Today while coming home from school I stopped at a cross road to let a van pass. There was the picture of Ganesha on its side and 'GANESH BEEDI' written under that. Automatically my eyes searched for a huge Ganesha painted on its door behind. I was disappointed to find it bare but a smile appeared on my face. My thoughts went back some 40 years.
My brother A was put in a school faaar away -nearly 2 km- from home! He walked the distance with his friends and would walk back home and reach by 5 in the evening.
On one particular day he did not come at the usual time. Nor did he come at 5.30 or 6! It started getting dark and everyone grew anxious. 6.30, there was no sign of the young boy of 13. No one thought of road accidents in those days of traffic free roads. Kidnappers were there but who would pick up a meek, studious looking boy whose father,everyone knew, was not 'rich' to pay the ransom? At around 7,when my father was thinking of what he should do next, the gentleman walked in with a sheepish grin. Every one felt relieved. Heaving a sigh of relief my father asked him where he had been. "They were painting a huge Ganesha behind the Ganesh Beedi van; so we all stood watching."came the cool reply. So much for an atheist!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Dons!
We were a group of assorted children in our class- we had our school watchman's niece, a film director's son, a hotelier's son, an advocate's sister a professor's daughter who could not tell A from B.... and two of us - my close friend and I -college lecturers' daughters. Lecturers were held in high regard those days and we two shone in their halo. We were considered very 'bright' and given a lot of importance. We had a few things to our credit. We learnt the poems quickiy and recited them, we talked boldly and sang well. We also 'chanted' the tables upto12. So we were asked to mind the class, teach our friends or run errands for the teacher. We took our tasks seriously but never behaved in a high-handed manner.
These tasks were assigned to us because the teachers had some other important work to do. The Kannada teacher had to write notations for the 'krithis' she was taught in her music class and had to learn it before evening. TheEnglish teacher had to write to her husband who was in 'foreign'. Maths teacher would be tired, and after teaching a sample sum, would settle down for 'forty winks' while the 'good ones' kept an eye on the others. My friend and I would be bored with the whole thing and would go out on the pretext of transfering ink from one pen to another. One of us always forgot to fill ink you know! Then we would pour ink from one pen to the other, several times, so that our hands and faces would be smeared with ink. Then we would go to wash our hands and by the time we entered the class the lunch bell would ring and yippeee! we were out!
Today I wonder how I passed the exams at all . And with my rich experience of the past, I catch my unsuspecting students when they are upto some trick and keep them wondering how smart their teacher is!! I hope none of my students read my blog.
ps: I should confess that my basic maths-( the 4 operations ) is good. I never use a calculator where as the maths teacher does!
These tasks were assigned to us because the teachers had some other important work to do. The Kannada teacher had to write notations for the 'krithis' she was taught in her music class and had to learn it before evening. TheEnglish teacher had to write to her husband who was in 'foreign'. Maths teacher would be tired, and after teaching a sample sum, would settle down for 'forty winks' while the 'good ones' kept an eye on the others. My friend and I would be bored with the whole thing and would go out on the pretext of transfering ink from one pen to another. One of us always forgot to fill ink you know! Then we would pour ink from one pen to the other, several times, so that our hands and faces would be smeared with ink. Then we would go to wash our hands and by the time we entered the class the lunch bell would ring and yippeee! we were out!
Today I wonder how I passed the exams at all . And with my rich experience of the past, I catch my unsuspecting students when they are upto some trick and keep them wondering how smart their teacher is!! I hope none of my students read my blog.
ps: I should confess that my basic maths-( the 4 operations ) is good. I never use a calculator where as the maths teacher does!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
My school
My sister finished her 'middle school' and went to a school run by a convent. Having studied in Kannada medium till then, she continued in the same medium. But she and all children in that section had to face a lot of discrimination. the humiliation she suffered can be narrated only by her. Anyway, the JSS institution opened an English medium school right next to our house and she was immediately shifted to the new school; and we all followed.
The school premises was a sprawling 2 to 3 acres of land full of trees and weird looking buildings. It was a film shooting studio and for what reason we don't know, it was sold to the JSS Matt. So when the school was started, all the old structures were there - huge halls with high roofs, some broken spot lights and reflectors still hanging from the wooden beams, round 'mantaps', and make up rooms - to name a few. The make up rooms were our class rooms. One huge hall was an assembly hall. Another hall without roof - it had all fallen - was haunted, we were told! the mantaps were used by us to sit and have lunch and sometimes to teach the unfortunate friends who were labeled 'dull'.
But we had a lot of place to play. There were mango, jack fruit, coconut and many other fruit trees. We would explore the wild growth behind our class rooms and come across many surprises. You will not have seen so many varieties of butterflies even in a book. the varieties of beetles we had collected!-fluorescent green and blue ones, black ones with red spots, some with red stripes, some with horns and some with a fan like antennae. Big, small, fat, lean, ugly, beautiful,it was something that could be described just like how rats are described in 'Pied Piper of Hamlyn'. I did not know much about the birds then. There must have been plenty of them. We recognized only the crows, sparrows mynas and koels.Wow! we had a nice time! I mean outside the class. what we did inside is a different story. :)
The school premises was a sprawling 2 to 3 acres of land full of trees and weird looking buildings. It was a film shooting studio and for what reason we don't know, it was sold to the JSS Matt. So when the school was started, all the old structures were there - huge halls with high roofs, some broken spot lights and reflectors still hanging from the wooden beams, round 'mantaps', and make up rooms - to name a few. The make up rooms were our class rooms. One huge hall was an assembly hall. Another hall without roof - it had all fallen - was haunted, we were told! the mantaps were used by us to sit and have lunch and sometimes to teach the unfortunate friends who were labeled 'dull'.
But we had a lot of place to play. There were mango, jack fruit, coconut and many other fruit trees. We would explore the wild growth behind our class rooms and come across many surprises. You will not have seen so many varieties of butterflies even in a book. the varieties of beetles we had collected!-fluorescent green and blue ones, black ones with red spots, some with red stripes, some with horns and some with a fan like antennae. Big, small, fat, lean, ugly, beautiful,it was something that could be described just like how rats are described in 'Pied Piper of Hamlyn'. I did not know much about the birds then. There must have been plenty of them. We recognized only the crows, sparrows mynas and koels.Wow! we had a nice time! I mean outside the class. what we did inside is a different story. :)
Saturday, February 19, 2011
teacher!
I had never dreamt that I would become a a teacher.I never had anything against the profession, but I loved my cousin who was a doctor and sincerely believed that I would become one. the sad thing was that I never knew that one had to work hard and study sincerely to become a doctor!
So...I graduated, got a master's degree in English and then a certificate in English language teaching and approached a school for a teacher's post. The Head Master told me that without a B.Ed. degree I had no entry into a school. Fine! I applied for a seat in two colleges- RCE( today it is known as RIE) and another private college. My name was not in first list of RIE which catered to all 4 southern states and union territories. The private college gave me admission, and I joined with some apprehension. (My apologies to good people associated with the college) I found myself in the middle of a horde of dowdy, ogling boys who would break into a romantic kannada song the moment they saw the pallu of a sari, (most of the girls wore saris) and girls who wouldn't raise their heads or voices and huddle in small groups. My heart sank into my stomach and I felt a lump in my throat.
One or two classes- introductions, syllabus and we were in a Physical Education class. The 'lecturer' talked about everything physical and nothing about education. He asked me how old I was , he asked another her caste and another if she was a christian! He talked about the differences between boys and girls, their gaits, mannerisms and nature, with demonstration! A very good teacher indeed! throughout the lecture we had the background music of the boys' raucous laughter and muffled giggles of some girls! That was the last straw!
I walked home, desperately wanting to discontinue, wondering how I could possibly finish my course. I reached home, and it was a moment of elation! My mother stood in the veranda, waving a card in her hand and said "You have got a seat in RCE in the second list!"
So...I graduated, got a master's degree in English and then a certificate in English language teaching and approached a school for a teacher's post. The Head Master told me that without a B.Ed. degree I had no entry into a school. Fine! I applied for a seat in two colleges- RCE( today it is known as RIE) and another private college. My name was not in first list of RIE which catered to all 4 southern states and union territories. The private college gave me admission, and I joined with some apprehension. (My apologies to good people associated with the college) I found myself in the middle of a horde of dowdy, ogling boys who would break into a romantic kannada song the moment they saw the pallu of a sari, (most of the girls wore saris) and girls who wouldn't raise their heads or voices and huddle in small groups. My heart sank into my stomach and I felt a lump in my throat.
One or two classes- introductions, syllabus and we were in a Physical Education class. The 'lecturer' talked about everything physical and nothing about education. He asked me how old I was , he asked another her caste and another if she was a christian! He talked about the differences between boys and girls, their gaits, mannerisms and nature, with demonstration! A very good teacher indeed! throughout the lecture we had the background music of the boys' raucous laughter and muffled giggles of some girls! That was the last straw!
I walked home, desperately wanting to discontinue, wondering how I could possibly finish my course. I reached home, and it was a moment of elation! My mother stood in the veranda, waving a card in her hand and said "You have got a seat in RCE in the second list!"
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The fall of a sparrow
My friend S, once commented, ‘when you start talking of your childhood too often, it is an indication that you are growing old!’I don’t mind what you call me , but I have to share certain experiences with you.
I was eight years old. We lived in a quiet road next to the fire station. The road was lined with huge trees. If we went half a kilometre to the west we were in the mango orchards, beyond which lay the cultivated fields. But we were not allowed to venture there as it was very lonely. The boys went, and shared with us, their experiences and the loot- raw mangoes, guavas and goose berries.
We were happy playing in our road discovering worms, insects, flowers and birds. We collected bird feathers, butterfly wings, shells and seeds. One of my brother’s friends shared with us a piece of wisdom, that should we aim at a bird and shoot with our ‘caterpillar’ as he called it, the bird would drop a feather and fly away! So the next thing we did was to take a catapult aim at an unfortunate bird and shoot. When we ran towards the ‘feather’ which fell, we found a small bird wounded and gasping for breath! It was heart rending to see the bird open its small beak as if to ask us why we bore such enmity toward the little thing. We tried to pour a few drops of water into its open mouth. The bird however died and we all went home crest fallen-of course after giving the dead bird a decent burial.
None of us had even heard the name of Dr. Salim Ali at that time!
None of us went on to become ornithologists! L
Saturday, February 12, 2011
games.....
Hi!
Here is my first post! Though I created my blog a week back, I was waiting for a 'kavi samaya'-a moment of inspiration to write. The middler in yesterday's Deccan Herald was ' Games children played' by Maya Jaypal and it took me to my childhood and the games we played.
None of our games needed any sophisticated gadgets or equipment. We did not have the adult looking Barbies or the US military heroes or the cartoon super heroes.All we had were twigs and leaves shed by the trees(trees were in plenty:)and stones of various shapes and sizes.If one of us was very lucky and struck gold, we would have a piece of broken china to play hop scotch(kunte bille)
So we played hop scotch, lagori, 'joot aata', I spy, current-sheroff (till today I dont know what that means), treasure hunt,dark room,'kunt hidio aata'(you have to hop on one leg and try to catch someone)and soooo many other games. There were many indoor games too.'Chowka - bhara', 5 stones, kavade (cowrie shells) -to name a few.
The famous pediatrician.Benjamin Spock wrote that, the simpler the toys, the more creative a child gets. So true! We were creative. We were so impressed by Bengalooru's Lal bag and Mysore's (ok, Mandya's) Brindavan gardens that we created our own paradises in sand using colourful pieces of glass bangles , pebbles,broom sticks and seeds of eucalyptus trees.The bangles served as fences or colourful fountains or neon lamps. eucalyptus seeds (are they seeds?) when stuck to broom sticks became our street lamps!We would forget ourselves in the world of architecture and landscaping till our mothers reminded us that it was time to get in! If I get a chance I would like to do it even now!
ps:Glass bangle pieces were also available in plenty because everyone wore them-children, young girls,
teenagers, women-young and old.)
Here is my first post! Though I created my blog a week back, I was waiting for a 'kavi samaya'-a moment of inspiration to write. The middler in yesterday's Deccan Herald was ' Games children played' by Maya Jaypal and it took me to my childhood and the games we played.
None of our games needed any sophisticated gadgets or equipment. We did not have the adult looking Barbies or the US military heroes or the cartoon super heroes.All we had were twigs and leaves shed by the trees(trees were in plenty:)and stones of various shapes and sizes.If one of us was very lucky and struck gold, we would have a piece of broken china to play hop scotch(kunte bille)
So we played hop scotch, lagori, 'joot aata', I spy, current-sheroff (till today I dont know what that means), treasure hunt,dark room,'kunt hidio aata'(you have to hop on one leg and try to catch someone)and soooo many other games. There were many indoor games too.'Chowka - bhara', 5 stones, kavade (cowrie shells) -to name a few.
The famous pediatrician.Benjamin Spock wrote that, the simpler the toys, the more creative a child gets. So true! We were creative. We were so impressed by Bengalooru's Lal bag and Mysore's (ok, Mandya's) Brindavan gardens that we created our own paradises in sand using colourful pieces of glass bangles , pebbles,broom sticks and seeds of eucalyptus trees.The bangles served as fences or colourful fountains or neon lamps. eucalyptus seeds (are they seeds?) when stuck to broom sticks became our street lamps!We would forget ourselves in the world of architecture and landscaping till our mothers reminded us that it was time to get in! If I get a chance I would like to do it even now!
ps:Glass bangle pieces were also available in plenty because everyone wore them-children, young girls,
teenagers, women-young and old.)
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