Landour the mesmerising beauty

An old bridle path circumvents the Kellogg Memorial Church perched on one of the many hills doting Landour. As I took a walk along the pine shadowed path, I came across a small plant growing on a rock, a couple of ladybugs basking in the setting sun and a bunch of forget-me-nots growing in the shaded wilderness. Even at the height of tourist season, the hill station of Landour looked like a frothy confection of fog, mist, clouds and disembodied ghostly pine branches. Slick and glossy roads gleamed under golden lamps that stuck out their necks inquiringly and peered down at them. Brightly painted benches pondered upon the glowing lights of the Doon Valley below. After walking alone for a while with only nature for company, I realised that solitude has its own appeal and exudes a sense of happiness that can only be felt and not described.

Many of those who have been to Mussoorie and have already discarded it as a commercialised, over-crowded, almost 'plains like' hill station would be delighted to know that there is another side to Mussoorie, which is peaceful, beautiful and charming and yet easy on the pocket. That is Landour, just 3 kms away. So close yet absolutely un-spoilt.

Landour takes its name from Llanddowror, a village in Carmarthenshire in southeast Wales. During the British Raj, it was commonplace to give nostalgic English, Scottish, welsh or Irish names to places in India, reflecting one’s ethnicity. Landour was built in 1827 by the British Army, as a convalescent place for soldiers suffering from malaria and other tropical diseases. Those who did not survive were buried in a cemetery which still stands and Landour even has an area called Sisters’ Bazaar named after the nurses who looked after the sick soldiers.

In the story of Mussoorie, the Queen of the hill stations, Landour is where it all began and just two centuries ago, this was just another Himalayan pastureland. When the Gurkhas took over Garhwal in 1803, they became the reigning overlords. And when the British fought the Gurkhas in 1814, the area of Landour — cool, higher than 7,000f and full of game, seemed just right for homesick British armymen. The first house, called ‘Mullingar’, was built in 1823 by the Commandant of Landour and can still be seen.

The unparallel beauty of the cottages and estates of those times still makes its presence felt all over Landour. And the icing on the cake is that in spite of being a stone’s throw away from Mussorrie, it is not at all touristy. The locals walk about with black umbrellas, constantly stopping to chat with acquaintances, sometimes sharing a hot bhutta or a chai, for this is Landour and everyone knows everyone, and the evening can always be stretched a bit.

The Landour Bazaar starts the Picture Palace end of the Mussorrie Mall, climbing unsteadily up to Landour cantonment. The central point of Landour is called Chaardukaan because of the four dhaba-cum-provision shops which sprang up here since the place came into existence. The shops haven’t increased, no hotels have come up, no construction dots this horizon, and the place hasn’t grown at all. For, in keeping with its origins, this is still cantonment area and building regulations are strict. Here are the changes at Landour over the years: A shop has acquired broadband Internet connection. The loveliest devdar tree in the world, set in the Devdar Woods hotel, has grown a little older.

Landour is also home to many celebrities, prime amongst them being Ruskin Bond who lives in a quiet little house right on the Landour-Mussorie road. Then there is Victor Banerjee's "Parsonage” and Sanjay Narang's awesome cottage right on the edge of the hill. Pranoy Roy and Tom Alter also have their homes here. What is extremely inspiring is that the residents are conscientious about the nature and work hard to maintain the pristine environment of Landour.

Landour thankfully remains as it always was - a picture-postcard town with pretty little cottages. The town is still green for the ridge occupied by the Landour Cantonment has thick oak woods on one side, and old Devdars on the other. It is restful, as the only thing you can do there is take long walks. There are little zigzagging pathways into the hills, and one that takes you straight up to Mussoorie if you are the kind that likes video-games and chhole batureys for lunch. But for me, the best attraction was the daily walk to Landour Bazaar through the pine and oak forest and climbing back again, out of breath but amazingly energised.

I am aware that I have broken the Omerta code of the Landour lovers' club by letting the world know about this picturesque little hill-town and I fear that as punishment, I will have to spend my next holiday in Mussoorie, in a hotel on the busiest part of the Mall and facing a children's amusement park.

Sriparna Saha