Are you a hill station form of particular person? I by no means was one. Primarily it’s as a result of hill stations have been destroyed by over-development. Shimla is only one instance. (Although, Mashobra subsequent door is a lot better.) Ooty is a multitude. (Happily, the Military has maintained the character of Wellington, close by). Darjeeling is a catastrophe – however the city has had its share of political troubles, too.

However the hill station looms massive within the collective creativeness of Indians. A few of this has to do with Hindi cinema the place such locations as Nainital have been portrayed as pretty places to play the piano or sing songs, ideally after a drink or two. Most middle-aged Bengalis have superb recollections of Darjeeling. Mumbai individuals will get nostalgic about Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala or Panchgani.

I’ve at all times questioned whether or not India’s hill stations could be saved, if not totally revived. Practically 20 years in the past, when our personal locations have been already in a state of collapse, I went to Sri Lanka and was impressed by the way in which they’d maintained their hill stations. Was it too late for us to do the identical?

Sadly, it was. And since then, the decline has accelerated. However after spending over every week in Mussoorie, I’m satisfied that India is able to discover options.

One reply is to disregard hill station streets with such names as The Mall. They’ve been overdeveloped and in any case, they aren’t stuffed with recollections we must always treasure.

In some hill stations, the British didn’t enable Indians to stroll on the Mall. The British Empire was not a superb factor (for India, or for the world at massive) so we shouldn’t be celebrating it.

Nevertheless, the British did go away behind some issues of worth which we must always protect. The concept of a hill station itself will not be dangerous. I used to be very glad to flee the blistering warmth of Delhi and go to Mussoorie,  the place the day time temperature was 15ºc. Due to the pandemic, it made sense to go someplace that was not crowded and I might escape undesirable human contact.

One of many huge variations between Lankan hill stations and ours (no less than once I went there) was that they’d fantastic outdated accommodations. Except Shimla, the place the Oberois are sentimentally connected to the Oberoi Cecil as a result of it was MS Oberoi’s first lodge, most Indian hill station accommodations at the moment are not excellent.

So, I used to be pleasantly shocked to see that The Savoy, for a century Mussoorie’s best lodge, had now been restored to its former glory. The property opened in 1902 (the primary 12 months during which motor vehicles have been allowed into Mussoorie), was unfold over acres and acres of gardens and shortly grew to become considered one of India’s best hill station accommodations. Everyone who was anyone, from Motilal Nehru to Haile Selassie to the Shah of Iran, stayed there and it hosted all the standard Raj occasions. Black tie balls, dances, award shows and so on.

Put up Independence, when the Brits went house, The Savoy earned new fame because the lodge the place the Delhi wealthy would go for his or her holidays and the place Bollywood would come to shoot its tune sequences. Over 50 motion pictures have been shot at The Savoy.

The brand new company didn’t care an excessive amount of in regards to the historical past or the legends surrounding the lodge. No one bothered with the story {that a} homicide at The Savoy fashioned the idea of Agatha Christie’s first homicide thriller, The Mysterious Affair at Kinds, which launched Hercule Poirot. Hearsay has it that the ghost of the homicide sufferer nonetheless haunts the lodge. (Sadly, although I spent 5 days in search of the ghost, the one spirit I discovered was vodka!)

The Savoy now belongs to KK Kaya and his associates, after a foul interval throughout which it was shuttered. The brand new house owners have spent crores refurbishing and restoring the lodge in collaboration with ITC’s Welcomgroup (the complete title of the lodge is Welcomhotel The Savoy) and with every year, the property will get higher and higher.

As a lot as I detest the Raj, I like a lodge with a way of historical past and because the enhancements proceed, The Savoy will get plusher. The plans embody new luxurious suites, one other restaurant and even, in land owned by The Savoy, a helipad.

The JW Marriott is a contemporary construction so it has to make its personal historical past. Owned by Raj Chopra, a revered Delhi determine with pursuits in all the pieces from vehicles to motion pictures, the lodge makes up for its fundamental constructing (which might look somewhat like an all-inclusive lodge in Benidorm) by creating plush and comfy interiors and by profiting from its spectacular location.

I used to be in Mussoorie to spend the interval after my second vaccine jab earlier than the antibodies kicked in. Delhi, my physician mentioned, was too stuffed with infections for an aged bozo like me to take any probabilities. The JW was excellent for these functions.

Every morning once I drew my curtains I might be astonished by the cool and lonely splendour of the view. It was, fairly merely, spectacular.

The JW Marriott’s approach of dealing with the deterioration of Mussoorie is to encourage individuals to not spend too lengthy within the city (which is a long way away from the lodge), however to discover the pure magnificence round Mussoorie. They’ll take you on picnics, encourage you to take pleasure in nature and let the hills communicate for themselves.

The lodge eating places are both open-air or have al fresco areas, which is way safer in these instances. I ate scrumptious quiches on the flower-filled greenhouse, had the most effective pizzas in North India on the open air Italian restaurant and feasted on freshly-caught Himalayan trout underneath the celebs.

Pretty much as good because the lodge was, the true revelation for me was the meals. The chef incorporates native substances from nettle grass to pure grains into all the pieces making the delicacies scrumptious and completely different.

Each The Savoy and the JW Marriott are exceptionally well-run: The Savoy by Gautam Valli and the JW by Sachin Mylavarapu, who I do know from his time at Mumbai’s St. Regis. It’s an odd feeling to seek out such well-managed locations in our hill stations the place the typical property (exterior of Shimla) was a second-rate institution run by a man who couldn’t get a job at a correct lodge.

It’s one signal of how hill stations are altering. I don’t know the way lengthy this present Covid wave will final however even when it does, there’s a case for driving out of the closely contaminated huge cities and looking for isolation and luxury in nature.

Does the renaissance of Mussoorie herald a brand new starting for India’s hill stations, one based mostly on avoiding the over-developed city areas and staying in high quality accommodations and having fun with nature?

It might properly do. This time I went to serve out my post-jab interval. However when this horrible pandemic recedes, maybe we will all go to the hills and commune with nature.

The views expressed by the columnist are private

From HT Brunch, Might 2, 2021

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