More walking

Just in case H. & I hadn't done enough walking, yesterday we walked to Library Bazaar (Gandhi Chowk) yesterday (Sunday).  We first had breakfast at the home of a staff member at Woodstock Villa, then went on to a service at Union Church near Picture Palace.  The church was having its special 'first fruits' or harvest service, with choirs from Woodstock, Wyneberg-Allen School, and Hebron School (a newer school set up using the facilities of Union Church); as well as a long-winded South Indian preacher; and the offertory played by a very talented, young (14-16?) Korean violinist from Woodstock.
Since we were down that far in the bazaar we continued on through Kulri Bazaar, where we had lunch at the Rice Bowl [above the gateway that led to what was once a movie theater and also still in existence Hammar's store], and then on through the Mall to Library Bazaar, now called Gandhi Chowk.  This is a big tourist season in Mussoorie, and there were lots of tourists walking the mall - mostly from Punjab.

Here are a few photos along the way.  I feel I am being intrusive if I take photos of people in their stores, so don't have those. The first is of a display in a cake shop in Library Bazaar; the second of a vehicle repair shop on Mullingar Hill; the third of the fruit & vegetable stall at the bottom of Mullingar where I have bought some oranges.

We got back to the school about 4 pm after a leisurely walk of at least 6-8 miles.

Top of the hill again

On Saturday afternoon, because we had not walked nearly enough, H. (another visiting alum) and I walked out Tehri Road almost to Jabbarkhet.  We had a good view of the haunted house.

Then H wanted to walk up to Oakville as she had lived there as a child .. so we did that and then made our way on up to Mt. Hermon flats. It is still unspoiled and beautiful. My father always liked that spot as the water that falls on the south/plains side goes into a tributary of the Ganga, and water that falls on the back/mountain side goes into a tributary of the Yamuna, which then will meet at the confluence in Allahabad, which is where my parents worked.

Sports Day

Yesterday - Saturday - was the School's annual sports day for grades 4 and up.  The students are assigned to houses (a la Hogwarts) - Eagles, Condors, and Merlins.  The competition is among the houses.  We sat with the Eagles for a bit, mostly because their area was in the shade.  We stayed for only a couple of hours, but the students and teachers were there from 8:30 am to 4 pm and quite worn out at the end of the day.  It is a long walk down to the sports field - Hanson Field - and then of course a long walk up.  I think it took us about 30 minutes to walk back up to the school.  The photos are just some scenes from the day.

I have since learned that the Merlins won the day.

Nostalgia

Yesterday another 'old student' back for a visit and I walked up to Edgehill Villa.  In our childhood it was home to British missionaries, later on it was a guest house for visitors, and now it is home to some of the younger boarders. It is quite charming from the outside with a lot of potted flowers.

Also located there is the old merry-go-round that we spent hours on as children spinning ourselves silly.

The same old see-saw is off the Quad on the way back to the tea garden.

Vehicles

I mentioned before all of the traffic on Tehri Road.  It is also possible now to drive from the lower Tehri Road down to Ridgewood dorm, up from Mullingar to the chukkar, and up from Tehri Road above South Hill to just below the Oakville Estate. The taxi driver bringing me up from Dehra Dun took some short cut that had some awfully steep sections - so I just closed my eyes!

Here are some photos of vehicles that ply these roads.

Here is a sign that I like that is near the top of Mullingar Hill. It says "May the Lord keep your journey safe." In this case "the Lord" could be Jesus or Krishna.

The Archives

Last night I slept poorly, and when I did my dreams equated the many piles of folders from previous administrations with khalighas [spelling?], a local invasive plant. I also found myself riding Indian trains and having to change trains at out-of-the-way stations and deal with the normal confusions of train travel.  Then I was woken at 5:45 am by the sweet singing of the Himalayan Whistling Thrush.  This started my day with a brief moment of grace.

Part of the reason I came on this trip was to check on the state of the archives at Woodstock School. In 1997 I had a summer research leave from my regular job, and I came here and spent 6 weeks providing some preliminary organization and access to historical materials.  My intent had always been to return a few years later and continue the work, but life events intervened.  On this trip I am just assessing what has and has not been done in the intervening 15 years, and to consider whether I might return again in the next few years to do some more processing.

I've found that the historical materials are in decent shape - a volunteer in the late 90s and early 00s expanded the system I had set in place and inventoried a lot more material.

What is more problematic is that the archives space has become the dumping grounds for old administrative files - proceedings of board meetings, grant applications, strategic planning documents, administrative councils, etc. etc.  These are the type of thing that in library-land falls under 'records management' and should really be managed under administrative oversight as there are important policy issues, especially in the areas of retention and access restriction.

So, I am doing what I can in this brief 2 1/2 week stint here - mostly making recommendations and changing my mind every day as to whether I might want to return again her to this work.

Turner Organic Garden

This morning (Wednesday), M&S and I walked down to the Turner Organic Garden, which is owned and run by the school.

A lot of the plate scrapings & food waste from the kitchen is composted in big monkey-proof containers just below the new/lower Tehri Road.

The caretaker of the garden has a very neat small house, with a satellite dish .. and solar panels with which he runs his TV. There is also a newer windmill which he says does generate some electricity.
There are two water catchment ponds on the terraces, the water from which is used for drip irrigation on the garden terraces.

There are also two greenhouses covered with sturdy plastic sheeting.  In one he had a good crop of broccoli, some bok choy for transplanting, and a few other vegetables.

The vegetables we saw lima beans, green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant, radishes, dal, and green gram. There are also a couple of small fruit trees. The last picture is of turmeric plants (the root is dried and ground into turmeric powder).