A Traveller's Cup of Tea
granite rock faces of the Dhauladhars crowned by snow. A delightful spread of tea gardens expansively intoxicating the bewitching scenery of the valley. As the clouds hit and rise over the mighty Dhauladhars, they wash Palampur clean with rain that descends as suddenly as it vanishes. Stray clouds then enter this quaint British tea town, often wrapping the pretty bungalows and cottages which dot the landscape, which from a distance gives the impression of a huge, if somewhat a darker green golf course, with pretty little golf huts that complete the perfect picture.
It is a hill station with a difference. Unlike Darjeeling or Ooty , which are surrounded by tea plantations, Palampur is set upon tea plantations, with numerous gurgling brooks that flow through the town in different directions. Also, Palampur is God-sent for those who like long walks, for the town seems to spread endlessly all around. Little paths through the undulating greens of the tea garden making the walk easy, long and delightful, something like a stroll through an endless, well landscaped golf course. Dhauladhars, too in themselves are a mountain range quite apart from any other in the Himalayas, unlike the Pir Panjal or the Great Himalayan range. Dhauladhars are dark granite ranges with rock faces so sharply cut that they fail to contain the snow. As a result the snow is seen in streaks with only the caps crowned.
Through the tea gardens, innumerable brooks gurgle out merrily from several unexpected places. But the place of pride belongs to a large chasm about feet wide, through which the Bundla river roars threateningly, an awesome sight especially in the monsoon when it becomes dangerous to venture too close. The roar of this torrent can be heard for miles continuously, amid the chirping of birds in an otherwise quiet hill station.
Besides the occasional tourist, you will come across smiling and radiant tea pickers who dot the landscape, a package complete with sloping slate stone roofs on pretty cottages and villas, originally made by the British, now owned by retired army officers and their families. Naturally, the military tradition carries forth with their pampered , disobedient pet dogs ! And everywhere the Dhauladhars loom large in snow-crowned regalia.
The climate and weather that seem to change almost every hour, seem to be hand in glove with the brazen beauty of the place. It's a place of many subseasons in each season, resplendent
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