176 Sunday Nov 28

Sunday Nov 28 Day 176

This was my last travel day. It started at 5 am on Saturday and ended at 10 pm on Sunday when I went to bed. This was a total of 52 hours. I left Kilmarnock at 1:10 pm Saturday and endured a 9 hour taxi drive to Indira Ghandi International Airport in Delhi. It took 9 hours and 15 minutes to get there at 10:25 pm. The sugarcane is being harvested and transported to the sugar mills. This causes major trafic jams near the mills. We had to pass by 2 of these facilities. The first one was some distance from Delhi and we took the back roads and missed the mess. The second one is just outside Delhi and on the only route into the city. There were times when there were 4 distinct lanes of traffic and the road was a 2 lane road.

One of the most constants sounds you hear in India is the sound of the vehicle horn. When driving in the mountains you honk your horn when approaching a blind curve to let oncoming traffic know you are there. All Indian drivers cut the curves and are so surprised when there is oncoming traffic. Honking the horn must have been an orgasmic for my driver. When we were not in any traffic he would just honk his horn for the obvious pleasure it provided him. There are actually a few traffic lights in Delhi. We would be waiting for the light and as soon as it went green my driver began to honk his horn with great and repeated vigor. There were usually 7 to 10 cars in front of us but he had to let everyone know that he was ready to go immediately, so move it along.

When I got to the airport my first task was to exchange my Indian rupees for US dollars. When purchasing rupees the exchange rate was 43 rupees to the dollar. When I sold my rupees back I got 48 rupees to the dollar. I wanted to go an buy some more rupees and exchange them and make a little money but I didn’t have time.

I flew with Air France all the way to Seattle. The food was absolutely delicious. Perhaps eating the same thing everyday had some effect on my taste buds. It was only the 3rd time I had meat in last 3 months.

I awakened at 5 am on Saturday morning. I got to bed in Maple Valley 42 hours later. I had a whole 10 to 12 minute nap on the ground in Paris. I am not able to sleep on an airplane. The confining of my feet in a very small area (this area is taken up by my backpack leaving two small holes for my feet) causes me to move constantly and not fall asleep. The first leg of the journey was the taxi ride to the airport which lasted over 9 hours. Then there was the 3 1/2 hour wait in Delhi follow by a 9 hour flight which ended up being a 10 1/2 hour flight. We were on the ground for an hour and a half (all locked up in the nice big plane). Taxiing to the runway was a very lengthly process. It must have been close to 1/2 hour. The layover in Paris was shortened by the delay in Delhi to only 3 hours. The flight to Seattle was another 9 hours. When I get here I stay up until it is bedtime in Seattle. I am writing this on Thursday and my brain is finally working.

When I got here I needed to go through customs. I looked for my keys to my 2 large suitcases. I knew they were in my backpack and so I searched and searched. I had given up when I looked down and there were my keys laying on the ground at my feet. It turned out that they did not want to look inside my suitcases.

When I weighed myself on Monday morning my concern had been met. I weigh less than 135 pounds. This is the first time I have weighed this little in over 45 years. It was the really bad taste of my midday meal that caused me to eat less each day. Unfortunately the horrible food will stay with me as a really bad memory forever.

To those of you who have read to the end, Thank You for your time and patience. I hope I have been able to inform you, amuse you and see me at my worst. I got everything I needed to continue with my project and hopefully will have something to see in a couple of years.

Goodbye

Leon Dillingham

175 Friday Nov 26

Friday Nov 26 Day 175

I went down to Woodstock and gave them my tripod which they can make great use of. I also donated my Indian cell phone for use by the school when someone needs a temporary cell phone. The prize gift was a roll of duct tape. Pete Wildman’s eyes just lit up when he saw the roll of tape. You cannot get anything like it in all of India and it is highly prized. I think I really made Pete’s day.

Today I had my last lunch of rice and dahl with vegetables. I am soooooo excited to be out from under that plague at long last. Foodwise lunch was the greatest torture. The food tasted terrible and there was no way to improve it. I got so I ate less and less of the stuff and perhaps that is why I am feeling so weak. I have opted for oatmeal for lunch tomorrow. Gruel is better that ghastly indian food with no flavor. Last night I was standing taping the sunset and the house above the road was preparing some delicious smelling curry. I look forward to going to Naan-n-curry and having some good tasting Indian food without the extremely hot spices.

I spent part of the afternoon organizing my stuff for my suitcases. I am hoping to have both of the suitcases under 50 pounds and save the overweight charges. I shall see on Sunday morning if I have judged correctly.

174 Thursday Nov 25

Thursday Nov 25 Day 174

This morning I went for my second motorcycle ride in the mountains of India. I wanted some pictures of an old decrepit building in the Landour bazaar. The video camera would not get me the correct size of pictures. I also went further down the hill to get some shots of the front of the Picture Palace before it is torn down. We left about 8:15 and were back up to the top of the hill by 8:50 am. Walking it would have taken close to 2 hours to go in and come back up.

I am definitely getting weaker. I had trouble just walking the small climbs going to and from the internet cafe. It is a good thing I am calling this trip ended and heading back home.

I am giving to my Indian friend Pal my GPS unit and all the rechargeable batteries to keep it running. I will have absolutely no use for a GPS unit and he wants to get into the trekking business and has great need of it. My philosophy has always been; if I have no need of a piece of equipment and someone else can make use of it, give to them.

I played ping pong with Pal and his brother Beer this evening. I only lost one dame all night. I was really on for a change. We plan to play again tomorrow night. I hope I am still on but it usually doesn’t last 2 nights in a row. I shall see and let you know.

173 Wednesday Nov 24

Wednesday Nov 24 Day 173

This morning I spent a few minutes with Vance George as we sat looking at the Snows and talking about what coming back to Woodstock meant to Vance. He also talked about his view of his life and the peace that the beauty of the Woodstock hills added to his life.

Today should be my last day taping the area (except for sunsets). I plan to go down and walk through the Landour Bazaar and capture its colors and sounds. I will not be able to capture the odors unfortunately. I have not noticed the smells during my multiple wanderings through the bazaar. The day is cloudy but not dark. Direct sunshine creates sharp, dark shadows so the bazaar should be very visible. The trip to the bazaar was excellent and I got good shots of stores and people.

Vance George shared with me that a couple of days ago he was bitten by and dog in the bazaar. The dog charged him and bit him in the leg and on the hands. How many internationally recognized conductors have be bitten by potentially rabid dogs. Vance is now taking the rabies shots (5 of them) and will have his last shot in Rome. Vance now carries a cane with a good sized nob on the end to protect himself from rabid dogs or dogs in general. The dog in question was put down but Vance has to have the shots immediately, so he will never know if the dog was actually rabid.

172 Tuesday Nov 23

Tuesday Nov 23 Day 172

Boy! did I have a bad night last night. I got very confused during the night and my blood sugars are pretty low this morning. I ended up with blankets on the floor and when retrieved were all mixed up. A few words about sleeping at 7,200 feet in the mountains of India in late November. It is cold at night but the temperature in my room stays the same day and night. It is currently a steady 50 degrees. During most of my stay I sleep in a long sleeved T-shirt and a pair of long johns (insulated long underwear). About 3 weeks ago I added an additional pair of pants to give my legs more padding. The last two nights I have added a long sleeved light fleece pullover to gave added warmth to my upper body. I now 3 layers of clothing while sleeping at night. I have been very comfortable warmth wise. I look a bit like a skinny Michelin Man or Pillsbury dough boy.

My disorientation has continued into today so I will not be walking through the bazaar with my Glidecam. I am having trouble walking straight without hanging 10 pounds of equipment off my chest. Hopefully, tonight I will not have joyously confused night.

I am reading Mark Twins “Innocents Abroad” and I can relate well to some of his observations. The book is on my Sony Reader so I shall be able to take it home with me and finish it there.

171 Monday Nov 22

Monday Nov 22 Day 171

Today was busy. I went down this morning and taped the Hanifil Center. It is a rather new facility and i had forgotten all about it. So today was the day. This afternoon I went back to Edgehill and taped the jungle gym area to complete that residence facility.

Today the clouds closed in and it was a rather gloomy day with both high and low clouds covering the hillside. I want the sun out tomorrow but will have to wait and see. I want to do a walking tour of the Landour bazaar. This is one of those evenings when there is NO photographical sunset but just gloom and the light disappears.

The cylinder which contains the gas for cooking in my little kitchen died at lunch today. I had to spring for another cylinder costing me 400 rupees or 9.00 dollars US. All this with only 6 days left and the present cylinder has lasted close to 60 days. So I shall be providing gas for the next victims in this apartment. That is the way it goes here in India.

170 Sunday Nov 21

Sunday Nov 21 Day 170

I went to the second of the concerts last night. The advanced choir did better than they have done in either of the 2 rehearsals I attended. The music selected was rather boring and not very interesting to the audience. The advanced band was a good group but the music selected was not interesting and in spots much too difficult for the group.

It looks like I shall have to wear my long johns all day when in my apartment. I have run out of books to read so I am recharging my Sony Reader and will read something by Mark Twain. I cannot in good conscience start any of the books here because I will not be able to finish it and would be tempted to take the book.

The snows are absolutely dazzling today. I loaded up and took some additional footage of them. I ambient air temperature is rather chilly. If you are standing in the sun you are fine but in the shade it is cold. This is just what I expected for this time of year and I shall be glad to go home where the buildings are heated.

The sunset was a bust but when looking at the snows there was the full moon rising over the mountains. I did not set up my equipment set up so I just feasted my eyes on the sight.

169 Saturday Nov 20

Saturday Nov 20 Day 169

I went to one of the music departments concerts and I was not impressed. The overall quality of the music is not there. There are lots of clusters of pitches which shows that the musicians are not well trained or rehearsed. The repertoire is weak and there is barely an hour of music from 3 different groups. Another session tomorrow night which I fear will be a repeat of lack of precision and quality music.

This morning I went down and video taped the music department at the school. This area was not open when I was taping the entire school so I got it done today. I even logged the tape when I got home.

It is turning colder and my room is down to a steady 50 degrees. My nose is cold during the night but I am generally warm while sleeping. I am having to wear my medium coat all day long while sitting in my room. The “sweater” I have been wearing this whole time is not heavy enough when sitting and working.

168 Friday Nov 19

Friday Nov 19 Day 168

During the night a bowling alley was moved into the apartment above me. There was so much rumbling and crashing there must have been a major tournament in progress. The audience was also setting off fireworks because I could see the pure white flashes of the bombs. Then the audience began to applaud and it grew to a sustained standing ovation. The proceeding was an analogy of the thunder, lightning and heavy rain this past night.

My poor travel alarm is dead. I put in fresh batteries but no luck. I tried to check the time in the middle of the night. The storm had knocked out the electricity and I couldn’t find my flashlights. I went out into the other room to get my little battery powered reading light. This is the light that I broke a couple of months ago trying to kill a bug that landed on it. It appears to be working fine now because it stayed on for several minutes. I used it to find my flashlight and put it beside my bed. I even lit the candle beside the bed for a while. I woke later and wanted to know the time so I searched beside my bed for my watch. It turned out to be 5:30 am. Boy, do I miss the blue light of my travel alarm.

This morning I spent 2 hours getting 45 seconds of tape. I needed color correction chips for the residence I taped last Friday. It involved a 3 mile walk and 15 minutes doing the actual taping. Because of the heavy rain I had to use the paved roads rather than the narrow trails and I had to go twice as far to accomplish the project.

167 Thursday Nov 18

Thursday Nov 18 Day 167

Today is the 2nd cloudy day in a row. The clouds are drifting around and there is plenty of blue sky. The air is very clear today so I took a vista shot from our area to show how it looks with clouds in the sky. It is really lovely.

It is 11:15 am and we have electricity for the first time today. Now I can recharge the batteries for my alarm clock. The poor thing gave its all to emit a single beep and died. I hope it is just the batteries. I am looking forward to having my own bedroom again with my clock radio so I can check the time with just a glance. Having to reach over (knocking various thins off my bed side table) pick up the clock and push a button only to be almost blinded my the blue light that illuminates the time. I could read a book by the clock light but it only lasts a couple of seconds so it would have to be a very short story.

I have left my impression on the ground of the Hostel. I went down to get shots of the building in afternoon sunshine. I walked by a bench across one of the walkways to discover that it was actually wet cement. So my shoe soles are imprinted on the pathway.

There was an excellent sunset with clouds in the sky to reflect the color of the setting sun. Generally a good day.

166 Tuesday Nov 16

Tuesday Nov 16 Day 166

I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Choir this morning with Vance George. The concert is this saturday and the choir is not ready. This is the first concert for a new director and his expectations are greater than the ability of the choir. Vance was very good with the group and made several suggestions for improvement none of which will be remembered by the choir under the pressure of performance. You cannot make changes at this late date because the choir will revert to what they know and have practiced.

I logged and studied this afternoon. I am studying the color correction process and got so involved that I almost missed the sunset. I rushed out to see if I could get something and the low clouds were covering the top of the hillside. So, there was no photographical available and I didn’t miss anything. What a relief.

I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Choir this morning with Vance George. The concert is this saturday and the choir is not ready. This is the first concert for a new director and his expectations are greater than the ability of the choir. Vance was very good with the group and made several suggestions for improvement none of which will be remembered by the choir under the pressure of performance. You cannot make changes at this late date because the choir will revert to what they know and have practiced.

I logged and studied this afternoon. I am studying the color correction process and got so involved that I almost missed the sunset. I rushed out to see if I could get something and the low clouds were covering the top of the hillside. So, there was no photographical available and I didn’t miss anything. What a relief.

166 Tuesday Nov 16

Tuesday Nov 16 Day 166

I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Choir this morning with Vance George. The concert is this saturday and the choir is not ready. This is the first concert for a new director and his expectations are greater than the ability of the choir. Vance was very good with the group and made several suggestions for improvement none of which will be remembered by the choir under the pressure of performance. You cannot make changes at this late date because the choir will revert to what they know and have practiced.

I logged and studied this afternoon. I am studying the color correction process and got so involved that I almost missed the sunset. I rushed out to see if I could get something and the low clouds were covering the top of the hillside. So, there was no photographical available and I didn’t miss anything. What a relief.

165 Monday Nov 15

Monday Nov 15 Day 165

I am reliving my youth. I am logging tapes and my hands are so cold that they ache. At least they are not chapped. Either I do not wash my hands or I am more careful in drying them. I think it is the latter. I spend more time sitting on my hands and rubbing them together than I do typing on the computer keyboard. When playing solitaire I wear my gloves because I use only the mouse. I have finally developed a way to see how long I play solitaire. Yesterday it was only 3 hours and 45 minutes. The other physical problem is my nose. It is so cold to the touch it feels like I have frost bite on the poor little thing. I guess winter is here in the mountains of India with it’s attendant discomforts.

This morning I went down to each of the residences and got shots of the correct colors used in the various buildings. I did the same up at the school to correct the color of shots I took with my video camera on the wrong settings. I hope that this works like I expect it to. I hope to test it before I leave. (I am typing this with my gloves on and it is working fairly well.)

164 Sunday Nov 14

Sunday Nov 14 Day 164

Today was an uneventful day. I logged tapes for a couple of hours until my back began to hurt and I had to quit. Vance George (my High School music teacher) stopped by and we chatted for a couple of hours. He was checking in to see how I was doing and was interested in my big video project.

I went down to the internet cafe and sent off 6 days of blogs. I did get a confirming message from Terry (my son) and they are expecting me home in a couple of weeks. They have to hurry up and change the locks on the doors to avoid my staying with them.

163 Saturday Nov 13

Saturday Nov 13 Day 163

This morning Pol and I walked out of landour to the East. There a house there on the side facing to the east and you get great pictures of serried ranks of hills when the sky and light cooperates. Today was such a day. The hills were fairly clear and the best they have looked in the 5 and a half months I have been on the hillside. I left at 9 am and got back at 11:45 am. There was a note waiting for me to meet Vance George and Steve Alter for lunch at Mullingar at 11:30 am. Needless to say I did not go out for lunch.

This afternoon I went into the bazaar to get my beard trimmed. I went down to the barber shop near the clock tower and waited 1 and 1/2 hours for the man to return. I started back and found another barber who did the job for 47 cents. I will now be able to get on the plane to home because I do not look like a close friend of Osama bin Laden. On my way to the barber I was asked by an english speaking woman if I was a visitor to Landour. I gave my usual bit of being a Woodstock graduate etc. She asked me for my full name. she said I had 2 sisters and one of the was named Suzanne. She had worked at Woodstock for 24 years starting in the early 60’s in the various administration offices. What a delight to have a woman mention my youngest sisters name to me.

I got a lift of the hill from by Indian friend. I am selling my Canon digital camera to one of the brothers getting to know him fairly well. It was a real trip to speed up the hill with the wind in my face and hanging on for dear life. The cars and motor bikes pass within 2 to 3 inches of each other. This kind of bike riding is not for the faint of heart.

I got a short sunset this evening and it has turned cold. The breeze from the plains is no longer blowing up to the mountains. So it is still and colder. I just walked back home (5 minute walk) and my nose is dripping from the cold and my ears are red.

162 Friday Nov 12

Friday Nov 12 Day 162

I went down to Edgehill this morning and taped the rooms and the front of the building. I struggled back up the hill will all of my equipment and arrived at Kilmarnock breathing hard and covered in sweat. It is 200 vertical feet up here and I am exhausted. I stepped out the front to look at the Snows and there was Vance George going by on the chukker. If he had been a minute earlier or later I would have missed him. I guided him to the correct road to get back to Woodstock. I shall see him early next week to school. I was so pleased to see him up here on the hillside where he will be for the next couple of weeks. Vance George is the man that inspired me to become a music teacher. He was a major influence on my life and it is a pleasure to see and watch him work with the students at Woodstock.

This evening the “Winterline” sunset was the best of the year. It was even better than the one where I forgot to start the camera. The line was very sharp and the sun was a perfect red ball as it set below the winterline.

All in all the day has been a very good day.

161 Thursday Nov 11

Thursday Nov 11 Day 161

I taped the Boys dorm Ridgewood this morning. There are only 2 types of rooms, 4 boys and 6 boys, and so I only had to tape 2 rooms. I did get a shot of the little boys dorm room where I slept 62 years ago. It is smaller than it was so long ago but there are some new walls. My blood sugars almost behaved themselves today but I can feel the problem of too much effort on low blood sugars. I am having the chills during the afternoon.

Yesterday there was a warm wind blowing off the plains and I could see the crud in the sky from the pollution on the warm zephyr. It makes for poor picture taking but the warmth was appreciated. Today there are low clouds at noon and the air is cooler.

160Wednesday Nov 10

Wednesday Nov 10 Day 160

I hope I survive this part of my project. Yesterday I hit the tpo of my head and today my right temple on a bookshelf in one of the computer labs. I actually have scabs on them so I must have drawn blood. I hope I escape with no more than a mild concussion.

Today my climb back up the hill was very frightening. By the time I had climbed 800 vertical feet I almost collapsed. I have never been so exhausted and literally dripping sweat. As soon as I got to my apartment I took a sugar tablet and then checked my blood sugars. They were very low and a concern. Tomorrow I have to bring my video equipment up to the top of the hill and I shall take a taxi. I will only need to climb 300 vertical feet and then ride up the rest of the way. I will still have to walk over a mile to get to the taxi. My low blood sugars overnight are part of the problem. I have been taping and climbing in the morning and my body has not got enough sugar reserves to support the effort. I am also not able to eat much because the food is getting abhorrent to me. What I wouldn’t give for a McChicken sandwich and fries.

159 Tuesday Nov 9

Tuesday Nov 9 Day 159

I was feeling lonely the other day but that is no longer true. Yesterday Bena cleaned my house and aired out my bedding. In the process she opened the windows and let in all the flies. My rooms are warmer than it is outside and so the flies have moved in. There is an almost constant buzzing in my bedroom and it is interfering with my napping. It is unpleasant to have the flies constantly dive bombing you.

Today I taped the inside of the high school boys dormitory. It has been completely renovated and is really great. While trying to get a particular shot I hit the very top of my head on a stone overhang. I now have a good lump on the top of my head and I evidently broke the skin of my scalp. I now have to wear my earphones gently on my head. It will be interesting to see what happens in the morning.

A great “winterline” sunset this evening and there were adjacent clouds to reflect the colors of the setting sun. The only problem is my camera battery died before the light had all faded. “If it weren't for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all”.

This evening the flies have all died and there are fly bodies lying all aver the place (all 5 of them).

157 Sunday Nov 7

Sunday Nov 7 Day 157

I went over to Lal Tiba and taped shots of the beautiful pusta (retaining wall) recently built there. It is a very attractive wall with bands of different sized stones used to create a functional and decorative wall. The interesting thing is that there are holes in the wall to allow trees to come through the wall. There are different styled arches for the various trees. In this area NO trees are allowed to be cut down and damaged in any way. The India military owns all the trees on this hillside and there are very large fines for harming a tree. So. you must allow for the trees to continue to grow through the retaining wall.

The same thing is true when a road is improved from a track to a road where cars and go. This happened down near the Woodstock sports field, Hanson field. When a road was put in to allow vehicles to go onto the field. The road was paved with cement but the grown trees were left and now grow out of the paved road. It is quite a sight.

No sunset this evening thanks to the low clouds.

156 Saturday Nov 6

Saturday Nov 6 Day 156

I learned something this morning. Do NOT take a shower in the morning before the kids leave for school..The water is in use off and on during that time and causes the temperature of the shower to fluctuate sharply. I was frozen stiff and then scalded. That definitely takes the pleasure out of a nice hot shower.

This was a long lonely day and the clouds came in and ruined any chance at a sunset.

155 Friday Nov 5

Friday Nov 5 Day 155

This morning I had very low blood sugars. I have paid the price today. I spent a good part of the morning in bed trying to get warm. I spent several hours shivering and noticed that I was rather weak. That is the price I pay for allowing my blood sugars to get way low. I should be back to full strength tomorrow as long as I do not have low sugars again over night.

This afternoon I went down to the school and took shots of the front of the buildings in afternoon light. This causes the buildings to be fully lighted and the air was good and clear over the short distance.

Today is Dewali and Bena, the cook, has invited me over for dinner with the family as she is preparing the special foods associated with the holiday. I am looking forward to it and shall be armed with Tums to fight off the heartburn. The Indians celebrate with fireworks and the kids have been setting them off for the last several days.

154 Thursday Nov 4

Thursday Nov 4 Day 154

I am using the Glidecam to get the feeling of walking through the various passageways. I have balanced the camera equipment in preparation. I must be getting better becasue it only took a short while.

Tomorrow is Dewali or the Festival of Lights here in India. This is the equivalent of Christmas in the US with gift giving and feasting. The bazaar is all decorated up and very colorful. All the people are out with the ladies wearing their best and most colorful saris with lost of flash and bling. The children are dressed up in their new clothes and so proud of themselves. I must be getting old because it is the children that I most enjoy. There are so cute and their parents so pleased. The joy on the face of child is a fabulous gift to all.

I walked all the way down to the Picture Palace (over 2 miles) to get some lighter fluid for my Zippo hand warmer. What I ended up getting (if it isn’t counterfeit) is manufactured in the US and made by Zippo. I shall try it out tonight and see what happens. I was able to walk all the way to the top without much effort so I am in shape for next week.

153 Wednesday Nov 3

Wednesday Nov 3 Day 153

Last evening I discovered that I took all the shots of the interior of the High School with the camera set on the “sunset” mode. This is what happens when you work while you are ill. You miss the details. All is not lost. In postproduction (what you do the make the DVD sparkle) there is a process called color correction. It is a very time consuming operation and that last thing done before releasing the the DVD so it is quite a ways down the calendar (like 2 years). I looked up what the process is and discovered that if I get the white of the walls recorded under the correct light and with the proper settings I will be able to correct the color. This Friday I shall go down with my special light and tape the white walls for 10 seconds. Needless to say there are white walls in almost every shot. I will have to do the blue mats of the gym since there are blue mats in every shot and use that to correct the color. The students are not at school this coming Friday so I shall get what I need. So a big problem solved thanks to my early morning thinking time. This morning it started at 4 am after I staggered out to visit the little boys room. I was so disoriented that I almost tinkled in the bucket used for the “bucket bath”. Fortunately it is blue and not white so I went searching for the commode and finally found it in the wrong corner of the room (I wonder who moves that thing during the middle of the night).

Later this morning I met with Pete Wildman (what an interesting name) and he sent emails to each of the residence supervisors listing a date and time when I would show up to record interiors of the various residences. I had phone each of them last night and did not reach any of them. I will be going each morning at 9 am to a different residence and see what happens. I shall of course carefully check my settings before starting (most probably 12 times).

153 Tuesday Nov 2

Tuesday Nov 2 Day 153

I went down to the school to pick up my equipment and figure out how to contact the supervisors of the various residences. It seems that much of the work is done by email since reaching them is difficult by phone. That was not explained to me earlier. I called a couple of them this morning (no luck) and it was suggested that I call between 5 and 6 pm. I did this and none of them were available. So tomorrow I shall go back to the school and we will set up a schedule by email.

I had to take a taxi to get to the top of the hill. It is a good thing I did because just the short walk to my house made me sweat enough to be damp all afternoon. I need to make a trip up and down the hill each day (without a backpack) just to get back in shape. Carrying the backpack makes my entire back damp for hours.

The sunset this evening was a disappointment. The air is no longer clean so not sharp “winterline”. Maybe there will be a good one in the future.

152 Monday Nov 1

Monday Nov 1 Day 152

I am much better today. I have gone out for 2 walks today and I am not breathing hard as I had done the last couple of days. Tomorrow I shall get back to work. I need to contact the managers of a couple of the residences to start the process of taping the interiors of the various buildings. I have a particular dislike of telephoning people to get their help so I must strengthen my backbone and get with the program.

I ended up walking the entire chukker and my energy level has improved. I tried to video tape the sunset but the Lungurs were feeding so I ended up taking shots of them. The sunset was the best “Winterline” so far but the camera was otherwise occupied. The viewers of the DVD will never miss what was not photographed.

151 Sunday Oct 31

Sunday Oct 31 Day 151

I have just discovered a tragedy. Three days ago the Snows were out in in crystal blue sky and the sun shinning magnificently. I went out and taped them for posterity. Unfortunately, the problem of me not checking the “record light” was in full effect. I had turned off the camera as I started to record (perhaps I was distracted by taking a family picture for a passing tourist). So I did not get any good shots of the mountains. I subsequently turned the camera on just before putting it away. I got 23 minutes of black (the colors were spectacular) for my effort. At the next location I sighted in the shots I wanted to take (not realizing I was recording them) and turned the camera off to take the shots. Many times I take a backup shot and so I do have a good shot of the full range of the Snows but not all the various shots I wanted. The viewers of the DVD will never know what is missing.

I appear to be on the mend. Breakfast tasted good and my mind is working. I have been logging but the power is fluctuating so much I am having to work off battery power. I will have to abandon the logging until I get power back.

I have just returned from the internet cafe and I notice that I am weaker than I had hoped for. It was a long hard mile and a half and I ended up breathing rather hard on the up slopes which are very gentle.

150 Saturday Oct 30

Saturday Oct 30 Day 150

This is a major rest day because when I got up this morning I was unable to walk a straight line and I felt disorientated. Today is a cloudy day bordering on being cold. Just the day to bundle up and read a book or play solitaire which is what I am doing. For most of the last week I have had gastronomical problems. Today for the first time I could not stand the smell of cooking food. I have had a reduced appetite but now the thought of eating is uninviting. Today is bath and shaving day. After ones takes a shower the floor has to be cleared of standing water. I usually do this after putting on my shoes, socks and pants so I can go in and shave without freezing my feet in the standing cold water. As I was putting on my shirt I undid my belt to tuck the shirt in and the pants promptly dropped to the floor. Not eating very much lately has reduced my weight noticeably. My waist is at least 2 to 3 inches smaller than in the States, so my belt is now much too long. I force myself to eat something so I will not get too weak to climb around the hillside.

There was no sunset yesterday and it looks doubtful for this evening. This does not mean the sun will not go down, I shall not be able to record the decent which is obscured by the clouds. I am going in (at 3 pm) to put on my pajamas on under my clothes so I will be warm to read and play on the computer. I have completed the chore and it is wonderful. I leave my underwear on under my pajamas for the extra layer of clothing. When I put my pajamas on I have to take off my shirt (long sleeved) and pants. I put on the long sleeved T-shirt and long johns (these are damp and cold) climb back into my shirt, pants and sweater. Then the final and most important part is tucking the ends of my long johns into the tops of my socks. This keeps my ankles warmer.

149 Friday Oct 29

Friday Oct 29 Day 149

Last night my hands were very cold even with my gloves. I happen to put them to my face and the hands warmed up quickly. I realized I had a fever. I took a couple of Aleve tablets and bundled myself up for bed. During the course of the evening I suffered greatly from farts, stomach rumblings and burping. At 2:30 am I woke up suffering from heat stroke. The fever had broken and taking off my socks was just what I needed. I was unable to get back to sleep but my stomach rumblings, which had been going on for weeks, stopped. It is now mid afternoon and there are no stomach rumblings, burps or excessive farts in evidence. My appetite is still very poor but I have 3 days before the next project starts, the taping of the residences. Hopefully I get back up to speed by then.

I found that I was quite weak this morning but I went down to the school and taped the last of the classrooms. I said goodbye to that last of my classmates, Alan Robinson, walked to Mullingar, 3/4 of a mile, and took a taxi to the top of the hill. I have been in bed the rest of the day mostly reading.

There is a retired couple who come to Woodstock to work in the alumni office a couple of times a year. They have been here off and one for the past several years. The husband said that the snows were the clearest he has ever seen. I guess I am lucky to be here right now.

148 Thursday Oct 28

Thursday Oct 28 Day 148

Well I lied to you yesterday (but it was fun). Evidently my “spell” is a little more serious. I woke up this morning nauseous and slightly dizzy. For the first time my breakfast tasted light recycled cardboard. I could not finish my omelet and I left one of my pieces of toast. The term “toast” is interesting. Since our latest electricity outage (it lasted almost 2 days) the voltage in the morning is so low that coils in the toaster barely glow red. Needless to say the toast ends up as white bread that has been waved over a fire. Usually my toast is burned on the edges and is as hard as a brick. Now it is pale white and limp but you can tell it had been in the toaster.

The weather is turning colder. When I go to bed and put on my pajamas (a pair of long johns and a long sleeved T-shirt) they are damp and cold. This evening I shall put my long johns and t-shirt after supper and put my clothes over them. This way they (pajamas) will be warm and dried out. I shall let you know tomorrow if my experiment is successful. The extra layer will keep me warmer durning my computer time in the evenings (when I play solitaire, I’m addicted).

The snows are out in all their glory. I have been here a total of 5 months and this is the best they have looked. I walked down to Childers and got some great shots. This is the single clearest day we have had. This evening I tape the sunset against the Snows. They were still clear and NO clouds. The first day for that to happen.

I taped the classrooms and all the facilities of the Gym this afternoon. I have discovered why the Glidecam is not stable when climbing the covered passage. The torso of my body is too short for the Glidecam vest. When stepping up the ramp my legs hit the bottom of the vest and cause the camera to swing. When I go down the ramp the Glidecam is steady. SO! I shall have to use the downhill shots of the covered passage.

My stomach is upset and when I am not burping the last meal I am farting out the last meal. I must very entertaining to those who follow me. Subsequently I have not felt like eating my usual sized meals. I still had the energy for this afternoon’s shooting but it took me 40 minutes to get up the hill again. Supper is coming up within the next hour and I am NOT thrilled at the prospect.

Earlier I was logging the school tape I took the last several days. It took me a full hour to log 11 minutes of tape. At this rate it will take me 5 plus hours for each full tape.

147 Wednesday Oct 27

Wednesday Oct 27 Day 147

I must have had one of my periodic “spells” and it lasted 24 hours as all the rest of them. I feel fine today and by tomorrow I shall have the strength and energy to continue with my taping at the school.

I spent the morning in bed and went to the internet cafe this afternoon. While there I helped 3 young ladies from the language school book a taxi for Friday afternoon to go to Delhi for a long weekend. One cannot decide on the spur of the moment to go anywhere in India. The main means of transport is the train but you need to book weeks in advance. They could get a seat on a train but it would take 12 hours and it was not an overnight trip but a very long day trip. The most comfortable way is by taxi and I happen to know someone who could arrange the trip. I have done my good deed for the day and it makes me feel great.

The weather has been beautiful lately with sun almost all day long. The only problem is there are no beautiful sunsets as you need clouds to reflect the setting sun to get interesting colors. I have 4 more full weeks to get some good ones.

It is getting cooler at night and my room is a steady 54 degrees day and night.

146 Tuesday Oct 26

Tuesday Oct 26 Day 146

This morning I went down to school and taped the Junior School classrooms and hallways. The Glidecam shots on Monday were not a stable as I wanted. During my early morning thinking session I realized the I needed to bend my knees more, shorten my step and move more slowly. It worked. The hallway shots were much improved and I shall have to redo all the shots I took on Monday. While I was working this morning I felt a bit nauseous and my head began to hurt. I went up to Kilmarnock at 11:30 and I had to stop 4 or 5 times to rest before I could continue on. It usually takes 25 minutes to climb the hill. It took a little over 30 minutes. I returned down the hill to tape the classrooms in the Senior School. When I got to the High School office it was closed and all the classrooms were locked. I had been assured that the rooms would be open every day. How typically India. I promptly went back up the hill and it took over 40 minutes to climb the hill. I must have stopped 7 or 8 times to rest. I went to bed for the rest of the day. It took 3 full hours for my clothes to get dry. My headache is still active and I feel like a little pile of feces.

145 Monday Oct 25

Monday Oct 25 Day 145

This morning I went down the hill to school and taped the outside of the various school buildings under the morning sunlight. I also used my tripod to take some of the interiors hallways and verandahs of the buildings in the Junior School. There has been a new organization of the school with grades 1 thru 6 in the lower buildings and grades 7 thru 12 in the Senior School in the upper buildings near Parker Hall. This description will only make sense to the old Woodstockites.

This afternoon I went back down the hill again and tapes the Covered Passage with the Glidecam. Amazingly I was able to get the camera balanced and I was also able to handle the physical demands of carrying the equipment up and down the ramp. I was also able to carry it into the buildings and the new Gym. I am very pleased that I am in physical shape to do this major part of my project. This evening I am logging the tape taken during the day to see how it looks. My shoulders and back only hurt a little bit from the effort.

The snows were out at noon today and my main camera was down at the school. I got some good shots with my backup camera and I will have time to review the shots on Wednesday. This is the first day the snows have been clear at mid day.

144 Sunday Oct 24

Sunday Oct 24 Day 144

Yesterday afternoon I visited the site of the tree collapse which caused our power to be off all day. It turns out that the power lines are what kept the tree from plunging through the roof of the wealthiest man on the hillside. This gentleman has donated 30 million rupees (670,000 US dollars) for the new gym and renovating the high school boys residence. We did get a little bit of electricity last evening but the voltage is so low that I cannot use this laptop plugged into the wall.

I have been unable to use my computer to play solitaire and I find myself totally bored. The days are so long when you cannot break them up by playing a few games. I read a book most of yesterday sitting next to the window in a uncomfortable chair.

Last evening all my classmates and I were invited to the principal’s home for “Worldwide Woodstock Day”. The food was delicious and I helped myself to a good sized glop of mashed potatoes (anything but rice). The meat was in a very tasty red sauce. I had had meat for lunch and dinner 5 times so far and it has been wonderful. I will now return to my rice, lentils and vegetables for lunch and my bowl of oatmeal for supper.

I have just returned from a walk where I was escorted by the ghengis who lives here at Kilmarnock. He frequently gets out and is gone for days. As I left the house there he was right beside me. When I met some people I knew from the hillside he sat on the ground beside me and accompanied me home including getting chained upon his return.

143 Saturday Oct 23

Saturday Oct 23 Day 143

There was no electricity this morning and I found out why. There is a tree down on the chukker and we will be lucky to get lights by nightfall this evening. I am not holding my breath. I am using my battery on my laptop and I am down to 22% and falling rapidly.

I have to the internet cafe and sent off 5 days of blogs. On my way home (3/4 of a mile) I was caught in a hail shower and I ducked under an awning until it passed. Last nights electrical and booming thunder storm packed some winds. I had to bolt shut my door to keep the rain from blowing open the doors and inviting itself in for the evening. That is the first time I have had to do that. Except for the light show (plus hail) it has been dry but very cloudy. When this storm system passes there will be some exciting long distance vistas available. I am turning the computer off because the battery is now down to 7%.

142 Friday Oct 22

Friday Oct 22 Day 142

One of my classmates had a much younger brother who was a lost soul. During his many trips to India to find himself he happened to fall over the side of the mountain and broke his neck. He died some 6 weeks later in a Delhi hospital. Helen asked us to accompany her to this site and the driver of our vehicle was the one who carried the brother up to the road and transported him to the local hospital. It was quite emotional for Helen and I felt privileged to add my support. We just sat around talking for the next couple of hours and were transported up the hill to the newest restaurant on the hillside. The meal was fabulous and we spent the afternoon talking about the types of contributions the class of 1960 could make to Woodstock.

I am so tired that I walked home and will have my normal supper of oatmeal and bread. The last 2 nights there have been unbelievably beautiful sunsets and I could not get to my sunset location. I will do so tonight and hope. We ended up the night with a major thunder and lightning storm plus a very heavy rainfall. Within an hour the moon was back shinning beautifully. I think the building I am living in was struck by lightning. There was a bright flask just as lightning struck follow immediately by an very powerful clap of thunder. Needless to say the lights have been out but are back on along with the moon.

141 Thursday Oct 21

Thursday Oct 21 Day 141

We went to the Hostel this morning with the ladies taking a taxi down and up the hill and the men walking. The rest of the morning was a tour of the school buildings followed by lunch. This afternoon Alan and I walked up to the top of the hill and went back down stopping off to allow Alan to visit his old hillside home. They had updated the inside but it was still the same on the exterior. The ladies went shopping using a taxi to get them up and down the hills.

The meals prepared by the school are rather tasty much to our surprise. It is now 8:30 at night and I have been on the go since 7:45 am. I am completely exhausted.

140 Wednesday Oct 20

Wednesday Oct 20 Day 140

What a day. I was to meet my fellow 1960 classmates down in the main school building. I got there and was informed the tour had been changed and I needed to be at Ridgewood in 5 minutes. I made it down the hill in 8 minutes and we toured Ridgewood (boys grades 5 thru 9), Alter Ridge (girls grades 5 thru 9) and the Midlands (girls grades 10 thru 12). Compared to what we lived in the places are palatial. The buildings a still the same size but the facilities greatly improved. There are no long dorm rooms with rows of beds. But individual rooms containing from 3 to six students with the 4 person room the norm. The rooms themselves are large and there is even heat in the various common rooms during the cold months. We then returned up the hill to the school for lunch.

After lunch we met with a staff member about the Outdoor program (which is in trouble) and at 4 pm 4 of us went for a hike down to Dhobi Ghat. A dhobi is a man who washes clothes. Ghat is a village where they all gather to wash clothes because of the continuous flow of water. It is at the bottom of the hill. The resident hall is 300 vertical feet from the school and Dhobi Ghat is another 300 vertical feet lower. At this point one of them said we should climb to the top of Witches Hill. It is so named because of the almost continuous lightning strikes during storms in the monsoon. The top of the hill is bare because of the fires caused by the strikes. The top of this hill is about 800 vertical feet above Dhobi Ghat. We made it back to the school by 5:45 (just in time for supper).During the day (not counting the downhill walks) I climbed 2,200 vertical feet. This most probably covered 10 miles of walking. I hope I am dead before I ever climb to the top of Witches Hill again.

139 Tuesday Oct 19

Tuesday Oct 19 Day 139

Last week I mentioned to another resident of Kilmarnock about my plans to leave India. She works for UNICEF and has been in and out of India many times. There are so many things that could go wrong with my tight schedule and she recommends to everyone who flies out of Delhi to stay overnight and get to the airport 3 1/2 hours before departure. I was already having concerns about the schedule. The train arrives 3 hours before departure and it takes an hour to get from the train station to the airport. 10/19/10

18

5

was thinking about this yesterday morning and realized that the cost of a 2 night stay would probably be greater than the cost of a taxi from Mussoorie to the Delhi airport. It turns out that the taxi costs half as much. The best part is I shall not have to go through the constant hassles of hiring taxis and coolies and constantly watching my luggage. The drive will take 6 to 8 hours from my gate to the airport with time to spare. No stressing out about all the possibilities of things going wrong.

One of my classmates was denied a Visa to India. This happened a few days before he and his wife were to fly out. Mac went to Washington DC and spoke to the man in charge of issuing visas. Mac was born in a city that is now part of Pakistan. Mac was born in 1942 and Pakistan did not exist until 1947. Except of 2 one year stays in the US (1947 and 1954) Mac lived in India for a total of 16 years. The most unfortunate item was that the city of his birth is listed on his passport. So to Indian bureaucrats Mac must be a citizen of Pakistan and therefore not allowed into India. The visa man had never heard of the US Family passport in use before 1960. Today everyone must have an individual passport and the clerk wanted to know if Mac had ever had an Indian or Pakistani passport. There was one way around all this was for Mac to file a “renunciation” form. The clerk refused to tell him what it was or how to get one. I figure that Mac was supposed to renounce his Pakistani citizenship. So Mac is not coming to India and it looks like the Indian travel agent he used will not refund anything. I was told NOT to book anything until you had your Visa for India. The Indian government is being very tight with Visas from North America. Woodstock is missing 3 teachers held up by visa issues and they are all from Canada.

138 Monday Oct 18

Monday Oct 18 Day 138

Yesterday afternoon I had an enlightening moment. I was hauling around my photographic equipment to the field test. Wearing all this stuff causes people to give me curious looks. An older couple stopped me and we struck up a conversation. He was Indian and his wife was American (I could tell from the accent). A car stopped and a woman asked for some directions. The gentleman responded I could understand 90% of what he was saying. I mentioned that it was so nice to hear Hindi I could comprehend. It turns out that the language spoken by the hill people is NOT Hindi but a dialect. No wonder I have not been able to communicate with the servants here or understand anything that the people are saying to each other. Most of the servants we had during my 10 year stay in India had not been hill people. If they were hill people they worked for missionaries who had or were studying the language. Therefore they did not speak a dialect but correct Hindi. We kids got a lot of our language help from the cook who had travelled all over India during the British Raj.

There are at least 2 of me here or maybe 3. I found some mangos in the bazaar and some custard-apples. I am beside myself with excitement. I just got my pickings out of the bag and the mangos smell delicious. I had one of the custard-apples after lunch. They are an indescribable fruit with an apple shape and a hard lumpy green outer skin. Like so many fruits in the tropics there are seeds covered with a thin layer of fruit. A mango has a large seed and not much fruit for it’s size. The inside of this fruit has the color and texture of a rubbery custard, hence its name. A lot of effort for a little sweetness. I ended up dropping the opened fruit on the ground and that ended my snack. In India foreigners only eat fruit that has an outer skin like a bananas. Once any part of the pealed fruit touches anything other than the eater’s fingers, it is no longer safe to eat.

The tapes of the road between Dehradun (the rail head for Mussoorie) Mussoorie were very good. I now have plenty of material of the roads to give the viewer some idea of the roads and their condition. I also taped through the Landour bazaar, up the Mullingar hill and on to the Woodstock gate. By car this took 8 minutes whereas it takes 35 minutes on foot. The road through the bazaar is very rough and it looks like I shall have to walk the road tapping with my Glidecam. That is a project for mid November.

137 Sunday Oct 17

Sunday Oct 17 Day 137

Today’s major project has been to balance my camera equipment for use inside the rooms of Woodstock School. It has been moderately successful with a few elements to adjust. I did a real field test which involves taking the equipment out to a site still in pieces. The equipment is too awkward to carry so I have to break it down to fit in my backpack. The field test comprises putting it back together away from my apartment. I still have a sway in the camera that I should be able to solve in the next couple of days.

I have run up against the artist’s procrastination. This past friday I was able to get my first wide vistas of the hillside from the Community Hospital to the Midlands. I was very reluctant to check it when I got home on friday or all day yesterday. I am afraid that it will not turn out as I wanted and do not want to be disappointed. The vista shot are beautiful and I am very pleased. I cannot wait to see them on wide screen plasma TV. I find I am doing the same thing today about yesterday’s taping from the moving car. Logging the shots will take a couple of hours and I do not want to stop during the logging. So the moving car shots will be done tomorrow unless I do it after supper.

Bena, the lady that cooks my lunch and dinner, wants to go into the bazaar for some big event this evening. So I shall be cooking my oatmeal and making my own toast for dinner. I taught her how to make the oatmeal yet she feels that she needed to get everything ready for me. I will most probably end up with uncooked oatmeal and burned toast.

My blood sugars have been a little bit high the last couple of days. This comes from taping from a car and not climbing up and down the hillside repeatedly.

During my field testing I noticed that I was not even breathing hard while taping. I can hear my breathing in the recording. I must finally be getting into shape. A couple of weeks ago it only took 5 to 10 minutes to begin huffing and puffing on the recording.

136 Saturday Oct 15

Saturday Oct 15 Day 136

I am just exhausted. I spent almost 3 hours on the road taping. I have a real problem with motion sickness. The road up from the plains makes me good and car sick. In order to avoid the nausea I have to take dramamine. The side effects are that my mind does not work well and I couldn’t pass a sobriety test because I cannot walk a straight line. Through years of experience the secret to successful traveling along winding mountain roads is to take a pill 5 hours before the trip starts and then one as you leave the house. I have the chewable kind which taste absolutely ghastly so I had to have a piece of chocolate with the tablet (boy, how I suffer for my art). It took an hour and a quarter to get to the beginning of the road I wanted to tape. I think the taping went well but I shall log and review the tape tomorrow when I am back in my right mind (which isn’t saying much). It really feels good to finally get something to use. For old Woodstock people I tape the series of hairpin corners, through the bazaar, up Mullingar hill and to the Woodstock School gates. Enough of brain dead ramblings.

135 Friday Oct 15

Friday Oct 15 Day 135

After venting my spleen the other day I need to retract some of my statements. This morning I went down the Woodstock and got the contact information for the various Residence Supervisors and met with the 2 people who will allow me into the School buildings week after next. Tomorrow I shall be going down the road to tape it for posterity. It turned out that the brothers were extremely busy this week with emergency projects. I wonder why they did not call and let me know so I wouldn’t jump to unnecessary negative conclusions.

This afternoon the air was clean enough for me the tape the Woodstock hillside from across the ravine with correct lighting. I will be logging it and hoping to see great pictures. It cost me 100 rupees ($2.20) for the use of the empty roof at the back of Mullingar. The man was a little concerned that I might fall over the edge. The bottom was perhaps 500 feet down so he had a point.

The mini 50th reunion of the class of 1960 is occurring next week. It looks like there are going to be 5 or 6 members of class here plus some wives and grandchildren. It will be nice to spend some time with them getting reacquanted and meeting other members of their families.

134 Thursday Oct 14

Thursday Oct 14 Day 134

Today is the mid point of this trip to India. I another 44 days I shall be heading home.

Most of you know that I am not a large person and rather slender particularly in the width and padding of my butt. I have spent most of the day sitting on that skinny butt with only three layers of fleece protecting it. Today was Sports Day for Woodstock School. I was forced to sit on cement for 7 1/2 hours. My hips are sore and my butt is about dead. What a wonderful day. I had competed on this same field in Track and Field events 51 years ago. The excitement of the elementary and high school students for a full day of competitive sports was wonderful. All the pride I felt for my fellow class mates was in clear evidence today. It took me back over half a century. It was very rewarding to see the exchange between faculty and staff members with the students. The professional staff (including the residence supervisors) have a deep affection for the students and support them in almost everything they do. This affection is reflected by the students to these people. A truly inspiring interplay. This is the one day of the year where the students and staff play and do it for fun. This was the Woodstock I remembered. Well, I must go get an aspirin for my hips and butt.