Dark Tourism: Another dimension to Tourism Circuits of Shimla

The UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation), headquartered at Madrid, Spain, defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes". Tourist is a person who travels to a place other than his place of residence for a period of more than 24 hours, and tourism is the activity involved in transferring people and facilitating them on the move.

Dark tourism is a new dimension to the tourism circuits of the land of snow, Shimla. Dark tourism is one of the key emerging area of special interest which was identified by Lennon and Foley (2000). As the name suggests, this type of tourism involves visits to "dark" sites, such as battlegrounds, scenes of horrific crimes or acts of genocide, for example: concentration camps. Dark tourism remains a small niche market, driven by varied motivations, such as mourning, remembrance, education, macabre curiosity or even entertainment.

Shimla, the summer capital of the British Raj, houses various crematories of historic importance. 

There are cemeteries in Shimla. The notable are Kanlog cemetery divided into two by the bye pass road into upper and lower Kanlog cemetery, Sanjauli cemetery, Oakover cemetery, Cart road cemetery near old ISBT and railway station parking, and the cemetery near St. Bede's.

The Cemetery at Kanlog

This Cemetery is located on the SE side of Shimla on a steep slopy ridge and is divided into the Upper and Lower parts by a new bypass road starting 100 meters prior to the Boileauganj crossing also known as the MLA crossing to Bhattakufer. It can also be accessed by the roard to Bemloe or CPRI, while coming downhill to bye pass road.

The Cemetery at Sanjauli

It is believed that when the Kanlog cemetery was considered full, a new land for the burial ground was on search. With due negotiations, the current cemetery in between Dhalli and Sanjauli was sought and us still in use by the Indian Christians..  

The Cemetery at Oakover

This is considered to be the oldest Christian cemetery in Shimla, near the official residence of the Chief Minister. Opened in 1828, with the maiden grave dated 1829. It had to be closed due to the rise in the number of settlements and conflicts with the inhabitants for the burial purpose, with the last grave of Captain Mathew Ford on 17 March 1841. 

The Cemetery at Cart Road

A small cemetery that lay below the old I.S.B.T. and the parking of railway extension. In the nineteenth century, the old ‘bullock train office’ stood at the site of this bus station. The graveyard was below this, and above the house called ‘Glen Hogan’ – which is now the site of the office of the Department of Education. While a thicket of deodar trees indicates where it probably stood, today, there is no trace of the gravestones or markers. This cemetery was consecrated by Bishop Wilson, Metropolitan of India on 24 October 1840.   

Patrick Gerard an early explorer of the area was interred here. Also buried in this cemetery was Major Samuel Boileau Goad who was one of Shimla’s most prominent residents and owned at least thirty-three of Shimla’s most valuable properties including Barnes’ Court, Kennedy House, the Park and Holly Lodge.  Goad was probably the last person to find his final rest here. 

The Cemetery below St. Bede’s

This private cemetery was opened in the 1870s for the nuns of the Convent of Jesus and Mary. Some nuns of the Loreto order are also interred under the shady deodars. Other graves are also there in this burial ground. 

There are several foreign tourist who travel to India and have their ancestors buried in Shimla seek a chance to meet their ancestors and pay homage as well as provide a new dimension to the tourism circuits available in Shimla. The plight of these cemeteries is left to be pitied, with packets of chips, cigarette butts, bottles of soft drinks and liquor. The locals in their adolescence and adults find pleasure  in having fun at these sites as very few can trace them in these places considered to be haunted.

The State Tourism Department and the restoration agencies with the local administration must take full care to restore and preserve these sites of remembered ek as well as develop them into a site for the promotion of Dark Tourism, so these places can be cared for and their grand grand children can pay homage to the souls departed in Shimla.