Night is falling as we arrive in Shimla, but I can see the town, much larger than I imagined, sprawling over the surrounding hillsides. Much of this development is recent and the original colonial buildings rise above the station to Observatory Hill. It’s topped with the Viceregal Lodge, the summer residence of the Indian Viceroy, who ruled the Indian subcontinent, a fifth of the world’s population, from here between 1888 until 1947.
Next morning I climb up to get a closer look. It’s a rather dour mock Tudor baronial castle, all turrets and gables built out of local grey sandstone. It was built to Viceroy Lord Dufferin’s design in 1888 and was meant to remind him of home and impress visiting dignitaries. After independence it passed over to the Indian government, but it’s now occupied by a local university. You can only visit a few of its 140 rooms including the teak panelled central Hall, and there’s an exhibition of old photographs.
Along the Mall Road, Shimla’s main artery, the 1887 Gaiety Theatre, which witnessed the premiere of Kipling’s first play, has been recently restored and the half-timbered Tudor style Town Hall is also being spruced up. Scandal Point, the main square, where once girls, just out from the UK, made eyes at eligible young bachelors, is still bustling, but many of the old colonial buildings are no more than empty shells. Of course the Raj ended 70 years ago, but its legacy lives on in the Kalka-Shimla railway.