As a second write up after my long sabbatical from blogging,
I have chosen my family vacation in Shimla. Unfortunately, this time round, the
experiences were not very gratifying.
We visited Shimla in the month of September, 2016 a few days
before my wife’s birthday. It was my third time in Shimla, so more or less I
was acquainted with the city and the places to visit. Since we were flying to
Chandigarh with a change of flights in Delhi, I decided to halt for a day at
Kasauli which is midway between Chandigarh and Shimla. Regrettably it was not a
wise decision for which my wife still finds me guilty. It was quite cold at
Kasauli in the evening and the hotel (Kasauli Castle Resort) was not very warm
and cozy. As a result my daughter June got cold and fever on the very first day
which mired the entire trip with unpleasantness.
Thankfully, the anti-biotics prescribed by my daughter’s
paediatrician over phone worked quickly and she started recovering well. The
fever continued for around three days and to be true we contemplated coming
back to Kolkata or Delhi quite a few times in between.
On the second day we travelled to Shimla as per plan. My
daughter’s fever was in check with paracetamol but it kept coming back every
twelve hours. We checked into our hotel (Honeymoon Inn) and stayed indoors for
the next couple of days. The hotel was recommended to us by a relative and the
room was comfortable. However, the very steep road that leads to the hotel from
the Mall Road is very excruciating. The car goes only as far as the Mall Road
and one needs to climb this steep pathway to the hotel on foot. For elderly
people with health issues the hotel is not at all advisable. Even it was quite
challenging for me especially when I had to carry my daughter. Our sympathy
went to the poor porters who have to carry so many luggage every day, up and
down.
For the next two days our schedule was measuring my
daughter, June’s temperature from time to time and giving her the medicines at
the prescribed hours. Also some time went in communicating with the hotel staff
over how to prepare June’s food. My wife even visited their kitchen once to
talk to the chef. June has a tendency of gastrointestinal disorder and we have
to take extra care to see that her food is cooked in mineral water and with
absolutely no spice. We usually carry “
seddho chaal” (pre-boiled rice) and
“
masoor daal” with us so that a simple “
khichuri” can be easily made that can
go with a non-spicy chicken stew. In between, when June’s temperature was down
to normal and she was showing sparks of her usual liveliness, we roamed inside
the hotel and looked at the mountains from different places. We also visited
the club room in the evening where some fellow boarders were trying their hands
in karaoke.
Since my daughter had a history of urinary tract infection,
her doctor advised to get her urine tested to negate any re-occurrence and to be
on the safe side. He is originally from Delhi and insisted that there must be
good facility in Shimla, it being a capital city. So, on the very first day
during checking in, we sought assistance from the front desk of the hotel (Honeymoon
Inn) to help guide us to a good diagnostic laboratory. The reception personnel
assured us but did not provide any information even on the second day. Later on
we found this person (I do not remember his name but he was somewhat bald)
incompetent and exhibited lacklustre behaviour not only on this occasion but on
multiple other accounts. Thankfully, a waiter, who is a local, on hearing our
helplessness, recommended us to visit Kamla Nehru Hospital which was located at
a stone throwing distance from our hotel.
So, I visited the hospital in the evening of our second
day’s stay at Shimla. This is the first time I think I have visited a state run
hospital for any kind of treatment and that too in a foreign place but the experience was not bad. I found a
lab run by SRL Diagnostics inside the hospital running in a public private
partnership model. I collected the container and was told to come the next
morning. The next morning it was a challenge to collect the urine of my
daughter, who was barely two years old at that time, in the container and as
such I was a bit late to reach the hospital. By the time I reached the
hospital, I found that the lab has closed and will again reopen in the evening.
But the urine will become stale by then and I have to again collect. I was
feeling helpless and confused. Luckily a local patient told me why don’t I
visit the hospital’s own lab. So again I started searching for the other lab
which was in a different wing. Mercifully, I could find the other lab in time
and was told that the report would be available in the evening.
All these happened on the third day of our stay in Shimla.
June’s fever had receded from the last night and she was cheering up. We thought
of walking down the Mall Road for a while and visiting the famous Shimla
Kalibari to pray for June’s speedy recovery. The temple, built in 1845, is
dedicated to Goddess Kali who is also known as Shyamala. It is believed that
the city of Shimla derived its name from the name of Goddess Shyamala. There is
an obvious Bengali influence in this temple. The priests I believe are mostly
Bengali and even the local traders selling flowers and other worship items can
speak in Bengali. The priest talked with us of all things like where are we
coming from, which locality in Kolkata blah, blah, blah but forgot to caution
us about something important.
Little did we know that our suffering in Shimla was not
coming to an end but a new chapter was about to begin. While we were coming out
from the temple, I was carrying June and my wife, Piu, was carrying the
“Prasad” (sweets). Out of nowhere a monkey came darting down towards Piu at snatched
the bag of sweets from her, hurting her in the process. Had the priest warned
us of the monkey menace she could have put the sweets inside the bag
she was carrying with her.
Now although Piu was wearing a full sleeve pullover, her
sleeves were rolled up and she was worried whether the monkey made any contact on her
skin on the arm with its nails. Some locals advised to get the anti-rabies
vaccine and also warned that the vaccine is accompanied with very high
fever. When we reached the market area
on our way back we were still pondering on whether to take the vaccine, and if
yes then from where, and whether she actually had any cut mark. A shop which
was just opening invited us to have a look inside. The shopkeeper seemed to be
a very decent man and we shared with him what had just happened to us. Hearing
our story he recommended us to visit a doctor nearby, just a few metres away
from his shop. But there was something in store even in the doctor’s chamber.
Dr. Sharma is a senior person with an MD degree in General
Medicine and has some previous working experience in Saudi Arabia or some other
middle east country, I do no not exactly recall. There is a diagnostic set up
as well in his chamber in association with Dr. Lal Path Labs. I think it is a
common practice in many other places as well in Shimla. Anyway, the doctor
seemed to a busy one with many patients in queue and had some children as well among them. We thought it would be a good idea to get the doctor see my
daughter June as well. So we registered both Piu and June’s names and kept waiting.
The wait was long and June was becoming restless. It might be that her fever
was coming back or simply she was feeling hungry. We requested the nurse who
was also doubling up as the receptionist if she could kindly call us ahead of
our schedule. Some of the fellow patients seem to be okay with it. She was
reluctant but did not outright reject. After some more time we requested her
again if she could do us this favour. We also told, it would be difficult for
us to wait further as June has now become more restless. So if we have to wait
for our turn, it would be better for us that we leave. Now the nurse told us
that she could not take such a decision and would ask the doctor himself. After
a little more time she said we can go next to meet the doctor.
Inside the chamber, the doctor was not interested in the
patients or their wellbeing. His first question was where we are coming from.
We told him we are tourists and have come from Kolkata. Then we tried to
impress upon him the fact that how helpless we were feeling in a city far from
our home and how we were contemplating going back midway from our vacation. But
he was not interested in all that. He kept us asking whether it is a common
practice in Kolkata to jump queue in a doctor’s chamber. We hesitated at this turn
of discussion but tried to reason that it is not unusual to let the elderly or
the children see the doctor ahead of their turn. In fact just a couple of weeks
earlier to that event I remember my wife had gone to see a cardiologist in
Kolkata and we happily switched turns with an elderly lady who seemed to be in
distress and the doctor did not even bother to get into the details. But Dr.
Sharma was not impressed. Then he asked me what I do for a living. I said I am
in service. He kept asking what my profession is. I said well, I am an
engineer. He grinned and asked again, so, do you not follow rules in your
profession, in your service, in your city, in Kolkata. We were clueless why was
he grilling us when he could have denied us any preference and we could have gone
back to the hotel. We asked the same. Why have you called us inside your
chamber and insulting us and also our city?
Are you going to treat us or not? You could have easily rejected our
request. And why are you bringing Kolkata into all of this? At this point he
waved his hand and said “Oh! Don’t you teach me how Kolkata is or for that
matter all of West Bengal”. My wife hit back with a prompt and apt reply, “How
bad it may be, it is better than your place”. Dr. Sharma was probably not ready
for retaliation and got angry that he could not relish insulting us further.
His fair face became red and he told us to leave. We tried to remind him that
it is not ethical for a doctor to deny treatment but he was not in mood to
listen and kept on ringing the bell on his table which is a signal to send the
next patient. The nurse looked puzzled and did not know what to do and the
patients waiting outside were also shocked. I murmured to my wife that perhaps
it was better for us to leave after all. I was not sure how good a doctor he is
but I definitely knew by then how he is as a person. Perhaps he is not fit to
be a doctor in the first place. My wife ranted something unprintable under her
teeth and we left. Probably Dr. Sharma had not been said on his face such things
for a long time and definitely he will remember this for a long time to go. My
wife later regretted that she should have recorded the proceedings in her
mobile camera. Later on when the tempers came down we even good-humouredly
discussed that we should bring our predicaments to the notice of our Chief
Minister highlighting how the Bengali pride was hurt without any reason and
without any provocation and she should do something on that on a government
level. Perhaps people like these and events like these demonstrate the fissures
we still have between regions and communities in our country.
However, every cloud has a silver lining and we must not
judge every doctor in Shimla by the conduct of one Dr. Sharma. I visited the
state run hospital in the evening to collect the urine report and thankfully
there were no anomalies and the pus cell count was very low near to zero. I
told the doctor there about the monkey incident and asked for advice. She was
kind enough to listen to what happened throughout the day. She said that the
hospital generally caters to the maternity patients and children and
recommended us to visit the private chamber of another doctor, again in the
Mall road.
Dr. Puri is also a senior doctor who used to be associated with a government
hospital and now has set up his own private practice after retirement. His
behaviour was very cordial when he checked my wife Piu. After examining her
arms he found a small cut mark which could have been due to contact with the
monkey’s nails. He advised us not to take any risk and get vaccinated with
anti-rabies. He administered the first of the anti-rabies vaccines then and also
gave her a tetvac injection. He also assured us that the modern anti-rabies
vaccines are usually without any side effects such as fever and detailed out
the schedule of the next anti-rabies vaccines to be taken later.
The following day June had completely recovered and we
decided that we could visit some tourist attractions after all. We booked a cab
from the hotel and visited the
Sankat Mochan Temple first which is dedicated to
Lord Hanuman. There are some other temples in the complex as well dedicated to
Lord Rama, Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha (in a distinctive South Indian style of
architecture). In the late 1950’s Baba Neeb Karori Ji Maharaj spent a few days
at this place and found it very suitable for meditation. In the 60’s his
disciples who included the then governor of Himachal Pradesh turned this place
into a small temple which has grown over the years. The temple has a backdrop
of tall Himalayan ranges which makes it an exquisite view point. Someone was
inviting us to try the food in the “Langar” but we had to skip.
The next stop was the erstwhile
Viceregal Lodge which has
been now converted into Indian Institute of Advanced Study. The majestic
heritage building was constructed in 1888 as the residence of Lord Dufferin,
the then British Viceroy to India and had been a witness to many historical
events and decisions that changed the geography and fate of the sub-continent.
Located on the Observatory Hill, this sprawling Scottish baronial building was
designed by an architect of the then public works department, Henry Irwin.
When
we reached the place and bought tickets for a guided tour inside, we came to
know that the tour will begin only after almost an hour or so and we spent some
time in the lush green lawn and beautiful garden that surrounds the building.
It was very windy day and we felt the chill in the air. Hence after some time
we decided not to take the guided tour anymore and return back to the hotel.
However, to our surprise we could not connect to the driver of our hired cab as
his mobile phone was switched off. We were waiting at the café cum souvenir
shop which worked as the fire station in the bygone era and approached some
office staff and police personnel there to help us out. Luckily we remembered
the vehicle number and they asked the guards to look for the car in the parking
space. After some time we were conveyed that the car could be spotted but the driver
was missing and he might have gone for lunch as what they came to know from
some fellow drivers. They advised us to take the guided tour which had then
started and for which we had already booked our tickets in advance and assured
us that as soon as the driver could be spotted they would let us know inside.
So we joined the group for the guided tour in the middle. The guide was
enlightening the tourists about the history and the importance of the room
where the leaders used to discuss and negotiate the terms of the transfer of
power from the erstwhile British rulers and the following partition of India.
Despite the historical significance of the place, perhaps it is not quite
enjoyable for a little toddler like June and even my wife Piu, who is a student
of history by the way, does feel such historical places without any royal pomp
and splendor, boring and uninteresting. Since I had already seen the place and
blogged about it too, I was trying to be their private guide but after some
time had to give in and decided to wait in the reception hall instead of
continuing with the tour. Thankfully we were informed in a little time by one
of the staffs that the driver has come back and waiting for us and we left the
tour in between while the guide was still showing others around the exquisite
teak paneling and woodwork of the gallery enclosing the reception hall.
Back in the hotel we complained to the reception personnel (the
same inept person mentioned earlier) that how come he could provide us with
such a useless driver who was unavailable for an hour without informing us and
with even his mobile phone switched off and narrated the difficulty we faced
due to him. The driver was even unhappy why we were visiting the temple first
and then the viceregal lodge and not in the opposite order. But we had booked
the car for a definite number of hours without any prior fixed schedule and we
could have gone anywhere. The reception person did not seem to be much
concerned and gave us some lame excuse that he had only booked the car from
some external agency and he had no control over the driver etc.
In the afternoon, we visited
The Ridge which is a
large open space located along the Mall road. When one walks through The Ridge
one can have a feel of the colonial period with the buildings reminiscent of
the bygone era. Even there are many hotels there which date back to almost a
century. We took a quick lunch in one of the restaurants in one such hotel
which operated as a café in the British period. June who had her simple lunch
back in the hotel earlier enjoyed a chocolate pastry to keep us company.
We roamed around the Mall and walked as far as the Christ
church but did not go inside. We had hired a pram on an hourly basis for June
so carrying her was not troublesome and in fact she dozed off in the pram
itself after a while. The simple but elegant yellow structure of the
Christ
Church is made of stone and brick in lime mortar can be seen from miles away
and is a popular tourist destination in Shimla. It is reputed to be the first
church of Shimla and the second oldest church in northern India. It was
designed by Colonel J.T. Boileau who worked for PWD. The corner stone was laid
in 1844 but it was consecrated only after 1857. The clock was donated by
Colonel Dumbleton in 1860 and the porch was added in 1873.
In the end we visited the Lakkar Bazaar which is a
marketplace adjoining The Ridge. The shops now offer all kinds of stuff but
probably initially it sold only wooden articles and hence the name. Still today
it is said to be famous for its wooden toys but honestly you will find nothing
spectacular or special that you will not find in any other tourist place or
even in a city store selling show pieces. In fact we observed that the woolen
items are far better and almost cost as much with some bargaining in the shops
along the Mall road. The shopkeepers in the Mall road are also much courteous
and well-mannered. For example at one shop which primarily sold wooden toys the
shopkeeper was not bothered to tell us the prices let alone show us all the
items. In another shop we were looking at some wooden cooking utensils and my
wife was looking for a “roti belan” (a rolling pin for rolling kneaded dough of
bread) and asked the shop owner which one will be good. I think this is very
common to ask. She good-humouredly added that she is a naïve in making “chapatis”.
He reluctantly said how come he should know. He does not cook at his home and
then asked sarcastically who cooks in our household if she is inexperienced. Is
it her husband? This not only displayed his rudeness but also gave a hint of
his male chauvinistic mindset that the only place for the women is in the
kitchen and it is not the man’s job to be knowledgeable about cooking.
The next day was our last day in Shimla as we were scheduled
to go to Chandigarh from where we would take our flight home the following day.
The visit was not a memorable one but may be unforgettable due to exceptional
experiences. My wife who was on her maiden trip to Shimla was not very
impressed with the place and the people but I sincerely hope she will like it
in any subsequent trip that we may make to Shimla.
P.S. :- The trip actually ended with a bitter experience as well. When
we booked a car for our return journey to Chandigarh from the hotel, we
specifically requested the reception personnel to provide a responsible and
good natured driver. Since the journey takes near to 4 hours, we planned to
start around nine in the morning so that we can have our lunch after we reach
Chandigarh. But it crossed 10 am before we could start. That the driver was
missing (yes again!) when we got ready had a little to contribute to our delay.
Then he stopped twice on the way. Once for paying someone whom he owed and in
another occasion he purchased some fruits. And then when it was close to 1 pm,
he asked us whether we should stop for lunch. We politely denied and said we
cannot eat anywhere as we have a child with us and will take lunch only after
arriving in Chandigarh. Then he started to grumble. We told him that he should
reach Chandigarh in an hour but after a little while he parked outside a “Dhaba”
and went to have his lunch deserting us beside the highway. When all reasoning
(and even threating) did not deter the cab driver to have his way, we called
the hotel back in Shimla. But the reception person again was not helpful. First
he tried to evade any responsibility. Then he added well it is indeed lunch
time. It was only after some harsh words and threats that we would write bad
reviews of the hotel that he yielded and assured to do something. Probably
after some communication between him and the driver, the driver came back to
the car, still irritated. Even the driver lacked any sense of direction and
took much time to locate our hotel in Chandigarh. Once he parked outside a
hotel which did not match exactly ours and was in a different sector
altogether. So it can be advised that if you stay in hotel Honeymoon Inn, look
for other options while booking a car.
