WEEKEND IN MUSSOORIE: OCTOBER 6-8, 2007

I decided that it was time to venture away from the secure comforts of the campus and to escape to the hills for a weekend. Mussoorie sometimes called queen of the hill stations is relatively close by. So I headed out on Saturday Oct 6 at about 9:00 am to catch the bus to Dehradun about 40 km away. At Dehradun I hired a taxi to take me the rest of the way a further 35 km. I arrived at about 2:00 pm. The first order of business was to find myself a hotel. I eventually settled on the Hotel Rockland. It was a pretty good deal with hot and cold water at Rs 500/- ($12.50). I then set out to explore the town and walked from one end of the mall to the other. Mussoorie is reminiscent of Newcastle in Jamaica but a bit higher at 6000 ft (1830m) much more commercialized and much larger. Mussoorie was founded in 1823 by the British as a refuge from the heat of the plains which is still its main raison-d’etre today. Some of the old British Buildings are still there but most of the original buildings are submerged by newer generally banal structures built in recent years to accommodate the influx of Indian vacationers intent in escaping the heat of the plains!! By Oct 6 the weather on the plains had moderated, children were back at school and the off season had started, still there were lots of people around! The temperature was pleasant and a sweater or jacket was enough to keep one comfortably warm. In my usual fashion I meandered around the bazaar or the mall as it has always been called. On of my stops was at Cambridge Book Store where a certain Mr. Ruskin author was hanging out. Ruskin is one of the rare Englishmen who decided to remain in India after independence. There was also another author there a lady who writes on gardening and such stuff. Unfortunately, I have forgotten her name. The other character I met was Sikh storekeeper who was preparing for immigration to Winnipeg to join his uncle who owns three taxis. He expects to work for his uncle driving one of the taxis. I warned him that Canadian police enforce traffic laws much more strictly than in India and that he must always obey the rules of the road or he could easily loose his licence, of course he will first have to learn the rules! Driver education is a weak element in the Indian driver licensing system.

Sunday I went on a drive through the country by taxi to Dhanoli (50 km, both ways). I shared the cost with a French student and his Ladakhi girl friend. The highlight were views of the snow covered Himalaya. At Dhanoli we visited a herbal garden. They also grew a lot of flowers for the market mainly marigolds. In the evening I had supper at a Tibetan restaurant where I met a couple of young Canadian lady travellers who had just started their Indian adventure. They were planning to live on the cheap. I hoped it all worked out well for them.

Next day I joined a bus tour to Kempty Falls some 15 km to the northwest of Mussoorie. I was the only foreigner on the bus. One of the other passengers thought I was Indian because I was talking Hindi but he couldn’t have been listening all that well! The tour was over by 3:00 pm. After the tour I returned to the hotel picked up my knapsack caught a bus to Dehradun and another to Roorkee reaching home at about 7:00 pm in time for supper.

I am attaching a few pictures that will give you an idea of the place.

Phil Helwig,
Roorkee
Nov 24, 2007