Landour – Escape from India
Hi everyone, in case you’re wondering, I am alive and having an awesome time here in India. In fact, I’ve been so busy running around exploring and having fun that I haven’t had time to sit down and write about it – hence the lack of updates here. I’ve discovered that finding internet connections shouldn’t be a problem while I’m here, there’s a STD/ISD/PCO shop (phone booth) on nearly every street corner in the cities/towns, and every kilometer or two on rural roads – and about half of them offer internet access. However, speeds aren’t great, it’s all dial-up and pages take 10-30 seconds to load so while I’ll be able to post stories (text), it looks like I won’t be putting up as many pictures as I would like, a real shame cause I’ve already got a whole bunch I’d love to share!
Anyway, in terms of my adventures, I am now in Landour which is a beautiful tiny community perched at the very top of first real ridge of the Himalaya overlooking the famous hill station of Mussoorie which is about 4km away in a saddle of the ridge. I arrived here yesterday afternoon, having taken a public bus up from Dehradun. Unlike my bus from Delhi to Dehradun, this was a more typical Indian bus with tiny metal seats with little to no padding all crammed into a beat-up metal shell on wheels. The 65 seats were quickly filled and an extra 15 or so piled on and ended up standing in the aisle for the 40km, 1.5hr trip from Dehradun to Mussoorie. Certainly not luxury, but all in all it was actually quite acceptable, and the price of Rs. 27 was right! The road was in good shape, but a little narrow for my taste, for although it was wide enough for two busses to pass each other, the clearances between the busses, between the inner bus and the retaining wall and between the outer bus and the railing on the edge of a vertical drop of several hundred meters would have been measured in centimeters. The road would never be allowed in the west, but by Indian standards it’s awesome, and when you consider that the drivers are used to the roads further up in the mountains which are MUCH worse (as I found out on my trip to Janpad), I was able to put aside my fears – with only a few exceptions. Upon arrival in Mussoorie, several men quickly jumped onto the roof and lowered/dropped down my two big, heavy bags from the cargo rack (for a small fee) and then I loaded it all into a taxi for the trip up to Landour. The taxi driver demanded Rs. 120 for the trip, demonstrating how public transportation between cities/towns is dirt cheap, but getting around within them is downright expensive. However, the tiny one-lane road winding 300 vertical meters up switchback after switchback through a crowded bazaar made me realize the price was at least somewhat justified.
As for Landour itself, it is an absolutely incredible place. I’ve been here for less than a day and I’ve already fallen in love with it! In nearly all ways, Landour is the opposite of the rest of India, and in many ways it feels like home. Firstly, it’s quiet here – the mountainous terrain ensures that there isn’t much space to build on so things are somewhat spread out here and there are many, many less people and almost no cars/jeeps/scooters let alone trucks and busses. Secondly, the natural landscape is stunning. The mountain slopes are covered with huge old softwoods that are in turn covered in moss and dripping delicate vines (reminiscent of the temperate rainforests of the BC coast). Through this curtain you can catch views of the ridges and snow-capped peaks of the Himalaya on one side, and the Doon Valley and Shivalik Hills on the other, both stunning vistas that put even my old house on North Mountain to shame. Thirdly, the temperature is honest-to-goodness cool, a wonderfully refreshing change and promises to get downright cold (snow is a possibility in December) which will be fun for a winter-lover like me. The lack of insulation in the cement houses, and scarcity of fireplaces means that I may come to regret winter here, but for now at least the thought of it is heaven compared to the heat that still suffocates Delhi constantly and even Dehradun in the days. Finally it is in remarkable condition; the air is clean and fresh, the buildings are mostly pretty old stone and cement structures, there are very few dilapidated shacks, hut and stalls that littler the rest of India and there’s very little litter/garbage strew about (unlike the rest of India where it is omnipresent). All in all, it’s a cool, quiet temperate rainforest perched on a mountaintop with views of the High Himalaya – basically paradise. This place would be amazing anywhere, but finding it in India makes it even sweeter, as it allows one to escape (an option I had begun to think was impossible) from all the aspects of this country that in the long term would become unbearable for me. As much as I love India, I’ve realized after only 10 days that it’s a lot to handle, so completely different from what I’m used to and what I would ideally like, that regardless of how fascinating it is culturally and how beautifully it can be naturally, it’s not a place I would want to live in long term. I walked do to and around Mussoorie this morning, and after being here in Landour for only an evening, I felt a bit of what I would almost describe as culture-shock, the dirt, garbage, squalor, noise, smells and crowds of India were a little more noticeable. That being said, I still have a lot I want to (and think I can) learn culturally and many things I want to see/experience, so I still want to be here for the year or so that I had originally planned on. However, I now know that there is a place that I can go to escape the predominantly physical aspects of India that are hard to take at times, so I’m going to appreciate my time here now, and may well end up making use of the escape more often than just this once.
The hotel/guesthouse I’m staying at now is quite a nice stone/cement complex built into the slope near not too far below the summit, and thankfully is much cheaper than an equivalent place in a similar environment in “the west”. However, I’ve found out that Ravi & Jo (friends from before) have a house-sized cottage right here in Landour that they’re going to let me stay in starting on Wednesday, which is going to be even better. It’s a beautiful place right on the edge of the mountain with a spectacular view looking south over Dehradun and the surrounding hills, and even has a resident cook who will make meals for me – I just have to pay for the groceries! It’s going to be such a treat to actually have a “home” for awhile where I can unpack and do what I want without worrying about getting in anyone else’s way or having to spend a small fortune. I’ve had an amazing time in India so far and am extremely grateful to everyone who has taken me in and shown me around, but I’m ready to have a bit of peace and quiet now and the combination of “having” my own place and being in gorgeous, relaxing Landour is something I’m really looking forward to! I’m going to go to the Language School tomorrow and get signed up and organized there (meant to do that Friday, but I couldn’t pass up the trip into the mountains just so I could register for some classes!), start learning Hindi and hopefully make some new friends (otherwise I think it may become a little too quiet here…).
So that’s the story up to now, though there is still a big gap in the middle of it (don’t worry if you didn’t understand some of the references above because I haven’t gotten around to writing about them yet!). Now that I’m settled here in Landour with its wonderfully calm, quiet atmosphere, I should be able to “catch up” on the writing and fill in the gaps from the past week (my adventures in Delhi, rediscovering Dehradun, the amazing art/cultural festival going on in Dehradun now and my day trip into the mountains to Janpad) and I’ll try to post them soon. From here on in I should be able to keep better pace with the writing, but just in case, make it a habit of going back and checking not only the most recent story, but a few of the previous ones in case something new has appeared (I’m going to post them so the dates correspond to the end of the adventure written about, and not the date it was posted on).
I’d love to hear from all of you, tell me what’s up with you whether it’s exciting or not, and I’ll try to write personal responses to emails/comments, as I know these stories are good, but are not a complete substitute for really keeping in touch.
That’s all for now, namaste!
This is the online home of one Shane Warner, my place to attempt to tell some of my stories, as well as just spout off whatever comes to mind.
Hi, I was just looking for pictures from Landour an found your nice letter! You see, my grandparents lived in Landour for three months back in 1910, they were missionaries in Madya Pradesh and had to go to the hills during the hot season just to survive. The were living at Childer´s Lodge, which maybe just doesn´t exist any more. If you can find it for me, I would be more than happy, I am writing a bokk about them right now. By the way I am from Sweden. Birgitta
I’ll see what I can do, I haven’t seen it yet, but honestly I’ve been too busy looking at the mountains to pay any attention to the houses. If I find it I’ll let you know! Hope you like the stories, it’s neat to know people from other parts of the world stumble upon this!
Childers lodge still exists,it is well maintained by the present owners who live in Delhi.It is right next to a tourist spot called Lal-Tibba in Landour.