Chapter
1
Our Hometown Shimla
Shimla, the salubrious city in the northwest Himalayas at
an altitude of 7,000 feet was seat of governance of the British India from 1864
to 1947. It is here that the British came to save themselves from the summer
heat of the plains for over one hundred years. Lieutenant Alexander Gerard and Lieutenant Patrick Gerard
(popularly referred to as Gerard brothers) of the 27th Native Infantry, both
surveyors, first eyed this spot in and around 1817. They were on mission to
survey the conquered lands and the entire Sutlej corridor. They arrived in the
spring of 1817 at the present day Shimla. They were known to have camped on the
side of the Jakkho hill on a clearing not very far from the present day Ridge.
On return to their home base they paid glowing tributes of that area. It is
they, who gave the eyewitness account of the Shyamala Devi temple in the
vicinity. The then Political Officer at Sabathu, Lieutenant Ross
could not help but make a trip to this spot himself. As a political officer of
this area, although this area belonged to the Maharaja of Patiala and Rana of
Keonthal, yet he was in-charge. A year later he built a wooden-thatch shack, at
that spot which Gerard brothers had described so eloquently. To build this
temporary shack, he sought the permission of Raja of Keonthal, who readily
agreed with a stipulation that no large number of trees be cut and no cow or ox
be slaughtered. Three summers later Lieutenant Pratt Kennedy the new Political Officer built a
wooden two-story house, large enough to accommodate a few war invalids
convalescing after wars in the plains. He named this house after himself,
"The Kennedy House". Until a few years back this house stood on the
southern slopes closer to the today's Legislative building. It is unlikely that
the later day Kennedy House was the same construction as Pratt Kennedy built in
1822. It probably was enlarged and improved upon over the years, but its
location never changed.
Unique Geography of Shimla
Geographically, this city of
140,000 souls today is situated on a transverse Himalayan range in the
northwest of India at an altitude of 7,000 feet with River Sutlej only 30 miles
away and river Jamuna much farther away on the other side of the mountain
ranges. The crescent shaped east-west Shimla hilltop has the fortune of north
side draining into River Sutlej and ending up in the Arabian Sea and the south
side draining into small rivulets & streams, which join River Jamuna and
ultimately into the Bay of Bengal. The city itself is situated on seven hill
spurs. These spurs are interconnected and surround the city area. The
connection from Observatory Hill spur to Chotta Shimla on the southern side of
Jakkho Hill is a crescent shape area, which makes this city. The city is
irregularly built following the contours of the mountain with area closer to
the present day Ridge top being the high point. It was here the main shopping
district of Shimla was located. The south side slopes, houses the bulk of the
native population and other shopping districts. During the British Raj, the
Ridge top and north side was the exclusively the preserve of the British.
Because of its temperate
weather, Shimla has a fitting cover of greenery and vegetation. It is draped in forests of pine, rhododendron, oak, and other
trees. Of the total 9,950 hectares of
Shimla Planning Area, about 1,475 hectares are urban. Rest is vegetation.
Its temperate climate attracted the British in early
eighteenth century and hordes of tourists now. An early British account by J.
F. Wyman writing late nineteenth century about
Shimla said, "The exercise at any rate (relocating to Shimla in summer)
seemed healthy, for everybody had the rosiest of complexion and cheeks of young
ladies absolutely invited kisses".
Shimla's future was sealed for the better when anxious
British wished to occupy all the lands vacated by the Gorkhas to re-route the
wool trade from Yarkand (Tibet) via Bushahar to the plains of Punjab. Its route
after Raja Sarsar Chand of Kangra became the hills strongman late eighteenth
century was directed along the River Beas via Rohtang, Kullu, Kangra and plains
of Punjab. Maharaja Ranjit Singh later on for a short period of time re-routed
it to Amritsar via Kashmir. British wanted this trade back thru their own
territory of Bushahar & Shimla hence occupied these lands expeditiously.
The two-way trade at Bushahar early nineteenth century was about Rupees 150,000
of wool came from Tibet and about Rupees 30,000 of grain and other merchandise
went back to Tibet. Lack of communications was one reason for this imbalance.
The British were anxious to gain control of this trade and redress the balance
of trade situation. It was a win-win situation for them.
British High Command Comes to Shimla
Hence in 1827, Lord Amerhest paid Shimla a visit. His
motives were two fold. First to see for himself the much talked about beauty of
Shimla. Second to gain first hand account of the wool trade. He authorized the
then Political Agent at Sabathu to open negotiations with Maharaja of Patiala
& Rana of Keonthal to exchange land with British and hand over Shimla Ilaqa
to the British[1]. In 1830/31
the deal was completed. In 1832 Lord William
Bentinck visited Shimla and stayed for the summer thus establishing the
tradition of the British Governor General spending summer in the area. This
tradition continued. The other high officials of the East India Company
including the Commander-in-Chief followed him. With these visits, Shimla's
importance multiplied several fold. By 1841 about a hundred cottages of timber,
if possible corrugated sheets and local materials had been built. These were
owned and lived by the British gentry. A few more cottages were rented out to
other high officials at considerable rent.
All this construction till
about 1845 was in the vicinity of where Deen Dayal Hospital (Ripon Hospital) is
located.
The supply route (mule, camel
and horse trains) either coming from Bilaspur or Sabathu merged at Boileauganj. Until the Hindustan-Tibet Road was completed in
1848-52, the mule/camel trains took the Arki/Bilaspur route. Then these supply
trains preceded to a clearing closer to the Ridge area. A few years later these
were redirected to another area, which houses the present day Edward Gunj. It
is here that the animals were parked, pastured and readied for the return
journey. The supplies they brought were weighed and transferred to the waiting
customers. The retail or the shopping market was located at the present day
Ridge. It extended all the way to the present day Municipal Office Building. In
this area in 1842, one could count about:
a). Ten British owned retailers (See details Part B) who had their main
operations in Calcutta but branch operation in Shimla, b).
About ten grain and merchandise retailers (all Suds/Soods)[2]
and c). Same number of craft operated
operations owned and operated by Punjabi Muslims[3].
It was a ramshackle affair where shops of timber-thatch construction with other
local materials had tough time standing up to the weather. When these shops in
November were closed for winter, all merchandise had to be sold or taken back
to the plains. Hence, the prices were high.
The above price structure of
everything including housing, merchandise and clothing resulted, even by
British standards, Shimla being a preserve of rich and famous. A rough estimate
of 1860 indicated that if your income on a monthly basis was below Rupees
1,500, you could not afford to make a home in Shimla. Lesser officers came for
a visit and stayed for a short duration and left.
Social Culture & that Scandalous Living in Shimla
With its aristocratic set up, Shimla
was destined to become a glamour city. From 1822 to 1841, the growth was slow.
There were only 100 houses built. More were built in the years after completion
of the Hindustan-Tibet road. Throughout the British stay in Shimla, population
was heavily of female persuasion. Most men were away on assignment. Most women
partied, indulged in extramarital affairs. After polo as top sport, adultery
came second behind. Rudyard Kipling through stories
touching on adultery, madness, alcoholism and death, he paints a deeply
unsettling portrait of the British inhabitants of the colonial Shimla. Apparently it was not only the
unattached wives who created that atmosphere, it was the men who encouraged it.
In 1857 there were 800 British subjects in Shimla, of which a bigger percentage
was women. This population increased to 1,550 by 1881. Most women in this era
and later were unattached socialite of England who had come to India on the
company paid scholarship of husband hunting for one year. Their purpose was two fold, first to
prevent the eligible British bachelors marrying the local girls and create a
new race of mixed blood, second to give company to the isolated pockets of
young men who were far away from home and give them feel of home. Some records indicate that East
India Company would indirectly advertise for young women to a "Fishing
Fleet" to India on a scholarship of £300 for a year. Each ship will carry
20 young women. Several ships would leave port in a year. They ended up in
Calcutta and some upper society women would end up in Shimla. If they got
hitched in a year, the company celebrated, otherwise they returned to England.
In India,
the young and the old men pursued these girls with vigour. Since on arrival
they stayed in the confines of the British residential area, hence were trapped
by married men, hence scandals were in plenty. The
drama clubs like the Gaiety Theatre and its previous incarnations was the best
place to pick up these cuties. As men and women partied, they played funny
games. Women would sit down on a large round table with their legs without
stocking hanging down. Men, blind folded, would come one by one and try to name
the girl by the feel of their legs. The right answer was duly rewarded and
wrong answer sent him back to the line, until he got it right.
A bride of the British Raj: Iris Butler
on her wedding day in 1927, one
These
Fishing Fleets which had begun in late eighteenth century, continued till
1900s. By then, steam ship and Suez Canal had reduced the time of travel of
four months earlier to a month hence these expeditions were stopped. Now men
could travel to England to get married. Still the Shimla British population
heavily weighted in favour of women continued its fascination with extra
marital affairs and womanizing on unprecedented scale. The
story during that era was suppressed as much as possible to avoid scandals but
truth began emerging soon after the British left India for good. Writer and journalist Anne de Courcy[5] has begun documenting these events.
The official details of these fishing fleets is burried deep inside the British
Colonial liberaries.
Lawyers
locally were kept busy with divorcees and other related matters all the time.
Lord Curzon, later Viceroy was big on womanizing. He and his daughter's sex
exploits have been well documented.
During other times, Men and women who were not on military
or other duties did organize the drama club. The
Gaiety Theatre, which had existed since 1838 near Ladies Park produced plays of
high calibre. Later the Gaiety Theatre building was built in 1887 at its
present location. It gave young and enterprising men and women something better
to do. Prior to 1887, Hindi theatre, if not encouraged but was also was not
permitted. The Hindi theatre was directed to go to other places other than
Gaiety Theatre like Princess of Wales Theatre and Eliphinston Theatre. In 1925,
all doors for Hindi theatre were closed completely. By then Talkies were fast
taking over. The Princess of Wales Theatre became Regal Cinema and Eliphinston
Theatre became the Ritz Cinema. The Gaiety Theatre continued its operation as
usual always busy with English plays.
It is during this British flirtatious living that the
story of the "Scandal Point" was born. It is attributed to Maharaja
of Patiala in early nineteen hundreds. Storytellers have linked him to the
Viceroy's daughter (Lord Curzon - 1899-1905). But truth is far from it. The
Maharaja of that era (Maharaja Rajinder Singh - 1876-1900 and his Successor
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh 1900-1938) was too young and was not stupid enough to
try anything with an all-powerful man of the "Raj". These Maharajas
were a small fry as compared to the Viceroy or any other high officials of the
Raj. Moreover they were too friendly with the British Empire, receiving
accolades of praises for their services that even if such thought crossed their
mind, they would not dare to implement it. But this intersection of Scandal
Point bears an imaginary story associated with the Maharaja. It amuses the
tourist and also it amused the author when he was growing up in Shimla in early
fifties.
[1] Imperial
Gazetteer 1905
[2] Nidha Mull Puran Mull, Surdha
Mull, Muaja Mull & co, Thunia Mull & Co., Sarafa Mull & co, Sunder
Mull & co, Jalla Mall & Co, Luder Mall & Co, Kiroo Mall, Nauditta
Mall, Lakkhu Mall, etc.
[4] From Mail
online by Annabel Venning dated July 6, 1912
[5] The Fishing
Fleet - Husband hunting in the Raj. - Book published by Amazon.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment