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LIFESTYLE TRAVEL
A taste of the Raj in the Himalayas [by Joan Scobey] Dawdle over breakfast on the slate terrace of Wildflower Hall, only a low stone wall planted with rosy geraniums between you and a wide-screen Himalayan panorama rolling out to distant, snow-covered summits. You are at eye level with these craggy peaks in India’s northern hill country, higher than the eagles wheeling through the crisp air. If you feel a bit heady, chalk it up to the 8,250-foot altitude as well as the breathtaking setting.
Its towers
tually built on the footprint of Lord Kitchen-
massages and other holistic treatments
and turrets
er’s home. It is set on 22 acres of fragrant
based on Western and Asian therapies, swim
rising above
cedar and pine trees, adjacent to a 12,000-
laps in the heated indoor pool or loll in the
a steep,
acre preserve of dense evergreen forest that
outdoor infinity whirlpool and gaze at that
forested
shelters bear, langur monkeys, antelope and
blockbuster Himalayan view.
slope of
even hard-to-spot leopards. Look for traces of the authentic Raj in
the Middle Himalayas,
Though much taller than the original, Wild-
Shimla, where British colonials transplanted
Wildflower
flower Hall recalls colonial-era hill house
a bit of England for their summer comfort.
Hall is
architecture, from the slate-clad exterior and
The town spills down steep hills, with mul-
Oberoi
narrow iron balconies to its pitched roofs.
tistory houses stacked tightly in tiers on the
Hotel’s
Inside, teak floors, Oriental rugs, clubby
slopes. On top, the main road, The Mall, runs
homage to the Raj. Actually, it is barely five
chairs, green baize-covered game tables and
for about three miles, in the middle widening
years old, but its roots go back to 19th cen-
a portrait of Lord Kitchener himself over a
to a mile-long promenade called the Ridge.
tury colonial days when the British ruled In-
welcoming fireplace evoke the spirit of the
It is anchored at one end by the golden stone
dia and made the nearby town of Shimla the
Raj.
Christ Church and half-timbered public library, and at the other by the Tourist Office
summer capital. For six months every year from 1865 to 1947, the government fled the
Lord Kitch-
and Scandal Point, once the meeting place
steamy heat of the Indian capitals, first Cal-
ener would
for assignations and gossip-mongering.
cutta and then Delhi, for the Himalayas and
be proud. He
did the government’s business in the cool hill
might not
Along The
station of Shimla (then spelled Simla).
recognize
Mall are
the marble
handcrafts
Two of the famous names during the Raj, as
bathrooms,
and cafes,
the British colonial rule was called, were
satellite
wood-gabled
Lord Kitchener and Lord Curzon. When
television,
shops and
Kitchener arrived in Shimla in 1902 as India’s
DVD players and other high-tech amenities of
restaurants,
newly appointed commander-in-chief, Cur-
the 87-room, fully wired hotel, but surely he
a touristy pe-
zon was viceroy of India. They were soon em-
would appreciate the sporting opportunities
broiled in a military controversy and became
in this glorious mountain playground: river
with only hints of its glory days as a once-
bitter enemies. Curzon lived in the official
rafting, mountain biking, horseback riding,
stylish British shopping street. Below The
residence, Viceregal Lodge. Kitchener rented
tennis, ice skating and golf on rolling mead-
Mall, via steep alleys and stairways, are the
Wildflower Hall, a forested mountaintop
ows of a century-old course, not to mention
food markets and stalls of the lustier Indian
retreat 1,000 feet above Shimla so, the story
treks through terraced fields and villages
Lower Bazaar that Rudyard Kipling, who lived
goes, he could look down on Curzon.
and along forest trails edged with wild flow-
in Shimla for 14 years, described a century
ers and strawberries.
ago in “Kim.”
small hotel that replaced it, but the present
Too active for you? Hedonists can head for
“He led the horses below the main road into
Wildflower Hall stands on that same site, ac-
the Banyan Tree spa to sample ayurvedic
the lower Simla bazaar - the crowded rab-
destrian zone
Kitchener’s villa is long since gone, as is a
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