Dehradun

I can see the mountains in the far distance from my hotel window. On the train journey here, I saw a bubbling brook which brought an unbidden smile to my lips. Known for the Indian Military Academy and some of the country's most famous schools (The Doon School and Welham's), Dehradun is a hill-station that is slowly losing its calm due to the bane of the modern world - commercialisation. But 10 minutes away from the commercial artery of Rajpur Road, the true spirit of Dehradun can be felt. A Tibetan temple and monastery and a Sai Baba temple sit peacefully next to each other in Rajpur, and the verdant greenery lining the hills opposite provide a serenity that has to be experienced to be believed.