People proudly say, “I live in Cemetery.”
The Sanjauli Cemetery in Shimla – once part of the princely estate of Koti and leased to the Imperial British Government in 1920 – is now neglected and in a pathetic state. The decay reflects poorly on local authorities, the Church and the Tourism Department. Until the 1990s the area had only two or three dwellings, and residents feared venturing there after sunset. Over the past four decades, people bought land around the cemetery, and a new locality spread from the cemetery to Sanjauli Tunnel and below the Dhalli–Shoghi bypass toward Bhattakuffer. Today, match-box buildings crowd the hill, and locals casually call the neighbourhood “Cemetery” – “I live in Cemetery” (भाई जी मैं cemetery, में रहता हूँ, मेरे घर आना). That area, adjoining suburban Sanjauli, is now larger than central Shimla.
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