A trip to Amritsar became possible without much hassles … The plan was to visit the golden temple, stay at the gurudwara sarai, participate in the sewa we have so much heard about and then a short trip to Dalhousie. So the tickets got booked for a flight till Delhi and then train to Amritsar and same way back. It was also our quick get-together with our two grown up independent kids whom we get to meet only rarely.
To reach New Delhi Rly station from the airport we opted for the Metro rail. As soon as you exit out of the Delhi domestic airport you can clearly see Metro rail directions. It also tells you it is 6-7 minute walk !
You will be directed in case you have doubts, lot of cops, airlines officials are walking around. A distance of 16 km costs you Rs. 60/- and the travel is world class. A Spic and span train which swooshes in and out is an experience. Thankyou E. Sreedharan Sir for the Delhi Metro which is built underground as well as above the land. And the last Metro train for the day leaves New Delhi station by 23.40 pm. And the site says it will wait till 23.45 if Shatabdi is late!!!!!!! We were very worried while returning as our train Amritsar – Delhi Shatabdi was to reach by 23 hrs. But it reached by 23.15 hrs, then we had to walk till Metro platform ( no directions on site). Thankfully a coolie agreed to walk us for Rs 200 ( max 3 minutes walk from New Delhi Station). Stood in the queue biting nails for the ticket. But we reached platform by 23.25 – phew! It is like we are in two different countries. New Delhi Rly station is a mela with people moving in all directions and loud noise of all kind and the heat. To top it if you decided to use the ATM at the station you are in for a shock – no money! Walk 3 minutes out – you reach Metro station, amazing comfort, quite ambience and lone DMRC employee on the ticket window on site! How is it run – my Indian railways wala husband wondered 😉
Golden temple is treat to the eyes, looking back I can only smile at the thought that both me and daughter stood there at the first sight of the temple and cried ! I will not write about the temple. You must visit it. Book your rooms at www.sgpcsarai.com if you want to take rooms of the Harminder Sahib.
We decided early we are moving on to Dalhousie for the rest of the time we had but could not manage any rooms booking online. So we took the help of the locals who found us an amazing car driver Gurpreet who was with us till we boarded the return train two days later. Anyone wanting to reach him – the mobile number is 088474 17729 / 080545 61246. We travelled via Gurdaspur, Pathankot, and all the way Gurpreet kept telling about tit-bits about the places we were travelling through. He took an amazing snap of our family too… Miyaji, me and our two kids – here it is.
Lush green wheat crop just getting ready for harvest was all around. Poplar trees too are grown as a cash crop used for all wood requirement which grow very tall quickly. Punjab has various schemes for farmers to help grow the Poplar trees. The roads are fabulous – we crossed n number of flyovers making us fly from city to city. The Pakistan border just few kilometres across Gurdaspur and Pathankot made us remember the debacle the Indian army faces.
We met one army soldier on the train who was travelling from Tuting in the border of Arunachal Pradesh, coming home on leave. He had travelled by road (whatever kuccha road there) for four days to reach Guwahati and then four days to reach Amritsar. By the time he reaches home it would be the ninth day of travel. Heard him speak about what the days are like … continuous rain for days together when not only clothes and shoes are fungus coated, even the human body too… but chilling wind, rain, or snow cannot stop you from being on your post. It was a humbling moment !!!!!!
We reached Dalhousie by 7 pm and managed to find ourselves an affordable room for four! We were happy to be in, the weather was so cold- can you believe it was April for the rest of the country! Smart boy of mine – he had packed woollens & rest of us just managed. Miyaji decided he is not moving out. Dalhousie air is reallly chilly but it has a fragrance of the Deodar and Rhododendron woods in the air. Children enjoyed the walk to the Mall road just to feel the place. We walked back and pulled Miyaji and brought him out, again walked back to have dinner. We had not packed shoes for the next day trek ( very silly – yeah!) so went shoe shopping at 9 pm. The only shoe shop was closed but a neighbour shop owner said let me find him … called on his phone number, and in 5 minutes the shop was open again – how sweet is that?
So armed with new shoes and tummy full, we lazily walked back. It is really dark all around, the road is quite narrow, there is a steep slope on your right, on the left is another terrace of road so one has to walk carefully with passing vehicles. Dalhousie town is spread across five hills.
Next day morning we were up early and ready by 7.30 am. Panchpula, Khajjiar, Kala top, and Dainkund were on our to-see list. It was a very pleasant morning and I was very thrilled of finally making it to Dalhousie. Appu had a Ruskin Bond novel with him which he made sure he read for few minutes atleast and asked me to take a picture too as memorabilia! We had yummy aaloo paronthe with curd and achar and ginger tea to go with it.
We reached Panchpula in no time. It had a small waterfall and few adventure height walks. Khajjiar was our major attraction with paragliding facility. We all wanted to do it, miyaji ofcourse after a lot of cajoling from children. We are taken to a foot hill point from where we are to walk up. It was nearly 12 noon. It was quite a trek for 30-40 minutes, but the effect was if we must have climbed a 10-storied building !!! Miyaji’s first … This was the first time we were engaging in this kind of adventure as a family. We reached the top and saw a huge crowd with the locals who were arranging paragliding activity, the tourists could be clearly marked. A young girl was ready. The parachute was being held by four local boys, she was seated in a chair like bag, and had a pilot behind her and they just ran – few steps – hardly five to eight and they were up in the air!!!! Wow such a thrill – flying in the air. We could hear the girl scream with joy (or fear) and then saw her sailing smooth in the air.
After a wait of 15 minutes or so Miyaji got to gear up… got all the paraphernalia ready behind and we wished him good luck and waved bye – I could see he was scared… As luck would have it the wind started blowing and the team of paragliders said they will have to stop till the wind is smooth flowing. It has to 2 km / hr and not more. We could see the wind direction too was changing from a ribbon. Ohhh !! What to do .. we sat down and waited. The place was cool, and we could feel the quiet surrounding, mountains and green meadows, clouds and even a snow capped peak at a distance. It was an awesome time. Hot maggi bowl was available at a price of Rs. 60 /- what more do you need! I wished time would just stand by for us. All the paragliders paraphernalia was neatly folded back and almost all walked down. So sorry but not very .. Actually paragliding is best experienced early morning, before the sun comes up bright & hot. So we had come up at the wrong time altogether. Some things cannot be risked.. It has to happen at its own sweet will!!
We waited quite long for the wind to calm but it didn’t happen… it was a very pleasant time sitting overlooking a mountain, the valley in front of us, sharing bowls of hot maggie. We didnt want to walk back but all great moments do end. As soon as we reached the base to have lunch, it started raining very heavily along with hailstorms, a sudden weather change and a perfect time when we were served hot alloo paranthas… Yummy treat and a yummy time !
Maangi thi ek dua.. 
@ Kajjiar
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