Belonging from a middle class family, a trip is sometimes considered as a financial burden for my parents. Due to this I rarely got an opportunity to experience a long distance journey with my menage.
Last week we got a chance to re live the long forgotten experience of a family outing when my sister visited North India after a gap of two years. After a series of prolonged discussions and debates we finally fixed the destination to Shimla.
Our main reason to finalize Shimla was to escape the scorching heat of Chandigarh and also to spend a quality time with my sister. Which we would not be able to savor if we had been in Chandigarh, due to the batch of relatives visiting our abode at different hours of the day.
Himachal Pradesh is refered to as a Dev Bhoomi and Shimla is its capital, also known as, “The Queen of Hills”.
The queen of Hill’s welcomes you in her royal arms with a cool climate, even in May- June months, a time when rest of the country is parching under the sun and drenching in sweat. Shimla is a tourist attraction of India throughout the year. And by visiting the heart of shimla we learned how it indeed is a nirvana for tourists.
Just like a queen, Shimla is dressed alluringly by nature. The tall trees covered gigantic mountains and the twisty curvy roads cutting through them is indeed a blend of nature’s gift and modern technology.
Houses on the slopes of a Hill
The mall Road, St Michael’s Cathedral and the famous Lakkad Bazars are the few main spots one visits after reaching Shimla. The mall road offers a wonderful panorama of the mammoth hills of Shimla and The houses architectured at the steep slopes of hills are a delight for photographers. Shimla’s Mountains at night appear like a sky, with the light from houses on the opposite slope seeming like distant stars adding the charm of night.
But for me Shimla’s beauty was proliferated due to the local residents of Shimla. Apart from a charming face and sparkling eyes, the inhabitants of shimla also own a beautiful heart.
As they say, Athiti Devo Bhava, I felt only these people from Dev Bhoomi really follow this age old Indian Philosophy of considering Guests as God. Their Kind Talks, Friendly prepossessing smile and ever-ready- to- help nature won my heart. The care taker of our guest house, a driver of a local bus and a young native lad were the three people with whom I interacted personally in shimla, and acquainted me with the humble nature of the people there.
My mother always says that, ‘people living on high altitudes are always kind, innocent and humble.’ The trip to The queen of hills proved her right.
I guess next time I wouldn’t be able to resist myself from traveling to an even higher altitude in search of beautiful landscapes and and also to meet such wonderful souls. 🙂
The Polaroid Story 