Sandhu Village to Delhi
Day 5:
Nestled in the Apple Orchards, from the hotel room at Sandhu
we had great views of the Himalayan country side. We started off by 9am and
travelled till Kufri along NH-22. At Kufri, we took left turn and drove along a
steep road that went past the Kufri Zoo and the famous Chini Bungalow, a
testimony to Indo-Tibetan architecture. Chail is 30 km from Kufri and we have
to drive through a narrow road. Unlike Shimla which is swarmed by tourists this
road is less travelled and passes through a Nature park. There was hardly any
traffic on this road and the serenity of the place was overwhelming. Soon we
crossed Khariyal ghati, Munda ghat, Shilon Bagh and Koti, a robust town in this
region. Before reaching Chail, we stopped at a village and had hot parathas by
the side of the road.
Chail is remote town in the Shivalik belt. It is the
summer capital of the erstwhile princely state of Patiala. It came into
existence when Maharaja of Patiala was expelled by British from Shimla.
Aggrieved Maharaja, grudging the insult avowed to clench his hold of this
region. He soon explored for a hill station which is within the reach of Shimla
and located at a much higher elevation. The village of Chail perfectly
fulfilled his requirements. Maharaja soon built a huge palace spread in 75
acres of land in 1891. The huge mansion with all its grandeur is passed over to
HPTDC in 1970 is now turned into a Palace Hotel. Chail is built over three
hills- Palace Hotel is built on Rajgarh Hill, Siddh Baba Mandir is atop Siddh
Hill and Pandhewa Hill has a residence of former British official.
Palace Lawns
Weather in Chail soon turned very chilly and with childish
instincts overpowering us we devoured ice creams. First we first visited the
Palace that exuded majestic splendour. While the palace may not be high on
grandeur, the huge expanse of lawns, elegant fountains and pavilions emanated
the glory of the Patiala rulers. It started drizzling as we were walking on the
Royal lawns soon we got into our car and headed towards the Siddh Hill to visit
Siddh Baba Mandir and the famous cricket ground constructed in 1893 atop of the
Siddh Hill.
Siddh Temple
Siddh Baba temple has great historical importance and
according to locals Maharaja Bhupinder Singh wanted to build his palace on this
hill and started construction. However after repeated efforts it couldn’t be
completed. Maharaja once got a dream where a Saint appeared and told him that
it was the place where he meditated and later on was buried underneath. In his
honour Maharaja built the Siddh Baba Temple. The quaint place has three shrines
with marble sculpted statue of the Siddh Baba in the centre, to the left are
the most attractive and beautifully carved images of Lord Rama, Goddess Sita,
Lord Lakshmana and Lord Hanuman and to the left is the entourage of Lord Shiva.
Abutting this temple complex is the shrine that housed idol of Goddess Durga.
As we were about to exit from the temple premises it started raining. This
continued for the major part of our journey on the hills.
Siddh Baba
We then frenetically searched for the cricket stadium in
pouring rain. Just then a young sergeant came to our rescue and guided us to
the ground. It stands at a height of 2444.4 mts and is one of the highest
cricket pitches and polo grounds in the World. The place which is under the
jurisdiction of military school is used as playground.
Highest playground
Other important places of interest are the Chail Wild Life
Sanctuary, which was earlier the private hunting reserve of Patiala. Spread in
an area of 11,000 hectares it has rarest collection of flora and fauna. Chail
is 45km from Shimla and the place with its myriad charms continues to enchant
the travellers. Another place of significance is Kali ka Tibba, located on a
hill top and 8 km from Chail. The place is connected by a road which goes
through thick forests. People visit the place as it offers beautiful view of
majestic peaks like Chur Chandini Peak and Karol Tibba. Since it was raining
heavily we dropped the plans of visiting Mahakali Mandir and drove towards
Solan. While the drive during rain is exciting, risk of landslides on hills
makes the drive more challenging. We
steadily descended the narrow windy road and reached Sadhupul.
Sadhupul is a small village and a popular picnic spot. A
stream of water, Ashwini flows through the village and visible tracts of land
around this place practice step cultivation. The bridge across the steam was
broken in 2014 when an overloaded truck tried to cross it. With the collapse of
the bridge, the road crossing has become very chaotic. Several vehicles got
queued up to hit the narrow road, which is muddy and become slippery due to
rain. Some of the heavy vehicles ahead of us made jerky noises and caused a
fright. Thankfully we could move out of that muddy pool without much
difficulty. Except for this bad patch, the road from Chail to Solan was okay.
We soon reached Khandaghat and then hit the NH-22 highway at Solan. From there
though roads were broad heavy traffic descending the hills has literally slowed
down our drive. We steadily moved past Barog and at Parawanoo we drove along
the 8-lane gorgeous Himalayan Express way. Finally we reached Delhi by
midnight.
Photographs Courtesy: Dr. T. L. S. Bhaskar
@ Copyrights reserved.
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