Ya I am talking about Shimla... My trips most of the time are quite random, unplanned, adventurous... unconventional...finding the quaintest spots on my own but this time don’t know why I wanted to be a tourist and be left to everything the place had to offer ... so just set off with my husband... We flew to Delhi like a corporate couple these days and then from Delhi to Kalka by train... it was a n over night journey but was so easy chilled out... I was really excited about the train journey its always made me remember of old days when an outing way snot complete without a train journey... the sound of the train... the swaying of the passengers, those vendors en route it just completes the feeling of a holiday sans the corporatization and service standards... I feel like an Indian chutti... reaching Kalka at 4 in the morning and one cool sardarji cabbie taking us to shimla... we fell asleep on our way up the hilly mountains... and reached shimla at 6 n the morning. We checked into one of the oldest hotels in shimla on mall road the Clarkes... so British...
while I was all set after breakfast to tread the slopes of shimla it reminded of all north Indian hill stations... one mall road with lots of shops and food stalls alongside... then it reaching a town hall where people gather weekend after weekend pretending to enjoy it like it offers something new every weekend??? One little post office... one tourism office which tells you all you can do on your holiday. One rooftop restaurant that serves authentic Indian cuisine and attracts all the newly married couples as a perfect photo spot.
I surrendered myself completely to observe people just while they found their happiness in shimla. Most honeymoon couples clicked their pictures in the local dresses and that was such a big attraction...
we decided to visit kufri as well and it was amazing to see cartels of horse owner with riders who were paid peanuts to trudge horses to lots of kms on a hilly stony path to see snow and come back... the site was quite beautiful but so much torture to humans and animals... but on way to kufri what amazed me was the influence of bollywood there were 6 yaks and they were named after bollywood celebs... like kajol & ajay... sagar & sweety, kareena and shahid... and the owners of these yaks screamed " arre kajol or ajay ke saath photo le lo" dus rupiya only, 10 Rs only sir" I did not wanna stand next to yak and take a picture but was amazed at human intelligence to generate revenue options...wow
We returned back from kufri and on our way back I filled my lungs with fresh mountain air and was happy to just surrender as a tourist and do all the things that are created by man against the backdrop of nature to create a revenue generating opportunity...
