Dehradun, Feb. 18 -- In 1873, the well-known Scottish traveler and author, Andrew Wilson came to Dehradun. After visiting the Thomason College of Engineering in Roorkee, the Botanical Garden in Saharanpur, and witnessing the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, he made his way to Dehradun via the Kansrao Pass.

When he first set his eyes on Dehradun, he wrote, "There is no place in India which reminds one so much of England as the "little valley" (italics mine) of Dehradoon and Sir George Campbell has well observed that no district has been so happily designed by nature for the capital of the Anglo Indian Empire." (Sir George Campbell was a distinguished member of the Indian Civil Service who rose to the rank of Lieutenant Governor of Bengal).

The ab...