My Shimla Toy Train Journey
 |
| Shimla Toy Train |
Hello friends! Today I am going to tell you about my recent Shimla travel story hope you will enjoy it.
Day 1:- So Right now, I am at Shimla Railway Station. I am going to start my Shimla travel & food journey from Mall Road, Shimla. If you take the Shatabdi express train till Kalka, from there you can take the Himalayan Queen to Shimla. However, there are other choices of trains available as well. The 5 and a half-hour long journey from Kalka to Shimla is complete fun in itself.
If you are interested in visiting just Shimla city, you should keep at least 2 nights and 3 days aside, and if you want to explore nearby famous attraction then you have to come for 3 nights, Someone referred me to the famous Chhole-bhature shop of Sitaram & Sons in Lakkar Bazar, Shimla. This shop is 70-80 years old. Chhole-bhature (chickpeas in spicy gravy-all-purpose flour flatbread deep fried in oil) Though this is called chhole-bhature elsewhere, this flatbread is called “Luchi” here. I wasn’t able to eat it while in Amritsar. So, let me find out from them how it is cooked.
Just one bite in, I can say that these are the best Chhole I’ve had after Amritsar and CP (in Delhi). Very Tastey! They’ve topped the chhole with two types of chutneys – mint chutney and a sweet relish. The sweet chutney is also delicious. Nice! Very tasty! Super breakfast! I’m happy that I began my food journey with my favorite Chhole-bhature (called luchi here).Shopkeeper: “This is not bhatura, it is luchi. It is made with curd, semolina, and all-purpose flour kneaded together.”
In
Himachal Pradesh, you get to eat Dham (traditional Himachali meal) at any
marriage or religious function. Right now, I’ve come down from Baljees stairs
to Himachali Rasoi near Mall Road to eat Dham thali. Let me show you what all
has been served in this Thali.
Maah ki dal (whole black gram), Sepu Vadi (split black gram in spinach gravy), Sour kaddu (pumpkin),…… Rajmah ka Madra (Kidney beans)and Kadhi (Chickpea flour & curd gravy). For dessert (sweet dish), there is meetha kaddu (sweet pumpkin dish). And there is rice too. Good! Sepu Vadi is made with split urad dal (black gram). It is a famous dish in the Mandi district.Today, we are eating Mandiyali Dham. The gravy of Sepu Vadi is made with palak (spinach) and curd. Yummy!
The sour
pumpkin is very sour! In fact, I cannot see pumpkin in it at all. It is
completely mashed up into the gravy. This dish has turned into a sour curry.
So, difficult to identify that you are eating kaddu. I’ve enjoyed different
flavors in kadhi. In Gujarat, I enjoyed Gujarati kadhi. In Delhi, at home also,
we eat a different type of kadhi.And this one is totally different.
Delicious!
Tasty food! A lot of this food is cooked with curd, fennel seeds, and mustard
oil.
I’m
enjoying dham here! Indian Coffee House is quite an old coffee shop on Mall
Road, Shimla. The interiors of the shop suggest that the owners have not tried
to change the old ambiance at all.No renovation has been done! Anyways, the menu
here boasts of a lot of choices. Dosa, sandwich, omelet, bread-butter.I’ve
ordered a Tray Coffee for myself.
It is raining outside and I’m enjoying coffee inside the Indian Coffee House.I will wait for the rain to stop before stepping out to roam around Mall Road. This coffee reminded me of my recent visit to Coorg.So, after this episode, you will be able to watch our Coorg episode, in which we have covered coffee in detail in our segment – From farm to a cup of coffee. I’m sure you will enjoy that too. Nice!
Trishul Bakery is a popular shop on Mall
Road. It has got a lot of varieties of pastries – quite hard to decide. I feel I
should try this “Japanese”. It looks quite different.
The first
appeal of this is its softness, which can be felt as you hold it in hand. You
can obviously see the chocolate shavings garnished on the top. This pastry has
multiple flavors inside. There is a biscuit on the top and bottom. In between, there is cake and, at least, two layers of chocolate. Very enjoyable! In my
first bite, I took a big chunk, which was quite tasty. In the second bite, I ate
just a bit off the top. The second bite taught me that if I need to enjoy this
pasty, I need to take a bigger bite, which would...…have all the layers and
flavors together. Nice! I’m happy that I came here and tried this Japanese
pastry.
It is 6.30 p.m. now and it is getting colder on Mall Road. Now it is time to sit here and enjoy the view of Mall Road. The weather is getting better now.
Day 2- It is 4 a.m. in the morning. We are going to the Jakhoo Temple to visit as well as to watch the sunrise from there. The road to Jakhoo temple is quite an a steep incline. When Lord Hanuman was on his way to Sanjivani mountain, he took a rest at the Jakhu mountain. It is believed that the statue of Lord Hanuman installed at this temple appeared by itself. Every morning at 7 a.m. an aarti is performed to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman. Just behind this temple is another place that houses the feet impressions of Lord Hanuman.
In Himachal Pradesh, I feel the flavor of mint leaves is different from elsewhere. Not saying whether this Bhalla-Papdi is better than others I’ve had or not, but the taste is different for sure. After roaming around, I’ve come to Nathuram shop to have milk-jalebi. There is sugary jalebi inside this glass and over it goes boiling hot milk. If the weather is really cold, eating this jalebi dipped in mik is a delicious experience. Here I came to know that they serve milk-jalebi only till 7.30 p.m. Otherwise, I wanted to come here after dinner at night and then enjoy milk-jalebi like this. It is a tasty thing to eat. They are frying jalebi in pure ghee (clarified butter). On the side, you can see milk being boiled in a large pan. Watching this scene, the temptation to eat grows on its own. In Shimla, I am staying at Hotel White in Lakkar Bazar.The tariff is Rs 2000 INR for one night, on a twin-sharing basis.
Day 3- The Mall Road and Scandal Point are at a walking distance of 10 min and 15 min, respectively. Rest everything is decent. We stayed for 2 nights and our overall stay was comfortable. Right now, we are traveling from Mall Road to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study. The total distance is 4 kms, which you can either cover by car or on foot. It is a 1 hours journey on foot. Before India’s independence, this building was known as the summer residence of the Viceroy of India. But today it houses the Indian Institute of Advanced Study. The architecture is really beautiful. This complex is also historically important. For instance, the Shimla Conference of 1945 and Cabinet Mission meeting of 1946, etc, are some of the events held here. The tourists are free to visit the garden outside the main building, enjoy the view around. Even though videography is not allowed inside but takes my word for it, it deserves a visit.
Right
now, we are going 5 kms away from Shimla, to visit the Sankat Mochan temple at Bagh. The first thing that one notices inside
the temple is how clean it is. Let us go inside to pay obeisance and learn from
the priest about the history of this temple. Priest: “This temple is Shri Sankat
Mochan Hanuman temple of Shimla. It is quite a famous temple.”, and when their
wish is granted, they organize bhandara (religious feast) here. Jai Sia Ram. and
ate Himachali food, searched for a homestay for ourselves in Naldehra, enjoyed
horse riding as well as trekking. this is all about my travel experience.
Thanks for your time.
Naveen Dubey
0 Comments