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| Mussoorie town |
Mussoorie: Cool
and exhilarating in summer and then mantled in casual snow for winters;
inviting all the year-round; the perfect spot for a magnificent scenery; a
quiet walk; an evening out and a cool night’s sleep. It is situated
between high mountains to the north and the flat Doon valley below. From
a particular hilltop, on a clear day one can see the Ganga and Yamuna trailing
their way from the hills into the plains.
The town
started to develop during the first decade of the nineteenth century when
Captain Young constructed the first building near Mullingar. In 1826,
Landour became a sanatorium for British troops, and the entire area covering
the township was taken on lease from the Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal for the
nominal sum of Rs 1120. The Municipal Board came into being in
1873. In 1880, the ex-Amir of Afghanistan, Yakub Khan was placed under
detention here in the Bellevue Estate. During 1884, the Duke and Duchess
of Connaught chose Mussoorie as their summer residence. By this time
several Indian princes had been attracted to this place and they built their
own summer residences here. Gradually schools and public
institutions also developed and it became a popular summer resort, first for
the princes and Britishers and later for the tourists.
Like
Dehradun, Mussoorie too is known for its public schools, many of them started
by the Britishers. Prominent among them are the Wood Stocks, Wynberg Allen, St.
Georges, Hampton Court etc. If Dehradun is famous for the
IndianMilitaryAcademy, Mussoorie boasts of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of
Indian Administrative Services.
During
summers, the Mall is packed with merry crowds of holiday makers.
Long queues
are a normal feature at the booking booths of the ropeway that takes visitors
to the 2142 mtr top of the famous Gun Hill for a panoramic view of the
snow-clad Himalayas. A morning stroll along the winding Charleville Road takes
one to the pine-scented HappyValley and the Tibetan township. Located here is a
cliff-hanging Buddhist Shrine with ceremonial trumpets and acolytes reciting
ancient scriptures. In the Himalayan twilight, one can also see the
twinkling lights of Dehra Dun far off in the valley below.
