Convent School

There are days when you have a pressing deadline and the adrenalin pours out of your ears, making you work like a maniac.  And there are days (much rarer, I confess) when you don't  have a deadline, but are in the mood to do something and so drive everyone around you nuts. But worst are the days when you have deadlines (although not pressing), and the adrelalin rush is not heavy enough to make you work for it.  Those are the days when you'd open up your google reader and what do you know, you read TWO posts by two different people that sets off a avalanche of memories.

First, Jane wrote about the marching practice in her school during her childhood. And I thought it was an Indian thing - left behind by the departing British.  Jane, I gather, grew up in Australia (singing God save the Queen, thankfully, we were spared that by a few decades), so the Brit influence has to be common. Our March Past practice would begin a couple of months before the annual sports day, and it was a matter of honour for us (at least some of us, some couldn't care less) to march past the judges and make our house the winning house.   We'd practice marching around our HUGE playground (which sadly has been usurped for more classrooms since we graduated), to the beats on a drum carried by our sports teacher.  When I say "to the beats of the drum", it is of loose context only. The beats would go on the side, the parade leader and a few other vociferous kids would yell "Left..left..left right left..." in some random order, and we would swing our arms, imagining to be in sync, but sadly out of, as evidenced by the numerous times we would bump into the hands of the girls behind and ahead of us (and sometimes to the side of us too..our swings were wild).  This would be during the last period of school, when the sun was at its hottest best. Just remembering the practice sessions makes me need an IV glucose infusion - I wonder where all that energy came from. I wonder if HAC still has march pasts.

Famingo Dancer's post on her convent-run school brought back a different set of memories about school. Before a separate convent was built inside the school campus for the nuns, they lived in one wing of the classroom sections ,surrounding the chapel, which was out of bounds for the  kids.  But the kitchen was in the primary block. Every morning, around ten, a butcher would bring meat and chop it on a wooden table, and soon after, the smell of cooking meat would pervade the entire block.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I make no moral or ethical objections to non-vegetarianism.   But most of the 6-8 year old kids that attended this school belonged to the TamBram community, strict vegetarians, some of us cohabiting with grandparents who wouldn't even allow onions and radish into their homes. Cooking meat has a smell that is very disagreeable to people not used to it. We'd almost gag in our classrooms, but couldn't really complain because some of the teachers and students who were non-vegetarians could take offense, and besides, it didn't seem right to complain about someone else's food.  I think, the two years of my life - fourth and fifth classes, I lost a lot of weight because I couldn't eat my lunch in that smell. I remember the relief when I moved to class six, and therefore to the diametrically opposite wing of school.

The primary wing also had a "tuck shop".  A small shack where the nuns sold hand-made toffees (a verrrrrry sticky caramelized thingummy that costed a princely 25 paise which we were given one day a year - on our birthdays). I must have had two or three of those "toffees" during my entire childhood, but I strongly believe that those few toffees were the sole cause of my root canal, many decades later.  What we would more frequently buy were "tablets", multi-coloured sweets tasting like sugared chalk at 4 tablets for 5 paise (yes, imbecilles, we had 5 paise coins then, a square coin..we even had pretty 2 paise coins). I think we got a lot of tapeworms in our stomachs from eating these tablets, or at least so I remember my mother complaining.

I could write more about the church choir, in which I was part (Alto..I believe Anita was a suprano, and I was envious of her high pitched voice). And the "Our father in heaven" prayer that sometimes I slip into unconsciously when I am worried - I am not even a Christian, the frogs in our toilets, the handyman cum watchman Arumugam who lived in a little shack near the gate and so on.  But it is lunch time, and I will leave them for another adrenalin-short day's post.

 

 

Comments

[jane]

Ah the beauty of the internet. Bringing together memories from all over the world.

[Suman]

Ah! fun post. I studied in a school that was run by a Christian Missionary, so I can relate to bits and pieces of the post.

I have been hoarding those 10 and 5 paise coins. The purchasing power of those little changes were fairly decent, right? I remember buying maps to practice for geography exams, balpams, kadalai orundais etc.

Have been catching up with your posts after a long time. I am enjoying every single one of them!

[Account Deleted]

Amazing! Second post I have read about marching. The only marching that went on when I was in school was done by the marching band!

Why were you sent to a school where there were nuns? Just curious. I am sure the smell of meat did make you feel sick. I cannot imagine children who don't eat something having to smell it being cooked every day. YUCK!

It is so interesting to hear these stories from peoples' childhoods. Very enlightening!

[LG]

Jane, yes. Reaffirms my belief that beyond borders and skin colours, human beings are one.

Suman, geography maps..YES. Each was two paise at RB Stores. Bad print, but useful for practice.

Freedom, many parents of that generation believed that convent run schools were better in terms of education and discipline than other schools. The schools were started by the English or Anglo Indian missionaries, and were indeed run well. There was also a strong belief among our parents that convent schools would give kids a better hang of English, which it did. Remember, this was before the globalization era. Now of course, the priorities have changed and convent schools are not any more sought after than non-convent schools.
The interesting part was, the "sex education" class was taught by a Christian missionary Father. I remember wanting the earth to swallow me.

[Shanthisree]

Hey LG- you really brought back memories flooding that I am just unable to focus on my work. Wooooo what a time we had.. after every round of lousy marching and throbbing knuckles, we were made to sit and watch Lariza Gomez march the stretch with a lot of oooohs and ahhhhs on how smartly she carries herself( not withstanding the fact that she was trim with not an ounce of extra fat while though we were not obese we were misproportionate after all the "paruppu sadam, ghee and curd). Wow those were days when the sun got defeated by the strength of our spirits. To date I would say despite the globalisation of education I have not found the discipline factor which existed then, the moral fear factor and the "INNOCENCE". Gone are the days when kids were just kids and not semi adults with all they need to learn by living taught thru the web. Gee LG you make me babble by reminding me of the "YESTER YEARS"

[LG]

Shanthi

"Gone are the days when kids were just kids and not semi adults with all they need to learn by living taught thru the web."

But you've got to admit, these kids are infinitely smarter than we were at that age. So, each era comes with its own package of good and bad.