Studying Hindi at Landour Language School

Although I regret not being able to finish the Hindi course at Nolunna, I am grateful that I had the chance to study two weeks at Landour School. Landour is a town contingent to Mussoorie which during the Raj was a hill station where government employees could avoid the summer heat. Landour attached itself to Mussoorie and was one of the two hill stations in India that attracted Americans. The Americans were usually missionaries so there are many churches here.

I am staying at Ivy Banks from which the school is a very steep walk up the hill. After a little not so subtle coaching from Anna and myself, we have abolished international food in the evening and have very tasty Indian food at both lunch and dinner. The other day I saw fresh ferns in the market and bought them and the cook (who is also the manager) prepared them very well. Last night we had potatoes which a very thin bean mixed in. They seemed even thinner than Chinese long beans. I didn't detect much flavor but their crisp texture was a good contrast to the potatoes. Last night we had taro leaves wrapped around dal flour dough and steamed and then fried with spices. That was very good too.

I like the teaching here। I have two teachers। One is Mr. Datt. He is the director of the school and is very soft-spoken. He often uses philosophical examples to illustrate grammar points, which I like. The other teacher is Mr. Rai. His unfortunate duty is to drill me on verb tenses. I know the grammar but I cannot make the correct words come out of my mouth. My most common mistake is saying "मैं है Main hai," instead of "मैं हूँ Main huun." This means "I " and you learn it on the first day of Hindi, but I still cannot make the verb agree with the subject when I am speaking. Both of the teachers are just a little younger than me and we get on very well. Although the majority of students here are of college age there are a number of us who are over forty and there is one other, who like me, is almost 70. Those people who are hit by the India bug are hit hard. Everyone here has an interesting story about why they are studying Hindi. Many people are going to work in India, but others, like me, just want to know a little more about India.

Landour is beautiful, even though it is very wet. It has rained, at least a little, every day I have been here and some days it pours. This morning while I was washing my clothes after my shower, I looked down and there was what I thought was a leech on my leg. It didn't look like the leeches that attached to me at Nolunna, being browner, longer and with small horns like a slug, but I thought it was a different bread. I ran to Anna's room, collected her, and we went down to the kitchen for salt. We went outside and the staff gathered around and Anna applied the salt. The creature fell off and Anil, the manager/cook, announced that it wasn't a leech, and indeed there was no blood. After a leech falls off there is a lot of blood because they contain an anti-coagulant. So it was a slug after all. I didn't know slugs crawled on to people. I got one leech sitting in the garden at Nolunna studying, and the other when I went hiking in the mountains. I thought I had covered myself well the second time, but the leech found a way in. It had fallen off before I discovered it, but my leg and pant leg were all bloody. The fortunate thing is that flies and mosquitoes don't seem to like me as much as they do others.

I started to talk about the beauty of Landour and became distracted by leeches. There are tall deodar pines (I thinks that what they are) and some of the paths wander among the steep, green forests. The clouds come and go. One is supposed to be able to see the Himalayas from here, but so far all I have seen in the distance is clouds. Once or twice it has been clear toward the plains and I have seen Dehra Dun and, in the distance, the Ganges flowing out from Hardiwar. In the other direction, one is supposed to be able to see the Yamuna, but it has never been clear enough when I have been looking over there.

It is very quiet and clean up here. I will probably come back some time and spend longer here and polish my Hindi. I am not sure if I will ever speak it well, but I am approaching a reading capability in the language.

In three days, I leave for Delhi, and then go to Ladakh. Tonight my friend Anna and I are going to a friend of hers house for dinner with his parents. I am looking forward to it. In Delhi, I am staying with friends at there apartment. The break from hotel and guest house living will be welcome.