Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

Page 33 text:

Shawnigan Lake School Magazine A Train Journey to the Himalayas THE temperature being nearly 125 degrees in the shade, we dec ide to leave Calcutta for the Hills, as they are called in India. We pack up warm clothes that have not been brought forth for many moons, and hie ourselves to Sealda Station of the Eastern Bengal State Railway where we catch the 5.20 p.m. Darjeeling Mail. The scene in the station that presents itself to us is an extraordinarily amusing one. Babus armed with umbrellas, pushing each other all over the place, arguing, collecting pack- ets of food, beating each other over the heads with their um- brellas to emphasize the points of their arguments; everyone talking at once and nobody paying the slightest attention to anyone else. We now board our train which, for the first part of the journey, consists of long coaches with arm-chair equipment. Having settled our places near the punkas, we stroll down the train and take a look at the native carriages which are filled with heated humanity, for all the world like sardines in a can brought to melting point; and then back to our own to look out of the windows and watch the fun when the train is about to start. The bell goes for the passengers to take their seats. From everywhere Babus and their families appear, all seeming to try to get into the same carriage, until at last they are all packed in and we are off. The first part of our journey is through the out-skirts of the city, then we pass through Barrackpore, where the first outbreak of the Indian Mutiny occurred. From here on we go through the flat, uncultivated land of Lower Bengal. Darkness now falls with that suddenness peculiar to the Tropics, and we settle ourselves down to read until we get near the new Sara Bridge over the Ganges. This is one of the finest of its kind in the world. Little of it, however, can now be Page Twenty-nine

Page 32 text:

Shawnigan Lake School Magazine of the great schools. Here it was still going on and the re- sponsibility applied from the oldest to the very youngest. It would be a great pleasure to him, on his return to Eng- land, to be able to tell people that in this school the boys were building up a tradition and esprit de corps worthy of the great schools of the Empire. Air-Commodore Halahan then presented the prizes as follows: — Form VI. — Wallbridge. Form V. — Piddington i. Form IV. — Manson. Form III. — Stanton. Form II. — Walcot. Form I. — Graham. Maths. — Wallbridge. Music — Fox ii. General Progress — Piddington i, Oldham, Bell-Irving. Reading — Groves. French — Groves Efficiency — Ripley, Groves, Crisp. Natural History Collection — Best i and ii, Lacon, Bazett. Snap Shooting — Best i, Harcourt. Dormitory Shield, No, 3 — Skrimshire. Sports Cup (Senior) — Best i. Sports Cup (Junior) — Merritt. Prizes were kindly donated by: Mrs. F. H. Stanton, Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Stanton, Mrs. Stanier, Miss Lonsdale, Mrs. Hartl, Mrs. Haddon, Mrs. Morres, Mrs. Tryon, Rev. E. M. Willis, Mr. T. S. Gillatt. Page Twenty-eight

Page 34 text:

Shawnigan Lake School Magazine seen owing to night, but what is visible in the moon light gives one some idea of its size. About 8.30 p.m. we arrive at Santahah, the end of the broad gauge. Here we have some dinner, before changing trains on to the standard gauge. While we are having dinner, our bearers are making our beds in the sleeping cars. These are long coaches with two broad padded seats on each side of the compartment, and two turn-down bunks above. We have brought with us our bedding as this is not supplied for one in India. After a short walk round the station we wend our way back to the train and are off again by 9.30. So to bed, but not yet to sleep as it is far too hot. We talk of the cool places we shall be in on the morrow, and try to make ourselves feel cooler : A x d HIMALAYAS, FROM DARJEELING that way. At last Morpheus gets the better of some of us, and the next we know is that we have arrived at Jalpaiguri. It is now 5.30 a.m., and here we get our chota hazri, which consists of tea, bread and butter, and fruit. We find now that the country has changed somewhat and is more jungly, but after a while we start going through the Terai, which is of a more open nature, and we see tea gardens Page Thirty