Little as it may look, the undulations of the lower Shivalik Range makes it a tall order... Tailor made but God Himself, Himachal Pradesh is all but boring!
It is a learning trip for me. The first time ever, I ventured with mom, all by ourselves. No relatives, no touring companies... unknown of the fate as to whether we will ever make it happily. Thank god, we did!
As the Cleartrip would say: Every trip has a reason, my reason were two; to mention. After 2007, it will be the first major trip for mom, who had been getting bored at home. Secondly, I wont get any more spans of such holidays in near future, thanks to PhD commitments, so it would be a good exercise for my Nikon D5000.
The planning started well ahead. In the month of June, 2011 for the October 2011 trip. There were several choices, like Madhya Pradesh; Rajasthan; etc... even thought of Arunachal Pradesh. Looking at the time leave of just lucky 10 days, it was impossible to browse through these places without an expert guidance (Touring companies) or a group! I had neither of the two options. So, thought of the Himachal's most stepped in places: 1) Dharamsala-McLeodgunge from Amritsar (Punjab);
or,
2) Shimla - Manali.
It was tough, but thanks to the internet. It was smoothened!
Before I go into the intriguing beauties of the mountains, I would like to put forward certain points to be kept in mind. May be, this first post, as any other posts might look total travel planner, but heed you amateurs. Its a helpful advice.
1) Go to the nearest tourism office and get to know about the travel routes.
2) Book online, at the notice of 91st day..keep trying from the 91st one!
3) Cleartrip is cool and all things are done on time. Travelguru.com is a cheat and they have all the lollies to harass you! DONOT GO FOR TRAVELGURU!!!!
4) Plan your trip, taking help of Google Maps. Its cool!
My plan was simple and initially made online:
1) Boarding Kalka Mail from Howrah to Kalka. The journey is 36 hours long, and in the middle would seem lagging. But, this mail, luckily for us entered the terminal station on time.
2) From Kalka, we boarded the Toy train upto Shimla. Its a journey, which made me remind of Kirandool Express Journey, from Vizag to Araku Valley (AP). It had tunnels, sounds, views and chilling beauty!
3) We stayed on in Shimla for the next two days. ( reached on 1st October, 2nd and 3rd stayed at Shimla).
Let me get into the main stream of good writting....
There was a third hidden reason behind moving out to the mountains, during the festive seasons in the plains. And that too... after identifying myself as a Bengali who loves Kolkata Durga Puja like anything! Actually, for the past three years, my habit had been spoiled by my beloved one... this year, she has been to States, so I thought I wouldn't enjoy... feeling lonely...which is the last thing I want to feel back, during the Pujas. So the escapade, under the mask of the deserved vacations for mom!
Reaching Kalka and smelling the cold breeze of the lower himalayas, the morning of 01.10.11 was as easy as the binary... 011011... Atlast the trip would be a lovely escapade from the humid plains! More so, the journey in the Sleeper class was not worth enjoying...except that the two nights, we got good company who did lend the lower berth for my mom...
IRCTC has had played its own joke! The morning ticket (connecting rail) of Shivalik Express had been confirmed for only me...my mom was in the WL1. With 6 minutes for the second train to leave the platform, I rushed in mom to the Rail Motor coach...with one confirmed! But again...lucky us, we found a cordial Bengali family welcoming us and sharing their seats! The misty journey unveiled into a lovely sunrise, which my camera took as the first shot of the trip!
(c) Somnath Paul, 2011: Good Morning Himachal!
The bents and tunnels; 92 in all... made the lofty mountains reachable... touchable (like the iPhones)... the clouds seemed reachable... fluffy cotton making their way to noman's land... Looking at them, the pungent soul cleared it's thinking rays from the forehead... The soul now followed them...longing to be inside them! Himachal Pradesh has...something which I longed to absorb as a taught! a good taught!
The windings kept on!
(c) Somnath Paul, 2011: Windings twine towards Shimla.
Memories clouded my mind. I remembered the ride during such a November, 2005. B.Sc, Physiology. Araku. I also remembered the trip to Ghatshila with my M.Sc friends, in 2008 January... But I also hoped that 2011 will be a new beginning of the "Globe-trotter" Somnath Paul...
With this thought, I welcome all my Blog readers to Shimla,
(c) Somnath Paul, 2011: The Ridge View of Shimla.
.... the capital of the Little Indian State; Himachal Pradesh!!!
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