Notes on the Geography of Northern India: Nainital

Nainital, "eye lake," became a British hill station in the 19th century; it's now an Indian resort, still offering relief from the heat of the plains 5,000 feet below.

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Approach.

What could this be?

But of course: a British cemetery, in fact the cemetery of the headquarters of the Eastern Command, which was located here in Nainital.

Still in ranks; it seems as though the ill were sent here to recover or die.

An exception.

The lake, known simply as The Lake. The elevation is about 6,300 feet.

The view from the western end.

A quiet moment. Switzerland?

The Boating Club.

Baskets of strawberries and possibly raspberries and mulberries.

A lakeside hotel.

Hillside housing.

A walk through the bazaar, at the west end of the lake.

Much of the neighborhood is physically unchanged since the British era.

A steep staircase to the apartments above.

Several floors are stacked atop the shops.

A conversation between neighbors.

The municipal market building.

Sign provided courtesy of Coke.

The High Court, still much as it was long ago, when Nainital was the hot-weather capital of the United Provinces. It's still the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, a new state cleaved off U.P in 2000.

Another sturdy survivor. It's a bank.

The Church of St. John in the Wilderness.

Tomb of Colonel David Ward of the Royal Engineers, Chief Engineer and Joint Secretary for the North West Provinces and Oudh Public Works Department.

Tombstone of Alexander Muddiman, a career bureaucrat whose career peaked with his appointment as governor of the United Provinces. At 53, he died six months later.

A tombstone noting the death of one of the hundreds killed in a huge landslide at the west end of the lake in 1880.

Cricket ground on the site of the landslide.

Under the white lettering, an almost illegible inscription commemorates the landslide.

Several Raj-era hotels survive. Here's one.

Another view.

The dining room.

A second hotel, seen from the back.

From the front.

Sign.

The Assembly Rooms, converted to a movie theater.

Interior.