April 5 2008 Mussoorie Rowdy Nights Have Begun

The trouble with living in Mussoorie mostly is that it is a party town. And the tourist season starts marginally in April, peaks in June and continues on until about mid-October. And with that are all the city folks coming up here to get away from all their stressful worries and getting sloshed and rowdy. Last night, Saturday it seemed like half the town was drunk. There was yelling late in the roadway and the neighbors imbibed as well which escalated as usual into the family fight and a lot of crashing around followed by crying and then silence. At least they got it over before midnight so we didn’t have to stay awake til 3 or 4 like usual.

It is better out here on the west side as there aren’t many guest houses or hotels and the only attractions of the Buddhist Temple and Company Garden close fairly early so there’s not much reason for the tourists to come out here. Except when they have relatives here.

Anyways we are planning another getaway this month and again in May so we can avoid a lot of this nonsense and especially the traffic jams.

But it has a bad effect on the local people. They see all these “rich” city types coming here and de-stressing while they are working like mad since it is the time they have to (many of them) make enough money to last through the winter. But the “to hell with responsibility” attitude is catching and I know it gives business owners a headache since if their employees catch it (especially on pay day) then they will be short staffed for a while.

Added to that is the water shortage that always comes with so many people just leaving taps running and stuff. One time I was staying at a place and I swear these Delhi types flushed the toilet upstairs at least 25 times in the morning (from 8-12).  I even commented to Manoj “It sounds like someone has a loose motion (diarrhea) problem.” Then when the water ran out at 2pm they let out this huge hue and cry and complained for the rest of the day til water was pumped at 7pm. Water is only pumped twice a day and everyone fills their rooftop tanks and that’s all there is.  So if they empty the tank then they have to wait. And sometimes when there is a shortage (coming up) and a lack of snowfall (like the winter just past) pumping is only once per day. Once when I lived on the east side the pump broke and we were without any water for nearly 5 days. So we had to haul some in containers in the car from a well. Thank goodness it rained in that time also and we hooked up an ad hoc rainwater catch system so at least we had enough water to flush the toilet a couple of times.

Anyways here comes the fun. And here we head for the higher hills!