Discovering Doon - Sundays Around Doon

Back in the days when I had a struggling career, I was trying to establish the first English newsmagazine in the region with my friends Anup, Anjali and Ajay (3aces!). It was during this process, that the town I always thought I knew like the back of my hand started opening its leaves to me. And the more I explored, the more I found, and the discovery of our beautiful valley amazed me. It was as if I was discovering a new town, unknown to me so far.

The man who was responsible for catalysing this change was the late Prem Hari Har Lal. author of “Doon Valley down the Ages”. He was not just a living encyclopaedia of Doon Valley, he was a charming conversationalist and entertainer too. It was during those coffee evenings at his house, that we came to know about our town so much. Ofcourse, his book had all of it, but to listen to him narrate was so much more fun. And much more, because he egged us to explore, telling us just half the hint, fuelling our curiosity.

How else were we to know where in the valley was an “extinct Volcano”? or what the centre of Dehradun looked like till the Forties “without a Clock Tower”? Where and when was the “First concrete Well” dug up in Dehradun? or that our Doon valley is equi-distant from both “Ganga and Yamuna”? or why is our “Clock Tower” so unique from the other clock towers? or the place where a “beer-brewery” existed during the British times in the Doon Valley? Or that much before the East Canal (EC Road) and West Canal (GMS Road), where the “Central Canal” that brought water to the Dera of Doon lay? Or the story behind the famous “sidhhs” of Doon valley – Kalu Sidh, Manak Sidh, Lakshman Sidh and Nag Sidh!!

I could go on and on, but I guess that will take all the fun out of discovering your own town. So this weekend, go out and explore your town, without an agenda, without a destination. Just explore, and wander around, and notice what’s so very unique about our town, in its small little lanes, narrow bazaars, wide fields and curvy hillocks. Who knows you might find something no one has ever found before! Atleast that’s how, standing knee deep in the marsh, near a patch of forest, we came to discover that the ‘Asan’ and ‘Suswa’ rivers sprang from the same source!

Ofcourse, you can read Prem Hari Har Lal’s book, and get to know everything. But that won’t be quarter of the fun there is in getting your rides out and wandering your weekends around the valley.

So here’s good luck to you all, and in the last, if you don’t want to wander like mad discoverers, or read up the book without any chapter index, just write to me and I’ll answer your queries. But the catch is, I will ask one question with every answer. And you better be ready to answer it. So, bon discovery!

Him Ahuja is an avid traveler and runs a travel blog named http://allhimalaya.com