Tours and trips are organised in all good schools and colleges because-they are very useful and instructive. It is during these tours that the students add to their knowledge of places and people much better than they get through books. Moreover, these tours save life from becoming dull. Tours are, indeed, a part of education and a very necessary part.
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This year our history teacher organised an educational tour to Bhakra Nangal Complex. As soon as the school closed for the Autumn Break, we, a party of twenty-five students, set out on our tour for Bhakra. Our teachers of history and physical training accompanied us on the tour.
Nangal is at a distance of 384 kilometres from Delhi. So it was early in the morning that we were ac Nangal. The boys were in a jubilant mood. They sang and laughed. We went straight to a Dharamsala. There we had our oath and then a hurried repast.
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In the meantime our teacher arranged a bus to take us to Bhakra. The bus sped through the hills of the Himalayas till we reached Bhakra. There we saw the dam, perhaps the biggest in Asia. We were told by the guide that the dam was a glourious specimen of the engineering skill of Indian engineers. It is said that the material that was used in the construction of the dam was sufficient to make a concrete road going round the whole world several limes. On the other side Gobind Sagar.
The water was collected here and allowed to pass through tunnels. It put into work huge turbines as it fell below and this produced electricity. It was indeed a glorious sight to see electricity being produced. Power is supplied to Punjab and Haryana and to Delhi also.
In the afternoon we visited Nangal Dam. It is similar to Bhakra but less in grandeur. We were allowed to go round the Inspection tunnel and felt delighted to see that India too has made great progress in technology.
We -spent full one day at Nangal and Bhakra and then returned to Chandigarh. On the way we visited Anandpur Sahib, Ropar and Sarhind. At Ropar we visited the headworks of the great Sarhind Canal. It is the biggest canal in the Punjab and it irrigates a large tract of land in Haryana.
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At Chandigarh we visited the lake, the university, the High Court and the Engineering College. The township spoke volumes for the skill of the famous French designer who had planned the town. From Chandigarh we motored to the famous Pinjore Gardens and the H.M.T. Factory. The Pinjore Gardens are after Mughal style and look very beautiful.
By now we had spent about four days. Some of us wanted to go to Shimla. The teacher agreed to our request. So we took the train for Kalka which is at the base of the Shimla Hills. There we boarded a narrow gauge train. It was at about 4 P.M. that we reached Shimla. We got rooms in a hotel at a very nominal rent. We stayed here for a week and went round all the places which were worth a visit. Chadwick Falls pleased us most.
Now the autumn break was nearing its end. So we came back to Delhi. The trip proved very instructive and added much to our knowledge of geography.