Up The Lift to Christ Church (1.2)

The Shimla lift takes you from the cart road to the mall and seemingly transports you to an otherworld (interestingly skipping the lower bazaar, which is another story again), where the more organic vernacular architecture gives way to the imposing Colonial structures. The largely car free mall road, although bustling with life, is quieter and more restful than bellow, at times it is possible to glimpse over the buildings and see the tree lined hills soaring above and the delightful valleys bellow. Dogs impose peace on the space by lazing restfully in the middle of the paths that the humans bustle along and the wide streets are swept clean of litter, by both human workers and the ever watchful non–humans. A sense of history now comes to the fore, whereas the cart road seems like any small new town in modern India here people notice things about the buildings and tell stories of the events that they heard occurred here in the past. From more or less anywhere on the Mall you can see rising above you Christ Church Cathedral, most people make their way to the ridge, buy some popcorn or ice cream, look at the hills, and then take a picture outside Christ Church. It is almost emblematic of the entire mall space and it is what Shimla is to many tourists. Christ Church itself is designed in an orderly fashion and upon stepping inside even the noise of the mall drops away, hundreds of visitors (of all faiths) have recorded in the visitor’s book that the thing that strikes them most about Christ Church is a sense of peace. Furthermore the church is designed to draw attention to certain aspects of nature: its towering Gothic structure draws the eyes up towards the heavens (in a mimicry of the surrounding mountains) and in contrast to the temple below, inside it is filled with light that spills in and refracts through the cleverly designed windows in ever changing ways. Thus, the church is a man made structure that draws attention to both the past and nature and the presence of divinity within these. It reminds us of order, of peace and calm, it stands for something that connects the past and the present in a seemingly timeless way and encourages you to abandon bustle and give in to peace. The Church is no museum piece but is still very much alive enriched by a diverse group of worshipers who blend the traditions of the past with postcolonial innovations in worship – now and then are tied together.