FEATURE
“Mussoorie, you know, was created by the British for their pleasure,” said Suri, pronouncing the last word – pleasure – lingeringly, smeared with a sauce of decadence.
Retired Colonel Suri is an old timer of Mussoorie and the hills around. His place, the ‘Nest’ as he has fondly christened it, is up a steep climb from Camel Back Road, overlooking the mighty Himalayan ranges to the north. Our car groaned up his porch. Suri, as he insisted on being called, loves the mountains, his pet German Shepherd, Blimey, and his scotch. Not sure in which order though. And Suri has stories. Stories of the underbelly of Mussoorie’s colourful past.
But it took two pegs and umpteenth caressing of Blimey’s hairy shoulder before he began to steam up. One Captain Young of the British Army from the cantonment in Dehradun erected a shooting box for hunting — the first structure on these hills, way back in 1823. He then decided to leave the dusty plains for good and move up. Other sahibs followed suit.
Full report here Hindu
