Define the charm — Kasauli or Shimla?

It is that time of year when anyone who can escape to the hills heads towards them. The murderous heat this summer (and we are just half-way through as yet) has made this great escape an earlier phenomenon than most other years. So whereas we used to think of running home to Kumaon only by the middle or end of May, this year we ran away for a brief week-long break in April itself. Our destination was pretty Kasauli, a quick drive away from the plains and perhaps once the first refuge of the heat-maddened people in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana. The famous Pasteur Institute (now the Central Research Institute, or CRI) and the Army have retained their place of pride and even after nearly 200 years of its establishment, little seems to have changed here.

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I last visited it almost 10 years ago to interview Khushwant Singh for a journal. The grand old man of letters spent every summer he could in a pretty cottage that belonged to his wife’s family. In memory of his love for Kasauli, his son and admirers now hold an annual literary festival and it has evolved into an important social event of the town. The Kasauli Club, another landmark perched on the best ridge in Kasauli, has a commanding view of the valleys spread below and is the town’s favourite watering hole. It has a set of ‘cottages’ across it let out to members for the season, or even a short weekend break. A little further is Ivy Cottage, which the artist Vivan Sundaram (Amrita Shergil’s cousin) uses as an artists’ retreat. 

Perched on a separate mountain top is a house that belonged to an old friend (now sold) that is possibly the windiest spot in Kasauli. He recalls how the roof once flew off when he and his bride were spending their honeymoon there. It was built by his grandmother who sat at a window that gave her a clear view of the Lawrence School at Sanawar, on a separate mountain top across, so that she could ‘see’ her beloved grandson each day.

I am sure several other pretty properties that line the Upper and Lower Malls have equally charming stories behind them but as time went on and the old generation passed away, these lovely old family homes lost their emotional history. Perhaps because it was too early in the season for people from the plains to make their annual visit or perhaps because they have more exciting lives elsewhere, almost all these old houses were locked up and stood as mute testimonies to how far we have all come from a way of life that now appears anachronistic and passé. 

Another reason is the vigilant presence of the Army that controls all the decisions regarding private properties in the Cantt area. No one can let out or make any commercial use of a house that is located here. The Army alone controls the buying and selling of any property and can acquire it whenever it deems fit. Repairs and extensions are similarly controlled by it. 

Certainly the Army deserves praise for preserving the forest cover and cleanliness of this charming hill station at a time when many others are a mess of bald hillsides and filthy civic amenities there are some problems too. I will come to that later but appreciate that it employs a small army of workers to sweep the roads clean of pine needles and I saw no plastic waste (partly also due to Himachal Pradesh having banned it). While we were there the Army Cantonment Board issued a strict order to clear the gardens and roofs of private properties of pine needles because a forest fire had already started in the nearby hills. 

Everyone took the order seriously and did so. I can’t think of any civic municipal order that is taken as seriously in other parts of the country, so my suggestion to the PM is that the Swachh Bharat Andolan be handed to the Indian Army for better implementation. 

However, this kind of absolute power has also some drawbacks. In brief, Kasauli lacks a soul not just because it has lost a generation of eminent citizens but because there is no scope for individual enterprise and its young people have no avenues of employment unless they join the Army or wangle a job at the CRI. The most lucrative job is to become a caretaker of a property and live in the best part of the town with free access to its grounds and orchards.  The old shops (Jhakki Mull, for instance) have their loyal customers in town but looked forward to Sanawar School for vital weekend income. Today, the neighbouring villages of Garkhal and Dharmpur have taken this trade away because they are closer to the school. So while Kasauli has retained its lovely natural ambience, it is bereft of any life outside the Cantt area. Its proximity to Chandigarh and Shimla only means that many of its young people leave as soon as they can, either to study or to work. Naturally, few return after that escape. 

So here is my puzzle for my readers: is it better to preserve an old way of life but stifle growth or allow commerce and trade to dictate growth and sacrifice heritage? Kasauli or Shimla?