A Place i miss a lot in my life!!. Review on Dehradun

Well we first entered Dehradun in 1986 when my dad got transferred from his office from Chennai(Madras).   And from then, I stayed until July 1997 and for those 11 yrs it was like living in heaven.!

This is how our Dehradun Stay went on.  A Long story in short -

So First about the City -

Its a superb city with the best environment and best thing we loved was the weather.  It gets hots but bearable(not like in Chennai) in the summers and excellent cool conditions during the winter. And the temperature is awesome always becoz Dehradun is a Valley, a place located in center of hills.!

Stay -

Since my dad worked with ONGC, we got to stay at the ONGC Colony for the whole 11 yrs.  It was the best stay we ever had and a couple of best and also some worst experiences too.

The colony is a very safe and calm place and with well built buildings and roads.  I had a lots of enjoyment in the colony which is too long to explain them all at MS here. It would take a book to write them!

Schools and hospitals -

I studied at the K.V.O.N.G.C. up to 7 th standard(1997) and the school was best with different kinds of activities like sports meet, daily prayers with music, Independence day function and yearly run marathon. I have participated in all those and I loved them all.

The school is also used for functions sometimes like marriages and parties.  The school too has a large playground which is now mini stadium.

ONGC office -

This is my dads office and an another place I loved to visit often. The the office is the HQ for ONGC in India and I visit there on Saturday's just to enjoy the computers becoz we did not had personal computers at our homes those day!  The ONGC also had a party hall and club  where a lots of functions wer arranged and we enjoy them like festivals.

Those memories, my god. Explainable.   I Still remember some of those singing and drama competitions I participated and prizes I received.

The Celebrations -

We used to enjoyed the Holi, Diwali and deshera celebrations at the max.   I miss them here at the useless Chennai.  Those days wer like Gem and can never be forgotten.  When Festival comes, the whole of dehradun lits up in joy and it looked like we lived in heaven.

The Shopping -

Dehradun has a big shopping road just like Ranganathan Street in Chennai called as "Paltan Bazaar and Rajpur Road(Ganta bazaar)".  It had all kinds of shops including clothing, toys, fans, guns, clothing, drama accessories and so on.  Yes u heard it rit, there wer even gun shops I visited, they usually had the double barrel type guns and its service. I think it was tradition there and I was too young to know them.!

Transportation -

My moms worked and still works at a nationalized bank and she used to travel from colony to bank in Vikram Autos there.  I don't know if they still exist or not there but they wer just awesome.  Just 5 rupees for over 10 kms for travel.  It could carry about 10 people.  Dehradun also has a large bus terminus right next to the railways station.  The Station is the terminus and no train go beyond it.

Right now, what I heard in Dehradun has got its own new Airport "Jolly Grant Airport".   But in 90s, there was no Airport there. Instead, there was a small airfield just for Helicopters to land.   So buses and trains wer the only options.

Places to visit in and around Dehradun -

1) Haridwar - The famous sacred place wer the popular ganges run. Its always crowded and the water is also cold as ice.  The water runs at high speeds and so I fear to enter into it.  Haridwar also had a shopping complex and rope tram.   I had mixed experiences there.

2) Mussoorie - the Famous Hill Station. We never stayed there but we always do the one Day visit here as we stay very close to the hill.  I visited the deer park, Kempty Falls and the rope kart(Not anymore).  Its the best place for photography too.! I have a lots of photos from this place.   I have a separate Review for Mussoorie at MS here, you all can check that out too.

3) Rishikesh - This is another awesome Sacred place close by to Dehradun.  I love the Ram lekha and laxhman rekha.  An Another wonderful place.

4) FRI Forest - an another awesome vegetation place to relax.

There are lot more place but since I visited them all when I was so young, I couldn't remember the names of all of them.  But I Love all the places.

Food and restaurants -

I dont remember the names of restaurants there but there two main restaurants which I visit very often.  I love a lots of food there starting from naan to panner malai.  But my Favorite is Chawmine.  I miss it so much today. When I left place, I felt a lots of sadness in my heart.

As of now Dehradun is the capital of uthrakand and I have heard that is has become a dirty and dusty place.  very crowded too.  Only the weather remains same even today but everything else have changed.

But I still want to visit this place again to renew my memories.

Verdict - Its the Heaven in Norther India and I miss the place.

Mussoorie is best tourist place to visit.