My rather uncanny tryst with ‘Simla’
Manavjit Mann Kang
The mere mention of the word ‘Simla’ brings back beautiful memories and ‘rivers of nostalgia’.
My tryst with this gorgeous hill station has been rather uncanny. My first set of memories are from the early 1950s when I went to study there at the coveted Convent of Jesus and Mary, popularly known as ‘Chelsea’. Girls from elite families from all parts of the country were packed off to the hills for their education. So, I had classmates from ‘Bombay’, ‘Madras’, ‘Calcutta’, besides other cities.
I vividly recall boarding the Himalayan Express from the Kalka railway station along with my dear sister, Adesh. Even before the journey would begin her trumpet would start, and she wouldn’t stop wailing till we reached the Summer Hill. She absolutely despised being away from the comfortable environs of our home, sweet home, in Karnal. Coolies would be there in plenty at the station and we would walk all the way from the station till Ram Chander Chowk on foot.
Days at the boarding school were hectic but fun. Tuck would be merely Rs 2 a luxury back then. Shopping for perfume from Gaindamal Hemraj and lollipops and ‘bullseye’ candy from J.B. Mangharam was our idea of an outing.
Time flew past in a jiffy before we passed out from school. This meant bidding adieu to the hills.
I later went to Sacred Heart Convent, Dalhousie for my college. It was a rather strict institution and made me miss my days at Chelsea!
Soon, it was time for me to tie the nuptial knot. My parents found a charming young recruit in the Indian Forest Service from the PEPSU cadre as my life partner. As luck would have it, I found myself back at ‘Simla’ once again. Not as a student but as the wife of a civil servant.
I vividly recall putting up at the iconic residence ‘Talland’ when my husband was posted as DFO, Simla. Socialite evenings and musical soirees at the Amateur Dramatics Club or ‘Gaitey’, as we called it, were common.
After reorganisation of Punjab, my husband was allocated the Himachal cadre. Life’s like that! Our entire life was spent in the hills at different places like Chamba, Kullu etc. My husband went to serve as the principal chief conservator of forests of Himachal Pradesh before he retired.
Uncanny as it may sound, we found ourselves back at the same residence from where we started our journey together. Yes! “Talland’ it was! It was from here that my daughter was married off to a civil servant to start off her journey. That’s what they call ‘life completing a full circle’.
My husband and I decided to put in our life savings to buy a small little house in Shimla. That was our summer abode for many, many years after retirement. I have fond reminiscences of spending countless summers playing ludo & cards and baking brownies with my two little devils, my lovable grand kids. My husband bequeathed the house to our daughter — the apple of his eye.
Today, although my trips to Shimla have become less frequent but visiting our little abode to breathe in a lungful of fresh air is my antidote to all the depressing truths in life.
So much has changed ever since the letter ‘h’ was added to ‘Simla’. Many old-timers, my contemporaries despise the unchecked urbanisation and destruction of this hill resort. But I reckon change is the only constant and be it ‘Simla’ or ‘Shimla’ – the place was, is and will always be close to my heart.
MY FIRST SET OF MEMORIES ARE FROM THE EARLY 1950s WHEN I WENT TO STUDY THERE AT THE COVETED CONVENT OF JESUS AND MARY