Kasauli’s connection with prominent Indian writers

Many of us living in the Delhi NCR escape to the cooler climes of the hills to get reprieve from the oppressive heat of summer. Kasauli happens to be one of my favourite getaways for such short breaks from the rigorous rigmarole of city life.

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So, like the bored Britishers of yesteryears, the IT and ITES professionals of Delhi-NCR rush to the nearby hill stations during long weekends to unwind after their ‘late nights’ and ‘stretch/stress’ deliverables.

During such sojourns at Kasauli, I discovered this idyllic hill station's connection with prominent writers. Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli. But it was Khuswant Singh who often wrote about Kasauli. In fact, Singh is to Kasauli what Ruskin Bond is to Mussoorie-Landour. Singh inherited a villa in Kasauli, called Raj Villa, from his father-in-law.

Khuswant Singh called Raj Villa his ‘hide-out’ that he frequented to write. It was through a mention in his newspaper column that the ‘bun-samosa’ of a particular sweet shop in Kasauli became famous. Though Singh is no more, his memory still lingers in this hill town. Now, there is a trek named after him, which runs from Kasauli to Kalka.

Kasauli also finds mention in Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Kim’. Kipling also visited the Kasauli Club, according to the diary he kept. Anita Desai’s ‘Fire on the Mountain’ is a novel set in Kasauli.

The British tried to create Britain in a miniature form in these hill stations. Later, many hill stations became touchpoints between the colonial masters and the upcoming Indian gentry who would send their children to the British-run boarding schools there. One such school, Lawrence School, Sanawar, is just a kilometre away from Kasauli.

Pankaj Deo, Ghaziabad