ON MULLINGAR HILL: Memory, Movement, and Belonging in a Himalayan a Hill Station
By Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger
Hardcover: Primus Books
Pages 337
Price: Rs 2450
On Mullingar Hill stretches from the edge of Mullingar and makes it way down to Clock Tower, Mussoorie. Written in the interview format, On Mullingar Hill recounts oral stories and personal narratives of twenty-odd families who live in this narrow stretch. Over 311 pages the author takes the reader by the hand, guiding him/her from shop to store; from one home into another, and the book peels back layers of their lives and the place they call home.
From Northern Stores the book ends at Vinod Kumar and Surbhi Agarwal: Vinod’s Art & Antiques and Mussoorie Heritage Centre. Joyce writes with passion about families who have over generations made Landour Bazaar their home.
In Mansa Ram Cricket lives Mohmmad Tahir and Gulam Nabi, who are bakers from Ghoghas in Tehri Garhwal. ‘So, in 1947, when there was some unrest between Hindus and Muslims, and some people from Pakistan came to India, and some from India went to Pakistan – in the time of my dada, there was the Charles Bakery. And my father used to work there,’ says Mohmmad Tahir. ‘The Raja of Tehri brought us here. Our family members used to make glass bangles (churis). We used to decorate the top of the glass (he shows indented lines in the glass, painted gold). If we hadn’t stopped that profession, we would all own bangle factories now. But our ancestors left bangle-making.’
The author takes the reader back to her days at the nearby school, where Tahir’s father would be found sitting outside the gates selling ‘tuck’, a small shop selling candies and packaged snacks to students. Opening a battered tin trunk that he carried on his back revealed a wide array of pastries and candies. His speciality was macaroons and home-made toffees. Tahir repeated a litany that maps households across the hillside with a tin trunk carried on his head. His list created a geographic and social network between the British-era houses – Ellengown, Bothwell Bank, Fairview, Firs Cottage, Pennington, South Hill, and so many others.
On the narrow road above Mansaram Cricket is another small shoemaker shop, owned by father and son duo, Sonu Ram Bhatia and his son Ranveer who for years have cobbled and sold hand-crafted sandals to hordes of tourists descending up Landour. Ranveer’s great-grandfather came to these hills from Mandi in nearby Himachal Pradesh. Though they live in nearby Jaunpur, at home the family still speaks a dialect of Himachali. Will they go to Himachal? But for Sonu and Ranveer, the point of no return was crossed a long time ago.
‘There is no one there now. Our uncle also passed away. His family is there, and we have left everything to them. We are not going to take these things with us; one day, we will leave everything behind. We are doing well here; we are earning well, eating well.’
Around the bend, you will find Jaswinder Singh, or ‘Smarty Singh’ (as the entire bazaar calls him). You will find him directing traffic on the steep hill, helping tourists and taxi drivers from the plains negotiate the incline opposite his shop. Originally, his family came here from the hills, across the border, and after the initial struggle, settled down in these hills.
What keeps him here?
‘The people here – Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs – they all live in harmony. They all come to each other’s affairs -festivals, weddings and funerals. He says: ‘ If I am not feeling well, they will come and ask: ‘What happened? Is everything alright? Why didn’t you open the shop yesterday?’ ‘If I am sick and in the hospital, they will come to see me. You don’t have this gesture in Delhi, in metropolitan cities, not even in Dehradun. This thing is only in Mussoorie. If someone dies, the whole bazaar is closed; everyone gathers to pay their condolences for the family, and they go with the dead body as it is carried down the hill until it is taken for cremation on a vehicle.’
On Mullingar Hill is a labour of love for Landour Bazaar – a ‘home’ to everyone who at some point of time was an ‘outsider.’ This excellent piece of research could well be your personal guide as you make your way up the narrow lane of good old Landour Bazaar!
