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Published: March 19th 2009
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After doing lots of debate and discussion, we decided to go to Shimla in March 2009. Nainital, Mussoorie, Manali were on our charts but finally Shimla succeeded. Shimala was previously called ‘Simla’, even I was calling it Simla. The name ‘Shimla’ came in picture after coming to Delhi.
So, we, myself & my husband left Delhi at 6:30 am. I got to know from some websites that Delhi-Shimla road distance is 350 km. So we decided to travel by car. We started our journey early in the morning to get rid of traffic. To get out from Delhi’s hustle-bustle is always a big problem. But we did not face it as it was a beautiful early morning. If one starts late in a day, he may be trapped in a traffic jam near Azadpur crossing, and it could happen at any time of a day.
We started heading north by taking NH-1 which is also called ‘Grand Trunk Road’ connecting Kolkata-Amritsar. The first neighbouring town to Delhi is Sonepat. The locality was quite uninteresting but in early morning’s cool breeze & clear skies added joy in our journey. Passing through Samalkha, Kundli, Panipat, Gharaunda we reached to Karnal at 8:45 am.
Delhi-Karnal road is in a good condition. In NH-1’s this lap, one can see large area covered of green fields, small scale industries, tiny villages and mostly imp hundreds of roadside dhabas which serve delicious Punjabi food. One can see these dhabas along the GT road.
After reaching Karnal we started getting flavour of Punjabi culture. Dhattekatte Punjabi munde & beautiful strong Punjabi kudis, driving two-wheelers was the healthy picture of Karnal. Karnal is a well-planned city like Chandigarh, Noida etc, full of gardens, statues, resorts. The standard of living is relatively rich there.
Then we headed towards Kurukshetra, the famous place narrated in Mahabharata. Haryana tourism board’s small resort, Oasis, is a good place to take rest for a while. We had tasty snacks there, especially we saw all south Indian dishes in menu card. The restaurant was quite clean & spacious, but rest rooms were extremely unclean, of course, every state tourism board’s restaurants have this kind of situation. Public hygiene is the most neglected topic in our country.
After Kurukshetra, we reached Ambala at 10:30 am. Then, Ambala-Pinjaur journey took one & half hour. Heading towards Pinjaur we left NH-1
at Zikarpur naka, took right turn to NH-22, At Zikarpur naka, a sardarji police-man stopped our car, asked for license and pollution certificate. We didn’t have certificate, so the next step is understandable, he demanded 500 rs. Without chalan, we gave the money. But this is normal thing for them..so be alert fellow travellers, do carry PCC in Punjab. Btw this area comes under Punjab. Interestingly, one has to go through Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh to reach Shimla. There is another Oasis resort in Pinjaur near Mughal Gardens.
After Pinjaur, the milestone was showing 110 kms distance to Shimla. We thought, it would take 80-90 minutes to reach Shimla. But the road got narrow after Pinjaur and it was all uphill road with sharp turns. From Pinjaur to Shimla passing through Kalka, Dharampur, Solan, Kandaghat, was an adventurous journey which was quite tiring.We were travelling for 3 hours in northern ghats situated in majestic Shivalik ranges. The beauty in those vallies was beyond description. We travelled through thick, dense Pine forests, it was really magical. The road led to fantastic heights along the famous toy train’s rail track. Between Dharampur-Solan circuits, we found lots of small restaurants, resorts to take
a rest and to relish Himalayan splendour. The common man’s life seemed to be very tough there. Transporting daily needs, coping up with extreme weather conditions, facing tourist recession & lack of having ultra-modern amenities, these local people work really very hard to earn their bread & butter, yet we saw some superbazaars, Domino’s & CCD outlets, some plush restaurants. Even we saw TATA and Hyundai showrooms in Solan at 5500 ft of height which was exciting. It’s a proper combination of rural and urban lives.
And finally Shimla came at 3:30 pm after very strenuous journey. My first impression was like…Okke….it’s quite crowded city…ya, it really is!! It’s Himachal’s capital city, so all in all really big city. It’s is situated on the steps of Shivalik ranges. So there is no single road having plain land. The roads were continuously climbing up and down. I was thinking like how could these people manage their daily life in this hoping pathways?...I mean, you need not go to gym, just take a walk in Shimla for 15-20 minutes and you will be fine….even I stayed fit and fine
We had our booking in Shimla’s welknown hotel ‘Willow Bank’. The location of
this hotel was first-rate. It is situated on the main mall road still afar from noisy street. Rooms were clean & spacious, aesthetically decorated. Staff was very co-operative and professional…and food quality was just awesome. All rooms have valley view balconies where one can rest and take a sip of hot coffee. We stayed there for 3 days which cost around 10000/- including breakfast & dinner.
Among all tourist places, the mall road is most eminent in Shimla. Our hotel was on the starting of the mall road. So we roamed on mall road almost every day. This road is full of shops, restaurants, small eateries, ice-cream parlours. We did buy some embroidered dress materials, sweater, cardigans. It’s very affordable market. There is a decent restaurant on the mall road called Nalini. We had our lunch there. This resto serves all kind of cuisines pizzas, sandwitches, salads, soups, south Indian dishes, mughalai dishes, desserts, beverages. We liked that.
Then we visited famopus Scandal point….but why scandal point? Because british were ruling in Shimla, british officer’s wives used to meet there & having chit-chat, gossip..so the name Scandal point. It’s a small plateau on a hill from where you can see beautiful sunrise and sunset. It has a splendid view of Shimla and allied vallies. Then there is a famous spot where hindi movie ‘Jab We Met’’s song ‘Aaoge jab tum’ was picturised. This place is also called ‘The Ridge’. Along the Ridge there is a town hall having heritage building erected in colonial style. At the corner of Scandal point you can see St. Christ church, the most famous building in Shimla. The church was built in 18th century, which is second oldest in Asia.
From the Ridge, we headed towards Lakkar bazaar, famous for wooden articles. We bought some key-chains, utensils, tea coasters, a case for an idol..all made of fine wood.
Kufri, another hill station is just 30 kms away from Shimla. But we did not visit it, as we took great pleasure in Shimla. March is a off-season there, we didn’t face fantastic crowd. The climate was clear and fairly cold , and we didn’t run after each n every tourist spot, we went for relaxation. So we roamed at will & as much as we wanted.
For return journey to Delhi, it took almost 9 hours..again very tiring journey. But all in all it was great fun and different experience for some time to get rid of normal hectic routine.
Restaurants & eateries on NH-1 highway:-
# Sonepat - Ethnic India resort
# Murthal - Ahuja’s, Zilmil dhaba, Kuber resto
# Samalkha - Blue Jay
# Panipat - Skylark, Oasis
#Karnal - Oasis
# Pipli - Oasis
# Ambala - Kingfisher
# Pinjaur - Oasis
# Kalka - Timber trail, Windsmoor , Café Shivalik
#Jabli - Mcdonalds
# Dharampur - Café coffee day
Sucheta Joshi-Abhyankar
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