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 More than a relic of the Raj
Shimla has evolved from being a retreat for the British to a town expanding to fulfil the aspirations of its inhabitants and visitors. A hundred and fifty years after it became the Summer Capital, the town’s role has changed dramatically in more ways than one
Raaja Bhasin
Britain’s
television company Channel Four is currently filming a mega-series
titled Indian Summers. This period drama has being especially
written for the purpose and is set in the Shimla of the 1930s. This is
to be telecast in 2015. For those who remember Granada Television’s
grand spectacle of the 1980s based on Paul Scott’s book, Jewel in
the Crown, this is something comparable – if not larger – in
both scope and budget. The cast, crew and production team run into
scores. Not unexpectedly, this will pump in a substantial amount of
money into the local economy and the publicity it will generate,
should have tourists flocking to the place. The cast includes Julie
Walters, Henry Lloyd Hughes and Roshan Seth. With high drama, passion,
politics and sex, this is set in the time when India dreams of
Independence, while the British cling on to power. Both sides of the
experience is being portrayed. There is, however, one catch. This is
not being shot in Shimla, but in Malaysia.
Arts
Lines that express love of the hills
Detailed drawings that capture the heartbeat of Shimla are the hallmark of an artist whose affection for his subject is reflected in his work
Pratibha Chauhan
His
fingers can weave magic be it with an ink pen, pencil, paint brush, or
simply his incredibly beautiful calligraphic strokes.
B.S. Malhans, known
as Billy to all his friends and acquaintances is a familiar face of
the town. He is not just a multi-faceted personality but also a person
who despite the maddening urbanisation and Shimla turning into a
virtual concrete jungle remains alive to the small beauties of life
— a chirping bird, the spring iris in full bloom or the hillside
covered with wild daisies.
The Gothic resonance in Gaiety
A major focus of social life during the days of the
Raj, Gaiety Theatre remains an inseparable part of the culture and heritage of the Queen of Hills
Vandana Shukla
You
will come across polarised opinions about Gaiety Theatre. If you
are one of the fortunate ones, who enjoy access to the interiors
of this famed theatre, you won’t resist marvelling at its
intriguing architectural splendour. Intriguing, because you’d
never come across a fine maze like arterial passageways in any
other theatre, the kind that lead you to the backstage, and the
stage appears like a hidden jewel. A sudden blossoming of
arches, a surprise flight of stairs, and then, the lacquered
polished interior where the audience used to sit, in luxury! The
perfection of acoustics matches the luxuriant setting.
Unfortunately, most shows are held these days in what used to be
the ball room, and hence, many remain unimpressed by the glory
of the Gaiety.
HERITAGE
Concrete crown for the Queen of Hills
The Hindustan-Tibet road that
came later to be known as the Cart Road was a major turning point in
Shimla’s story of growth
Raghuvendra Tanwar
Shimla
was formally acquired by the British during the tenure of Lord William
Bentinck (1830s) even though Charles Pratt Kennedy was the first
Englishman to be deputed to Shimla as Superintendent of the Hill
states in 1822. However, it was during the tenure of Lord Auckland
(1839) that Shimla started to come of age. Till then it was almost a
village without a road that could be used by wheeled carriages. Till
about 1840, the common mode of transport was the jampan for ladies and
horses for men. The jampan was a contraption that had poles attached
to a chair which was lifted by coolies on the shoulders.
Society
Luminaries who added lustre to the town
Whether they were born in Shimla or lived there, the hills were their muse. The erstwhile Summer Capital of the British has been home to some of the finest writers, artists and performers
Usha Bande
When
CEM Joad wrote that civilisation means building culture and culture
means man’s proclivity to create art, music, painting and
literature, he was hinting at quality of life symbolised by finer
sensibilities. On a smaller level, any town or city acquires a
distinct identity of being a cultured and civilised town when it
exudes aesthetic excellence. Shimla has all along displayed an amazing
penchant for literature and art. Writers like Krishna Sobti and Nirmal
Verma and painters like Amrita Sher-gil and Krishen Khanna drew
inspiration from the sylvan surroundings.
Faded charms of the ageing Queen
Oldtimers reminisce about early days when Shimla was still
unspoilt, green and clean
Pratibha Chauhan
Having
spent their childhood in the pristine and unspoilt environs of Shimla,
it pains these senior citizens to see the present plight of the town,
once famous as the "Jewel of the East" during the days of
the Raj. Set up by the British as a home away from home, the town is a
pale shadow of its past with more and more concrete structures
replacing its majestic deodars and pollution-free environs. The
denuding forests, shrinking greenery, choked roads, water shortage and
traffic congestion are the factors which explain the present state of
affairs of the state capital.
legacy
Shimla kept its date with history
Shimla, then spelt as Simla, has been the venue of three major politically significant agreements
Dinesh Kumar
In
both pre and post-Independent India's political history, Shimla, with
its once pristine beauty and splendor, is often associated with the
historic July 1972 Simla Agreement. The agreement was reached between
New Delhi and Islamabad following the December 1971 Indo-Pak war. That
war had resulted in a second partition in the subcontinent – that of
Pakistan. It was made possible by the people of East Pakistan with the
active assistance of the Indian Army that eventually resulted in,
until then, the largest post-World War-II military surrender (by
Pakistan) to India and the formation of Bangladesh as an independent
sovereign country.
Schooled in glory
The town is a hub of education, thanks to the many elite educational institutions that were set up here. Some of these are more than a century old
Pratibha Chauhan
known
the world over for its elite public schools, most of them over a
century old, Shimla has had a fine tradition of grooming young
boys and girls at its renowned educational institutions located in
some pristine and idyllic locations.
ENTERTAINMENT
Bollywood's Shimla
From the suave Dev Anand to the meticulous Aamir Khan, most major Mumbai stars have succumbed to the magic of the historic hill town over the past 50-odd years
Saibal Chatterjee
For
Hindi cinema, Shimla is a beautiful and abiding obsession that has
stood firm in the face of constantly changing fads. Kashmir did put it
somewhat in shade for a while from the late 1960s onwards before
Switzerland threatened to make the hill town redundant in the 1990s.
But, despite the ups and downs, the big screen magic of Shimla hasn’t
waned one bit.
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