The toy train from Shimla to Kalka is one of few narrow gauge trains left in the world, and has even made it's way to the UNESCO world heritage list. It rattles and rocks it's way through 96 km scenic mountain rail, 103 tunnels and 864 bridges, at the neck-breaking speed of 22 km/h, and if it wasn't for the stinking diesel fumes of the engine the journey could have been really pleasant. Short food replenishing stops are made at small mountain stations, vestiges of the time when Britain still ruled the world, but it almost seems as if the train also needs to stretch it's legs and catch it's breath before continuing the slow descent onto the Kalka plains.
Getting from Kalka to Chandingarh was a nightmare after the gentle lull of the mountain train. Chandingarh was designed in the fifties, and has been divided up into sectors lined by broad straight avenues. It was built to hold half a million people, but the population is now 2 million and counting, making the city bursting at it's tailored seams. Strangely enough the hotels here are ridiculously expensive, at least for what you get, and it was absurd to discover that the most pricey room of my trip was the only place with live and kicking cockroaches in the dining room.
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