Ep 13: Watermelon sabzi in McLeod Ganj, and watching the train at Barog

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan, and Prashant – or PRAM, as a Newslaundry subscriber recently dubbed them – drive up to the pahaads of Himachal Pradesh, journeying through Shimla, Solan, Chail, Kufri, Kasauli. They talk about the good, and bad, food they have along the and all the interesting people they meet.Starting their journey by taking a vote on who is a beach person and who is a mountain guy, the gang head to Shimla with much enthusiasm after discovering that all of them prefer mountains over beaches, for varied reasons. They follow the food trail on the Mall Road where they visit Sitaram and Sons, which serves a limited menu yet holds a special place in Rocky’s to do-list in the city. Abhinandan reiterates his love for confectionaries from the hills which are special due to the hawa paani of the place. They talk more about food, a haunted house, and Prashant’s love for the mail boxes in Shimla. Heading out of the city, they drive to Solan, where they station themselves while hopping to multiple places during the day. They first venture out to Barog station, a site of great scenic beauty, where they have railway wala khana that brings back fond memories from childhood. Rocky talks about how beautiful a sight it is to watch the train emerge from the tunnel near the station. The gang then talk about a jam factory and the not so happy women making the jams. Abhinandan talks about how he and Prashant seriously considered moving to the mountains and starting a small jam factory. Rolling back from Barog to Solan, they stumble upon interesting food places, one of which is Gyani Da Dhaba. Abhinandan remembers Gyani Da Dhaba for it’s lemon chicken, Rocky remembers it for the “home style food” which makes an endless string of travellers feel at home in the middle of nowhere. From Solan, they head to Chail, which Abhinandan doesn’t have many great memories of, but Rocky and Mayur remember for the Chail Palace and their jokes about the King of Patiala who built it. Mayur recommends