The mail announcing a trip to Renuka Lake and Paonta Sahib from HR department came as a pleasant respite from the daily routine for us and the best thing about the mail as usual was the invitation to bring along the family members to the trip. Within few hours of the trip’s announcement, the HR department was bombarded with mails for booking seats for the trip.

On November 11^th, 2006, we started off early from Chandigarh and after an hour’s journey we reached Nahan where we had our breakfast. After and hour’s stay there we left for Renuka Lake.

The Renuka Lake is believed to be the embodiment of Renukaji, the wife of sage Jamadagini and mother of Parshuram. The lake has the perimeter of 2.5 kms and is the largest lake in Himachal Pradesh. The lake is fed by underground springs and is surrounded by hills padded by lush green forests that support a large variety of plant and animal life. The natural beauty of Renuka has to be seen to be believed. 

The main temple at Renuka, was constructed by the invading Gorkhas in 1814. The temple houses an excellent image of Renuka Devi.

The lake is surrounded by the Renuka Sanctuary, which is spread over 400 hectares of forest surrounding the sacred and picturesque Renuka Lake. I was amazed that this wildlife sanctuary despite its small size, harbors wild animals such as lions, bears, leopard and several species of deer like Chital, Sambhar and Barking Deer. I have never seen so many lions clustered together as I saw there. You can also see the threatened Kaleej pheasant and the more common Red jungle fowl there. The best part about this sanctuary is, you do not have to pay for seeing the beautiful blend of nature and her creation. The sanctuary can be visited all the year round.

The Renuka Lake and temple attract pilgrims from far and near. On the left bank of the Renuka Lake, there are three Ashrams run by Sadhus and these have inns to accommodate pilgrims visiting this sacred lake. Gayatri temple has a 1.60 meter high Panch Mukhi Ma Gayatri marble statue; with marble idols of Ganpati, Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma, and Lord Indra. This temple is dedicated to Sri Ma Gayatri the mother of Vedas, the treasure of Hindu wisdom. Seeing these abodes of love and devotion, I was proud of my great heritage.

The time flew exploring the vicinity of Renuka lake. We spent around three hours at Renuka and started off for Nahan, where we stopped for lunch. It was 4:30 PM and was almost getting dark by the time we finished our lunch. By that time some of us had decided to go back to Chandigarh. But for few secfians journey was not yet ending, trip to Paonta sahib was still on our cards. And I gladly accepted my card, after all who would like to let go the opportunity of seeing the famous Sikh pilgrimage. Though I am a Hindu, but I guess that is the beauty of been an Indian, we embrace humanity and tolerance and love for all religions.

We reached Paonta Sahib around 7:00 PM. The main attraction of Paonta Sahib– the Gurudwara is it lighting arrangements, when the entire Gurudwara shines in its pristine glory. The Paonta sahib was looking splendid even in the night. We spent quite some time in the Guruwara and listening to the kirtan.

Surrounded by sal forest and on the banks of river Yamuna, the historic town of Paonta Sahib was founded by the Tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh. When only 16 years old, the Guru left Anandpur Sahib and on the invitation of Raja Maidini Prakash of Sirmour, lived at this beautiful place for over four years. The word Paonta means 'space for a foothold'.

With sweet memories of the trip in our minds, we headed off towards Chandigarh at 10:00 PM. I called off my day with a thought that each journey has to end, with a promise of a new one. Looking forward for another trip call from our HR department.

Yogesh Sharma