It's April 11th already! This means that summer holidays for school children have just started. For the next 2 months, it means to them, no more homeworks, no more studies etc. Its just play play and only play!
How I miss those wonderful summer holidays of mine! Back then, schools in South India were mostly shut down for the summers between April and May and the new school year would commence in June.
I distinctly remember, the annual exams would finish by March 31st and the results would then be announced in April, generally around the 10th or the 12th. As these dates were known to my parents atleast 3 months in advance, my father would book the train tickets for me mum and me to Jamshedpur!
Come April 10th or 12th, go to school, greet the teachers, listen to the teachers once again on how well you hve done in the class exams and how we can improve in our studies, on what steps can be taken to strengthen in subjects we were weak in etc etc.... Was not a topper, but certainly wasn't that bad in studies either. Generally came somewhere between ranks 10 and 15, although in the later years it detoriated a bit.
Maths and Hindi were my weak points!!! English was my strongest subject followed by perhaps Social sciences and then sciences. Maths, was something that I used to hate it a lot, Still can't figure it out, even now! Till a certain age I was good but I guess in the last couple of shcool years, especially 10th, I developed a big hatered towards this subject.
Regarding Hindi, my test papers used to confuse me mum. There were always more red ink marks than blue ink marks, giving anyone the impression that the teacher had written the papers and I merely corrected them!! Was always on the border line in passing this exam.
Anyway, we used to collect the report cards, thank the teachers, wish them well and bid them goodbye hoping to see them in the next academic year! One teacher has created a record for teaching us from 1st Std till the 7th Std, without a break!!! Ironically, she was my Hindi teacher and my favourite amongst all teachers! I guess I was one of her favourites too for she ensured that I was a part of everything she undertook in the co-curricular activities. (Particularly when she in Vaswani House!)
On the result day, we (mum and me) used to board the train to Jamshedpur! The train journey, back in 1990's used to be a lot more fun. Initally, we used to travel by second class and the train journey has almost 42 hrs, not counting the enormous delays that was the common thing, back then.
Jamshedpur, is my birthplace, thus making me a Bihari by birth. Proud to be born in that place! Here, my maternal grandparents, had taken up residence since a long time and decided to stay back even afer dear Ajju retired in 1989.
In Jamshedpur, most of the schools were on holiday between mid-May till July or so. This is because, the summer months in North India was slightly different and also they follow a different system comparitively. So this meant, thoughout my stay in Jamshedpur for the next 45 days, I had NO friends at all, that I could play with or talk to! The only source of people I could talk to were me mum, grandparents, mama and mai, the all-rounder maid servant - Gulabi and her family! Gulabi is an all-rounder because she used to not just do the jaado-pocha and c wash the clothes, but also cook all 3 times for us. Her family (herself, her husband, her 4 grown children and her sasu maa) used to in stay in a servant's quarter built exclusively for them.
I still remember how I used to spend my days. If everybody used to attend summer camps of cricket, badminton, arts and crafts etc my summer camps were different! Maths and handwritting were my summer camps!!! Yep, every year, ajju used to teach me atleast 3-4 chapters of Maths of the next academic year. This is because, he didn't want me to waste my holidays doing nothing. He wanted me to excel in Maths as he was a topper himself! I couldn't complain nor avoid for there was nothing else for me to do. I used to sit quietly and do the work given to me - slowly, half-heartedly and the rewards were shoutings and sometime a beating or two, if I did not respond to him correctly!!
On certain mornings of the weeks, a lady used to come over to correct my cursive handwriting. She used to make me write a couple of paragraphs from a storybook so that I could practice my writing and make it better. But, I guess that I must be the only student who has failed her completely, for as soon as I returned to Bangalore, it would go back to good old days of being unintelligible.
Even today, I still admire Miss Patel, for that was her name her for she was a bold elderly lady who used to wear a frock (yep, in that prime age!), roam around in a cycle and shout at people! She was a bold one indeed! She seemed to have taught my mama when he was a boy. So she certainly must have been in her 50's when she taught me. Bless her soul! Women like her are rarely around these days.
These were my mornings!!!! But, in the evenings, Ajju took to me the Beldih club (or United club sometimes) and allowed me to swim for a few hours. Generally used to swim for 2-3 hours in the evening. It was not really swimming but just playing in the water with a crowd of children, who were half my age. Even in the pool, I did not make or have any friends that I could swim with or talk to. Swimming for these long hours, used to tire me out a lot! After a nice swim, I then used to make up for the lost energy by eating atleast a chicken burger, a mutton chop and a bag of crisps. Yep! and people wondered, why I never used to lose weight even after swimming a lot!. Back then, I was a guest to the club and as a guest I wasn't allowed to sign to take whatever I wanted to eat. But as the staff members knew me mamama extremely well, they used to allow me to sign and let me eat to my heart's content.
My mamama was a popular woman in certain cirles in Jamshedpur. She was a wonderful lady who was ahead of her time and was well educated. She could speak Hindi and English very well and used to read a lot of books. She used to knit beautiful sweaters for me.....
To be continued.
How I miss those wonderful summer holidays of mine! Back then, schools in South India were mostly shut down for the summers between April and May and the new school year would commence in June.
I distinctly remember, the annual exams would finish by March 31st and the results would then be announced in April, generally around the 10th or the 12th. As these dates were known to my parents atleast 3 months in advance, my father would book the train tickets for me mum and me to Jamshedpur!
Come April 10th or 12th, go to school, greet the teachers, listen to the teachers once again on how well you hve done in the class exams and how we can improve in our studies, on what steps can be taken to strengthen in subjects we were weak in etc etc.... Was not a topper, but certainly wasn't that bad in studies either. Generally came somewhere between ranks 10 and 15, although in the later years it detoriated a bit.
Maths and Hindi were my weak points!!! English was my strongest subject followed by perhaps Social sciences and then sciences. Maths, was something that I used to hate it a lot, Still can't figure it out, even now! Till a certain age I was good but I guess in the last couple of shcool years, especially 10th, I developed a big hatered towards this subject.
Regarding Hindi, my test papers used to confuse me mum. There were always more red ink marks than blue ink marks, giving anyone the impression that the teacher had written the papers and I merely corrected them!! Was always on the border line in passing this exam.
Anyway, we used to collect the report cards, thank the teachers, wish them well and bid them goodbye hoping to see them in the next academic year! One teacher has created a record for teaching us from 1st Std till the 7th Std, without a break!!! Ironically, she was my Hindi teacher and my favourite amongst all teachers! I guess I was one of her favourites too for she ensured that I was a part of everything she undertook in the co-curricular activities. (Particularly when she in Vaswani House!)
On the result day, we (mum and me) used to board the train to Jamshedpur! The train journey, back in 1990's used to be a lot more fun. Initally, we used to travel by second class and the train journey has almost 42 hrs, not counting the enormous delays that was the common thing, back then.
Jamshedpur, is my birthplace, thus making me a Bihari by birth. Proud to be born in that place! Here, my maternal grandparents, had taken up residence since a long time and decided to stay back even afer dear Ajju retired in 1989.
In Jamshedpur, most of the schools were on holiday between mid-May till July or so. This is because, the summer months in North India was slightly different and also they follow a different system comparitively. So this meant, thoughout my stay in Jamshedpur for the next 45 days, I had NO friends at all, that I could play with or talk to! The only source of people I could talk to were me mum, grandparents, mama and mai, the all-rounder maid servant - Gulabi and her family! Gulabi is an all-rounder because she used to not just do the jaado-pocha and c wash the clothes, but also cook all 3 times for us. Her family (herself, her husband, her 4 grown children and her sasu maa) used to in stay in a servant's quarter built exclusively for them.
I still remember how I used to spend my days. If everybody used to attend summer camps of cricket, badminton, arts and crafts etc my summer camps were different! Maths and handwritting were my summer camps!!! Yep, every year, ajju used to teach me atleast 3-4 chapters of Maths of the next academic year. This is because, he didn't want me to waste my holidays doing nothing. He wanted me to excel in Maths as he was a topper himself! I couldn't complain nor avoid for there was nothing else for me to do. I used to sit quietly and do the work given to me - slowly, half-heartedly and the rewards were shoutings and sometime a beating or two, if I did not respond to him correctly!!
On certain mornings of the weeks, a lady used to come over to correct my cursive handwriting. She used to make me write a couple of paragraphs from a storybook so that I could practice my writing and make it better. But, I guess that I must be the only student who has failed her completely, for as soon as I returned to Bangalore, it would go back to good old days of being unintelligible.
Even today, I still admire Miss Patel, for that was her name her for she was a bold elderly lady who used to wear a frock (yep, in that prime age!), roam around in a cycle and shout at people! She was a bold one indeed! She seemed to have taught my mama when he was a boy. So she certainly must have been in her 50's when she taught me. Bless her soul! Women like her are rarely around these days.
These were my mornings!!!! But, in the evenings, Ajju took to me the Beldih club (or United club sometimes) and allowed me to swim for a few hours. Generally used to swim for 2-3 hours in the evening. It was not really swimming but just playing in the water with a crowd of children, who were half my age. Even in the pool, I did not make or have any friends that I could swim with or talk to. Swimming for these long hours, used to tire me out a lot! After a nice swim, I then used to make up for the lost energy by eating atleast a chicken burger, a mutton chop and a bag of crisps. Yep! and people wondered, why I never used to lose weight even after swimming a lot!. Back then, I was a guest to the club and as a guest I wasn't allowed to sign to take whatever I wanted to eat. But as the staff members knew me mamama extremely well, they used to allow me to sign and let me eat to my heart's content.
My mamama was a popular woman in certain cirles in Jamshedpur. She was a wonderful lady who was ahead of her time and was well educated. She could speak Hindi and English very well and used to read a lot of books. She used to knit beautiful sweaters for me.....
To be continued.
I had no idea you were born in Jamshedpur!
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