Other blogs

If you are, like me, surfing the web to look with nostalgia at photos of the Himalayas .. here are some blogs for you:

• Anne Lind
• JULIndiA
• Lawrence of Ind-id-ia
• WildyWeb

Enjoy!  They are still there while I am back here ....

Silence

One thing that always strikes me when I return to my home in the U.S. in a small mid-western town is how quiet it is.

Returning from Amsterdam I miss the muffled sounds of the trams going by and the bicycle traffic on the road across the canal. I miss the view from the window of cyclists on regular bicycles or bakfiets going to school, work, or the market; of the occasional boat and the grebes, coots, herons and swans that travel the canal.

Returning from Landaur I miss the morning song of the whistling thrush and the call to prayer from the mosque; the sound of donkey bells and children chattering on their way to school; and the general hustle and bustle of the town. Of course I miss the views!

What I don't miss is the incessant honking of horns (on blind curves of the road along the mountain side, honking is the way to warn oncoming traffic that your vehicle is also there) and the political rants from loud speakers (there was a local election mid-October so much politicking).

Here in the U.S., I live on a cul-de-sac a long block away from a main north-south street. I get occasional noise from the street or from the nearby college campus, especially on football weekends, but most of the time it is quiet.  In the summer there are kids playing outside or a few folks working in their yards and gardens. This time of year, when temperatures are in the 30s and 40s, my neighbors are outside only to hop in and out of their cars and otherwise stay inside. It seems too quiet and isolated!

An improbable place

Much of the time in Landaur I kept thinking that it was such an improbable place.  It seems even more Brigadoon-like now that I left the place a week ago and am back in the U.S.

Where else will you find a thriving community around 7000 feet in elevation, with a view to the higher peaks of 20,000+ feet, and a view to the Doon to the south.

Where else are houses, stores, and hotels built on steep hillsides - some of which are only accessible by footpath. And where else are there such improbable roads for motor vehicles (that little line running across the hillside in the 3d picture below is the road we took coming back from the Aglar valley to Mussoorie).

Where else are so many boarding schools? Among the older schools are, of course, Woodstock, but also Oak Grove, Wyneberg-Allen, St. George's, Waverly Convent, two Tibetan schools, Guru Nanak Academy, Mussoorie Modern, and many, many others.

Where else (except another Indian hill station) is a place infused with a memory of the Raj and of the now much dispersed Anglo-Indian population: settings and lives so gently described by the author Ruskin Bond.

Where else in India are churches still such prominent landmarks, but likely now outnumbered by mosques, temples, and gurdwaras.

Where else do dahlias and geraniums grow wild ... where you can look straight across into a tree and see a scarlet minivet or look up at the underside of an Himalayan griffon with its 10-foot wingspan ...

Where else do you find a place that captures so many hearts .... but I am getting nostalgic so shall stop!

Gratitude

I am home now: while I had a great trip I was really ready to get back into my home surroundings and routine.

I am thankful for the pilots of the Delta/KLM hop from Detroit to Cleveland that they landed safely after a very bumpy descent into the wind and rain of Hurricane Sandy - and that the flight wasn't cancelled.  That may have been one of the last flights into Cleveland until this afternoon or tomorrow because of the storm.

I am thankful for friends S&B for meeting me in Cleveland and driving me home through the wind, rain, and darkness!

I am thankful for the wonderful group of folks who came together at the Hanifl Center for the reunion, and to M for organizing the gathering.

I am thankful for the wonderful services provided by Uday Travel in India.

I am thankful to find my home intact, the cats well cared for by neighbors & the Cat Sitter Lady, and the furnace and the washing machine still working.

I still need to start up the car, adjust to the time zone, and get over the cold that I developed towards the end of the trip.

Leaving the hills

On Tuesday afternoon five of us took a taxi to Dehra Dun.  The trip seems so much faster now with the lower Tehri Road plus a short cut near Wyneberg-Allen School and Jharipani.  We stopped at at the FabIndia store for some serious shopping: the store does have beautiful garments and fabrics!  Then we had a dinner of biryani, mattar paneer, aloo gobi, naan, aloo paratha, and gulab jamuns at President Hotel.  Then on to the Dehra Dun train station where we were somewhat early.  We were able to get settled in our sleeping berths in the Mussoorie Express well before the train started its 11 hour trip to Delhi.  I slept some, but not as soundly as I had hoped with the comforting and familiar rocking of the rail car. The sleeping berth was a bit hard, but otherwise adequate with the sheets, blanket, and pillow provided. There are clean Indian-style toilets at the end of the car.

A month ago, travelling from Delhi to Dehra, I took the faster Shatabdi train, which travels during the day.  I had written down detailed notes about the trip, intending to blog about it, but never did.  I especially enjoyed watching out the window after the train went through Saharanpur, when we got closer to the Siwaliks and the rails started leaving the Gangetic plain and entering the higher terai, Siwalik, and Dun areas. Before that, much of the view was of villages and sugar cane fields; after that one enters some forested areas with large stream beds lined with smooth, round rocks. The route stops at Haridwar and Rishikesh, so a number of Indian and European tourists disembarked at one or the other of those two stations.

The weather in Delhi on Wednesday was wonderful - they had had rain the previous day, plus the temperature in the hills had dropped - so mid-day it was maybe as high as 80F.  Many of the stores and restaurants were closed or open only limited hours as it was Dusshera. We did go to Cottage Industries again for one last shopping trip, and found our way to the Tibetan shops in front of the Imperial Hotel (a bit hard to get to as that section of Janpath is all torn up and we had to walk way around the far side of the Hotel to gain access.

We had use of several rooms at the YWCA during the day, so were able to rest, wash, and repack before being taken to the airport in the evening. My flight took off on time - but I was asleep before take off! We landed in Amsterdam about 10 minutes early, was met by S&T, and able to take another 3 hours sleep at their house before taking off on a walk.

Top of the Hill again

We took an early morning walk up to the top of the hill - our last chance to see the snows - and the full range was visible in all its glory.

We then walked to Rokeby Manor for a tasty and leisurely breakfast. Rokeby was once a boarding house for single women missionaries of the Methodist Church.  Now it is a nice hotel with the old house renovated and restored.

On to the end of the chukkar past First Estate for the best view of the snows .. glorious!

Then down from St. Paul's to Mullingar in order to see Doma's Inn, painted in bright Tibetan style.  The inn is run by Tensing (Momo) & Tsering Nima in honor of  his mother, Doma, whom many of us knew as children. Doma is still living, and was up on the hillside for a while, but I missed seeing here.

Back to the school for lunch and then to the Hanifl Center where we are resting and packing up for our afternoon taxi back down to Dehra Dun and overnight train to Delhi.

Old friends

Yesterday I had the joy of spending a few precious hours with a childhood friend and his wife.  They drove about 7 hours to come see me. I stayed in their home when I was in Allahabad 20 years ago; in a house in which my family had lived in 50 years ago. The man in the photo and I grew up in circumstances in which our lives were somewhat intertwined, in ways I won't go into here .. but I owe a debt of gratitude to him and especially to his mother for her loving support of me and my siblings when we were young.

Random views

Our visit here is drawing to a close and I am feeling the tug of what has become home for me in the US. 

Here are some random photos of the school and the hillside.  The first bunch are closeups of steps that are imprinted in my memory.

And more ...

Tibetan settlement

Many Tibetans fled their homeland starting in 1959, and many came to the Mussoorie area.  There is a thriving Tibetan community, cultural center, and several schools on the western end of Mussoorie.  On Saturday morning we took taxis there (about an 8 mile trip) and were given a tour of the area.  We saw the main school which educates children through highschool, and also a small vocational school which trains in tailoring and painting (for both areas, training is in both traditional Tibetan art and clothing and in modern/western styles). We made a brief visit to the Buddhist temple there also.

This is the junior library at the school. One of the murals is of TinTin in Tibet.

Some of the children are orphans, or their parents work elsewhere in India, or their parents are still in Tibet but they have gotten their children to India for a better life and more opportunity: these children are housed in group homes with a Tibetan couple as house-parents.  There is much emphasis on retaining and transmitting Tibetan language and culture, so that this is not lost in the diaspora. The photo is of a group of these homes.

Adventure

On Friday the group had a long, but very interesting day.  Part of the group started out early by taxi as far as Seokholi (a village about 5 miles along Tehri Road to the east), and then they hiked down the north side of the range down into the Aglar river valley and the village of Tatur (7 miles).  Right before Seokholi there is a great view of the peaks east of Bandar Punch.

The rest of us were not as energetic (including me - especially because I have a bad cold) took taxis all of the way down to meet the walkers in Tatur.  This is a beautiful area with pine forests and small villages and terraced farms. We met the hikers in Tatur, then continued by taxi across the Aglar and along the south face of the next ridge, this time travelling in a westerly direction. 

Around noon we stopped in a village to visit a school.  M. had been here several times with other groups, and the head teacher is a friend of some Woodstock staff. The school has children from ages 4 to about 10 or 12.  This is a private school, and was situated in this village so the younger children would not have to walk more than 4 kilometers to school .. the nearest government primary school is at least a 6 km walk for some students. The students learn Hindi, English, math, "general knowledge" (which includes social studies and sciences), and music and art.

The students were playing a local form of tag which involves a lot of strategy.

In honor of our visit, some of the younger students changed into local hill costumes and performed a folk dance for us. My thought was how much friends B&S would enjoy watching this!

After this we went on in the taxis for another hour or so, stopped an had lunch, then walked down below the road to the village of KhasKodam, which is featured in the video Palayan (I have a copy and will be glad to show it to folks back home).  This is a poor village, but very picturesque as some of the houses still have the traditional Garhwali architecture with wooden walls and slate roofs.  The main crop seems to be corn - though they were also drying beans, chilis, and greens.

They still prepare flour in traditional ways . here is a photo of small stone grinder and also some pestles that are used in stone mortars.

After a short visit there we continued on our way down into the valley to the confluence of the Aglar with the Yamuna .. across the river and back up into the far western side of Mussoorie, past Kempty falls and finally back to the Hanifl Center. The distance was not far, but the roads are narrow and very windy, with a lot of hair-pin curves.  If you have ever watched the tv show about the world's worst roads .. these were a step or two better, but not a whole lot!  I just tried not to think about them as we were going along!

A quick plug for Woodstock School

Yesterday (Thursday) the class members who had gathered thus far took a leisurely walk up to the top of the hill and all around the chukkar again. The view of the snows was even more clear than the previous time I had seen them.

In the evening we were invited to the home of Dr. Long, the principal of the school.  After a very nice dinner and visit with classmates, staff from the alumni/development office, and Dr & Mrs. Barton, retired teachers who had been on the staff for 17 years, Dr. Long outline some points in his vision for the School.  What he had to say made me excited again for the great potential of Woodstock School as an international school in a very unique geographical and environmental setting.

If there should be folks out there on the web that happen to stumble across this blog - here is a plug for the school.

High school students anywhere in the world who might want a semester or year in India should consider the SAGE program. Through SAGE one can arrange high school study abroad in India, Costa Rica, Cameroon, or Thailand .. but of course we hope you'll choose Woodstock in India.

 High school graduates who are seeking a 'gap' experience before starting higher studies are also served by SAGE with several gap year and volunteer programs.

Any young people I have talked to that have come to Woodstock as a SAGE student have found it life-changing. Some who have come as 10th or 11th graders opt to stay to finish their education here.

Where else can you get a world-class education, participate in a strong music and extracurricular program, and live in such a spectacular setting?

Sunrise

The dorm rooms in the Hanifl Center face east.  One of my favorite views here is of the ridges of hills off to the east.  This morning we are watching the sun rise over them.  The highest peak to the very left of the photo is Sircunda Devi (ca 9000 ft?) where there is a Hindu temple on top.  We hiked there and climbed to the top when I was in high school.

Hanifl Center

I have just moved out of the guest room at the school and relocated to the Hanifl Center. Here about ten members of my high school class will be gathering for a reunion. A few have come already, another group will be getting in this afternoon, and a couple will be here just for the weekend.
The HC is quite an impressive complex and I look forward to learning more about the various groups that use the facilities here and the various activities supported by the center.

I will walk back to the school for one more meeting with the Advancement/Alumni office staff, and for lunch.  Then I am going to try to take a good nap before others get here as I have come down with a cold.

Electricity

The electricity goes off here at random moments, but so far they have only been brief.  Most of the major appliances (such as the small refrigerator in the guest suite) have surge protectors. Above is a photo of just one light pole/power line, but it will give you an idea of the scope of the situation!

Trees and forest

(an aside - woke up again to the singing of the Whistling Thrush - what a treat!)

The School sits in a protected forest area.  There are very strict regulations about felling trees and even in cutting branches - one has to get permits and pay fees and it all takes a long time.  This is a good thing, as other areas nearby are somewhat deforested or the lower branches of trees have been lopped off for cattle and goat feed.

The primary tree in this area is an oak - locally called banj - Quercus Incana or Quercus Acutissima.

There are also a lot of long-needled pine - locally called chir -  Pinus longifolia. They grow to be quite large: in one of the photos you can see a few rising up above an understory of oak.  The closeup of the single pine is the "Lyre Tree" - the symbol for the School.

Another common tree is the Deodar - Cedrus deodara - which is kin to the Cedar of Lebanon.  Deodar means 'gift of god.'

Rhododendrons grow here as large trees. There are many of them down near the upper school dormitories and Hansen Field. Other trees include a Himalayan dogwood, two different kinds of maple, and the horse chestnut.