April 5, 2008

Barog

I took off for a weekend trip to Barog in Himachal Pradesh. Settled in the early 20th century when the narrow gauge Kalka-Shimla railway line was being made, Barog has a very interesting history. The town owes its name to an engineer, Barog, who committed suicide when he goofed up on the calculation of a tunnel near the station. The two ends of the tunnel didn't meet and the British fined him 1 rupee but the humiliation wasn't something that he could live with.

My friend's family has a house up in the hills and she wasn't all that wrong when she said that their's was one of the best view that Barog could offer.

The view from my friends terrace.

Next door to Barog is Dagshai, one of the oldest canttonments founded by the British in 1847. Everything place has a story and this one's no less. Though there are no authentic records, legend has it that the name Dagshai is a derivative of the Urdu phrase Daag-E-Shahi, connoting a dark blotch branded on a person by Imperial Orders. Seems like this was a prevalent norm in the Mughal era where hardend criminals were packed off to Dagshai village, a la Australia!

Undertook a 4 km walk around Dagshai cantonment and found quite interesting things like this chruch.

Also saw this errie thing...exactly a day and 103 years before my birth!

And although I don't come across as anything but a city slicker, I couldn't help but enjoy the slideshow nature put up during the walk.

click for larger images

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