vignettes
She came. She conquered Shimla
Dancer and courtesan, Lola Montez, and her husband visited the hill capital in 1839
“Her features were regular, but capable of great and rapid changes of expression. Her complexion was orientally dark, but transparently clear; her eyes were deep blue, and, as I distinctly remember, of excessive beauty, although bright with less indications of gentle and tender affections of her sex than of more stormy and passionate excitements.

Global warming, local concern
The much talked about global warming has now a local angle too. It has been found that the Vaspa basin here has been de-glaciating at an estimated 19 per cent from 1962 to 2001. The Indian part of the Himalayas, which has about 15,000 glaciers is retreating by 30 meters per annum—a cause of serious concern among the scientists.

shimla Diary
When it snows, it snows woes
Irregular and declining trend in snowfall has over the years has led to slackness in the preparedness for snow clearance operations. The local Municipal Corporation and the Public Works Department are short of requisite manpower and equipment. It becomes quite evident whenever the weather god obliges with heavy snow.

Residents struggled to wriggle out of the fallout of heavy snowfall in the state, exposing chinks in preparedness for snow-clearance operations.

Cementing the destructive forces
The proposed cement plant at Chambi-Khatarvari threatens the eco-system
The proposed Rs10-billion cement plant in the Chambi-Khatarvari belt will spell doom for the fertile Mandi-Balh-Nachen-Sundernagar belt, which has emerged as a knowledge cum-education hub in the state. The plant, which is being set up by the Birla group of industries, has a capacity of 127 metric tones per annum. Farmers of this region face eviction from their agricultural land as the proposed plant will acquire over 1200 bighas both for the plant and mining purpose.

As the rays of the sun light up the feathery clouds up there, this balloon seller gives stiff competition to the colours of spring!

Spring of fertility
It’s a ritual for the pahari bride and groom to take a pre-nupital bath at Markand Makri
A drive of about 2.5 km from Jukhala on the Shimla–Mandi road amidst khair and chil trees with nearby flowing Ali Khud takes one to the temple of Rishi Markandeya in Makri village, a pilgrim’s destination in Bilaspur district.

They pay for milk, get urea
The sale of synthetic milk has reportedly been going on unchecked in the Sirmour district. The illegal trade has been thriving unabated at the cost of the health of the masses, who are left with little choice of switching over to another alternate from this spurious produce dominating the market.

Bridge set to reopen
The Dharampur - Subathu road is set to be re-opened for movement of light vehicular traffic after conducting minor repair works at the bridge near the Dharampur railway station. The decision was taken after Rajesh Kumar deputy commissioner Solan, Congress MLA Raghu Raj and PWD officials inspected the bridge recently.

Vidya Upasaks want to be regularised
Over six thousand teachers recruited as vidya upasaks by the previous BJP government have accused the state government of an indifferent attitude towards them. In a communication sent to the state government by the Vidya Upasak Union, these teachers have expressed deep anguish for being denied even the minimum wages and have demanded that their services must be regularised.

Pre-poll tension mars budget session
Elections to the state Assembly are due in February 2008 but the tension of the poll-year was already visible on the faces of the legislators during the ongoing Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha.