Sensational Shimla

Shimla must be our favourite place in India.  We spent 12 days in this fabulous hill station and loved it.  We headed to Shimla to beat the heat of Delhi but Shimla turned out to be so much more than a respite to the heat wave on the plains. 

Shimla was the summer capital of India during the years of the British Raj. The entire government moved from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Shimla every year around April through October. It is this very British looking town teaming with Indian tourist here on their summer holiday. 

India or Britian?

 

Stained glass windows of Christ Church. Kipling's father designed some of the area around the altar.

 

Hills of  Shimla

Throngs of tourists

Shimla through the Deodars

The weather was lovely - mid 20's to low 30's - and the city of 170,000 is nestled on steep hillsides with endless multi-storey hotels that have a bottom entrance and top entrance from different winding roads that zig zag throughout the city. The air was very hazy so we couldn't see much of the famed views of the mountains but it is a very pretty place all the same.  Shimla is known for its Deodar cedar trees and they are magnificent, rising 150m with the ubiquitous monkeys frolicking through them. The monkeys frolic through the city streets as well.  They are everywhere and provide great amusement with their naughty antics and by their everyday chilling out in sweet family groups.

Shaded roads under the Deodars

Who's got fleas

We got to Shimla by taking the early morning train to Kalka, on the Punjab - Himchal Pradesh border. The train was a 1st class AC chair car and the service really good. Indian Railways has redeemed itself after our horror trip to Varanasi.  The ride and the service of morning tea and breakfast to your chair was tempered somewhat  by the view out the window,  hundreds of people squatting in ditches and on rubbish tips answering natures call. So as I am having a nice cup of tea I am seeing bare bottoms relieving themselves because their homes have no toilets. Around half of households in Delhi have no toilet and fewer still in the country.  I don't know if anyone else on the train felt guilty being treated to such nice conditions while such poverty was outside, but I certainly did.  The new Prime Minister, Modi, campaigned on ‘toilets before temples’ and I  hope he makes some headway on this issue.

From Kalka we transferred to the World Heritage narrow gauge "toy" train,  It was built by the British in 1903 to transport the government to Shimla for the summer.  More cute than comfortable it zig-zagged up the mountains going through over 100 tunnels. The trip took about 5 hours, 3 hours too long but fun anyway.  Without the haze the views would have been quite spectacular.  We took the train again on our return to Delhi but this time got comfortable soft seats in the chair car with waiter service.  There is quite a nice, but hour long Youtube video about this train and Shimla:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFHw3L1FXvw

 

Kalka - Shimla toy train

The infamous Barog Tunnel.  The engineer killed himself because the two ends of the tunnel didn't meet.

This place is just loaded with history.  The ghosts of the British Raj and great events are everywhere.  We took a tour of the Gaiety Theatre.  This was the main cultural centre for the British community in colonial times and the home of their amateur dramatic club.  The beautiful grey slate and sandstone building had been left to ruin after Independence when it was under the care of the Indian army dramatic club but about 10 years ago it was restored and is fantastic.  We spent about 2 hours looking around.  The tour guide, a dapper retired Indian lawyer, was so thrilled to have some people interested in the history that he took us to the nooks and crannies that no one  else sees.  

The seating for the Gaiety Theatre

Restored ceiling

Gaiety Theatre from the Ridge Road

Sadly most Indians are not interested in their history and for the Gaiety Theatre only want to know if some Bollywood star was there.  Speaking of stars, Michael Palin did a great segment on the Gaiety Theatre in his travelogue series Himalayas.   In the exhibit hall of the theatre there were all these old publicity stills from the various plays performed in the early 1900's with the names of the actors underneath identifying Mrs. This and Col. or Major That.  Fantastic!  You could just imagine the life they lead back then when Shimla was the summer capital.  

 

Publicity photos for the amateur productions

On the Western side of the Mall road about 2.5km from Scandal Point (the  main town centre near the Gaiety Theatre) is the old Vice Regal Lodge where the Viceroy lived and worked.  It was designed as a Scottish  castle and  is magnificent with stonework columns and turrets outside, all teak and walnut inside and beautiful gardens all around.  Not only was this the summer residence (April to October) of the Viceroy and Indian government from about 1890 until Independence but it was also the location of deliberations and development of Indian Independence and partition.  There were pictures of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Montebatten on the grounds and it looked just the same today.  

The building is now the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS), a place for scholars to come to do research in the humanities and social sciences.  The Institute accommodates 60 scholars who are selected by a vetting panel in Delhi.  They are given a room and stipend and can stay for 6 months to 2-3 years, in which time they are expected to have written a book which is published by the Institutes press.  The program is not restricted to Indians and anyone can apply post their doctoral studies.  It is a wonderful opportunity to research in such beautiful and auspicious surroundings.
On our way to the IIAS we stopped at a bit of a driveway / terrace to admire the view and an old gentleman came out of the house.  He started chatting with us asking us where we were from and the usual questions and mentioned he had "lived in England for 15 long years but never been to Australia".  After England he had come directly to Shimla in 1969 to do research on AO Hume.  We knew about Hume as we had stumbled on his old house, Rothney Castle, and then looked him up on the web.  He was the founder of the Indian National Congress and a renowned amateur ornithologist.

The old man was then so excited that we knew about him that he brought out a thick book published by Oxford University Press that he had co-authored entitled The Selected Letters of AO Hume.  We didn't catch his name, being hard to spell, but vowed to look up the book and find out more about this amazing 84 year old.  We didn't have long to wait for as we were taking the official tour of the Vice Regal Lodge (In Hindi and English - Hindi for the 50 Indians in the group and English for the 4 Westerners), the old man passed us on the way to the library (one of the biggest in India and housed in what was the ballroom and dinning room - book stacks instead of dinning tables and chairs but the crystal chandeliers still hanging and providing light).  We asked the tour guide about him and it turns out he is a famous historian and former director of the Institute with several well regarded books to his name.  The guide wrote down his name and address for us (Professor SR Mehrotra) and we looked him up on the web.  It really was a special encounter and fuelled my interest in the history of this place.

On the Eastern side of the mall is Jackhu hill covered in Deodar trees.  At the top of the steep climb is a temple and a huge statue of Hanaman, the monkey god.  Appropriately the place is teeming with monkeys who have learned to be very naughty and steal people’s sunglasses, knowing they will be given treats while people try and entice the monkeys to give up their prize.

Hanuman

Hanuman overlooking the town - reminiscent of the Christ figure in Rio

The Indian Coffee House became a favourite haunt of ours.  This is run by the Coffee Growers Co-operative and was started about 60 - 50 years ago  They serve great coffee and it is a classic old shop frequented by lovely old gentlemen from the old school - very dapper and wonderful to watch them chatting and doing business.

The waiter in his uniform

We could have spent even more time in Shimla, exploring the hills and researching the history.  We were very sorry to leave but there are more places to see in our travels.

Gwalior and Delhi

It continued to be hot in Gwalior and Delhi and we found out that we were in the middle of the worst heatwave in 20 years.  Just our luck (or more to the point bad planning to come to India during their summer).  So again sightseeing is only possible in the mornings, and then we retreat to the a/c of the hotel for the afternoon and early evening.  Interestingly a heat wave here seems to be classified as consecutive days over 40^o C, whereas in Australia it is over 35^o C and in England over 30^o C. 

Gwalior was a bit of a pilgrimage for us Flashman fans as it was the place where Rani  Laxshmibai, the great warrior Queen of Jhansi, was killed during the Indian mutiny or as it is referred to in India, the first War of Independence. So our first outing was to her memorial and perpetual flame in a park just down the road from our hotel.

Rani Laxshmibai memorial

We then went to a nearby mall in search of a/c and iced coffee.  Ever since coming to India Bob has been pestering me to get some Indian clothes.  I must admit us Westerners look pretty daggy compared to the beautiful outfits of Indian women.  Interestingly even in the big cities, the majority of Indian women wear some form of traditional dress.  Anyway I wasn’t going to get a sari, as pretty as they are.  I was not going to wear 6-9 metres of cloth around me in 40+ heat.  However the kurta top, dupatta scarf and leggings (rather than the baggier shalwar pants) looked comfortable and I bought some at the mall and wore the outfit that night to dinner.  It was surprisingly cool in the hot weather.

going native in Gwalior

The next day we tried for the Fort in Gwalior.  This fort is very impressive coming into the city by train (by the way Indian Railways continues to improve and the train from Agra to Gwalior was very comfortable and served meals to your seat with the service known as ‘Meals on Wheels’).  All of north India is a flat, dry, dusty plain but the Fort at Gwalior is built on a high bluff rising up straight out of the plain.  We got a late start to the fort as we were trying to plan onward travel to Rajasthan and didn’t arrive at the fort until around 10 am.  No vehicles are allowed up to the top so we had to hike up the steep road.  Halfway up Bob was really feeling the heat and we had to give up on the fort until early the next day.

Gwalior Fort on the bluff

East Gate

Wall of Gwalior Fort

The next day we decided to approach the Fort by the West gate.  We were there by 6.30 am and the place was full of early morning walkers.  The temperature was still in the mid 30’s but quite tolerable.  Walking up the hill are Jain statues carved into the rocks – smaller but reminiscent of the big Buddha figures the Taliban blew up a decade ago.

The fort complex contains a mother/daughter temple with dancing girls carved into the stone, a Sikh temple and a fabulous palace.

In front of the palace - of course any flat space is good for a game of cricket

Wall of Palace

Water Well for the Fort.  No they are not fish but plastic bottles

The fort proper required an entrance fee of 250 rupees.  This is only about $4 but it was 25 times the amount charged for Indians.  Most entry fees in India have a foreigner fee that is about double what Indians pay but this was OTT.  On principle Bob refused to pay and as the fort looked in fairly bad repair and it was getting very hot we weren’t sorry to call it a day.

On our last day in Gwalior we visited Jai Vilias Palace. This is the current residence of the Maharajah of Gwalior, the Sindia family.  We suspended our egalitarian judgemental thoughts of the contrast of the Maharajah’s wealth and opulence to the poverty right outside the gate and really enjoyed this beautiful palace. It has 400 room, 40 of which are opened to the public.

 

Jai Vilias Palace

Bedroom

Old weapons, shields and banners

Silver Hindu shrine

Sitting room

Stained glass window

Toy silver train for passing the port at the dinning table  (train track on table seen through the glass case

famous chandeliers

Internal courtyard

To beat the heat while we were in Gwalior we found a nice upmarket hotel with a good restaurant that served Continental food.  As much as we both like Indian food, after 9 weeks we are longing for some fresh green salads, meat and no spice. The Central Park Hotel became our favourite place – too expensive to stay at but the restaurant was quite reasonable and they made a mean Cosmopolitan. 

The next day we went to Delhi by train.  These trains around the capital keep getting better and better and are quite a comfortable way to travel.  New Delhi is a modern city with wide boulevards, cleanish streets and no cows, goats or pigs snuffling in piles of garbage that we have seen in other Indian cities.  The old Delhi still has this though.   We spent most of our time in Delhi trying to plan onward travel.  We got to know the very nice modern metro for getting around the city to embassies to apply for visas.

Delhi Metro

It was too hot to do much sightseeing so we sought out indoor attractions.  We went to the National Museum which I highly recommend.  There was a great exhibit of the ancient Harappa culture from 5000 years ago with wonderful miniature bronze and terracotta sculptures.  The most famous is of the dancing girl. 

5000 year old bronze - the dancing girl

The terracotta figures depicted everyday life. It struck me that the agricultural carts and ploughs and other tools are exactly the same as we see today.  So basically in food production India is still using the techniques of 5000 years ago.

We also went in the evening to the sound and light show at the Red Fort.  We were the only foreign visitors to the English language show but it was quite well done.  It was still 40^oC at 10pm but at least the sun wasn’t beating down.

The Red Fort in Delhi in the moonlight

We liked Gwalior and Delhi but Bob was really not doing well in the heat so we decided not to continue on with our plans to tour Rajasthan but head to the hills of cool Shimla.

Agra

Back to some more reliable internet so we will catch up on the blog.  Our last few weeks in India were spent enduring the worst heat wave in 20 years.  The weather has been in the mid to high 40’s everyday so our sightseeing was restricted to early mornings and the afternoon taking nanna naps in the a/c of our hotel (when there wasn't a power cut) to recover.   
We spent five days in this major tourist town.  This is the off season of the Indian summer and there were very few foreign tourists, but lots of Indians on their summer holidays.  Agra is a nice town with wide streets, reduced amounts of rubbish and feral animals and quite pleasant to get around.  The hotels are of a higher standard than we have had so far and we were pretty comfortable inside despite the extreme heat and daily power outages.

We ticked off the major tourist attractions:  The Red Fort – all red sandstone and white marble.

Gate of the Red Fort

The chambers of the Sultan, Shah Jahan. Beautiful inlaid marble

The Taj Mahal – any description I can give would be totally inadequate.  It is simply exquisite.  The inlaid marble, the fine detail, the symmetry – all perfect.

The Taj Mahal - fountains working

Bob in contemplation on his 4th visit

The fine detail of carved and inlaid marble

marble screens

the mosque

Side tower overlooking the River Yamuna with the Red Fort in the hazy distance

Fatehpur Sikri - the abandoned town of the 16^th Century Mogul Emperor, Akbar, which lies about an hour outside of Agra.  On the way I saw a new sight – a wagon being towed by camels.  Within the Palace of red sandstone is a tomb of a Sufi saint.  Outside the tomb some musicians set up for an impromptu concert.  The 45+ degree heat didn’t seem to deter their enthusiasm.

Camel cart

Gate to Fatehpur Sikri with donkey train

Courtyard

Ruins looking out onto the dry plains of Northern India

Sufi Tomb

Musicians

Last day in Agra we saw the Tomb of I’timad-ud-Daualh, ‘the baby Taj’, a smaller and cruder version of the Taj.  Some think it was a practice piece for the real Taj but really no comparison.  

Next stop Gwalior.