The Cedar of Punjab in Shimla
By Shriniwas Joshi

CEDAR, guest house of the Punjab Government in Shimla, is located at the head of so-called Khyber Pass. Khyber Pass is a local lingua-adaptation of the original to depict the chill that one experiences while passing through the are even before the onset of winters. The two beautiful buildings called Cedar and Cedar Lodge ‘combine the architecture of a British suburban house and the ornate Indian baroque’. The construction, exquisitely done by chiefly using cedar wood, is appealing. The open space outside the buildings has been covered, mostly, by hydrangea plants which blossom in summers to spread pink and blue hue around. Beli Ram, the gardener, does his job well for one could see in the garden white dahlia, a few fuschia and button chrysanthemum even during the nip of early December. The circuit house has 12 sets of rooms and is being run by the Hospitality Department of the Punjab Government since 1984.

All the books on Shimla are silent about Cedar. It year of construction is not known but it can be said, without doubt, that it has completed one hundred years of its existence and has thus earned the right to register itselfamongst the heritage buildings of Shimla.

The first owner of Cedar, J.R. Williams, fascinated by the spectacle of the tree cedrus deodara gave the estate this name. The cedar (deodar) trees not only abound in the 6171.28 square metres of the complex but also seem to support the retaining wall of Cedar Lodge. Williams was working in the Quartermaster-General’s branch of the then army headquarters and also had his hand in the local Station Press-Fine Art Printers, Lithographers, Die Stampers and Bookbinders. When he wanted to add a rickshaw shed to Cedar in 1904, he submitted a plan showing the front elevation of Cedar to the municipal committee. It gives an idea of its original facade.

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1891-1938) purchased Cedar from Williams in December, 1920. He, thus, became the owner of all the three buildings around Khyber Pass — Oakover, currently the official residence of the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh), Rookwood and Cedar. Major E.S. Phipson, Health Officer, Simla, made an interesting remark about Cedar on May 23, 1923, in the committee file, "I have already brought to the (Patiala) Military Secretary’s notice the foul state of Cedar compound owing to an enormous amount of washing being done by a dhobi in a totally unsuitable place. The Military Secretary gave the sanitary Inspector a verbal undertaking that only H.H’s personal clothing would be washed there but on my inspection on the 17th instant it was evident that this undertaking is not being observed." Supervision and inspection in those days were real and not on papers only.

Shiv Ram Sharma was employed by the Maharaja as chowkidar for Cedar when he was only 13 years old. Leading a retired life now in Dannu Village, 20 km from Kandaghat on the Chail road, Shiv, still wearing the Patiala-style turban, recollects the past. He speaks of the frequent visits of firangi (English) sahibs to see things going in and around Cedar. He remembers the splendour of these houses during Maharaja’s times, "The furniture for the buildings had come from vilayat (England), the crockery, cutlery and the silver sets of utensils which were used by the big shots for dining and wining were all from vilayat. Nothing except a few items of crockery and cutlery are left in Cedar now. The Maharaja, himself, used to stay in Oakover, his Prime Minister Mullick Hardit Singh in Cedar, and Maharaja’s children in Cedar Lodge. Rookwood lay abandoned because one of the daughters of the Maharaja died in that building. After the death of the child, the Maharaja disliked the place. He sold it to a seth from Bombay for Rs 40,000 only." Happy with the past, he says," I had joined the services of the Maharaja on a salary of Rs 6 per month, with an yearly increment of half a rupee. When my salary rose to Rs 10 per month, I was so jubilant that I threw a feast to the Cedar staff. I had spent Rs 1 on the feast. Those were the days!"

Cedar often became a subject of dispute between the Maharaja of Patiala and the Municipal Committee, Simla, and almost all the ‘battles’ were either won by the former or were drawn. Sardar Negi Kewal Ram was the Patiala vakil when extension of the kitchen in Cedar was not only proposed but actually done. The Prime Minister of Patiala had come to stay in Cedar on May 15, 1944. The committee took exception to it but on June 14, 1944, recommend: "The plan is incomplete and defective and its sanction is not recommended.... the work has already been carried out in anticipation of sanction and the Patiala Government have applied for the case to be compounded. Resolved that an offer be made to compound the case about the extension to the kitchen on payment of a penalty of Rs 10." The amount of penalty looks pittance but a penalty is a penalty. It was a drawn battle between the two.

When Patiala raised two plank screens and rooms in the Cedar complex expecting that the sanction would, ultimately, be made available, the matter hung fire for quite long due to the adamant attitude of both the parties concerned. The municipal committee decided to fight the case in the court of the Additional District Magistrate under a provision of the Punjab Municipal Act. Here the committee had to bite the dust as Magistrate Sardar Uttam Singh gave the verdict in favour of Patiala on October 11, 1945, because the M.C. Simla had ‘failed to establish the case’.

The Cedar complex thus went on changing its size and shape and is today, a conglomeration of the old and the new. The new, thanks to the architects, goes with the character of the old buildings and does not look ugly or out of place. Otherwise, these days, the aesthetics is being sacrificed in favour of pure functionality — the structures of brick and mortar defying the environment of Shimla have, here and there, raised their devil-like heads. Cedar has mercifully, retained its aura so far.

Does Aberigh-Mackay give a vivid description of Cedar in his Grass Widow when he writes about a villa in Simla?

"It is a cottage with a verandah, built on a steep slope and buried deep in shrubbery and trees. Within all is plain, but exquisitely neat. A wood fire is burning gaily and the kindly tea-tray is at hand."