Himachal Diaries: Part One

The Spiti Valley circuit tour was at the brim of my bucket list ever since I completed Ladakh in 2018. But the plans never worked out due to reasons. May be there is always a right time to visit a place and with the right people. Finally the list got ticked in Jul 2024 on travelling with this amazing group of strangers turning into friends. 

Departure from CSMIA, Mumbai to Shaheed Bhagat Singh International airport, Chandigarh (01.07.2024)

I woke up at 4:15am, got ready and boarded the 5:30am Andheri slow, reached the station at 6:45am and then the airport departure gate by 7am. I checked in the luggage at the Indigo counter and got my boarding pass, went through the security checkpoint and entered the domestic departures. It took a while to find out McD since I was traveling in India after quite some time. 

Done with the breakfast, I walked to Gate 40B for the flight. We had already received a message as well as a call from our tour manager, Hrishikesh Karekar briefing on how to prepare for the tour. I had also attended the zoom call a month back, which elaborated the sightseeing and the precautions we need to take on the tour. There would be a lot of walking, simple food and its an offbeat destination. Back to the gate, it was past 9am and the flight boarding was yet to begin. It was evident that the flight is getting delayed. Finally the boarding started, my seat was 1A, which was at the entry and it gave me an opportunity to observe things like how the air hostess were doing the final checks, the pilots entered, the ground staff doing final checks, etc. And we get to hear from the pilot that the flight is delayed due to technical issue and then we were in the queue to take off at 10:30am. I slept throughout the journey. We landed on the Chandigarh airport, Punjab at 12:45pm. 

I picked my luggage from the belt and walked out of the airport. We were told to assemble and wait for the tour manager. Here I met Smita and Leena. Finally Hrishikesh welcomed us all, alongwith tour manager Sanket Gawade. There were five vehicles, we were divided into group of four per vehicle. Mine was vehicle no 3, alongwith Kalyani Kulkarni, Chinmay Kadwadkar and Avadhoot Bhat. Our captain was Amandeep. Luggage was loaded and we drove to Hotel West End View for lunch at 2:30pm. 

Post lunch we drove to Pinjore Garden. Sanket briefed us on the garden history. 

Yadavindra Gardens, Pinjore, Haryana

This is a Mughal style architectural garden laid in seven terraces, with the main gate of the garden opening into the highest first terrace, which has a palace called the Sheesh Mahal. 

The second terrace with arched doorways has the Rang Mahal. 

The third terrace has cypress trees and flower beds. The next terrace has the Jal Mahal.

We walked the garden levels till 4:30pm, it was in maintenance stage, hence could not enjoy it's beauty. We clicked a group photo, had maaza treat and drove straight to Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. 

I should admit that my body had forgotten how to travel at high altitude in India. It had got used to the comfortable Volvo in foreign countries. I got headache and fatigue and what not by the time we reached Hotel Asia The Dawn at 6:45pm. 

My room no was 107, I took the room keys and rested on the bed. When you are traveling solo, you cannot call home and say that you are not feeling well! I skipped the guest introduction session and the tour briefing. I had dinner at 8:45pm and kept the bag ready for the next day. My plans of strolling in Shimla in the evening and visiting the church were off. So this was day one, the journey is yet to begin!