Himalayan reading

Very well researched post, Raghu

I've browsed thru a lot of 'All the Way' and 'Winterline'. They are the usual Woodstock/Muss nostalgia trip of the mishs and kids. Winterline is espesh heavy on it, not really worth the read, other than a few interesting refs for those wanting to know more about Muss. Lots about Kharagpur and other places - what it is is the family story of the Brushes.
Alter's is pretty similar, the Alter family story and heavy on nostalgia, which is what partially put me off reading his other books as yet. U'll have noticed Van Rooy's site was full of it too - in fact he's managed in a few web-pages what the other two did in their books.
Still, if u like Alter's writings it shud be worth a read.

I think Tom must be Stephen's senior by a few months, becos Stephen mentions in his book as being 1950-born. So is Tom, as per google. I actaully thought it was the other way around re seniority.

Yep, Mussoorie is quite the writer's town! Bond, Aitken, Gantzers, Ganesh Saili, and now it looks as if Alter's initial 1-year Fulbright (for HP-related research! ) is becoming an indefinite affair, heheh. And Tom's written 2 books as well - fiction, no less.

I liked the Gantzer's style of writing much better than the Alter's which I found a bit laborious. Overloading of description (e.g. your last passage example from Sacred Waters, Nyraghu, tends to make me skip through passages - i pick up the names of the flowers only and skip to next interesting bit!) Gantzer's writing just flows so easily with description simplified to a necessary adjunct to the plot.

Thanks, Dilliwala, for the info. Since I like Stephen Alter's writing, I'll anyway try to get `All the Way to Heaven'.

It looks like Tom Alter was born in 1950, and Stephen in 1956. This agrees with one of the Woodstock pages, which says that Tom Alter left the school in 1968, and Stephen in 1974.

Thanks, Aishah, for the information about Hugh and Colleen Gantzer. I haven't read anything by them other than newspaper articles. I'll try to find some of their books here. I'd be particularly interested to know if they have written anything extensive, perhaps a book, about Garhwal.

Raghu.

Nyraghu - don't know about extensive writing - I read a novel, but largely based on their early days, called The Year before Sunset.

I forgot this in my earlier posting on Ruskin Bond.

Ruskin Bond and Ganesh Saili (ed.), The Landour Cookbook, Over Hundred Years of Hillside Cooking, 2001, Roli Books: A collection of recipes from Landour for Western food, with a self-confessed American bias. Here are some extracts:

Raghu.

Ah thanks, seems I did some amalgamation. I recall the years 1950 and 1968 from the book, I thought they were the author's. Obviously he was referring to Tom - he wrote about him a little bit - e.g. his lengthy citizenship process.

Season's greetings!

Just as with Stephen Alter's views on religion, spirituality and nature, I feel an affinity with the following passage about Garhwal from Pankaj Mishra's novel, The Romantics (2nd ed., 2001, Picador). To a fair extent, it describes my own sense of kinship with the region, the feeling of coming home whenever I return there. Mishra was born near Allahabad, and spent his formative years here.

Raghu.

Nice passage, Nyraghu - it brought to mind the emotions I felt when I first saw the mountains -Nanda Devi and the Himalayas -from a lookout point in Nainatal. Tears came to the eyes with the sight of them
and as the author says, it was a landscape long in my imagination, from the stories and accounts featuring these mountains, from childhood when I first began to read.
Now my daughter climbs them and leads expeditions there and I wonder were those genes handed down from me?
In a vicarious way I am reading about hill station life - this time set in a fictional place in the Western Ghats - but the life is very much based on the author's research in Simla. It's a great read - Coronation Talkies by Susan Kurosawa - and the author captures that late 1930's era extremely well. Can thoroughly recommend it.

Aishah, I think I understand the feelings you describe, and I am glad you liked the passage. In another thread, I saw a posting about your daughter's expedition to Cho Oyu. In a sense you may have passed on your interest in mountains to her, perhaps by talking about them often, etc. In a similar vein, although my daughter sometimes finds it difficult during our treks to Garhwal, I hope that she will later look back at these journeys with fondness.

Thanks for the recommendation about `Coronation Talkies'. I'll make a note of that and the other book by the Gantzers.

Raghu.

Also being born and brought up in New Zealand with the mountains, holidays in the Alps at Arthur's Pass, skiing mountains in both islands and then when I went to Australia, living in the Blue Mountains.. my daughter used to trek with us too, bit of moaning and groaning sometimes, but in the end it was to the mountains where her work takes her and she loves them. So yes, I'm sure your daughter will end up with the same feelings about them as you, Raghu!

this is a lovely thread. A couple of books that I liked were Nanda Devi: A journey to the Last Sanctuary by Hugh Thomson which give a fascinating account of the expeditions to the Nanda Devi Sanctuary including the Shipton and Tilman climb.Another great read is the story of the amazing ascent on the West Wall of Changabang by Boardman and Tasker called The Shining Mountain.

Cheers.

Here's an interesting thread I came across yesterday:

Books About Lepchas?

Thanks for that link, Dilliwalla, and I wish I had read it before reading 'The Inheritance of Loss' recently posted on 'Who's reading what, when etc. link! I would have saved my time by NOT reading it and reading something else more worthwhile! Totally agreed with all the comments posted in this link re that book.

Finally I got my copy of The Valley of Flowers from Natraj Publishers. None of the book stores in Mumbai were able to give me a copy & all it required was a call to Mr. Arora (Natraj Publishers) & he arranged to send the same by V.P.P. It costs Rs. 295 plus VPP charges (around Rs. 50.)

Dilliwala, you are right about Mr. Arora, very helpful & very knowledgeable. I have asked him to send his catalogue.

Thanks Dilliwala & Raghu for your help.

Ronak.

Ronak in the next meet do get the catalog along ...