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The Rediff Special/Dehra Dun at the threshold of the millennium

Of lichis, mangoes and four 'O' clock rains

Jas Kiran Chopra in Dehra Dun

This little town nestling in the foothills of the Himalayas is planning to return to its cerebral roots as the new millennium dawns.

Regarded as the seat of meditation of Dronacharya in the Mahabharata era, it became famous as the dera (camp) of Guru Ram Rai in a later age. Then the British, sort of, rediscovered it. Its location, almost on the ramparts of the hill station of Mussorie, appealed to them so much that they set up a whole residency there -- schools and other institutions.

Later on many academics and writers, enamoured by the natural beauty and the climate, chose to settle down here. But the tourism explosion and the denudation of the hillsides by uncontrolled building activities has reduced Dehra Dun to a dusty and dingy town. Things, however, could be changing as the government has decided to develop a software park. ''Dehra Dun has the wherewithal to emerge as a major centre for higher education in the next millennium with the private sector playing a leading role,'' says Dr B K Joshi, former vice-chancellor of Kumaon University.

''If higher institutes of medicine and engineering are set up in Doon, it would bring about radical changes in the city's personality,'' according to Ashok Prasad Mishra, editor of the English weekly Green Valleys and Golden Fields.

However, on the threshold of the new millennium, people of the Doon valley look wistfully back to a glorious past, most of which is now reduced to relics.

Once upon a time, the town was known for its exquisite climate, lush green forests and clean and tranquil environment. Over the past two decades, the changes have been rapid and drastic. Once known the world over for its fragrant Basmati rice, luscious lichis and mangoes, Doon is no longer the valley of ''grey heads and green hedges.'' The wilderness has shrunk at an alarming rate.

Deforestation and global warming have brought about drastic changes in the town's climate which had been the biggest lure for the British who came to the valley to escape the ''heat and dust'' of the Indian plains. Several curious phenomena like the ''4 o' clock rain'' are becoming rare and may soon be extinct. Even at the peak of summer, after a couple of hot days, dark clouds used to gather in the afternoon and by four, the valley was bathed in refreshing showers.

In the '60s and the '70s, Doon pursued the self-destructive path of indiscriminate mining of the hills around it till a Supreme Court judgement in 1988 put an end to it. Then followed a period of industrialisation which provoked regulatory measures from the ministry of environment and forests. The '80s and the '90s saw large-scale building activities in the name of tourism, especially in Mussorie, till the apex court intervened once again.

Mishra says things will improve in the next millennium only if the common man becomes more conscious of protecting the environment. ''The young people are busy building their careers and show little concern about the environment while the activist groups are only interested in the funds they can generate in the name of environment,'' he adds. Innumerable acres of lichis orchards have been replaced by buildings. The illegal felling of trees and forest fires have taken a grievous toll on the forest wealth and most of the natural water sources have dried up.

Artists and writers once looked upon Doon as a haven for pursuing their creative endeavours, but the muses seem to have departed now, what with the pollution and bustle. And to think that this is the same town to which Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru always looked forward to visit, even if it was only to be interred in its jail. Nehru was put in the Doon jail three times between 1932 and 1941. It was here that he began writing his autobiography, The Discovery of India , in 1934, during his third and last term.

''The sight of the towering Himalayas nearby was an added joy. It was my good fortune that I could gaze at these mountains that I loved,'' Nehru wrote. He has lovingly talked about Doon's rains, its birds and trees. On May 7, 1934, when he was transferred to this prison from Alipore jail, he wrote, ''I was glad of my transfer and looked forward to Dehra Dun with its nearby mountains.''

Yet another author, almost synonymous with Doon and Mussoorie in the minds of those who have read his numberless works written with the valley as the backdrop, is Ruskin Bond. After having spent most of his childhood in Doon, Bond returned to it and Mussorie often. He finally settled down in Landour in Mussorie about 40 years ago. In almost all his writings, nostalgia for the valley's past is dominant. In his Green Book he says, ''Dehra Dun was a wonderful place for the trees and gardens. Now, except for Rajpur Road and the cantonment, it is just another overcrowded and polluted Uttar Pradesh town.''

Today, except for revered institutions like the Indian Military Academy, the Rashtriya Indian Military College, and the Doon School, there are not many other landmarks that have withstood the ravages of time. Unstinting discipline, devotion and hard work have, no doubt, gone into keeping the traditions and ambience of these institutions alive

Avadesh Kaushal, chairperson of the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, makes a strong plea for setting up a university in Dehra Dun. ''The primary school education here is so good. But once the children pass out of school, parents are at a loss as to where to send them for good higher education. Moreover, not all parents can afford to send their children to big cities where the hostels cost quite a bit.'' Professor Parmesh Dangwal, who teaches English literature at the P G Dav College concurs, ''it is indeed strange that a place like Srinagar which can do with just a college has been given a university while Doon, with its vast intellectual infrastructure has to do without one.''

He claimed that 60 per cent of the Garhwal University students were from Doon and Mussoorie. Talking about trends in the intellectual sphere, Upendra Arora, a leading publisher of the valley and an old resident of Doon says there are more people now buying books on specialised subjects like forestry and wildlife. ''However, people buying books from their personal funds are very few. Organisational and institutional purchases are the rule of the day,'' he adds.

A landmark of the town, the hexagonal clock tower, built in 1948-49 to commemorate India's independence, has stood as a mute witness to all these changes. The different shades of colour used to repaint it every couple of years have ranged from pink to maroon and sometimes looks strangely out of place amid the changing culture and ethos of the town.

UNI

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