Lockdown And Haircut Saga: M. Mushtaque
During the time when the country is going through a tough phase of fight against COVID-19, and precautionary measures...
Olympians from Oak Grove School
Indian hockey owes much of its success during its formative years to schools of Mussoorie, which have nurtured as...
Trim Relationships: Kanishka Mallick
How close are close friends, really? As in, literally. Distance wise. Probably, depends on person to person & relationship...
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Ode To OG Walls: Manoj Panikkar
I have always had a fascination for the hard stone walls of OG. Here is an awkward ode to...
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मेरा तीरथ: सुदीप बाजपेई
पूछा जो किसी ने, क्या आप पहाड़ों से लौटे हैं? कहा मैंने, हर वर्ष शरीर अपना लिए, इसे आत्मा...
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Oak Grove: Diptesh Ghosh
You will look back to wonder if it was Just a stone house amidst a grove of oaks: The...
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The Great Raids: Rajiv Kapoor
Jayashree, as most of what you wrote about is about “my” era, I can really empathise. As I’m fond...
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Lucky Lockdown 5: Kanishka Mallick
It is naturally not very easy to adjust to any kind of lockdown. However, once you get used to...
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Mr. Brayley’s Journal: Visitor Comments
From the original blog Doug said… Thanks for posting this online for us all to read, Pop! Glad you’ve...
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Birds: Diptesh Ghosh
This is the land of robins and the singing thrush. In these dark woods of Oak and maple echo...
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Imperial Origins of Oak Grove: Sameer Mohindru
Tracing the origin, one must say that Oak Grove School has deep roots in British Indian history. Strange as...
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A Shoeless Millionaire: Sudip Bajpai
Coming from a family that had just started to adapt to city life of Lucknow, I had my own...
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Oak Grove: Pat Corbett
The gauntlet was a strong leather glove worn by the Knights of King Richard & the Knights of Europe....
A Tribute To Juyal Sir: M. Mushtaque
A charismatic personality with eclectic approach and towering physique, For making OG champions in sports, he possessed all the technique, How serious he was during every contest, could be easily seen by his pique, Can’t deny his hard work and dedication towards making Oakgrovians unique. He nurtured countless athletes...
She Will Live On: Kanishka Mallick
Personality of a mountain; Heart of a vast sea, Walk of authority, Discipline unquestioned. Rock eyes with steel cold looks, Voice was thunder, A smile could melt icebergs, A touch could bring down stars, She was the one for us. Every child was a single individual for her, Whom she wanted to help grow into a sane being; Never at...
FRESH TWEETS
Oak Grove has been one of the best schools, not only in Mussoorie, not only for Railways, or the government, but for the country. An institution of excellence, a real contributor in the uplift of families; we, as alumni, will do our best to #SaveOakGroveSchool pic.twitter.com/brujQ7521L
INSTAGRAM POSTS
LATEST POSTS
October Fur: Kanishka Mallick
October has always been like the start line of a race you know you are going to win. It is a month when one starts feeling at ease with everything around. During the day you feel warm but are not sweaty. As the day passes by, you get calmer...
If I Catch You: Kanishka Mallick
The best and the worst part of boarding school are ‘seniors’. This is the set of people who mostly knowingly and sometimes unknowingly make life better or worse for juniors, just like that. We were one of the many boarding schools in Mussoorie. Just like most people who went...
Aaloo Poori Vultures: Kanishka Mallick
Weekends are for that 10 minutes of extra lazing on the bed in the morning, leaving the bed untidy till someone in the house points it out, not thinking about what to wear and perhaps, not checking your phone as the first job of the day! Weekends are also...
Fresh Eyes On OG: Warisha Kuhi
– Warisha Kuhi (2021) This artwork has been shared by Warisha Kuhi with Oakgrovians Young & Old on email.
8 Years in Lockdown: Priyanka Pandey
My siblings and I love to argue, no matter how stupid the topic. I am sure such is the case with all but sometimes, I feel we fight over the dumbest matters. Just yesterday, I was having a heated discussion on whether or not we should send our children...
Lucky Lockdown 6: Kanishka Mallick
Of all options, reform is the best way to correct delinquents and prevent future misdeeds. That is what is the general notion and research shows the same too. Our school administration thought, likewise. Small but healthy doses of kindness and fostering children will aid in nurturing young minds into...
Dear OG, We Will Soon Return: Abhishek Kumar
All the time, we remember our school, Without OG, Life is not cool Our voices will fill every nook & turn Dear OG, we will soon return That splendid March, its sunshine turn The sun that sooths and doesn’t burn We miss the nature, we miss the fun Dear...
A Wedding Reception: M. Mushtaque
We were quite unlucky in terms of attending marriages as we were studying in boarding school. And our parents lived thousand kilometres away, so it wasn’t easy for them to come and take us just to attend marriages and other possible reason could be that studies were priority for...
My Twin Amigos of OG: M. Mushtaque
Life is meaningless and purposeless If you never had buddies in the school, I can’t recall the day when I met these TWO who were calm and cool. One bumped into my life as JS Dorm partner another met at Boys School, they were cricketers of next caliber- one...
Lockdown And Haircut Saga: M. Mushtaque
During the time when the country is going through a tough phase of fight against COVID-19, and precautionary measures are being taken, most of the salons have refused to take any appointments. People have turned out to be barbers themselves, and also because it gives them some excitement to...
Founders ’17 – A Fresh Look
Adyasha, fondly called Hiya, captured these moments at the 129th Founders Day celebration that she came to witness with...
Assorted Work: Tathagata Pal
– Tathagata Pal (2016) This selection of work has been shared by Tathagata Pal from the drawings and paintings he...
ReU2017 Day 3
The 4th Worldwide Oak Grove School Reunion came to an official close on its third day, October 29, 2017....
The Life Story of Bon Ross: Part 3
Oak Grove School This school was owned and operated by the East Indian Railway. The locality was called Jharipani – meaning cold water. It was situated up in the Himalayas just below Mussoorie at about 4500 feet above sea level. This arrangement made it more comfortable for students to...
On The Jap Cake Trail: Nikhil Kumar
On 1, Turner Road in Dehradun, there is a bakery. It is called Bustan. Sadi, a thirteenth century poet of Shiraz, wrote a book of verses on the lines of Aesop’s Fables, with the same name. In literal Persian, Bustan means a place of smell, and orchard in general...
School Memoirs – 1: Manoj Panikkar
Admission Time My early remembrances of the gloomy little stop was of a dilapidated building just opposite to where the bus-stand was. The fog was so thick that one could see just 5 metres in either directions. Pappa was his nervous self and i could see that Mamma had...
The Real Deal: Kanishka Mallick
In boarding school, we had all the time in the world available to us but, sometimes, limited to zero resources at hand. I mean, not that we were living in a juvenile home. In fact, I believe, we are one of the few schools in the country which has...
Founders Day 2019
On June 1, 2019, Oak Grove turned 131. For all those who missed out on attending the event, we...
Sculptures From OG Life: Ranajit Shee
This year (2018) on Founders Day, three sculptural masterpieces were unveiled at Oak Grove. Envisaged and created by Mr....
Sculptures From OG Life: Ranajit Shee
This year (2018) on Founders Day, three sculptural masterpieces were unveiled at Oak Grove. Envisaged and created by Mr....
ReU2017 Day 3
The 4th Worldwide Oak Grove School Reunion came to an official close on its third day, October 29, 2017. In essence, let us just call it the Alt-Sports Day 🙂 The first event on the day’s calendar was a cricket match between Old Oakgrovians and current students. Between overs, a...
New World in Old Globe: Kanishka Mallick
Going to Senior Boys School was a known surprise and an unknown certainty. We all knew what’s coming. As young boys we had heard of stories beyond that 2 ½ feet wooden gate that gave us an excitement that was deliciously dreadful. We would be giving up sections of...
ReU2017 Day 1
October 27 was the first day of the 4th Worldwide Oak Grove School Reunion, 2017. Old Oakgrovians from all over the world, teachers, students and staff – the whole OG fraternity got together at Oak Grove to create some heart-warming memories over the next three days. This album is...
ओक ग्रोव स्कूल: सुदीप बाजपेई
मैं………हूँ! मैं साँस लेता पहाड़, धड़कती पत्थर की इमारत बचपन समेटे हज़ारों का, एक प्यारी सी शरारत मैं लड़कपन, मैं यौवन, मैं ज़िंदगी का मोड़ मैं सुबह की मंद चाल, मैं एक मील की दौड़! मैं गणित के पैंतरे, अँग्रेज़ी की ज़ुबान इतिहास की अठखेलियाँ, अर्थशास्त्र का ज्ञान मैं...
Alvida Mahboob: Tapesh Chandra Sen
Here are seven pics. All except the seventh have one person in common, because he was fretting over minor details while I was fussed over and treated like a king. Ammi was in the next room ensuring nothing went wrong while his wife and daughters served up the meal...
Dear OG, We Will Soon Return: Abhishek Kumar
All the time, we remember our school, Without OG, Life is not cool Our voices will fill every nook & turn Dear OG, we will soon return That splendid March, its sunshine turn The sun that sooths and doesn’t burn We miss the nature, we miss the fun Dear...
OG’s Dark Horse: M. Mushtaque
OG’s Dark Horse – Mr. K. Kumar Sir The very first night of OGBS wasn’t as horrible as we heard. Lots of new rules to follow, lots of new words to hear. I had a sound sleep amidst all the confusion. But most of the things we heard were...
Meenakshi’s Sketchbook
– Meenakshi Prakash (2019) These sketches have been shared by Meenakshi and Navneet upon request.
Jean Gomes’ Narrative: 2
Carolyn, your memories brought back memories for me. The tuck boxes – wow – I remember that they were the most important. The gooseberry chutney and jam, mango pickle, tomato dorma, stick-jaw and other goodies that my mother and grandmother used to make or buy for us. Everything had...
Oak Grove Times: Sonam Kashyap
It is a poem which I have composed in my last few days in Oak Grove. This poem is dedicated to every Oakgrovian, especially my batch, the batch of 2010-20. Here it goes: The late night talks The long nature walks The class bunking plans And the fancy fair...
OG’s Dark Horse – Mr. K. Kumar Sir The very first night of OGBS wasn’t as horrible as we heard. Lots of new rules to follow, lots of new words to hear. I had a sound sleep amidst all the confusion. But most of the things we heard were no less than rumours. What we had in our minds was […]
A sprawling Oak An ode to visibility Distinct from distance Despite trees, giant, surround it Its roots spread around the trunk Like a number of fleshy thighs Resting upon the earth The Oak sits While the rest around it, Stand with respect Bent and tilting, As if before their king, In a courtly proceeding When wind ventures amidst them A conversation ensues As […]
मैं………हूँ! मैं साँस लेता पहाड़, धड़कती पत्थर की इमारत बचपन समेटे हज़ारों का, एक प्यारी सी शरारत मैं लड़कपन, मैं यौवन, मैं ज़िंदगी का मोड़ मैं सुबह की मंद चाल, मैं एक मील की दौड़! मैं गणित के पैंतरे, अँग्रेज़ी की ज़ुबान इतिहास की अठखेलियाँ, अर्थशास्त्र का ज्ञान मैं हिन्दी की मात्रा, मैं ही भूगोल विज्ञान की प्रयोगशाला, मैं चरित्र […]
When I joined OG in 1959, in the 8th standard, the school was undergoing a painful transition to Indianisation under the strong and able leadership of Mr. Pasricha. The Senior Cambridge batch had, literally, God-like stalwarts such as School Captain Jag Mohan Verma, tall, strong, and dashing, ably supported by the likes of Bhanot, Somesh Bose, and the snake slaying […]
My sister and I were born in Railway hospitals. That’s what most Railway men’s children were wont to do. They also lived in Railway colonies — a gated community of bungalows and flats surrounded by greenery, often along with a pool, tennis courts and a club house that doubled up as venue for birthday parties and weddings — in the […]
ESSENTIAL READING
Hill School: G. Huddleston
Excerpts from CHAPTER XXIII of a book written by Mr. G. Huddleston in 1906, dedicated to his colleagues in East India Railway Company On the purchase of the undertaking by Government on 1st January, 1880, it was, as already explained, found that a sum of over four lakhs of...
My Story Of Oak Grove Days: Gaurav Mathur
A puny six year kid being packed to school without consent Was the beginning of life’s best years that I in school had spent It wasn’t simply first sight love, for this I must confess But ten years later, studies done, I knew this place was best Today it’s...
On The Jap Cake Trail: Nikhil Kumar
On 1, Turner Road in Dehradun, there is a bakery. It is called Bustan. Sadi, a thirteenth century poet of Shiraz, wrote a book of verses on the lines of Aesop’s Fables, with the same name. In literal Persian, Bustan means a place of smell, and orchard in general...
Ma’am Bhaskar: Nikhil Kumar
It was after twenty years, in the year Big Ma’am passed away, that I started eating eggs again. My relationship with eggs had ended soon after I joined Oak Grove (OG) in 1995. On the first day at OG many of us were ushered inside Class 3B, which, as...
Unhappy Endings: Peter Moss
My only link with Oak Grove was the fact that, back in the 1920s, my mother and her four siblings had all been educated there. I admitted as much when I presented myself at the gates to this ancient but prestigious school in 1979, some 91 years after its...
Olympic Hockey Champions from Mussoorie
Mussoorie schools – the breeding ground of Olympic hockey champions Indian hockey owes much of its success during its formative years to schools of Mussoorie, which have nurtured as much as 10 Olympic hockey gold medal winners between 1928 and 1936. In the recently concluded Olympics at Rio we...
The Life Story of Bon Ross: Part 3
Oak Grove School This school was owned and operated by the East Indian Railway. The locality was called Jharipani – meaning cold water. It was situated up in the Himalayas just below Mussoorie at about 4500 feet above sea level. This arrangement made it more comfortable for students to...
The ABC Of OG: Diptesh Ghosh
A: Arrival: For the start of the new season, we would arrive just before the monsoons, from the burning plains like refugees from a humanitarian crisis. The new-comers would have absolutely no idea what they were up against, and the old-timers would be eager to get back to their...
Olga’s Story (1929-1935): Paul McGinlay
My mother, Olga Vallint was born in Mogulsarai in 1920. Her father Alan was a yard supervisor with East India Railway and her mother Ida (Morrison) worked in the ticket office at Howrah station. Alan was regularly moved to different depots around the Calcutta area and decided that the...
A Mighty Oak: Sheila Cameron
A Tribute to Patrick John Lear Corbett (1938-2011) On 8 March 1938 in the growing dusty railway colony of Moradabad, UP, amid red brick homes, a railway institute, churchyard and bustling bazaars, a bonnie baby boy was born to young Denis and Charlotte Corbett. They named him Patrick John Lear and prayed...
EXPRESSIONS
Dear OG, We Will Soon Return: Abhishek Kumar
All the time, we remember our school, Without OG, Life is not cool Our voices will fill every nook & turn Dear OG, we will soon return That splendid March, its sunshine turn The sun that sooths and doesn’t burn We miss the nature, we miss the fun Dear...
My Twin Amigos of OG: M. Mushtaque
Life is meaningless and purposeless If you never had buddies in the school, I can’t recall the day when I met these TWO who were calm and cool. One bumped into my life as JS Dorm partner another met at Boys School, they were cricketers of next caliber- one...
मेरे अपने: सुदीप बाजपेई
पता नहीं आपकी आँखों पे ऐनक है या चश्मा, आठ साल के बच्चे को सब्ज़ी परोसते हुए, ‘मुन्ना सर’ आपने पूछा नहीं कि हिन्दू है या मुसलमाँ। चार सौ मीटर दौड़ने के बाद हाथ कमर पे गए ही थे कि एक डाँट सुनाई दी। “सीधा खड़ा रह, थक गया…”...
My First Love, My Oak Grove: Vipul Rana
In the mountains, Amid the clouds, Stands my Oak Grove, Tall and proud. With a legacy a century and quarter old, Crown of the Queen mountain, A heaven, truth be told. Seeing those majestic walls, As a child, I was utterly blown,With clouds showering rains of joy, It’s an...
A Confidant Buddy: M. Mushtaque
Deepak Bist Smiling face with hope and all kinds of support, You came to me and stood beside me as destroyer escort, That was the first time when I knew You and got to consort, That was the beginning of our amity which would never thwart. Watching cricket matches...
Let’s Wish Madness For Them: Tabish Nawaz
“Who goes to the hills, goes to his mother….” – Rudyard Kipling They once lived in a mountain their feet still saunter with the care they once had for a city that glowed beneath them. Even today when they speak their eyes twinkle like those old times up there...
Mr. Xenodochial: M. Mushtaque
MR. XENODOCHIAL: Puneet Monga Sir How I wish I could go back to OG towards the end of the 20th century, Then I remember it was the year when I was just a new-born baby, Only to meet one of the true spirited Oakgrovians if I would have been...
The Compelling Number Cruncher: M. Mushtaque
THE COMPELLING NUMBER-CRUNCHER: Ma’am Kusum Kamboj Juggling with mathematical formula is always fun-filled bizarre, I never found any better math teacher than Ma’am Kamboj in my memoir, The way she taught us calculations are still fresh and acts as lodestar, Having fun with mental math under her supervision made...
Reminiscing: Ruchi Lata Pandey
July 15, 2019 I had spent a better part of my three years at grad school preparing. Not for interviews for a job but preparing so that I could get the opportunity of sitting in the Cardinal Gracias Media Resource Centre at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. As I finally...
Ode To OG Walls: Manoj Panikkar
I have always had a fascination for the hard stone walls of OG. Here is an awkward ode to them: Tender fingers caress me, stone, unyielding. Projections, troughs, hard with the ages, cushion like, soft. Mute, yet vocal, whispering back, a thousand tales. July tears, smudged, by August rains....
WEEK SUMMARY TITLES
October has always been like the start line of a race you know you are going to win. It...
The best and the worst part of boarding school are ‘seniors’. This is the set of people who mostly...
Weekends are for that 10 minutes of extra lazing on the bed in the morning, leaving the bed untidy...
– Warisha Kuhi (2021) This artwork has been shared by Warisha Kuhi with Oakgrovians Young & Old on email.