Tuesday 30th April - Simla

Our guide met us.  A pleasant man but very quiet and not very forthcoming - not usually a good trait for a guide.  His name was John also, it turned out that he was a Catholic.  He was very Nepalese looking and I suspect probably made a good guide for trekkers & climbers.

Our first stop today was the Himachal Pradesh State Museum.  This was located in an old style British residence on the top of a nearby hill next to a very large concrete telecomms tower. The museum contained a collection of archaelogical and ethnographic exhibits.  All the displays were in some need of updating and the whole building had a scruffy looking apearance.

Our guide’s commentary was limited to pointing at the exhibits and saying ‘very old things’, until, that is, we got to a large photo of his village, then he became quite animated and spoke for some time.  His village is situated about 320Km distant on the Napalese border.  The border being formed by a range of mountains which rise steeply directly behind the plateau on which the village sits.

John’s father came to Simla when he got married to work, and he converted to Catholocism to get his children a free education. When John is not a guide he has a business repairing cigarette lighters and torches!

From the grounds of the museum there was a good view of the mountains and we got our (as it turned out) only view of snow on distant peaks.  At the gate of the museum was an old post box from the British era. A red cylinder with a large silver crown on the top. Apparently the only one left.

After the museum we went to the Viceregal Lodge. This was perhaps the highlight of Simla.  It is a large Victorian pile built from the local stone.  The interior is clad in polished Burmese teak, from the panelling to the balustrades and the full length COrinthian pilasters. The building is currently used as a  post-docv institute for social sciences and humanities.

The lodge is situated on top of a hill above Simla and approached by twin drives which come up either side and meet outside what appears to be the old coach house but now houses the campus fire station.  The gardens are very well maintained and obviously much pride is taken in the whole property.  It was extended in 1927 in a manner which is consistent with the design of the original building.

Only the ground floor was open to visitors, as the upper floors were in use by the ‘students’. Those rooms which were open consisted of the present day library, which used to be the ballroom, and the conference room where the Simla conference took place. We also saw the room where the partition was decided - indeed the table upon which it was signed.