DehraDun

Dehradun
By Shreyashi Kukreti, CJM, DehraDun for hillsguide.com

“After you have exhausted what there is business, politics, conviviality and so on, have found that none of these finally satisfy or permanently wears- what remains? Nature remains”
-Walt Whiteman
It is very correct what has been said by Mr. Whiteman. When a man is completely dog-tired from his work, the best solution to his problem is NATURE. The beauty of nature not only makes a person feel fresh but also takes away all the worries from his mind and brings peace to him.
Dehradun is one such place whose awe-inspiring beauty can drive a person mad. “Doon” dun or dhoon in Sanskrit language means a valley formed by tectonic activity within the earth. It is enclosed by Himalayan Mountains in the north, the shiwalik hills in the south , river Ganga in the east and Yamuna in the west. The oxford dictionary therefore describes it “valley in shiwalik hills” Dehradun is an enthralling destination for tourists. The queen of hills, mussoorie, located here can just make a person go breathless. Places like Sahatradhara, robbers cave, dak pathar et cetera are some of the other wonderful places of Doon. The Indian military academy, the forest research institute which is the biggest institute in India where all forest officers are trained is located in dehradun. Institutions like the Doon school, welhams etc are well known schools of India.

Dehradun, which is considered to be a small town as compared to Mumbai or Delhi, is now developing into a big city. Today from mac’d to pizza hut, from Addidas to Levi’s showrooms, its all here. Coming up next is PVRs and malls. Every doonite must be proud to watch Dehradun develop but do they even realize that due to these developments taking place in dun, it’s losing the most precious gift given by god? Nature. It’s losing nature. Hardly anywhere in the town do I see that greenery that was found here ages ago as told to me by my grandparents. Today what all I see is tall multistory buildings and construction sites. We are lucky as compared to other cities since we still have a lot of greenery left. But till when is this beauty going to last?

The government is reprehensible for the present state of dehradun to some extent. It says that Dehradun is on headway and within 10 to 20 years it will become what a metropolitan city is like. Govt. says that it’s trying its level best to make Dehradun a hi-tech city. The govt. is planning of the next 20 years but has it even premeditated for the next 50 years? Do they have any plans for the future? Dehradun will lose all its beauty within the coming years just because they want to make Dehradun a hi-tech city. I have heard many people say that how lovely it would have been if there was a mall in Dehradun. What is the need of malls when you have big shops and big showrooms available here? The stuff that will be in the malls will be no different from that in showrooms or shops. Why cut a hundred trees and construct malls? Dolefully, each day many trees are cut down to construct the so called buildings.
In Rajpur road there was once a large property with trees and a very big open place. I use to enjoy going there in my leisure time and feel the lovely gentle breeze blowing but lately I have realized that a big mall is being constructed there.

Today Rajpur is no where like it was e few years ago. I remember reading somewhere that when a queen {the name of the queen is a thingummy} visited Dehradun she was suppose to stay in Rajpur. “Switzerland!” she ejaculated on seeing the first site of the Rajpur road. Don’t think I am talking anything through my hat!! I know its quite unbelievable but just imagine what Rajpur road would have been ages ago that it was called Switzerland and that too by a queen who had traveled to a hundred places of the world.. Never a remark had she made for any other city or a country no matter how big it was or how developed it was. She must have traveled to England, China, and U.S. A. and where not but still she chose a small place in a small town to be compared to Switzerland. What beautiful dehradun would have been at that time being compared to Switzerland. But today being like Switzerland it is nowhere even near to it.

I am sure everybody must have heard of the famous writer Mr. Ruskin Bond who presently lives in Mussoorie. Mr. Ruskin Bond, being a great writer, has written many books on dehradun as he has grown up here. One of which is ‘once upon a monsoon time’ It is a lovely book which states the condition of dehradun 70 years back. Mr. Bond has described the beauty of dehradun brilliantly connecting it with story of his childhood in this book. But will Mr. Bond ever be able to write a book on the present beauty of dehradun? The answer is a flat ‘no’ since there is hardly any beauty left here to write about.

There was a time in dehradun when the water that used to come in people’ s house was as clear as crystal and no R.O. or aqua guard systems were required to purify it. But today due to the pollution, every house has one such system to purify water. Today bottles of bislery and mineral water are sold, and I am very sure that 50 years ahead oxygen cylinders will be sold as the air here will become so much polluted.

I am crestfallen to see the condition of dehradun today. The air is completely polluted, the trees look so lifeless & there are hardly any rivulets left. The lure of the city is completely finished. Let’s not remain unfazed and do something about it. I understand that we are not vagrants and we all have lots of work to do but at least we can make some effort to improve the present state of dehradun. Let’s stop slumbering and wake up and do something of it before it’s too late. Whenever you sit reclined under a sweet bower think of the lovely city and of what should be done to make it a better place to live in. Rope in some people who share the same passion like you, to bring back dehradun her beauty. I am sure that our efforts to make Dehradun a better place to live in will culminate with flying colors. And when our long trick’s over, our coming generations have no problem to live in a beautiful city, namely dehradun.

SHREYASHI KUKRETI
C.J.M. [D.DUN]