Mussoorie -the place it was

I had last gone to Mussoorie 11 years ago, same time, mid-June. When I came back to Delhi, I uploaded the pictures on the more accomplished Orkut, since Facebook  at that time was still a teenager, trying to fit in, searching for its identity.

I remember that in one of the pictures, only my hand was visible, raised in the air, which was clicked on the Lal-Tibba track situated at nearly 7500 feets among the Landour cantt, as the cloud, full of mist, rushed in to engulf everything under their weightless, cold cover. I had to wear a light woolen jacket, such was the chill in the air.

The rows of trees, surrounding Lal Tibba trek, the legendary Char Dukaan and the small Church near the language school that lies at the entry of the ITM lab, were huge in number, and they were so dense that it was nearly impossible to see beyond a few rows as to what lies behind those tree line.

This time, when I decided to go there again, I expected something similar.

11 years later, Mussoorie has undergone a massive change, a change that has been brought by us, an undesirable change.

The temperature this time did not go below 24 degree. The place that I stayed, was 100 meters away from Mussoorie lake, and despite being at a relatively less crowded place, at the foot of small hills, we had to switch on the AC whenever we were inside the room.

The three hills across our resting place, had lost majority of their green forest cover, turned brown with small cemented houses dotted across them. What should have been green, was now brown.

Locals told me that till 7-8 years ago, they would see Guldaar (leopard) in and around the campus. Now it it has just become a part of myth, an ancient folklore.

2019, after.

2008, before.

The situation at Kanatal and Dhanaulti was no different, the place, which were truly ‘hill station’ till very recently, have been robbed off their ability to keep things cool.

The accessible roads that have surrounded each and every part of Mussoorie and the neighboring areas have led to an all year traffic, with thousands of SUVs entering these areas every month, each one of them, like us, trying to spend time in a resort , a place which is in middle of forest and surrounded by hills.

While going towards Dhanaulti, I saw a Haryana registered SUV, with opened sun-roof, in which a young couple, beer can in their hand, shouting at the forests, whizzing past us. I was imedaitely transported to Gurgaon.

Hill stations in NCERT books have been defined as a place which are on hills, stay cool even during summers and since they are largely inaccessible, inhospitable,  they are less crowded.

That is not the situation any more.

Ruskin Bond, who can be called as Mussoories’s emblem, too has changed with the changing times.

11 years ago, my uncle and I spent a lot of time at his small but cozy place in Landour.

At that time he rarely used to get unannounced visitors. He could walk in the Landour market without being pestered for selfies and autographs. He could gossip with the old kirana store guys and take a stroll at the Mall road.

He has become more reclusive now, maybe like a Himalayan brown bear.

During the day, people roam around his house to catch a glimpse of the 85 year old writer who had weaved dreams of many kids as they read his books. He rarely comes down now. The only time he does is on Saturday when he goes to Cambridge book depot at the mall road between 3.30 and 4.40 to meet his readers and sign books for them.

The house adjacent to him has been turned into an ‘inn’ which reportedly has been brought by a noted Mumbai film maker. Its red color is not something that the eyes look for in a place where you expect green to prevail.

Landour was known for its serenity, the serenity has been replaced with tourists who are ‘loud’ in every sense.

Old timers say that Landour, at 7500 feets, is the “original Mussoorie”.In 1823, Captain Frederic Young, a British army officer, came across a goat path on the hills surrounding Dehradun while on a hunting expedition. 

This road, was the first road that connected Dehradun to the hills, that later come to known as Landour. In 1826, Young built’s Landour’s first home, and named it “Mullingar”, after his place of birth in Ireland. Young was the commandant of the first Gurkha battalion that was raised by the British after the Gurkha War or the Anglo-Nepalese war that was fought between 1814-1816.

The way things are going, soon a time will come when people will only be able to read about what Mussoorie offered and what it was, as I realized on this trip.