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Arriving At Shimla (belated Trip Report)
Posted by
jyoti
,
01 July 2008
·
29 views
Very belated report from North India Trip 2007:
Tuesday I left Almora at 5:40 am for the train station, then to Delhi, then overnight to Shimla with one connection to make... Delhi is even more nuts than I gave it credit for. People everywhere! Every square foot of the road had someone in it, pulling a cart, driving an auto, cycling, or carrying bundles on top of their heads as they meandered through traffic. If my parents ever come to India, I will have to keep them well away from Delhi. Yet, it's kind of fun in a strange adrenaline rush sort of way... There's just nowhere to go to get away from it!
The train from Delhi stops at a tiny little station which seems to have no other purpose than as a stopping off point for those on the way to Shimla. Here, we all got off of the normal train and switched to the narrow gauge line. The train I had booked was one of the "toy trains" with tiny red cars seating 18 people. The only concern was the switch is made at about 5 am! There are tiny puddle jumper planes into Shimla, and if you have a vehicle you can drive yourself, but taking the train is the preferred route. It was very surreal to think that these were the same views, dips, and turns the British ladies and gents took up the side of the mountain.
As we rode up the mountain side, through deep tunnels cutting through mountains peaks, and along cliff edges, the attendant brought up tea complete with a variety of snacks and biscuits. When that was taken away, we were served a late breakfast/early lunch. I sat by two guys, one from Delhi, one from Rajasthan. The Rajasthani kept asking me questions about the US and the Delhi-ite kept answering for me--and correcting ME! Did you know you have to have state citizenship AND U.S. Citizenship? And you can't get a job in another state, or move without permission, and you have to carry two ID cards? Yeah, me neither. *grin*
I told him, "Well, that's not quite how it works..." and he says, "No, it's true!" How can I argue with that?
The Rajasthani man decided that because I am from a village and my Dad works at a factory, that would put me on the Scheduled Caste list, meaning of one of the lower and least educated castes *grin* I can't fault his reasoning... Wonder if this means I can have a reserved seat at university??!! We had a long conversation about the village I am from, if it's even big enough to call it that. (Farber has a whopping population of 400, last I checked).
"Did you have water? (yes). Electricity? (yes). Well, what didn't you have?" (Any proper village worth the name has to be missing at least one major resource, apparently). "Gas?" (Meaning natural gas.)
"No, no," I said. "I don't think we had gas..."
"How did you cook?" he asked.
"Um... We have stoves that run off of electricity."
"Oh! Specially adapted stoves that use electricity," he said, nodding knowingly as if he were an old professor considering this over his weathered pipe...
"Uh... sure. You could call it that...."
I was meeting friends in Shimla, and so didn't have the normal tourist perspective of the city. Instead, they met me at the station and drove me to their flat which is on the opposite side of the city from the tourist area. A whole series of 3-4 level apartment buildings was built up the side of the steep cliff, meaning that all but the lowest floors could look out over the valley behind Shimla which was nearly undeveloped except for a winding road through the fog and a few tiny villages clinging to hillsides when the fog cleared in the afternoon.
July 26th, 2007:
It's been foggy and raining all the last two days, and I am cozily wrapped up in my sweatshirt, shawl and borrowed socks. I must be the laziest tourist ever. Tomorrow we might go out and do something...
Next edition: Some of the places visited!
Tuesday I left Almora at 5:40 am for the train station, then to Delhi, then overnight to Shimla with one connection to make... Delhi is even more nuts than I gave it credit for. People everywhere! Every square foot of the road had someone in it, pulling a cart, driving an auto, cycling, or carrying bundles on top of their heads as they meandered through traffic. If my parents ever come to India, I will have to keep them well away from Delhi. Yet, it's kind of fun in a strange adrenaline rush sort of way... There's just nowhere to go to get away from it!
The train from Delhi stops at a tiny little station which seems to have no other purpose than as a stopping off point for those on the way to Shimla. Here, we all got off of the normal train and switched to the narrow gauge line. The train I had booked was one of the "toy trains" with tiny red cars seating 18 people. The only concern was the switch is made at about 5 am! There are tiny puddle jumper planes into Shimla, and if you have a vehicle you can drive yourself, but taking the train is the preferred route. It was very surreal to think that these were the same views, dips, and turns the British ladies and gents took up the side of the mountain.
As we rode up the mountain side, through deep tunnels cutting through mountains peaks, and along cliff edges, the attendant brought up tea complete with a variety of snacks and biscuits. When that was taken away, we were served a late breakfast/early lunch. I sat by two guys, one from Delhi, one from Rajasthan. The Rajasthani kept asking me questions about the US and the Delhi-ite kept answering for me--and correcting ME! Did you know you have to have state citizenship AND U.S. Citizenship? And you can't get a job in another state, or move without permission, and you have to carry two ID cards? Yeah, me neither. *grin*
I told him, "Well, that's not quite how it works..." and he says, "No, it's true!" How can I argue with that?
The Rajasthani man decided that because I am from a village and my Dad works at a factory, that would put me on the Scheduled Caste list, meaning of one of the lower and least educated castes *grin* I can't fault his reasoning... Wonder if this means I can have a reserved seat at university??!! We had a long conversation about the village I am from, if it's even big enough to call it that. (Farber has a whopping population of 400, last I checked).
"Did you have water? (yes). Electricity? (yes). Well, what didn't you have?" (Any proper village worth the name has to be missing at least one major resource, apparently). "Gas?" (Meaning natural gas.)
"No, no," I said. "I don't think we had gas..."
"How did you cook?" he asked.
"Um... We have stoves that run off of electricity."
"Oh! Specially adapted stoves that use electricity," he said, nodding knowingly as if he were an old professor considering this over his weathered pipe...
"Uh... sure. You could call it that...."
I was meeting friends in Shimla, and so didn't have the normal tourist perspective of the city. Instead, they met me at the station and drove me to their flat which is on the opposite side of the city from the tourist area. A whole series of 3-4 level apartment buildings was built up the side of the steep cliff, meaning that all but the lowest floors could look out over the valley behind Shimla which was nearly undeveloped except for a winding road through the fog and a few tiny villages clinging to hillsides when the fog cleared in the afternoon.
July 26th, 2007:
It's been foggy and raining all the last two days, and I am cozily wrapped up in my sweatshirt, shawl and borrowed socks. I must be the laziest tourist ever. Tomorrow we might go out and do something...
Next edition: Some of the places visited!
