My first ever visit to a hill station, Mussoorie will always be close to my heart. It was next to a paradise for me at the age of 14 then. Completely mesmerized by the wonderland, I was at the peak of my joy. The first long tour with my whole family, I visited Mussoorie along with some other places of then Uttar Pradesh and now Uttarakhand. A long tour of 10 days, we enjoyed our journey at Haridwar, Hrishikesh, Dehradun, Mussoorie and Amritsar. Though it has been a long time of 18 years since December 2002, the year when I came across this desolate hill station, the memories are persistent till now.
We started off for Mussoorie on the 4th day of our trip from Haridwar. A distance of 86 km, the time took to reach our destination was 3 hours almost. We started the journey early in the morning as I could remember from Haridwar by a rented car. It was the day of New Year and it was one of the most memorable new years of my life. The way from Haridwar to Mussoorie is full of hilly turns, a road running through the hills. In our way we came across an old Shiva temple, the sacred Prakaseshwar Mandir of Mahadev. We stopped by the Mandir and took offerings from there and started off again. As we were close to our destination, we came across the beautiful Mussoorie Lake at a distance of 6 km. before reaching Mussoorie. Very close to the Dhobi ghat the Lake has a spectacular sight of the Mussoorie hills and Doon valley. We enjoyed boating there for some time and headed back to our destination. As I could vaguely remember, we reached Mussoorie around 9 a.m.
Snuggled in the lap of Himalaya’s Garhwal range, the Queen of the hills, Mussoorie was standing wearing the most unusual yet outstanding beauty of nature. The clouds were hovering around the peak as if were playing hide and seek. Sometimes the hills were peeking through the clouds and sometimes the clouds were hiding it. That absolutely spectacular view touched the childish heart of mine. That memory is still with me. The greenery accumulated with the snowy mountains stole my heart. The pleasant, pristine nature was soothing to the soul.
We went to visit ‘Lal Tibba’ there, a viewpoint for breath taking sight-seeing. The view of Nilkantha peak from the view point was amazing. The place is now under the governance of Indian military. This small picturesque hill point with the view of snow snuggled mountains were treat to the eyes. Our next visit was to the ‘Lake Mist’, a lake of emerald water surrounded by the forest line was a pleasant place to visit. It comes on the way before the ‘ Kempty Falls’, our next visited place. The panoramic outstanding view of the falls that touches the ground from a height of 40 ft from the mountains was a visual treat. I loved being there. The most spectacular view was of the ‘Cloud’s End’, the last finishing point of the hill station. A walking track to the Benog Wildlife Sanctuary, having surrounded by deodar and oak forest, Cloud’s End was eye-catching for me. We headed to the mall road of Mussoorie, the busiest place of the hill station after visiting all these places. After having our food there, we started off for Haridwar again.
Capturing in mind all the unforgettable beauty and memories of these places I returned to our stay at Haridwar. After so many years, the memories didn’t blur out and will never be. The queen of hills will rule the hearts of tourists for ages and I will surely take the pleasure of enjoying the beauty of the place once again in this lifetime.
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