At Mashobra, about 15 km away from shimla & on higher altitude at abt. 8800 ft MSL compared to shimla, the weather was at its best during April second week. The temperature during day time was nearing thirties, while late afternoon and evenings were definitely on cooler side. A thought came to my mind that the entire nation had to pay for the cool air that was in abundance in this place naturally, we should realize this and try to conserve the nature. I was particularly very happy that here the nature is so powerful and awesome, that developmental activities in Himachal are going to be at the receiving end.
One evening it was definitely chiller, while going out for my evening walk I had to protect myself with woolens to brave moist chilly winds with the temp., around 7 to 8 degrees Celsius. Boy, I must confess I was won over by that cool breeze. These were the moments, I would be ever recalling in the life, when I am down. I had written in my Auli blogs abt the same weather. My companions were the deodars, pine trees rising from the deep valley abt 500 ft, tall abt 180-200 ft, majestic trees, the real treasure of Himachal. I could not resist the desire to record the silence of the deodar jungles only broken by the sweet chirping of the birds, in my digicam.
During the month of April the weather in shimla, is no doubt good but I found it a bit crowded, vehicle population is causing the damage which I am afraid next generation will have to bear the brunt. I really pity them; we ourselves are responsible to this.
The journey by the Toy train from kalka to shimla (Himalayan Queen) was really worth it , with almost 100 tunnels en-route. The only discomfort is the seating in the compartment. it is really uncomfortable for a journey of five hours. Of-course,the journey through the Himalayan ranges override’s all the discomfort to be very honest.
Although I was looking forward to find snow covered kufri hill tops, may be due to global warming, I didn’t find one. Anyway I am looking forward to my winter visit to Himachal when I am sure will find lot of snow.
I am slowly loosing my desire to travel around in the country, as I find the people are getting increasingly reckless with increasing prosperity. I was pained to find littering and carry bags all along, all kinds of garbage along the way during my journey to and around shimla. For god’s sake why can’t we spare hills at least from getting polluted? We should wake up to this menace causing irreparable damage to the environment in the hills. Here I must mention that an American family from California was traveling with us in the compartment; there were three kids between age group 5 to 15 along with their parents. I found their attitude towards the environment quite amazing absolutely no littering and all that stuff. They had adapted to the discomfort of the seating arrangement better than us. When we talk of India becoming superpower these little things do matter as a matter of culture. I am particularly very distressed, angry with the travelers, increasingly they are displaying their careless attitude in the public life as a matter of pride. “Kuchh bhi chalata hai”, attitude.when will they start loving their nation & care for it ?
We visited Chandigarh city en route shimla .I was always fascinated by stories about its planning, and its beauty. I was dumbstruck and could not believe that such a city ever exists in India. The planning is just superb; I feel every town planner should visit this city.
The roads and side plantations along the roads are really a feast to the eyes, so soothing. There is another city which equally well planned down in south, Mysore, in Karnataka, where I had the privilege to pursue my university education in engineering during 80’s.the city was planned by none other than the Great sir M. vishweshwaraih,the God for engineering fraternity during the period of the great Wodeyars erswhile rulers of Mysore.