The Raj in high places

The British created these Little Englands replete with its absurdities of class and ritual

Empire in the Hills
Queeny Pradhan
Oxford University Press
427 pages; Rs 995

Back in the mid-19th century, an English journalist called John Lang had written, amongst other things, about hill stations
and how the British lived there. The sahebs were not pleased.

In 2012, Rajika Bhandari wrote a book about dak bungalows and circuit houses that the British had built to rest their weary bodies while on tour (The Raj on the Move). These hostelries were useful for conducting illicit liaisons but Ms Bhandari did not mention that.  

But unlike Ms Bhandari’s and Mr