monorail in 2015 Shimla

It's a fine sunny winter day of year 2015. Luckily, it also happens to be the most eagerly awaited day – the ‘Republic Day' of Union of India – and the seven celebrated peaks of Shimla city are draped in a thick silvery sheet of snow as far as the gaze can transcend. The persistent snow spell for last twenty-four hours has broken all records of past two-and-a-half decades. Perhaps, the old charm of Shimla being the ‘Queen of Hills' is back.

The fast-developing capital of the most advanced and progressive hill state in India is thronged with beaming tourists, both national and international. From the onset of this decade, the state as a whole and this hill city in specific has undergone dramatic changes in political, social and environmental front, treading a futuristic path of ultra-modern infrastructure development changes in the city. Consistent jams and bottlenecks along its sole artery are things of the past. Water woes have been sorted out and the dream of 24×7 supplies achieved. City streets and buildings are shining like a mirror. The whole city appears like a newlywed bride carrying the newly acquired charismatic aura of being a celebrated modern city across the globe. Today, noted Indian celebrities and international personalities have thronged the celebrated Ridge of Shimla city to mark this hallmark day in the history of the erstwhile capital of British India.

None less than Noble Peace prize winner ‘Liu Xiaobo', the infamous Chinese dissident, a democracy and human rights protagonist, is the chief guest for the Republic Day ceremony in Shimla. But beyond India's 66th Republic Day, there lies more in pack for the city in specific and the country as a whole.

What is it?

The moment the Republic Day celebrations are over, our chief guest Mr. Xiaobo is walking on the Ridge approaching towards the celebrated ‘Scandal Point'. After a quick glance at the skyline and the bustling crowd, he starts walking again and turns right to an aisle leading to the Tibetans market towards Revolli theatre to reach the famous ‘Skating Rink' especially prepared for the occasion. But he just waves to them and, overlooking all this cheering his gaze transcends beyond. Behold! Wait, there right in front is a mega structure veiled in a fabric fluttering in the chilling winter breeze. What is it?

The very next moment he ascends the podium to cut the ribbon and to pull the lever to reveal this long hidden treasure to the world. Gradually, the veil is slipping down and an ultra-modern structure in glass, fiber and concrete takes all by surprise. All stood staring at it flabbergasted. It is different, unique, splendid, and awesome and seems like picked right out of some futuristic sci-fi Hollywood flick, but it's for real. It's no mirage. It's right in front of us all, like a gem sparkling under the morning winter sun. Everything about it is futuristic. Splendid!

Bravo!

Then the ride along the 14-km route starts taking one along the circular road, but with a difference, with a unique feeling inside each one of us. No mess around, no honking, no jams, no pollution. Just the pine canopies creating tunnels and embracing the monorail as we pass through them. The view all along is mesmerizing and awe inspiring.

I called this day as the hallmark day in the history of Shimlaites, for this day to be hailed forever in the annals of Shimla city as the grand day of inauguration of ‘SHIMLA MONORAIL'.

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Yes, Shimla has its own Monorail. Small, yet futuristic it is. Yes friends! It's here in front of us. The far dream of yesteryears has just materialized. What was considered to be un-wanted investment by experts for a city of 2.2 lakh citizens in 2011, is now a city boasting about its monorail network of 14 km length in Phase-I and another 11 km in waiting for Phase –II, to be completed by 2020.

What made it possible?

Perhaps India and China has learned to grow as friends, embracing democracy, and the universal values and beliefs. The long-standing disputes are being resolved on a cordial note and cross-border trade and development is taking up a new phase in history of both the nations. The multi-trillion investments in weaponry are diverted for infrastructure development by both the nations.

It's the ubiquitous awe-inspiring beauty of the hills and the tourism potential alone powered by the rock-solid determination of a young generation of bureaucrats, politicians and the entrepreneurs who revived the city from dangling on the brink of collapse for years.

Perhaps, the old bureaucracy and politics has trained us to live with the woes for years, the water woes, the transportation woes and crumbling age-old infrastructure. Perhaps, in 2009-10 city planners and the so-called year-plan think tank had once pumped some 100 buses on its already choked narrow artery. All of a sudden 100 busses were pumped in a city, which is crippling under its existing fleet of numbered private vehicles. Definitely, there is something wrong with the think-tank. Ignoring congestion, staggering land use, pollution and other sustainable issues like changing climate, especially a decade of negligible snowfall worried the establishment more. So in the name of development, the city was pumped with vehicles, small and big alike. (100 busses under JNURM scheme! Is there adequate parking space? How much these additional busses are adding to the congestion, one had seen it then,)

The solution, on the other hand lay in a well-designed and implemented futuristic Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS); a system to move people rather than vehicles; to conserve environment than to pollute it. It's a spark which was supported by city's 2.3 million strong annual tourist base in 2010, which now stands at 3.0 million. The city has grown from 2.2 lakh to 3.5 lakhs in five years. This rapid urban transformation, an image makeover, has been possible with a single spark, to make it the best livable city in the world make it most walkable and pedestrian and cyclist friendly city on the face of earth.