Why Delhi Loves Mussoorie and How you can meet Ruskin Bond
North Indians, especially punjus, love Mussoorie. Being married to one I always wondered why and after visiting Mussorrie I think I know why. Read on if you are interested to know why Delhi-ites, esp a kind of Delhi-ites, love the Queen of Hills and how you can meet Mr. Ruskin Bond.
Republic Day 2007 happened to be on a Friday and a good enough motivation to plan for a quick vacation to a place which can be reached over a not-so-long drive. After not getting much success at Corbett and few other places, we somehow led ourselves to Mussoorie. No one wanted to go there in the first place and I guess all are glad that we finally made it to some place. It was definitely more fun being there than watching the Parade. I heard that these days you don’t even get to hear Jaswant Singh, a regular commentator of the event on erstwhile DD. Yeah, I know DD is still around but not as relevant, at least for metros like Delhi.
So it was me, Smita and Pihu along with Rahul-Rewathi in our Scorpio with Deep, Preeti and Harshal in their Corolla.
Day 1 – Jan 26 2007
We started early morning from Indirapuram where I stay. It’s a mile odd away from Delhi-U.P. Border. We took Delhi-Meerut-Roorkee-Doon-Mussorrie route. After 2+ odd hours we were at Grand Cheetal which is about 100 odd KM away from Delhi. It’s a nice hotel for food. Decent service, very clean loos, spacious place with air to breathe, large parking and well manicured gardens. There is another hotel just after Cheetal, which is also very good, its called Rosette Inn.
We usually carry our b’fast (Idlis, Bread Pakoras, Sandwiches, Tea etc) to save time. It really helps us a lot. Right after Cheetal, you get into sakauti and then if you are careful then you will see a cut on your left. That cut goes to Islampur and Jhabura and is a very interesting detour. If you take this you hit on Roorkee-Doon road, you don’t save much on distance but you get to drive through countryside and save yourself from highway madness.
We reached Mussorrie at about 1 PM and that was pretty good. We had booked rooms at Sylvertone Park Plaza which by far seemed like one of the best places to stay. Of course there is JP but Park is very good. In not so peak season you can get a double for 2 nights at 6 K odd. In Season it would be as high as 10 K. But it’s a good buy. Rest of the day was spent looking at hills from the garden and then we were on Mall.
Here comes the scoop. The mall of Mussorrie is just like your Karol Bagh or Sarojini Nagar. There are few thousand shops selling all kind of wares from shawls, footwear, wall decoration items, cutlery, household stuffs. There are also good no of eating joints like ‘The Tavern’ which hosts live music, sweets shops, South Indian places etc. All in all, Mall is a good nice place to hang around and a good walk. And of course lots of people and probably a mix of all this tastes good to Delhites, aided by chaat vendors. There is a post office as well, a trolley which takes you up and you can get some decent views from there, a railway office and so on. One end of mall is called Picture Palace and the other end is the one which is not Picture Place. I guess as long as you remember that you will find your way.
We didn’t too much on Day 1 and were back to Hotel.
Day 2 – Jan 27 2007
We started at around 1100 hrs and moved towards Landour. From the mall chowk, there is a exit towards up which goes to Landour. Landour is a small place with small markets and the best part of the drive is beyond the town. After you maneuver through those constricted streets, you gain some height and really get to see the virgin part of Mussorrie which is devoid of rush and has real good scenic views. Post Landor, there is a place called ‘Lal Tibba’ (Red Box) which is a two storey single room structure housing a high power telescope. For a small charge of, I guess Rs 20, someone will show you hills, villages through those lense. There is a tea shop where you can also munch some cookies. On the way back, we took a different route and in turn completing a circle. From lal dibba, drive towards TV Tower and then you get down to reach Picture Palace. Its all within small distances.
We had lunch at some place, don’t remember and then we took the trolley. Trolley takes up a few notches up where there are three kinds of shops. Magic shops selling wares which you can use to impress your girlfriends, photography studios where one can get shot in various ethnic dresses and eatries, selling all kinds of food, no local food though and that’s a little disappointing for you don’t got a place to eat the same stuff which you get in a typically Delhi market and probably that’s also one of the reasons why Delhi like Mussorrie esp one kind of Delhiites. This place has been specifically developed as a tourist spot and that’s probably the reason that you only find tourists there. There are lot of shops which are shut and it seems like that their owners could not keep the money-box ringing but these closed shops are also from one of the above three categories. Amazing. No pun intended.
It was already 1600 hrs by then and we were not heading towards a book-shop where Mr. Ruskin Bond was supposed to visit and be around to autograph books. This was the high point of whole trip. Ruskin was few steps away from us similing at us and exchanging greetings. It was so difficult to believe that you are so close to someone whose books you read while you were young. We took the plunge and requested for a photo-shoot, we also bought lot of his books and got it signed by him. As Deep puts it that when Harshal (his 3 year old daughter) goes to school with a author signed book, it would be a different high and pride for her. Here’s the pic of the trip.
After spending some time at the book shop we were back to hotel. One of our other old friends, Vijayant Kohli, of Chupa Rustam (Star Plus Serial) fame, was also visiting during the same time so we spent some time with him and his family in the evening and then came back to hotel with good memories and a long day.
Day 3 – Jan 28 2007
Time to go back to Delhi. We left hotel by 12 and stopped at ‘Bhatta Falls’. On the way we crossed, Mussorrie lake which I think one can avoid. The approach to Bhatts falls is same as ‘crooked street’ in San Francisco. You essentially drive down through a highly serpentine way and reach a place which once had a coffee shop and a sort of factory which houses some kind of electricity generation equipments. To see the falls one has to walk few hundred steps since its not visible from the main entry. There is not much at Bhatta except that not many people go there, it’s a quite place, good fresh water stream and a good time-kill place.
We spend more than an hour there and moved towards Delhi. We crossed Roorkee by 4ish, I guess, and now were on Roorkee-Delhi highway. We encountered massive jams at Sakauit and then at Muzaffarnagar bypass and then last one was close to Meerut and finally reached home by 12. After all this if it was one person who could still keep his calm, it was Pihu. If you notice, there are faces of Rahul and Rewathi in her glasses 
March 23rd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Good post.
One of your links is wrong, the one for Upanshu Singhal. There is an extra http
March 29th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Just to add to it, why delhi/punjus love mussourie - it is because of food AND because it is so small, the hill station, that you need to walk quite little (as compared to say, a simla or nainitaal or vaishno devi. yeah! that’s a hill station for vacations too!). SO because you don’t need to exhaust yourselves by lugging the tyres (chin-downwards) on you, it is much more comfortable. That’s all!
Yeah, and for food - man you get greasiest pnjabiest chinese with whisky at most places. there’re tikka corners, golgappa corners, ice cream parlours etc. to whet he appetites of self-acclaimed punjabi foodies. And they love video games too. Thank god, they’re not edible.
March 29th, 2007 at 8:16 am
And hey, just incase i’m sounding like i did not like Mussourie because of the reasons stated above, to straighten the records - I DID.
It has that small-town charm left in some areas like Landour. And once in a while, we do want to visit a place and enjoy the ‘picnic’. (if you’re a punjabi and have been on picnics i big groups to these lake/parks in the NCR, you’ll know what i mean)
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
[...] Delhi-ite who goes to Jaipur every weekend. Well, an average Delhite doesn’t, to know more, read “Why Delhi Loves Mussoorie …..” but I have been to Jaipur many times. No travel experience site is worth its salt if it [...]
February 27th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Re-posting this story again to get it to some of the new ghumakkars.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Oh..! Would have been great to meet Mr.Bond. Someday, I just hope to land up in those parts, just knock his door and try my luck!
February 29th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Sure. We were just plain lucky. There was this book shop on the mall where they had these print-outs mentioning Ruskin’s visit in the evening. So we hung around on the Mall till he arrived.
He was very gracious in letting us click so many pics as well as signing his books. There was this great calmly presence of an intelligent man
March 1st, 2008 at 6:12 am
His spectacles, how fat were they? You know, he is supposed to have some 7+ points in one of his eyes and similar -ve number on the other!
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:18 am
really. I didn’t notice. I have some good res pics and I tried zooming them to see but the thickness is not apparent.
May be if I happen to hit into him ever, I would try to be more attentive.
March 6th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Instead of Mussoorie, try out Dhanolti. A better place than congested Mussoorie.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Yeah, Bhanu. Would agree any day as long as quiet-relaxing hill holiday is concerned. Not too sure for getting some fun-n-excitement.
Been to Dhanaulti few times but never stayed there. Probably some time in future.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
A nice account of your trip to Mussorie and Landour, and you were fortunate to meet Ruskin Bond as well.
I hope to travel this summer to these areas and, thanks to ghumakkar, I’ll try to include Dhanaulti as well.
Pihu is so very cute!!
March 19th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Thanks. Pihu is growing (from being cute to being difficult
).
I have heard that its not too difficult to meet him if you try for it. I think he stays in Landour or some where close to Mussorrie. Try your luck.
In summers, Mussoorie can get a little delhi-tourist heavy, because of school vacations. Dhanaulti is though not very popular among the masses so you could probably stay there and visit Mussorrie for its lively mall.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Another place worth visiting is Kanatal. Just ahead of Dhanaulti on the Mussoorie Tehri Road… And a good place to stay there would be The Terraces, a 3* property.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Right. I visited ‘The Terraces’. Its a lovely property , very well located and world class amenities. I think I have mentioned about ‘Terraces’ and ‘The Hermitage’ in one of my posts on ‘Chamba’. Hermitage is unnecessarily hyped.
I haven’t stayed in any of them so far but thats what I could guess from my visit.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Thanks Jha. I must clarify here my summer here is July/August, which I think is off season there, esp at the mountains because of rains.
I’ll only be passing through Mussorie, Landour, Dhanaulti etc, and probably try to meet Ruskin Bond (now that you say its not impossible). Thereafter, the idea is to explore the rest of higher regions of Garhwal, to end up perhaps in a small trek to the Valley of Flowers. Let’s see how it goes..
For now, I am leaving for a few days to another destination.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Nandan, good to read about your trip to Mussoorie with such great details..We go off toMussoorie at almost every long week end–not because we are PUNJ, but its so close and easy todrive for a change from Gurgaon(I relocated myself to Gurgaon after over 30 years in Bombay/Mum,bai) We have, generally whereever possible on hills, a fixed place where we like to stay–not the 50k place. We happened to be in Mussoorie on the Republic Day time-for once one dosnt mind walking on the road, and have hot soup or hot coffee at the road side stall. I wonder if you have seen the shops selling old antique of Maharajas time.or a sardarji old shop selling walking sticks—which now is almost closing because nobody buys these. I have a habit of picking up one cap and one stick wherever we goas a momento. I must tell your readers about the place we always stay,Its on the Mall Road ,yet away from noise, and has a beatuful ,well mantained lawns overlooking the Doon Valley.At night it a beatufulview which you can watch sitting in a Jholas.
This placeis a vegetarian resort run by a Gujrati lady Mrs.Vohra, amnd is a heritage Kothi of some old,small time Nawab-Its called PADMINI NIWAS, and you can drive from the Ghora Stand(Band Stand) towards Library, and its a steep drive down on the left hand side.In fact, the Tibatan Bazar is at there right almost inside, The Dinninh Hall is the old Ballroom of the Nawab and has a good books in a shreasoable and good gujrati thali meals, but the breakfast is served with eggs and porridge etc. Next time try it. Good old Mussoorie ,so near for a change.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Thanks Jatinder for all the useful information and sharing your experience.
Almost every Punju says that they go to Mussorrie because its close by and its hills
and being married to one, I take it with a pinch of salt.
I would check-out Padmini Niwas when I visit next. Also looking fwd to your next story after Fagu