Kailash 1 is part of a cluster of three cottages by the same name, and sits prettily in the middle, overlooking the magnificence of snowy Pir Panjals in India beyond a deep valley. Located far from the madding crowd at Upper Bakrota, Dalhousie’s most alpine hill, this colonial-era cottage is your answer to a home-away-from-home. It comes equipped with two bedrooms & en-suite bathrooms, separate drawing and dining rooms, a fully functional kitchen, a veranda as well as a lawn running along two-sides.
Bright chintzy furnishings, colourful carpets, gleaming white windowpanes, their sheers all a-flutter, and a slide-show of nature’s many moods. What more could one ask from a vacation home in the majestic Himalayas? Kailash 1 does not offer meals as part of its package, but will gladly conjure up a cook for you at a nominal charge. If lazing and self-help is all you have in mind, do stock up on daily needs and groceries, as the closest take-away is a few kilometres away. Though a caretaker is nearly always close at hand to trouble shoot should the need arise.
If some form of activity is an imperative, the cottage setting is perfect for a ramble now and then, particularly the popular Bakrota Loop, a 4km even-path hugging the entire hill-side. Then, there is Dainkund which includes a short drive uphill followed by an easy walk to a temple atop the hill; Kalatope Sanctuary Rest House, a drive or walk (mostly even) through litter-free deep woods will get you here.
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, travel enthusiast and the author of Adrift: A junket junkie in Europe is the youngest of four siblings born into an aristocratic family of Punjab. Dogged in her resistance to conform, and with parental pressure easing sufficiently over the years, she had plenty of freedom of choice. And she chose travel.
She was born in Shimla, and spent her formative years at their home, Windsor Terrace, in Kasumpti while schooling at Convent of Jesus & Mary, Chelsea. The irrepressible wanderlust in her found her changing vocations midstream and she joined Singapore International Airlines to give wing to her passion. She has travelled extensively in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and SE Asia; simultaneously exploring the charms within India.
When she is not travelling, she is writing about it. Over the past decade or so, she has created an impressive writing repertoire for herself: as a columnist with Hindustan Times, as a book reviewer for The Tribune and as a contributor to travel magazines in India and overseas. Her work-in-progress, the documenting of colonial heritage along the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road, is an outcome of her long-standing romance with the Himalayas.
