You can never leave Nainital

As the song goes, ‘you can check out any time but..’

A song, by golly!!

A friend who went to school with me sent me a song about Nainital,

I grew up in Nainital and studied at St. Joseph’s College. I remember writing a post about our fiftieth reunion, which happened in April last year.

I made a YouTube video about that trip, and I hope you all watch it in this post!

Do read my old blog posts! I have inserted the links at the bottom of this post.

Anyway, another schoolmate sent me a song that inspired me to write this post. This song is about Nainital, and I love the tune. The song starts with a sunrise at a place called ‘Sher ka Danda,’ the area around my uncle’s school. His school was on the opposite hill, and Sunday mornings, when we got an additional half hour to sleep, I’d sometimes look through the windows at the beautiful sky and sunlight bathing ‘Sher ka Danda.’

My aunt’s school is next to mine. A family connection with Nainital exists.

My school. My uncle’s school. My aunt’s school.

My school is next to the Governor’s Estate, which we call ‘Guvi,’ and near a place called ‘Tiffin Top,’ also mentioned in the song.

The peak you see in this monochrome image is China Peak, or Cheena Peak as we pronounce it, at the far end of Nainital and the highest point in the hill station.

Tourists and a greedy administration have ruined the town, while we all have left Nainital, the town’s spirit still lives inside us.

---

---

The song, and why you can’t leave Nainital.

Listen to the song first!!

There is a line in the song that goes thus:

“Ek baat bata, ‘ma ke laal,’ kya chod sakega Nainital?”

The expression ‘ma ke laal,’ literally means ‘the mother’s beloved child.’ It is used as a term of endearment, a sneer (mama’s boy), and as a fun challenge. So, in this line, the meaning would be, loosely,

“Hey, dude, tell me. Can you ever leave Nainital?” In this line, the singer uses the expression ‘ma ke laal’ as a fun challenge.

The point is simple, really. People like me have lived in many parts of India and several other countries and have travelled across the world. Yet, the emotional attachment you have with one or two places can be so strong that the places just don’t leave you.

You can check out but…

These places become a part of you. They become part of shared memories, suffused with the warm glow of nostalgia. The memory of these places takes you back to a happy place, when all was right with the world, and crazy politicians and businesspeople did not trouble you. Despite the strict schoolteachers who loomed over your conscious thoughts, you felt the cool breeze of freedom flowing through your heart.

The line from Hotel California is reminiscent of the sentiment: ‘you check out any time you want, but you can never leave.’

Can you ever leave Nainital? Where is Nainital? Nainital is – for you- in your heart. Nainital lives with you in your heart and will never leave.

So, my friends, my question to you is simple.

Can you ever leave Nainital, whatever it may mean to you?

Are there places you have never been to, but are a part of your legacy, and to which you have a strong, emotional bond? These places (Sargodha and Lahore, in Pakistan, for me) are part of your family’s legacy, and whenever you meet people whose heritage is from the same place, you feel an immediate connection with them.

Once again, can you ever leave Nainital, whatever it may mean to you?

---

I took that photograph of Nainital during a family trip to the town. Tourists crowded the streets, despite the rain, and when I made the photograph, I wanted to capture China Peak, the lake and the hills, without the tourists.

---

---

My old blog posts about school and Nainital.

Brief Histories: School and Nainital.

Sometimes, life is bittersweet.

---