Shoghi is a small suburb of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. It is about 13 Kilometers before Shimla on the Ambala Shimla national highway. The road to the Taradevi temple (hilltop) goes from here which is about 5 km. Shoghi is also famous for bus halts for food as there are many dhabas (local name for food outlets) here. Housing board has also constructed many flats here.
Nestled in the quaint, lush green, hills of Himachal Pradesh just 13 kilometers short of Shimla, captivating building blocks of pinks and yellows with sloping tin roofs add a touch of natural grandeur to the picturesque surroundings.
As you veer off the national highway towards the blocks, you realise you are entering the Housing Board Colony at Shoghi.
The colony was set up in the cozy hamlet of Shoghi in early 2001 by HIMUDA for meeting the housing needs of so many people. Not only accessible, the colony is far from the madding crowd situated on a knoll overlooking hills rising one after another to meet the insurmountable skies from a deep vale just across the road. You can go to Shoghi, and back to nature, without running into traffic jams, a characteristic of Shimla.
But over the years, the colony has lost most of its charm. The metalled road gives way to streets of cobbled stones, as your huffing and panting car wheezes its way up the hillock towards the rising blocks of flats.
Look down the slopes, along the colony streets, and you find the greenery suffocating under the thick layers of rubbish. Carelessly tossed wrappers of potato chips, aluminum foils and empty soda bottles not only narrate the tales of not-so-quiet evenings enjoyed with drinks, but also of sheer disrespect for the nature and inability of the authorities to prevent the littering. The housing board society is now making attempts to clean up the mess, but the dirty picture’s end is nowhere in sight.
It doesn’t take you much time to realise that the colony has been left to fend for itself otherwise also. The concrete road signs, spelling out the location of the blocks, too seem to have crooked under their own weight.
Security too is an issue. The colony precincts have not been demarcated; and in the absence of fencing, it’s free for all. Water meters are stolen, and the open spaces in the campus have metamorphosised themselves into free public parking lots for the “outsiders”.
Other than this shoghi has a small adventure hamlet at summer breeze near hanuman temple above railway line where mr ravinder singh thakur an experienced moutaineer along with his elder son shubh ranjan thakur are running shimla adventure and trekkers hamlet with adventure activities like rock- climbing,trekking,hikking,nature walks and for their love for mountains. Though by now shubh ranjan thakur who was also working as adventure activity manager in AAAMOD resorts at shoghi, an experienced mountaineer, met with a fatal accident on 10 october 2011 but his shimla adventure is now ranjan's shimla adventure and trekkers hamlet offering all adventure activities by senior thakurji and a home stay worth visiting in case one loves mountain and nature. shoghi offers a beautiful option for a stay near shimla with lots of nature activities.http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121017/himplus.htm#2
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Coordinates: 31°04′08″N 77°08′12″E / 31.06896°N 77.13655°E / 31.06896; 77.13655