We are in the middle of the Circa 2024 and it certainly shall be remembered for the extreme weather conditions. In January we saw extended period of cold days (temperatures going below 5 degrees centigrade and now we are experiencing extended heat wave conditions (temperatures hovering around 45 degrees centigrade) since the month of May across northern part of the country. The time was ripe to go away to cooler chimes but most of the popular hill stations were crowded with people from the plains of Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi besides Gujarat and West Bengal. We discussed with our decade long traveling partners and dear friends, the Basus and after much deliberations decided on Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, 485 km from Delhi for a quiet holiday, choosing an appropriate hotel called The Seclude, Palampur starting June 3 to 7, 2024.

DAY ONE

The alarm rang at 4 am but both Deepika and I were already awake. We got ready in 45 minutes flat then brewed our favourite tea’s and while sipping on it, called up to check status of Basu’s, who confirmed they have just started from Gurugram with ETA of 5:15 am. As we loaded our luggage in the Jeep, Santanu & Sangeeta arrived in a Blue Smart. We left at 5:35 am for our first destination Zhil Mil Dhaba at Karnal… google map indicated ETA at 8:32 am.

Once we left Delhi, traffic reduced and I could cruise at a sedate speed of 80-90 kmph, occasionally crossing the 100kmph barrier. The NH 44 is now a smooth driving paradise with elevated sections avoiding the city traffic and we soon reached our first destination – Zhil Mil Dhaba at 8:20 am beating GM by 12 minutes!!

We ordered for a mix of parathas with butter, curd and pickles and followed it up with tea, coffee and Limca as individual choices. The curd was excellent and I regretted not ordering lassi instead of black coffee but on hindsight, it was the correct decision as I had to drive another 300+ km.

The drive on NH44 was smooth and uneventful and we soon reached near about Zirakpur from where Google Map guided us to the left on a State Highway. The road soon became narrow passing through villages which reminded me of my numerous trips to my son’s university beyond Greater Noida zig zagging through the village roads. After about 25-30 km, we reached the national highway avoiding the chaos of construction on the NH44 at Zirakpur. The road NH 205A was through Ropar where we had gone few years ago but so much had changed since that we couldn’t recognise where exactly we had been to… we carried on at a steady speed never going above the speed limit, soon we crossed over to Himachal Pradesh and the road became serpentine climbing at a comfortable inclination. We entered Kainchi Mod Tunnel (1.8 km) which seemed never ending and wondered what would be feeling of driving inside Atal Tunnel (9+ km)!!

We crossed two more tunnels but they were much shorter in length and was soon on a beautiful scenic serpentine road that tempts you to press on the gas paddle but my dear friend Topshe had warned me of the numerous speedcams installed on the stretch and advised to be below 50kmph at all times. We were so engrossed in the scenic beauty and dodging the speedcams (slowing down just in time) that we missed our exit towards Hamirpur and had to endure a detour of 30 km. The road here onwards was through the towns (cities) often getting stuck at traffic jams. We needed a break to freshen up and stopped at resto-bar hoping to get sandwich and coffee. It was more of a bar than restaurant, offering only snacks like peanut masala and pakoras, thankfully they served coffee which I badly needed to stay awake at my siesta time (3-5 pm). This part of HP is mainly valleys so the climbs are never too steep and as the traffic was light, we could cover the distance in quick time. Getting closer to our destination, dark clouds could be seen in the distance over the mountains. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees and I switched off the air-condition and slide down the windows to let fresh air come through. I quietly accelerated realising that if the downpour starts, it will become a difficult drive in this hilly terrain.

We reached Seclude, Palampur, nestled in a quiet village with ample greens all around and the Dhauladhar range seemed to be close enough to touch. They have very aptly named the place. The (assistant) Manager, Mr. Bajinder Singh came out to receive us and took the luggage out of the car. I parked the car at the designated area and stretched my legs before going inside the hotel. There was another family occupying a family room besides us with two kids below the age of 10yrs and I dreaded the cacophony and ruckus they will unleash, but fortunately, they too wanted solitude and shifted to the newer property of Seclude down the road (25 meters) and we had the entire first floor to us. The food (dinner) was average to good but their breakfast was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed. The rooms were of decent size and clean with breathtaking view of the Dhauladhar range.

The nicely brewed tea rejuvenated us and we went for walk along the road but had to cut short as it started getting dark and the clouds that have been hovering over the mountains descended to the valley threatening to break into a downpour which they did as soon as we were in the safety of the hotel. We settled down to play cards, needless to say it was the game of TwentyNine. The dinner was served in the room around 9:30 pm after which called it a day, a gruelling day for me having driven almost 500 km, half of which had been through serpentine hilly terrain.

DAY TWO

In the morning, after breakfast, we decided to explore Palampur and hired a cab to avoid the parking hassles and also to give me a break from driving. Our first visit was to Saurabh Van Vihar, a park created in memory of Kargil Martyred Captain Saurabh Kalia…

Saurabh Van Vihar is a very popular tourist place located at Palampur town of District Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, built in memory of Kargil hero, the late Captain Saurabh Kalia. The Vihar is built and managed by the Forest Department of HP. Saurabh Van Vihar is a nature park lying in the lap of snow-clad Dhauladhar Mountains, surrounded by lush green forest. Today, the park serves as the memory of many fearless soldiers, who sacrificed their lives for the security and pride of the country. The park offers many medicinal plants, a long trail of forest, an aquarium, small water body for boating, an open-air amphitheatre as well as a Tiger Hill Bridge besides the snow fed Neugel Khad river flowing through it. A great place for families, children and tourists to hangout and enjoy the natural beauty.

It takes about 2-3 hours to cover the park… we spent about 30 minutes exploring the aquarium, the river front, Kargil Bridge and the boating lake… it was too hot to go for boat ride, although few enthusiastic ones could be seen paddling.

Next, we visited the famous Baijnath Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Baijnath Temple is one of the most popular temples in Himachal Pradesh, and here, Lord Shiva is worshipped as the ‘God of Healing’. Baijnath or Vaidyanath is an avatar of the great Lord Shiva, and in this avatar, the great lord rids his devotees of all miseries and pain. As a result, this temple holds ultimate significance to all Lord Shiva devotees and is considered to be extremely sacred.

Baijnath temple was built in 1204 A.D by two native merchants, Ahuka and Manyuka, who were doting devotees of Lord Shiva. Situated at a distance of only 16 kms from Palampur, this time-honoured temple is a place where one can attain sterling peace and untainted tranquillity in the gentle caress of God. It is one of the unique temples in India where both, Lord Shiva and Demon King Ravan are worshipped.

According to the ancient scriptures of Hindu tradition, Lord Shiva established 12 jyotirlingas and one of these 12 jyotirlingas rests inside the famous Baijnath Temple. The ancient but magnificent temple is set in the backdrop of the Dhauladhar Himalayan Range, an ancient rustic temple standing gloriously in front of majestic white mountains! The view of the peaks in the Himalayan Range covered in ghost grey mist as they pierce the sky gives a feeling of both, marvel and satisfaction.

Deepika, Sangeeta and Santanu went inside to pay obedience to Lord Neelkanth aka Baijnath while I got busy in my favourite pastime of observing people besides standing guard to their footwear. They came out quite quickly and we headed for our next destination Bir Biling, a place for paragliding enthusiasts, Santanu & I stepped out to take few snaps. In the hot weather conditions, there were quite a few who were merrily paragliding high up in the sky. It’s a sport for the youngsters definitely. We moved on for Andretta Pottery. Honest confession… the place is unnecessarily hyped up; we did not find anything that can be termed as irresistible or even beautiful… the items on sale were exorbitantly priced as well. One can easily find much attractive pieces in Delhi’s numerous Banjara Shops (on Press Enclave Road, Delhi Haat etc) at much reasonable prices.

Before, the Andretta Pottery hub, we paid a visit to the Sardar Sobha Singh Art Gallery & Museum. Sardar Sobha Singh was born on 29 November 1901 in a Sikh family in Sri Hargobindpur, Gurdaspur district of Punjab. His father, Deva Singh, was in the Indian cavalry. Sobha Singh joined British Indian Army as a draughtsman in 1919 and served at Iraq till 1923 when he resigned from the Army and opened his own studio at Amritsar in 1923. He moved to Lahore, Delhi, and Bombay before finally settling down in Andretta in 1947 as he was forced to leave Lahore due to the partition of India. Andretta (near Palampur), was a remote and then little-known hamlet in the Kangra Valley on the foothills of the Himalayas but Sobha Singh brought this tiny village on international art map by his various classic works. Sobha Singh is fondly remembered as Darji and his daughter Bibi Gurcharan Kaur, assisted by her son Dr. Hirday Paul Singh, has converted Andretta into an ever-popular tourist destination not only for art enthusiasts but for all who admire his work. His most famous artworks are that of the Sikh Gurus and other eminent public figure viz. Mahatma Gandhi, Saheed Bhagat Singh, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prithviraj Kapoor and Amrita Preetam. The art gallery and the museum are very well preserved and provide insight into the lifestyle and work of Sardar Sobha Singh.

After Andretta, we visited Wah Tea Estate which had a eatery as well where we had a leisurely lunch and spent some time in the tea plantation. We also picked up some exotic tea for home. We returned to the hotel and after some relaxation settled down to playing TwentyNine.

It also happened to be the declaration of results for Indian Parliamentary Elections. I am labelled as the most political amongst my friends with right-wing inclination but it was Santanu, Sangeeta and Deepika who were most interested in the results. This time around, the ruling dispensation (last 2 terms) had coined the tagline Ab ki bar 400 par. Any rational person can understand that this slogan was to pep-up the cadre to do well in the absence of any perceptible issue. In the post independent India, no party has ever managed to win 3 consecutive terms except our first PM, Jawahar Lal Nehru but the situation at that time was very different and unique. I knew that the current govt will return to power but with a lower or similar mandate than the previous 2 terms, so I played cool and killed the joys of the others by not reacting to their provocations.

At dinner time, the manager of the resort, Mr. Chain Singh served us a preparation of Himachali Sabji made by his wife. It was very tasty and delectable which we tasted for the first time. We asked him about the ingredients which is locally available only and can’t be replicated at home. He promised to treat us with a special daal-saag of Himachali origin and kept his promise on the last evening. I thought the saag might be palak or spinach but it was some local foliage that’s native to this part of the state.

DAY THREE

Technically, the second day, we decided to visit Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj even though we have warned by multiple sources that it will be mighty crowded. We left for Dharamshala after breakfast and on the way stopped by at the Chamunda Mandir on the Palampur-Dharamshala Road.  In the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, around 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of Palampur, is the renowned Chamunda Devi Temple which depicts scenes from the Devi Mahamaya, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The goddess’s image is flanked by the images of Hanuman and Bhairava. There’s another temple of Shiva just below it inside a cave. It was relatively uncrowded when we visited and we had a nice, peaceful darshan of the deities.

As we started for the Dharamshala, the driver announced that there’s a Dalai Lama (Tibetan) temple in the close proximity. Our first reaction was “Oh no, not a temple again”!! But he persuaded us to check it out and frankly, Norbulingka Institute, a centre for Tibetan culture, did not disappoint us rather it is a must visit if you are in the vicinity. Norbulingka Institute is built in traditional Tibetan architectural style and follows a ground plan based on the proportions of the deity of compassion and patron Bodhisattva of Tibet, Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara. Norbulingka is about keeping alive centuries old Tibetan tradition in content, form and process by providing apprenticeship in traditional Tibetan art forms and making Tibetan experience accessible for contemporary lifestyle. The atmosphere of the compound was tranquil and peaceful. The life-like statue of Dalai Lama is fantastic. However, their tac shop was exorbitantly priced, one could get similar items in the shops of McLeod Ganj at the half price. The cafeteria on the premises needs complete overhaul not just the menu but the manpower as well. Once a sizeable number of customers visit, the staff gets overwhelmed and confused, service becomes pathetic.

We all have seen the Dharamshala Cricket Stadium (highest stadium) on the television screen during the IPL matches, Deepika insisted that we visit the place even though we were not sure if we would be allowed inside the stadium. As it turned out, the HPCA had opened one gate to allow the visitors to take look inside the stadium at a modestly priced ticket of Rs.20/- per person. It is perhaps the most beautiful scenic stadium in the world with the Dhauladhar range of Himalayas at the backdrop. The stadium is small but has so far provided some of the most entertaining cricket matches, both international and IPL.

On our way to McLeod Ganj, we made a brief visit to Naddi which is basically a high viewing point from where one can get a panoramic view of the valley. It took us about 30-40 minutes to reach McLeod Ganj from Dharamshala with the detour of Naddi as the traffic was not too heavy… the driver dropped us the market square. Ten years back when we came to Dharamshala, many a times we had come here to pick-up food and our favourite spot used to be Tibet Kitchen for its authentic oriental cuisine. Without much thought we went in there, the place has been renovated and we got to know that ownership had changed thrice over the ten-year period. The ambience was nice and clean. We ordered very standard Chinese dishes… soups, starters and main course. The soups arrived, Thupka for Santanu, Manchow for Deepika and Talumein for Sangeeta and me. Honestly, we couldn’t make out any difference in the soups, all looked similar and tasted same too, but it was too late to cancel the rest of the orders. The main course was pathetic, the hakka noodle was all gooey, the pork pieces leathery and the chicken was bland; the sauted veggies had magically become very sour (vinegary) Manchurian. We called for the Chef and after much persuasion, a young chap came forward who was definitely not a chef by any measure, at best a helper/ errand boy, he mumbled his apologies but not just our lunch but our appetite was ruined too. We left the restaurant to do shopping; I would have liked to pickup a Tibetan brass statue but Deepika had warned me that there’s no space for such a thing back home. However, I was allowed to buy a Tibetan Tongue Drum, a musical instrument for meditation, while she and Sangeeta bought some stone jewellery for gifting.

It started raining as we came out from the shop and quickly intensified, we called the driver but he informed that there’s a long traffic jam and it may take up to 30 minutes to reach us from the parking area. While waiting for our cab, we had “Softy Icecream”, a must have if you are in any hill station. Forty minutes later, half drenched we got into the cab and headed for Seclude… the rain kept pace with us till Dharamshala but we knew it will soon reach Palampur too, maybe with less intensity.

Back in the hotel, we freshened up to play TwentyNine, the team Santanu-Deepika and Sangeeta-myself were tied to One-All… Santanu started playing aggressively winning every hand that he called. Sangeeta, my partner too showed her prowess and started bidding aggressively, we were chasing them closely, when Santanu played Single Hand to win a set. However, his triumph was short-lived as two games on, I got a handful of Hearts and two high cards of Diamond, prompting me to play and win Single Handedly, equaling the game with a set. We realized it was past 9 pm when we got a call for dinner… we had asked for boiled potato, rice with lots of butter which we converted into a Bong soul food (Ghee-Bhaat, Aloo-Seddo). It was one the most delicious and relishing dinner especially after our horrible lunch experience at McLeod Ganj.

DAY FOUR

The day was earmarked for relaxation, we got up early and went for a stroll through the village road followed by breakfast. Sangeeta suggested that we visit the (upmarket) resort, Storii by ITC Group. She called up to find if they allow walk-in guests at their restaurant which they affirmed and booked us for around 1:30 pm. The Storii by ITC is located off the Palampur-Dharamshala Road and one has to go through the Palampur Cantonment. The well laid and maintained clean road took us to the beautiful property with lush green lawns and large swimming pool, well appointed large rooms with a tariff to match the opulence. New blocks were under construction which they are promoting as time-share units; we were given a brochure of the units on sale which looked nice and attractive but the asking price was too high for us to even contemplate.

I have been off alcohol since the beginning of this year and it has affected our dining… Santanu had to let go of a chilled beer in the absence of a partner and settled for a virgin Mojito, for the main course we decided to go local and ordered two portions of Himachali Dhaam. The Dhaam in Himachal differs from region to region, it is essentially a mid-day meal (lunch) consisting of boiled rice, sweet rice, daal, sabji, roti/puri cooked in Himachali tradition and offers an opportunity to get acquainted with the delectable local taste. Originally, Dhaam used to be only cooked by Botis, a particular caste of Brahmins who are hereditary chefs but nowadays, there’s no such restrictions. Our platter had boiled rice, sweet rice, puri, chhole-aloo, paneer curry/ mutton and daal. The Dhaam feast as it is primarily a vegetarian fare but here at the Storii by ITC, they had made an exception for the non-vegetarians like us with the inclusion of Mutton curry. This was one of the best cuisine we had in Himachal even though we had visited the state numerous times.

After lunch, we relaxed within the resort and even played few rounds of TwentyNine after acquiring a pack of cards from the front desk of the hotel. Thereafter, we indulged in a leisurely coffee with cookies before returning to our hotel.

DAY FIVE

While coming to Palampur from Delhi, it had taken us almost 12 hours, but with moderate traffic. The return journey wouldn’t be like that especially once we are closer to Delhi in the evening… we were bound to encounter heavy traffic and consequent jams. Therefore, we decided to break our journey and stay overnight at Chandigarh (Panchkula/ Mohali/ Jirakpur) and booked two rooms at Bella Vista by ITC Welcom Group.    

After our visit to the Storii by ITC, our expectations were high about Bella Vista, however, we were met with complete disappointments. The hotel is old, run down business hotel within the complex of a commercial mall which itself is in bad shape of disrepair and abandonment, probably affected by the Covid lockdown. The only grace was the quality food but marred by below par service… when we reached there in the afternoon, we were parched and hungry, so we ordered for chilled beer and Nachos with salsa to start with followed by tandoori chicken and naan for 3 of us and a veggie roll for Deepika. The beer was served with peanuts and followed with the main course, however, we kept waiting for the Nachos with salsa and eventually cancelled it. We have great regard for the ITC Welcom Group hotels and resorts and felt that this particular unit is probably forgotten and not in the radar of the management.

We had planned to go to Chandigarh in the evening but the unbearably hot weather made us stay back in the air-conditioned cool confines of the hotel room and play TwentyNine till dinner time.

DAY SIX

In the morning, we had a sumptuous buffet breakfast in the hotel and left for Delhi around 9:30 am, initially thinking that we would stop at the famous Puran Singh da Dhaba (Original) at Ambala Cantt and pack our lunch but Google Map took us through a different route altogether bypassing Ambala. We connected to NH44 just after Ambala and stopped only once for a break at the Haveli Resort. We reached the outskirts of Delhi around 12:30 pm and encountered heavy traffic… it took us another 1.5 hours to finally reach home, where Shinjini (daughter of Sangeeta-Santanu) along with Chewbacca the Princess, was waiting to pick-up her (their) parents.

It was not an ideal holiday that we would have preferred, primarily because of the unusual and extended heatwave conditions throughout the northern parts of the country including the hill stations but it had been a thoroughly enjoyable road trip after a long time.