Quiet Time in the Hills of Barog and Kasauli

"The hills fill my heart with the sound of music. My heart wants to sing every song it hears."

The superb location of Delhi made it convenient and easy to go for a quick weekend getaway either to the hills of Uttarakhand and Himachal or to the desert state of Rajasthan. With a fast holiday weekend approaching, I was at my wits end unable to choose a destination. The helpless decisionless mind of yours truly. No wonder my frustration at my own indecision. Saviour came in the form of a text message from Saraswati at the nick of time. Oh well, Saraswati happened to be my friend in the human form. "Hema, since you are unable to decide on a destination for your trip, would you be interested to join me and two of my friends for a trip to Barog and Kasauli?" read Saraswati's text message. How could I let go off this valuable offer from my friend?😉

We boarded an early morning train from Delhi to Kalka. Oh the unbearably struggle of waking up at an ungodly hour! Always a struggle for a late riser! So I was saying...we boarded Kalka Shatabdi train and after four hours choo choo chug chug train journey arrived at Kalka railway station. We deboarded here. Carrying our minimum luggage, we walked out of the station. We noticed some cabs parked at the station compound. After negotiating the price with a cab driver, the four of us hopped into it. The cab carefully manouvered the sharp bends of the mountain road, as the rest of us looked out of the windows at the tree covered hills and valleys. The road journey lasted more or less 90 minutes. The cab dropped us at our hotel Barog Heights located at a few distance away from the main road. It was just before noon.

Hotel Barog Heights

signboard of the hotel near the main road in Barog town

view of the mountains from the hotel

We checked into our respective rooms. The rooms were big, spacious with high ceiling. The location of the hotel offered sweeping views of the undulating rolling hills. After freshening up, we went down to the hotel's in-house  restaurant to fill our hungry stomach. The food we ordered turned out to be bland and tasteless. We were a bit disappointed with the not-so-decent meal. Leaving disappointment aside, we ventured out of the hotel to go and explore this quaint town of Barog. Did I mention the town is named after Colonel Barog?
After half an hours walk on the serpentine main road and a short downhill climb from the main road brought us to Barog Railway Station. Barog Railway Station is one of the railway stations in Kalka-Shimla train route. The pretty sight of blue and white coloured wooden buildings of the station instantly caught our eyes. It still had its British aura intact. The station platform was immaculately clean. Forest surrounded the station on both sides of the platform. It was empty except for us and a few of the station employees. Many tracks intertwined to disappear in opposite directions. What a sharp contrast it presented of other unruly crowded and noisy Indian railway stations!

Barog Railway Station

Barog Railway Station

Barog Railway Station

tunnel 33

info board of tunnel 33

A big tunnel which is Tunnel No.33 could be seen right at the starting end of the station; that went straight through the wooded hill. My friends and I stood at the entrance of the tunnel and looked inside. It was pitch black. We did not venture to go inside the tunnel. Meanwhile dusk had set in. Temperature dropped. It was chilly and cold. We retraced our steps and returned to the hotel. We had an early dinner and retired for the night.

A clear day dawned on the second day. We took it real slow today. A small shop by the side of the road, near the hotel, was our breakfast joint of the day. The lady at the shop quickly rustled up four plates of delicious rajma chawal. The four hungry souls satisfyingly tucked in at the hot hot meal. We leisurely strolled along the main road and eventually made our way to Hotel Pinewood. This hotel is managed by Govt of Himachal Pradesh. The well-maintained spacious compound charmed us. Pretty plum blossoms dotted the compound. The sight of the plum blossom made us aware that spring is almost here. Wrought iron chairs were arranged underneath those blooming plum plants. A cafe was operational on one side of the compound. We occupied one of those chairs and relaxed in the quiet ambience. The silence was broken only by the chattering of the birds...and we had no complains against the birds. Time flew away blissfully as we exchanged stories amongst ourselves. Hunger kicked in once again. We placed an order. The fare was much better and tasty.

Hotel Pinewood

It was noon and we left the place. After another round of walking on the main road with pine dotted trees everywhere for half an hour; we climbed up a dirt trail that went uphill. We followed the dirt trail. We heard about Pine Hills Eco Camp run by a former Army officer. We had no clear idea regarding its location. Halfway we ended up going in the wrong direction and found ourselves nowhere.😄 Thankfully we met a local who directed us to the right way. On the way we crossed Chewa High School. A lady teacher was taking class on the veranda of the school. Looks legit. Good way to make use of the afternoon sun rather than taking class inside the cold classroom.

main road in Barog town

Pine Hills Eco Camp signboard near the main road

views on the way

enjoying the walk in the midst of tranquil nature

a school on the way

class going on in the school

Walking passed the school, we saw a narrow uphill trail and signpost. The entire narrow trail was carpetted with fallen dry pine leaves. The area was dotted with hundreds of tall pine trees and the air was filled with pine aroma. We walked on. We reached a camping ground with a few tents and an outdoor area filled with activity facility. The place looked deserted. There was not a soul in sight. 

pine dotted trails to the camp

interesting captions stuck on the pine trees

beautiful trail

the Pine Hills Eco Camp set up in a tranquil spot

Pine Hills Eco Camp

Without lingering around, we continued on our uphill walk. After about a few minutes, we arrived at an open clearing at the top. It had a few tree trunks, iron wrought chairs, and a couple of plastic chairs placed conveniently here and there. The place offered picturesque views of the valleys and the hills. And, yes only the howling of the wind could be heard. There was practically not a soul except for us...the four tired souls from the city. The peaceful ambience was a great treat and we gleefully gave in to the total silence and solitude. None of us uttered a word. We understood uttering a single word would break the sanctity of this beautiful place. We sat in complete silence either lost in our own thoughts or glanced at the distant valleys. The quiet and languid of the place lulled Saraswati into a sleep. We couldn't stay at this place for ever, and reluctantly we retraced our steps back to civilization and hit the main road. 

the seating spot near the eco camp

view from the seating spot

enjoying the peace and serenity

my friend dozed off ...

Before returning back to our hotel, we decided to have an early dinner at Hotel Pinewood, the same hotel where earlier during the day we had lunch. With yummy food in our tummy, we ended our outing for the second day.

Day 3 dawned.

After the mandatory breakfast at the hotel, we had an early check-out. We hired a car to go to Kasauli, a cantonment town some 19 kms away from Barog. One final glance at Barog and then the four of us got into the waiting car and were off to Kasauli. After an hour of road journey through the zigzag mountain road we arrived at Kasauli.

Now, most people mistake Kasauli for Kasauni due to the mispronunciation of the almost similar names. 

Well upon reaching Kasauli, we found the small hilly cantonment town brimming with other eager tourists, who were as happy as us to be in this beautiful hilly town. The driver parked the car in the parking spot near the mall road. We decided to go to Manki Point. We walked from the parking spot till the entry point to the Indian Air Force Base. Since Manki Point is within the Indian Air Force territory, security is strict and no electronic gadgets were allowed. We walked further from the entry gate and then climbed many concrete steps to reach Manki Point. Some of you might find it tiring to do all the walking and then the climbing to reach the place. It is like a short trek. Wearing good walking shoes is recommended. There is a Hanuman Temple at the top. You can offer your prayers and receive blessings at the temple. Lots of monkeys abound in the place. Not to forget, Manki Point offers panoramic views of the surrounding areas. On a clear day, you can see Chandigarh. It was quite hazy the day we visited and so we missed the opportunity to clearly see it. After spending some considerable time here, we left the place.

Retracing our steps towards the mall road, we dropped in at the compound of the pretty Christ Church. The green-coloured roof of the church and the clock immediately caught our attention as we approached it. Take your time to check out the beautiful stained glass windows of the church.

Christ Church, Kasauli

Christ Church, Kasauli

Christ Chruch, Kasauli

The mall road is a nice spot to walk leisurely taking in the sights and sound of the place. There are a few shops on the mall road and eateries. We stopped at a shop where we saw old photos of film personalities such as Sharukh Khan, Pooja Bedi, Sanjay Dutt displayed on the shop window. A statue of a dog at the mall road caught our attention. This was the first time I have seen a statue of a dog in India. There was no info board near the statue and so couldn't know who built it and the story behind it. I asked a few shopkeepers nearby and they, too, couldn't give any convincing reply. I mostly got a blank response.
Since we had the evening train to catch for New Delhi from Kalka; and so we bid adieu to Kasauli. We hopped into the same cab and arrived at Kalka Railway Station for our return journey. 

unknown statue of a dog in the mall in Kasauli

signposts at the mall in Kasauli

my friend and I at the mall in Kasauli

Baptist Church In Kalka

Kalka Railway Station

Thank you for stopping by!
Happy travelling feet!

Travelled on: 6-9 March 2015

©️ All contents and images are copyright of Hema Hazarika (thehaflonggirl).