Bazaar day #2

On Saturday morning we took it easy and then headed to the bazaar around 11. We stopped in a chemist shop to get some vitamin C (I feel a slight cold coming on) , at the Kashmir shop on the top of Kulri hill so SF could get some small gifts to take back to friends in the US, and then at the optical shop for her to pick up the eyeglasses she ordered.  The glasses weren't quite ready, so we went up to the Rice Bowl and had a good lunch of momos, Tibetan chicken soup, and (for me) ginger lemon tea.  By the time we were done with lunch the glasses were ready.

SF took these pictures in the bazaar:

From there we walked on almost all the way to Library Bazaar, and up to Christ Church to attend the memorial service for Lillian Skinner Singh, an alum of Woodstock and a long-time Mussoorie resident, who passed away last December.  There were about 50 in attendance, including her sister and a cousin, representatives from Wyneberg-Allen (where she had been on the board), Woodstock, and the community.  Those who spoke of her emphasized her sharp intelligence, her kindness, her sense of humor, and the twinkle in her eye. She is also a descendant of Colonel James Skinner, and important figure in British-India history.

SF took this photo of the altar and window at the front of the church:

After the service we walked back with CW to the guest house where she is staying, which is below the Picture Palace area.  We had a delightful visit with her, the owner, and a former leader of St. George's College, and were able to see a great view of the road up to Mussoorie and the growth of development on those lower elevations.

When we got back to the school at about 10 pm, the Jazz Jam was still taking place in the Quad - students dressed up, dancing, being typical high school teenagers - until about 11 pm.

Another busy day

As Friday was the last day that CW and LO were to be in the office, we wrapped up a lot of loose ends. We have essentially processed all  but one category of the material that was to be added to the archives. What remains is a bankers box of slides - maybe around 1500 or so - that need to be viewed and the good ones digitized.  It is our hope that the school can find a student or a volunteer to take this on once a good scanner has been obtained. We also met with some of those responsible for the physical plant to discuss possibilities for new furniture (to replace the hodge-podge of filing cabinets and shelving) and possibly expand the space.  Their comments seemed encouraging, but we shall see how the ideas progress.

Thursday afternoon had been the start of the annual Mussoorie Mountain Festival, this year under the aegis of the Hanifl Centre.  The program opened with a showing of a selection of short films, produced in India by Indians, of outdoor activities - mountain climbing, mountain biking, skateboarding, white-water kayaking. Coinciding with International Women's Day, several women climbers were featured speakers. I was able to see the opening films, but was busy most of the day Friday so wasn't able to hear the speakers.

Busy day in the Alumni office

Because we have been doing our work in the Development/Alumni Office, we get to see the various visitors that stop in.  On Thursday there were several. One was a man who was a 'chut' in our days at school, but now teaches in Mumbai, had come up for the Mountain Festival.  Another was a British couple from Scotland.  The man's mother and aunt had gone to Woodstock (though he said that as kids they thought she had made this all up and so his visit was partly to confirm whether it was real or not!). We found both of their pictures in Whispering Pines in the 1940s, and we were able to answer a number of questions for him.

And because we had made a presentation to the staff about the archives, we've had some staff drop by or talk with us regarding material in the archives.

• The choir director wanted to revive singing of Woodstock songs, and to know more about Robert Fleming Sr. who wrote them. We were able to provide him with a copy of the song book and of a short bio. of Fleming written on his death - and we discussed the idea of having a student contest to write a new song for the school to reflect the great change in character and demographics from when the old songs were written in the 1930s and 40s.
• A staff member whose spouse works at the Landaur Community Hospital wanted to see what information we had on it - and we have a couple of folders of miscellaneous materials.
• A history teacher who wants the students to do some oral interviews with staff and student alumni on the hillside, and possibly look at artifacts (we have very few because of space issues) to write about. 

My friend SF has been able to accompany the social outreach coordinator on several volunteer outings with students.  Yesterday they visited a center for handicapped children in Thathur (down from Seokoli on the Aglar River). She learned that one mother carries her son on her back for 6 km several times a week to bring him to the center,  and that an Australian physical therapist at LCH comes periodically to work with the children. On the way there is one spot where she finally got to see the snows!  This is the picture she took:

Bonus round #2

More stairs . and a tile floor ...

Detention .. and birthdays

I had noticed that the pushta right below the ramp across from the Principal's office (the old music cells) was very clean and free of any moss .. but several mornings now there has been a high school boy not very enthusiastically scrubbing the pushta with a wire brush.  I assume he has some sort of detention or whatever they are calling it here these days.

Wednesday morning the archives team was invited to give a 3-4 minute presentation about the archives to the weekly meeting of the teaching staff. Before we had the stage several announcements were made, including all of the birthdays this week, including mine and my age (erk!  I must seem ancient to many of the young teachers) .. but I shared the day with 3 other staff members.  At break time in the development/alumni office, Tara had arranged for a cake for me, prepared by the Landaur Bake House. 

In the evening our groups was invited to the Principal's house for dinner, along with a couple of newer teaching staff members and an alum that lives on the hillside.  It was such a delightful evening full of good conversation with good food and wine.  Another cake brought forth - but for me and for one of the staff shared my birthday - and a carrot cake at that! Plus we both got very nice gifts from Mr & Mrs Principal. 

Just another busy day at the office ...

We have gotten much more accomplished than we thought we would on this trip.  We have sorted through the large piles of unsorted photographs, uncovered mystery folders, and dealt with many of the items that we had been avoiding on previous visits.  We even have three students working on projects for us - two of them creating a second set of Quads for a 'light archives' for use by the Development/Alumni office staff; one sorting through all of the various framed pictures and citations that have collected over the years.

CW is measuring the space and starting to plan for new filing cabinets and shelves, funded by the classes of '66 and '67.

SF was able to join a group of students to a visit to a girls' school in Landaur bazaar that we had visited in 2017.

I didn't take any new pictures yesterday - too busy!  But here are some ones of the wonderful Quad dining room that has become the hangout for students during the day and evening and a place for small groups to meet.

Accomplishments .. and hail

CW and LO finished up the Board proceedings, a project we had been dreading and thought would take the whole time here - so we are feeling very pleased with ourselves.  I also got material on the open shelves back in proper order, as they had been moved around while the room was painted sometime in the last 18 months.  We started sorting through several large piles of unsorted photographs, mostly from the 1980s and on (most of the photos through the 1970s have been accessioned).  We also met with the director of the Center for Imagination and three students - these three will start work on some projects for us which will both introduce them to the types of material that are in the archives, expose them to more history of the school, and introduce them to some basic aspects of archival work.

Around 4- pm a storm came through - hail, rain, thunder, dark clouds, electric power out & back on numerous times.  SF and I were glad we are staying here at the school rather than having to walk home!