Footloose in Landour
Mussourie – the queen among hill-stations in India, has a well-kept secret: the adjoining town of Landour. Home to well-known authors and literati, it is located around 5km from Mussourie; yet seems a world away from the buzz and shrieks of its more famous sister. Landour is perfect for people looking for the kind of quiet where even a vibrating cell phone seems too loud for the surroundings.
As you traverse the curvy 30km from Dehradun to Mussourie, there are not just arboreal and avian life to admire but also the creative road signs by the Mussourie municipality. Savour this: Trees are poems that Earth writes on the Sky. Doesn’t that make you look at the tall Chinar and the broad-leafed Poplar as works of art? I particularly like the ones that are cheekily inspired by famous lines and yet provide much-needed warning to motorists: The hills are barren, lonely and steep; I have miles to go before I sleep!
My trip to Mussourie stemmed from a desire to meet a friend in Landour who promised me unending vistas of the mountains and innumerable paths to explore. In his words, “You can walk anywhere, everywhere is beautiful!” So it was, as I discovered. I trudged up the path from Mussourie to Landour as the road turned and wound its way through the tourist hubs with restaurants and stores and finally, just hilly slopes and foliage everywhere. The day-hike started near the Doordarshan tower where we took an off-road trail that descended steeply along the hillside. There is no trail head or sign indicating there is a path and that’s just the beauty of Landour – you can find your own unmarked path to explore.
In places, the trail was so narrow that our hiking shoes were more of a burden than an aid but it was amusing to see local women skipping along these trails with just a pair of worn-out slippers. We reached a vista point about one and a half hours into the hike and were spell-bound by the large swathes of heavily forested mountains. Someone mentioned that cutting trees is illegal in Uttarakhand, so the ingenious locals hack down the branches so what we were seeing were literally just tree tops!
The path from Mussourie to Landour offers plenty of lanes for exploration and discovery. One such lane took me past along a winding road to a quaint and oh-so-English cottage called Maple cottage. I half-suspect a wannabe author was living there at that time and penning words while scrapping pages. Everybody knows where Mr. Bond lives – Ruskin Bond that is; the man whose stories we grew up with and who can still make us pine for the hills. I evidently disturbed him from his nap but he was polite enough to ask me if I could come back at a later time. Another highlight is the Oaklands cottage, home of Engineering Ministries International, is perched in an awe-inspiring location where you get grand panaromic views of the Lower western Himalayas up to 200km away on a clear day.
If a growing tree is a sign of a progressive nation, Uttarakhand is surely the most advanced of them all. The wide canopy of Deodar and chir trees provides ample comfort and company to the solitary wanderer. The government of Uttarakhand has made tremendous efforts to keep Landour clean by way of providing shiny steel dustbins at regular intervals and strongly discouraging the use of plastic (wares are sold in paper bags). They have done a commendable job in preserving the British influence by labeling trees as well as exotic ones with the vernacular and scientific names. It was a revelation that we had a tree called Arjun, with an English name such as “Pride of India”.
A must-see back down in Mussourie, as oft quoted by tourist guides, is the Mall road: the main street where Indians were not allowed during the British raj. Now it is chock-a-bloc with Indians who are exercising their haggling rights and experiencing culinary delights. It is not the Mall road itself that is intriguing but the alleys running off it which promise deeper secrets. Some lead to wondrous vistas while others lead to long-forgotten ruins of buildings, such as the mosque with the sky-blue minarets, which still maintains an air of pride. The red-brick Colonial mansion, now a hotel, near the taxi stand is another impressive piece of architecture. The Clock tower café is another delight for its “rock” get-up and the bustle of literati patrons during meal times. I have never felt as welcome as I did when I walked into the café and “I’ve been waiting for a girl like you” started playing!
Landour is a haven for those who aren’t afraid to get lost: in thought or on their way somewhere. So, bring out those walking shoes and a smile and walk your way up to a weekend of well-deserved solitude. If you are luckier than I am, you could be walking alongside Ruskin Bond on his daily stroll or spot Stephen Alter shopping for vegetables!
