Sunset @ Shimla (Sunset view from Mall Road, Shimla)

Vijay Parmar : One of the main Motorsport Enthusiast in India || Raid de Himalaya by Himalayan Motorsports, Shimla

Holidays start from today || It's shutdown time in office

It's the same time of year when everything shuts down at office for 10 days, so that everyone can enjoy the festive season well. Shutdown at our office starts today and we shall be back on 2nd Jan'2012 with new energies. 

At the same time I am very excited about travel plans during next week. Today I am leaving for chandigarh and will move into hills and not sure about the destination for New year. All the plans will be made on fly and hope to utilize the vacations well. 

For now, Merry Christmas and I will back to wish New year soon !!!

Clouds coming up in the evening @ Viceregal Lodge, Shimla

A wonderful view from IIAS window @ Shimla, Himchal Pradesh, INDIA

Viceregal Lodge or also known as Indian Institute of Advanced Studies is one of the best places to visit in Shimla Town. This Photograph is taken at same place. This a huge building having multiple corridors around it. This is one of the corridor in the backyard. The Cedar tree looks awesome through this huge window on other side of the corridor. Most of the part of this building in closed but some of the areas are accessible from outside. This whole campus has some beautiful gardens with lots of flowers and colorful plants.

New Bus Stand of Capital City of Himachal Pradesh - Shimla

During one of the recent trips to Shimla, I visited Indian Institute of Advanced Studies and Shimla Bus stand was visible from the way which connect IIAS with Boileuganj. Shimla has got this beautiful bus-stand with lot of space. It is located near Tootikandi which is not very crowded region in Shimla. Supposedly this one of best Bus-Stand in North-India till 2011.

Front view of Viceregal Lodge, Shimla (Indian Institute of Advanced Studies)

Indian Institute of Advanced Studies : a wonderful place in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh !!!

Whenever I visit Shimla, it's hard to miss Indian Institute of Advanced Studies or Viceregal Lodge. This wonderful building is accessible through a lovely walk from Mall Road or bus can be taken to Boileuganj and then it's a small climb of 10 minutes. During British raj in India, Viceroy of India used to stay in this building during summers. There were only two residences of viceroy. One was in Delhi, which is President's house now and other is this one in Shimla. Shimla was also known as summer capital of British empire in India.

Shilaroo Hockey Stadium in Himachal Pradesh, INDIA

Shilaroo has got a Hockey stadium as Sports Authority of India's high-altitude training centre. This stadium was inaugurated by Sports Minister MS Gill last year in month of May. This stadium is located  about 55 km from state capital of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla.

The Sports Authority of India Centre, located at an altitude of 8100 feet and surrounded by wonderful places like Narkanda and Hatu peaks with excellent indoor facilities for  badminton, basketball,handball, volleyball, table tennisand wrestling apart from gymnasium and hostel facilities...

This stadium is very close to Vidya Stoke's place...

Side view of Viceregal Lodge, Shimla (Indian Institute of Advanced Studies)

Sunset time in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, INDIA

Somehow capturing sunset is very exciting for every photographer and everyone tries to do something different during this time and it provide various opportunities to click magical portraits, Silhouettes, colorful layers etc !!! It's ben more than four years that I am doing photography and passion for sunset photographs has not come down. One fine day, one of the photographer was giving his thoughts about progression in photography and he mentioned that sunset is ideal time for a beginner to shot, and can be more exciting for professionals who may not want to shoot sunsets anymore !!!

Shimla Town Hall !!!

Shimla Town Hall !!!

This is one  of the beautiful buildings in Shimla and right in the middle of Mall Road... I love Shimla so much and really excited that I will there on this Saturday (1st Oct 2011)... Hope to collect lot of new memories this time !!!

Wondeful view of full-moon sitting on top of snow covered hills of Himalayas !!!

Himachal Pradesh being my native state, I have huge love for these hills and I love to be closer to these. Although my profession keeps me busy in big cities, but there is always an urge to go back to Himachal and do something on my homeland... Hope I would be able to take appropriate decision sometime soon !!!

This Photographs was taken during my last year trip to Kullu Sarahan. It's a small village isolated from various main cities/towns of Himachal and a wonderful place to spend your vacations... Hope to visit it this year as well !!!

Cecil Hotel on the way from Viceregal Lodge to Mall road @ Chaura Maidan, Shimla

A silhoutte of Deodar tree near Indian Institute of Advanced studies, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

  Shimla is one of my favorite places to visit frequently and I have lot of reasons to like this wonderful place. Although I have seen people talking about traffic and other problems in Shimla, but I don't care and it's one of the best hill stations if you are really interested in nature, freshness, nice weather, cleanness, Architecture etc.


This photograph is clicked in back side of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, which is also known as Viceregal Lodge.

Shshshhhh.... A lonely road near Shimla Mall Road but its all safe !!

 
Many times I meet people visiting Shimla and at times, few of them say - "What's there in Shimla to visit/see".... "Shimla is too much crowded" .... and I say "What exactly you expect to visit in a place like Shimla" ...


In my opinion, Shimla town has best walks around the Mall road which passes through wonderful deodar forests, very old British Architecture and should I mention about weather & freshness of the town?


This is one of the street in the photograph, which is near to Vidhan Sabha... And the BEST part is that places in Himachal are extremely safe but that doesn't mean that one should be careless about it ! bcoz, exceptions are always there which may happen with anyone in bad times.. But Shimla is one of the favorite travel destination. In case you are planning for Shimla and need more info, catch me at VJ@travellingcamera.com and I am not a travel agent :)

Entry Gate to Legislative Assembly, Himachal Pradesh

Legislative Assembly, Himachal Pradesh

 Whenever I go to Shimla, I never miss the wonderful walk from Mall Road to Viceregal Lodge and if time allows, we continue till Himachal Pradesh University in Summer-Hill... On this walk, lot of lovely places come and State's Vidhan Sabha is one of the nearest building to Mall Road !!! This whole stretch is very beautiful having road surrounded by huge deodar trees on both sides... Now I remember each turn, shop or building on this way unless things have changed since my last visit... and the better part is that it's not a climb but a downhill with negligible slope.. So we can consider that we walk in planes only... After Viceregal Lodge, the road is narrow and there is dense forest till the point University campus starts.. It's lovely and if timing is correct, one can see the toy train crossing through hills below the road...

Church on Ridge Ground, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

Christ Church on Ridge is a very good piece of Architecture in Shimla !!! Almost every tourist in Shimla get a photograph of this place and its a wonderful church on one of the corners of Ridge in Shimla !!! 

This church is clearly visible from Mall Road and the view from Mall Road during the evenings is amazing !!!

MTB Rider crossing iron bridge to reach 4th day destination @ Kullu Sarahan !!!!

MTB Rider crossing iron bridge to reach 4th day destination @ Kullu Sarahan !!! Everyone was very excited about the 4th day stay in Kullu Sarahan as everyone had heard a lot about the place and it seemed most beautiful place to stay during MTB Himachal 2010 !!!

Well lit Christ church on Ridge ground, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

Every person who visit Shimla has to go to Ridge and Christ Church is one of the interesting structure out there. Its on the rightmost edge of the Ridge when we go towards Lakkar Bazar !! Ridge is a huge ground on top of the biggest water tank in Shimla.. There is an underground market at Ridge which is known as Indira Market but not very popular.. People like to shot at Lakkar Bazar or Mall Road !!! For better options for warm cloths at reasonable prices, don't forget Lower Market below Mall Road, but one needs to do proper bargaining as required in any Hill Station :)