56 Dulhousie

Dulhousie, Himachal Pradesh

600km from Gurgaon, 10-hour pleasant drive

Day 1 – Gurgaon to Dulhousie

There are weekends and then there are weekends. This one is, thankfully, the second type. After a long gap which saw time effervesce and get reduced to ashes like camphor does, we find this longish weekend, where all dependant variables are within respectable limits – the kids have finished their homework / projects, the adults have no problem deprioritizing their work assignments, the weather is moderate, the world is marginally stable, and so on. So, we pack a limited set of supplies and needs, and at the crack of dawn hit the road, at 5:30am – which, by itself, is a domestic achievement.

Crossing the city is a breeze at this time, and we are at the other end of Delhi before half the group is barely even awake. It is always interesting to pass through Azadpur Mandi – the wholesale fruits and vegetable market of North Delhi – at this time of the day, when the traffic is sporadic, barring a few trucks and tempos that are uploading their day’s produce. By around 6:30am we reach Murthal – for the customary stop for parathas and chai. The usual Pehelwan dhaba, 20km after Sonipat, is rather underwhelming this time around. The parathas are burnt on the sides, and not particularly tasty. The chai is sugary. I guess it’s time we look for a new favorite.

We cross Karnal, then Ambala on the road to Amritsar, and are about 200km from home by 8:30am. We reach Ludhiana by 10:30am (350km) and Jalandhar by 11:30am. Now we are about 400km from home. The roads are excellent, the traffic is sparse and all is well with the world – or so it seems. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a block of cement – the type that is used to divide the roads – appears right in the front on the road. By the time I see it, it is already too late to brake. I cannot change the lane as there is another vehicle to my right. So, devoid of choices, I run the car over the block.

There is a loud bang and then several dragging sounds. We can feel the car crossing the block from underneath. Whatever sleep people had in their eyes vanishes. I stop the car and roll down the window to get out and look at the damage. But a fellow driver crossing me gestures to continue and not stop. Maybe it is a sign to be careful of highway decoits, the type this area is notorious for -- so we heed to his suggestion and just restart the car and drive on.

But there is a lot of clucking and dragging noise, and we drive about 10km further to stop at a mechanic’s shade. The chap at the place looks at the car and says that one of the flaps under the floor is dragging. Unfortunately, he does not have what it takes to screw it back. After two more unsuccessful attempts, we find a shop with a gang of young Punjabi boys, who find ways to fix the flaps by tying up – in a way which can only be described as the famous Indian word – Jugaad (work-around).

All these mechanics we meet during this episode have told us that there is nothing wrong with the car apart from the dragging flap. So, when we get that fixed and drive out, and still hear the dragging sound, we get skeptical and visit a fourth shop. But even here the mechanic tells us that there is nothing else wrong with the car, and we can drive on. So that is what we do. We drive from Jalandhar towards Pathankot with the dragging sound on – hoping that we will get used to it sooner or later.

There is a post-script to this dragging business, about which I will tell you later. As it turns out, we would eventually find out that the accident was not without its effect, and the wheel alignment and camber of the chassis has gone all out due to the impact, and this would cost us dearly. But none of the brilliant mechanics we met could tell that to us on that morning.

After Jalandhar, one has to leave the road going to Amritsar and take the road to Jammu. All this cement block adventure has taken away about an hour from our journey, and we reach the famous city of Pathankot only by 1:30pm (about 500km). The entry to Pathankot is interesting, as the flat roads suddenly give way to some barren yellow hills, with a winding road and a few small tunnels. At Pathankot, we leave the road to Jammu and enter the town. It is a nice little town with well-laid out roads, very little traffic, some fruit vendors where we buy the seasonal grapes, some new malls and cinemas – but which Indian town does not have them? – and the road leads on to the mountains. The straight one goes towards Dharamshala, and another to the left leads to Dulhouise.

The 80km mountain road hereon to Banikhet is very pleasant and scenic, as we climb with a steady relaxed incline towards the destination. At Banikhet, there is a toll gate and we are about 12km away from the AirBnB home-stay (Cedar Villa) that we have booked. As we climb further we see the roads are clean and with well-maintained surface. The reason for this soon appears as we see the Baloon Cantonment belonging to Gorkha Regiment laid out in front of us on the hills.

We take the black entry gate of the cantonment, and drive further. We cross the cantonment, and the road kind of ends. We are told to drive a little further, about 3km, to the Bhariyata village, through a jungle road – rather off-road, where at the end of it we see our hostess Satya – a warm and gentle mid-aged lady smiling, standing, waiting for us. It is about 3:30pm, 600km in my odometer and there is no sight more reassuring than that one.

We offload our bags a few meters before the house, and walk down with her as it is better to park a little before the house. The house is newly done, and has three floors, with the ground floor taken up by the family. We get the guest floor, which is on the second. The third one is for the kitchen and for the dog Buddy. The house is reasonably well-maintained. The rooms are nicely done, and have all the basic amenities. The best part of the house is the clear view from the balcony of the snow-clad mountains right across the valley. At 6,400 feet, the weather in April is just the right amount of chilly.

The Evening

The afternoon tea sets the tone for the whole vacation – laze out in the balcony in the sun, overlooking the mountain ranges and valleys, and see the world turn older by the minute. Around 6ish, we feel like checking the market out, so we drive down to Subhash Chowk, further down to the Civil Hospital and park near that. Some minor shopping, some casual walk-about, and we have built our appetite.

Back to the house, and we are treated to a very homely dinner by the woman of the house. We gorge on the freshly made, hot chapatties and chicken curry. A little stroll around the house in the dark, some sky-watching and we are back to the room, in our beds, lights out already, only to wake up the next morning to a whiff of fresh mountain air.

Day 2 – Dainkund, KalaTop

There aren’t too many things to do around Dulhouise, which is part of the charm. But most people we ask around give us positive reviews about Dainkund, a nearby hill with a Devi temple, so that is where we head to. After a short ride of about 20km, which seems longer than it is as the road isn’t particularly well-kept in this part, we reach the end of the road and a black arc saying ‘Kala Top’. You need to park your vehicles here and climb the remaining 2km by walk.

It is a pleasant walk, with the view of the magnificent Himalayas accompanying you to the right for most part. Most of the walk is on flat terrain, with some minor climb at the start, which even a 3-year old could do on her own. There are a few steps initially, which give way to the more ancient walking trail soon. About an hour’s climb takes you to the open temple with red and white walls, and no roof. There are a few eateries, selling the usual Maggie noodles, chai and other tidbits. There are no facilities, not even a loo nearby though. But the view of the Himalayas on a clear day more than makes up for all deficiencies.

We walk around the temple, have some chai, while a group of locals visit the temple. It seems that this is a wedding party, and a couple of guys are playing drums and sambals and flute. The head of the party is carrying a metal trident, which he offers to the goddess and then sticks it along with many others that are already kept standing next to the goddess – a bush of metal tridents.

As you cross the temple, you see a small hillock on top of which stands the goddess. She stands with no temple or any other cover, not even clothes or drapery, with several weapons in her multitude of arms and a neckless of severed heads arranged around her neck – the goddess in her most severe and terrible (ugra) form. But funnily, seeing the goddess overseeing the valley is strangely reassuring.

Around the hills, there are some rather small patches of snow left over from last winter. Snow accessible to hand is always a welcome sight in the summer heat, and it gives us an opportunity to flex muscles and try out target practice by throwing tiny balls of snow at each other. After a while, we stroll back leisurely towards the base, get into the car and drive down. About 10km down, the road takes a left and goes to Khajjiar valley, famous for being the setting for several Bollywood songs and dance sequences, and also known as mini-Switzerland among the locals.

Having recently been to Kashmir and to Baisaran valley at Pahalgam, however, makes it difficult for us to appreciate this one though. The meadows are smaller, less green and filled with weekend day-trippers. There is a very small pond in the middle, with muddy waters and mid-sized fish. There are horses that can take people around the meadows. There is zorbing. But, in general, it is rather underwhelming. So we give it a miss and return to Dulhousie – well in time for a cup of evening tea at the mall.

The mall road

For those who have been to the malls (market streets) of Shimla, Manali or Mussoorie, let us get this straight. The mall road of Dulhousie is neither of these. Far from it. It is not even a tenth of these. There is just one short by-lane, with a dozen or so shops. There is a dearth of restaurants and eateries. A couple of marginal bakeries, some shops selling toys, trinkets and things most tourists expect to buy at such places – that is pretty much there is to it. We have some tea and sandwiches at Monga's cafe (actually it is better than it sounds), stroll around the mall, buy some ice creams, and head back to the house.

Sathya has prepared another excellent meal, with some pahadi touch – kadhi, rajma, some veggies, some chicken curry, rice, rotis. It is all homely and all good. We outdo ourselves in eating, all the time justifying that all this appetite is due to the walking and the mountain air. While that is partly true, mostly it is also due to the nice, warm, homely meal cooked by our hostess.

Day 3 – Return

We start after a good breakfast at around 9:30am. Before noon we are at Pathankot. Since it is still too early we decide to push forward, reach Ludhiana at 2:30pm and go inside to eat at Baba’s Kitchen. Poor choice in retrospect, but at least we have some food.

By 5pm I am around 40km before Ambala, when suddenly a group of men in a jeep drive along and signal me to pull over. They pull over ahead of us too, and a couple of them get down and walk towards us. I ask them what the matter is, with a bit of hesitation, to tell the truth. But they seem to tell that there is something wrong with the tyres. So I get down and find that the two front tyres are all worn out – so much so that you can see strings on the left one. I thank the group. If I had continued the way I was, who knows the tyres could have burst at any time.

We are in a precarious situation now. The sun is setting, and we are in the middle of nowhere. We check for tyre shops around, but there are none. We decide to take the chance, and start driving rather slowly and cautiously towards Ambala, with the hope that a large town such as Ambala would offer some solution.

By sun-down we are at Ambala. While crossing the bridge we see a Ceat tyre shoppe down below. So we take a detour and reach the shop. I am the last customer. Thankfully the shop owner is friendly and helpful. He and his mechanic at the alignment store assess the situation. The two front tyres are completely worn out and are hopeless. And the wheel alignment, camber, everything is just off. He says that it is a miracle that we did two days in the mountainous terrain with such state, and ‘lived to tell the tale’. But he can fix the chassis, while the tyres need to be replaced with new ones.

Well, there is not much to tell after that. We get the alignment fixed, the tyres changed, some food, some water and are back on the road. The dragging sound is vanished, so is the roughness of driving. We are safe and by midnight, well within city limits and near home.

Apart from the great mountain views at Dulhousie that have lingered with me for a while now, this trip gives us a couple of reassurances. Firstly, this was the new car’s first mountain ride and she did splendidly – even with the tilted chassis, I must say – splendid enough for the kids to give her a name – a ritual we follow in the family once the car has proved her mettle, a sort of ‘rite of passage’. We also find that AirBnB works fine with us, even for new locations like Dulhousie which we tried out for the first time.

And lastly, we realized that we are missing the mountains more than we care to admit. Traveling to mountains is always the beginning of a beautiful friendship, to quote Casablanca, and in my case the story of my mountain trips is part of who I am.

- Best

Shreekant

4^th April 2017