Delhi day

I'm  quite proud  of myself  as I took the Delhi Metro  for the first  time today with  no trouble  to get from the YW  to Khan  Market and  back. Rs  10 for a one-way  token. Did just enough shopping at Anokhi  and FabIndia to fill up  my suitcases. Also ran into WS   class of 65 walas MKB&JL  in Fab India.
Returned for lunch  at the restaurant  at the YW, and the menu still has my favorite  dish: grilled sweet potatoes  and pineapple chunks (coated  with ground dried anardana/pomegranate  ?) With a small dish of dal  and naan.

After  a nap  I  walked over to Janpat  and the Tibetan  stores to find Doma.

 She is going to be closing  this Delhi  store and setting  up a small  one  in Mullingar bazaar to be closer  to family.

Delhi morning

I'm trying  for the  first  time  to post  from my little  tablet.

I got to Delhi  late last evening  on the Shatabdi  train from Dehra Dun .
This morning would be lovely  if not for  the smog .. pleasant temperature  and sunny.  Here are some views out  of the back windows  of the YWCA:

Looking down on a frangipani  tree

 The house in the next compound

 A couple  newer high-rises

Chairso set up for  a rally on Sansad  road just outside  the Y. One of the disadvantages  of this place is that this section  of road is one set aside for speeches,  rallies, and protests. Fortunately  there  are back  roads one can use.

A Neem  tree

How Can I Not Return?

Before this trip I felt somewhat reluctant to go, but now that I have been here, I know I have to come back. How can I NOT come back to this place so close to my heart.

I know I need to see again:

• the snows
• the Doon valley
• the Tehri hills
• the ferns and rocks 
• the bazaars
• the wonderful old friends
• the wonderful mix of peoples - Garhwalis; Nepalis; Punjabis; Tibetans; Indians from north, northeast, and south India,; Indians who are NRIs, PIOs, OCIs;  Caucasians from all over the world; and mixtures of all of these!
• the many houses of worship for  Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, and Christians 
• Cambridge Book Depot

I could do without:

• the pollution rising up from the plains
• the traffic along Tehri Road and the accompanying noise
• crowds of tourists in Library Bazaar
• trash casually thrown - mainly chip packets and plastic bags 
• the spread of kali ghas over the beautiful and abundant hillsides

I am struck by the love of residents for this hill station and the slow improvements made:

• The Mussoorie Heritage Centre
• Jabarkhet Nature Reserve
• the Hanifl Centre and all of its outreach programs
• the volunteer programs of Woodstock students in nearby villages
• the earnest young man who wants to find a way to keep Mussoorie's charm and not have it over taken by crass tourism and by young men on drinking binges
• that merchants are not using plastic bags
• that plastic and other trash is cleaned up somewhat around the top of Mullingar
• more public latrines being built
• the Mussoorie Writers' Conference
• the friendly greetings from all you pass on the road - be it with a nod, a namaste, a good morning or good evening, or a hello.  

Two other blogs

If you want even more .. check out the blogs of

• Co-volunteer Cate at http://indiacate.blogspot.in
• Ex-staff volunteer Anne at http://anne-india.blogspot.in/

Morning views

I always walk around every morning for about 30 minutes just to soak in as much of the scenery as I can.
Turner Organic Garden (part of the school) - a source of fresh vegetables for staff and a teaching venue for students.

The old abandoned house - the story is that this was abandoned during Partition in 1947.

Some new flats just a bit above the abandoned house.

The back of Mullingar Bazaar.

Breakfast

The school dining room serves some wonderful breakfasts,which are a big contrast to the congealed oatmeal or greasy fried eggs we got here as children.

This morning's breakfast:

Puris, bhaji, scrambled eggs with chili and onion, vegetable kitcheri with corn and potatoes, fresh dahi, papaya, chai!  Heaven!

Yesterday's breakfast was just as good - the featured dish was a South Indian dish made with poha (rice grains pounded until they are flat) called Kanda Poha.  Here is a link to a recipe. Ours didn't have peanuts, but had coconut and zeera (cumin). I'm going to try this at home once I can get some poha from the Indian grocery store.

There is alway cold cereal, toast, peanut butter, and jam available for those that prefer that.

ZigZag Path

My brother asked me if the Lollipop Tree (an inside the family thing) was still there, so this afternoon for my walk I went up ZigZag path to the chukkar and back. It took me about a half hour go to up, with stops to catch my breath and take pictures, and about the same amount of time to come back down.

So yes, bhayya, the Lollipop Tree is still here,

as is the big oak right above Woodside.

I had to take a quick snap of ZigZag Cottage, where we lived for a few years,

and the back of the Community Centre, this year housing for the University of Pittsburgh semester abroad program students.

From the chukkar one could see the peak of Bandar Punch among the clouds - I enhanced the photo a bit so you can see the peak.

I didn't carry any water with me, nor money to buy a drink from Prakash's, but I found some barberry leaves to suck on to moisten my dry mouth.

And caught a nice sunset view of Benog Tibba, far at the western end of the Mussoorie ridge.

Kali Ghas

Kali Ghas, or the Grass of Kali, is an invasive species that is crowding out much of the native undergrowth here in the Garhwal area of the Himalayas.

I finally learned that the scientific name is Eupatorium adenophorum or Ageratina adenophora. It is a pernicious invasive, and toxic to horses. Dr. Worah of the Jabarkhet Nature Reserve said that there are experiments going on as to possible uses (thus economic value to area locals who would then be more inclined to pick it and clear it). Staff and volunteers at the Jabarkhet Reserve have cleared some areas so that native plants can better thrive.
Every time I walk up the ramp to the high school buildings, I pull a few as I pass by (there really are not that many along this khud, so someone else must be keeping an eye on it also).  There are lots of plants along the path around the perimeter of the school fence, along the Eyebrow to Oakville, and a lot of other spots.

Evening

This morning's storm cleared the air, and so this evening the views have been lovely (earthquate didn't interfere with these .. see previous post).

Earthquake

Well ..
We just got the tail end of the 7.7 earthquake that hit the Hindu Kush region in northwest India/Pakistan/Afghanistan.  I didn't really feel it, but suddenly felt quite queasy. The hanging plants were swaying and water in the pitchers was sloshing.  We went out into the Quad, and then the safety officer ran the evacuation bell, so we walked down below Tehri Road.  All clear after about 10 minutes .. but we are hoping we don't feel aftershocks.

I remember about three earthquakes from when I was a child here.

Mussorie Writers' Mountain Festival - Sunday morning

This morning (Sunday) we took part in a nature walk at the Jabarkhet Nature Reserve (Flag Hill), lead by Dr. Sejal Worah. Sejal is Programme Director for the World Wildlife Fund, India and has been a long-time resident of Mussoorie, so has taken up this project as a personal passion.

She has worked to restore the natural plant balance and to discourage local villagers from grazing cattle there and from collecting grass for fodder. We spent about 3 hours walking the paths and hearing her observations about the plant life of the area. There are also at least three cameras set up, two around watering holes, and one where two major paths meet. From the cameras they have captured images of Langurs, Himalayan Black Bear, Leopards, Leopard Cats, Porcupines, Yellow Throated Martens, Barking Deer, Ghoral, Wild Boars, and bird species. Some of the wildlife images are available on their web site.

I am certainly going to join as a supporter of this project.  I encourage other Woodstock & Himalaya lovers to do the same.

Mussoorie Writers' Mountain Festival - Saturday

Whee - another packed day with excellent programs!
I attended the entire morning of sessions, which included:

• Reading by author Amrita Tripathi from her book of short stories.
• A film clip of a photographic story by Martushka Fromeast. She had worked in a village in Nepal near the Tibetan border and taught some of the children how to use digital cameras, and worked with them to produce this version of a local folk tale.
• Reading by author Paro Anand  from her young adult story "Like Smoke .. "
• A talk and slide show by Indian climber Mandip Singh Soin on being the first to bring the Indian flag to many peaks in the Alps.
• A talk and slide show by John White, who runs an outdoor camp in Skye, Whitewave. This place is now on by bucket list.
• A panel on mountain writing. 

In the afternoon the venue shifted to the Hanifl Centre, where we attended

• A panel on "What is Mountain Culture," with four panelists.
• A re-enactment of the Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra by a group of students from Garhwal University under the direction of Prof. Purohit.  The Garhwali music was wonderful - especially the flute player!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Tehri Hills

With the clearer weather, there is finally a view of the Tehri hills .. always my favorite view -

 with the awful telephone wire running through the picture like a big scratch!

Mussoorie Writers' Mountain Festival - Friday

What a packed and wonderful program on Friday.  I didn't make it to everything, but what I did attend was:

• Manjari Mehta speaking on her ongoing anthropological study of a Garhwali village and the impact of the education of girls in the village and the influence of modern culture (cars, mobile phones, etc.)
• Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner speaking and showing images of her successful ascent of K2 - stunning photographs!
• William Sax speaking on "Nanda Devi: Mountain Goddess" - years of anthropology field work concentrated on the Nanda Devi Yatra. 
• Silvo Karo, a rock climber, speaking and showing images of his successful climb up the middle peak in the Bhagirati complex.
• Nandini Purandare & Deepa Balsaver on their work to record the history of the Sherpa climbers who live in Darjeeling.
• Patrick French on his book about Younghusband, "the last imperial adventurer."
• Book release of Butterflies of India by Peter Smetacek and Dr. R. K. Varshney (book due out in about 10 days)
• Book release of Stephen Alter's The Secret Sanctuary, a children's story set in the Jabbarkhet Nature Reserve. 
• 
• Dinner at the home of SN, a Woodstock alumn who has built a new house at the top of the hill.

Along with all of this there was a craft fair where I again spent some Rupees!

Mussoorie Writers' Mountain Festival - Thursday

We are so fortunate on this trip that our stay  here coincides with the annual Mussoorie Writers' Mountain Festival, a three day event that brings in writers, mountaineers, artistis and artisans from South Asia and all over the world. The theme this year is Women and Moutains. The event is sponsored by Friends of Woodstock School,  the Winterline Foundation and the Hanifl Foundation.

Events start Thursday evening with the opening of an exhibit of paintings by Tobit Roche (not a Woodstock alumni, but an alumn of AES in Delhi). For this show he is exhibiting primarily paintings of Nanda Devi, but also has a few small paintings of scenes near here (these I covet). 

After that was the opening of an exhibit of photographs by Martushka Fromeast of the Nanda Devi Yatra which takes place every 12 years.

Weather

 The first two weeks we have been here the Doon has been very hazy, clouds or smog come up almost every day, and the humidity has been enough such that it takes a long time for clothes to dry.

Suddenly, about two days ago, the skies cleared and the air became crisp - now into the more typical October weather.  I do run the small electric heater in my room for an hour or so in the morning and in the evening to take the chill off while I sit and read, but otherwise indoors it is quite comfortable still.  I haven't yet needed to put on extra layers or wear my down jacket., but am glad for a shawl in the evenings. 

Cooler, clearer weather means the Winter Line is back (though, alas, higher in the sky because of the increasing smog on the plains) .. but always so beautiful!