Man From Matunga

« All South Indians are not Madrasis | Main | Surviving Terrible Tuesday »

July 22, 2005

Girls and the All-Boys's School

This was published in today's Mumbai Mirror.

“Sunita, I love you”. Someone, in class XD, had written out these words in chalk, on the outside wall, directly facing Khalsa College. Seven upset Sunitas landed up in the principal’s office that day. The whole division was hauled up, and I can’t remember whether anyone really owned up, but we all thought it was pretty cool!

We had our own pretty “Sunitas” in Don Bosco anyway. Each year’s annual day production saw a good number of “women” taking part, and it was only because you knew that it was an all-boys’ school, that you also knew that they were “boys”. How could you then blame Oedipus for following in love with his “mother” or the male lead who took his own time in “Taming the Shrew” or those who thought the belly-dancer was the best part of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The annual day productions have always been awesome. These days the politically correct thing to do is to have as many students on stage as possible, so that no one feels left out. Two decades ago, you made it onto stage, only if you were very good. If you weren’t cut out to act, you weren’t, and that was that!

We also had access to virtually any sport that you can think of (yes, even billiards and tennis!). And, come to think of it, we could have even had a mini-golf course. Though the school is known for winning hockey, football, basketball and sometimes cricket championships, our biggest passion was square-ball, in which we would have won even the world championships. Unfortunately, the game itself seems to have died down a decade or so ago…the current rage is something called handminton.

None of these extra-curricular activities however would have been happened, if it hadn’t been for our teachers and the priests. Most of them have since retired or passed away and I would love to list all of them, but I am allowed only 500 words. So here’s to them: “to all our teachers who made a difference, thank you! Take a bow!”

There is always an indescribable ethos that pervades every school with unwritten laws and behavioral patterns developed over decades, which students inadvertently imbibe. These, along with the peer group, apparently more than parental values (that’s what the child psychologists say these days), shape children. Though in junior college, most Boscoites are hormonally charged, libidinous animals, suddenly let loose from an all-boys cage, in later years, the “better” values start kicking in. These are what make us different and are probably why the vast majority of Boscoites do exceedingly well in life. Which is also why you wonder how parents can flock to new start-up schools, just because they are “different” or “ICSE” or whatever, when these schools still haven’t had the time to develop any character.

PS:
Another great institution along the fringes of Matunga, J B Vachha High School, lost its principal early this week. I came to know Mrs. Khorshed Bharucha, in her last few years and was impressed by her quiet dignity and courage in the face of what she had to endure. Though she had a great support system in the form of her students, friends and family, any lesser person would have crumbled and given up a long time ago. I know that words cannot in any way replace the loss that her family is facing, but we all share their sorrow. We will miss her!

Posted by bhavinj at July 22, 2005 06:48 PM

Comments

Post a comment