Dharamsala ???

I am so excited as today I am to go to Dharamsala.  This is one of the highlights of my trip.  Beauty, serenity, spiritually and the Dalai Lama.  I am planning to take some brief classes in Buddhism, Auyveda and yoga (yes, yoga).

I make it through the Delhi airport and wait to board the plane for the 90 minute flight to Dharamsala.  I have a coffee at Costa Coffee, India's version of Starbucks.  It is WAY better than Starbucks and almost as good at Dutch Bros.

The flight goes quickly and before I know it I can see the mountain peaks of the Himalayas.  It is AMAZING!  I can see trees, rivers and villages.  I am so thrilled I nearly burst into tears.  The pilot says we will be landing in minutes.  We fly on and do not seem to be descending. We make a large banking turn to the left and fly into the clouds.  The gentleman across the row from me signals to the flight attendant and asks, "Did we just make a u-turn?"  
"Yes", she replies, "she (the other attendant) went to check with the pilot." 
Note:cockpit doors on small planes in India do not have locks.
The flight attendant returns to her seat smiling.  All seems well.  Then the pilot comes on the PA, "Ladies and gentleman we are experiencing technical difficulties with the plane.  Everything is now under control but I have decided to return us to Delhi."

A couple of things:
1-Things are NOW under control?  At some point they were out of control???  What?
2-If we are experiencing technical difficulties would it not be best to put us on the ground as soon as possible?  Not fly us 500 miles back to Delhi?

And so, we return to Delhi.  The tears well up in my eyes.  The return trip seems fine other than some weather related turbulence (it is raining, AGAIN).  Then we land.  We land on the farthest runway from the airport in something that  resembles marshland.  We hit the ground and skid to a halt, SIDEWAYS!
Technical difficulty, landing gear, or in this case lack there of.  One side did not fully lower.  Oddly it was a relatively smooth landing.  I have experienced much worse.  We landed far from the airport so as not to damage other planes or tie up a runway should we crash in a fiery ball.  Super!

The ground crew immediately informs us that the plane will not fly again today and we make our way to the terminal.  There is only 1 flight per day to Dharamsala so the airline offers hotel accommodations if we agree to rebook our flight for tomorrow.  They cannot guarantee that the plane will be able to fly by tomorrow and they are not optimistic.

I break out my phone and call my travel contact Pooja (for $1.50/minute).  She is ready with options for me:

-I can fly to Shimla today and drive 5+ hours to Dharamsala on treacherous rain soaked roads at night.
    -I consider this option but as I have already survived  1 brush with disaster I decide not to tempt fate.
-I can take the night train and drive 3 hours to Dharamsala on the same roads in the day. 
   *a word about trains in India.  They are a common and popular way to travel through the country.  There are several classes of travel ranging from second class which is open cattle call seating with people on the floor, roof and couplings of the rail car to 3 levels of sleeper class which vary by number of sleeping berths per compartment and whether there is A/C and finally 1st class with 2 or 4 berths per compartment, A/C AND a lockable door. 
OR
-I can fly Shimla and stay.

She recommends the train if I am set on Dharamsala, which I am.  Pooja sets about reserving the train and car from Shimla to Dharamsala.  She insists on 1st class for a woman travelling alone.  Within minutes she calls me back (again at $1.50/min) and says Dharamsala is out of the question.  The only seats left on the train are in the lower class (think steerage on the Titanic only with chickens and goats).  She does not think this is an acceptable way for an American tourist to travel.  Now, I do cry.

Clearly the Universe does not want me to go to Dharamsala and so Shimla it is.  For tonight I am staying in the Radisson Hotel, Delhi.  Tomorrow I fly to Shimla for 2 nights.  On the up side, Pooja says, my hotel accommodations will far exceed those of Dharamsala (to a tune of $160 extra).  I know nothing of Shimla other than like Dharamsala it is a hill station in the Himalayas.  A brief description in my tour book indicates that it is much busier and more populous than Dharamsala.

 I do not expect to find much serenity, spirituality or the Dalai Lama here.  

Perhaps I will find WIFI.