Dehra Dun Coming Of Age

Having spent nearly a decade in this sub-Himalayan Valley town, Anand Pendharkar is witness to the transformation of Dehra Dun into an urban hub

All pics: Anand PendharkarAl

Dehra Dun was a popular retirement town till as recently as 10 years ago, famous for juicy litchis, fragrant basmati rice, the armed forces and elitist academies. Lately, however, after the formation of Uttaranchal state, this once sleepy town has been designated state capital and along with this title has come heavy administrative infrastructure and political machinery.

A year-long equable climate, high groundwater and proximity to the cool Himalaya accorded Dehra Dun the ideal ambience for establishing retirement homes for army officers, tea-estates, fruit orchards, boarding schools and research organisations, as well as training institutions - a factor encashed in plenty by the British after the annexation of the region in 1816.

They developed this town into an important hub in the early 1900s by establishing a number of academies. The Imperial Forest College was established in 1914 in the Chandbagh campus (which has been housing The Doon School since 1936). This was followed by the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in a sprawling 1,000 acre campus in the New Forest Estate off Vasant Vihar. FRI conducts research on flora and fauna. The Royal (Rashtriya Indian) Military College (RIMC, 1922) and the mock Tudor style Indian Military Academy (IMA) in 1932 were other institutions which put Dehra Dun on the Indian map.

Bisected by the seasonal streams of Ripana and Bindal Raos, Dehra Dun is yet predominantly a 'one-storey' city of bungalows, flower studded gardens, expansive cantonments in Garhi and Clement Town (which also has the Air Force Academy), and research institutes like the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the Wildlife Institute of India (Chandrabani), along with the national headquarters of the ONGC and Survey of India (founded in 1767 with former surveyor generals like Sir George Everest).

The massive campuses of India's premiere boarding schools such as The Doon School, Welhams' Girls and Boys School, Convent of Jesus & Mary (CJM), have single-handedly brought international recognition to Dehra Dun by giving the country two prime ministers, viz. V P Singh and Rajiv Gandhi; mediapersons like Prannoy Roy; writers like Vikram Seth (winner of Booker's Award) and Amitav Ghosh as well as the hugely popular Ruskin Bond (from Mussourie) and a whole string of armed personnel (IMA), forest officers who train at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (FRI Campus). Today, these very institutions are the focus of tourism activity. For example the excellent museums in the FRI, where you could almost spend an entire day!

Geologically speaking, a Doon is a flat valley between the Himalaya and the Shiwalik Hills and like the Patli Doon and Pokhra Doon (Nepal), Dehra Dun too is snugly positioned at 695 metres (2,310 feet) in the hills and bounded on the east and west by two of India's most revered rivers, Ganga and Yamuna, respectively. On the south, the Rajaji National Park with its towering Sal forests, home to Asiatic elephants, tigers, leopards and a huge variety of wildlife, also shelter the deras (camps) of the semi-nomadic Gujjar tribes. On the north are the Mahabharat Ranges (a part of the main Himalayan range), in which nestles the famous 'Queen of Hill Stations' - Mussourie (1,970 metres), which was a stopover of the Pandavas before they headed into the Himalayan forests.

Due to its location in a flat valley, Dehra Dun experiences regular inversion and a cool climate even in the peak of summer. It is a pleasant sight waking up to the glow of the snow-capped peaks, sipping tea sitting on the terrace of a bungalow along the spinal roads leading to hill towns of Chakrata (94 kms) or Rajpur Village (12 kms) or having dinner while night-lights bejewel Mussourie, a bare 34 kms away.

The city centre marked, like any north Indian town, by a clock tower (Ghanta Ghar) lies next to an ever-crowded shopping street popular as Paltan Bazaar, flanked by an eateries' street - the Chatwali galli, which has the famous Kumar's Sweet Shop at its entrance. Heading along the Rajpur Road, you pass the General Post Office (GPO), several modern shopping malls (Windlass), quaint and popular eateries such as Moti Mahal and Kumar Foods to some of India's oldest and unique bookshops. Flanking the Barista on each sides are the English Book Depot and the only truly 'Green' Natraj Book Store, which stocks books, multimedia and publications relating to nature, wildlife, gardening and outdoors - right opposite the Gandhi Public Garden. Further along the road, Hotel President with its Polo Bar and Hotel Madhuban are the most popular high-end accommodations in Dehra Dun.

However, if you head away from the GPO - towards Delhi (235 kms), you pass the Interstate Bus Depot and one of India's oldest railway station, past the congested Prince Chowk, which has mid-range hotels such as Meedo's, Prince and the GMVN-run Drona (with dormitories), to really cheap Dharamshalas, which pilgrims on the Chardham Yatra avail of during the summer and monsoon months. Heading further down you reach the Majra Village famed globally for its excellent Basmati Rice, past the central vegetable market (Sabhzi Mandi), towards Clement Town, which has a huge Tibetan Settlement having a massive and superb monastery, stupas, a meditation centre, all worth visiting and the Air Force Academy (AFA), training the high-fliers of the country. Around two kms from the Clement Town junction, along Subash Nagar Road and into Chandrabani Village, are the pyramidal academic blocks of Asia's topmost wildlife research organisation, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

In the third direction, along the Chakrata Road, the town is far more affluent, rarely populated, retains the quaint flavours of the Raj and has some of the most popular establishments of the city, viz. the Doon School, FRI, IMA, RIMC. As you pass the narrow lanes of old Dehra Dun towards the depot of the highly polluting Vikram (six-seater rickshaw) stand you encounter some of the town's oldest black and white photo studios, such as Melaram & Sons who for over three generations have been documenting the growth, progress as well as genealogy of the original residents, schools and academies. However, newer photography services like that of Goyal Colour are probably more well-suited for the quicker pace of urban Dehra Dun. Past two movie halls and you are into truly metropolitan region, with a funny mix of Punjabi, Garhwali, Kumauni, Bengali and Himachali people, along with a largely transient populace on deputation!

With Dehra Dun becoming a capital city, villages such as Prem Nagar, Kaulagarh, Kaonli Rd and Clement Town (Subash Nagar), which were considered outside the city limits, have now turned into its suburbs and house a sizeable number of new residents, organisations, small-scale industries and the Central Braille Press or Rashtriya Drishtibaditarth Sansthan Bharat, the largest producer of Braille texts in India.

For sightseeing, Dehra Dun is the gateway to a variety of beautiful locations right on its outskirts. These include the sulphur springs at Sahastradhara (14 kms), the cold water gorge at Robbers' Cave (Guchhupani) (8 kms), the religious places of Tapovan (5 kms) and Tapkeshwar Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva (5.5 kms), as well as Laxman Sidh (12 kms) and Malsi Deer Park (9 kms), which are extensively used by the locals for their weekend picnics. The Jhanda Fair marking the arrival of Guru Ram Rai, at Dehra Dun is celebrated with great pomp and aplomb in the heart of the town on the fifth day after Holi, every year, attracting hundreds of Sikh pilgrims from the entire country. The renowned religious town of Rishikesh, where the Ganga enters the plains, is a mere 42 kms away. The temple town of Haridwar (67 kms) famous for its evening aarti (prayer) with floating lights at Har-ki-pauri, Mussoorie, Rajaji National Park, the deodar clad Chakrata hills all lie in the Dehra Dun district and are a day-visit.

All in all, this city snugly located in the arms of two mountain ranges is an ever-smiling and ever welcoming city, burgeoning into a metropolis, albeit limited by massive mountains and rivers!