What it means for Landour to see its historic Ghantaghar return
Landour in Mussoorie is indeed lucky. Its most important landmark - Ghantaghar (Clock Tower) - is now being rebuilt after a gap of around seven years. It was missed not just by the locals, but also by the regular visitors to Mussoorie who were so used to watching the clock tower that stood in the heart of the town.
Work to rebuild Landour’s Ghantaghar is now fast underway. The demolition though was an extremely sentimental cause for the old residents. The late Tom Alter, the famous actor who was an old resident of Landour, had mourned the demolition of the Clock Tower with a silent protest at the site in 2010.
For the past several years, the local residents and tourists had been talking about what would finally happen to the Clock Tower. The reconstruction began a few months ago and now the structure can be seen, wider and bigger than it used to be in its original avatar. For years, there was uncertainty regarding this in the hill station.
Before it was demolished, people in the hill station had been missing the sound of the clock bells for almost two decades. The clocks had not been working despite efforts to get them repaired. Several experiments were taken up then to somehow make the Clock Tower attractive. The Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) even placed tiles on its surface which proved to be quite a menace as these tiles began falling off and could have hurt people in the Landour Bazaar. They were later removed. At one time, it was even painted purple. And then, the base was done in yellow and maroon.
Earlier, the plan was to repair and restore the Ghantaghar, but when the work for that began, it was found that the building was very old and dilapidated from inside. It was then that the decision to demolish it was taken. The charitable homoeopathic dispensary running in the ground floor of the clock tower had vanished along with the Clock Tower and people missed that too.
The Landour Clock Tower was built in the late 1930s by Ugra Sain Verma. At the place where the clock tower stood, a police station used to guard the border of the civil area and the cantonment in 1892. The police station was shifted later and a shop of stone masonry took its place. The council bought the place for Rs 300 as a stand for hand-pulled rickshaws.
The first clock tower of the hill station was built at St George’s College in Mussoorie. JB Joyce & Co, the famous makers of high-class Church and Turret clocks, installed the clock there. The Westminster Chimes echoed in the adjacent forest and kept the wild animals away from the school. The clock became popular and the administrators of Mussoorie got the idea that another public clock for the town would be immensely valuable, especially since very few people had wrist watches in those days. It also served the English soldiers on their way to various churches in the town.
Ugra Sain Verma also built the white sandstone Kasmanda Lodge and the Kateswar Temple near the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.
For a sum of Rs 14,000, he completed the Landour Clock Tower in 1938-39. He died in 1992, without his wish of hearing the clock tower working again ever fulfilled.
Little did the residents of Mussoorie or visitors to the hill station know that once the clock tower was demolished, the issue of building it again would become so complicated. For many years, thus, the Clock Tower Bazaar in Mussoorie had no clock tower in it. It wore an empty look.
Now, the structure is coming up and hopefully, will soon be completed. People belonging to Mussoorie who had childhood memories associated with the Ghantaghar but are now living away from the hill town cannot wait to return and see the old landmark back in its place. Everyone is hoping that this time around, the chimes will work and the clocks will keep perfect time.
Sadly, the famous clock tower of Tehri town found a watery grave when the town was drowned in 2005 after the Tehri Dam was completed.
In the heart of Tehri, the impressive yellow structure had a significant role in the social and cultural life of the town. Built in 1897 by Raja Kirti Shah, Tehri's fourth king, in honour of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee of accession to the throne, the clock tower had exquisite architecture and was believed to be one of the few of its kind in the world.
In 2001, the four antique clocks of the 110-foot-high Ghantaghar were stolen. It drowned without its clocks.
The Doon valley too has not been as lucky as Landour. The East Canal, that flowed along the East Canal Road through the heart of Dehradun city, was covered years ago to widen the road. It is greatly missed even today by the residents of the valley just like the wonderful Kwality Restaurant that was closed down some years ago.
For thousands of Doon School boys and cadets of the Indian Military Academy, Kwality was a very important part of their lives as it was at this place where they spent many “outings” with parents and friends.
People of Landour and tourists are brimming with joy to see the good old Clock Tower back, bigger and stronger. The soul of Landour stands restored.