Dehradun, Oct. 6 -- Sanjay Kumar

By: Ganesh Saili

Gentle Reader, please don't ask me what I am doing; I am collecting a nosegay of memories. After all, they do say, 'The creation of a thousand forests lies hidden in one acorn.'

I was a toddler when I first heard of the Railway School from my grandfather. He had, on a lark, decided to take me on a walk down the old bridle path to Rajpur and the valley beyond. That was the very same route taken by the early pioneers and empire builders. At an elevation of 5,500 feet above sea level, on the 1st of June 1888, the Railway School moved from the Nepal Ranas' Fairlawn Palace to its present location in Jharipani, straddling the first ridge of the Himalaya that borders the Doon valley. Oak Grove...