Sunday, October 10, 2010

School Day Reminiscences - I

These past couple of months have been especially nostalgic for me. I happened to reconnect with a few of my juniors from school on Facebook, and slowly all these fascinating people from my childhood days seemed to come out of the woodwork. My husband cropped my picture from my Grade 10 class photo, and jokingly posted it as my profile picture on Facebook because he thought it was cute, and lo and behold, it stirred a whole lot of nostalgia in many of my schoolmates and opened the floodgates of memories past! I absolutely revel in walking down memory lane because it puts my life in perspective, helps me relate to folks with our shared recollections of teachers, events, friends, and the like, and makes me feel proud of how far we have come in life from those days of fun and childish laughter.

Well, school was the Seventh Day Adventist School on Travellers' Bungalow Road (TB Road) in smalltown Madurai of those days, in Tamilnadu, India. It was founded in the mid-1960s, following the establishment of the SDA Church, predominantly for the church members' children, but then grew into a behemoth of education for the general public. My parents, Mr. D.G. Samuel and Mrs. Mercy Samuel, were actively involved in the forming of both the church and the school, and my mother was one of the pioneer teachers of the school. I must admit I had the honour and privilege of attending this great institution right from Day 1 of its inception, until I graduated from the Grade 10 ICSE class, the first ICSE batch in the whole of Madurai! My memories of my school days are nothing but pleasant, my teachers extraordinary in what they imparted to me, my friendships so precious, and my childhood days full of sunshine, geniality, and general bonhomie! Needless to say, all that I am today is because of my wonderful school and its superlative teachers!

I remember very vividly my Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Abraham Koshy, whose daughter Anita Koshy was in the same class as well. I credit this teacher for having taught us reading skills at a very young age. I was 5 at that time (1967) and would eagerly await my turn to read aloud from the English Reader, a practice that was continued at home, my Dad relaxing in his easy chair with eyes closed shut, as I sat opposite him and read aloud from the Reader's Digest. Pastor Samraj was the first Principal of the school, and he and his family lived on campus. His son Edison was a few years my senior, and we children used to play with him on the sandy grounds of the school. On the side of the chapel next to the road leading to Ellis Nagar was a huge tree with fragrant white blossoms (not sure of the name...they were shaped like trumpets!), and I can still recall the heady scent of those flowers early in the morning, as we filed into the chapel for our morning service!

Memories will continue...

9 comments:

  1. Brought back memories. Nice to know that Mrs. D G Samuel's (as we always knew her) first name was Mercy.
    Sadly the school as you describe it no longer exists. I happened to pass the school 2 weeks back - all but the chapel have been brought down. And the gate of course, stands tall and proud...of all those who passed through her portals

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  2. OMG, really? That's really sad...time has brought about so many changes, I suppose! I heard even the chapel has been rebuilt and no longer resembles the one we used to sit in everyday for our morning assembly.

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  3. Facebook Comments by Sheela Ritu Rajani Chhabria:

    Olivia,thanks it was mypleasure to go through your blog,even iI started recollecting my junior days in school.the thached roof classrooms,our Head mistress.MRS.JAGADESHAN,leaving in the same coumpound.seeing to it that all the children have left for home safely.plucking the IDLLY POO and sucking the nectar from it,omg wish those days would come back again.My teachers MRS .ESTHER,MRS.JOHN.MISS.WHITE,MRS.SAMUEL,all primary teachers.used to be very loving .GOd its really taking me down the memory lane.thanks again.

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  4. Lily Blessing's comment on Facebook:

    i just wonder ...how u remember all the teacher's names and the headmistress name at tht very early age of 5? A lovely blog mam. As Mrs. Sheela has mentioned ur blog is strirring up the reminiscences of our childhood...specially i used to... like this Iddli poo a lot...me and my sis used to sneak out to a house to pluck this flower and once i was caught redhanded ..not by the owner...but by the watchdog...scared and panicked by its appearence at the end of the other side of the house..manged to run as fast i cud ..escaped its horrible teeth...never did i dare to do that again....i love dogs but not their bites...oops...but next day we went to meet the dog with the biscuits....lovely thoughts...

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  5. Sheela's comment again:

    now,that Olivia has kindled my sleeping brain,I have to mention one person of SDA.the school bell man Moses.a slightly retarted man gem of a person he was at the peck and call of everyone,even helpfull to us children.I remember him because he used to carry my school bag up to my class for me...........would be writing more.......

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  6. Jemima Chrisanthi's comment on Facebook:

    Ma'am, what a pleasure to read your blog and stir my wonderful memories of my old school! I didn't know that your family played such a big role in building up the chapel and school. By the way, I would love to see your dad's picture and tr...y to recollect my memory of him. Yes, I know that flower that you were talking about which I used to collect early every morning at school for the sheer pleasure of enjoying the fragrance and beauty of it. I used to know the name of the flower in Tamil but can't remember now. I even used to attend the church now and then and remember particularly one short dark man who used to be very active and belligerently vocal in church; can't remember his name. I would love to read more of your memories as those are my reminiscences and of all those who attended SDA. You bring out that nostalgia very well in your writing. It would be nice if this blog gets somehow posted on FB SDA School page. I did post the same comment on your blog too but somehow its not showing up there.

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  7. Thanks, guys! More memories to follow.

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  8. THOSE WERE THE DAYS OF LUMINOUS JOY,IF GOD WERE TO ASK ME SOMETHING I WANTED,WELL WITH OUT CONSIDERING A MOMENT WITH NO CHANGES,WITH SAME PEOPLE,SAME ATMOSPHERE, LIKE TIME CAPSULE WE SEE IN MOVIES,PLEASE OH THE ALMIGHTY GIVE ME BACK, GIVE ME.......REALITY IS AS SHARON MENTIONED EVERY REMAINS OF OUR REMINISCENCE IS NO MORE THERE IN THE OLD COMPOUND,AS FOR US THE NEW COMPOUND,LOT OF CHANGES WITH NEW BUILDINGS HAVE SPRUNG UP.EVEN THE PRESENT CURRICULUM HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM THE ICSE TO STATE BOARD MATRICULATION SYLLABUS.AFTER VISITING THE SCHOOL FEW YEARS BACK ALONE WITH OUT ANYBODY ACCOMPANYING ME,FOR THE SECOND TIME I FELT THAT NOTHING IS THE SAME EVER.AND I HAD TO COMFORT MYSELF BY SAYING OLD ORDER CHANGETH YIELDING PLACE TO NEW.I GAZED FOR ONE MORE TIME AT MY SCHOOL LIKE SOMEBODY IN FUNERAL SEES THE DEAD BODY FOR THE LAST TIME.TEARS ROLLED,PERHAPS THAT MADE ME TO GO IN SEARCH OF MY GOOD OLD FRIENDS,IT WILL NEVER END UNTIL MY END.

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  9. Nizam, that quote by Tennyson nails it all! Yes, the old order has changed. Change is always painful, but as my childhood pal Harish Bhat pointed out to me, we still have our memories with us and we can cherish them and relive them whenever we want to. Like you, I too would like to be transported back into the past of our school days, but knowing that's only wishful thinking, I'm reliving the past through my reminiscences! Thank you, Nizam, for the beautiful comment!

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