Summer Vacation Excursions- Part II Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

Excursions during Summer Vacations – Part –II

Author : Dr.K.S.Kang

During one summer vacation when I along with my parents, wife and kids were in Punjab my parents were too reluctant to go anywhere outside Punjab. While on the other hand my kids, my wife and me were interested in some outing during the holidays. Our tenants were also busy in their jobs and our leaves and their leaves often did not coincide. So we decided to  visit Chandigarh and Shimla using mostly public transport. So we proceeded from Moga on a State Roadways Bus to Chandigarh- the city that had a unique status of being a Union Territory, and capital of Punjab and Haryana. We reached Chandigarh by the time the darkness of evening has descended. Since my wife had stayed at Chandigarh for an year during his studies in PG. Diploma in Computer Applications from a reputed institute BCI, so she was well acquainted with the city. We took accommodation in Kisan Bhawan which was centrally situated near the Central bus stop. Though it was Summer season at the peak but our room had air cooler and adequate supply of water ensured our pleasant stay for the night. Next day I and my wife went for early morning to walk to get the first glimpse of the town that was renowned as the most planned city of the country. It was aesthetically and systematically planned by the famous French architect Le Corbusier and that’s why this town did not had Sector No. 13 as it was considered inauspicious according to the belief and faith of Le Corbusier. During the walk we also had the first glimpse of the famous Sukhna Lake that was the crown of the town. After wash and change we took  an auto and moved around the town to visit its famous tourist sites. First of all we visited Sukhna Lake and enjoyed boating in this pond along with my wife and kids in a small paddle boat that was meant to accommodate four people. After Sukhna Lake we went to see the famous Rock Garden, that had been created aesthetically from the recycled and waste material by Mr. Nek Chand, who was an engineer by profession. His name has nearly become synonymous with Rock Garden and Chandigarh. In the evening we visited Rose Garden though that was not appropriate time to visit this place as it was not prime season for Roses but Garden had a number of varieties in it. We enjoyed ice cream cones made by famous Verka Dairy of Punjab ensuing high quality of its products. Next day in the morning we boarded the bus to the famous hill station of the country Shimla. It was again the endless serpentine roads of the mountains that took us to Shimla after four hours of bus journey after passing through Kalka, Solan and other towns. Along with the road the rails of famous toy train was also running crossing the road at several places. At Shimla as soon as we got down from the bus we were surrounded by coolies who were more than ready to carry our luggage and show us the accommodation. We took accommodation in a reasonably good hotel that was quite near the famous Mall Road of the town. As the room had TV set so my kids were engrossed in seeing their popular TV Cartoon shows. I and my wife had to convince them that we have come here to see the place and they can see TV anytime. So we came to the Mall Road which was so clean and systematic that I had not see such a clean and systematic street in my whole life till then. For some time it appeared to me as if I am not in India but in some foreign country, as the level of cleanliness in some of the foreign countries is higher than in India atleast at that time. Next day we hired a taxi with the help of hotel people that took us to some of the tourist spots around the town. They had several packages but the package that we selected was Kufri, Chahil. First of all taxi driver took us to Kufri where there was a Potato Research Institute. My wife and kids took round of the farm on ponies as I  was allergic to horses so I did not go anywhere I just took a short walk surveying the nearby valleys and surroundings. After Kufri taxi took us to Chail which was the capital of Patiala state. A story goes regarding Chail that once Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh antagonized Lord Kitchner,  Viceroy of India. After that Viceroy banned the entry of Maharaja of Patiala into Shimla as a punishment. So Maharaja took his capital to the nearby town Chal and built an imposing palace at Chail as his summer capital. Later on after independence he donated the building to Chail Military School and other Government departments. Chail had the highest helipad in the entire country which was situated atop a plateau that divided Chail from Shimla. After that we took hurried lunch and got into  bus to come back to Chandigarh. On the way we got down at Pinjore to see the famous Pinjore Garden that was built by Patiala royalty. My elder son got sick due to winding roads but he got relief as soon as he got down from the bus and immersed his feet and face in the cool water of the channels of Pinjore Garden. After viewing the garden thoroughly we boarded the bus from Chandigarh back to Moga.  

          

Summer Vacations Excursions Part - I Author: Dr. K.S.Kang

Excursions During Summer Vacations

Part-I

As most of our relatives resided in Punjab so we had to visit this state once or twice an year. It was decided by our family to go on excursions during summer vacations. First of all we decided to visit the State of Uttarakhand which was earlier Uttar Pradesh. The route that was charted out was to start from my home town Moga in Punjab and then via Ambala and Yamunagat to make a night stay at Haridwara. And next day to proceed to Rishikesh and to reach Dehradun by evening and to spend the next day in seeing Dehradun and then proceed to the Mussorie, which is known as the Queen of the Hills. Our tenants who were living in our house at Moga S. Surjeet Singh, who was a Government teacher also decided to join us on this trip along with his family. In fact it was he who organized everything including vehicle to be used for the trip from Moga. As we were ten members including my parents, my wife and two kids and four members of Surjeet Singh’s family so we hired Tata Sumo Vehicle, a SUV of Tata Motors from Moga, so that we could travel comfortably and conveniently. So we started from Moga early in the morning. Here I would like to mention that our driver was a very fat person whose name was Nishu. But he proved to be quite efficient and skillful driver seeing his obesity. We reached at Haridwara in the evening after a brief stop at a road side hotel cum farm where the water was flowing from the tubewell after Ambala that is after crossing Punjab and entering Uttar Pradesh. First of all my father decided to visit his nephew who was working at BHEL in the township nearby Haridwara. So we went to his residence situated in the colony of the plant. Two people who were overjoyed to meet each other was my father’s nephew Harnam Singh and our driver Nishu as both of them were equally fat and obese. Harnam Singh after serving hot tea and snacks at his home insisted that we should stay in his house for the night but my father did not want to trouble his family so he wanted that we should stay in some inn at Hardwara and enjoy the evening view of majestic river Ganga. Ultimately Harnam Singh budged and giving respect to my father’s age he agreed to my father’s plan but he accompanied us to Hardwara though he had made complete arrangements for our stay in the colony. At Hardwara we contacted Pawan Dham, an inn whose founders belonged to Moga and we easily got accommodation. In the evening we visited Har Ki Pauri to get the majestic view of River Ganga and  alluring view of its arti from the bridge. In the morning both my parents took a holy dip in River Ganga, particularly my mother was overjoyed as one of her hand was held by her elder grandson Ishupal who was studying in Class VIII and the other hand was held by her younger grandson Shivpal who was studying in Class VI. All of us also took bath in this holy river. My wife was quite fond of moving in the water of the river. After the morning bath at River Ganga we went to see Mansa Mata whose temple was situated on mountain and the only way to reach there was on rope way trolley. It was a novel experience for my family as the only time we were in the air was on a short flight at Kota airport at Dusshera mela along with my parents and sister. My wife insisted to sit alone with me on the trolley while my father wanted to accompany her and the children. My wife succeeded in pushing me to the vacant trolley that came our way to the surprise of my parents and our tenants. The rope way journey gave breath taking view of green valley and tall mountains covering the temple. After visiting the temple we hurriedly moved to Hrishikesh and seeing the famous Lakshman Jhoola, which is a rope bridge across River Ganga we moved quickly to reach Dehradun so as to find a suitable shelter at Dehradun before getting dark. At Dehradun first of all we went to see the place Premnagar in Dehradun where my father had resided for a couple of years while working at Indian Military Academy as Physics demonstrator. Both my parents were overjoyed to see the place where many fond memories of their youth still resided. They were overjoyed to see the family still residing whom they knew. The head of the family was a gentleman nick named Gaddi as he was born in a train while his mother was travelling from Pakistan to India after the partition in 1947. This gentleman was a young boy of 14 years when my parents left Dehradun. They were pleased to see old places and old people after a gap of nearly quarter of a century. We went to a Gurudwara but we were unable to find accommodation there though that was historical Gurudwara that was founded by Guru Ram Rai, elder son of Guru Hargobind ji, but he was thrown out by his father as he compromised with the holy Guru Granth Sahib while interpreting a verse before the then Mughal Emperor. I was surprised to see the shortage of water in that town that was cradle of number of rivers and streams. However we succeeded in finding accommodation at Agarwal Dharamshala near the railway station. Before calling the day we visited Indian Military Academy- the place where my father has worked for nearly a decade. While moving through its campus my father came across two officers who had been working and staying there and who had been my father’s students at Sainik School Chittorgarh Rajasthan. One person took us to his home and served us cold drink while the other promised us to assist in seeing the military museum of Indian Military Academy. Next day at appointed time all of us reached IMA and the officer was already waiting for us in Green Gipsy. Our car followed it till it stopped near the Last step of Chetwode Hall of IMA, that converted a Cadet to officer as soon as he crossed the last step successfully on the day of Passing out parade. Officer accompanying us Lt. Col. Lakshman Singh took us to the museum that had large life size portraits of former commandants of IMA and other prominent military leaders of free India like Field Marshal Manekshaw, Lt. Gen Harbaksh Singh, Lt. Gen Gorbinder Singh and the like. This museum also housed the pistol of Pakistan army commander Lt. Gen Niazi when he surrendered before Indian commander Lt. Gen J.S. Aurora during Indo-Pak conflict of 1971 that gave birth to a new nation Bangladesh. After seeing IMA thoroughly the other destination was its neighbouring institute Forest Research Institute or FRI as it is popularly known. But that institute is too huge as it is premier institute connected to Forest Sciences and Botany. We cold just get a running view of some of its museum as we were in a hurry to reach a spot of natural beauty that was a few Kilometres outside Dehradun known as Sahastradhara which was a water fall and pool of Sulphur water which had curative properties for skin related maladies.  Here too we took a long bath and we even had snaps of bathing in this pool of water. Tired we returned to our shelter to rest for the night. In the morning we proceeded to Mussorie which was about 22 kms from Dehradun but it had a mountaineous and winding terrain. As we reached Mussorie we came to know that only local taxis were allowed to take tourists to the spots, so we felt a bit cheated and duped. It was the monopoly of local taxi operators that was robbing the tourists from getting the pleasure of seeing the pleasant places. As we moved upward the road was getting narrower and meaner and steeper. So we decided to leave our vehicle and decided to walk. Our information about Mussorie was incomplete. Whatever knowledge we had of Mussorie was provided by our parents and in their days in the sixties of twentieth century there was only one tourist spot and that was Lal Tibba ( Red Plateau). As we were walking on the mountaineous road we observed that one road mark indicated the residence of famous Indo-Anglican author Ruskin Bond’s residence. After walking for an hour we reached Lal Tibba which was a high point from where a retired army serviceman showed snow capped mountains of Himalayas and Tibet (Indo-China Boarder) through the binoculars. On our way back we visited the local gurudwara too and came to know that they had quilts also for the people who wanted to stay in the Gurudwara. When we moved downwards back towards Dehradun it was already dark and lights of Mussorie appeared like shining starts in the sky. Next day we proceeded back to our respective places. As my summer vacation was going to end so we got off from the taxi at Ambala and moved towards Delhi, while our tenants moved towards Moga, while we hired taxi to reach Delhi and from Delhi moved to Jaipur and after staying at Jaipur at my sister’s residence proceeded to our residence at Chittorgarh.