By: Shikha Patial
Shimla: There’s something amazingly special about Saturdays on the Shimla Mall Road. The century old Mall Road buzzes extraordinarily on Saturdays with the ensemble of city’s entire young crowd. It wasn’t always the same; Saturdays were no different from any other day, but gradually in the past few years every Saturday on the Mall has become like a festive day of every week and can never go unnoticed. Saturday on the Mall means youth, fashion, trends, dating and style. The hangout culture amongst boys and girls has made it young and happening. The Mall – the only and the most happening hang-out place of Shimla! Seasons go on and off; Saturday on the Mall keeps buzzing and happening like some college festival, throughout the year.
A colourful evening on The Ridge, Shimla (Photo by: Rahul Irani)
Gotta catch this Saturday on Mall:
• Every Guy n Gal has to dress up in the best trendy n funky gear. I just love it as I get to follow the new trends live and happening. Wanna know what’s in these days? Gotta catch this Saturday on the Mall!!
• It’s lot of fun sitting and watching how this small town has surpassed every metro city in terms of fashion and trends. Hanging jeans, Cool captioned T-Shirts, pierced ears and eyebrows and rusty bracelets and neck wear… This is how a Shimla’s stud or a dude looks like. Yo!! Go for this fun-filled sight this Saturday on The Mall!!
• Not behind are the galz in anyway. “The Queen of Hills” is soon gonna become “The Queen of trend setters”.
• Summers have knocked in and the Mall is all shimmered with those big and cool looking Rayban and Fast Track glares. Even when the Sun has hidden itself, glares are still on, because in Shimla we don’t get to wear them often. Let’s not waste even an evening.
• Hanging out means dating and flirting! Total Fun! This is what is marked by the Saturdays on the Mall – the most. It’s like one big social gathering of teens and college crowds on the weekend. It’s like an open air Discotheque. So the Youngistanis can miss anything but the Saturday on the Mall. Single? Ready to Mingle? Gotta catch this Saturday on Mall!!
• Another important eye candy on the Malll is those two tall and handsomely dressed policemen controlling the crowd and maintaining the left hand side rule dividing the crowd into two lanes. They are always the tallest of the crowd and carry that disciplined attitude on their face, giving you the feeling of controlled monkey business. Without them, Saturday on the Mall would be like any day in Lower Bazaar.
• What do you do for hours and hours there on Mall? Shopping? Well the answer is: hardly any. Sit in the Barista, CCD or the like? If the pocket allows, or you have finally got a date… Hurray!! And if none of these happen… then? Well the answer is what most of the crowd does on Saturday, which doesn’t even cost anything, roaming around from one end of the Mall to the other. That too for hours. Your eyes are busy searching your favourite eye candy. You don’t even realise the time and after all Shimlaittes have great potential to walk.
I guess now you know why there is something amazingly special about Saturday on The Mall. I can bet it can beat any hangout place, because it’s the only one of its kind, open air, doesn’t cost you a penny and still guarantees a lot of fun.
Long live Saturdays on The Mall.
Ouch!!
Am I really on Himvani… Stud, dude, eye candy.. what a vocabulary.. boy.. HV gone funky at last!!
Not that I am complaining. This is really a welcome read. Keep the spirit
Yes,
Since Himvani is a mirror of the society and encourages what the society thinks, we are trying to let the people know this kind of lingo too.
hahaha….loved this one…
just right in the spirits with a hint of sarcasm…
good one…
Shikha,
you have hit the right note for a walk the talk on The Mall Road, the oldest of open air Malls that the country has.
Not being from the younger lot, I mostly find it hard to enjoy a stroll on this grand shopping arcade on a Saturday for there is so much youth power out there that I fear being trampled.
Nevertheless I do brave it sometimes.
Good write up
Hmmmmmm…. Why are you forgetting the stairs of Town Hall? And the stairs leading from the Mall to the Ridge (next to Town Hall). These are favourite stairs for the young. Also, the wall next to the Lala Lajpat rai statute. And the summers have the fountain running just below that. Oh! I miss Shimla. Please somebody find me a job in Shimla…. 🙂
Thanks Shikha for such a lovely article! I have spent every summer holidays in school in Shimla.. I still remember roaming around Mall/Ridge every evening… we used to walk from Sanjauli to Mall Road EVERY evening of our stay.. and every one used to converge there.. and we would have the chhole bhature from Lakkar BAzaar and doodh jalebi from Lower bazaar.
I havent been back there in a loooong time! Does lakkar bazaar still have those chhole bhature shops?
Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com
Brought back some old memories… having grown up in Shimla.
But times have changed.
Every evening was a Saturday evening then. 🙂
CCD and Barista did not exist. Embassey was the place to be. Or Himani for it overlooked the Gaiety terrace where the premium eye candy hung around. :-)))
Ah! Nostalgia!
Arun
Quite a candid contribution. Bindaas!
Aprreciate the frankness. Keep it up …. the spirit….
Hey good job Shikha! nice article , Cheers!
@Arun Verma
CCD and Barista can never match the Ankhiyon se goli marey kinda fun, the two terraces of Himani and Gaiety could. 🙂 Many a romances bloomed just staring across the two sides.
Ahh nostalgic…
It was just a flashback of the memories while going through this article…Nice job…Keep the spirits going…
A leisurely walk from scandal to lift and then againg moving back the same way…Chai ka cup at Palam tea stall…Sitting on the stairs of townhall and gazing at the girls…No feat can meet the pleasure of an evening walk on the Mall…Miss U Shimla
The best thing of a walk on The Mall is that u get to meet all your friends in that small stretch of The Mall…
Nice article and the photograph .i have had my time-not any more now (mera time lad gaya hai). i have done much malling decades back so much so that my friends used to tease me by saying "yaar tune to Bata ki guarantee bhi fail kar dee." still i feel mall is a place to be in at least twice a month- be it shopping, eating or just plain gazing at (no one in particular please…..)
I agree with others on the Mall. Sit opposite the fire station near Barista and just relax for a few hours watching porters lugging loads, students trying to hide their romance and idiots like me just taking it all in.
When you get tired go to one of the nearby eateries, load up on calories come back to the benches and start the process again.
hi Shikha..
really good yaar..
i visited this site to gather information about Shimla bcoz m planning to visit it as a part of my honymoon tour in aug 09. that is in next 20 days or so. i will try to visit each n every place mentioned in ur site.
if u wanna help me more than please call me at 98640-30944 or i will call you if u want me to.. anyways thanks a lot for such useful information
doesn’t matter if somebody is super busy to accompany you to the mall.. be there alone & finally you will end up in the company of one or another.
recently I had been there for a very short & hurried work trip while it was raining and i ended up all soaked..
What a refreshing article..!!! I must say, m feeling like strolling on the mall… again with ma gang of girlz..!!! It was an awesome tyme n yes Shikha I must add that even me n my frns used to dressup really well for those special Saturdays..!!! It was fun …!!!
Comments are closed.