Who is paying attention to our hill stations?

Roshnee Desai, Founder and Creative Director at LOCAL, reflects on India’s hill stations once idyllic retreats, now facing unchecked commercialisation and why caring for our heritage towns could be the country’s greatest act of rebellion yet.

Image: Copyright Roshnee Desai

“Our biggest act of rebellion yet will be to take care of our heritage treasure trove towns and even better them, bringing in the new ‘proper way’.”

For the uninitiated, a “Hill Station” is a term coined by the British which defines these perfectly designed, idyllic towns in the hilly regions of India. They were designed for the British to enjoy weather akin to their homeland and to have a piece of home in a new country where things were done “the proper (their) way”

In the last few years I have traveled to various hill stations in India. From Darjeeling to Leh and Lonavala to Coorg, and now recently Ooty. And I can see that while the pahadis and boarding school goers are clinging on to these ideas of the past, 75 years from independence has eroded this ‘properness’ into classic unplanned chaos of tier 2 towns of India. While some private properties and town outskirts still hold some of the previous charm, it’s the center of towns that have lost all its character and feels like no one is really running it.

It’s like an invisible commercialisation virus that seems to be spreading from the town centers and slowly radiating into its outskirts.

No zoning, rising levels of trash, unchecked construction leading to landslides, lack of aesthetic planning (what’s up with the neon painted buildings with advertising on them causing visual pollution in our valleys?), mass tourist spots like viewing points and chocolate factories becoming a place for random commercialisation, hawkers and hence trash trash trash.

Did I mention trash? Lots and lots of it. Even where plastic is banned (thank you Ooty and Sikkim) The old strolling paths with a stream running next to it have become open sewages. And if you’re planning to go out for a walk in the narrow hilly streets for some crisp mountain air, you’ll probably get bumped by a giant SUV(India’s current obsession)

Now, I can see that the people do care. It’s evident in the restaurants and organic stores and local businesses coming up. I feel India is afloat because of its private sector and services and goods designed to surpass poor governance. (Swiggy was delivering in a remote spot 6km uphill a bad road to our stay in Ooty)

But ultimately a town where governance, planning and enforcement is missing, is going to fall into disrepair. This is true not just for hill stations but all our beautiful towns across India.

The colonisers (read Churchill) said we would not be able to enforce and organise ourselves to run the country - and while we have long proved them wrong and built India into a thriving economy, I feel our biggest act of rebellion yet will be to take care of our heritage treasure trove towns and even better them, bringing in the new “proper way”.

 I am Roshnee Desai, I run a design studio called LOCAL where we design with culture and social nuance. Because a well designed country is a powerful country.