It is 2 in the afternoon and I am sitting at a small cafe cum store in an area called “Char Dukan” (literally “Four Stores”). My hotel is fairly secluded, and this is the closest commercial area on the way down to town.
Hotel Devdar Woods
My hotel as I first saw it.
Inam and Islam
My friends Inam (seated) and his younger brother Islam in their tailor shop. From his spot in the window, Inam has a view of everybody coming up the street. There is a constant flow of people stopping to say “hi” and/or coming into his shop. He makes friends with every foreigner who strays into Landour. He has been working as a tailor for 22 years, and I have already had several things sewn by him. My plan for having clothes tailored here worked perfectly.
Mussoorie Sunset
A view of Mussoorie at sunset. I managed to snap this on one of the few days where there was a nice view during the day. Mornings have tended to be the only time when the sun shines.
The Ganges
On Sunday I saw the Ganges river for the first time. Three friends and I took a taxi and spent the day in Rishikesh (where the Beatles went to meet the Maharishi in the 1960s). It is a popular pilgrimage spot for Indians, and a yoga and meditation mecca for westerners. There are several temples and countless ashrams offering all sorts of yoga (as one indian visitor said to us, “they are selling hinduism”).
Seewa Aur Bangra
I am exhausted! This weekend was the anniversary celebration for the local Gurudwara (Sikh temple). I went Friday night and did Seewa (selfless service). I helped to prepare and serv dinner, which is offered to all who show up. For meals in the Gurudwara, people of all social ranks (and formerly castes) sit together on the floor to eat.
A Day in the Life
I have settled into a comfortable routine, quite unlike my usual one. I wake early in the morning (7 AM or so), and usually have some time to myself. I stumble into the kitchen of my hotel, mumble that I want ginger tea without sugar, and go find a place to sit in the sun on the porch. Enjoying my first tea of the day, I spend some time writing in my journal, or composing post cards.
The early morning is the best time to see the snowy peaks of the high Himalayas in the distance. They are so impressive! Even though I am adjusting to living here, every so often I’ll look up, see the mountains, or something else equally new and impressive, and I am struck dumb.
Mussoorie Snapshots
Either I’m becoming jaded, or there are just so many things one can find new in a month. I have to keep reminding myself that the things I’m seeing would be completely new to people at home. I think at some point my mind just gave up and decided to accept everything at face value. The result is that I have been writing fewer things down to share with people. Here are a few:
How I Got My Pajamas
On Sunday several of us headed down to see the procession and celebration for the god Ram’s defeat of the Demon Ravana. Of course it started much later than we’d been told, so we stopped for tean and then wandered around the bazaar.
Mr. Pritam Singh
A friend snapped this picture on my way to get the cloth for my pajamas. Mr. Pritam Singh tells me he is the oldest, and one of the best tailors in town. He was an excellent bangra dancer in his younger days, and as an old-timer here told me, he was quite the handsome man.