Lockdown blues-picturesque beauty of Kasauli; I Miss You
Adish Bajaj
As we approach middle of the year, the most extreme month of June, our memories fly past the times when we planned of short Vacation overseas or to the nearest hill towns. Meanings of life changed and the world altered. Nearly three months of unprecedented lockdown and travel restrictions unleashed on us all brought fright and impending danger in our lives. The horror of unforeseen took a toll.Covid-19 claimed another casaulity,the very thought of travel to my most favored ,my very own Kasauli,came to a screeching halt. The worst came, when I was told about the forbidden travel to my summer home at Kasauli.All my plans to visit the place of my childhood, the place of my fond memories, lay frozen and fell.
We all know, mind sees no barriers and thoughts are like birds. So my thoughts jogged pleasantly to,Kasauli,the nearest and the glittering hill town. The name itself rekindles many of our joys and loving moments which we all have seen over the years. Nestled in the lower Himalayas, Cantonment town of Kasauli is abode of many memories etched in the core of all and one alike. Kasauli the most quiet, charming hill town closets to the plains,is a destination for all.
Unforgettable and not much defiled, the town famous for its gobbled Colonial era houses, green roofed Christ Church, Central Research Institute, Lawrence School, distant lights of Chandigarh, and the most fabled Tea shops chai, bandh samosa and piping hot gulab jamuns, entices you. I vividly remember the times, I have spent in my childhood in the neighborhood of Simla View opp the famed century old Maurice Hotel. Flirting environs of Kasauli, picturesque Shivalik ranges in the background, is a delight for the souls. Vibrant warmth and smile of locals make us feel, fresh and jubilated. The town famous for Khuswant Singh, Ruskin Bond boasts of Clear Blue skies, breathtakingly fresh air, quiet cobbled streets. Meandering and crisscrossing through the narrow paths, one come across the rich untouched flora and fauna, bejeweled greens with shrubbery. At this time of the year, moist pre-monsoon evenings with clouds playing hide and seek, is breathtaking, not to say just out of this world, for the battered.
Oh,I miss you my pristine Kasauli. Alas someday will I come back to you….when the unpleasant vanishes.
June,3,2020
