Mussoorie and landour: Footprints of the Past
Author: Virgil Miedema and Stephanie Spaid Miedema
Publisher: Rupa, Rs500
It reads like a beautiful story, only this is a true tale of a place whose charm has endured over the years and pulls people towards it all round the year, says JASKIRAN CHOPRA
There have been several books on the history of Mussoorie. All of them have been as voluminous as the latest one by Virgil Miedema and his daughter Stephanie Spaid Miedema titled Mussoorie and landour: Footprints of the Past. However, along with the volume of the book, we find a depth and charm which most other books on Mussoorie may not match up to. The details are indeed exhaustive, especially in the form of the notes given at the end of each of the 10 chapters.
It is a pictorial and narrative history of Mussoorie and landour, focussing on the colonial era and covering the period from 1823 when Frederick Young and Frederick Shore built their “shooting box” on Camel’s Back, to 1947 when India became independent. The authors tell us in the preface that their love affair with Mussoorie began in the mid 1990s when they first visited the hill station. “Our affection for this Himalayan resort continued to grow over the years as our visits increased. This book is a result of our enduring fascination and association with the town, combined with an amateur’s interest in history.”
With the help of guide books and local experts, the authors have created a treatise that does not leave out any aspect which makes Mussoorie and landour the places that they are — unique and enchanting. Besides being a nostalgic account of the hill station’s past, this book is full of descriptions of interesting people and places. How the best of schools, hotels, churches, bungalows, clubs and cinemas were set up and flourished is told in a captivating and conversational style. Cemeteries are also described at length.
The life story of Frederick Young, the ‘discoverer’ of Mussoorie, is recounted in great detail as his role in establishing the hill station is crucial. Young pushed for and succeeded in establishing the landour cantonment as a convalescent depot. He built three houses in the station. His house named Mullingar still stands in landour, though occupied by Tibetans and in a dilapidated condition. He spent most of his life in India and died in 1874 in Ireland at the age of 87. Without Young, Mussoorie would not have come into existence.
The book highlights the difficulties people faced while on their way to the station before the motor route was built. Travellers used palanquins and armchairs to go up from the plains. They found it worth their while and spent the long April-October season in Mussoorie.
The rich and impressive history of the station narrated in this work is a reminder of the hallowed past of Mussoorie, re-establishing the importance and status of the hill town which may be taken lightly by new visitors. By recreating the aura which Mussoorie had during those early years as well as in the early 20th century, the authors ensure that readers get a holistic picture of the glorious past of the place when the cream of British and Indian society spent more than half the year amid its bracing climate. The Queen of Hills was indeed a resort for Kings, including Maharajas of Kapurthala, Kalsia, Gaekwad, Jind, Rajpipla and Nabha.
In the summers of 1852 and 1853, dethroned child-king Duleep Singh, son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was kept here for two summers (at Castle Hill Estate) before he was sent to England. Also, Afghani royal Dost Mohammad was kept as a political prisoner on a hilltop site now part of the campus of Wynberg-Allen School. This happened as Mussoorie was a more politically out-of-the-way station for high-profile prisoners, unlike other major stations that were summer capitals.
An account of famous early residents of Mussoorie — Young, Everest, Falconer and Cautley — and royal visitors from England gives an interesting dimension to this well-researched history of Mussoorie which was “a little England” for the first 100 of its existence. The book tells us that the station saw its defining growth during the Victorian era. “Victorian Mussoorie came to epitomise a ‘hill station ideal’ and outlined for future generations the basic features of the town.”
The authors stress the fact that since Mussoorie was not the official summer capital like Shimla, there were certain activities that were frivolous. We read about young soldiers flirting with the “grass widows”, a term used during the Raj period to describe married women who went up the hills for the hot weather, while their husbands remained on duty in the plains. Renowned travel writer lowell Thomas observed: “There is a hotel in Mussoorie where they rang a bell just before dawn so that the pious may say their prayers and the impious get back to their own beds.”
It is assumed that he was talking of the Savoy, which opened in 1902, and where “the piano keyboard tingled, the orchestra played, dancers took to the floor, champagne flowed and regal spreads were heaped on groaning tables in the imperial dining room”.
The chronicle also dwells upon the life and times of Frederick Wilson (“Pahari Wilson”) whose legend still echoes in the Himalayas. He first came to landour in 1837 as a clerk in the East India Company’s army. He was sent back to England and mustered out of the army in 1838. He later returned to India and garnered contracts, making a lot of money. He married twice (both Garhwali women). Though some people question his worthiness, Wilson’s story is quite an interesting one.
The 313-page book is a page-turner as it uses simple language, avoiding complicated descriptions. Separate chapters on schools, churches, hotels, clubs and royal visitors give the reader a clear picture of the atmosphere of the hill station down the centuries. In another nine years, Mussoorie will turn 200. The book will be extremely interesting for tourists, researchers and also for the general reader as its literary value is no less than its historic import. It reads like a beautiful story, only this is a true tale of a place whose charm has endured over the years and pulls people towards it all round the year. The colonial features of the station remain, merging smoothly with its modernised and Indian look to create a wondrous fairyland with a festive air.
The book is a must-read for those who love the hills and are takers for nostalgia and romance.