The Doon School in the context of "Satish Ranjan Das"

A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teachers, a second or third being often called an assistant schoolmaster. The use of the traditional term survives in British private schools, both secondary and preparatory, and in grammar schools, as well as in some Commonwealth boarding schools (such as the Doon School in India) which are modelled on British grammar and public schools.

Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor CBE RA (born 12 March 1954) is a British sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the United Kingdom to begin his art training at Hornsey College of Art and, later, Chelsea School of Art and Design.

His notable public sculptures include Cloud Gate, also known as "The Bean" (2006) in Chicago's Millennium Park; Sky Mirror, exhibited at the Rockefeller Center in New York City in 2006 and Kensington Gardens in London in 2010; Temenos, at Middlehaven, Middlesbrough; Leviathan, at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2011; and ArcelorMittal Orbit, commissioned as a permanent artwork for London's Olympic Park and completed in 2012. In 2017, Kapoor designed the statuette for the 2018 Brit Awards.

Arthur Edward Foot CBE (more commonly A.E. Foot) (21 June 1901 – 26 September 1968), was an English schoolmaster, educationalist and academic. He was a science master at Eton College from 1923 to 1932. In 1935, he was invited to India to head a newly opened all-boys boarding school, the Doon School, where he was the first headmaster from 1935 to 1948. He then returned to England as head of another new school, Ottershaw.

John A. K. Martyn OBE (more commonly known as J. A. K. Martyn) (1903–1984), was an English schoolmaster, scholar, academic and a distinguished British Himalayan mountaineer. He was the second headmaster of The Doon School.

Gurdial Singh (1 January 1924 – 30 May 2023) was an Indian schoolteacher and mountaineer who led the first mountaineering expedition of independent India to Trisul (7,120 metres) in 1951. In 1958, he led the team that made the first ascent of Mrigthuni (6,855 metres). In 1965, he was a member of the first successful Indian expedition team to climb Mount Everest.

Singh also led many expeditions at The Doon School, where he was a geography teacher, and along with other Doon masters and students was instrumental in establishing a mountaineering culture in post-Independence India. Singh has been described as "the first true Indian mountaineer", and in 2020, the Himalayan Journal noted "Gurdial climbed for pleasure, to enjoy the mountains in the company of friends, to savour the beauty and grandeur of the high ranges, not to find fame or bag summits."

The role of The Doon School in Indian mountaineering describes the formative links between The Doon School, an all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, India, and early, post-Independence Indian mountaineering. From the 1940s onwards, Doon's masters and students like A.E. Foot, R.L. Holdsworth, J.A.K. Martyn, Gurdial Singh, Jack Gibson, Aamir Ali, Hari Dang, Nandu Jayal, were among the first to go on major Himalayan expeditions in a newly independent nation. These early expeditions contributed towards laying the foundation of mountaineering in an independent India. Mountaineer and chronicler Harish Kapadia wrote in his book Across Peaks & Passes in Garhwal Himalaya: "To my mind, it was when Gurdial Singh [then a Doon School master] climbed Trisul in 1951 that was the beginning of the age of mountaineering for Indians."

The Doon School is a boys-only academically selective boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, founded in 1935 by Satish Ranjan Das The school's first headmaster was Arthur E. Foot, who had spent some nine years as a science master at Eton College, England. The old boys of Doon are known as Doscos, and the alumni body is represented by The Doon School Old Boys' Society. Admission to the school is based on a competitive entrance examination and an interview.

Doon remains a boys-only school despite continued pressure from political leaders to become coeducational. However, girls are admitted in case they are daughters of the school staff (see entries for sculptor Latika Katt and actor Himani Shivpuri). Although the total number of Doscos is relatively small (estimated at 5,000 since the school was founded in 1935), they include some of India's prominent politicians, artists, writers, social activists and businesspeople.

Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989 for two terms. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become at the age of 40 the youngest Indian prime minister. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination.

Gandhi was not related to Mahatma Gandhi. Instead, he was from the politically powerful Nehru–Gandhi family, which had been associated with the Indian National Congress party. For much of his childhood, his maternal grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister. Gandhi attended The Doon School, an elite boarding institution, and then the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He returned to India in 1966 and became a professional pilot for the state-owned Indian Airlines. In 1968, he married Sonia Maino; the couple settled in Delhi for a domestic life with their children Rahul and Priyanka. For much of the 1970s, his mother was prime minister and his younger brother Sanjay an MP; despite this, Gandhi remained apolitical.