Shangrila

There appeared a British woman at breakfast the last two days who has been studying us intently. She has a terrible cold and is alone. We "bump" into her as we begin our Mall Walk. It is a discover-the-wonders-of-Simla-on-your-own-day. She is the first wonder.

Her name is Winona and she is from Aberdeen, Scotland. We immediately chatter about the commonality of her heritage and all of Tucker's family. I remember my favorite castle, Dunnatar Castle, not far from Aberdeen. We stroll along together for a bit. She is a music teacher and is en route to Tibet to teach there for 2 and 1/2 years. It seems exotic to her and she feels she is ready to "give back" to the poor what she has enjoyed all of her life. She has done this in other places as well. A real travel soul. Her journey today is to WALK UP to Jakhu Temple by way of the footpaths used by the locals. Tucker and I look at each other because we are simutaneously remembering the ride yesterday. A very vertical climb. And she is sniffling and stuffed-up. At 7000 ft. above sea level. We said, "Good luck!" and watched her begin the trek. We never found out if she made the temple.

Please refer to the photos above to glean more detail for yourself. Simla is a marvel. It is safe, friendly, cleaner than most of India, located in a spot of breathtaking views and bustling with local activity. Scandal Point boasts a statue of Indira Ghandi as well as Mahatma Ghandi. But the sight of the snowcapped Himalayas behind them is the thing worthy of a standing ovation (and I believe I clapped my hands together in delight...you can't help it...you are feeling the wonder of childlike discovery again). There were all kinds of people milling about or sitting on benches talking. Just talking and enjoying the sun. Young, old, oldest, Sikh, Hindi, workers, school children, women shopping with strollers, young men sporting jeans and cell phones and needing to show them off, and the quiet local "taxis." You see these human taxis carrying everything in and out of the shopping area because no other traffic is allowed. Any other traffic couldn't negotiate the vertical climbs up narrow stairways. We saw a man carrying a refrigerator on his back with the help of a leather strap wrapped about his forehead.

I stop in a shop on the very top of the Mall ridge and buy a silk scarf for my friend Marcia and inquire about where I could get a salwar kameez made up for me. Within a half hour the fabric and style were selected, measurements made and the garment was delivered to me by 9:30 that evening. Now that's what I'M talkin' about!

We take our time walking the Mall and end up at the Clarke Hotel. This is the hotel where Tucker stayed 20 years ago when he made his first trip up to Simla. We go in and ask if we can have some tea and reminisce. The hotel clerk was dressed in a white pajama-like uniform which had a green cumberbund and the most fantastic cloth turban with a pleated fan arrangement. And he did better than tea. We got a tour of the room that Tucker had lived in for almost a week. The hotel was old and a bit seedy now. He said that it had been sold and was due for renovations. I hope so because the view from that room was a look right down the mall.

We descend sloping ramps and stairways in order to get to the market. Locals laugh to themselves when I swoon after looking over the edge of a landing. Sanjeev said that he did not know of one incidence of acrophobia among the locals born here. Good thing.

The market was the most colorful and alive place I have been to in a very long time. We were the only foreign faces that we could see. The shopkeepers were happy to see us and wanted pictures taken. We did not feel at all threatened in any physical way and yet we were squeezing and oozing along the narrow alleyways entwined with the masses, much like a crowd going through the turnstiles at Fenway Park. Except that every square yard offered a small treasure to look at or feel. And you had to keep moving or dodge into a "shop". The shops are no more that a concrete "garage" filled with carefully displayed wares. The displays themselves were eye candy. Vegetables, fruits, cloth, yarn, bottled this, pickled that, men sewing, men butchering, men fixing appliances, men deep frying delicious smelling food. It is the County Fair of Everyday Life. It is the Treadmill of Disney Fantasyworld. It is fabulous. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS.

On the way back to the hotel after a day of sensory gluttony, we stopped at a coffee shop (we were so surprised to find a true coffee house in Simla) to rest our weary legs. Walking back up from the lower streets is a task. And then there was one of those weird moments when you believe that you have been beamed onto Zorlon via Starship Enterprise. Watching saris pass by at a sidewalk table next to a restaurant that claimed to serve Mexican food... waiter delivers a cafe' mocha.... Fernando, by the group Abba, is playing in the background....monkeys hopping across the tops of park benches.....strange languages spoken all about you but noone talking to you.....

Loved this day. We have to leave tomorrow and I'm not "done" with Simla yet. Too much to relish and not enough time or energy today. Good night, Gracie.