29-06-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
The Call of the Forgotten Hills
Between 1798 and 1815,the Gurkhas exercised control over the Garhwal and Kumaon regions. Their presence brought the angrezes like Frederick Young, who enlisted as a 15-year-old ensign, and went on to become a general, having served in India for 44 years and set up Landour's convalescent depot.
Elsewhere, atop a ridge in the library, rose Christ Church, the oldest Church in the Himalaya, built in the best Victorian, Indo-Cotswold style, with a William Hill organ.
Along the bridle path came our older schools. By 1834, Mussoorie had acquired a reputation as 'the Eton of the East'. Wynberg-Allen Memorial School began in 1888, as did the Railway School in Jharipani. Waverly, the Convent of Jesus & Mary, for girls, was started in 1845, and St George's College, Barlowganj, came up in 1856.
The lack of officialdom gave Mussoorie a risqué reputation. Desire was not the only force that drove the locals up the hill. Those early settlers needed porters. There are reports of a party consisting of 24 workers struggling to bring a grand piano up from Rajpur.
