Shimla- A Trip to Heaven

Written by Shah Parwez.

Prelude

The Summer of 17 feels like it was yesterday. I have been promoted to the last year of my high school life. It was a month break before the gruelling year full of books and notes. We visited Delhi as, Delhi was our second home now (first being Jamshedpur), whenever the family wanted to get away from the daily shenanigans Delhi would be the first stoppage to the destination or the terminal to it.

This time around our visit to Delhi was supposed to be a week and fast forward two days, we had already got bored of Delhi’s heat and also there wasn’t much left to explore credits to our previous visits. On the third day, my sister who has been living in Chandigarh for the last year or so came up with a plan to discover Punjab which after some round of discussions with parents failed to get a green light as the heat waves would not have allowed us to explore the fields of Punjab with ease.

With Punjab being out of frame, we came up with the idea of exploring the hills as the temperature will not be an issue and it will also change the scenery from urban landscape to nature. So we picked up our phones and started searching for the place that will complete our objective. After rounds and rounds of yes and no to the locations, we finally agreed to Shimla, The Capital of the State of Hills.

The trip was planned for just two days as we had a train back to Jamshedpur after three days. With zero preparation and in hope of some natural bliss we went out for a trip which would remain in our memories for a very very long time.

Planning and the Journey

The time was running out as we had just 4 days left. We had to come up with a plan on how to reach Shimla and then come back to Delhi in a span of two days and also explore Shimla in the meantime. The simplest way to do this in the given amount of time was to take a train in the morning and reach Chandigarh by noon then take a cab or bus to Shimla. So the plan was made and luckily we found out the train that completely fit into our schedule.

On the same night, we got a reservation for Kalka Shatabdi which took us to Chandigarh and from there we had a cab reserved for the 5 hours long road drive to Shimla. We opted out for the cab because taking a bus would be risky and it would take much more time than the cab so as we were short on time we took the cab. As planned we took the train as scheduled and reached Chandigarh without any delay. The cab was already there on time as planned, till now everything was on point.

As soon as we started to climb up the hills we had some halts for a photography session and of course the tea breaks. Just when everything was looking good, came the blow. As soon as it was looking that Shimla was in reach I started to feel nauseous and right under the Welcome to Shimla sign board I stopped the car and puked (Not a good start though). By Four O’clock, we reached our destination without any further interference.

Heaven

The very first wave of air-filled me up with delight. For the record, prior to this, I had never been to Hills. There was something different in the air, the place, the people that transported me to a whole new world. It felt like I had been to heaven. We checked-in the hotel, freshened up a bit and left the room to explore heaven as we were there for a very short period. The first place on our list was the Mall Road, we explored through the street markets full with different pahadi, exotic and authentic things. The only thing that grabbed my attention was the Monkey who sat quietly in the crowd of people.

Next on the list was Christ Church which was just a steep walk away from the Mall Road. Christ Church has graced its presence in many films and web series. We took some selfies, sat on the bench for a while and let the atmosphere sink in slowly.

As the sun started to set, we started to feel the chills as the temperature went down to 10. We strolled a bit in the Mall Road in lieu of sunset pictures as it was those kinds of clichès that you have to do.

By 7 we were back in our hotel rooms, had our dinner in the room provided by the hotel, enjoyed the IPL match which was on the T.V and then by 11 I was in my bed for sleep.

The next day we went out for breakfast, en-route to which we saw lively children going to their school, office goers steadying to their offices. There was a sense of calmness in the air, no hassles, no horns and most importantly no pollution. By 12 our cab arrived for our way back to Chandigarh and then to Home.

On my way back the only thing that was running in my mind was why were we leaving so early, if I had known that we were going to a Heavenly place, I would have convinced others to at least extend it to one more day. What was a simple short break from urban landscape to Nature turned out to be a trip to Paradise.

PS: Whenever I feel stuck in this concrete jungle of ours, I take a trip down the memory lane to the Summer of 17 to rekindle the joyous and calm version of myself which was revealed by the Hills of Nature. Ciao…

If you love our posts, don’t forget to like, follow, comment in the boxes below, and share this post with your loved ones! 

Drop us a mail at,  thestrongtraveller@gmail.com (Guest Posts are welcome!).

---

Shah Parwez is a Content writer at The Strong Traveller. He is a nature and travel enthusiast always looking to explore new horizons. A literature graduate, Shah loves to write personalized travel blogs, as he aims to pursue a career in Travel and Lifestyle Journalism.

 

---

Another post by the author: How Did I Get The Bug