By N. Niranjan Nikam
Descendants at Hirvate Estate: “I had never flown in an airplane before in my life. This was the first time and I sat just behind the engine and I hated it. Bahut Kachada,” said David Clement Crawford Lake, grand nephew of Lt.Col. William Loftus Carlton Crawford (1868-1951), sitting at the Hirvate Estate in Sakleshpur. David and his son James Robert Francis Lake finally came back to visit their ancestral home and thoroughly enjoyed visiting the vast estate — a dream-cum-true, in which their great granduncle had lived. “I was born in Madras and lived in Wartyhully Estate as a young boy. I visited the place and my memories came flooding back. My mother, Helen Gladys Lake (niece of Crawford) was living on that estate and we used to come here often,” warmly recalled David, speaking to SOM. Reminiscing about his childhood in Hirvate and his school days, David said that he had studied in Hebron School in Ooty managed by the Seventh Day Adventist. “I hated the school. They were so strict that I would not be allowed to drink water, if I wet my bed,” said David with dry English humour.
