The Epic story of Jakhoo Hill of Shimla!!!!

Himalaya has always been a holy mountain range and is associated with many of the Hindu Mythology. Be the Char Dhams which are associated with Lord Shiva or Lakhamandal associated with Pandhavas or Sanjeevani with Ramayan. Jakhoo Hills in Shimla share the same Mythological significance of Ramayan, Hanuman's search for Sanjeevani. Recently I have been watching EPIC channel, a channel all about Indian History, which showcased an Episode on Jakhoo hills on their Kahi Suni series. So when in Shimla, I wanted to visit this hill.

The statue of Hanuman as seen from Mall Road

Its said that when Hanuman came to Himalaya in search of Sanjeevani, he heard the sound of a saint chanting Shree Ram and landed on the hill. The hill is said to have got reduced by 3/4th by his foot step. He asks the saint for guidance to reach the Sanjeevani, which is the present day Dronagiri Parvat in Uttarakhand. The saint was the guardian of the hill, so called Yaksha. Yaksha guide Hanuman to Dronagiri Parvat and asks him to visit him again during his return. But hurry Hanuman, leaves without visiting Yaksha. Its said Hanuman gave his virtual appearance to the Yaksha at the present Jakhoo temple in Shimla. Yaksha, which later got changed to Yakhoo, finally got its present name Jakhoo.

The snow capped mountains from the road to Jakhoo hills, just before sunset

Even today Jakhoo hill stands tall with the Idol of Hanuman visible from most of Shimla. Its a 10km drive from Mall road to reach the Jakhoo Hills. The road is very narrow and the final stretch is very much steep and you need to trek or can take the local taxi for the last leap to reach the top of the hill. By the time we reached Jakhoo, it was already very late and was getting dark, we were told the temple was closed. We enjoyed the beautiful snow capped mountains from the highest peak of Shimla, drove back to Chandigarh the same night and took our train back to Mumbai the next morning.
This is my final post of our Punjab and Himachal Pradesh trip which we had been to in March this year. Do check out the complete series on this trip of mine here.

A Photo Tour of Mall Road, Shimla!!

Shimla the capital of Himachal Pradesh, has always been one of the top honeymoon destinations. What makes it more special is the Kalka - Shimla toy train. But you really need to plan your visit in ease to experience the toy train journey. All we had was a day's time to take a trip from Chandigarh to Shimla, and so did we book a taxi for the day. With only a days visit, we had to cut short our visit to Kufri and Chail, which we had planned earlier.

We reached Shimla by 12, had lunch and wandered around. It seems like every hill station in India has a Mall Road, and all share the same look. Automobiles are not allowed on Mall road, though there are prams to hire to carry your kids.

State Library and Christ Church

Once the summer capital of British, the place still preserves the colonial look, with its heritage buildings - Christ church, State Library, Municipal Corporation Building, Police Headquarters, Gaiety Theater, General Post Office. The shops on Mall Road sell beautiful handicraft and woolen cloths, they are quite reasonable as well.

Christ Church with Hanuman Statue of Jakhoo Hills

Municipal Corporation Building

General Post Office

Murals on the walls of Mall Road

 

 

The Lamp Post, a beauty in itself

Statue of Freedom Fighter Lala Lajpat Rai at the junction of Mall Road and Ridge Road

Rock models, representing Rock garden of Chandigarh

An arch from the heritage building

I liked this statue in front of Police Assistance Room, a Policeman with a kid, DUTY WITH LOVE, so meaningful.

One of the stores at the mall road, any ordinary building, but liked the structural design with bright colour.

Thats kiddo with her new muffler and ear muff, aren't they pretty?

Travel Tips:

Shimla is the capital of Himachal Pradesh, around 115km from Chandigarh. 

By Road: Shimla is around 360km from National Capital Delhi and around 115km from Chandigarh and has regular PUNBUS and HRTC buses connecting Shimla with other places. There are over night Volvo buses as well playing between Delhi and Shimla.

By Train: Its the narrow gauge toy train which connects Shimla to Kalka. Chandigarh which is around 30km from Kalka, is connected to major cities of the country by train.

By Air: Shimla airport is 22km from Shimla city and well connected to Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities.

Best time to visit:

Winters, if you want to experience snow fall, summer to get of the heat from other parts of the country.

Do check out the complete series on this trip of mine here. 

Stay and Din option at Pathankot..

Due to kiddo's bad health we had to skip Dharamshala and come back to Pathankot from Dalhousie. We were at Pathankot by 8 in the night and our taxi driver who had come to drop us from Dalhousie took us to Hotel R K international. R K International is next to Dalhousie Bus Station and very close to Railway station. We had our bus booked for Chandigarh the next day and the hotel looked convenient.

The rooms are quite big and clean, with bed, dresser, TV, mini fridge, sitting place and cupboard. One of windows of the room we stayed at opened towards the backside, thats Pathankot bus stand. With snow fall on last few days, the view also had snowcapped Himalayan peaks, which is always a bliss to watch.

A budget option if you are looking something just for a night's stay, but they don't have a restaurant. We had our food at Hotel Green which is close to R K International. The food is very good at Hotel Green, with Indian, Chinese, Continental. A very good restaurant at the proximity of Bus stand and railway station. When we checked at Hotel Green for accommodation, we were told the hotel was going on with some renovations and hotel was to start very soon, might be we will head straight to Hotel Green during our next visit to Pathankot.

Tariff at R K International Rs. 1500/- per night, contact detail 0186 223 1888

Holiday IQ Traveller's Meet @The Leela, Mumbai..

Few weeks back I was invited by Holiday IQ for their Reviewers Meet. There are so many online sites which provide platform for travellers to share their reviews about places, hotels and service, what makes Holiday IQ different is, every review is varified by their team before publishing it. I came across Holiday IQ, while planning one of my trips few months back and then after reviewed few hotels and places on their site.

The event was at The Leela, I took local and then metro to reach on time. Few of the fellow travellers and Holiday IQ team had already gathered and I joined them. All of us shared about our travels, and travel stories. While all our reasons to travel differed, while few loved to trek to mountains, others liked beaches and few more loved exploring the heritage, one thing which brought all of us together was our love for travel.

The passion for travel gets along with it to taste food from different parts of the world. The Meet was for a culinary trail to experience food from Karnataka, Kashmir and Goa exclusively curated by Chef Surender at The Leela Mumbai. Sunitha Duggal, Marcom and PR Manager, took us through the tour of their kitchen and Chef Surender introduced to food from different states of the country. We were welcomed at Jamavar, The Indian Restuarant in The Leela Mumbai, in traditional way with garlands, tilak and aarti. The ambiance of Jamavar is superb and lux, the candles, chandeliers, floral decor, the luxury silver dinning and culinary set makes it stand out.

We had the best feast curated from the three states. The vegetarian menu had Tomato saaru(as appetizer), Ajwani Paneer, Mangalore Goli Baji, Saag Paneer, Jeera Pulao, Appam, Dosa, Malai Kulfi, Kesar Phirni to name few and ended with sweet paan. The feast turned memorable with lot of talks with new friends. Below is the clip from the Meet.