harikumar1964's blog

Over sixty five million years ago, the time of extinction of the dynasaurs, a landmass from goundwanaland (one of  the two giant continents, the other being Laurasia,) separated and drifted towards laurasia and struck the laurasian plate*. This resulted in the formation of the mighty himalayas- probably the youngest of the mountain ranges of the world.

The Himalayan ranges start from Himachal and Uttarachal- as far as India is concerned.  And Himachal is a beautiful Switzerland resembling landscape of India full of lush green mountains and snow capped peaks. The state of Himachal Pradesh was officially formed in 1971 with Shimla being its capital.

Nalagarh is a small town of roughly 10000 people located in the Solan district of Himachal Pradesh. Generally it is a hilly area roughly 1000 ft above MSL, but nearby mountains are more than 4000 ft. This was a part of Hindur kingdom during the raj days and before. It is nearly 70 kms from Chandigarh located in NH-21A.

As a part of my company’s managerial competency enhancement programme, I got a chance to visit Nalagarh. It was two days of fun and a bit of adventure in a somewhat isolated place with very few tourists.  And I decided to pen my experience of those wonderful days. This is my first try at travelogue, and so please bear with me for the ameturish account that follows.

We planned to start off from Delhi on 19.09.2008 early morning jut to get out of Delhi at the earliest before the dawn to avoid traffic jams. But the rains which started a couple of days earlier continued on that day, and our group of 28 could only start by 5:30 in the morning. We managed to cross Delhi border by around 7:00 but the entry point at Sonepat in Haryana held us for almost 30 minutes for the driver to complete formalities of entry tax and all, and as we continued, the rains intensified. By 9:45 after crossing Sonepat and Panipat, we stopped At Karnal for breakfast.  The highway hotel was cozy and decorated like a Dhaba, with facility for shopping and special sections for handicrafts aimed to lure foreign tourists. But the food served was hygienic and tasty and was not exorbitantly overpriced- unlike the experience I had at a highway restaurant on my way to Agra a couple of years ago where I had to spend over a 1000 Rs for a frugal breakfast of toast for five. This time even otherwise I would not have  cared as this was paid by our organizer- a firm called Psyche Panacea based in Gurgaon. Breakfast break took one hour, and it was 11 when we hit the highway-1 again. We were told that Nalagarh is just 4 hrs and we should be there by 3 at any cost. But the driver took a diversion immediately after Karnal bypassing Kurukshetra , Ambala, and Chandigarh taking us straight to Panchkula  which is a satellite township of Chandigarh just like Noida is for Delhi. Even though wide, the road was single and heavy rains and truck traffic slowed our progress and we managed to reach Panchkula only by 1:30. We proceeded further in the same road to Pinjore – a crucial point in Haryana which is the gateway to Himachal and different roads lead to Simla, Kasauli, Nalagarh, Bilaspur etc.. On the right side not far away, we could see the green velveted Himalayas  which looked truly enchanting in the rains. A short distance away from Pinjore is Kalka- the base station for Simla from where the toytrain starts its meandearing journey up the hills. Pinjore also has a Mughal gardens just by the side of NH-21A- a visit to which was deferred to the return journey because of the intensifying rains.

Our journey ahead of Pinjore suddenly turned a rocking boat motion because of the terrible condition of the road. Even though it is an NH, at many stretches,  roads were completely washed away, and because of the rains, many of the small tributaries originating from the hills were flowing over the road, virtually inundating the whole territory, and our driver had a torrid time navigating through the water as many smaller vehicles stopped by the wayside unable to cross the heavy flow of water across the road. Many a points, our journey resembled a boatride on a stormy sea. But then we enjoyed it thoroughly. Our progress almost got reduced to just 10 Km/hr. By 3 in the afternoon, in the heavy rains, we reached the border town of Baddi- the entry point to Himachal. Here without much of a delay, we proceeded our rocking journey as the road condition was as bad as before. And by 4:15 we reached Nalagarh- a small town of less than 10000 people. Our accommodation was arranged in the Nalagarh fort located at about 1500 ft overlooking the small town. It is the old palace now turned to a hotel with rooms and corridors decorated in the Raj ambience. Because of the rains, and narrowness of the road, the driver was finding it difficult to navigate through the winding roads to the fort and we had to walk up the hills for 200 metres to the hotel drenched. But the when we are on to an adventure trip, this is only child’s play and no one was complaining.

In the Resort:

After the delayed Lunch, we retreated to the rooms allotted to us for a brief break before  assembling back at the conference room at 7 PM. It was raining heavily, and except for some nearby hills, nothing much was visible. And for the first time, we were worried about the chance of rains the next day that could play spoilsport on our adventure ambitions.  Some of us even questioned the timing of such an adventure trip. But our co-ordinator was unfazed and optimistic that weather will clear  by the next day.

After some indoor activity involving group effectiveness, we had a royal dinner at the main restaurant. It was still raining heavily. So no question of a night walk in the hills or sitting in the open terrace of the fort. We decided to find out more about Nalagarh and the fort – and who else but the hotel boys were the best for this.

As per the information available, Nalagarh was the capital of the Kingdom of Hindur founded by Raja Ajai Chand in 1100 A.D. It was ruled by the Chandela Rajputs who originate from Chanderi in the Bundelkhand region of central India. The famous Khajuraho temples were built by the Chandela kings. The fort which has now been turned into a resort – where we stayed- was built by Raja Bikram Chand in 1421. The basic structure of the fort looks old- with not trace of usage of cement or concrete- but the top part including rooms have been renovated recently while being converted into a heritage resort- and even though the original design has been retained, it is of cement and concrete. The fort located in a hillock may be around200 metres up from the town of Nalagarh is surrounded on three sides by lush green hills and from the fourth side  we get a beautiful view of the plains extending many kilometers that once was the kingdom of Hindur.

It was difficult for the present king to maintain the fort. So he decided to convert it to the resort. A Part of the fort is still kept as king’s residence, whenever he is around with separate seclude entrance. During our visit, the king was away in his other palace located in Manali.

The area is still not into fullfledged tourist map and so there are only very few tourists. But in the hotel list of who’s who, even the legendary Amitabh Bachan had stayed and we visited the royal suite where he stayed on his stay.

From our fort cum resort Nalagarh town is visible – an area of a few acres full of houses. They say these houses have come up in the last decade or so. Otherwise it was truly an isolated landscape. Maybe prospects of tourism might have driven so many people into this town. So much for the place and its  history.

                                    -to be cont’d

*As per the latest scientific findings, Africa is again splitting at the rift valley and an ocean is forming there. Countries from Ethiopia in the north to Mozambique in the south through Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania is getting separated from Africa. Well this process is slow and may be complete in another 10 million years. This land mass may hit western India and may give rise to another set of tall mountains- who knows- probably some 50 million years from now.- More on this in the latest edition of Scientific American – titled Birth of an Ocean.

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