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Khajjiar near Dalhousie |
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Dalhousie |
He met me at 10 pm at "comesum" restaurant outside Delhi railway station. Tommy Singh is one who could be noticed among the crowed by his sheer exuberance and gestures. An ex-army, enthusiasm radiates from every cell of his body. I had flown from Bombay and then straight to Delhi railway station and was really hungry. So, we had piping hot "Chole Bhutere"(Fried Indian flour cake with chick peas curry) washed down with hot coffee and headed towards 2AC compartment of Jammu mail.
After settling down on the 2 lower berths, I looked around. On the top upper berth was a typical Punjabi gentleman, prosperity oozing out from every inch of his personality. A puffy smiling face with an egg shaped head. Delicately, he opened his dinner pack and wow! Soon the aroma of tandoori chicken filled our coupe! Took few large gulps of water looking substance and I am sure it was vodka with Limca and asked smilingly to us...
"Come on Bhai Sahib, join me," to which we politely and thankfully refused.
A fresh cool breeze greeted me early in the morning as I opened the main door of our compartment after the conductor announced that
"Chakkibank is half an hour". The train was chugging through the mustered fields and scattered houses of the state of Punjab, now a land of peace and happiness.
"Chakkibank" turned out, to my surprise, a small station with few people on the platform. We could have got down at
Pathankot, a junction, a pulsating township. May be because of Chakkibank's remoteness, village setting or may be saving few kilometers! I don't know.
Mohan, our driver, a tall and lanky man greeted us with a big grin. We completed few formalities like giving advance and parking charges, hauled ourselves into a gray shining
"Tata Indica" and zoomed to our mystic destination-
DALHOUSIE!
The beautiful landscape of Punjab was zipping past us with fields, lovely houses, canals and people on tractors. Dalhousie was 75 km from "
Chakkibank."The climb started after about an hour changing the scene. The hills and the forests coming faster than what we thought. The mercury dropped suddenly and the breeze now was scented with pine and oak trees.
We were in Dalhousie!
Passing the bus stand we climbed to our hotel-"
Manimahesh", a HPTDC (Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation) establishment. Somehow, I prefer my tours through state agencies. May be cost effective or safer? Of course, there are many excellent private tour operators like Raj Travels, Kesari Tours, Thomas cook and SOTC. Well, it's a matter of individual taste and choice.
SADAKS (roads):
After lunch we walked to the so called
"Thandi Sadak"(cold road due shades) and the on the
"Garam Sadak"(warm road due to sunshine) from where we a spledid view of "Pangi Hills."
Soon we realized that
Dalhousie requests you
"to walk and walk."Dalhousie is situated on the five hills at an average height of 6000 ft. Somehow and for no rhyme or reason, always got a step brotherly treatment from the Indian tourists compared to Simla, Darjeeling or Mussoorie. Perhaps a blessing in disguise. It still remains peaceful and unspoilt!
While walking we could see and enjoy the wonderful heritage and Gothic structures of the old buildings with a lingering echoes of the colonial past. As we trailed further to the north, there loomed the awesome
Dhauladhar range of the great Himalayas towering above the mystic valley dotted with green islands of rice fields.
It was getting cold and stomach spasmodic. We found
"Sharma;s Dhaba"(roadside restaurant) at
Gandhi Chowk and stuffed our empty belly with aromatic vegetable biryani and parathas. Ooh, Delicious!
Early next day, we started with
Tibetan Handicraft Center at the lower Barkota Hills. an old Tibetan settlement. Tommy Singh bought a beautiful carpet for Rs, 2000 ($50).
SUBASH BAOLI:
Our second place was
"Subhash Baoli," a place of medicinal stream above the main road up in the dense forest. It is said that Subhash Chandra Bose was cured of his Pleurisy by drinking it's water in 1937. We had an excellent view of snow capped mountains from Baoli. We trekked further up and then went to a historical and a heavenly picnic place called "Jandhiri Ghat."
JANDHIRI GHAT:
The palace of the erstwhile rulers of Chamba was magnificent. The trophies of animals were amazing and the outside environs with dense forested trees were incredible. I had never seen such a place like this, believe me!
CHURCHES:
The next was a trip to the splendid architecture of the four churches, their great history and spiritualism. Built on Romanesque lines, the 1863 Protestant Church contains the 19Th century stained glass paintings of Jesus. But the best was when we heard an 18Th century
Mannborg piano playing beautifully well even today at a chapel in the"Sacred Heart School." I was speechless.
On the third day we walked aimlessly on some of the innumerable trails around
Dalhousie. The town with it's past glory and silence was clothed in lovely grooves of pine, oak and deodar. It's marvelous forest trails overlooked views of wooded hills, waterfalls and streams, a sight of Chamba valley and mighty snow capped Dhauladhar had put us in trance!
FACTS AND DETAILS:
Distance: 574 km NW of Delhi
Height : 6000 ft
When to go: except rainy season July August
STD code: 01899
Tourist office : HPTDC, New Delhi; Tel: 011-23325320;
Web site:
http://himachaltourism.gov.in/Related post
EXOTIC DALHOUSIE-A RETREAT IN SILENCE: Himachal, India