The existence of Simla was itself a comment on the astonishing complacency of the British in India

The existence of Simla was itself a comment on the astonishing complacency of the British in India at this period: for seven months of the year, the Company ruled one-fifth of mankind from a Himalayan village overlooking the borders of Tibet and connected to the outside world by a road little better than a goat path. 

W. Dalrymple, Return of a King (2013), 130

There is a boy across the river with a bottom like a peach

There is a boy across the river with a bottom like a peach
But alas! I cannot swim

Khushal Khan, quoted in W. Dalrymple, Return of a King (2013), 17
Though the endnotes sadly tell us that 'many scholars doubt the authenticity of this celebrated couplet'

I can hardly tell him this is the age of the bronze caster

I don’t know,’ said Srikanda, shrugging his shoulders. ‘It’s all part of the world opening up. After all, as my son says, this is the age of computers. And as much as I might want otherwise, I can hardly tell him this is the age of the bronze caster.'

W. Dalrymple, Nine Lives (2009), Kindle edition, location 3776