New Book Release :
Simla - The Summer Capital Of British India
By Raaja Bhasin
Published by Rupa Publication (2011)
Rs. 316
Book Summary :
This is an extraordinary book that traces the extraordinary history of an extraordinary place. Exhaustively researched, insightful and accurate, the story of Simla is told with verve and accomplishment. From a nondescript village in the early nineteenth century Simla (now spelt Shimla), grew to become ‘the summer capital of British India’. From this town in the Lower Himalaya, a fifth of the human race found governance for a century. Simla may have been called the ‘summer capital’, but for all practical purposes this was the ‘real’ capital of India as the Government of India stayed there for the better part of every year moving down to Kolkata (Calcutta) and later New Delhi only for the winter months. In this brilliant recreation of those years of splendour and the process of change, a window is opened to a way of life and an age that has now vanished.
Exhaustively researched, insightful and accurate account of the early nineteenth century Simla (now spelt Shimla) that grew to become ‘the summer capital of British India’.
An engaging account of the stay of Englishmen in Simla
Paints a unique picture of Simla of the pre independence era
Studded with hilarious escapades of Englishmen
Exclusive collection of pictures enhances the quality quotient of the book
About The Author :
Raaja Bhasin has published five critically acclaimed books and several commissioned booklets. Around fifteen hundred of his articles, stories and reviews have appeared in various publications in India and overseas and he writes regularly for several magazines and newspapers. He has handled assignments for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Government of India’s Department of Tourism and Culture, the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, various departments of the Government of Himachal Pradesh (especially Himachal Tourism) and various hospitality chains like the Oberoi Group of Hotels. He has also been associated in various capacities with several television networks including the BBC and Channel Four.
Rare Book Society of India is delighted to have Raaja Bhasin as one its early members.
Buy this book : http://www.flipkart.com/simla-summer-capital-british-india-book-8129117681?ref=9bb0d0c3-22bd-434c-b13b-fcee19f2dcee
About the Author : Raaja Bhasin has published five critically acclaimed books and several commissioned booklets. Around fifteen hundred of his articles, stories and reviews have appeared in various publications in India and overseas and he writes regularly for several magazines and newspapers. He has handled assignments for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Government of India’s Department of Tourism and Culture, the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, various departments of the Government of Himachal Pradesh (especially Himachal Tourism) and various hospitality chains like the Oberoi Group of Hotels. He has also been associated in various capacities with several television networks including the BBC and Channel Four. Rare Book Society of India is delighted to have Raaja Bhasin as one its earlier members.
Just ordered my copy !
I am fortunate to know Raaja Bhasin.........A really brilliant man & Simla is proud of him!!
My business has taken me to Darjeeling and other places, sadly, No Shimla...very good introduction...sure the book wl b all that is written. Hope to visit Shimla soon...with this book in my hand! :)
My mum and her parents lived in Simla for many years and loved it.
It is wonderful to see this great response. Thank you!
I was in Simla a couple of years ago and the British cemetry was the best place
Book Review in Business Standard : The Raj at work and play Mandavi Mehta / June 10, 2011, 0:29 IST Three Yarkandi merchants who visited Simla (now Shimla) in 1847 noted with astonishment the presence of a large British settlement on this narrow and isolated ridge that should have more rightly housed a few shepherds’ huts. The incongruity of this sight and the personalities and events that shaped its existence are what this deeply researched and evocatively written book is all about. Raaja Bhasin’s recreation of the life and times of the British summer capital reveals that the insulated and rather fantastic world that they created was the inevitable product of a ruling elite that sought to create a microcosm of “home” in an alien land, drawing comfort from its created familiarities and frivolities. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/the-raj-at-workplay/438515/
Book Review in The Hindu : A hill story, all over again Raaja Bhasin pays tribute to Simla, the queen of hill stations, where much revelry and gaiety was played out by the British. “There is not too much to say about our domestic life at Simla. To me it seemed one long round of large dinner parties, balls and festivities of all kinds. My husband did not at Simla, go out for the long early rides of which he had once been so fond, and which he still kept up when he was in Calcutta…” The wife of Sir John Lawrence, the Governor-General and Viceroy from 1864, has been thus quoted in Raaja Bhasin's “Simla: The Summer Capital of British India” (Rupa Publications). http://www.hindu.com/mp/2011/06/09/stories/2011060950320300.htm
Book Review in The Hindustan Times : When they went to Simla. http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/HT/HD/2011/06/18/ArticleHtmls/cool-off-When-they-went-to-Simla-18062011014003.shtml?Mode=1
well done raja....you will have to autograph the copy i buy....