Soak in the mountain air while doing nothing-Part 2

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After trying couple of hotels I knew names of I finally settled for a guesthouse situated at the end of the road near old Kasauli overlooking the valley below. The owner proudly told me that when sky is clear I could see Chandigarh from the terrace!

Around 5 PM Kasauli was enveloped by the monsoon mist. It was pretty beautiful sight watching mist trapped in pine trees. I rested for sometime before I got out again and just walked on the roads checking them out where did they lead. I resisted going full hog because it was getting dark and I was not sure where I would end up.

At night I did some journaling, watched some masala flicks on cable TV and finally fall asleep around midnight.

I got up around 6.30 am and went out to see how Kasauli looks in morning. The sky was clear so I could get some views, which I could not in the evening. There was chill in the air but it was soft and sweet.

After taking a hot bath, I decided to check out the Upper Mall, which, as my hotel manager claimed, provides best views. It is on this road that all the important buildings are situated. This road has the highest elevation in Kasauli, gives you best views on both sides. My ultimate destination was ‘Monkey Point’, which is a temple on another mountain. I was advised to take this road as far as Gilbert’s Trail (a nature walk) and then take left turn from near a Litter Box. When the hotel manager told me about this box, I thought he was talking about some Letter Box because he said it was of old style and one certainly did not think of Litter Box being there. When I saw many of them I realised he meant Litter Box. And, what Litter Box. A beautiful small hut type box, which did not at all, looked like it contained garbage.

It is on the Upper Mall road that grand old man of letters Khuswant Singh has his summer hideaway. No wonder every summer he runs away from the scorching heat of Delhi to indulge in some serious writing.

After I reached the signboard of Gilbert’s Trail, I took left turn and the short path connected me to the Lower Mall road. From here turning right takes one to the gate of Air Force Station. One has to collect pass go up to the Monkey Point as it is under the Air Force control. If you have camera and mobile phones, you will have to leave them behind before you enter the Air Force Station. A 20-minute walk will take you to the Monkey Point. A small temple dedicated to Hanumanji (Monkey God) is situated there. Also, you can view snowcapped mountains from here if the sky is clear.

If you are going by car, then you will have to take the Lower Mall road. But the best way is to walk taking the Upper Mall road and then joining the Lower Mall road. While coming back, walk on the Lower Mall road to see the other side.

Rest of the day I spent relaxing in my room and contemplated about past, present and future. In the evening I walked down to Mashobra (Different from the one near Shimla) where some mela and dangal (Fair and Wrestling) was taking place.

It was finally time to get back to the real world. I reached Dharampur railway station to catch the afternoon toy train coming from Shimla. This time I could not get seat so I had to stand or sit on the floor.

In the coach next to mine there was an ‘angrez’ family and bunch of educated looking rich young men. Who were ruing the fact they were not getting to see ‘girls’. One of them, wearing specks, was taking round of whole train in search of any catch. He finally zeroed in on a recently married woman in my coach who was with a group of people coming from Shimla. She might have given a look or God knows, he might have thought it that way.

That guy got so daring that after couple of stops he barged into my coach and stood near the window directly eyeing her. Soon the girl got up to go to the toilet. The guy read something into it and he stood right outside the door while she was inside. When she got out, he thought she would pass on her phone number to him. When he did not get anything, he got into the toilet and looked around to find some paper!

Disappointed, he again took position at the window, getting bit closer towards the seat she was sitting hoping, perhaps, she would ask him to join her on the seat. It was happening in a coach, which could seat only 11 people. But he was not deterred. I think his daring was due to the fact he was with 8-9 friends who could have saved him from thrashing, just in case. He made gestures showing his mobile phone as if asking her to give her number. He even took out a paper, suggesting, perhaps, writing it down on a paper. The woman did appear to be not minding the attention she was getting in the absence of her husband. While talking to her group she did mention once that it’s always good to have someone for ‘time pass’ while travelling. Was that sentence pregnant with double meanings? I don’t know.

Well, the train finally stopped. The guy could not get her number. She got down with her group while he joined his group. I got down and was ready to board another train to get back to Delhi.

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Comments

[Anna]

missing Kausali report
I´m really disappointed about your last entry. You showed that you can do it better. - an interested european reader