Mountains from an eye of Novice

Allow me to take you back to the beginning for context. This is how it all began. For years, I had been planning a trip to the mountains, and like everyone else, I wanted it to be perfect. However, it happened at a rather random time. Me & my friend (Sunil) were catching up over the phone one day, like we usually do, when I casually questioned, "Let's go somewhere just to escape our workaholic lives," knowing well that we'd probably wind up cancelling the trip anyhow. But this time, he seemed serious and said yes without hesitation, and the plan was set in motion. We hadn't decided on a location yet, but to be sure, he booked the tickets to Delhi. Since all of the good destinations in the north begin in Delhi, so it will be doable from here, and the likelihood of a future plan cancellation will be reduced. It was September, and we had arranged our trip for October. Now all we just have to hunt down the location, and there I came up with the concept of mountains, but where exactly should we go, was still the question. Because neither of us had been acquainted to these majestic creations before, my companion consented to the notion. After much deliberation and advice, we settled on Shimla, a well-known tourist destination. I know you must be thinking that we could have chosen any other place, but trust me, we had our reasons 1) We were both fresh to the Alps and had no prior altitude experience, so we settled for less adventurous activities. 2) The aim was to relish while giving our minds fewer tasks, essentially bare efforts, so we could captivate more of the paradise rather than trying to figure out what now every next every hour. 3) the most popular recommendation from our network of friends. So We chose Shimla, the capital city, as the finest site to begin discovering the most spectacular experience, which includes all you need in a single package.

And now it's September 30th, my companion has arrived at my place, and we're set to depart from ISBT New Delhi. I went to sleep early on the bus that day so I could get up on time the next day, but our enthusiasm built with each step closer to our destination. When I awoke at around 6:45 a.m., What I witnessed with my own eyes astounded me. We seemed to be in some sort of a movie. Our bus was going around in circles, gaining height with each loop. The driver was driving recklessly and fearlessly even on those hairpin turns and straight heightened roads, but my nerves were growing a little jittery with the prospect of such an exciting journey. The Landscape was totally beyond our imagination & astonishing. However, at times It was too intense to look below from the window due to the gargantuan drop below. And it was at that point that I began to imagine how humans could possibly live here.

Shimla adventure trip - Day 1. Date-10-1-2021

It's Friday, October 1st, we arrived in Solan at around 7 a.m., and our bus made a brief halt owing to a flat tyre. Oh my god, I don't even know where to begin to describe how I felt when I first saw the mountains there. At around 8:30 a.m., we've arrived at India's wonderland, Shimla. The bus let us off at ISBT Shimla, from where we had to catch a local bus to the Old Bus Stop in order to get to the city's core. After that, we started looking for accommodations. (Pro tip: Don't book your hotel ahead of time because you never know the precise position or view you'll get; instead, go exploring once you arrive & try to secure a place along the mall road precinct, or you will end up missing out the exquisite stay). Fortunately, we located the right spot, in the heart of Bazaar. Following a couple of hours of rest, we were ready to embark on our exciting tour on this bright & sunny afternoon. We were expecting rain to hinder our excursion owing to the season, but we were pleasantly surprised to be able to enjoy without any such encounter. We had our first meal, the Himachali Thali in Shimla earlier that day, a native food from the famed Himachali Rasoi. We only had two and a half days for our trip, and half of the day was already gone, so we decided to visit places that were close by. First, we reached The Ridge, a 13-kilometer stretch elegantly coiled in the heart of Shimla is the epicenter of cultural events. Aside from the Ridge, Shimla's most renowned market hub, Mall Road, is occupied by all of the city's well-known labels and the best places to eat. Intersecting the Mall Road & the Ridge is scandal point- a popular sight-seeing attraction in Shimla. Leave the vehicle if any, you can actually go walking in Shimla- highly recommended.

It's not just a treat for the eyes but also for the soul, with ice cream in one hand and the cold foggy twilight with the enchanting vistas of the Shimla hills. Nothing could be more enjoyable than spending your evening in this manner.

Pass Christ Church on the ridge that was built back in 1857 with its tower clock and fresco designed by Rudyard Kipling’s father. Take a break at The Town Hall’s steps, but make way for officials as it’s still used by the Municipal Corporation of Shimla. Get transported to the grandeur and aura of times gone by at the century-old Gaiety Theatre before you move on to the ancient Kali Bari Temple.?

As soon as it gets dark, its beauty surpasses all expectations. Houses on the hills lit up like little bulbs flickering, or imagine millions of fireflies glistening beneath your feet. It's no surprise that Shimla is known as the "Queen of the Hills." We tried as many snacks as we could on the way back. We’d never walked so far in our lives before, but we were in no way fatigued. Our feet were eager to cover the entire city of Shimla without stopping, but we needed to rest because we had a long day ahead of us.

Shimla adventure trip - Day 2. Date-10-2-2021/10:30pm

We had enquired about Jakhoo temple the day before and received advice from locals to attend early in the morning, so we had prepared ourselves and left our idyllic hotel for the day's excursion at 8 am. We had planned two big activities for this day: The Jakhoo temple and the Shimla State Museum, respectively. We had a short breakfast of Sidu (local Himachali cuisine) and tea at a small local shop. There are two ways to get to Jakhoo Temple: one is to walk, which is risky or adventurous because it is packed with countless monkeys waiting to steal your belongings, and the other is to hire a taxi, which is not fun for us. We took the most obvious first option & covered that steep, breath-taking ascent in 35 minutes, with 2-3 small breaks. I've reached Shimla's highest point, which is 2455 metres above sea level. The 108-foot-tall Hanuman statue, which is truly gorgeous, is a jaw-dropping sight, well worth the effort. Lord Hanuman, according to Hindu mythology, rested atop this peak on his way to find Sanjeevani herb to cure Lakshaman, Lord Ram's brother. The temple was?built on the site of Lord Hanuman's footprints, and the monkeys are said to be his descendants. Then we strolled through the temple complex, taking in the breath-taking scenery and discovering a nice cafe called "Cafe under Tree." The cafe has a lovely ambience & amazing décor, with traditional wooden interiors. Now that so many songs and movies are filmed here, you can imagine how appealing it would be. We had Coffee & Kashmiri Kehwa there; the food was so good, but most importantly that you can enjoy the best views of the valley while sipping hot coffee in the chilly weather; it's a true visual feast. It's time to go on to our next destination, which is on the other side of town crossing the ridge. We decided to take the ropeway this time to have a fresh experience. We bought the tickets; they aren't too expensive, one should definitely try this and its worth attempting to gain a new perspective of Shimla from above the ground. And it took us only 6-8 minutes to reach the ridge's edge. My experience was wonderful. For the first two minutes,?I literally skipped my heartbeat,?but then I gathered myself and began to enjoy the?experience. At ridge we took a short break & had lunch at Sitaram's Chole Kulche, a popular tourist spot in Shimla. After that, we took a tour around Lakkar Bazar, where I bought the famous Aradhi Tibetian flag and key chain along with a woollen muffler as a souvenir. We had scheduled to visit the Shimla State Museum in the second half, for that we got the bus from a stop near the BSNL office. However, the unpredictability of the 2nd of October holiday left us disappointed, since it was closed owing to a Gazetted holiday. We returned with gloomy expressions on our faces. However, one of my friend recommended to watch the sunset from a cafe called Wake & Bake, which was highly popular among the crowd. it's a continental-style restaurant. But, yes, the sunset was spectacular as we sat on a patio with a mine-hole-like entrance and a sizable crowd. ?We're exhausted, having walked roughly around 24000 steps in one day, and we immediately started to imagine ourselves in our beds, but our hearts aren't ready to give up. This conflict between the body and the heart lingered for two hours, doing nothing but quietly observing the crowd and experiencing all of life's flashbacks. However, due to the freezing wind and cold weather, we are compelled to return to our accommodation. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for some refreshments, including Maggi with coffee, followed by hot and sweet Gulab jamun prepared with Desi ghee. Even though it was late, we were still out on the streets, taking a detour to lower bazaar instead of our hotel, as if we were some small kids who wanted to accomplish everything in that one moment. Minutes later found one dhabha in lower bazar, along the highway, filled with mixed crowd i.e. some tourists some locals, some street vendors etc. I guess It was the only place offering proper at that odd hour. Everyone is hurrying back to their houses, while shops are closing one by one. It appeared as though someone was picking stars out of the sky one by one. I suppose it was time for us to return to our hotel, and with a lot of ideas running through my head, we arrived around 10:30 p.m. Do they (the natives) have the same way of life as we did? In these hills, how does water get to the taps? What do these individuals do when there aren't any tourists around?

And with that, Day 2 comes to an end. What a long and exhausting day it was.

Shimla adventure trip - Day 3. Date-10-3-2021/10:30pm

We need to take care of some unfinished business that we didn't get to yesterday. Yes, the Shimla State Museum is what we're talking about. Despite the fact that we had heard a much about the adjacent Kufri and Chail hill stations, which take about a day to visit. However, we were unsure about this location because, according to my friends, this is not the best time to visit. And given it was our last day in Shimla, we wanted to make the most of it. We didn't use the bus this time since, despite the fact that it only took 2 minutes by bus, we ended up missing a lot of interesting sights along the route. So, this time, we opted to go on foot as we had a lot of time on our hands. However, we took the shortcuts, which is an obvious advantage of walking, and we had no idea that things that seemed far away were so close in the hills. We were easily able to be there in 30-40 minutes. We had the opportunity to explore the uncharted territory further down the road. The Oberai Cecil was bliss, the Vidhan Sabha building, the Railway Board building, the CPWD building, and the post office building are all stunning, and the nature trail at every turn was beyond explanation. I left stunned in fascination with these untouched historic buildings. Each one of them seeks unwanted attention & have their own stories. All you need is a keen eye to understand that details & little patience to hear what they have to say. The tall pine and deodar trees that cover both sides of the street seem to welcome you with open arms. The valley down the road is particularly lovely, with dramatic clouds circling it like fluffy cotton balls. I mean, I've never gone to a place like this before. We arrived at state museum road after wandering around for a while, and from there it's an elevated incline road that literally took our breath away in just 5 minutes, and we were at our destination. Due to the majestic Doordarshan Kendra tower, the Museum can be clearly recognised from any part of Shimla. The museum ticket was 50 INR per person. The Museum is built in colonial style with sprawling gardens all around. It houses a diverse collection of historical sculptures, paintings, coins, handicrafts, and other artefacts from across the state. We stayed in the complex for about 2-3 hours before leaving at 1 p.m.

We have 5 hours until we have to leave this city. We took a small pause and ate brunch. Then we opted to walk again, even though we were exhausted but didn't want to miss any corner of the city. As a bit of a whim, we took the different path this time, but it was aimless as we did not have anything fixed in mind, but somehow we managed to find a very beautiful spot, the Shimla Railway Station. Trust me it’s no ordinary railway station but more of a romantic kind. Everything is scaled to half, small coaches with small fancy engines on the banks of Shimla hills, no less than any romantic movie scene. We spent a significant amount of time there, taking hundreds of photos. But the clock is ticking, and it's now 5 p.m., so we return to mall road. Still, I felt compelled to take one final glance at the ridge, as if we owed each other a decent farewell. After the ridge, we began our journey back to our hotel, stopping along the route at an Asian restaurant for a linner because we needed to catch our bus. After finishing our meal, we returned to our hotel to pick up our belongings, as we had checked out the morning before going to the museum. It is now 7 p.m. So we grabbed our belongings and dashed to the old bus stop, from where we had to travel to the ISBT Shimla, where our bus to Delhi was set to depart at 9:30 p.m. It all happened so sudden from our hotel to this ISBT Stop amidst all the hustle & chaos somehow we managed to reach on time. From the time we left the hotel until we were at the ISBT stop, we were so preoccupied that we didn't notice what we were leaving behind. We took a deep breath and gathered ourselves as we arrived at ISBT on time. We waited for half an hour because we arrived early. After boarding the bus and while leaving this lovely city behind, numerous thoughts began to rush through my mind, such as the ordinary life we had before this trip, the exhilarating life we had lived in these three days, and the monotonous life we were about to return to. And when will I be able to visit these mountains again, will I be able to visit them again, or will this be the last time I see them? I fell asleep with these profound thoughts and arrived in Delhi at 6 a.m. next day.

I'm not sure how many of you can relate to my this exhilarating experience. But I'm sure each of us has experienced this in some fashion at some point in your lives. If not, I recommend that you seek something that can excite you as much as this if you haven't already.

With that, we've reached the end of our trip. Thank you for spending such a lovely time with me.

?Ar. Pankaj Prajapati