Sunday Love Story: Kanishka Mallick
Sunday was the day when a make belief world would be created in junior school when prisoners would role-play...
Mr. Brayley’s Journal: Chapter 3
Oak Grove Boys’ School (1934-1940) Although 1934 meant a new start in Boys’ School, the onset of March found...
Lucky Lockdown 4: Kanishka Mallick
Junior School was a visual lockdown. You could stand in the middle of the flat & virtually view the...
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Pen Down: Kanishka Mallick
It’s been a while that I penned down my thoughts. Which reminds me of the time when for the...
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Amit Kumar – My Mentor: Tabish Nawaz
The sad news of Amit Sir has made me to reflect upon my association with him. Though it was...
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लंगूर की ज़िन्दगी: कनिष्क एवं सुदीप
ऐ वक़्त आज उसी पुश्तै पे चल बैठा जाए, फिर लंगूरों को उचलते कूदते देखा जाए … जहाँ दोस्तों...
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Marbles And Saturdays: M. Mushtaque
HEXED MARBLES AND DOOMED SATURDAYS When a child is below 5 years, he/she receives maximum love and affection from...
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A Tale of Two School Masters: Pat Corbett
Mr. Sumption taught the classics in the senior classes. Towards the end of the year he taught Ethics and...
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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...
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Unlearning The Queen’s English: Sweta Vikram
“You are expected to learn at least five new English words every day, memorize their meanings, and use them...
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Jean Gomes’ Narrative: 2
Carolyn, your memories brought back memories for me. The tuck boxes – wow – I remember that they were...
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The Peace That Was: Shri Krishan Tanwar
In march 1967 it was beginning of spring in Jharipani, parents would return home on the very same day...
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Every Time & Forever: Kanishka Mallick
Every time While leaving those gates I promise myself, This is the last time; Next time, I won’t cry....
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...
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...
FRESH TWEETS
Oakgrovian Tabish Nawaz's first book is getting published. Can be pre-ordered here: hawakal.com/books/english-…
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LATEST POSTS
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...
Amit Kumar – My Mentor: Tabish Nawaz
The sad news of Amit Sir has made me to reflect upon my association with him. Though it was brief but it had an element of eternity that brings two souls together in this universe, out of care, brotherly love and devotion. I am indebted to him for helping...
Lucky Lockdown 5: Kanishka Mallick
It is naturally not very easy to adjust to any kind of lockdown. However, once you get used to a certain kind of lockdown, it gets in to your head and many a times, the heart. In fact, as per research, in most of the cases, the captive falls...
My ReU2017: Shirin Badlani
From the train ride to Dehradun with fellow Oakgrovians, to all the celebrations over the next few days – this...
Meenakshi’s Sketchbook
– Meenakshi Prakash (2019) These sketches have been shared by Meenakshi and Navneet upon request.
Founders Day, 2018
Oak Grove turned 130 on June 1, 2018. As has become customary for a few of us, we were...
Mr. Brayley’s Journal: Chapter 2
Oak Grove Junior School (1932-1933) From the start of 1932, preparations began for my going to boarding school at Oak Grove Junior School. Oak Grove was owned and administered by the East Indian Railway (E.I.R) and admitted pupils whose parents were on the E.I.R as well as those, far...
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...
Escapade – 2: Kriti Singh
The Fart Bomb My batch for some reason had this special affection towards our Maths lessons… while every other class could not think of even breathing wrong under Ma’am Dhondhiyal’s nose, all of our mischief was preserved for this one. After a number of regular lessons, it was time...
Book Cricket: M. Mushtaque
THE FUN FILLED GAME OF BOOK CRICKET Well, if you didn’t study in Oak Grove Junior School, you may be scratching your head to come to a conclusion about this term! You must be wondering that you have heard of One Day Cricket, Test Cricket, and latest inclusions like...
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....
Evening Lights: Kanishka Mallick
Evening Lights in the Valley Sitting on the wrought iron bench, That was half wet due to the mist, And a dry throat; We sat in silence watching the valley across, With no words to say; But a lot to share that we already knew. We may not meet...
Escapade – 2: Kriti Singh
The Fart Bomb My batch for some reason had this special affection towards our Maths lessons… while every other class could not think of even breathing wrong under Ma’am Dhondhiyal’s nose, all of our mischief was preserved for this one. After a number of regular lessons, it was time...
Meenakshi’s Sketchbook
– Meenakshi Prakash (2019) These sketches have been shared by Meenakshi and Navneet upon request.
From the Album of Eric Young
Before the reunion of 2013, some of us were aiming to bring out a book of photos from the past. We had few photographs, but not enough to make a picture book. While looking for photos of GS headmistresses (as requested by Tanuja Joshi Ma’am), Nikhil Kumar dug out a set...
Dehra Of My Schooldays: Ankita Banerjee
When I was young, I lived there That’s where I spent most of my teen-hood Which gets it’s own mention sometimes. Somewhat laid-back, easy-going & sleepier You could walk almost anywhere, At any time of the year, night or day The Dehra of my schooldays. I had known and...
ReU2017 Addendum: Shitanshu Sharad
This album is an addition to the earlier Reunion 2017 albums. These photographs were posted on the OGS Mussoorie Facebook group on November 19, 2017. Picture courtesy: Shitanshu Kumar Sharad
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 of repeating every few months, I’m personally deeply in debt to the originator(s) of the WWW. They put me in touch with my alma mater in a manner I had...
Marbles And Saturdays: M. Mushtaque
HEXED MARBLES AND DOOMED SATURDAYS When a child is below 5 years, he/she receives maximum love and affection from all members of the family. Then comes the age group of 5-10 years, in this age group the child is punished even for the mistakes of his/her younger siblings. When...
Anything For Cricket: M. Mushtaque
“For once cricket has claimed you, it never lets you go.” This proverb goes so well with most of us. Right from making silly rules to decorating self-prepared score-books, it all used to be very serious affairs. We were so crazy for cricket that we were ready for anything....
Every Time & Forever: Kanishka Mallick
Every time While leaving those gates I promise myself, This is the last time; Next time, I won’t cry. I start well with my promise. We meet and greet; celebrate distances and time between us. The entire day is spent in unstoppable revelry, With no account of time or...
Inspired by Kanishka Mallick Sir’s Lockdown series, I decided to share my bit. Escapade -1 (OGGS Batch -2008) After the end of each term, after we returned from excursions, while we were still busy reminiscing the tour…our headmistress got busy fixing up the timetable for the new term. The first draft was made in pencil on green or pink chart paper and […]
The year 1968. Joined OG junior school. From the HM, Mrs.L.K.Gupta’s office was sent to Class One ‘A’ along with ayah, Kalawati. My class teacher Mrs. Mathur, made me sit along with all others. The day passed with sobbing, crying with surges of homesickness. I remember gradually adjusting and making few friends some names do come mind Rajesh Chaudhri, Sanjiv Khandpur, Yogesh Mehta to name […]
Early Memories The Auckland Taneatua Express stopped at the Hopu Hopu Military Camp siding at about 11am on the 23rd of August 1940. A lone soldier, Sgt. Herbert (Bon) Ross of the Auckland East Coast Mounted Rifles boarded the train enroute to his brother Duncan’s wedding to be held in Tauranga. Herbert, who was called Bon or Bonny (being labelled […]
The man had only two emotions, He was happy when we were happy, He was angry when we were not up to the mark; His entire life swayed in these two extremes. Man with passion of a crazy artist, Unadulterated love for people like a possessive lover. He would not take no for an answer if he believed otherwise, Was […]
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
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.
My siblings and I love to argue, no matter how stupid the topic. I am sure such is the...
Of all options, reform is the best way to correct delinquents and prevent future misdeeds. That is what is...