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Mussoorie Across the Ages THIS book is another sequel to Ganesh Saili’s over a dozen books on the Himalayas—a peek into the past, personal recollections and the experiences of the travellers to this place. The book offers between two covers the writings of various visitors to Mussoorie in different times, all of whom were great observers and left behind for us a legacy of word-pictures of the place in the days of its infancy. This is the story of Mussoorie through various phases—from muddy roads to the tarred ones, from ponies to cars, and from the sahibs to babus—presenting us its odyssey into the present.
The book includes Fanny Parkes’ vivid account of the picturesque Mussoorie, an excerpt from her journal; letters written by Lady Emily Eden, sister of Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India to her sister; the heartrending true story of a helpless Mohammedan mother by John Lang; Andrew Wilson’s The Abode of Snow 1875 gives the readers a rare glimpse into the world of a freebooter, Frederick E. Wilson; Lady Dufferin’s journal records a detailed account of her stay in the hills; F. Bodycot’s renders notes on adjacent districts and routes; H. H. Wilson’s Mussoorie Miscellany is chatty, gossipy and full of titbits; the author of Doon Gazetteer, H. G. Watson, gives us a meticulously researched record of the Doon Valley. The reader cannot escape the strange uneasiness that descends over after reading the book. As the name Mussoorie exudes all the charm and natural beauty, one expects to relish the Mussoorie of the yore in all its pristine beauty and certainly not the one Saili’s innuendoes camouflaged in lucid prose refer to. A shrewd writer that he is, he adroitly, through his detailed description of the place in his introduction juxtaposed with the writings of the early visitors to the place, unveils the stark truth that the change we bring in the name of progress is no better. The heart aches to find that many new buildings— which are "bare and ugly", "dust and grime of today’s construction activities", "concrete monstrosities", "ugly toadstools"—sprouting in every nook and corner, have replaced the old bunglows of lime and mortar pasted on to four-anna bricks topped with thatch roofs. He highlights the grotesque sights of uprooted trees next to huge garbage dumps, satirically christening them as "signs of progress". On the whole, the book is a significant addition to the field of literature.
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While
reading the experiences of the writers, one literally gets transported
to the past. Through their word images, we have a rendezvous with the
place with the natural pristine sites that take the breath away and
leave one awestruck and mesmerised, where beauty surpasses all
definition—majestic, luminescent peaks emerging out of the
glistening clouds, wooded hills, idyllic grandeur, exquisite nature
and exotic animals—and lend the mountains an ethereal appeal. One
can even smell the fragrant flowers, tread on an emerald carpet,
admire the cerulean canopy, breathe whiffs of fresh breeze fused with
wild fragrance, and have a rejuvenating storehouse of memories to
cherish for ever.