LANSDOWNE 1 A Garhwali fairy taleBy Wilson JohnTiny Lansdowne is one of the quietest hill stations in India. So quiet and so hidden that you know you've reached only when you actually turn past the gates of the elegant Garhwal Rifles Cantonment. And the town is as picturesque as you were led to hope for by the drive up from Kotdwar , past a mountain stream (the `lost' river Khoh) so clear you can see the pebbles on its bed from far up the mountainside.
Back in the Raj, Lansdowne was one of the popular hill stations, where the Sahibs, mostly from the Army, galloped across the ridge that overlooked a sprawling valley and the Greater Himalayas, or drove to the Church on the hill (the popular Tiffin Top) every Sunday in their horse-drawn carriages. The town itself is named after Sir Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, 6th Earl of Kerry and Viceroy of India from 1888 to 1894. Shaded, winding roads are still lined with colonial bungalows, some in a state of disrepair, some steadfastly retaining their charm with ornate gates and window sills hidden behind blanketing bougainvillea.