Dateline Mussoorie: Mussoorie resident-author Bill Aitken breathed his last in Dehradun late last night. A few days earlier, the author had a fall at his home while over seeing repair work and was rushed to Dehradun where he was kept under the best medical care but showed little improvement.
I was fortunate to meet Bill at his home in Oakless on his birthday last year when he turned 90. Full of warmth and good Scottish humour William McKay Aitken or Bill Aitken as we had known him since childhood was thrilled to see ma and me. He was in the best of health and spirits, if you take away the usual twinges in the hinges.
I remember him telling me, ‘I have never been better.’ At ninety Bill used to stick to a health routine which took him on a five kilometre walk – twice a day plus the usual household chores and gardening, come rain or sunshine. He giggled and said, “It helps to keep my Scottish genes in ship shape.”
While longevity ran in Bill’s family, he lost one sister last year and his older sister moved into an old age home in London.
Prolific writer, Bill Aitken had over two dozen books to his credit, a British-born Indian travel writer and mountain lover from Scotland, Mussoorie had been his home for over four decades. His books cover his travels around India, its mountains, rivers and its steam trains… Seven Sacred Rivers, Divining the Deccan – A Motorbike to the Heart of India, Footloose in the Himalaya, The Nanda Devi Affair, Exploring Indian Railways, Sri Sathya Sai Baba – A Life, Literary Trails, Riding the Ranges – Travels on my Motorcycle, Mountain Delight, Travels By a Lesser Line, Zanskar, 1000 Himalayan Quiz to name a few.
Fellow author Ganesh Saili reminisces, “Bill Sa’ab —that’s what we have always called him today the little community of writers from Mussoorie is diminished. We feel lost without our favourite Scotsman, the honorary Garhwali gone.”
You shall be missed, Bill -Sa’ab ~
