Puffing and Panting

For those that have been on these paths and know the steepness of the khuds ... and know I am in my third visit in 3 years .. You may think that I am in great shape and am running up and down the paths with ease.  I still puff and pant as I climb.  I can make it from the Quad to the Gym now without stopping to catch my breath, but going up Zig Zag or Oakville paths I have to stop every could of zags along the way to settle my heart rate.  And oh .. how hard the going down is on the knees!  If I come again I am going to bring a hiking pole or get a good Mussoorie walking stick.

Langurs

There was a large group of langurs near the Media Centre on lower Zig-Zag path yesterday.  Of course by the time I got my camera out & could catch my breath to hold it steady, many had moved on.  One of them held a good pose for me:

Another was finding something to eat in the trees:

More Birds

This morning I walked up to the top of the hill and met M&S. Together we took a leisurely walk all around the chukker, stopped for tea and samosas at Rokeby, then had a nice lunch prepared by them at the Winterline apartment.

We saw several new birds for this trip .. and, along with other new ones I've encountered in the last few days, I *think* the list includes:

• Lammergeier
• Himalayan Griffon
• Parakeet ( Slaty-headed or Plum-headed?)
• Great Barbet
• Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker
• Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo
• Black Drongo
• Scarlet Minivet
• Black Bulbul
• Rufous Sibia
• Verditer Flycatcher
• Gray-hooded Warbler
• Blue Whistling Thrush
• Black-throated Tit
• Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch
• Yellow-breasted Greenfinch
• Rock Bunting

Music Recitals

I've attended two small student recitals put on by the music department.  It is good to see and hear the music tradition continue here at Woodstock. There were performances by a number of eager beginners and mid-level players.  Then there were some very talented advanced students - cello, piano, classical guitar - wow!

Woodstock School 1902

While working in the archives I found this wonderful picture of the main school building, ca. 1902.  This is a small print, so it got forgotten among some larger views of the school:

Eyebrow

A few days ago I walked part of the way to Oakville on the Eyebrow, this time with camera in hand (went last fall but took no pics).

The path is narrow and goes through some rather steep-sided spots.  Now there is a railing at least some of the way, which gives my older self more confidence in taking this route.

From the Eyebrow one can see a prosperous looking farm which is on Witches' Hill above Midlands Stream below Dobhi Ghat, but hidden by a fold of the hill when looking down from the school.

My favorite view is always the Tehri Hills to the east:

Breakfasts

The food at the school has improved dramatically over what it was when I was in school here. It even seems much better this time than when I visited last fall.

My favorites this visit have been the breakfasts.  There is always tea and coffee available (in the photo the urns hold tea, coffee, and hot milk):

Here are some recent breakfasts -

boiled eggs, fried potatoes, toast:

 parathas, dahi, suji halwa, scrambled eggs with onion and chilis:

cheese omelet, veg cutlets, toast:

puris, bhaji, omelet:

There is also usually some form of fruit - bananas, sliced papaya, oranges or fruit juice.

Ferns

I can't let a visit go by without posting about ferns.  This is not the right time of year to see the full variety of fern species that can be found on the hillside (that is the monsoons - July through September), but there are a few common year-round residents -

Red-Bearded Christmas fern (Polystichum):

Alternate Spleenwort (Ceterach):

Common Lip (Cheilanthes): 

Wind Storm

On Monday evening there was a terrific wind storm that lasted an hour or so, with winds coming out of the west.  I caught this big sinister-looking cloud racing above the Wynberg-Allen/St. George's ridge, and then curling around to the west of Witches' Hill.

Spring Green

From the balcony outside of the guest rooms, and above the Tea Garden, I can look down on the eastern slope of the Ridgewood/Midlands Ridge.

In among the oak and pine are a few bright red spots of rhododendron trees.

Every day, the few deciduous trees grow brighter and greener - chestnut, wild cherry, maple, dogwood, and others I do not remember!

Ordinary Things

Since my small (I say hopefully) illness has confined me to room and school property .. here are some photos of ordinary things:

Sunrise - Sunset

The sun rising over the Tehri hills and hitting Witches Hill:

A late winter sunset:

Entrance to the School

On Friday I was hit with some version of the crud that has been making the rounds of the staff and students here, so ran a fever for about 24 hours, and spent much of Saturday laying in bed.  The kind nurses in the student health center gave me some tylenol, vitamin C, and a thermometer to monitor my temp. I did rally a bit in the afternoon and walked out as far as the school gate, taking photos along the way.

The main entrance, looking from the back - guard house and reception lounge:

The iconic Woodstock gate, where all alumni take their photos:

Lovely flowering plants in gumlas along the entrance road:

School vehicles:

The old music cell wing, now the business offices:

Entering the Quad:

Flowers in the Quad:

Birds

Every morning when I go out I hear the songs of at least half a dozen different birds.  I've mentioned before the Whistling Thrush, whose song helps greet the rising sun.

I have been trying hard as an adult to identify birds.  I have no excuse in not knowing the common birds of this part of the Himalayas, as in high school we were taught biology (including sections on local fauna and flora) by Robert Fleming, Jr., one of the world's experts on Himalayan birds.  As a 10th grader, I think my mind was too much on boys, and not so much on these tiny little dots of color way high up in a tree.

 At Cambridge Book Depot I found Birding in the Doon Valley by Suniti Bhushan Datta and Nikhil Devasar  (Winterline Publishing, 2012).  It is a lovely book with descriptions of the various nature preservers and good birding areas in the Doon Valley, Siwaliks, and lower Himalayas.  There are good pictures of the common birds of the area, along with a full checklist for serious birders.

However, no bird I've seen ever looks quite like the picture in a book, so I make guesses.  I know we saw a Scarlet Tanager when we were here in 2012.  Last fall there were masses of little yellow birds (Yellow-breasted Greenfinch? Gray-hooded Warbler?).  Last year we also saw a Himalayan Bulbul.  This year there are a number of tiny birds around - Russet Sparrow?, Black-Throated Tit? Dark-sided flycatcher? Rufous sibia?  I am useless in this endeavor!

As children when we lived up here I know we saw Himalayan Griffon, Lammergeier, Black Kite, various owls, a cuckoo, woodpeckers, as well as several dozens of colors and species of what I call 'small brown birds' (which in this area tend to be about 10-15 cm in size, much smaller than the small brown birds in my backyard in Ohio).

Rain Storm

A couple of nights ago we had a  tremendous rain storm with thunder, lightening, hard rain, and some hail. In the morning the clouds parted for great views of the Doon.

Working in the Archives

My real purpose in being here is to continue to organize the historical archives of Woodstock School, Mussoorie, Uttarkhand, India.  My co-conspirator on this project, C, is also here for a short time.  We love to do this, but the challenge continues to be all of the office files that were put in the archives area. These files contain a few gems and important information that need to be saved for the archives, but also are about 90% 'junk' in the form of multiple copies of address lists, old disciplinary records, email printouts about trivial matters, ex-staff personal conversations, etc. etc.  Going through these files is what took most of our time last October and is taking much of our time this year.  It will take another two to three visits here to get through all of these.

As a result we are generating lots of scrap paper.  This is also a challenge here as even used paper is a commodity (we used to buy peanuts or jalebis in the bazaar in a paper cone made of our old exam papers).  We are shredding the most sensitive discards, and are putting the rest in giant trash bags - and we hope office staff will take these home to burn in their fireplaces because we don't want the papers to end up as jalebi bags.

Among the standard items in the archives are: runs of the Whispering Pine (yearbook), Quadrangle (alumni magazine), student poetry magazines, student newspaper, staff handbooks, school prospectuses, books published by the school and books about the school.

Among the fun stuff are: the original minutes of the Protestant Society that set up the school in 1852, Miss Marley's diplomas and academic costume, Fleming fern collections, early photographs of the school and students, memos about toilet paper use, etc. etc.!

I am creating a finding aid to the materials but it is hard to keep up with all that needs to be added. Right now the finding aid only exists in printed form and on my Google Drive.  A publicly available index to the contents is still at least 5 years away. (my little camera doesn't take good closeups)

Rhododendron Trees

One of the common trees here is a tree rhododendron (Rhododendrum arboretum) which blooms in the early spring.  The flowers are a favorite food of the langur monkeys.  Locals also make juice or jam out of the petals - this jam was a specialty of Mary Esther Burgoyne, wife of the school principal in the late 50s to late 60s. As I recall the jam had a nice tart flavor. I found a site where you can buy organic rhody jam here in India.

I had trouble getting a good picture of a full tree so what is below is not very good.  I did get a good shot of a blossom which likely a monkey had dropped.

St. Patrick's Day in the Quad

Yesterday was both Holi and St. Patrick's Day.  Many of the Hindu staff had taken the day off to celebrate with family - but it was obvious some of the western staff had gone through the bazaar and gotten some color on them.

But in the Quad, it was all St. Patrick's Day and students enjoying music and sunshine at lunch time.

Earlier in the day I caught the lower school students lining up behind the green poles in the Quad as we did 50+ (erk!) years ago. I think the teachers don't insist on absolutely straight and quiet lines like we had to endure!

Sunday in the Bazaar

On Sunday I went with C to attend the service at Christ Church in Library Bazaar.  When we were there last fall, a paved patio and a kitchen were being built for the church.  Now it is all done and looks very nice.

From that end of town one could see some snows behind the Chakrata hills .. and some snow on the tops of the highest Chakrata peaks. 

Library and Kulri Bazaars were filled with tourists up for the 3-day Holi weekend: a few young men had already begun to celebrate (alcohol, bhang); wood and scrap was being piled up for bonfires; a few kids were squirting color at each other; Ram Chander's was selling organic powdered colors; loud music was being blasted from speakers near Picture Palace (now a video game arcade).  We were very glad when we finally made it to the quiet of Landaur Bazaar!