About Shimla
It was an English dream made a shade delirious and out of the true by the thin, high air, combined with all that many a heart loved with passion in India – the outdoor life, the horses, the wild animals, the early walking in the Indian mornings, with their matchless dazzling purity that makes each day seem the first ever created. The lanes, the downs, the tumbling streams were all there, to be tamed and enjoyed as much as possible in the likeness of home."
Shimla is the capital of Himachal Pradesh and a major travel hill station in India. Shimla is also an important administrative centre. It has been variously described as the Indian Capua, Mount Olympus and the Abode of the Little Tin Gods. At the other end is Sir Edward Lutyen’s (the architect of New Delhi) snooty remark – "If I had been told it had all been built by monkeys, I would have said, what wonderful monkeys, they must be shot in case they do it again."!! Shimla and attention have always courted each other.
The city spreads over a 12km ridge with just two main roads – The Mall which runs from the far west to the lower eastern side, and the Cart Road which circles the southern part of Shimla. This is where the railway station and the bus and taxi stands are located. The crescent of the wooded Ridge stretches from the lofty 2476 m high Jakhu Hill and Chhota Shimla in the east, to the Observatory (2,148 m) and Prospect hills (2,176 m) in the west. The best time to travel to Shimla is in autumn, when the days are warm and bright and the nights crisp and cool. Summer sees a burgeoning tourist population and this is precisely why you should avoid going there at this time.
The people of HP are simple and warm. They feel strongly about their natural and cultural heritage so do not in any way belittle their customs or rituals. Norms of dress and behaviour are pretty relaxed in Shimla, as the tourist traffic every year has made the place almost cosmopolitan. A word of caution, however, don’t travel to the interiors of the state without a reliable and authorized tourist guide and also beware of touts.
Shimla - the Summer Capital of British Raj
There probably isn’t one mountain freak in India who hasn’t set foot in Shimla. Having been the official summer capital of the British Raj, it is among the largest and most popular hill stations in the country today.
Shimla (formerly spelt Simla) is set amidst spectacular hills and seeped in an aura of crumbling colonial charm. More than a government seat, it worked as the perfect setting for romance in the days of the British.
The scenic landscape, the fabulous weather and the more relaxed social norms spelt love with a capital.
Far away from the censorious eyes of Delhi and Calcutta, hot-blooded men and women indulged in drinking, gambling, and all sorts of licentious behaviour.
Shimla was indeed the hotbed of passion and gossip, the lovely Mall being the centre of all action.
To the writer Rudyard Kipling, it was a place of illicit romance. In story after story in his Plain Tales from the Hills, the same plot repeats itself.
After the sweltering boredom of the plains, the young officer goes up to Shimla where, bowled over by the sudden glut of young English beauties, he falls in love with a Mrs Hakusbee or a Mrs Reiver: ‘He rode with her and walked with her, and picnicked with her, and tiffined at Peliti’s with her, till people raised their eyebrows and said "Shocking!"’
Shimla was once part of the Nepalese kingdom and called Shyamala (another name for goddess Kali). The British ‘discovered’ it in 1819.
After they laid down the Kalka-Shimla railway line in 1903, Shimla became a second home for all those escaping the heat of the Indian summer
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