A House In The Woods

The Lama House in Manali is all about reconnecting with nature.

- Ahtushi Deshpande

I love travelling to places no one has heard of as I especially enjoy the remoteness and the quiet. However, as we alighted from our bus into the traffic snarls of Manali there was nothing we wished more than a ‘Beam me up Scotty’ moment. Finally an auto-rickshaw did the job, the Scott in him reminiscent of the rickshaw guy in the Visa advertisement. He deftly manoeuvred the three-wheeler through traffic and narrow lanes to finally switch back and run alongside the last steep section of road, which ended at The Lama House.

As the gates closed, I felt a sense of peace envelop me. The large white bungalow stood isolated and serene like a jewel crowned on the evergreen pines and cedars. We walked through the well-tended garden to the front porch and Karma, the youthful Bhotia dog, came running to greet us. Behind him stood Pavane Mann, the lady of the house, smiling and affable, enquiring about our journey and welcoming us.

The three-storeyed, eight-room bungalow used to be a spiritual retreat and learning centre of Spiti Tulku Rinpoche, a Nyingma lama from Spiti. He built the home on land sanctified by his guru and according to ancient rites of Tibetan Buddhism, creating a space conducive for higher learning and meditation for chosen monks.