>Unreal7 at 00:22, 8 March 2021

2021-03-08T00:22:50Z

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{{Sources exist|date=October 2019}}
:''For others similarly named, see the [[William Aitken (disambiguation)|William Aitken]] navigation page''
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Bill Aitken
| image = Bill Aitken.jpg
| imagesize =250px
| caption = Bill Aitken in his [[Mussoorie]] garden in 2009
| birth_date = 1934
| birth_place = [[Tullibody]], [[Scotland]]
| occupation = Traveller
| nationality = Indian (at birth: British)
| period = 1975–present
| movement =
| influences =
| influenced =
| signature =
| website =
}}

'''William McKay Aitken''' is a [[Scotland|Scottish]] born,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416213159/http://www.mussooriewriters.com/2012/05/25/bill-aitken/|title=Bill Aitken « Mussoorie Writers -|date=16 April 2015|website=web.archive.org}}</ref> naturalized [[India]]n [[travel writer]] and a mountain lover.<ref name="ToI">{{cite web |url=http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/251215166.cms |title=Rail tourism needs to be put on track |work=[[The Times of India]] |author=Maneesh Pandey |date=2001-07-28 |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref> He is the author of a number of books about India, its [[mountain]]s, rivers and its steam trains.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?230659 |title = The Accidental Expatriate}}</ref> His books are well loved because of their playful spirit and investigative attention to detail. For example, he demonstrates this in (page 122) of 'Footloose in the Himalayas',<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XlxyJYAfz4gC&q=footloose+berinag+tea&pg=PA252 |title = Footloose in the Himalaya|isbn = 9788178240527|last1 = Aitken|first1 = Bill|year = 2003}}</ref> where he manages to locate and describe a packet of the famous [[Berinag tea]] with its logo from the 1930s. He thus preserves it in history with his words. Even as he drives through the tea estates of [[Dan Singh Bist]] he calls him by his local nickname 'maldar' and adroitly describes the unique taste of Chinese tea on Indian soil and its logo which has an Berinag girl in Chinese dress.page no.(252)

Born in [[Tullibody]] in [[Clackmannanshire]], Scotland in 1934, Aitken attended [[Handsworth Grammar School]] [[Birmingham]] and completed his M.A in comparative religion at the [[University of Leeds]]. In 1959, he hitchhiked overland to India and taught for a year at Hindi HighSchool in [[Calcutta]]. From 1960 to 1972, he lived in Himalayan ashrams at Kausani and Mirtola. In 1972, he became a naturalized Indian citizen. With their Guru's blessings he joined Prithwi Bir Kaur, the dowager Maharani of the erstwhile Sikh Princely state of Jind as companion. Based in [[Delhi]] and Mussoorie, Aitken travelled widely in India, covering the religious landscape in a dozen travel books. Bill Aitken's writings are characterized by a free-wheeling description of his travels, interspersed with intimate details of the land and its people, and their religious beliefs. He has been President of the Friends of the National Rail Museum in New Delhi and hon. Librarian of the Himalayan Club.

Since the 1970s, he has lived in the [[hill station]] of [[Mussoorie]] in the Lower Western [[Himalaya]]. The surrounding region, especially the [[Garhwal district|Garhwal]] Hills, has provided much of the material for his writings. With the passing of Prithwi Bir Kaur in 2010, he was appointed a trustee of the Maharani Prithwi Jind Memorial Trust till 2014.

==Works==
*''Seven Sacred Rivers'', 1992 (Penguin Books India), {{ISBN|0-14-015473-6}}
*''Divining the Deccan - A Motorbike to the Heart of India'', (Oxford, 1999), {{ISBN|0-19-564-7114}}
*''Footloose in the Himalaya'', (Delhi, Permanent Black, 2003), {{ISBN|81-7824-052-1}}
*''The Nanda Devi Affair'', 1994 (Penguin Books India), {{ISBN|0-14-024045-4}}
*''Touching Upon the Himalaya: Excursions and Enquiries'', 2004 (Indus Books, New Delhi, 2004), {{ISBN|81-7387-169-8}}
*''Exploring Indian Railways'', (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1994), {{ISBN|0-19-563109-9}}
*''Branch Line to Eternity'', 2001 (Penguin Books India), {{ISBN|0-14-100537-8}}
*''Sri Sathya Sai Baba - A Life'',2004 (Viking/Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd.), {{ISBN|0-670-05807-6}}
*''Literary Trails'' (1996), Harper Collins ({{ISBN|81-7223-240-3}})
*''Riding the Ranges - Travels on my Motorcycle'' (1997), Penguin Books India, ({{ISBN|0-14-026804-9}})
*''Mountain Delight'', English Book Depot, Dehradun, (1994) ({{ISBN|81-85567-16-6}})
*''Tavels By a Lesser Line'', Harper Collins, (1993) ({{ISBN|81-7223-086-9}})
*''Zanskar'', 1999, Rupa Classic India, ({{ISBN|81-7167-199-3}})
*''1000 Himalayan Quiz'', 1995, Rupa ({{ISBN|81-7167-290-6}})

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030411/asp/opinion/story_1863653.asp Review of Footloose in the Himalaya By Bill Aitken, The Telegraph (India), April 11, 2003 |]
*[http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/251215166.cms Maneesh Pandey. Rail tourism needs to be put on track. The Times of India, 28 Jul 2001.] Quotes Aitken as a travel writer.
*{{cite news|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18200583_ITM|title=Silhouettes. Brief review of Sri Sathya Sai Baba: A Life|date=13 December 2004|work=The Statesman (India)|accessdate=2008-07-16}}

==External links==
*[http://www.shelfari.com/authors/126746/Bill-Aitken/summary Shelfari – Bill Aitken]
*[http://www.souljourns.net/index.php/videos/videos-on-youtube/504-souljourns-bill-aitkin-sai-baba Souljourns interview] - An Interview With Bill Aitken About Sathya Sai Baba
{{Sathya Sai Baba}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, William Mckay}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers from Dehradun]]
[[Category:People from Stirling]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to India]]
[[Category:Indian travel writers]]
[[Category:Indian people of Scottish descent]]

Bill Aitken writer - Revision history

>Unreal7 at 00:22, 8 March 2021