Category Archives: bio

Ross

Slow Dancing

September 14, 2007 Ross Leave a comment

This school dance is serious stuff, there’s even a rehearsal.

MomComm: But what about electing Miss Woodstock? Do they not do that anymore?

My own class of ’81 failed to do so, actually. We voted three times, and each time reached a three way tie between Tina, Vinita, and Reem. I think this was because each represented a "faction": Tina for the missionaries, Vinita for the Indians (though her parents were also missionaries), and Reem for "everyone else".

Our solution? We decided to have three Miss Woodstocks. Then, just to keep people on their toes, we elected Durjoy "Mister Woodstock."

Ross

Indian Schoolkids

September 10, 2007 Ross Leave a comment

original

Yesterday I tried running again.

The Indian children in this area find us extremely interesting, us big white girls.

If there’s a camera, it’s the end of the world. They can hold that smile for up to an hour, but then they attack you and surround you because they know that (in 99 cases out of 100) you have a digital camera and they can see themselves in the photos immediately!

There’s a cook who knows me by now and every morning I go over my Hindi lesson with him. I have to put down my tray and put my hands together to salute him, “namaste” – it’s not complete without the gesture.

MomComm: I wonder if this cook recognizes me in my daughter. All the staff have phenomenal memories, and when alumni return they are proud to introduce us to their sons, now serving Woodstock themselves. At our class reunion in Mussoorie last November (I wasn’t present), one of the bearers said to my classmate Durjoy: “Sahib, you have all grown old and fat!”