On 9th February, 2013 (Saturday)
 |
| The man with the "Chana Prasad" box |
Let me begin the Shimla-Trip story-board with an interesting
incident at the Jakoo Temple of Shimla. All was well until I returned to the
entrance of the temple where people stood along with the “Prasad-seller” at the
entrance. I was there for a couple of minutes just to relax and get back in
form for the descent. Just when I stood up and was looking around for the
scenic view, a monkey took my specs all of a sudden in a filmy
style- within a fraction of a second. People around me pointed towards the
monkey which was a few meters away towards my north, while one of them
suggested me to take the “Chana” Prasad as the ransom to get back my kidnapped
specs. And you know, with -5 for both eyes, I am simply paralyzed to do any
feat. So I requested the seller to do the honour for me and he very sweetly got
me back my specs. My cost- IRS 20/-. Within seconds, I recollected that the
same person had brought back another specs for a girl just before the “incident”
with me. Now let me connect: The monkeys were “planted”; they are conditioned
and trained to snatch specs off the eyes of people standing there for the Chana
which would earn the person a few bucks. What an idea, sirji! Don’t know how
many of them are victimized each day. You may doubt on my conclusion, but I can
say this with strong conviction because, throughout the way and even inside the
temple, I went pass by many monkeys (they were all around :P ) and none of them
were so mischievous to snatch my specs off, (and that too without hurting me or
for that matter my specs) like the ones at the entrance.
I believe this way of building the story upon the pics is
more interesting and engaging. So here goes another:
We reached the Mall road on foot from the Old bus park of
Shimla. The ascent to the Mall road was also awesome. Here are some pics taken
en route.
The start was absolutely brilliant. At 7.30am in the
morning, we are up there infront of the Christ Church at The Ridge of Shimla. The
panoramic views and the sheer silence of nature there was really exciting and
activating. The statue of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Bapu Mahatma Gandhi and the
founder of Himachal Pradesh Mr. YS Parmar along with the historic buildings and
architects. No less, No more: simply nature.
This is the way towards the former Viceregal Lodge which is
now the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (for Social Sciences scholars). This combines
a variety of architectural styles like Scottish Varonial and English
Renaissance. The interior has remarkable woodwork. Entry by ticket for Rs 50
(including Camera) where you will be accompanied by the guide who will “walk
you through” the history as well as the building. For the next 30 minutes or so,
I was busy listening to the “history-stories” recited by the guide and looking
at the splendid architecture since late 1800s.
One of the most exciting feature of the building was the
automatic Fire Extinguisher system. The top of the long hall way, which has
most of the Woodwork all around, is fitted with Water supply pipes and tanks
wand the mouth of the pipes is blocked by wax. In case of fire, as soon as the
temperature rises above 60 C, the wax will melt and the water flows inside
stopping the fire. Brilliant! Besides, the woodwork is all made of Burmateak,
the most long-lasting wood that can last upto 400 years.
Another one is this clock, which is simply maintenance free,
as in it has not been maintained since 1884, just has to be “springed” at
regular interval.
After that, we went back to the Mall road, thanks to the Army
Bus for the lift. I had Paranthas at the Sher-e-Punjab restaurant and then went
on to the Himachal Tourism’s Marketing Office and Information Centre at the
Scandal Point, The Mall. I got my “checklist” info for the rest of the day.
From there Kali Bari Temple was my next destination. The
temple is dedicated to the goddess Kali and is believed to hold the original
stone image of the goddess ‘Shayamala’ after whom the town of Shimla may have
been named.
Next was the 35 minutes hike towards The Jakoo, dedicated to
Lord Hanuman. The journey uphill was interesting, albeit badly wanted to do
skiing! (Mission Impossible at that moment).
After the descent, really exhausted Vipul went to eat Momos
at a restaurant with some strangers. (My colleague was away for some work and
the restaurant had lots of people in queue. Lucky me, didn’t had to wait for
long because a group of 3 men were already waiting so long to get a 4-chair
table, I managed to sit on the fourth empty one!)
Then, its turn for the Gaiety Theatre. The same theatre
where the song “Main nikla gaddi le ke" in Anil Sharma's hit Bollywood
film "Gadar", starring Sunny Deol was shot. Built
in Neo-Gothic style of architecture, it was recently restored as well as
expanded with another theatre with the state-of-art technology to host shows
fairly regularly.
Still, I had plenty of time till the day ended. It was just
4pm. I went to the church, read a few pages of the New Testament. Went to the
Rani Bai Park and also strolled along for some time on the Mall road before
perching onto a spot where beautiful and picturesque sunset views could be
captured. 
