COLIN SIMPSON

To get the distance into perspective, France extends 962 kilometres from east to west, while Texas is 1,387 kilometres wide. And then imagine that each autumn, everyone moved back to the capital.

All this was happening just a few years after railways were introduced, long before the widespread use of the internal combustion engine and nearly 40 years before the first manned flight.

It’s what used to take place in India in the colonial era after Shimla, a city in the foothills of the Himalayas, was declared the summer capital in 1864. The decision was made so that the government officials of British India could escape the searing summertime heat in the capital Calcutta, now known as Kolkata. The territory these migratory administrators controlled included modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

I found all this both intriguing and rather crazy when I read about it, and was keen to visit the “queen of hills”. It’s a spectacular and scenic place, much larger than I had imagined – population 170,000 – with closely packed houses and other buildings that spill down the hillsides.

When the British took control of the area where Shimla – named after a Hindu goddess – now stands, it was covered with thick forests and had a few scattered hamlets. Trees were quickly cleared to turn it into a hill station and make room for reminders of home such as Christ Church and the Gaiety Theatre.

Oddly, the church has a sign asking visitors to remove their shoes, something that’s more usually associated with Muslim rather than Christian worship. The stained glass windows are the work of Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard.

The church and theatre stand in an area called the Ridge that adjoins the Mall, the city’s main shopping street. This largely pedestrianised thoroughfare is the place to go if you want to eat, drink, pick up a few souvenirs or simply enjoy a pleasant stroll.

Another reminder of the colonial era is the Viceregal Lodge, the residence of the Viceroy of India under British rule. It’s a large, imposing pile built in a style that John Betjeman dubbed “Jacobethan” – a mix of Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture. It looked to me as if it would be more at home on some grand English country estate than next to the Himalayas, though there are good views of the mountains from the gardens.

Inside the lodge – also known as Rashtrapati Niwas – history hangs heavily in the air. It was the venue for the Shimla Conference in 1945, a failed attempt to settle the future of India, and the 1947 partition discussions. The table where the plans for partition – which were to have such tragic consequences – are believed to have been drawn up can still be seen at the lodge. Mahatma Gandhi visited the residence a number of times for talks with the viceroy of the day.

After independence, the lodge was used for a time as a summer retreat by successive Indian presidents before being handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.

Shimla has witnessed other moments of history. In 1972, for example, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistan’s President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto signed a peace treaty there.

Today the city is a popular tourist destination and continues to give respite from the heat of the plains. We visited India in October when the weather normally turns cooler, but temperatures were unseasonably high in Delhi and other low-lying cities, so it was a relief to get there. It’s popular with hikers and anyone who appreciates breathing cool, fresh mountain air. Shimla was declared a smoke-free city in 2010 – smoking is prohibited in public places, there are restrictions on the sale of cigarettes, and tobacco adverts are banned.

Monkeys can be a bit of a nuisance. There are lots of them at the Jakhoo Temple, which is dedicated to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. A 33-metre high bright red statue of the deity towers above the temple, which stands on the slopes of Shimla’s highest peak, 2,455 metres above sea level.

Visitors are given sticks to keep the monkeys at bay by striking the ground to make a noise. (The sticks are NOT used to hit the animals – no monkeys were harmed in the making of this blog post.) If the monkeys get too close they often snatch sunglasses and other items, and expect to be given food in exchange for returning the belongings.

We spent three relaxing nights in Shimla – but the benefits were quickly forgotten when we returned to the exciting, exhilarating but exhausting sprawl of Delhi. It’s true what they say about India being a land of contrasts – no two cities could be more different.

Top tip: Travel to the city by car, not the Kalka-Shimla Railway. The so-called toy train is slow, busy and uncomfortable and has limited space for luggage. We took a short ride on it, and a huge mound of suitcases piled up by the door fell across the carriage as soon as the train started moving. We travelled by standard train from Delhi to Kalka, where a driver picked us up and took us on a spectacular journey up to Shimla.

August 2019