Tag Archives: Raaja Bhasin

Jam & packed

­For WE Buchanan and his Shimla-born son Colin, the quality of a town was defined by the quality of its public realm — a maxim ignored in Himachal

As a typecast Parisian, with both flourish and conceit in his pocket, the gentleman’s opening statement was: “Don’t you know that man discovered fire and invented the wheel?” I looked at him blankly. “So why are you still doing it?” he continued. This was in 2012. The person in question had just driven past an under-construction building that had collapsed near Himachal Pradesh’s High Court in Shimla. “Why must you further congest an already congested town?” he added. Through the course of the next couple of hours, abandoning other plans, we moved back and forth on Shimla’s Cart Road and finally focused on the stretch between the old bus stand and Himachal tourism’s Hotel Holiday Home. He went on: “Here is your solution. Put a bridge from below the gurdwara to below the tourism hotel. Pedestrianise everything in-between. In the space created, have parks, homes, shopping.” All excited, he continued in the same vein about the endless possibilities that could come about. (For someone not familiar with the place, this bridge, if built, would eliminate traffic from the core of Shimla).

Much of the extraordinary character of the hills is being eroded by supposed development. Colin Buchanan’s report established the benchmarks with which traffic could be handled with efficiency. Tribune photo: Lalit Kumar

While the basic idea could do with some more thought, he obviously knew what he was talking about, as he had been a part of the team which had built the Millau Viaduct in France. For a long time, this held the record for being the tallest bridge in the world. That was not all; this multi-span cable bridge, apart from being an outstanding engineering feat, is designed to cast a minimal possible shadow. With high-speed traffic moving overhead, the valley below still retains its rural character. Duly impressed, and having had both fire and wheel explained, off one went to have a word on this with the Powers That Be. The Powers listened. The Powers proclaimed it to be a brilliant idea. Then the Powers forgot all about it.

Much of the extraordinary character of the Himalaya, its forests, villages and towns is slowly being eroded by two behemoths — climate change and supposed development. That is not to say that ‘development’ is not required. Of course, it is. Many aspects of life in the hills are far better now than they were even a couple of decades back — access has improved, water and electricity have made life easier, and even if this leaves much to be desired, basic education and healthcare have come along. What is disturbing is the sheer size and greed of the development avatar that we worship. Off the record — and for ethical reasons, they shall remain unnamed — many of the aforesaid Powers have said the same thing: “It’s about money and votes.” Segments of the same Powers, those with a modicum of conscience, have also admitted that these two beasts, ‘money and votes’, feed from the same trough. Combined, they make a sizeable pair of elephants in the room.

The aforesaid Cart Road, which could have had another role, remains as congested as ever. Further down the hill, a four-lane highway zips one up the hill. As one approaches the town, one enters a traffic funnel and may well spend hours inching forward. All this seems to be a little ironical as the man to whom we owe the understanding of traffic movement and its impact on human life was born in Shimla.

In the early 20th century, WE Buchanan was the municipal engineer of Shimla. He held this position for several years, and much of the efficiency of the town’s water supply was attributed to his capability and diligence. Buchanan had significant local standing, but the extraordinary legacy of the family was to come from his son, who was born on August 22, 1907, while they lived in a house named Marl Bank near Chhota Shimla.

The son, Colin, went on the write a document titled ‘Traffic in Towns (The Buchanan Report of 1963)’. For the first time since the invention of the automobile, the report presented the whole picture of how transport and cities were inter-related. In a simple and readable manner, Sir Colin Buchanan’s document showed how economic growth could be accommodated and greater mobility provided. The report was widely circulated and while giving its author worldwide fame, also established the benchmarks with which traffic could be handled with efficiency. This ‘holy text’ of sorts was subsequently edited and abridged, and was published by Penguin. A bit of a surprise to both author and publisher, it became an international bestseller.

Traffic, for Buchanan, was “the monster we love”. His argument was that the existing towns and cities have a finite physical capacity. This was based on the character of a town and the buildings and spaces within it that would allow motor vehicles. In the context of the town of his birth, Shimla, one could add historicity and terrain. Access, in this case, could be achieved, but at an enormous cost. This cost would be financial and would result in a loss of the town’s character and buildings — as witnessed not only in Shimla, but practically every historical town of our country.

Buchanan remains one of the world’s great thinkers and planners of townscapes — and he did not advocate comprehensive redevelopment to favour motor vehicles. For him, the quality of a town was defined by the quality of its public realm, not by private spaces.

Article by Raaja Bhasin


Wikipedia about the book “Traffic in Towns”


BCS Pegasus to publish your Poetry

Raaja Bhasin sent in this message :

School is coming out with a special issue of ‘Pegasus’ with poems written by Cottonians while they were in school. So far, very few OCs have come forward with what they had written and published in Pegasus, the Mitre or the Cottonian. Needless to say, there is a deadline. If you have something going back to your school years, in English or Hindi, please send these to: englishfaculty@bishopcotton.com

Nostalgia / BCS 1930 School Party train

We came across a picture at the OCA [Delhi] Chapter facebook page of the BCS School-party leaving Simla station for the “plains” – a photo from 1930. The photo is from the Estate of Canon Peacey,  sent by Mr. Barry Williamson to Raaja Bhasin and subsequently to Ashwani Virk who is the VP of OCA Delhi Chapter.
Here it is
J.R. PEACEY (1896-1971) was born in Hove, Sussex, England, the youngest of 10 children.

He graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge, in 1921 with honors in Theology.

The third and current version of our School Song as written in 1930 by Jack Hammond, the English teacher and Canon Peacey, the Headmaster; Lawrence Crosthwaite’s talents were utilised in putting the words to music. Here is a link to the school song

School History and some memories….

Dear Old Cottonians
Old Cottonian Richard [Dick] D’Abreu from Australia wrote in recently and has also sent in a few pictures, appended below.

It was good to read the History of BCS, written up in so much detail. I was able to recall the part written up from 1936 to 1946, the accuracy of which was so precise. In 1937 Allan Fennell was the School Captain. To me at aged 9, I would mistake him for one of the staff, I was in awe of all the school prefects. Fred Brown was a senior student in my time. He was an excellent hockey player and an all round cricketer, and although I was a few years years his junior, I came to know him quite well. He left school in 1939, with his fellow hockey friend Malcolm Petters. Fred then returned as a member of the school staff while I was in Fifth Form. He was first a master at the Prep school for a while, but then, Cannon Sinker transferred him to the senior school. He became my House Master of Curzon when I was a House Prefect. In his single days he became engaged to our Bursa’s daughter Pat Murphy. His living quarters was one end of the Curzon C dormitory. One of his duties was to have the House boys over to his quarters on a Saturday evening. He would often trust me the key to his quarters on Saturday so as I could lock up after the boys left at 9.00pm, while he was out taking his fiancee Pat to the pictures in town. I left school before he married. For a few years while I was in the RAAF in Australia I kept contact with him, but regrettably lost touch when I was with the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan. Many years later while retired in Perth Western Australia, I met up with Malcolm Petters. He used to ring up his old friend Freddy Brown quite often. I used to go over to Malcolm’s home and chat with Fred also for a while. It was sad when Alzheimer’s got the better of Fred and he could not remember me.

I also recall all the school operas that we sang in under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. Priestley …In the opera Trial by Jury, as mentioned in the BCS History the boys took the part of girls in the opera. I was pleased I sang as a Tenor so did not qualify to be a girl. The singing of Handel’s Messiah in Simla in 1943 was a highlight. The photo of the choir is included.

Old man Karam had the tuck shop on the first playing field. His son we called Silly Billy ran the tea shop next door. Rs 2.00 was the maximum pocket money we were allowed each week, in those days it would buy quite a few things. At the end of each term we would have 10 days holiday, for this my parents would allow me Rs 50.00. We would think we were rich.

Mr. Fisher was a senior master that taught us Physics. I think he was also a House Master. When we used to quite often play up in his lab, he would call us out by name and say “Take your books and leave the class..you are only wasting your parents money…all you people realize is the stick… ” He was also in charge of the little photo lab and darkroom where we could go and do our own developing and printing of films. I had a Box Brownie camera of which I took the photo of Simla in 1937.

I would like to also make mention of the end of year House Chews each House would indulge in. Our parents would contribute to a fund which would go towards buying tasty curries and Indian sweets for everyone to enjoy. This feast would take place in the main dormitories of each House. Sometimes I wish I could wind back the clock 70 odd years to those memorable school days.

My best wishes…Dick D’Abreu.