Dehradun, June 1 -- Mark Windsor

By: Ganesh Saili

'Can I come see you?' Rahul Kohli asked. He had found some sketches of Mussoorie dating to 1829.

Remember, back then this hill station was in its infancy, barely five or six years old.

Thus far, I have collected maps, trade directories, postcards, photographs, prints, early guides, journals, newspapers and magazines. Almost anything on these hills. It has left me hungry for more.

Nothing so early had ever turned up.

Initially, they left me unimpressed. Just twenty-six squiggles, or line drawings on crumbling paper, these parallel lines converged at Fisher's Terrace, or atop what is today Taylor's Flat, facing the defunct lime-kilns of Khattapani.

Then, very slowly, familiar names be...