Khuswant Singh, the nonagenarian Sikh writer who famously holidays in Kasauli each year, and has entertained -- and educated! -- our countrymen for their entire independence period, describes Kasauli as "the place where kissing is always in season".
Whether or not he is right I will come to a little later because first, let us make way for an introduction to get the setting right.
At 6,000 feet, sporting tall and slender pine trees and perennial burst of wild and ornamental flowers, Kasauli sure drugs the visitor with its scenic beauty and cooler climes.
A small army cantonment, three British made churches including one called the "Church of England" built in 1884, several British made green and white cottages, two malls catering for local and tourist needs, and plenty of calm, make Kasauli the ideal summer retreat for heat and dust weary Indian families, desperate to cool their bodies in an idyllic, friendly landscape.
Look anywhere; shoot from any angle; or take any road through the whispering pines on both sides, the place has a naturally reassuring ambiance that, in a way -- I sure stumbled upon this feeling -- permeates into the skin and balms the soul.
Suddenly, the energy that you thought you lost due to ageing -- or the damned Indian summer -- bounces back with a vengeance. Result: You want to explore more, laugh more, eat more, and live more. And the kissing of course comes in between, many times. Having family around at such places allows for more intimate sharing of thoughts, beliefs and, most important of all, fears. I did just that when I wasn’t looking around appreciating the beauty -- which one, do I have to still elaborate?
Fruit Wines and Tax Exemption
I would strongly recommend fruit wine, made by a local brewery called Sutter House (now called Waterfall Wines), available everywhere. It comes in riotous colors and flavors like peach, strawberry, apricot, grapes, rhododendron and apple. The best part is the price. A bottle of 750 milliliters ranges from 130-300 rupees only.
"Why so cheap?", I asked the local guy at the "daily needs" shop, who sold me some fantastic square shaped homemade Chicken salami the previous evening. "Sir, it is all due to this tax exemption", he began hesitatingly. Stutter house began four years ago with a tax holiday window (part of the HP Government’s drive to boost investment in the state) and last year when the holiday was coming to an end, the company just overnight changed the name to Waterfall and got another tax holiday for five years.
"Smart!", I exclaimed and bought two bottles -- peach for 150 rupees and rhododendron for 200 rupees. Rhododendron, made out of wild red alpine flowers found in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, was cunningly mysterious (refraining me from conclusively declaring from the flavor wheel). It ranged from being fruit intensive to something like cocktailed with sweet Chinese vinegar. However, the peach wine was sportingly sweet for an unaccustomed Indian palate.
The Kasauli Club
The Kasauli Club started as the "Kasauli Reading and Assembly Rooms" in 1880. It was finally converted into a club in 1897. The club was registered at the office of the Registrar, Lahore in 1898.
According to Major General (Late) Mohinder Singh Chopra it was "a natural meeting place and was extremely active. There were six tennis courts in commission, but even then they were fully booked and we had to take turns. Evening tea was served in great style above the tennis courts by bearers in snow-white starched uniforms, with turbans, Cummerbunds and white gloves. The club served players and guest alike with muffins, macaroons, paper-thin cucumber sandwiches, sponge cakes and large iced cakes served on shining silver stands, all for one rupee".
The club, even today, looks majestic and imposing, withstanding its glory and magnificence with pride and colonial charm.
A Bit of Pakistan
For me it churned a great deal of intrigue when I learned that the famous President of Pakistan (earlier Pakistan Army Chief and later Filed Marshal) Ayub Khan was a tenderfoot 2nd Lieutenant of the Indian Army. He was serving his probably first appointment, after passing out from Sandhurst Military Academy in the United Kingdom, with 1st Battalion, Royal Fusiliers at Kasauli.
The Kasauli Brewery
About three kilometers of rolling down from the lower mall we took a two kilometer detour at the road that branched off at Gharkhal on its way to Dharampur. And we arrived at the 1860 commissioned Mr E Dyer’s whiskey brewery. Mr E Dyer was the father of the notorious Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, the perpetuator of the Jalianwala bagh massacre on April 13th in 1919.
The brewery is famous for making the "scotch of the east", Solan No 1 brand, besides the first ever Asian beer, Lion. It was bought by Meakin and company in 1873 and finally amalgamated with Dyer’s Brewery, Solan in 1920s.
The ownership finally went to the Mohans group who owns it even today as the Kasauli brewery of Mohan Meakin. A tour in the brewery turned out to be a happy escape from the chill outside into the heady aroma of fermenting malt.
The process demonstrated was pretty simple -- a capacity of 3,000 liters per day of whiskey is made out of fine quality malt, first crushed with water at 65 degree centigrade then mixed with yeast till fermentation begins, before standing for maturation and finally the distillation.
"Why not much marketing for your brand these days?", I had to ask the escort who took us around. "Shortage of good quality of barley and addition of ENA (Extra Neutral Alcohol) in lieu, has somewhat compromised the quality", he said. Whoever said people from the hills are very innocent. Guess he was right. After all no one tells the truth about quality these days.
Had it not been for my great friend and brother in law, Sachin, and his lovely wife Rachna, the trip would not have been so much fun. Let me take this opportunity to record my thanks to them for arranging boarding, lodging and traveling at an old British cottage that now serves as a guest house for a multinational bank.
Kulpreet Yadav, the author of this travelogue, can be contacted at his blog www.anindianfiction.blogspot.com.
