This film documents a school reunion held at the centenary celebration of the founding of Dr. Graham's Homes, a school i | dG1fb280WFpjM0NzREU
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00:00My father was a tea planter, got involved with a local girl, and it was Quit India time,
00:10so he left, and I don't know the reason why, my mother never took me back, but I went back
00:17to her for a year, and then from then that was the end contact with her, so the school
00:25was my home.
00:26And I didn't go home for the first four or five years, so this became my world, so later
00:35on when I finally went back to my home for the first holidays in Kathmandu, I really
00:41didn't know what home was even, it was like a really romantic idea of home, it was abstract.
00:49It was 1889, a young missionary arrived at the end of a long journey from Scotland in
00:55one of the most remote and yet beautiful parts of the world.
00:59The place was called Kalimpong, in the high Himalayas of India.
01:04During his travels through the tea plantations and the foothills, he discovered the sad plight
01:09of the children, born of the coolie women who worked on the estates, and the Europeans
01:14who were not allowed to marry until they became managers.
01:19But Graham felt that in the ethereal surroundings and climate of Kalimpong, the change to a
01:24better life might begin.
01:36The occasion lends itself to heightened emotions, and perhaps something more than nostalgia.
01:43I had seen my father the year before, that was the only time after coming here.
01:49I remember when we were leaving, looking out of the window of this twin auto aircraft,
01:56and knowing that I'd never see him again.
01:59If I was somewhere else, I don't know if I would be able to survive today.
02:07At times, I've also thought of like, suicide, and...
02:15Home is love, that's all.
02:18Nervous, nervous as hell.
02:28This is a letter from the principal.
02:30When the family had to leave Tibet, they came to Kalimpong, and the parents tried to start
02:35a small cafe, but as they had little or no capital, it failed.
02:39And as living is supposed to be cheaper in Nepal than here, the parents went to Nepal,
02:42leaving the children here in school.
02:46Nothing was heard from them for many months, and the children were...
03:02I mean, we talk about being shaped by the homes, shaped by the childhood,
03:08and these might well be the components of that shape.