I went to Shimla some 2 weeks back. Not very interesting I know. I went on a bike. May be interesting I guess. I don’t know how to ride a bike. Interest is a relative term right?
Well, if you are looking for some great info about Shimla, I guess we have little in common as my hallucination throughout the trip doesn’t help me much to remember, register or even share which route we took and which cold drink we sipped.
Where to stay, what time its best to visit and blah blah. Ask your driver or keep a map. Keep asking people on your way. You will reach and very well return! Stay as per your budget; eat as per your appetite. There is ample space and enough appetizers.
Two days before the plan, it was quite a dry day till evening. With the advent of moon, things started getting moist. The plan was on. We are going to Shimla. My colleague and me. While switching on the ignition at 7 o’clock in the Saturday morning, we had snow on our mind, snowmen and snow-women.
I also thought that I would see some ice melting while the"hill station" would be exposed to sunlight. I never expect much, but yes I do over-expect intentionally...I know I plan for some surprise for myself. Never mind, writing my endless tricks with myself may spoil the Shimla trip here. Let us move on.
We cruised through the Delhi Traffic early morning and saw school kids in school uniform after a long long time. I guess more than 4years. School buses and shabby parents. It made me smile but no one could notice it because of the heavy helmet piling over my think tank.
Highway was smooth. Fast moving trucks, happy families flashing across, dead dogs on the road, some with flesh some with skin, too many trees, very less people. And then a very natural halt at Murthal and filling ourselves with 2 butter smeared parathas each. Delectable.
We moved on. Constructions, flyovers, interesting as we were approaching the hills, the temperature was increasing. We termed this ’excitement’, but then taking off our jackets isn’t much exciting. Anyways, it is time for some traffic jams, inverted cars on road, roadblock, people pretending to be in a holiday mood while it is always irritating to wait in a kilometer queue to take a marginal pass. Anyways, life goes on, so does traffic, so there cannot be an end to the journey. Well, time for confession. We never planned to go to Shimla. It was actually Kasauli, 280 kms. We missed Kasauli way and we hate looking back. Hence, Shimla.
We never knew we could be going this far on a 225cc Karizma.380Kms from Delhi. We booked a hotel, we bookmarked ourselves on bed for sometime. We had to see what Shimla was all about.
Tourist attractions:
Reebok, Adidas, McD, Subway, Hotel Radisson, Jewelry Shops, Wine Shops, Church. What else? Perhaps this is the best way to feel home right.And tourism is all about globalization, and "all comforts available"theory.
More the peace you want, more the people you will find seeking the same. Pointless. Point is, let us get over some myth, it’s high time we should. A hill station is a glorified version of workstation where cubicles are replaced with mountain walls.
Go to some height and look down, you will find very small houses chequered in a playborad all playing for survival. Fun is riding a bike or driving a car to a long destination, which only could give you a feel that you are moving, infact it’s a circle.
Next morning we left to further heights, Kufri. It was jammed with people. It must be very interesting. We didn’t care. We moved on to further height, Narkanda, 70kms up from Shimla. We reached and found many people already there in search of some snow. We had tea, bun-omelette, tea and returned back. My snowman was dead long time back. :)
Shimla is sot there where Shimla is. It is somewhere far in the peaks where you can see snow white in colour and unreachable. Himalyan Range Mountains covered in snow. In the end of your sight it glows and hence hope for another trip to Shimla.
We came back. After 3 days of riding 919 kms, I was home with some memories. I can’t share the sounds that I heard amidst the hills, but few photographs, yes. Will be uploading some very soon.
By the way, we did take the *Kasauli *route on our way back to grab a cup of coffee. We made a wise decision of not ending our journey there only. There were more hopes because Shimla was still 70 kms above. Snow peaks even further. It was a nice trip.