Blessed as the place may be by the literary carcasses of old writers—John Lang, Pearl Buck, Jim Corbett and John Masters—many contributors are in the anthology by virtue of birth or education there. Most of the 20 pieces in the book are a nostalgic hankering for a lifestyle in decline. The writing oscillates between simplistic and sentimental, to merely banal. In the opening essay David Keeling describes changes that could be true of any Indian city. The more memorable pieces in the anthology belong to those who aren’t overly attached to its colonial attractions. Bill Aitken, Victor Banerjee and Ramachandra Guha merely use the setting to embark on their own stories.
Somehow the nostalgic mood just eluded me. If the idea was to illuminate Doon as a unique setting, the effort is a failure. The physical changes that altered the place—overcrowding, excessive building, increased traffic—are common to all India. It could as well be Once upon a Time in the Kumaon, or in Kullu.
