Simla 1946-1947 - Memories

After the end of the Second World War, when the occupation forces left Greece, my parents and I returned to India, where my father worked.   I spent January and part of February1946, in Karachi, meeting old friends and rediscovering familiar places.  At the beginning of the new academic year, I was packed off to boarding school, in Simla, but I so hated leaving home.

          The journey from Karachi to Simla took 2 days, via Lahore, Ambala and Kalka, a small town at the foot of the Himalayas.   There, we boarded a narrow-gauge train that took us, for six hours, through 102 tunnels over 869 bridges, over deep ravines and beautiful hillsides to our destination.

          Simla did not resemble any other town or hill station, in India. The Mall, the main road, with its tea shops and stores, Christ Church Cathedral with its Tudor-styled belfry, the esplanades and the houses with their immaculate gardens all seemed so evidently and typically English, the only dissimilarity being the pitter-patter of the rickshaws and the monkeys on the trees.      

         Simla was, then, the official summer capital of the British Raj.  From April to September each year, the whole government, from the Viceroy to the most junior secretary moved from Delhi to Simla.   Of course the Foreign Missions, Embassies and Civil Service functionaries, all followed, giving Simla five months of remarkable elegance and glamour.

          The school was a wisteria clad brick building, built high on a wooded hill.  Its tin roof was often stampeded by hordes of monkeys, that sounded like sudden bolts of thunder.   The view from the windows was magnificent.   There were snowy peaks in the background, changing colour all day long, and fir forests and emerald slopes tinged with rhododendrons, bordering the school premices.   

          I loved the school.  The teachers were excellent, the girls pleasant, and we learned a lot, while having fun.  We played tennis and net ball, took music, dancing and elocution lessons, participated in choirs and plays, went on excursions and had “socials” (dancing parties) with the Bishop Cotton School boys.   In the beginning when I first arrived at Auckland, the nights were dark and heart-breaking as I sobbed myself to sleep, I was so terribly homesick.   But, I soon recovered, became stronger and enjoyed every moment.

       When we returned to Simla for the new school year, in February 1947, the first thing we noticed was that most of our British schoolmates had left.  In April, serious, secrete discussions were taking place, at the Viceregal Lodge, right next to us;  Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, and Jawaharlal Nehru were debating on themes of freedom and partition.   As the year wore on, letters, from home stopped coming.  It was only, on the 15^th August, when we gathered at the front portal, that we were told what had happened.  The Sub-Continent was free from the British rule, but partitioned into two states, Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.  The Union Jack was lowered slowly down the mast and the Indian flag proudly took its place.   We were offered sweets to celebrate the occasion.

          Some days later we heard about the massacres that were taking place in the Punjab.  At school, food was rationed to the minimum for over a month.  Chapattis and dhal became our staple food, even for breakfast.  In late September, while taking our 2^nd term exams, we became witnesses to a horrific event that took place on a slope facing our classroom windows.   A whole family was running desperately towards the forest, while a group of turbaned men were chasing after them, their swords flashing in the sun. Unfortunately the family never made it to the safety of the woods.  They were all killed, one by one.

        

          In December, at the end of the school year, the girls whose parents lived in Pakistan, including me, were sent by truck, under military escort, to Lahore.  My farther met us there and escorted us back to Karachi.  Unfortunately I never went back to Simla or Shimla as it is now called.

       Here are a few recipes that remind me of Simla. 

          

         

                                              SIMLA MIRCH

 10-12 green Kerato peppers (I cannot find the botanical name)

Stuffing:

500 g (1 lb) mealy potatoes, scrubbed, boiled until tender and strained

2 tbsp ghee or

1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp olive oil

Extra ghee or butter and oil for brushing a baking dish

1 tbsp peeled and finely grated ginger root

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp turmeric or more if preferred

½ tsp garam masala (see the “Curry Lunch” post)

½ tsp ground coriander

The seeds of 4 cardamom pods

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper

          Wash and dry the peppers, remove the stalks and cut off the lids from each pepper and remove the seeds carefully.

          Peel the potatoes and mash them to a smooth puree.   Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and brush the bottom and sides of an ovenproof dish with ghee or melted butter and olive oil.

         Sauté the ginger and garlic in ghee or butter and oil, for about 2 minutes then stir in all the spices, except the Cayenne pepper, and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes more.   Add the mashed potatoes and cook gently and stir until all the ingredients are well combined.  Taste and add salt and the Cayenne pepper, if you prefer a spicier stuffing.

          With the help of a long handled teaspoon stuff the peppers, cover with the lids and arrange in rows, in the buttered dish.  Pour about 125 ml (½ cup) water around the peppers, cover with tin foil, and bake for 30 minutes.   Remove the foil, turn over the peppers and bake for 20 minutes more, or until the peppers are tender. Serve immediately.

                                             CHOPATTIS

260 g (2 cups) strong flour

Pinch of salt

About 250 ml (1 cup) water or more if necessary

              Mix the flour and salt together and add the water gradually, just enough to form a firm dough.  Kneed until smooth and cover with cling film and set aside, at room temperature for about one hour.

             Divide the dough into twelve portions and roll out each, into a round sheet about 12 cm (5 inches) in diameter. Cook over medium heat, in a frying pan brushed with a little ghee.   Flatten each chopatti, during the cooking period, until golden on both sides with a few blisters appearing on the surface.    Cut into fourths or sixths before serving.  

                    

                                                 DHAL

              In India no meal is served without dhal.  Each district cooks dhal in a completely different way.  Less spicy in the north, scorchingly so in the south, cooked with or without vegetables, it is definitely a comforting side dish for a hot meal. Served only with rice, it is considered, nutritionally, a perfect combination.

          This is my favourite recipe for dhal, that is delicately spiced.  This dish is equally good cooked with Fava beans, but of course they need their own cooking time and water to just cover. 

A 500 g (1 lb) packet moong dhal, parboiled and strained

2 cloves garlic

4 cm ginger root, peeled and cut in three slices

1 hot chilli pepper

2 tsp turmeric

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper, optional

Salt to taste

1½ tbsp oil

½ tbsp ghee

3 spring onions, finely sliced

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp mustard seeds

          Cover the parboiled the moong dhal with 2 litres (8 cups) of cold water, bring to the boil and skim thoroughly.  Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, turmeric and salt, lower the heat, partly cover the saucepan.  Simmer gently for about 1-1½ hour, stirring occasionally, until the dhal has become a smooth puree. After 45 minutes, discard the chilli pepper and continue cooking.  Check the consistency of the dhal and either reduce to thicken it, or add some boiling water to thin it down.  Taste and add salt (about a teaspoon) and Cayenne pepper, if necessary. (Use a rod blender for a smoother texture, if you prefer).

          Sauté the spring onions in oil and ghee, and stir until the onions are golden.   Then stir in the cumin and mustard seeds and a tiny pinch of salt and cook for 3 minutes more. Then overturn the onion mixture into the dhal, stir and simmer for 1-2 minutes more. Taste once more and adjust to perfection.

STRAWBERRY PAVLOVA

            Obviously this is not an Indian dessert, but if Simla was a dessert it would certainly be a delightfully chewy Strawberry Pavlova

6 whites of medium eggs

A pinch of salt

300 g (10 oz) caster sugar

1 tsp vinegar to make the meringue more chewy (optional)

1 tsp vanilla essence

500 g (1 lb) whipped cream

500 g (1 lb) hulled strawberries, the half, sliced

60 g (2 oz) dark melted chocolate or milk chocolate if preferred

          Whip the egg whites with a little salt to the soft peak stage, add the sugar by the spoonful, whipping continuously until thick and glossy.  Add the vinegar, if using, and the vanilla and beat for a minute more, until well combined.

         Trace two circles about 26cm (10 in) in diameter each, on baking parchment, slightly brush with oil and place on a baking tin.  Pipe the same amount of meringue to fill each circle, and bake in an oven preheated to 150 C (285 F) for about 1 hour.  Then turn off the oven, and remove the meringues, only, when they are completely cold.

         Place one meringue round on a serving dish, spread with 1/3 of the whipped cream and the sliced strawberries, and cover with the second round.  Garnish the Pavlova, attractively, with the remaining whipped cream and the whole strawberries, dipped in melted chocolate.