Dear List members,

In 1970, still at secondary school, I went to the Kern Institute in search of more information about the study of indology. The Kern Institute and its library were at the back of the Museum of Ethnology. There was no doorbell. So I knocked, and nothing happened, So I knocked again, and finally the door was opened by a friendly man, who showed me the way to the librarian-secretary (at that time Mw. de Beurs). The friendly man returned to his place at the table in the library, which happened to be close to the door. Later I was to learn that he was Seyfort Ruegg. He was a mystery figure. At least, to me as a student his association with the Kern Institute was not clear, and in the course of my first year he disappeared altogether – and so did his large car from the parking place, a Jaguar or a Bentley, I do not remember.

Herman