Beyond the Pir Panjal; life among the mountains and valleys of Kashmir . ns splashed down the Jhelum, not in asecluded quiet spot in the lake, but right down the city ofSrinagar itself, under bridges crowded with jeering towns-men; however, in order that they might not altogether andentirely dishonour their own families, each boy covered hishead with a blanket, with the exception of the steersman,so that their individual identity might not be known. This crew came not from the High School. The honourof being the first school to brave public opinion fell to theRenawari Branch School, under the
Beyond the Pir Panjal; life among the mountains and valleys of Kashmir . ns splashed down the Jhelum, not in asecluded quiet spot in the lake, but right down the city ofSrinagar itself, under bridges crowded with jeering towns-men; however, in order that they might not altogether andentirely dishonour their own families, each boy covered hishead with a blanket, with the exception of the steersman,so that their individual identity might not be known. This crew came not from the High School. The honourof being the first school to brave public opinion fell to theRenawari Branch School, under the plucky leadership ofAmar Chand Brahman, who has since those days shown muchpluck and grit; but perhaps this first effort to break awayfrom the shackles of idiotic custom, cost him most of that the ball had been set rolling, or rather that the firstcrew had been set paddling, it was not long before otherschool Kashmiri boats called shikaras were launched,until a fleet gradually came into existence, which nownumbers ten boats, holding roughly 120 boys. The Rena-. THE KASHMIR MISSION SCHOOL 251 wari School crew in the yearly race for headship of the riverheld the position for six years in succession. In 1891, when Lord Lansdowne, who was then Viceroy ofIndia, was in Kashmir, he witnessed one of these excitingcontests, and expressed a hope that the State and MissionSchools would ere long be competing in friendly contest forthe headship of the Jhelum, as Oxford and CambridgeUniversities strive yearly for the headship of the years passed, and at last the Viceroys hope wasfulfilled. On 20th September 1909, a race took place be-tween the Mission, State, Hindoo and Islamic schools over atwo-mile course. The Mission School crew won by thirtylengths. It is hoped that this will prove the first of a longseries of annual races, in which case it must be regarded asan historic and interesting sign of the development ofphysical culture in Kashmir (Plate 53). These aquati
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmountai, bookyear1912
