I am sitting near the poolside, which is on the lower level than the lobby. Yet, the view from here is breathtakingly beautiful. A few minutes back, in my hotel room, I had the chance of seeing a rainbow. The colorful arch is a rare and nearly extinct in the smog covered Delhi skyline. Here, it dazzled in its splendor.

The more I want to write about the views that I see, the more the words fail me. Words like magnificent, awesome and picturesque are so small and confined in their meaning and description. So I will refrain from using any such repetitive and monotonous phrases and words and just write what I see.

The sky is overcast with light gray and fulsome clouds. There is a drizzle – gentle, very gentle, barely perceptible, yet nonetheless, imparting the atmosphere a fresh, moist and fertile hue. A couple of birds whiz past overhead, like two naughty schoolchildren seeking shelter from the rain.

I wrote in my previous post that Kathmandu is surrounded by a ring of mountains (the Himalayas). Today, they are covered in a muslin veil of the clouds, peeping out occasionally like a shy bride and then quickly covering themselves up.

It is cool, though neither windy nor breezy.

Hill stations and mountains have fascinated me since childhood. I do plan to settle in one after retirement. In India, I had the chance of visiting lots of them. Here I present some of the hill stations visited by me:

a) Kasauli- Undoubtedly one of the finest, smallest and exquisite hill stations, some 2 hours drive from Chandigarh. Basically, a cantonment, the entire town is built over two main roads- the Upper and Lower Mall. I have written a post on this town earlier . Kasauli will always remain number one for me.a>

b) Manali- Again in Himachal Pradesh, Manali (and its name-sharing sister town, Kullu) are higher up, and well known for the vivacious Beas river flowing through it. It is very relaxing to sit near the river and watch it flow by…it takes away your tensions along with it. My best memory of the place is sitting on the rocks near the river, cooling a bottle of beer in the chilled waters of the river, and then drinking it slowly. There are other sight seeing options also. Incidentally, apart from it being our ex-Prime Minister Mr. Vajpayee’s favorite holiday destination, it is quite a popular spot with Bollywood too- Saudagar and Roja are a couple of hit movies shot here. From Manali, a visit to the Rohtang Pass is also a must (it’s open only for a small part of the year during summers). Driving is quite dangerous, so a trained driver is recommended. The vast expanse of spotless white virgin snow is the highlight of the place.

c) Naldera and Chhail -Though they are not nearby, I am covering these two together as both are near to Shimla, but on differing directions. Shimla is now an ugly and looming slab of concrete on the mountains. But Naldera, with its golf course and a resort, is worth checking out. A walk through the forests and its ‘pagdandis’ is rejuvenating. Chail has a palace turned into a resort- again, with a splendid sight right at the top.

d) Nagarkot- In Nepal, please see my post on this

e) Mt. Abu- Situated in the Aravalli range, on the border of Rajasthan, this quaint hill station is famous for its Nakki Lake and Dilwara Temples. The minute and polished sculpting in this Jain temple is indescribable. I liked walking through the Mall road which ends up in the tranquil lake. The lake is quite large, and boating (especially rowing) is quite an exciting exercise.

f) Panchgani and Mahabeleshwar- These are part of the southern mountains, and in Maharashtra, a few hours drive from Pune. Like Kullu-Manali, the two are always clubbed together. It has been some time since I visited there, so the memories are not all that vivid. But I do recall standing atop a plateau of Panchgani; the panoramic view requires a huge cinemascope screen. Incidentally, at that time N.Chandra was filming Narsimha there (so you can know how way back I went there). Since a song was being picturized on Ravi Behl and Urmila (both non-entities at that time), it held no star value for me, so I skipped it. Mahabelshwar has a lake- boating recommended.

g) Lonavla and Khandala- The latter was made quite famous by Aamir and Rani Mukherjee (remember Aati kya Khandala from the film Ghulam). En route to Pune from Mumbai, these two neighboring hill stations are not very high up. Lonavala’s chikki is quite famous and tasty too. I went there many years back for a conference.

h) Shimla and Mussoorie- Again, I club these two together as they are nothing but crowded mass of cement and concrete. The road to Mussoorie is particularly bad, and unlike a drive through Himachal, the highway is pretty dull and unexciting. Since a lot of Delhi crowd comes to both the places, all I can say is allegorically, if Shimla is populated like Karol Bagh, then Mussoorie is a Lajpat Nagar central market.

i) Nainital- Also commercialized, but to a lesser extent than the above two. Has a few interesting sights. The lake is small and nothing much. Again, driving there is a pain.

j) Siliguri- This is not exactly a hill station, as it is on the foothills and very plain. But there is a lot of greenery and tea gardens worth viewing around the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri belt. The town is small, quaint and contained. Like Kathmandu, the mountains are just nearby especially the beginning of Bhutan.


So, this is a small list of hill stations that I managed to see. There is so much more to visit, I hope I do get time to travel around more. Some of the ones that I am longing to visit are Lahaul and Spiti (have you seen Paap? It is shot there!), Dharamsala and McLeodganj, Leh-Ladakh, Srinagar and Pahalgam, Ooty in India. In Nepal and Bhutan, the list includes Dharan, Pokhara (again, a valley), Dhulikhel, Kankani and Thimphu. Abroad, the Swiss Alps is what I look forward to.

Some day, I will realize my dream. Some day…

Technorati : Kathmandu, Mussoorie, Nainital, Nepal, Shimla, Travel