Roads to Mussoorie by Ruskin Bond - Book Review

Roads To Mussoorie by Ruskin Bond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been really slow with reading books from last year or two. The pile of abandoned books feeds the volume of guilt that I kept feeling from time to time. Guilt for having given way to easy and non-committed wanderings on the social media instead of diving in a book. This year, I would like to change a few things to reduce that volume of guilt. But can I? Ah, I digress, rather I've not started with the matter at hand...

A month back, I picked up a friendly Wodehouse (My 24th) and proceeded to read it during my trip to the lovely place called Landour in Mussoorie. Yes, I loved the place and everything it stood for. Early morning runs around Char Dukan > Nag Tibba > Kellogg's Church, getting worried about big monkeys on the road instead of the usual dogs, breathing copious amounts of fresh, pristine air, eating scrumptious food, sleeping cozily inside a fleece blanket while thinking about the 40 degrees back home, was a fantastic way to spend time with the family.

Even when you read a bit and hear stories about Landour, you know this place has seen some incredible history. Or at least history that will make up for good and interesting stories. I was really sure this is one reason why Ruskin Bond stuck around there. I would do that too if given a choice (and a lot of money). Roads to Mussoorie confirmed part of my theory. (Part of it might be unraveled by his upcoming autobiography Lone Fox Dancing.) It was my first Ruskin Bond book. I had bought his collection of stories a few years back but somehow didn't read them. (Like many, many other books.) The recent visit to Landour, Mussoorie, and around made me pick this book up. I wanted to meet the man himself, but he visits the mall road only on Saturdays and sadly we couldn't have a free Saturday in our itinerary.

Roads to Mussoorie is a fun little book filled with lovely anecdotes (and some unruly spelling mistakes that Rupa Publications should really work on!). In fact, just because of the vivid stories and interesting characters painted by Ruskin Bond, and his lucid style of writing, I could look beyond the typos. I wish this book was a bit longer though, and wish that Mr. Bond lingered on with his words, but I think that will make me read a lot more of his work. It is rare that a writer can make you feel warm about humanity, make you laugh at life, and make you wonder about the beautiful nature that is around us. All things we seem to easily take for granted.

I have made a list of Ruskin Bonds books that I would like to read next, but foremost, I am glad that his autobiography will be out in the next 15 days or so. I am looking forward to that! Maybe on my next trip to Landour, I hope I meet Mr. Bond and get a signed copy from him.

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Monsoon that conjured magic

So I walk up on high

And I step to the edge

To see my world below.

And I laugh at myself

While the tears roll down.

'Cause it's the world I know.

It's the world I know.

- Collective Soul - The World I Know.

Not sure when it happened. Where it happened. Was it the the discussion we had on Sinhagad just before the monsoon season? Was it the enrapturing walk along the path towards the Sting of the Scorpion on Lohagad? Was it the omnipresent mist / fog / cloud on Harishchandragad that cast a spell?

The answer might be irrelevant. The result was beautiful.

Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley. - Theodore Roethke

Lovely pictures were taken, sifted through and a few were added on Facebook. I'm sure many would have opted out of my feeds due to pictures uploaded after almost every weekend.

I only wish the pictures could convey the same exhilaration that I feel when I look at them.

11 treks and 16 mountains in 2013! Here's to many more such mountains that will be climbed!

You can access the posts from here:

• Lohagad
• Harishchandragad
• Torna
• Shivneri
• Rajgad
• Visapur
• Tikona - Tung
• Purandar
• Kalsubai - Ratangad
• Kulang
• Salher - Salota- Mulher - Mora

Being Human

(Click the picture to see an enlarged image)

The spotted deers were seen in the Tadoba forest. Being Human is something we all know. That was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the horns clash.

Did you Dream

So a long day turned to a night. A night full of dreams of nature.

Did you dream of the half moonlit sky above while walking on the mountains with the wind rushing in your senses? A dream so profound that you could feel the night singing compositions to you right from the ravines of the untrespassed earth. An experience where at every step you could feel that your are walking towards anonymity along with the other beings in the night. With a continuous feeling that the smiling moon is watching over you as a vigilante, to make sure you are safe and not alone yet leaving a creepy feeling. You felt as if the moon was smiling since it knew the night better than you saw the day.

It smiled at when you got acclimatised to the smell of the trampled grass and when you suddenly got aware of the deviation in that time-friendly smell. The smell that suddenly disappeared to make you aware of all the vegetation and the changes. "Hark, things change in the darkness", said the moon, smiling ever so lightly as you kept on walking, crossing mountain after another towards the end of the night.

You stopped for a second just to feel the chill in the air and chilly it was! Chilly but soothing your beating pulse, your pushing heart so that the rest refreshened you to continue the journey. Did you dream that the torches that your companions carried made a mosaic of lights that seemed like fireflies in the night? That the long trail of torches behind you gave you a dragon like tail? A tail that kept you company into the night?

Did you feel the earth glowing a little as hours turned towards the final minutes of your walk? Slightly grey and then a blue hue? Raising your hope further for the blue sky? Did you then sit and watch the sun rise to slowly awaken your senses from the dream of your night?

Did you dream this dream as I walked this path?

Deteriorating Sahyadris!

Route is the much travelled Mumbai - Pune rail road! Transport is the The 'Queen of the Deccan' or precisely the Deccan Queen. Site is the beautiful and pleasant Sahyadris.

The Deccan Queen (DQ) starts at about 7.15 am from Pune and reaches Lonavla by 8.20 - 8.30 am. The time when people need to feed their hungry tummies and break the fast carried during the night. The tea accompanies to get them started for the long day ahead!

And they are well served! Omelette's and Cutlets for the heavy eaters, Samosas and Sabudana wadas for the medium tummies and chips biscuits for the lighters ones!

All served in nice paper plates / Styrofoam cups / attractive plastic wrappings!

Ravenous appetites and train travel induced hunger makes people eat them as fast as possible and the whole aim then is to get rid of these carries. The plates, cups and wrappings! The easiest way is to throw them out!


No dustbins in the train, No moralities / ethics in people! So left with minimal choice, just throw them out! No one would want the useless items to linger around their berths!

And yes, next step is go for more food! Add more garbage! and just easily throw it out! From the windows towards the rustic valleys!

These areas area out of reach for garbage collectors! Rag pickers! (The city is so unclean, what to talk about garbage management in the hilly areas!)And after the feeding ritual is over, gaze at the beautiful valleys, the little streams, the tunnels, the fog and pay no heed to the garbage piling up!


Daily routine! Helpless people... Is there an option?

Why not just throw it below the berths which is cleaned at the stations? Why don't the daily travellers carry a plastic bag and collect the garbage and throw it at the station?

Its not that easy for one!

What an example are we setting for the children who tend to imitate their parents and think it is a game to throw things as far as possible!


I guess if they introduce Garbage throwing along with Shot Put and Javelin in the Olympics, Indians would definitely win! I would guess the team would entirely consist of the daily DQ travellers!