upon Me.