The story of Shimla between the covers

Having been the summer capital of the country during the Raj days,the town is frequented by the decedents of many legendary British personalities to find their roots in some of the vintage houses and old cottages — many of these either reduced to ashes by devastating fires or replaced by multi-storey structures.

Says Tourism Director Arun Sharma,who was the brain behind the project: “We have already got orders for 400 copies. I believe every visitor to Shimla is going to ask for the book. The money generated from the sale will be send to a special corpus fund and will be utilised only for tourism promotion in Shimla.” It has taken a little more than 10 months to compile the book,which is in fact a prelude to a larger project — “Har Gaon Ki Kahani”,a bank of stories on some of the little known rural destinations.

The book gives details on how Shimla got its name. “The name of the original village is variously reported as Shimlu,Shemalaya,Semla,Shumla and Shemla. Another variation ascribes its origin is Shamla — blue or dark lady,another name for the Hindu Goddess,Kali,who is held in high veneration in the hills. As the ‘summer capital’,the spelling was Simla and official addition of the ‘h’ made it Shimla in the 1980s,” says the book’s introduction.

The first house,built by a European in 1822,was ‘Kennedy House’,which was the residence of Charles Pratt Kennedy,the newly appointed political officer to the hill states. This was located at the site where Shimla now has the parking lot of the state Vidhan Sabha. In 1827,Shimla was visited by Lord Amherst,the Governor-General of India,and the following year,Commander-in-Chief Lord Combermere came to the hill town. Combermere was responsible for creating the trace of what is The Mall today.

Lord Combermere also built the first bridge in the town,which still bears his name. This provided a vital connection to the town from the adjacent Chotta Shimla. The commander-in-chief later built a large water tank at the place where the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex now stands. This was the town’s primary source of water before piped water became available. For a while,the stretch of road near the bridge — the area around the Lift — was called the Combermere Road.

Since Lord Amherst’s visit to India’s Independence,with a few interludes,it was from Shimla that the British ruled India for the better part of every year. The moment temperatures rose on the plains,long convoys would start the 1,200-mile journey from Calcutta (now Kolkata),then the seat of British power in India.

“The government would reach these heights in early April and remain there till late October. Timed with the arrival of the government,shops would reopen after remaining shut for the winter. The traders from Kangra would return and those who sought employment as coolies,domestic staff and rickshaw pullers,would migrate from the surrounding hills,” says Arun Sharma,quoting text from the book.