When a landmark vanished from a city, it leaves it a poorer place in more ways than one. The picture of the city which people have in mind changes. In fact, it gets disturbed and it takes a long time for the new image to replace the earlier one. Even people who are living in the city sometimes find themselves looking for those beloved old places which have gone without leaving any mark on the face of the earth! Bereft of their comforting presence, the city becomes unrecognisable at times.
Having stayed in a town which suddenly was forced to grow up and play the role of an interim capital of a newly created Hill State, I have seen many of the favourite landmarks of this once ‘sleepy town in the Himalayan foothills’ ‘disappear,’ leaving the residents with a feeling of emptiness and discomfort. Among the first to go was the Kwality restaurant. This famous restaurant was a landmark of Dehra Dun. It closed around six years ago and a posh jewellery showroom replaced it. like a dear old friend, it quietly left, unable to deal with the rapidly changing city and its so-called development.
Generations of Indian Military Academy’s Gentlemen Cadet, who are now retired or serving officers of the Indian Army, will always look back fondly on their days spent at Kwality. Young Doscos (Doon schoolboys) had looked at this comfortable restaurant as a cosy corner where they could spend their day out and take back the famous Kwality butter toffees. Indira Gandhi used to bring her sons Rajiv and Sanjay from the school and treat them at Kwality.
Other popular restaurants which vanished are Napoli and The Vegetarian. Some of the old cinema halls, which seemed immortal, have gone too. PVRs are now very much the preference of the people here.
The Dispensary Road has been widened at the cost of being deprived of its popular shops. This road was a landmark too. Known popularly as Book Road, it has recently been ‘gifted’ with a shopping mall to which the old book shops have been shifted, taking away the atmosphere of the place and leaving it neither here nor there. One wonders whether the road could not have been widened while keeping the book bazaar the way it had been for decades.
The famous East Canal of Dehra Dun, which was a major landmark of our town, now flows underground. Though the EC Road is still named so, the canal after which it was named can be no more seen. It has been covered in order to widen the road. Till the year 2002, it was a living presence of the valley, flowing merrily and giving a cooling effect to the air around it .
Doon was once a city of canals and the disappearance of almost all of them has taken away much of the character of the city. Most of the clear, bubbling canals have now become roads; the expansive fields of fragrant Basmati have turned into concrete residential colonies. This unhurried, friendly town of tongas, litchi orchards and sprawling bungalows has changed into a crowded, rushing city. The world has finally caught up with Dehra Dun.
Thus it has to sacrifice its landmarks. It has to become “happening”. Despite all changes, snugly located in the arms of two mountain ranges, this city is still ever-smiling and ever welcoming. And memories of its golden days will never fade.
But then, old places like Prabhat, Natraj and Orient cinemas, Hotel White House, Kumar Sweets, Yeti Restaurant, Joshi’s Buffet and the Chaatwali gali are still going strong! The Clock Tower and the good old Paltan Bazaar also add stability to the character of Doon. The old schools and colleges which are heritage institutions, the Doon Club, the IMA, the FRI, the ONGC at Tel Bhavan and the RIMC all retain their old look and feel. They give us an assurance that there are certain things which do not change so easily. They give us the feeling of stability which was once given to us by the entire city. Now, these are the oasis of comfort and stability . Thank God for them!
The Old Clock Tower of landour in Mussoorie suffered a terrible fate. It was brought down with the intention of bringing up a better structure. Till now, nothing has come up! let us hope that not too many of the old places are brought down to create a city with a plastic look — a city without a soul.