Sanjeev Bhaskar says the Shimla scenes for the Channel 4 series Indian Summers were shot in Malaysia because of the “paucity of buildings and infrastructure” in Shimla (My father’s Indian Summers, G2, 25 February). In fact in the real plains approaching the foothills there is nothing of what one critic described as the kingfisher-bright colours of India, the hillsides were not covered in the vegetation of a rich man’s Buckinghamshire garden but with the tall spiky deodars shown in your pictures, the “fabulous narrow-gauge railway” didn’t look like a mainline express, and the compartments of mainline trains didn’t look like the boatdecks of ocean liners. In short, switching to the superior infrastructure of Malaysia with an injection of studio shots ensured a travesty.
Michael McNay
East Malling, Kent
