An excursion to Mashobra's remote hamlet

The fresh air and unfriendly surroundings make for an ideal mountain break, without a lot of human interference and concrete presence.

There are only a few things that can bring us back to childhood, sorrow and joy. The toy train Kalka-Shimla is one. It allows the child to take over without effort. Shimla's image, however, recalls the town life we would like to forget for several days. A quick look to the tumultuously sheltered Mall Road, the Ridge, and the Christ Church encircled me.

Not too far away from the madding crowd and traffic snarls of Shimla, the sleepy hamlet of Mashobra was a reply to all my wishes on the Hindustan-Tibet road built-in 1850 by Lord Dalhousie. In fact, natural songs were the undisturbed paths of deodars and pine trees, and lush green mountains blessed by minimal human interference. Maybe it has one of two presidential withdrawals as well! Whenever the President visits, which he says is at least once a year, the retreat also takes place in his primary office.

When the sunrise was casting golden shades on the neblin hills and blooming flowers with happiness, I decided to go in an adventurous fashion. The powerful Sutlej was an image of calm when I went down to the village of Chabba to check its water. The curvy river, which lacks the many courageous speeds prevalent to river rafting elsewhere, still surprised me. When I left the raft for floating and to relax, the water that was good during rafting turned out to be extremely cold. 

The refreshing waters of Tatta Pani, meaning warm water, were well attended to. The warm sulphur was created at the banks of the Sutlej River and it was thought to have medicinal properties. It now passes by tubes to the spas.

Himachali Dham from over 1000 years ago is influenced by the royal cuisine of Cashmir-wazwan. However, the royal cooks were created to serve local produce as a mere vegetarian meal. The Himachali thali now includes initial Dham representatives and the same methods used in non-vegetarian products later. With kheru, a soup equal to kadhis, I began the gastronomic voyage. Thali represented the abundance of dairy products and lentils and the lack of vegetables that once characterized traditional food. The blend of delicate and powerful flavours, be it matar pulao, chha palda, chha gosht, pahaadi daal or sour chicken.

The sports enthusiast in me can not give farewell to the green area of Mashobra, which keeps the hilltops ' romance alive in the region before going to the Golf course of Naldehra. An interesting horse ride, the oldest of his kind in India, brought me up to Lord Curzon's favourite, green pasture. He loved the place so much that his youngest daughter, Alexandra, was thought to have given Naldehra a second name.

The golf course for 9 holes is now an 18 hole par 68 course and its prominent characteristic is the large cedar trees.

The little part which everyday visitors will find there is an ancient temple devoted to the local god–Nal Deo, the patron of the site.