A tryst with nature…
Ever since my bachelors’ started, at the end of every semester a family trip happens inevitably and for the good. After having toured Nainital, Ooty, Jaipur in the first 3 semesters, it was decided that there was another hill station which had to be given a try mostly accounting for soaring temperatures in the northern part of India currently.. Hence it was decided and booked, we were heading towards Himachal‘s capital.. Shimla.
Factoid 1: Shimla was the summer capital for the whites while it was Delhi during winter.
DAY 0: (I made sure I kept a good track of time)
Early wake up call. Parents were already half way through preparations when I finally left the bed. Within an hour, I managed to be ready with a final touchdown on the necessities required for the trip.
8.00: Reached Himachal Bhavan in Connaught Place, Delhi which was to be our boarding place. The bus arrives..those huge giants of a Volvo, scheduled to leave in half hour. Meanwhile we go inside and have a glimpse of the history of HP in the bhavan one of the many situated in the heart of Delhi.
8.40: The bus leaves with about half of its capacity and a few couple minutes late for the ISBT terminus which they say would be the place where the major chunk of tourists would board from, which was true and then we were off and expecting to reach the summer capital of British India in about 9 hours.
13.15: Lunch. The bus journey could turn out to be a little boring if you don’t have the right company, but I made sure I did with an adventurous novel of Archer, Paths of Glory (coincidently it was about a boy and his journey through mountains..might’ve had an impact later) and this sure kept me occupied.
Factoid 2: The train route is a must for those who have time in hand. The only problem would be the half the distance it covers in about 6.5 hours, but surely worth the wait.. It goes through around 100 tunnels and much greater scenic beauty. ‘chaiya chaiya’ directors would’ve surely experienced a tough time filming it here.
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| scenic beauty can be enjoyed to its fullest on the toy train wheels! |
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| one of the many tunnels..there are a 100 of them on its way |
20.30: After a good couple hours of delay primarily caused due to a huge pile up near Chandigarh, we stepped foot on Himachal soil. And then what happened was totally unexpected. We saw a sea of tourists waiting everywhere. We were told by some of our family friends that this should be an off season so we didn’t bother booking hotels. But that was contrary to our expectations and thought like the way we normally do of booking once we reach the place. But this time it was totally different. We gave company to a few fellow families some of them were waiting since the past 4 hours. Reason: No rooms available.
Factoid 3: There are about 700 hotels in Shimla ranging from few couple of rooms to a hundred. But it still falls short during this period of June-July
No more space and yet no space for us!!
21.00: I and dad went in opposite directions to find a decent enough place. And then these porters of Shimla, who start following you till eternity, stating they’ve rooms specially reserved at a little higher price (you sense something fishy by now). We avoided them but no luck. We nearly searched around 30 to 35 hotels but to no avail, then finally dad struck gold but not before paying almost 3 times its off season rate, we finally got a good place.
21.45: slowly settling down and by now experiencing the misty climate there, we finish off dinner quick for a busy day of touring ahead on the morrow. Tired. You bet!
Factoid 4: Shimla normally doesn’t have diesel/CNG vehicles (especially the tourist ones) due to the ignition problems the vehicles face during winter.
DAY 1:
10.25: We had booked for a tour of Kufri followed by a hilltop temple called Jakhu. First stop at the Green Valley, scores of pine trees all around draping the mountains and the valleys passing beneath. Firsthand look at the serene beauty of the place. This was followed by a visit to a temple named ‘bal durga ‘ where the deities were outnumbered by the monkeys there. (Name a place where these inmates don’t have their presence? Seldom!)
11.25: Then came probably the most exciting, interesting, unexpected part of the trip. We were told that vehicles don’t go further and the further mode of transportation would be the horses. This was easily the most crowded place, called ‘The Horse Point’ since the bus terminus with around 2 to 2.5k people in and around that area all searching for horses and again a huge queue to follow it up. Luckily our driver shared a good rapport with one of the owners and we got our tickets pretty quick!
Factoid 5: The govt of Himachal has earmarked 1176 horses meant for these high mountain rides for its tourists.
11.45: There were 2 packages available one to Kufri, another with Kufri to Dushu peak, the highest point in Shimla, we took the latter. Had to wait for a good 20-25 mins before we had our horses. And I was really surprised to see the enthusiasm of my parents with a little help off they sat and were raring to participate in a derby if given the opportunity. I got a stained white one. And by the looks of it, it didn’t really like the load and with a sniff or two it had really got impatient and this caused another delay of 20 mins to find a replacement. A brown one now and at around 12ish we finally began our ascent.
12.10: By now I had got used to the horse with a heavy backpack and a slippery saddle. You could see a train of horses going up and down the treacherous path (it really was) and with those little ‘oos and the aas’ from the ladies it was sure going to be fun. But next what followed was truly scenic as we went up.
Factoid 6: Kufri forms the major destination for all. It is at an altitude of 9000-9500 feet. Very few go on from here (only about 5%) to scale the 11500 feet peak.
13.05: After an hour of riding and the backs starting to hurt we finally reached Kufri ( kulfi sounded more soothing then ). What looked like a massive garden with people scattered everywhere. There were a lot of places to visit here. And the Himalayas slowly started showing up their outlines. There was this telescopic point from which the Indo-China border (33.5 kms), the Himalayas, the Indo-Pak Shimla agreement signing quarters, the palace/hotel where the shooting of 3 idiots (last part) took place, the highest point of Shimla which I later went onto climb were visible. Visibility was a problem though especially the distant ones. Then moved onto to the apple garden region but hardly found any L.
14.35: Quickly grabbed a bite for lunch and we were instructed to call up the horseman (don’t know what else to call him!) half hour before being ready to go on further. This was delayed too as it was really difficult to find him out of the hundreds present. And at around 3 we’re off. Now this was becoming a challenge for my parents and they felt a li’l in the uncomforted zone. We went on further totally in awe of nature by now. And then it was decided I would carry on and they’d take some much needed rest. The horses went a little further and then the biggest challenge of the day arrived. The last 1000-1500 feet by walk. Even horses wouldn’t go further. From thousands to hundreds to tens here. Very few went further. And I decided (if you’ve read carefully enough, there was a motivation I’ve mentioned above) to move on.
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| They ain't going any further from here! |
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| On foot and the way to the top! |
14.50: Dead exhausted after the climb of 800 steps and there I was at 11500 feet on the dushu peak along with a goddess Kali temple. FRUITFUL !!. Never before on such high grounds. On any other clear day the peaks would be clearly visible but nevertheless it was clear enough. I was all by myself during the climb. And saw a few couple of them there.
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| From the top.. |
15.15: it was decided not to take the horse ride again and we took the car instead for the descent and then finally went to the Jakhu temple, a huge statue of Hanuman recently built standing tall still looking unfinished with the barricades lying around. The monkeys galored here too and why not? It was their lookalike after all!
17.30: We finally returned from possibly the most adventurous day till date (at least in my senses) and finally into the shopping streets of Shimla called ‘The Mall Road’ and good to be amongst the thousands again. And after an hour of shopping and me lurking around here and there, we finally called it a day with a fabulous dinner.
So hope this was interesting for you all to read as much as I experienced it firsthand. Shimla, a must visit for any adventure lover. And after having burnt a big hole in our pockets, we returned back to Delhi on DAY 2 in the night with a lot of memorable snaps!!
Cheers!
Sanky
