The Hindu Business Line : Grace and discipline

The Delhi-Dehradun Shatabdi Express stops for two minutes at Roorkee. “Surely, you mean Rourkela,” my travel agent had insisted. Anticipating nothing more than a brief stopover to meet friends in the army, Roorkee was to be the starting point for a long trip up the Himalayas, via Haridwar, which is a short distance away.

Passing through the crowded town into the Cantonment area was like entering a different world — one of beauty and order, old-world charm and courtesy, and abundant greenery. There were sprawling compounds with perfectly manicured lawns, bordered by seasonal flowers, and gnarled old trees. The large old bungalows brought to mind images of their former British owners and their lively garden parties. The tree-lined roads were totally free of dust and dirt.

The Officers’ Mess seemed straight out of a picture book — an old tiled bungalow sitting pretty in a flourishing garden. Long sundowners are the order of the day here, with relaxing twilight hours in the balmy air. The evening movies transport residents to the outside world.

Inside this cantonment world, traffic is a distant memory, peace prevails. Long walks in the cool early morning, serenaded by flocks of birds flitting from one wild fig tree to another, lazily following the ducks in the quiet pond, cycling, jogging, playing badminton, gardening, or simply watching the neighbour’s little daughter gleefully cooling off under the garden hose — it’s so idyllic, simple and real worldly.

The army looks after its own very well, as also civilians. The Military Hospital functions efficiently and even has a Sports Medicine wing.

The imposing IIT-Roorkee campus is located close to the cantonment. A smart range of food options has grown around campus demands, as also demands from the prosperous little town. Prakash Sweets and Hotel is famous for its milk sweets and the specially baked biscuits. Corner fruit-stalls are piled with seasonal litchis, peaches, fresh apricots, plums and local mangoes. Mango is grown extensively in this region, with vast tracts of land devoted to it.

The pick of Roorkee’s gastronomic charms has to be the lassi shop owned by a Sardarji. Fresh and cold lassi laced with cream and a hint of kewra (an extract of the screw pine flower) — quite unlike any other lassi anywhere! The badam milk here is equally popular.

A short drive from Roorkee will take you to the famous Patanjali Ashram of the yoga guru Swami Ramdev. The place attracts a large number of tourists and patients drawn to its ayurvedic offerings. Haridwar and Rishikesh are not too far from here, making Roorkee a convenient takeoff point.

With a graceful and laidback charm, blended with discipline, Roorkee was disarming, to say the least.

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