capitals

"Pyongyang will neither be bullied nor sweet-talked into committing political suicide."

"You have a neck. You have a neck. You have a neck. You come in here with your orders from Belfast to make allegations. You have a neck."

"Aline and I have travelled a very long, very hard road together, from our working class homes in rural Quebec to the palaces of London, Paris, Moscow, and Beijing. Politics was the route, public service the reward."

"China as a society, a government, an economy and a culture is quite difficult for us to comprehend today. The changes are so rapid in cities like Beijing and Shanghai and the culture remarkably fluid... China is increasingly influential in the world and more and more people have hopes that China will be a leader... China has ended up playing a critical role in geopolitics more quickly than anybody had anticipated."

"[Shanghai] is a completely female city. Female town. Beijing is male. All rough and politics. Shanghai is more delicate. Money talks. Beautiful. I had enough rough. I need details. Specially because (I am) a lady. I need city."

"The most beautiful thing in Tokyo is McDonald's. The most beautiful thing in Stockholm is McDonald's. The most beautiful thing in Florence is McDonald's. Peking and Moscow don't have anything beautiful yet."

"He rises early.... Six newspapers to read, forty Madras cheroots to smoke.... A kindly tiffin to linger.... A game of billiards... 12 pegs to drink... band on the Mall, dinner, chatter.... Scandals... jokes....."

"During the Britishers’ time, the Mall was reserved for them;"

"The tradition that made Shimla stand apart as a town of clean orderliness, a tradition that continued up to the time of Dr Y.S. Parmar’s exit from power, was started by Curzon. By the early years of the 20th century, Shimla had emerged as a ‘decent place’ to retire."

"The tone of Shimla’s social life in the 19th century was normally set by the Viceroy and his lady."

"The Public works and other buildings have made Simla monstrous. Too bustling... too public... pomp to irksome, it is like dining everyday in the house keepers room with the butler and the maid."

"Average Indians couldn’t walk on the Mall. You had to be dressed properly and educated, like a gentleman, because English ladies were on the Mall.lt’s like being in permanent air-conditioning!"

"If people enjoy walking, they’ll like Shimla."

"After 1966 and 1971, Shimla has finally become a town that belongs to the people of the hills. Its character and social composition has changed forever. It was a town ruled entirely by the seasons. It waned to almost one eight to its summer size come winter less than a hundred years ago and it now waxes no more than a fourth its winter time numbers each summer. The summer influx of tourists still holds importance for a section of Shimla’s inhabitants but for a majority it is incidental, perhaps even a nuisance. It is a town that increasingly serves its own hinterland, as the seat of government and as the center of medical attention, education, and commerce related needs. The apple-rich valleys of Shimla district dominate the eastern suburbs but the town as a whole is now home to people from all over the state."

"Having almost 160 years of history of Municipal Corporation Shimla the autonomous existence starts with the passing of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 (H.P. Municipal Corporation Act, 1994) government revised the delimitation of wards into 21. With 5 retention policies now the city is having 25 wards."

"...when India became independent in 1947, Shimla was one of the most important hill stations of the world. After the partition of India in 1947, many of the Punjab Government offices from Lahore in Pakistan were shifted to Shimla. In 1966, with the re-organization of territory into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, Shimla became the capital of Himachal Pradesh. Since then, Shimla has flourished, as capital of the state and has continued to be an important tourist resort of India and the world."

"The enigmatic world that was Simla had the rug pulled from under its feet; the summer capital ceased to be, in the post-Independence India."

"The Ridge is crowned by Christ Church, which was built in 1857. The stately yellow edifice features tall, arched stained-glass windows surrounded by a fresco designed by Rudyard Kipling’s father. Inside, tablets commemorate British officers and citizens of the colonial period."

"Christ Church, in yellow colour, the most prominent building on the Mall is reputed to be the second oldest church in northern India."

"Gorton Castle is one of the most striking buildings of the British empire. The Castle is a Gothic new-Gothic structure that had the famous Sir Swinton Jacob as its architect, today, houses the offices of the Accountant General of Himachal Pradesh"

"The Vice Regal Lodge on the Observatory Hills, also known as Rashtrapati Niwas, was formerly the residence of the British Viceroy Lord Dufferin. It was the venue for many important decisions which changed the fate of the sub-continent. It is quite befittingly the only building in Shimla that occupies a hill by itself."

"Shimla 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 the year moving down to Kolkata and later to New Delhi only during the winter months. As the summer capital of the British Raj, Shimla came to be known as ‘the workshop of the Empire’."

"A Town Hall, with many facilities such as library and theatre, as well as offices--for police and military volunteers as well as municipal administration exist in the Upper Bazaar area."

"Shimla is a multi-hazard /multi-disaster prone City and it’s mainly because of its geo-climatic complexities and anthropogenic factors."

"The state capital has some of the world's finest examples of British colonial architecture. Inspired by the Renaissance in England, is the greystone former Viceregal Lodge (now the Indian Institute of Advanced Study), the neo Gothic structures of the gaiety theatre and the former imperial Civil Secretariat (now the Accountant General's Office). There are the Tudor framed Barnes Court (now the Raj Bhawan), and the distinctive Vidhan Sabha and the secretariat of the government of Himachal Pradesh."

"It will not be surpassed by any mountain road in the world."

"In November, 1903, the Shimla Railways was a monumental event that changed Shimla for ever."

"Most European products, ranging from fine fabrics to French sauces, Scot sardines, English sweets and even fine horses were all available in Shimla. There being no roads worth the name, the only mode of travel was the jampans for ladies and horses for men. The jampan was a kind of chair, usually covered and attached to two or four small poles and lifted on the shoulders by two or four men. Wheeled carriages were not allowed or were not feasible in Shimla till as late as 1840s."

"In 1903, the British completed a narrow-gauge railway, whose diminutive locomotive led to its being called the “toy” train, to Shimla from Kalka. The UNESCO-recognized train route passes through 102 tunnels and crosses over 850 bridges. Before its advent, visitors had to travel the 69 kilometers from Kalka along a bridle path in two-wheeled carts pulled by pairs of ponies."

"The presence of unattached ladies, bachelors, flirts, match makers gave to Simla its early reputation.... Early evenings on the Mall, was the customary place for building acquaintances.... Eligibles... socially desirables... all were on the Mall."

"Though Shimla was formally acquired by the British in the tenure of Lord William Bentinck, but it was during Lord Aucklands’ time that Shimla began to come of age."

"The British in India had called Shimla by various names — Viceroy’s Shooting Box, Abode of the Little Tin Gods and even Mount Olympus."

"After Captain Charles Kennedy’s invitation of spurred a wave of construction in Shimla (then a village) at about 2200 m elevation), it came to notice in 1827, when the British governor-general spent summer in the place...The following year, the army headquarters and its staff set up camp in Shimla for the summer. From there on Shimla became increasingly popular."

"In 1864, the place was declared colonial India’s official “summer capital.” Later, Shimla came to be known as the “Queen of Hills"."

"In 1832, Shimla saw its first political meeting: between the Governor-General [Lord Peter Aoronson] and the emissaries of Maharaja Ranjit Singh."

"Sir John Lawrence, Viceroy of India (from 1864 to1869 moved the administration twice a year between Calcutta and a separate centre over 1,000 miles away, despite the fact that it was difficult to reach. Lord Lytton, Viceroy (from 1876 to 1880) planned the town from 1876, when he first stayed in a rented house, and built a Viceregal Lodge, on Observatory Hill. A fire cleared much of the area where the native Indian population lived (the "Upper Bazaar"), and the planning of the eastern end to become the centre of the European town forced these to live in the Middle and Lower Bazaars on the lower terraces descending the steep slopes from the Ridge."

"Simla is only four days march from Loodianah (Ludhiana), is easy of access, and proves a very agreeable refuge from the burning plains of Hindoostaun (Hindustan)."

"Here you are with one foot in Punjab and another in the North West Frontier. Here you are among docile population and yet near enough to influence Oudh."

"The city is a unique combination of hills, spurs and valleys to the North and East; a network ofmountain ranges which are crossed at a distance, by a magnificent crescent of new peaks, the mountains of Kullu and Spiti in North, the central range of the Eastern Himalayas in the east and South east. Shimla town occupies a unique place in the history of the Indian sub-continent. Emerging as a nostalgic reminder of their country, for the British officers, posted in the region, the town went on to occupy the centre stage during the hey days of the Raj."

"About centuries ago the area occupied by the modern day Shimla was dense forest. Only the Jakhu temple, which has stood the test of time and a few scattered houses comprised the signs of civilisation."

"The former summer capital of the British in India, and the present capital of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla has been blessed with all the natural bounties which one can think of. It has got a scenic location, it is surrounded by green hills with snow capped peaks. The spectacular cool hills accompanied by the structures made during the colonial era creates an aura which is very different from other hills."

"According to tradition, Hanuman is said to have rested here while bringing the special sanjeevani herb from the Himalayan Mountains in order to save the life of Lakshmana, the brother of Lord Ramachandra. A temple dedicated to him is said to mark the spot on the summit of Jakhu Hill before the British became familiar with Shimla and turned it into their summer hill station. Monkeys are still found in the area of the temple as a manifestation of the deity. However, the village that was on the ridge of the Jakhu hill was named after the goddess Shyamla, an expansion of goddess Kali, the image of whom was worshipped by the villagers."

"If one was told that monkeys had built it, one could only say, 'What wonderful monkeys — they must be shot in case they do it again.'"

"Spread across seven hills in the northwest Himalayas among lush valleys and forests of oak, rhododendron and pine is the capital of Himachal Pradesh that was once the summer capital of colonial India. And today, there is still more than a hint of the Raj in the former hill station of Shimla."

"...the first person who brought Shimla to notice was a British officer, who while moving Gurkha troops from Sabathu to Kotgarh in about 1816, passed through Shimla, was impressed by its cool climate. It was a dense jungle infested with wild beasts. It is however claimed by A. Wilson in his ‘Abode of Snow’ that the hill on which Shimla is situated was first made known by Gerad Brothers. These two scotch officers were engaged in the survey of the Sutlej Valley."

"Shimla was annexed by the British in 1819, after the Gurkha war. At that time it was known for the temple of Hindu Goddess Shyamala Devi."

"At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Shimla was taken from Jhind Rana in 1815 and given to the Patiala Raja for assistance rendered by him to the British in the Nepal war."

"Only the great distance that separates Paris from my native town prevented me from going back.. ..It was the Louvre that put end to all these hesitations. When I walked around the circular Veronese room and the rooms that the works of Manet, Delacroix and Courbet are in, I desired nothing more. In my imagination Russia (where Chagall was born, fh) took the form of a basket suspended from a parachute. The deflated pear of the balloon was hanging down, growing cold and descending slowly in the course of the years. This was how Russian art appeared to me, or something of the sort.. ..It was as if Russian art had been fatally condemned to remain in the wake of the West. (on his arrival in Paris in 1910, fh)"

"Paris is a city of amusements and pleasures, where four fifths of the inhabitants die of the spleen."

"Boston is among an increasing number of municipalities, universities, and private foundations that have announced plans to divest from fossil fuels. In late October, ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP26, Auckland, New Zealand; Copenhagen, Denmark; Glasgow, Scotland; Paris; Rio de Janeiro; and Seattle announced commitments to divest from fossil fuel companies and increase investments to make cities more sustainable. Also last month, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott signed a bill that requires the city’s three pension funds to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Those are in addition to divestment commitments made last year by Berlin; Bristol, England; Cape Town, South Africa; Durban, South Africa; London; Los Angeles; Milan; New Orleans; New York City; Oslo; Norway; Pittsburgh; and Vancouver, Canada. “Cities are at the forefront of tackling the climate emergency and there is real momentum to move investments away from fossil fuels and toward climate solutions,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is chair-elect of C40 Cities, a network of mayors working to confront climate change, said in a statement. “I will continue to encourage more cities to join the movement, and urge national governments and private finance institutions to mobilize more finance to invest directly in cities to support a green and fair recovery.”"