The Raja of Harsil: The Legend of Frederick 'Pahari' Wilson by Robert Hutchison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This fictionalized account about the British adventurer could have been titled “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”. Wilson was soldier in the East India Company till he deserted (out of cowardice) and went on the lam.
He was a spy and claimed to have thwarted the nefarious designs that Tsarist Russia had on Indian territory – he single-handedly caught two Russian spies in the icy heights of Nelang, and led to the capture of a Russian prince. He also allegedly played a crucial role in defeating the Sikh Army. He is said to have protected Mussoorie and Dehradoon from the mutineers of 1957 – the tallest of his claims.
He tailored his own currency and tinkered with the flora and fauna of Garwhal leading to the decimation of centuries old deodar forests and extinction of animals like the ibex, mountain goats etc. He guided blood-thirsty British officers in conducting hecatombs in the frigid regions ranging from Harsil, Himachal, Ladhak to Kashmir.
The systematic ornithocide and felling of trees led to the extinction of birds like the ‘monal’. The Brits looted India under the veneer of “development”, but Wilson raped and ravaged the sylvan Garwhal hills for his personal wealth. His felled of centuries old deodar trees and transported them free by floating them down the Bhagirathi to feed Cautley's brick klins for his Upper Ganges Canal and to provide sleepers for the burgeoning rail network in India.
He wanted to start a dynasty in the “Kingdom of Harsil” but (spoiler alert!) the hills had their revenge – his progeny turned out to be either wastrels or criminals and his lineage, thankfully, petered out.
There is a lot of duplication from the author’s other book “Garden Of Fools” and the “Himalaya Club” episodes is lifted straight from John Lang's The Himalaya Club.
Still, the book is engrossing.

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