The batch of 1971 to 1980 our digital document of our togetherness registered in 1972 , class group photo . The Railay MIxed High School, Ponmalai / Golden Rock stands fresh in our memories . Our class teacher #Lewis - Miss Lewis who was living just across the school, (where her 3 kids were studying in #CAMPION #SCHOOL was a much debated subject )nevertheless we were taken care of by this teachers community Ms. Fernandez - 1st Standard, Ms. Lewis - 2nd Standard, MsNordmn - 3rd Stad, Ms.Demonte - 4th Standard, Ms.Carol Jones/ Ms Rajeshwari - 5th Standard, Ms. Saraswathi - 6th Standard, Mr. POnnuraj - 7th Standard, Mr. Chandrasekhar, Ms. Nesamoney Thomas, Mr. Baby Thomas, Ms.Rodrigues,Mr. Sundaramurthy, and many more, more... The school campus typical front open yard with shrubs around the building with a picket fence, front lined with higher classes closer to the visual monitoring of the Headmistress- Ms. Rodriques, a stern lady whom we always did not ant to come across except fo the morning prayer, where we would line up to say the daily pledge -
: “India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country, and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it. I shall give my parents, Teachers and all elders respect and treat every one with courtesy. To my Country and my people, my devotion. In their well – being and prosperity alone lies my happiness.”
followed by the national Anthem
When I browsed in wikipedia I found this to my surprise : Motto Study Serve Shine- Established 1923; 99 years ago and our school is on its way to celebrate its centinary. The ground in front with its authentic red sand that gathers dust when 400 oddstudents disperse to their respective classes after the morning prayer, if its Monday your white canvas shoes with white socka will loose its prime with red amorphous sands settling with you sweaty legs will gat red sand caked.. The funny part is all through the night I'd be polishing my Dad's shoes, then my brothers and finally mine with Blanco for canvas get my white socks washed and dried never to remember the aftermath of the Monday morning prayer mayhem where one would defy the care you had taken for the uniform, after lunch who cares you sweat it out post lunch during the break , playing football in tennis ball!!!! no boot, all in uniform, post the noon session class while we get back home its a different story to get whacked for getting back home with sand stain and dirty clothings.
The lunch break is always punctuated with our merchandise with the ladyies selling small eats such as - #sugarcanndy #elandavadai #thenmittai #ballimittai #kamarkat #orangemittai #kucchiice #kodukapalli #ezandhapazam #verkadalai ( peanuts steamed) #navaapazam !!!?
wow though such things are petty to what we offer to our kids with a #Blackforest #pastry #pizza #doughnut #sandwiches, I am sure that nothing equals to the tidbits that we had during our school days. We had no such luxury of pocket money.. yet with four annas ( 50 Paise) we were kings to spread out a lavish eat with our classmates
The school located amidst the colony hence many would rush home to have the lunch and dash back to school and steal that extra minutes to play gmaes.It was certain for us o get reprimanded for this, yet the thrills and shrills, made us ignore such eventual situations.!!The worst nightmare is the situation, that we assume that we were smart to conceal or hide the event, that, had occiured during our class hours in the school, bythe time you reach home that incident is already the subjet of discussion and we will be aspectator!!!You never feel alone, be it summer/ winter- sunny days / rainy days If the school is closed, yet you loiter around with same group ( almost all with no inhibition or discrimination, pluck- Kodukkapalli, #goosseberries, #mangoes, #gauvas, irrespective whosever house it might be ( sometimes I used to get scolded when my house - #H43 used to be the target. We had all season trees- Gauva, different types of Mangoes. Kodukkapalli, Lemon, Marudhani ) mehendileaves) #karuvepilai ( curry leaves). With such huge compoung, my granny, mom, all used to let the kids pluck the leaves durng the festival seasons ( #deepavali, #Dusherra, #Pongal, #TamilNewYears Day, #Ramzan, #Christmas, - felt that extra important amongst girls for letting them have that privilege to come and pluck the " marudhani leaves" and always felt one in community enjoying the haemony getting served #biriyani #christmascake and we offering to the close community friends #diwalisweets #pongalsweets #sundal during dusshera ) Golu)
This composition of the nostalgies very well edited made me rethink of my childhood and reminiscense in this video which was an accidental coincidence:
The days we break off early after our examinations, yet #CyrilPennyfather, #AjithKAntony, #Bobby & co from #Subramaniyapuram will always have fun going back home crossing our house- H-43 near the St. Peters Church, trodding all the way to G- Corner
plucking ( stoning) kodukkapalli, Mangoes, Gauvas, Berries, Gold Bees, what not .. yet enjoying the shoutings and abusings frothe residentds for having broken the tiles on the roof.
