When a friend sent me a link to a YouTube link for a video on Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye singing ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’, it brought back so many memories to me that I wanted to share some with some of my younger friends.
I forwarded the link to some who are jazz enthusiasts and one of them Sandeep, promptly got back to me about how much Danny Kaye reminded him of ‘Crank’s Ridge”. Apparently Danny Kaye’s daughter, Dena Kaye set up a hospital there which is operational even today.
Sandeep, a keen runner, trekker, mountaineer and an enthusiastic, if somewhat irregular blogger, decided to blog about what this chain of memories brought back to him and has written a fascinating blog – “Up On Crank’s Ridge: Where It’s Always 1969.”
You can learn a lot about Almora, the town nearest to Crank’s Ridge if you google for it as you can about Crank’s Ridge itself. I have been to Almora but not to Crank’s Ridge. When it was suggested that I go there by my friend in Almora, I as usual joked about the name and said I want nothing to do with Cranks. Apparently, even before all the notables mentioned by Sandeep discovered Almora, it was called Crank’s Ridge either after some British Colonial named Crank, which is quite likely, or due to the British calling it so, because cranks kept going there. I would not know. It however appears that before too long, I may just find out.
Sandeep plans to settle down close to Crank’s Ridge and has promised me a hut in a corner of his estate where I could quietly meditate on my navel. He promises me that, while all the money that would be collected from devotees visiting me will be kept by him, he will not interfere with the female devotees. What a considerate friend to have!