Day 51 (28 July): Above the Clouds

I took a bus this morning to Mussoorie, which is a town about 4000 feet higher up the Himalayan foothills than Dehra Dun and the first one to be above the clouds. Mussoorie is also the town that surveyors of the Himlayans based themselves at before going on survey missions; George Everest, after whom Mt. Everest is named, lived here. I ate lunch at a Tibetan restaurant there since there is also a substantial Tibetan community located there. I then went to the highest point called ‘Gun Hill’ by cable car from which you are supposed to be able to see the tops of the snow-capped Himalayan peaks, but unfortunately was unable to due to some yet higher clouds. After that, I went on a hike along the roads out of town, eventually coming to the Woodstock School which is another boarding school; this one started by British Missionaries even before the East India Company was established, marking the first presence of the British in India.

Observations:
1) Skilled bus drivers. To drive a bus up to Mussoorie takes real skill and to drive it down the same. The clouds thickened on the way down and I could not longer see the edges of the road out the bus windows, but somehow the bus driver made it safely down despite winding turns where a mistake would mean plunging off a several hundred foot drop.
2) Porters. In Mussoorie, there are a number of porters. They will carry heavy bags around all day for just over one US dollar. They carry things by strapping them with a rope behind their back and then putting the rope across their foreheads and walking which looks quite odd, seems painful, and certainly seems like it should be worth more money.
3) Missionary schools. For some reason there are several missionary schools in Mussoorie and all of the kids in the town seemed to be dressed in school uniforms. They were very friendly and seemed to want to talk as they all said ‘hello’ to me. When I responded with the same, they’d giggle, but couldn’t take the conversation much further.
4) Tailor talk. I ended up speaking with a tailor in town for about half-an-hour while he was working. He flagged me down because I was white and he likes speaking to people from other countries. He spoke about how he wants his kids to get education, but can’t pay for it since he can’t get loans since they are hard to come by in India particularly if you’re in his line of work. He told me that maybe instead, he’d buy his son who he though was good at learning things a laptop, so he could figure out computers on his own, but nonetheless was having a hard time saving up for one. He also told me about the history of his business that was started by his great-grandfather and had stayed in his family.