The boy who made it to the Capital.

        The class bells go at sharp nine.  We have to make it by then.  The time of the year is June and to be exact June 1.  The southern part of India will be drenched in the monsoon and we walk in ankle deep water below and torrential rains from above.  The new umbrellas are with wooden handles which were liked because they were new.  The walk to school is joyful for the boys.  Not so good for the girls as their skirts get wet anyway due to the rain and sway of the wind.  Once at the yellow building of the school, you are safe.  The building is a huge double storeyed structure with rose gardens around.  The aroma of the roses will be there always!  Then the class rooms with black boards and benches.         The school belonged to the sisters.  Their hard labour and sweat was in them.  Education was free.  We did not know who paid the sisters.  They were very clean.  At that point the poor children did not know cleanliness was a requirement for good health.  It was thought it was a requirement of the rich.  The poor in any case are damned!           Once in class rooms, we were around 32-36 boys.  The black board used to have a writing on the top right hand side which said " Std-I, Str:33"  The Class Teacher was a sister and she was always there with a wonderful smile and ready to help us children.  She was in white dress with a black veil, which was held in place with an oil pin with a little coloured dome top.  I thought it was nailed into her head.  Ignorant I was!  There were other teachers who came in saris for different classes, especially one for the play time.  She was a hefty lady with a light coffee brown sari with flowers and leaves printed on it.  The boys class never had girls.  I had  three of my elder sisters studying in the same school, so at times I had the privilege of meeting my sisters and at times their friends.  They all looked at me as I was small and in just Class I.   I thought it was curious of them to think so.  Why can't anybody study in class I?  I was told I was just 4 years and had got one year added to my age to make it 5 so that I can start schooling!  As I was keen to emulate and enjoy school as my sisters this was perfectly OK with me.
          As I had elder sisters, I had another privilege too!  This was, at times climbing the wooden stairs to go to the Ist floor to meet my sisters who were on the first floor in higher classes.  Other children especially children of smaller classes were not allowed to go upstairs.  If any body strayed, a look from any of the sisters were enough to make them shiver and return to the ground floor.   The stairs and the upper floors were made of wood in those days.  Wood were plenty.
I was a happy bird in school.  In the morning I clang to the finger of my eldest sister and walked to school along with my little brother who was just elder to me.  We walked though the bylanes, main roads, passed the market junction and the cluster of shops with the stationery shop among them.   That was the only shop of my concern.  The text books and slate came from that shop.  In the beginning of the year I was thrilled to get the new books, which smelled soooo...good, that in the initial days we did not read the books bud smelled them.  If I could study any thing by smelling, I would have studied all of them by a weeks time.  However, that was only the beginning of a tough ride.
          Every day my brother and I was shown to the class room of Standard I by our sister and there after we were on our own until the last bell went at 4 pm.  In between we were with 32 or 34 or 36 other children whom we had to befriend.  So each of us looked at the other so as to make an assumption of what kind of guys they were.  I, for one, was just enough dressed and was hungry most of the time and assumed most of the others would also be like that but soon found out it was not the case.            Most of the kids were well dressed and some of them lavishly.  They had the new books much earlier than me.  They (most of them) brought their own lunch time food.  I had to give head count at the start of the class for the usual school lunch (this was kanji with a vegetable curry).  We also had to carry two plates, one large plate for the kanji and one small plate for the curry.  At the bell after period 2, we all who enlisted to receive the school meal were to go and keep our big and small plates in the verandah for the lunch to be served in them by the lunch time at 1 o' clock.               Once back in class, we forgot all about the kanji until the 4th period, by which time, we start to feel hungry and were anxious for the bell to go. Once the bell went we ran out to the jack fruit tree to get a fresh fallen leaf and made a natural spoon by that and came back to the kanji curry lunch.  Those other boys who were slightly better of than us brought their own spoons or brass scoops.  We could not afford them and had to go natural!  That gave us a grit to go natural in any circumstance in life.  The food dished out by the sisters were clean and neat, the vegetable curry was superb.  Kanji was the rice pudding with some water and the curry was generally lentils, peas, horsegram or channa.  Apart from giving food, the sisters supervised the eating part also.  I always wondered, how they could find as much time, to supervise us taking lunch, as they were with us in the class and have to come to class again after the lunch break.
             While I was contemplating about the service mindedness of the sisters, I did not see the thing coming to me.  As I said we were also hungry at lunch time and once we reached out plates for a few minutes the world disappeared from in front of us.  Only at the end of the last scoop, it reappeared!  One day, the sister supervisor was standing close to me.  I had started my food and the world was about to disappear as usual, but something unusual struck me, and lo! I was having the steel look of the sister! I lowered my scoop slowly, as if I had done something wrong.  The sister stepped closer to me and said: Not with your left hand, but with the right hand! I was shocked.  So far I had no thought of which hand I used to eat with.  And it was always with the left hand which was very convenient to me. No I am being given an order even though very nicely.  My face reddened, I thought, the sister would look the other way or go away, so that I can continue my food, but no., she was stay put, slowly she came near me and sat on her haunches and took the scoop  from my left hand and made me hold it in my right and guided me to take the first few scoops and went back to her old place.  I quickly learned the drill, the hungry bird I was, and soon started to take lunch with my right hand!           I forgot about the incident altogether.  But remembered it when that sister again appeared in front of my class room and spoke something to our class sister.  My class sister was an angel in sisters uniform! So I did not have any thing to be afraid of from her.   But it slightly made me uneasy as to what it could be that the other sister would have told her.   I did not have to wait long to know that.  Once the class started we were to be taught who to write.  The sister wrote Aah in Malayalam, on the board and asked us to write in our slates.   Once I started with the letter in my slate, how so ever, I tried, it was not coming correct.   I could see my angel sister looking at me from the corner of her eyes and beaconing me.
            Once near her table she told me in hushed voice " hold the pencil (it was a slatee) in your right hand and show me.  I did so.  She cupped my little hand in her big hand and slowly made me write the word Aah in Malayalam.   She got me to write such a beautiful letter in one or two helps and at that time, I did not know that she was opening world to me, through the word!   I was thrilled and happy. I learned the first two rules in that first week in school.  Eat with your right hand!   Write with your right hand!  Those habits stuck with me for life!
             The relief bell for final disbursal for the day went at 4 pm and that was the time the robust boys ran out with a shout and the non-robust slowly walked out.  Of course they have to wade through the robust girls or elder sisters, among whom the boys being tiny and minuscule went unnoticed. The girls all had white tops and blue skirts which covered up to their ankles.  A few had half saris too which were beautiful.  Once disbursed students walked in all directions with brisk steps.  A few waited and caught buses.  But still there were one or two for whom an ambassador or a little vill-cart was waiting.  These were the richest in the school from the near premises.  Everybody marveled them.  Oh..to go home in a car, or a vill-cart!  That was too good to afford to the multitude!Time went by. Seasons changed, the rains stopped.  Now it was really beautiful.  The gardens in the school became more lovely. But all the same, the regular going to school started to get me bored.  Especially on Mondays, it became difficult for me to go.  On Sundays, when we had a holiday, the whole family used to be more vibrant and the the good feelings of the holiday will linger to the next Monday and when I thought of going to school in the morning, I found it to be very disgusting!  At that time I did not know it was only a morning feeling!  I found a way to circumvent school.  This was the usual simple children's complaint of stomach ache in the morning.At that time, of course, I did not know that other children of that age usually made that kind of a morning complaint.  Any way, I made the complaint but the thing I under estimated was of mother, who was always, love, love and butter!  I never thought, such a nice loving mother, can be too hard at times and take me to task!.....My stomach pain was becoming stronger and my sisters and brother almost satisfied themselves that I was sick and started off to school without me.  But mother was not on the scene, she was busy in the kitchen and she came to the front side to see all had left and found that I had been left out!  She suddenly got me dressed up and told me that I have to go with the others or else.  I showed vehemense, as I have the stomach pain.  Mother was undeterred.  She took my slate and other things in the school bag and just pulled me holding my two hands in her large hand and started going towards the others who had started walking in the front.  On the way, she broke off a little branch of the cashew nut tree and told me that the stomach aches which come out of time, especially during the time one is to leave for school, will be cured by this little branch in no time.!  She replied my insistence not to go to school, with the chashew nut tree branch and the beatings were very severe and I started going this way and that way to avoid being beaten.  But mother did not leave my hands, so I could not run away also.   After quite a few beatings and all the way walking bruskly, she caught up with my elders,   who were going in front and at times looking back and seeing the drama and left me with them saying : 'See that this boy reaches school'  to the others!
All of them were very kind to me and said and eldest sister consoled me saying, "Had you come with us you would have avoided this beating, but don't worry, here after we will see that you don't get beaten!  It was too severe! I will tell mother not to beat you any further"  This was really soothing to me and  with that all of us turned the first turn of the little by-lane from the house and went forward towards the next turn where the bullock cart was going in front!  The bullock cart always thrilled me!  I quickly forgot the beating and the whole drama for the time and started watching the bullocks with their bells and painted horns and the sound of the wooden wheels with the metal covering.  The tick tock sounds they made when the cart moved on uneven paths with mud and pits.  At the close of the turn, one side of the cart almost touched the bamboo jungle with its foliage and thorns and went past brushing on them!
The beating with the cashew nut tree branch had a good effect on me.  Thereafter I never had stomach ache neither virtually nor litterally!  It had fully cured me of that kind of disease and thereafter I was always eager and anxious to go to School, come rain or shine, it was always School or College first!!  That really helped me to make it in life!!

THE DAYS WITHOUT ELECTRIC LIGHTS                 Mostly there was a black ambassador car and one vill-cart to carry two or three girls.   None of the boys were seen riding those cars.  The black ambassador  had a driver with a little face in burned out colour, but always in neat white turn out.  He would be mostly wiping the car most of the time until his passenger came in.  The villcart will have two guys with it.  One a driver and the other a little bullock.  They seemed to be friends.  We rarely saw him beating the bullock, even though he had a colourful whip in his hand.  Mostly it was an ornament.  The white bullock had a bell in his neck and the cart also had a bell both rang when the cart moved which was a warning to the passers on the road.            The girls apart we the simple boys moved with our satchels and our next point of calling in the evening after class is the nearest primary health centre.  The health centre operated in an ornamental building which belonged to some rich fellow who had leased it to the health   department.  We always wondered what a guy he could be to live in such a bungalow building! The building had a hexagonal porch with a huge hall and spacious verandahs on all sides.  The pillars were all iron poles which was a luxury in those days, very strong and sturdy indeed!  The severe rains did not disturb anybody once inside that building.  The steps leading to the verandahs were 12 insulating the building from the vagaries of the monsoon.  In that higher reach verandah two to three ladies used to be mixing milk powder in large white enameled buckets.  Warm water is poured into a bucket with a lot of powder, I don't know how much, and  it is poured with a large mug again and again creating a lot of foam. It was a joy to see so much milk foaming and frothing. That too warm milk!  The June  July school opening times always were a damp time with a kind of cold in Kerala, but it is never considered a cold by the healthy and young.  Only the little children and the old and infirm felt it.  The ladies asked the children to stand in queues and started pouring one large cup each of milk to us. The milk will have milk powder balls at times, which is a joy ti eat.  When it mixes with the saliva it has got a taste, oh..you have to taste it! Slowly we all drank up the milk, washed our lunch plate which we again used to collect the milk and put it along with our slate and books.          We walked along the main highway road, but the vehicles were not as much as we see now.  Huge private buses which operated passed at regular intervals and the trucks and cars were all local.  Long route passengers always moved in trains only.  No body could think of air passage.
             The road home was always a sort of sight seeing and enjoyment of the day.  We looked at all the movement and drama in the road, at times stopped at the market junction to watch a clairvoyant person doing some trick to collect money from onlookers, or another one selling a local medicine for grey hair, stomach pain, or white flow in youth!  We watched only for a few minutes and moved on as we were not avid to buy anything or  intending to pay anything.  Then there were shops with wares of all kinds, very new things and among them our book shop which was actually a stationery store!  Our books came from that shop.  The shop keeper was a deep thinker, a slightly thick young man who watched the passers by with eagle eyes and ruminated about his business all the time.  His shop had all things and all the more quite a few glass bottles full of different coloured sweets! I envied him!  How can a man can own so much sweets!  Great indeed!  His children would be eating sweets all the time!  But I had a relief.  May father at times used to bring most of the diifferent coloured sweets in different packets and gave us. But this was only on the days he had travelled on business and came back.  He worked for a family who had some business and my father was the strong man who undertook journeys for the business partnership.  Once my father came back safely with their money, he was also paid a good share, and he came home with all those sweets.  Such days were sweet days at home.            My father used to be very happy in those days and he will lie in the reclining chair eating his paan. This is a mixture of betel leaf, calcium and arecanuts and at times a piece of Jaffna tobacco. There will be a sweet smell around him of all these and some thing else.  I was also happy in those times and always thought the smell very exciting.  Apart from the paan smell, there was something else too which made the occasion solemn.  Afterwards my elders told me it was the smell of  toddy, the local palm liquor which was plenty in the market shops!  At such times my father said poetry which we all enjoyed.  He philosophized and gave us wise sayings!               Moving from the Stationery store, we moved further to see a lorry on the road not getting started and a young man turning a handle in its front mouth which we were all watching avidly.  We all prayed for the starting of the lorry as the young man turned the handle! After quite a few turns the thea huge vehicle coughed, shook and shivered ultimately coming alive!  The driver beckoned to the handler to get it and the lorry moved on.  We continued our joy route home.  On the way we surveyed various houses and sights and compared the changes from our last sight of them.  At times, the elderly ladies or gents  called out to us to enquire the welfare or happenings concerning us!  Or at times they wanted to send some little thing to someone living near us which we generally accepted.      On the way at times, we got to see a good bullock cart which had a canopied cover and well ornamented.  Sometimes we held on to the bamboo bars at the back of the cart and walked along with it.  Generally the bullock cart drivers did not say anything, but at times they frowned at our holding on to them.  Once in a while a good driver asked us to get in the cart and helped us on to it and dropped us on the way.  This was rare even though at times we could get such a lift which we considered great in those days.          The police station was one of the great sights on the way up and down.  It was a small house sort of thing.  There will be one or two men in police uniform in the verandah and courtyard.  People looked to that house with awe only.  The way people looked to that side, we thought, that it was not a very good house.  The policemen had a type of caps which was almost like a funnel turned upside down with some work out on it with an emblem of Ashoka Sthampa on the front side.  The men wore khaki shirts and half shorts which mostly stood stiff with the young men and just in a sluggish manner on the elderly.  They wore wide brown leather belts and their shirts had silver or brass buttons.    On the leg side they wore a type of khaki woolen pattis.  The foot was free with chappals on them.  At times, there used to be a blue coloured jeep which also created awe among the public, but that was rare.  We all that it was great to be in that kind of dress.    We never wore anything other than our white shirt and nickers.  But no chappals. We walked with free feet, without any kind of footwear.  In fact all of us used to walk without them.  Such accompaniments were only for the rich.  Who can't walk without them.
       Everyday we were trained a little in studies and were made to exercise in them.  I vividly remember the mathematical tables which we tried hard to memorize and once adept found to our joy we can do small arithmetical sums mentally!  Next was reading stories in Malayalam and memorizing poetry lines, a few lines at a time, lines from Krishna gadha etc.  Through many days walk and work our class reached Standard III, which was our cut off point from the Girl's School and from my sisters.  I was really unhappy to leave my sisters and the rose smelling school and its wonderful angelic nuns and teachers!  But the School rules did not permit boys above class III to continue in the Carmelite Girls School.            There was no show off of emotions in those days at such times.  An elder from the family came with a grave look and took our Transfer Certificate and then set out to find the next school who will admit us if they had vacancies. The one near our house, a Government School said they were over full and can't have us!  So, after prolonged search my father found out there is a School one and a half kilometers and admitted, me and my immediate elder brother, there.  We were never asked.  We were told that that is the School where we were to go.  We were also told that there were my father's other acquaintance's wards also went there, and they may be company in the long walk daily!  Me or my brother never said anything.  That was OK.  We only wanted to know, which date to go.  Yes, the date was the same of course, June 1.  Classes started always on June 1.

           We were 5 or 6 boys to walk to school in that far off place which was less populated in those days.  Only because of that, we got seats there.  This was a school privately owned but government run arrangement.  The chief master was a hefty Christian, well studied and very noble.  He was a kind heart-ed soul.  He was part Gandhian part a philanthropist.  He had seen to it that the children get their lunch with very good rice and with vegetable curry.  In the first class itself we were all told about Mahatma Gandhi and the importance of Swadeshi.  As a matter of follow up we were introduced to making cotton thread from cotton wool using the instrument called 'thakli'.  We had to make  thread once every week in a period specially designated for it.
            The school was a small one compared to the school we came from.  Only four class rooms and only 4 classes.  From Class I to Class IV.  We have joined in Class IV just to cover that one year.  Next year we have to search for new school.   But it never came into our thoughts or disturbed us, as we didn't have to worry about it.  The School situated in a very large piece of land.  Behind the school, the owner Head Master had his house and house-hold.  We quickly got acclimatized with the school and its curricula e.  There will be a prayer starting with 'Akhilanda mandalam aniyichorukkee..atinullilananda deepam koluthi..'  and once the song prayer ended the Headmaster called out in a loud voice Om Shanthi...Om Shaanthi...Om Shaaanthihi.!  The we disbursed to our respective classes.  On Fridays, before the prayer, there will be a check up of teeth and nails by the Class Monitors and at times by the Teachers.  This is to see we have brushed regularly.  We used to brush regularly.  Brushing was with burnt rice husks with the fore-finger.  At times we added common salt to the rice husks if the teeth did not get bright enough.  Common salt did brighten the teeth.  Tooth brush had not become very prevalent in those days.
            A few of our school walk-mates belonged to farmer families and had paddy fields and so they were used to the short cuts to school through paddy fields, compounds and re-entering roads and ultimately ending up in the school and vice-versa.   We were too happy to try this.  At times we took the regular road and at other times, we took the short cut paddy field cum compound road.  The regular road had mango trees on either side.   At times some of the friends did throw stones and brought down mangos which we broke with pieces of stones and shared.  One or two of our thoughtful friends had common salt kept for adding to their kanjis at lunch, and these they brought out to go with the mangos, which was always welcome.  I was never thoughtful in those days, and hence, never kept anything except my books.  On the road there were regular travellers, carts and bullock carts and a few motor vehicles.   Half the way on one side there was an irrigation canal, which had water always, very clean crystal clear water with fish in it.  People said,  it came from the dam upstream and was meant for the cultivation around.  We got our happiness by looking at the fish all very small, and at times we caught them by splashing tghe water to one side with our foot and picking up and putting the little beings in a arbi-leaf scooping up some water in it.  We took them home to be put in glass bottles with water and kept them and fed them.
          When we took the short cut which was interesting, but had its own troubles and dangers! For one, the road was not a regular.  The un-inhabited areas had snakes, as it is usually their domain.  Tropical snakes are poisonous and such cases are usual at times.  Mostly these being caring for their own ways, moved away on feeling foot falls and we saved ourselves!  The wet paddy fields especially after rains can make the one foot path-ways slippery.  If we slipped, we fell into the paddy field.  So we had to be very careful.  Once we came out of them, we were in other people's compounds and here we used to find cara plants which are thorny bushes which brought out small edible fruits.  We used to go near them and pluck and eat the fruits raw.  This also was dangerous, as these bushes also were abode to venomous snakes, which we did not know at that time.  Then came our friend, Raman's house were we could get water to drink.  Raman's people were paddy field workers and hence they lived near the edge of the field which was very low from the road, which was on higher ground.  We were joyous to go to his house as he also studied with us, or at least he used to come to school and that too in the same class. Raman knew most of the agricultural works including driving a bullock cart even though he was only 9 years.  He was very tall for Class IV.  But rarely could he give answers to questions in Class which was slightly surprising.  Once I asked him and he said he did not have time to study after to school as he has to straight away attend to agricultural work!  I was sad for him.  He did not continue after Class IV.  I did not know that was his last Class in School.        The year moved quickly.  There were the usual camaraderie, bravado, one-upmanship among the little biggies.  We had one hefty stocky guy called Sulochanan and there was another tall guy called Eldhose  who came from exactly the opposite direction of our side.  Both were leaders on their own sides and one day for some reason they fell off.  We the little children were petrified.  For us, Sulochanan was Chief for everything and I had never seen him nervous, but this one time.  I slowly crept up to him and asked why he is worried.  He said there was a quarrel with the other guy which was unfinished as elders were passing the road.  So that will be settled once the School was over in the evening.  I suggested that we all attack Eldhose in that case. But Sulochanan won't have any of it.  He said in this battle, we can't allow others to enter.  That is below decorum.  True to his word, Eldhose was on the road that day waiting for him.  We froze.  Eldhose had his team boys who also stayed away at convenient distance.  As Sulochanan reached near Eldhose majestically walked up started to catch Sulochanan and both of them locked hands and both fell.  In the roll on, Eldhose got up hit Sulochanan once and stood up and said "This is only to  show who is the leader here!  I would have done it yesterday, but for the elders passing by.  If you have still any grudge come on now."  Both of them stood looking at each other for a while and both turned around and started walking towaards their teams.  That was the end of that quarrel.  We were holding Sulochanan's books and other articles all the while for him.  That was a strange fight.  I, till date, do not know, exactly for what they fought!   The school had a number of girls too!  Some of them were very beautiful.  Girls normally did not mingle with boys or vice versa.  In the class, girls sat on the left side and boys on the left.  Only time some communication took place was at the School Annual when programmes were arranged jointly.  That was a rare occasion.  In any case, we never cared if girls are in the class.  We had to think a lot about what all games could play in recess and at other times.  During lunch free time, we  went out to the road to pluck fruits from the huge banyan tree or the Madras eentha.  The Madras eentha was a huge tree with aq number of branches and a lot of green foliage.  It made the whole area dark and its shade was very soothing.  The fruit from it always fell below and we only had to check the ones we could take were clean.  The only problem under such trees in those days were the rat snakes which climbed on them in search of these fruits or any other kind of food.  Some times such huge snakes fell down heavily from the tree.  As we were small children, we got frightened once when a huge snake fell near us!  Luckily the snake slithered away.        Sometimes we went near the hedge fence which had some creepers creeping on them with flowers and fruits.  Especially there was a fruit which we called the monkey fruit which was sweet but a bit slimy.  We ate plenty of them.    At times we were alone or two or three together when we went for such fruit search.  Going alone was always dangerous.  Once my brother went alone as he was brave.   But to his horror, when he was plucking the fruits, he heard a hissing noise and found a viper below the hedge.  He took flight to the school and started a fever by the time we reached home in the evening.  Such frights did not last long or affect us,  as we were strong devotees of St. George!
         If we were with the group, we used to play different games and at times our leader used to allow us to take his rubber wheel to roll.  A rubber wheel is the inner part of an automobile tyre which was cut out by the mochi (the cobler) with his chisel.  The game is to roll it with a small stick by striking at it at the back from time to time and to put the small stick on the side to turn it wherever we wanted. One has to run with it to enjoy the drive.   I was good at it and enjoyed moving it around and running with it.  How so ever I ran I never tired with it.   Oh..what a joy to run with the wheel!!  Mostly we repaid for the leader's generosity by offering allegiance to his superiority.  We actually liked the fellow as he was  strong and could look any grown up man in the eye!  We all wanted to do it when we grew up and became very strong!     **     One day, we had a meeting of all friends who walked together to school.  Our leader presided.  It was a simple affair in which without discussion the leader just announced the minutes and looked at all members for approval.  The proposal for all of us who had come from our houses to go to school,was to skip the day's school and go around through our short cuts, paddy fields, and wherever we liked and avoid class and studies, which he said was very boring.  I was petrified and started looking at other friends faces.  They were all shaking their heads in approval.  A couple of them had a grin on their faces as if it is a great thing to do and kudos to the leader who could think of such a marvellous idea and announce it without any hitch.  I for one, felt for the studies, and also wanted to see my class fellows on all days, was at a loss at this sudden idea.  I looked around to see if any one had my thought in them. Alas, all were in favour of the boss and I was alone!  For the first time in that trip I thought my knees were giving way.  I pulled myself up and kept very quite.  The leader started walking to the short cut paddy field way.
         We went through various compounds eating whatever fruits or junglee seeds we could get there.  caught a few small fish a kept them on leaves with water in them and enjoyed the sight.  After a while we came on the walk way on the bank of the Irrigation canal.  The canal was of medium depth with two-three feet water flowing in them.  I was really enjoying the journey and it was becoming almost lunch time.  Suddenly, the leader stopped and asked one of my friends to 'bring out the other thing'.  I started wondering what this other thing could be.  My other friend (he had an arrangement with the leader and was more close to him) brought out a packet covered with newspaper.  Once opened, I could see it was a bundle of beedis, the country cigarette.  These had tobacco in it covered with the desi or country tendu leaves usually green in colour.  My father and eldest two brothers, I have noticed, smoking them.   I always thought that this is for the big men to use them and I hated the smell of it.  I also hated those who used them.  I could not stand the smell of it and once around that smell adhered to your dress too.
         I shuddered at the sight of this terrible thing!
         First a shiver went through me at such a turn of events which I had not expected.  Not studying and skipping class was not OK, but sufferable.  Here things were slipping out of hand.  I kept my cool even though very uneasy.  At home in the small rooms we had at times my father or brothers lighted up a beedi.  The acrid smoke and the pungent smell of phosphorus and sulfur nauseated me every time this happened.  I moved away as telling anything against will only call for criticism in those days.   The leaders voice shook me from my reverie.  "Distribute the thing"  At this every one was given a beedi each.  I did not accept the stuff.  Others were examining it and they were all were putting it to their mouths as a prelude to lighting up.  One of the boys produced a match box and helped each one to start their beedis.  Once it was over the whole attention was on me.  I could not think of a way out.  There were moments of tension.  Slowly the leader came close and stood before me.  He towered over me.  I started to become smaller and smaller.   He ordered my friends to hold my hands and said "I have a way to make him accept it"  Two of my little friends who had grown bigger than me after my refusal held my hands.  Leader ordered a third friend "Light it and put it in his mouth"  There was a way of lighting up for others by lighting the beedi and taking a puff by somebody before putting it in others mouth.  This was being done to me now!  My face reddened.  I wanted to rebel.  I wanted to revolt.  I wanted to vomit!               The lighted beedi  was put in my mouth and the smoke started to penetrate my nostrils.  The climate was pleasant.  There was a light breeze.  It had rained in the early morning.  The water was flowing in the canal with a gurgle.  Suddenly on the spur of the moment I spat out the beedi to the flowing water.  On contact with water the lighted beedi was put off with a hiss and it started flowing down stream.  Every body was stunned!  I expected the unthinkable may happen now, which I did not know.    Leader was also takedn by surprise for a moment.   No body expected this to happen.  The cost of the beedi and the irreparable  loss which I made, upset them.   The Leader told me, with .  a bit of sadness,  "No you can't be in our company.     Keep away from the team!"   I had nothing to say.  I was startled, just stared at him for a short while and started backing up.  Then he turned around and started his walk and everybody else followed, I at the last.
After a while he came back to me and admonished me saying that I cannot walk in line with them, so I keep a few steps away from them only which I obeyed to avoid further complication.   I walked with my head down and sad at the turn of events and feeling for myself, as to  lose such nice friends who were my walk mates!    All of us walked in aline over the side bank of the canal which brought us to the road and at the joining point there was a small tea shop.  Once at the shop, the shop keeper in a lungi ( a coloured piece of long cloth) with a lighted beedi on his lips greeted our leader with a wide grin and a 'helo'.  I was sure that they knew each other.  The other friends were non-consequential as none of us were grown up enough to enter a tea shop on business or greet the owner. We were all considered small children.
    The Leader turned around and said that we all will have our lunch here.  He said, those who had their lunch with them, eat it there and those without to buy something.   I was sheepishly standing around bewildered thinking if at all I will be accepted back in the team.   The leaders suggestion of having lunch jolted me out of my reverie and dreams and things and threats of the moment became very real to me.
     I could never think of entering a tea shop and eat something as we were without money.  We never had it during our school times.  We only had books and writing materials.  We went near a tea shop at times only if we in need of cold drinking water, which were offered free of cost.  Apart from this, I still had my plate to collect my school lunch and it has become lunch time, which meant I may lost my school lunch.  I made a very bold decision then.  I decided to leave the team and face the consequences.  In any case, I had been dispelled by the leader.  All in the team were in side the tea shop where the leader were ordering some food for him and a few of the others who had not carried any food.     I turned around and  walked fast to the school which was not far off.  As I reached the school gate the class master was coming out and he saw me.  He was a bit surprised and said why I am so late.  I mumbled some household problem and sneaked past him to the class room.  The classes had not   restarted after lunch.  Some of the other class fellows thought something is amiss and asked me.  I told some problem on the way had held me up etc.  But I did not have any answer to their further questions as to where are the others and the leader.   Classes started.  My friends never appeared in class that day.  On return, I found them on the road but they did not speak to me that day.  Next day on wards we went to class as if such a thing never happened.  The Leader and one or two of the group enjoyed a smoke at times whenever they had the money. However, it never made any harm to our general going to the school.  (The only sad part was, non of them made much in life and some of them died young.  One of them, much much later in life acknowledged that "You made it because you broke away from us".  That was when I really felt sad for all of them). **     Slowly the school year (academic year) came to an end.  Exams were over, it was time to enjoy the summer holidays.  This was the time we enjoyed playing different games with the children around our house, both boys and girls.  In between the final result of passing was to come.  Children got excited and went in groups to look at the results exhibited in the school.  Since me and my brother did not have any doubt about our passing, we did not go to look the result.  We passed, so our other friends told us! So our parents went and got our TCs (transfer certificates) It was time to change school as this school had no further class there.  Now search started for Class V.The Class V and the Government School called the Palli School       We were always told that getting into school is not for us to think, but for the elders.  Our work is to study.  We were praying tops.  A top is a wooden instrument with a small nail on one side.  We used to bind it with a little thread round and round on it and held it with the thump and index finger and threw on the ground pulling away the thread in one go.  With the speed of the suddenly pulled off thread the top will land on the nail and revolve for quite some time.  We will be as many children in the vicinity all standing in a circle and play the game with the losing guy's top kept bound and tied by him in the centre spot on the ground.  Each one threw their top with such intent to pierce the centre spot top of our friend. The real intent of the game is to fly off the central top out of the little circle in which it is kept.  Once it comes out of the circle, the owner can pick it up and put it on the ground to revolve and using his twine or thread circled the top and suddenly pulled up the thread to pull the top up and took it in his hand.  Then all others have to do like wise and the one who comes last will have to put his top in the centre and the play continued.  At other times, we climbed on the cashew nut trees to enjoy the choicest cashew mangoes   and brought home the nuts which we could make into chutney or fry it and take out the kernels which could be eaten.       At times, we saw a plane or helicopter moving above which thrilled us.  If there was a sudden rain and all, there will be a rainbow in the horizon which we kept on watching and enjoying. We used to go at times to the ford near by for bath.  There was a lot of junglee pine apple plants on the banks, whose leaves had plenty of thorns on them.  Their stock were really thick and strong with some flexibility.  At times we cut them to make upside support for swings to be used on tree branches.  The tree branch supported our swings and the rope for the swing came from the house.  For that we always enlisted the support of mother who was always generous. A piece of the palm leaf stock served as the seat.  We enjoyed swinging through and through as there were a few of us to take turns and others to push it.
        One day,  we were called home from our play and  our admissions to the local Government School to Class V was announced.  Our playing mood went away and we started contemplating about school, books, and the kind of teachers we may have, this would be a new school, even though slightly nearer than the earlier one.  We were told we are being sent to the 'Palli School' as it was called.   We had seen the embossing structure of the school near the Church. with huge buildings and two entries with on one side a huge flight of steps up and at another a gate with a huge number of steps down as the school situated in a slant in which the slant or the gradient was too severe.
           We were petrified at the big school, in that, this is a new school.   We were not used to this school and knew no body there or at least we thought so! This frightened us.  But there was no room for children's fright and all in those days.  When we were asked to go, we had to.  In the initial search we found out that an immediate neighbours son of our age was also in the same school.  He was used to the bigger roads as his father was a conductor in the local bus.  This increased our confidence.   When the day of the school opening came we started with our book bunch neatly held in our hands.  On the way we got new elastic bands to put around the bunch.  Then they really looked great! In the school, it was like the old Convent school, minus its niceties and rose gardens. There were no gardens or flowers.  The old and embossing building had several halls.  Each hall was converted into several classes with wooden or bamboo shutters and when the children sat down they cannot see the other children in other classes.  But the Teachers who were tall could see other teachers.  Only the Teachers mattered.  Children were alenty those days.  There were smaller halls and individual room clusters which housed one class each.  I was in one of the individual class rooms which was in an extreme corner in the South East part.      There were around forty children, all boys  vying with each other for space.  I got a sixth bench side on the right hand side.   This was the most crowded class I had been in.  Always, I used to be in the front rows in other schools, where the teachers cared to seat us according to height.  Not here!  This is a Government School.   Here nobody cares anything regarding seating or children's comfort or exposure.  A few taller children obstructed my view and most of the children kept on speaking.  In between the Teacher came.  She was a thick built short statured lady.  She had round face and small eyes. She looked like the elephant which used to frighten us on the small roads at times.      When she looked with her small eyes the class fell silent!  She had a bunch of white chalk in one hand and a twelve inch wooden scale in the other.  She took out a register and called our names for which we responded by saying 'present teacher' or 'hajar'.    No body knew the Teacher. Most of the children did not know each other also.  It was a multitude of unknown children.  I had two people known to me.  My brother and my neighbour's son.  But we could not sit together.  The Teacher started reading from a book which I could not hear properly.  At times I could not see the teacer too as other hefty children were there in front of me.  Whenever they drooped a little I could see the Teacher.  The Teacher looked at the four corners of the class from time to time.  Children at the back kept on talking to each other and fell silent when the little elephant eyes turned her gaze in that direction.
     End of the class, she said everybody should study the portion taken that day as she wanted to ask questions the next day.  With that she left.  I was at a loss as to study what.  This disturbed me.  It affected my sleep that day.  Next day, I was tired and did not want to go to school. So I made a submission to my mother that I may not want to go to school as I have a stomach ache.  That was my alibi whenever I didn't want to go to school from the time I was in Class I.  My mother just looked at me from top to bottom and said I should very well go to school as she has a special potion for me which will cure me on the way to school.  I could not get any reply to counter this command and I slowly walked to school, the Government school  called the palli school (as belonged tothe palli and the palli had given to the Government on a pittance of a rent) with head held low and contemplating as to how to escape from this class.       Most of the days, I escaped questions and once or twice I could reply properly.  But I could not be sure when I may not be able to answer or give a wrong answer.  It was not that I cared much about the answers.  It was the twelve inch wooden scale which troubled me.  That was the Teachers ultimate weapon with which she made the non-studying children to study and be attentive. When ever someone missed an answer or gave a wrong answer that boy was called to the Teacher and asked to show his fist the beginnings of the finger knobs up.  Then she struck on the finger knob area with the scale.  Her face contorted when she struck.  All the children, except the tall ones at the back, cringed and shivered.  The boys eyes welled up and drops of pearls fell to the ground.  A shiver went up my spine.  I don't know what the others felt.  But whenever we were out of class, none spoke of this torment. But, well, I was tormented at this thought day and night!!       Days  were passing by without my being able to study anything in this class of 45 little boys and an uncaring Teacher.  None of us had the guts to go and tell the teacher that we are not able to understand the class lessons.  It did not go on for long.
    One of those days of torment, my eldest sister called me to her side in the evening when she was studying.   She had a lot to study.  She drew pictures of all kinds of animals and birds in a book.  Then she had other books too in all of which she used to write in a very beautiful hand and also at times used to read aloud out of them to herself to make some portions by heart.  She was an angel in all times of trouble.    She asked me how studies are going on in the new school.   I did not have a proper reply to that.  I can't tell her about the present dilemma of this 'parrot' teacher (that is what the children called her, when she was away) and her method of punishment to the children.  I said ok.  Then she looked at me sternly and her look changed and became steely for a moment, like the Teacher.  It disappeared as quickly as it came.  She smiled again and said that we did not go to school for ok studies, but for first class studies.  ok studies are for the rich and affluent.  We can't afford to to that.
   Now don't worry about that.  My reason for calling was not that in any case!  I was relieved!She became serious.  She is like that.  Even though, she may be very loving in nature, whenever she spoke about matters concerning school or studies, a bit of steel and serious.will come on her face."There is a new English Medium Class started in your School.  Do you know?"   I never knew. None of the other children knew.  I am dead sure, none in our class of 40-50 children, in the Malayalam medium class, knew.   The children in the class spoke to one or two others at times and not more.  They came from different families.  None spoke ever of studies!  It was perhaps the genre from which we all came from.  Most had other house hold works to do other than studies and so studies were never uppermost in their minds.  Sister shook me from reverie!  Listen, there is one.  Go and tell the Headmaster tomorrow and tell him that you want to study in that class"   My God!  Me, to go the Head Master!  I felt like David going to Goliath.  The mere me going to the Head Master.  My head started going in circles and my eyes were almost coming out in astonishment!My thought was I was the one going to that School.  Sister went to the Convent school run by the Holy Carmelite Nuns.  Both schools were half a mile apart.  How on earth she knows there is an English Medium School when she has never been to that School!  I can't think much when she is talking to her.  There is something called reverence and obedience to elders.  We were taught to be courteous and obedient to elders.  This I had to follow with my Sister who is my eldest sister!  And I had to call her always with the salutation "Vellliechie" (meaning eldest sister), a special salutation which she only got and given to her only by all the others except my two eldest brothers who were elder to her!  With other sisters elder to her, I had a liverage.  I didn't have to address them as velliechie!  She spoke to me again.  "You got me?"  That steel again.  I made a feeble yes, and slowly walked away.  All the time, I was lost in thought of going to meet the Head Master.My mind was full of the School of tomorrow.  The way I will go to the Head Master.  I did not think of taking permission from our stocky lady class teacher in the Malayalam class with her 12 inch wooden scale beating.  The cute plastic and steel 12 inch scales were not in use in those days! That night I dreamt of being sent to a clean carpeted class where children were all talking about studies and coming from a different world!
The next day, once in Class, I pulled up all my courage and walked to the Head Master's office which was at the end of the main Building Hall.  That was a huge hall used for class rooms with wooden partitions all through the year, but converted to the Hall once in every year when the School Annual function came, when accomplished children gave performances in all sorts of arts and drama which we all avidly waited for.  The poor children never gave any performance or were consulted not even spoken to in these things.  They only had the privilege of seeing the performances on stage when it took place.At the extreme end of the Hall was a large semi circular room with an ante room.  The large semi ciircular room was the Head Master's office in which there was a huge wall clock whiched chimmed the time from time to time and the Head Master looked at it, whenever someone came to meet him.  This was a compulsive behaviour of the Masterji as he was also the administrator ex-officio, and had to check the attendance of the teachers and had to watch if they came on time.  Most of the Teachers came on time in those days.
The Head Master was in his seat when I entered, with amazement and fear, to ask his permission to go to Class V, English Medium.  Even though I was afraid, I had no doubt, there is an English Medium ClassV, as my 'Velliechie' had told me so.  She can't be mistaken.  She knew things much faster than any of us younger to her.  She was an authority on what she said at any point of time.
(The continuation of this I have put in my post 'I get a new English Medium Class V')I get a new English Medium Class!(contd..from the boy who made it to the capital)
On a night when I was worriedly studying the non-understood lesson for the next day class, I was called by my eldest sister.  She asked me if I knew that there was an English Class in your school.  I was taken aback! An English medium class?  No.  In fact I never cared about the medium at all.  Me and my other class fellows were simple village boys.  None of neither knew nor cared about if there was an English medium class.  I said "no".  Then "you listen to me.  There is an English Medium Class in Class V". " Instead of your sitting in your Malayalam class you can join the English Medium Class."Even though this suggestion was surprising at the first instance, it gave me a flicker of hope of escaping the present class and the beating yet to be got from the teacher.  I never knew the name of the teacher!  Hope became a little dream in me.    This is the chance to escape the oncoming beatings and a back bench seat behind other hefty children.   Sister jolted me saying "What are you thinking?"  "Nothing" I said.  She said she did not have much time to keep thinking all night.  She asked if I would join the new class the next day.  I said, I do not know the class, nor how to join it.  She was unhappy about my lack of understanding.  Since I was too small, and had little knowledge about the goings on in the school, she advised me earnestly.  "Go and see the Headmaster tomorrow.  Tell him that you want to be in the English Medium Class. Thats it! Your work is over.  The rest they will do.  If that did not work, let me know".This command was stunning to me.  I could never think of going to the Headmaster's room.  The  Headmaster was a hefty looking tall man.   He came to school on a Raliegh Bicycle which was almost a motor cycle in those days!  His bicycle will always be very clean with a nice rolling bell and a good front light with a dynamo to light it up when it is dark.  There is an over all beauty when a well built man rode it, especially if the man is the Headmaster of the local school.  People revered him and the students feared him.  It is not that he did anything wrong to the students, but no student wanted to cross his paths unnecessarily.  Mainly, the children met him only during the morning assembly only.  May be, children from higher classes met him, but never a child from a Class V.  Now I have to meet him! I weighed this against the fact that I have to meet the other Malayalam Class V teacher everyday, I decided taking this bargain may not be all that bad.  In any case I can't escape school.  Then a change should be OK. The next day I walked to school with my brother and the other friend, the neighbour's son with different thoughts in my mind.  What will happen today?  Will I survive the  Headmaster to go to the English Medium Class? What will be the stuff being taught in the Class?  Will the Teacher be more difficult that then present one?All these thoughts were going on and on in my mind.  The present Malayalam class was at the far east end of the school building.  It was a small hall converted into four or five classes with wooden partitions.  Next to the class was a little land and then upper land,  making the land an upper wall like structure.  If a huge rain came suddenly and the upper land caved in, we will be jammed in the class without being able to get out as the stone wall of the other sides will block our escape for sure.  I used to feel very suffocated in the class.When we were nearing the school, the first bell went.  We ran to reach before the second bell.  At the second bell we had to be in the assembly.  Keeping our books in the class, we rushed to the  foreground of the school to attend the assembly.  Here the assembly was started with Jana Gana Mana.... where every body stood to rapt ram rod attention.  Once the singing was over, a boy in a senior class will step forward to the mike and read a few headline news of the day which he would have collected from the news papers in the morning. Once the assembly disbursed everybody ran back to their respective classes.  I reached my class, told a few of my fellow classmates that I am going to the Headmaster and walked off.  At the Headmaster's office I had to wait.  Anybody going to the Headmaster's office had to wait if there are others already waiting and there were two parents waiting.  I joined them.  The parents spoke to each other in low tones on subjects of recent happenings.  They never spoke to me as I was inconsequential.  Teachers of the school did not have to wait at the door, they went in as soon as they came, leaned at the table of the Headmaster, signed a book and went out.  I thought that the Headmaster did not have any clout on them.  There was an elderly gentleman with paan in his mouth, called Lazar.  He used to go in and come out of the Headmaster's room very often.  He looked at me sternly as if why I am out of the class and waiting at the Headmaster's room.  He went in, came out and sent the parents in.  In a few minutes the parents came out and left.  As soon as they left, Lazar came to me and showed a finger in the directions of the Headmaster's room.  He had a new filling of paan in his mouth and he could not speak.  He still had a paan leaf in his hand in which he was applying chunnab (the white calcium used with beatal leaf to makie the paan.  the other ingredient was a few pieces of arecanut)I went in.  The Headmaster, the hefty man, whom I had seen from afar or on his bicycle was there at his table.   He had a benign look on his face.  He was slightly dark in colour. Then I found that thing on the table.  A huge cane.  I never thought such an ill omen will be there.  There was globe near to it.  I could see vast seas on the globe and a part of America.  It was a stationary globe on a pedestal kept on the table.  Next to it was a table bell, a ink blotter and a ruler.  (A ruler is a wooden rod, which was used to put straight lines in books.  Before the twelve inch scales came, this was the weapon used to make straight lines.  But these could not be used to make curved lines straight).  Then there was a box of chalk open.  The register at which the Teachers came and bowed was on the end of the table where I stood.  
On seeing me on the other side of the table, just as tall as the table top only, the Headmster leaned forward and asked.  "emm..."  This is a short form question with the whole meaning of Why have you come and what brings you here at this hour when you had to be in your class etc.  I was speechless.  I purposely did not look at the long cane.  I wanted to concentrate on America.  But the goddamn globe started to turn at that point of time.  I pulled up myself in an effort to speak up.  The Headmaster repeated his"..emmm..." this time a little longer and with a switching up of the forehead.  "I want to go to English medium" I just threw out the words and with a sigh of relief of have unloaded myself, waited for his answer.  He shifted in his chair, looked at me shartply, and asked:  "Will you be able to study there?  You will have to study all subjects in English, except Malayalam."  I said yes.  Then again, he put out another question. "Who told you to go to the English Medium?"  "My father."  I just replied in the spur of the moment.  Actually it was my eldest sister who had asked me.  I did not have the guts to say so to the Headmaster.  I always thought it is better to use my father's name at such occasions.  My father was also very hefty like the Headmaster.   If there is anything to it a question will go only to my father.  I was very sure, my father can handle any question.  He was a forte for us in matters outside home.  The question answer session ended with the My father reply.  The Headmaster leaned back in  his chair and became very much at ease.  He turned a round crystal paper weight which was sitting stationary on the table.  The globe had stopped turning.  Now he lifted his hand and struck on the table bell twice.  Lazar came in and looked at the Headmaster with his head leaned forward and twisted his forehead.    The Headmaster said "Show him the English Medium!"  With this Lazar signed me to come with him and took me to the new Medium!  I became very light now.  All the weights are gone off my chest.  I could not believe myself of the happenings in the last few minutes!  I never knew such things are possible with such few words.  At the door of the class, Lazar stood with me.  The teacher was an elderly lady, very fair in colour with gold studs in her ears and a gold chain on her neck in a red sari.  She also had mouthful of paan and asked Lazar if he had more of betel leaves and arecanut pieces, to Lazar said 'Shall bring quickly, madam'.
 She elegantly came to Lazar who said something to her which I could not hear and moved away.  The teacher now looked at me and enquired of the whole matter of my coming to the class at the door itself.  She had a loving nature to herself and the questions did not trouble me much. Mainly it was about my father and mother, what were they, how much they had studied, etc. My father was well educated.  He had completed Class IV of the olden days and knew a bit of mathematics and general studies.  He wrote a beautiful hand in Malayalam and had the grasp of the planetary positions and astrology which he had learned under some Guru.  Apart from that he had deep respect for all studied people and especially those in the School.My mother had not gone to school as it was not considered necessary in those days.   She learned most of the things by practice as she had to help in the family set up like all other girls in those times and had become strong and good looking to be married off at the age of seventeen to my father who said he was twenty when he got married.  He used to ask me when we had our happy conversations: "What do you thinik about me?  I started working at the age of nine.  At thirteen, I went myself to toddy shop and sat for a bottle at the weekend.  I was the confidant of my Master."  He was my hero always!
At last after a lot of wrinkling of her forehead she said she was worried about who will assist me at home in studies in English.  I told her about my sister in higher classes and with that I was allowed into the new class! I excused myself to go to my Malayalam class and brought out my books, had a last look at the nightmarish class room and my dear poor fellow class mates and walked to join the new English Medium class.
The Great Warassiar Teacher welcomed me to the class and in a beautiful English accent told me to take any convenient seat as I wished.  There were only twenty or so boys and 5 girls.  I was slightly surprised to see girls in the boys school!  When I settled down in one of the seats the friend near me told me that the Teacher is very good but insisted that children study what ever is taken in the class.  He also told me that the Teacher ate 'murukkan' all the time and her lips were always red because of that.  It gave her a redness of face and since she was very good looking it went well with her.  Lazar, the 'masappadi' (Peon) brought the paan or murukkan for her, once in the morning.   From day one, I noticed that the English  she was teaching was a bit tough for me as she was always talking mostly in English and it was flowing all the time from her.   I was slowly getting uneasy again.  During free time I looked at the boys in the Malayalam class I had left, and found they were all happy as larks and I am starting an uneasy roll again.  Alas, now I can't go back now.  The havoc or otherwise, is already done!!I started to grapple with the classes  in English but could not understand the meaning of what was being told in the class.   At times I could no hear properly as I was leaning on my desk to write something, when the teacher would have said the meaning of some of the words.  I could not dare to  ask again!  At times the Teacher emphatically asked "Everybody understood?"  to which the front benchers said "Yes" and that was it.  Many of the meanings we took down were wrong!  And then, I learned it by heart at night in the rate kerosene lamp light!! This went on for three months in Class V, English Medium!  The Social Studies Teacher was an old man.  Children laughed and hush-hushed behind him, saying that he would have retired far back since he looked a good seventy years old.  But that was not correct.  He was much young and not even retired.  He came in impeccable white shirt and white dothi (the long cloth used in the Kerala).  He also ate the paan or murukkan all the time.  That way the Warassiar Teacher and this Gentleman, some Iyer was his name, were in the same category. Of and on times, he went out to spit out the red liquid which he collected in his mouth.  Except that he sat in his Teacher's chair and asked one of the students to read the Social Studies book (which is History).  There were a few in the class who were well knowledgeable about all lessons and good was in reading in English.   Among this few, one of them stood up and read fast and whenever that fellow found it difficult, the Teacher himself read it, still faster!  In any case, I did not understand anything.  At times I heard the name of a king, or Totangaman or something like that or the Sindhu valley culture etc.  I could not make out what we exactly had to do with it.  Sometimes we felt sleepy and dozed a little.  The Teacher never gave any heed to it.  When we woke up from the snooze, the bell will be going for the recess or lunch.Most of the English word meanings I got wrong as I copied it from the verbatim told by the teachers and mostly I may be lagging with one word and may write down the meaning of the next word mistaking it for the meaning of the earlier word.  This created chaos.  No body insisted us that we had to study the lessons and in the new class there never was a problem if we could not answer a question.  The question was moved to the next child and the one who could not answer were allowed to sit down.  It was as if we did not exist.  I enquired of our friends as to what would happen, if this went on and we could not make it in the final examinations.  My friends very matter of factly told me that those who did not make it will go back to the Malayalam medium class from the next academic year on wards.  This was a shock to me!  Good God!  I shall have to learn the whole thing in Malayalam!  Good riddance!  I thought to myself, are the poor really damned?  How to study well and get above average marks were a big question in front of me.  I fervently prayed to the Lord on of those days.  "Lord save me from this difficulty."   The answer came next week in the form of a suggestion to join a new English Medium School!
Next Monday, while our Class teacher was at the 32nd page of the English Text, my Uncle appeared at the Class room door.  Our teacher enquired of him the reason for his arrival.  He informed that he has been asked by my father to get my TC (a transfer certificate is always mentioned here as TC in short) as I am to be sent to become a priest and will have to join a new school.  All the children were wonder struck and looked at me with great astonishment in their eyes.  As there was no jubilation or even the slight change in my temperament, the astonishment died down on its own.As I related earlier, the children had no say in these things and the elders knew better.  All the other children started looking at me as if I am going to a great place and lucky at that, where as they will have to continue there.  Our Teacher sent for Lazar and when he came asked him to take my Uncle to the Headmaster.  In a matter of half an hour  or so, my uncle came back with the TC, thanked our Class Teacher profusely and requested her permission to take me home.  The Class teacher called me to her side, slightly patted me and said everything will go good with me and asked me to go with my Uncle.  I left the class with my uncle.Once outside the class, he told me that he had been asked by father to get the TC for me to take me to a new English Medium School which is being opened four kilometres away from the present school.  He said this was a good opportunity for me as this was a boarding school where I can stay and study and I may not have to walk up and down to school.  This was a glad news to me.   I heard the word boarding for the first time.  I was a bit upset at the sudden pulling myself away from the acquaintances I had in the class, all of them looking at me with equal calm and sadness like me, as,  show of sadness or extreme joy were not there at that time. Thus fell curtain to a three month education in the Government High School where I studied in two types of Classes but could not make out what I was studying or what was being taught.  I am sure, had I continued in that Malayalam class my life would have been doomed as my earlier Class IV friends who fell on the way in life!  Had I continued in the English medium class, I would have been pushed out for the lack of comprehension on my part, but without any mention or concerned about the poor performance of the teachers, who generally were careless of the upcoming of the children.  Who ever did not make it were sent to the Malayalam medium the next year after the results came out, where they will slowly meet their nemesis!   Most of the people whom we see half educated are the failures of various schools, who fall on the way side like this as they do not have anybody to guide them with a great heart and love!!
********************

I get a new English Medium School!!!

This is the story of the making of my life and an important turning point in it.  The story will start where my present education in the Government School will end.
*****

Here we go!  The day after the TC collection (Transfer Certificate) I was seen home by my eldest paternal uncle and he told my father that his duty was over and here is his child (that is me) and his TC.  Now it is up to you.  I have done what you have told me to.  Father said, "Come, come..let us sit down and think.  We can also have tea in the meantime".  It was only noon time and my mother made tea and all had tea.  Tea was a welcome drink which was given to all including children and I was used to it from early childhood.  While the elders had tea I was allowed to move around and I moved to mother's side to hear the happenings around in between her house hold chores, with which she was always busy about.  

She told me that a Masterji had come looking for studious children and your earlier School's Head Master had recommended and hence I may be getting the new School.  A change of school was welcome in any case, and I for one liked change always!  My simple principle was some thing new and good will happen in any change!  As such change should not be warded off.  Difficulty is when there is no change and monotony sets in.


She said father has got me a small little tin trunk box and little stationery which I can carry along with a mat and blanket and pillow.  My toiletries, including a Sunlight Soap, tooth brush, paste and tongue cleaner and towel etc. will be in the box.  And there was the bathing luxury soap called "Lifebuoy".  I was thrilled.  I never used lifebuoy at home. At home many a time we were washed with a tree bark called "Incha" and at times the leaves of a flowering plant called "Chembarathi" (Hibiscus plant) was also beaten into a liquid form and used instead of soap.Now this Lifebuoy soap was specially brought as I am going to English School.  The Sunlight soap I despised a little, as this is a super washing soap and I may have to wash clothes.  I never could pull myself up to wash clothes!  OK, I can decrease the washing to bare minimum, that was my mental decision at the moment.  I had seen mother washing most of the time, if she is not cooking.  Hers was a life without rest, a life without ever leaving home, a house where her wellness is never asked about.  

She worked from very very early in the morning by starting the kitchen fire, making tea and other things, followed by arrangements for cooking the morning breakfast which was invariably 'kanji"  (the raw rice pudding of Kerala, normally taken with a jack fruit trees leaf as spoon, along with a vegetable side dish)  with a vegetable side dish, for which the kitchen fire should kept up, in between warming up water for all to bath, (we all took bath in hot water in the mornings and evenings, that is how one warded off common cold and other minor diseases in our tropical climate), Once the breakfast stuff is ready, she will start with the readying of lunch  items to be put on the stow, so that she can move for drawing water and washing clothes!  Among all these, she would be talking to all of us one by one as we went near her and she remembered the preferences of each of us for various things and various activities.

She called me the "mad little one" as an endearment, as she liked my relating of all the happenings when we went to school or anywhere else.   In fact, many a time, she waited for me to hear all that.  In the story telling, which she enjoyed a lot, even if I added a little extra here and there, she exactly understood, what I meant and what exactly would have happened and made her own conclusions.  All the same while she was relating to me of my immediate movement she felt a little and sobed in her speech! I knew she was a little upset that I have to leave and will be parted for quite some time.  The boarding school was not the concept of those days, absolutely not among the poor.  I also felt sad to be leaving, but were more courageous as I was getting a new School and new experiences waiting!

 

Going to the new School!

We all had lunch and after that father was ready with my small tin trunk, mat and blanket.  We walked to the bus stop to catch the 'Sreeramachandra' which I related in my other article of 'Travelling to the Town to buy my English Medium Books'.  While waiting for the bus in the shade of the 'madras eentha tree' father told me to write post cards when there is any need and in any case he would visit us once in a while.  I could not take leave of my other brothers and sisters including 'velliechie'.  As she got her scholarship from Class IV on-wards, she was  considered not a child, but an elder and was consulted on matters of importance in the house from time to time.  I enquired father about my not being able to take leave of them and father told me that they all knew as this had been discussed the day before.  Taking the TC etc. was only formality and informing me myself, was not needed as I am the one to go.

I stood there with mixed feelings and the 'Sreeramachandra' roared into the stop.  We entered and father said some niceties to the Conductor who was known. I settled down to a side seat along with father and kept on watching the goings on in the bus and outside and also the various beautiful houses, bungalows, the elephant which went by with chains on him.  The guy looked at me when it was passing the bus and I was so close to its small eye !  Oh..God!  It is a close shave!  But the pious elephant never did any harm to any one, I was told.There was long stretches of 'padams' (paddy fields) at times on either side, shopping areas called 'angaadis' at places which was always noisy and full of people, bullock carts and other kinds of vehicles.  After the padam came a few more houses, then an irrigation canal, coming from a near by dam and then the bus stopped for us to alight.  We got down!

There was no school nearby!  But there was a small board for sure. "St................'s Model School".  I was as a child familiar with that Saint.   So the only part unusual to me was 'Model School'.  School also, I was used to from my previous three schools.  Now only the 'Model'  remained to be explored!

I enquired father as to where is the school.  He said that I simply walk with him as the school is a bit to the interior but not far off.  Sure, in a furlong we reached a huge compound which had a much bigger blue board near the thorny hedge barrier near the wooden gate and we entered a long walkway with tapioca plants on either side. There were small little boys in the building verandah far away which came into sight now.  They were all looking at us curiously and inquisitively.   When we reached one elderly youngster greeted father and said we can wait as Masterji has not come back from morning rounds.  

We waited and in the meantime, father started talking to the elderly youth, and I got a bit closer to the other curious boys who wanted to know about me.  They wanted to know from which school I am coming and what was the lesson going when I left.  I said it was lesson at page 32 in English as it was dear to me, even though I did not fully understand the meaning of what I was studying at that point of time.  !  Page 32?....they asked me.  I said "Yes, page 32.  They all looked at me as if I am a great scholar! 


In return, my curiosity made me ask,  'What is the lesson going on here?'  They all laughed. And in unison said "There is no class or studies here, and there is nothing to study!!".   This really enlivened me.  A good school should be like this!  There should be no class and nothing to study.  I had a feeling of joy.  My heart started to beat wildly.  Whoa! What a wonderful school!  I looked through the windows to the backyard of the school.  Till far away, I could see pine apple plants, and after that was high grass, which we lovingly called 'onapullu'.  During the time of the Onam festival, these grass will flower up into white feathery flowery blooms among which children could play.  I thought of going out and playing.  I looked at the other boys most of them like me, at least two or three of them just me, the same.

Father came close to me along with the elderly youth at which all other boys fell silent. Instantaneously all knew he was someone in charge.  Boys controlled their loose emotions and I also suppressed myself a little.  He said that the lessons here are about to begin as Master ji could not pull up  to be in class due to some financial arrangements which he is making from various parties for the running of the School.  That was the boarding part of it, making it difficult for him.  The young gentleman said he himself is also a student but was helping out by overseeing the welfare of the children and other matters of running the establishment when Master ji is not around.


Slowly, a tall figure of a Gentleman appeared near the School gate.  He had a large curved handled umbrella in one hand which he held horizontally.  Once inside the gate, he moved to various angles and looked at the school building.  At times he squated and looked to discern the look of the building.    After while on this exercise, the elderly youth went to inform him of our arrival upon which he walked quickly to the school and met us.      He welcomed us, and said to father.  'Oh..so you could manage to come.  Have you brought his certificate also?' Father said Yes with great humility and reverence and entrusted me to his care.  He told father that he had visualised a 'Gurukul' system here and everybody will be given enough training in life, with which to succeed, including spiritual guidance.   My father liked this very much as he himself had a sort of Gurukul education and in that, Guru was supreme!


Father left telling me to be very diligent in studying the day's lesson the very day and be respectful to the Master and all other teachers who ever had to teach me and make the Master ji and through our family proud!   I readily agreed!  With studies we always agreed and when it was mentioned there was nothing to be thought of.  I did not tell him what the other boys told me.  My inner heart was happy about the whole set up.  There was long long to see to the back side of the building, large tracts of land full of tapioca plants and pine apple plants after that and again followed by tapioca plants.  There was road through the centre and the road ended in a football ground.  After the ground the road started again and after say 3000 yards the compound ended.  The smell of tapioca and pine apple filled the place and it wafted through the air in the evening breeze.

Master ji  turned around and called out "Sebastian" and tghe youth appeared.  "Show him his place to keep his things and also the sleeping area.  After that entrust two other boys to show him around.  Let him be acclimatised".   Now Sebastian took me over.  He was very kind from the very beginning.   He was a perfect guy.  Very wheatish in colour, in perfect good health, very kind, but he joked rarely.  There was a kind of seriousness and sadness in his whole dealings.  He took me a class room and told me that it was our class room by the day and sleeping room by the night.  The class room had tables and chairs.  This was way ahead of the Government school I left.  Wow, chairs and tables!  I was seeing them for the first time in my life.  A class room for Class V students with table and chair for each individual boy!  All on a sudden, I felt I am getting more oxygen in the air I am inhaling.  This is a place to learn!  Three chairs put in opposite directions will suffice for each child to sleep.  The mat is to be put in the chair and the pillow is to be put on one side.  One can creep in and sleep well.   There was a lot of wood and assorted items kept around which I was told is for the next big building which is in the oncoming plan.

Sebastian told me to call him in case of any difficulty and left me with the other children who enveloped me, weighing me with their looks, wondering who I could be, how much I would have studied upto page 32!  The heavier ones found I am not worth it, the lighter ones thought I be taken on and the medium ones, two or three of them, came closer and we were together.   The smaller ones and the larger ones left.  We the medium ones were alone!  They also had come from small and medium families.  They were all studious but had scant resources at home and hence joined the Gurukul.in

We walked around the compound in which they told me about the goings on in the School.  The time was July August when it shined at times, it rained at times.  It was sunny then, but the dark clouds were climbing from the west!  They may rain later.  They told me to be watchful in the compound.  There could be snakes.  There is a huge Alsatian dog on chain who will be let out at night to keep guard in the compound.  In the early morning the Master ji will tie it up so that the children are unharmed.  Now there will be evening breakfast when two more brothers who have gone to college will come.  Peter and Paul.  They also stay in this school with us, but left for college everyday in the morning after breakfast.  There will be manual labour for all from five to six.  Master ji also did the manual labour.  After that is bathing and then is 'study time'!  Evening dinner at 8 o' clock, then will be time for spiritual meeting coupled with advice and planning for the next day.  Evedn though there was no class, I noticed there is a 'study time' which is sancrosact and nobody can miss it as Master ji never missed it!.

Morning bell is at 5 am.  As soon as you get up are ablutions coupled with bath.  Six o' clock is marching for 'Holy Mass' . Back by seven fifteen, we had newspapers to read, lessons to be done, and breakfast by 8.  Niine o' clock was Class!  Which was not being taken now as Master ji is not available on some days and other Master jis whom he was arranging had not yet arrived.  My head started to go in circles and evening breakfast was announced by Brother Peter who bet on a vessel with a laddle. All the children sat in lines in the verandah and the Brother served uppuma and tea for all.   I was slowly being  absorbed into the curriculum of the School.

I made bed that night as was told with three chairs and the mat put in it.  Two chairs faced one side when the central chair faced the opposite and they almost got locked to each other with the result the central area became like a long canal with the backs of the chairs facing each other from either side. Two sides of the mat stood up and I crawled in into that canal! The smell of the new palm leaf mat made one heady! Oh. what a exhililrating smell it was!  These days such matsw are sparingly used, if at all.  I felt cosy inside, with the blanket on and the rain pouring down outside, made a song for the sleep!  I slept well and was dreaming of my father and mother and mother was trying to tell me something very happily when the bell went and the dream was broken.  Everybody said together in hissing voices, "the goddamn bell"!  There was no mistaking it nor getting away from it.  Everybody scrambled into feverish activity and was ready at church!  That was a new beginning!!

A New Beginning!

The sleep of the night before was in our eyes when all of us woke up.  We had to draw water from the well and we were new to the place.  We were thinking of making excuses that the drawing of water  we are not used to or we don't feel like it in the morning cold after a heavy down pour all through the night and still drizzling.  The issue was quickly solved when brother Sebastian started asking us if any of us wanted him water to be drawn.  That decided it, all of us one by one went under his bucketful of water and had our baths.  He drew water in the bucket using a rope tied to it which passed through a pulley (a pulley is a wheel fixed on a cross bar, so that the rope carrying the water can be pulled from one side, so that the bucketful of water comes up to the ground level, where it can be caught and used).

He looked like John the Baptist, baptizing Jesus!  All the children got 'baptized' at his hands and became clean.   This was a real experience to all of us!  We never had to take such early baths at home.  We did take baths, but leisurely, after a lot of coaxing, in hot water, which strained the energies of our mothers.  With children of our times, all the works of calling us to get to bath, warming up the water, coaxing us, getting us all the accompaniments like soap, towel etc. was the work of the mothers.  Fathers rarely took any role in that nor was expected to.   Once, the bath was over all of us shifted to our Sunday bests to move to church which was already understood.  

Brother Sebastian was at the lead to take us to the end of the building where Master ji was ready with his long curved handled umbrella.  His was an embossing figure!  A 6.2 with a stiff rod body, he stood erect in a kavi kurtha and white dothi.  His look was benign, but he rarely looked down to the earth or any of us.  He only saw us passingly, just to show that you have been noticed.  Otherwise, he always fixed his gaze in the far off with head held high, looking at the horizon or at the skies!  

Once we were near him he started walking as we were coming and he led now from the front and Brother Sebastian fell back to the end of the line.  Any body noticing in the road could have been jealous of us, as they may be struggling with their children still in bed, and here and Lo! these little things are marching in neat white shirts and nickers.  In the church we took a place very compactly so that other worshippers are not disturbed, and kneeled in threesomes.  While kneeling and attending the mass some dozed.  Sometimes one here or one there fell down, but scrambled to their kneeling position quickly the whole of which made a small laugh from all of us colleagues.  Some slowly got expertise in kneeling and dozing  in the garb of deep prayer.  This depth has to be kept under guard as it would be found out if one did not stand up or sit down when required according to the turn of the prayers.   Altogether such occasions were few.  Once the mass and prayer was over we marched back and were quickly ready for our morning studies.  An hour of study took us to 8 o' clock an d we heard the fresh smell of morning breakfast with uppuma, curry and a banana with a glass of milk (This was powdered milk with hot water mix, like the one which I used to get in little classes from a Health Centre, which we always called as the 'Centre').

The morning breakfast was good and fulfilling and then we had a few minutes to get ready for school classes.  We were told that we have to be ready and in the class on time, with our books, even though Master ji was not there, for the time being.

We were definitely in class on time.  That very second day, the day after which I was told that Master ji may not be available etc., the Master ji came to class! As I had already covered lessons upto Page 32, and none of the others had started any thing by way of any lessons after the few days they had come, I was at an advantage.  The class was a very good small room in a building of five like rooms, the rest of which we occupied for living purposes.  We had Tables and Chairs, a luxury at that time.  Our self respect improved, we sat ram rod in our chairs in front of the Master ji who looked at us with his benign look at times looking far away through the windows and at times gazing at us.  He sat at his slightly bigger Table now looking into the Class English TEXT BOOK!

I thought, Oh..boy, it is coming!  The English Medium School and the new English Medium Class!  I thought of all the possibilities of his asking questions or reading in an English pitch, or asking any of us to read.  Asking to read, I may somehow, manage in my broken and the pronounciation not so correct Malayalam English,but if he asked questions, I will be doomed, as I did not know what they meant, I mean, the English words I read!

All of waited with baited breath!  After a long while he cleared his throat which was the extreme point of tension.  I did not know if this was the case with others.  Again, the benign look came on his face, he stood up and came to the front of the Teachers Table, and put his text book back on the table.  He asked in Malayalam "Any body who has read anything from this book?" and pointed to the book on the Table.  I stood up.  He surveyed the class and asked again, "Any body else?"  There was no body else!  He asked me about the extend I have read and and upto which lesson, etc. for which I could not reply, but said I have gone upto 'Page 32'.  He related to all in the Class about me coming from another Class V, English Medium and said to me that the others were not in any Class V so far and so we will be starting from the beginning.    This relieved me very much as there will be no questions at this point of time.

He did not still go into thee Text Book.   Slowly, he related about he School, its humble beginnings and his struggle to make into a great institution, getting us a Gurukul education, the lack of availability of good education etc.  He said Education is more than studying a lot of subjects.  It is go create Great Men who will lead from the front.  He said hard work, faith and Good Education, which included heigne, good moral habits and a loving nature can work wonders for the world, which is badly in need of it. 

Slowly, instead of taking the 'English' he slipped into stories of Lord Nelson who defeated the great Napoleon Bonaparte and 'Thomas Moore' who was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in England once upon a time, as sublime examples of 'Faith in Oneself,Hard Work, extreme Perseverance, and Great Moral grounds practiced by them!  He said he would slowly start with the new English Lesson, and nobody had to be frightened about the subject anymore.  

He said he will, of course, at ease, start with, b, c, d....and go on to small sentences, their word meanings in Malayalam, class lessons one by one, their meanings and then do the exercises, which we will really exercise, and then 'Parts of Speech' which relieved all of us from all our Anxieties for the time being.  Now the Master ji, stopped the class and said now all of you can go to the play ground and play for one hour with the new 'football' he had got us the day before which Brother Sebastian will give us!  We were over joyed!  Oh..Boy!!  This is some school, oh..boy!!!

In the Government School and all other Schools, I had never heard of playing football or any ball!  In fact, there were no games there and nobody spoke about anything connected to games and sports were unheard of!

In those days a game of football cannot be played just like that.  First,the football has to be filled.  Since Master ji announced the arrival of a new football, all of us curious and joyful surrounded Brother Sebastian in the ground.  He held a packet, from which he took out a blown out fresh leather smelling ball stuff.  He opened another packet and brought out another stuff and said this is the bladder (!) which we have to fill and then we can play!

He asked one of the tall boys if he has taken the lace and the puller  The tall boy replied in the affirmative andwith that the decision now pended with the Brother as to how to fill the ball.

He said the hand pump he had in the school may be insufficient and hence it would be advisable to go to the nearest bicycle shop and get it filled for money.   All of us leisurely walked to the bicycle shop a few furlongs away.   A bi-cycle pump was kept infront of the shop supported by an iron wheel balancer.  A number of bi-cycles were kept on one side in an orderly manner.  Seeing us, he exclaimed: "Ellavarukkum ulla cycle undavilya!"   This was a shop which tendered bicycles for rent, for time periods of half hour, one hour and so on.  We never could think of a bicycle, even on rent.  Our only idea with the shop was to get the football filled.  Brother Sebastian smilingly replied "Njangalu football nirakkan vannadaanu.  Cyclonnum venda"  The shop keeper replied: "Adeyo?  Enna seri"  (Is it, then it is alright).  He came to the pump and said 'show me the bladder and the ball'   He seemed to be knowledgeable about the contraption.

The  orange rubber bladder were in 4 pleats in a kind of fold of its own, with a mouth on a long neck.  The cycle shop owner helped Brother Sebastian to fill up the bladder!  He fixed a bicycle valve in the mouth of the bladder after pushing in the bladder into the leather ball.  The he took the standing pump keeping it  vertically on the ground pulled the handle uwith backward slant almost sat o which sent the piston down and the air into the bladder which started to get filled up and the leather football became round and round and tough by every push of the pump piston.

Once it was filled very tiight, Bro. Sebastian tied the neck of the bladder and folded the long neck and tied again with a black thread and now was the work.  Brother and one or two strong boys sat down to push in the neck and put the white lace with the help of the iron pusher!  That done, football was ready.  All of us walked back to the school ground as a procession and played football.  Most of the 'strongees' played, and those who were only studious but not 'strongee' just ran among the other in search of the ball, which very rarely came to their foot.  I was in the second group.  However, we were all allowed to play, thanks to the strong orders of the Master ji who was very particular that each one got an opportunity to run in the ground and be a member of the team whether they kicked the ball or not.

Least slackness from the Master ji  we would have been out of the ground as in that case 'the strongees' will take over the ground and the game (as we see in many occasions these days in many schools and colleges, where the 'strongees' manage everything).  We played our hearts full and once or twice I could also kick the ball and by luck one of my kicks went into the goal.

The game was over in flat two hours time and Master ji came to the ground to see how it all went.  Then he called Brother and ordered that we play on two days a week in the play period which is called the sports period in the evening.  These were the last period always around 3 o' clock, when the sun will be slanting to the west and the intensity of heat will lessen as time went by towards evening.  We  came back happily having played enough and our lungs filled with the fresh fragrance of pine apple and tapioca plants.

  When we reached back the two other bigger brothers called Peter and Paul were ready with our evening break fast.  All of us washed and settled in lines face to face on mats in the verandah and the Masterf  ji settled at the head of the line.  All of us had our plates in front of us and hot uppuma and tea was served by Peter brother, who was another kind and very jovial person always helping the children, if he was around.  He was not around much as he was also studying in College!  We revered him like Bro.Sebastian and looked at him with wonderment.   To finish all the English, Science and Mathematics till Class X and then to go to College!  Oh..Boy!  He should be some one!

After the evening break fast, we had an hour of manual labour which I referred somewhere else too.  The manual labour was to make us strong and well exercised and get us close to nature.   We had to dig and make small rectangular flower beds for planting various seeds.  The digging part was enjoyed by all.   Most of us had small mud digging equipment called 'kaikote'  or spade and all of us dug during the hour. One day this led to an episode!  I was over enthusiastic in this business and as soon as I got the equipment started to dig vigorously!  Some of my friends took more time to select the 'kaikote'  look at its sturdiness, then to inspect the ground to be dug and also if it is wet, whether water will wet the digger etc. and etc. and then slowly walked around to settle down to start digging where as once the spade came to my hands I had not stopped digging and was not seeing left or right and one of my close firends, one Georgekutty came in front of me with his spade and just walked in front of me from behind when I was up with my kaikote in the sky about to strike the ground! This was a moment where I shouted at him move off and he instead of moving away turned around to ask me if I meant 'move around or move away'  The 'kaikote' which was coming down could not be controlled by me and it really struck at his left shoulder but will less force.  This took away some skin from his shoulder in a small straight line, but blood started to ooze!

All the work or manual labour stopped and all my little friends who were around started dancing around me saying that a beating is now in line for me.   I was not moved much, but felt a bit for my friend, George who did not say anything, but stood in front of me saying 'that was too fast' !  He was always like that and was a good friend.  

Next was my being presented to the Master ji.  Everything something happened that person was presented in front of the Master ji for a decision and execution of punishment.  Master ji was disturbed in his own thought and work, but did not keep away from such instant solution finding.  He called all and divided us into two groups, those who wanting to punish me and those who did not want to punish me.   It was roughly a fifty fifty division.  I was in the centre, the object to be tried.   I was questioned why I struck him with a dig.  I said, I did not dig him with a dig.   'Then?'

 Master ji asked the group wanting to punish me:  What is this, what is he saying?

Some of them replied:  Sir, he did dig him.  He did.

Then he asked the other group:  They said:  He did not dig George.  George came in the way of his dig.  The first group became down cast now.  

Master Ji called out again: 'Anybody wanting to refute this?'

There was no body wanting to refute that.  They knew if they refuted they will have to give a reason for it which they did not have.

Master ji now gave the verdict:  "In work and labour, accidents can occur.   We should not lose our cool of such accidents and punish some one or the other unnecessarily.'

He turned to my friend George:  'What do you want?'  

And he said: 'He is my friend.  I had gone to him to ask his guidance.  Since I entered from behind, the dig fell on me without his knowledge.  Since he tried to control the dig, the strike was not severe with the result I am not much hurt'

Master ji said:  'OK.  All of you disburse and no further manual labour today.'

'You, George, come with me, I shall give you a dressing so that the wound will not remain exposed.'  

He turned to me:  "Don't stand there feeling uneasy.  Go.  Clean your digging equipement and keep it in its place. And go for bathing, OK.?'

I walked away very light hearted.  One thing, make me think in all these circumstances how small incident makes people into different groups, some with animosity and some with kindness.  In later life, I found out it happened to all, all over, all the time.

In the evening study time, the Master ji addressed us and informed Classes are going to start in strict earnest from the next day on wards! We were all slightly depressed!  We were thinking that there would be no classes at all.  But I had my doubts.  I had felt the Master ji to be a man of great knowledge, well mannered, a calculated and sharp talker, good and jovial at all conversations, a man of deep reading, very kind to all, with his looks in the sky all the time, cannot be going to allow all of us without studies.  

That night he brought out a bundle of cursive writing books and informed us that we will start with A, B, C, D .... and  distributed a book each to all of us.  He said there is no need to write in Pencil, but all of us can use Pens!  The books smelled great and the writing started straight away, the Master ji writing each letter on board and allowing us to write on board as well as in the book and inspecting them and suggesting improvements.  In a matter of a few days we were well versed in all letters and were galloping with Master ji in the English Text Book lessons.

We learned four types of writings then.  Cursive capital, cursive small, printed letter large, printed letter small!  The printed letters we had to write and learn and understand.  Once our knowledge was good to read those letters, the task was over as far as printed letters were concerned.  We did not have to repeat the printed small letters as is done, these days!   But the real challenge was the cursive!  The Cursive large at times had a few ornamental clippings too!  We did it without the ornamentation, of course!  But the cursive small, Oh..boy!  That was the thing to write.  Master ji was good at writing cursive small and capital flawlessly!

With a pen, I mean an ink pen, he just flowed in the papers.   He told us to practice the cursive as if it was our life.  We started with great enthusiasm and wrote them in the cursive writing book, which in those days, were called 'transcription books'!  In a few days, we were, most of us, masters of the art.  The evening study time from six thrity to eight thirty was dedicated for this and we did it sitting in the class chairs and the Master ji was present in the class with his assortment of works on his desk which was on a raised plat form.  In the presence of the master ji the letters curved properly by themselves!  We learned hand writing, words and lessons all at one go in the same class year in Class V and at the end of seventy two lessons, their grammer, questions & answers and without doubt two hundred and sixty two new words with their spellings and meanings was a feat which we did !  These were all thanks to Master ji's through and through guidance and assistance for which all of us, children were indebted to Master ji for life!!

A regimen of getting up at the 5 o' clock bell, in the morning ending with the 9.30 pm sleep started in earnest with timely break fast, lunch, tea and supper without fail!  It did a great lot of good to all the internees including me.  Classes with the Master ji was always joyful as he always discussed ideas in between his class subjects.   He said, the human brain is capable of great feats, but three fourths of the human brain normally went unused.  This was a thrilling knowledge to me.  I thought, if we wanted, we can make full use of it, but the human limitations are such that many a time even if one wanted it was made impossible by the surroundings and circumstances.  Here perseverance was the only support to achieve what one wanted.  

There were other master jis whom the Master ji got to take classes for us like one for Mathematics, Hindi, Sanskrit, etc.  Science, English and Social Studies were the fort of the main Master ji for which he never wanted any body either for help or for the regular classes.  And the classes too, he simply took extempore and got done away with it.  I thought, he studied the lessons bye-heart or so the day before.  But after wards, I found out he was a man of great knowledge well versed in many subjects and with a deep routed kindness to small children about whom he said "They should be caught young to be moulded into great leaders!"

He said that in that Gurukul education, his idea was all round development of the children and for that we should all know, subjects in sports, swimming and bi-cycling.  This was a great news to us as in those days no school went beyond school lessons.  They did not even want to know their children too!! And here was this Model School entirely different from the Government School.  From the family we were always for the Government School, if we can't help it in a Convent School.  Kerala's Convent Schools made Kerala.  They empowered the girls and women in total.  But they took only girls in their fold.  They discarded the boys at Class III.  The boys had to see other means.  Among them, the Government Schools were the best choice.  As we were always told not to play!  The homes did not know any sports or any such thing as most of the lowly families made both ends meet with difficulty.  Sports and games are for the rich and famous.  And Kerala had its due of that lot too. The Aristocrats, Rich, the Zamindaris, the Upper class brow beaters.  Swami Vivekananda is said to be taken aback to see whole lot there when he visited the place!

Every now and then, sympathetic Scholars, and affluent people visited the School and met the Masterji and gave him assistance and advice in the day to day run of the School and the up bringing of the children in the model he wanted.  We always got the best in education plus we were to practice day to day living by practicing and doing manual labour for an hour practising work in the garden, cooking by teams of us turn by turn, doing the cleaning etc.   This gave us an insight into the general of living and the works involved in community living and it made us a good team of children with love and compassion for every one.  Once a gentleman on his visit to the School advised the Master ji that children should be taught bi-cycling.  Master ji enthusiastically agreed and said "It is the funds and kindness of the people like you that would get them trained" at which the gentleman brought forth twenty rupees and said "You start with, with this."  "And according to progress, I can contribute more!"  All the children were thrilled.  

Master ji called all of us to the ground next day morning as it was a holiday.  He said:  "I am going to start with bi-cycle lessons for you today!  Anybody who can bi-cycle on the 'main road' for two kilometres, shall be given the first bi-cycle"  The children were apprehensive:  to ride two kilometres in the "Main Road" -  I thought main road or no main road, this is the occasion to get the bi-cycle.  My hand went up!!  Master ji almost shouted to me:   "Stand aiside, you get the First Bi-cycle!"   I was thrilled to the utter astonishment of my friends! I started getting more air in my chest.  There was more oxygen.  Yes. I raised my hand and the Master ji said: "That is like a real boy! Don't be afraid to take new chances, all of you! Now, give the first bi-cycle to him!" 

On his pronouncement, a brand new bi-cycle which was brought from the earlier bi-cycle shop where we had gone for the filling of the foot-ball was given to me.  But I do not know how to run it or hold it.  Bi-cycle came rarely to simple children studying in schools in those days. Many did not want it any way.  Some like me always wanted them, but had no means!

And here comes a brand new bi-cycle!!

Now for the second bi-cycle who are willing to bi-cycle after learning, today afternoon in the main road?  This time a few hands went up.  The first two hands were selected and the decree was let both of them learn on the second bi-cycle, let them share the time.  With that the master ji walked back to the School Building.

We were left with Brother Sebastian and Brother Paul and Peter.  Since I was the first boy to raise the hand and it was Brother Sebastian holding the first bi-cycle, he came to my help and helped me to hold the bi-cycle, then slowly to sit on it and pedal.  He steadied my handle bar and walked behind me holding on the back of my seat.  This was a laborious task for him as I was being continuously practised.  In the case of the other two boys, both borther Peter and Paul took turn to hold the two boys and since there was only one bi-cycle for two boys, when one boy was bi-cycling the other could rest and also his helper could rest.

In my case the compassionate Brother Sebastian ran behind me without complaint always giving me hints of how to steady, how to slowly get down from the bi-cycle and in the mean time bringing it to a slow halt, how to climb on the bi-cycle by pushing the bi-cycle with the right leg and pedalling with the left all the while holding the handle bar steady.  I was thrilled to see the front wheel going through and through all the while coming from under the mud guard.  Brother corrected me saying "don't look at the turning wheel, look ahead to the clear road and keep seeing the clear road and watch for obstacles to be steered clear.  Do not look at the furning wheel"  I obeyed him and soon in a matter of two hours my handle bar was steady and we were practicing in the foot-ball ground, so there was no problem of space.

But there was something.  At times, since were circling the ground, the other boys who were practicing came against me.  We steered clear most of the times.  If we could not, Brothers helped us by their hold on the backside of our seats.  I was slowly getting easy on the practice.  Time was passing by.  The study which started in the morning hours went through and it was approaching four o' clock.  It was about time to move to the main road for the road test of fitness!  All the children who were not practicing had made it into a kind of festival and were shouting "Time for the main road, time for the main road cycling!"  This was slowly getting on our nerves, at least on my nerve!  We had increased our speed, was somewhat confident on the bi-cycle, the brothers have moved away, and we were on our own. 

The shirll shouts of our friends for the time on the main road has now turned into a roar and suddenly one of the other practicing boys appeared infront of me.  He was also at a good speed but not as much as mine.  Mind you, my speed also was not much, but for a new practising guy, it was a fair speed indeed!  The other boy was steadily approaching me from a distance and I shouted "Please stop.  brake, brake", but he also shouted back brake, brake, as if it was my echo.   Both our speeds lessened by our stopping to pedal but the brake stuff was not to be found.  In the sudden mileu I could not recall where the brother had said the brake is, and I was looking ahead!

My practicing friend, the other boy came face to faced with me and fell down as if he was submitting to me and I looking ahead ran over him went farther and fell down to the ultimate cheer of all our other friends and the utter dismay of our Brothers who were helping us to practice!!  I lied down where I fell recapitulating and recalling what happened in the instand second before!  Where was the bell or the brake then?  I could not recollect where were they!

I had ran over the neck of my other practicing friend and over his bi-cycle.  I thought his neck was broken as he slowly got up with a head half turned to one side.  I froze.  I did not dare get up.  "My God"  I had forgotten going the main road stuff and all.

All our friends had gone into a frenzy.  "He has to be beaten, he has to be beaten, take him to Master ji to be beaten.  He has run over our friend!  He has run over our friend!"  Yes, I have to be beaten.  That was the simple punishment in those days, if it had to be! I slowly got up and Brother Sebastian came to my help while the other boy was being helped by other people.   A copuple of neighbouring youth came and inspected the neck of my friend.  One of them said, "it is only a sprain. Get some kattappa leaves, we will set him straight"  Kattappa is a small plant with greenish cum yelloish leaves.  The leaves were plucked in no time by some and the youth, one of them, squeeezed it over the neck of the boy and the juice fell, the green juice.  He slightly massaged his neck on the side of the sprain and steadied his head.   The head which was so far lying to one side, became steady.

All of us walked to the school with the bi-cycles and the boy who was over run and the ultimate me, the accident maker and the unhurt, with myhead held low thinking how much beating it will be for running over a friend, whether it will be severe, whether I would be able to stomach it, will the Master ji stop with ten beatings or so or will he go on beating me.  My head started to swirl!!


It was a furlong to the school building.  The procession went up slowly, with the friends and classmates joyously shouting the accident maker will be punished, the accident maker will be beaten!  My throat parched.  I licked at my lips.  Bro. Seb. had taken over the bicycle.  We reached the side of the School. When we came to the front side facing the open verandah room of the Master ji, he was in deep thought, looking ahead at the far off skies, with a book in his hand.  The children fell silent at the sight of him and the silence started to become heavy.  He slowly brought down his gaze and looked at the group of children and the two brothers behind them and the two bicycles.  Then slowly he looked at all the children and raised his voice "Why all of you here, not going for the Main Road trip?"  At this, several of my friends started together, pointing at me they said : "He has rode over Joseph" He just struck him with his bi-cycle, he should be beaten.  We have brought him here!"

I had seen the huge  cane the Master ji used, of course rarely, on the children on any grave mistakes.  In those days, the stick correction was a big type of correction!  The correcting fluid and other types of correction was rare!  When it came to little children, it was always the STICK!   I kept quiet!

Master ji, thought for a while.  Rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger, then with the back of his hand he rubbed his chin again.  Then he said "All those who want to have him beaten, come to this side ! This he said showing to his left.  Many of the friends who had shouted that I be beaten walked to his left jubilantly.  Master ji smiled at them.  He slowly said:  "Slowly he said: Now explain to me actually what happened, and one of you - bring my cane from the table in the room! "  One of the boys bolted for the cane.  He went with such electric speed and was back before I winked.  The first thing I could see was the yellowish brown cane and behind the cane my friend slowly reaching the Master ji.  Master ji smiled at him, asked him to put the cane on the bench near by and said again: "Now slowly tell me what happened."  

My friends started explaining:  "Little Joseph was coming (I was the little Joseph) from the east side of the ground, and Joseph (the one who went under me) was coming against him from the West side.  Joseph was shouting to little Joseph to brake.   He did not brake.  Just near little Joseph,  Joseph and his bi-cycle fell down.  Little Joseph straight went over him without braking and thereafter he also fell." 

"Now how does it make a cause to punish or beat little Joseph"

"Sir he did not brake"

"What about Joseph's brake"

"hat...that....that..we do not know."

"Then why do you or any of you want him to get beaten?"

"Sir, Sir, he ran over Joseph, even after Joseph told him to brake!"

"True, true, but where was Joseph's brake?"

"That...that....that.....we do .....we do not know."

Slowly the boys on the left of the Master ji started to leave his left side and come to the right side where we two, both the Joseph and little Joseph were standing with the Brothers standing behind us with the two bi-cycles !

Now he turned to me: I almost froze!  He said "Now Little Joseph, what happened to your brake?"   All this while, I was thinking the same.  What happened to my brake.  I really could not imagine there was a brake at all. 

I made my defence:  "I also told him to brake Sir.   but could not see my own brake.  I tried my level best, but could not ever imagine where the brake could be at that moment. " Every body laughed.

Same question was repeated to Joseph:

He also made similar statement.  "I could not remember where it was, Sir."

Now there was a heavy silence.  Master ji took the cane in his hand and called the boy near to him and said "Take this to my room and put it in its usual place" Then he turned around to pass judgement"

"There is no question of punishing anybody here.  Accidents do occur.  If anybody is hurt we get them treated.  But not punished.  This was training for learning.  Nobody wanted to make an accident.  Did any body?  There was an answer in unison  "No, Sir" 

Master ji now pronounced judgement:    "..So..Go to your manual labour and further bath etc. according to your time-table.  No more bi-cycling on the main road today..Got it...all of you?....In life never make this kind of allegations against anyone without thinking of the consequences,  mind all of you!"   

I was relieved.  Life started coming back to me.  My heart started beating again!  The Brother Sebastian with the bi-cycle patted my back!  It was a pat, I badly needed.  I took a deep breath!  The bi-cycles were taken by the Brothers who happily walked with them to the bi-cycle shop a kilometre away.  We, all the children, were left for our other works!  I felt very relieved and walked to my manual labour site, where one by one my friends started to come to agree with Master ji and me, that the accident was not willful or intentional.  I was wondering what had happened to all of them at the time of their making the complaint immediately after the accident!

All of us including me forgot what happened so quickly, it seemed such a thing never happened.  My training continued the next week along with the very same other boys on different bicycles and again the bogey of riding in the main road was brought up.  An arrangement was made to post other boys who are not practicing at various points from point to point so that it can be observed if any body gets down on the way or falls down etc.

Time slowly went on and evening was approaching!  All other boys except the ones practicing were sent off to different points on the main road and we went at last along with the two three brothers helping us out!  The stage was set. I was flagged off first.  While we were good at riding, climbing up and getting down was possible but a bit tricky for us at that time.  But we did not mind that.  To make a ride that day, that evening was almost like Michael Shoemaker doing his Formula 1.

We got on the machine and set off without any panic.  We went on and on without any break in the ride giving side to the vehicles coming from behind.  In fact we were keeping to the extreme left and beyond our left was either canal or paddy fields.  There was good amount of grass also growing at various parts near the little water canals which are exhausts, but at that time, the exhausts also carried only pure water with life in it  which intermingled with the water in the paddy fields.

I completed my forward leg and got down and one of the observer boys and one brother patted me and I set to climb the bi-cycle for the return journey.  This I did remarkably well.  Now the side of the road changed and this time the left side had more of fall to the canal cum edge of the paddy field.

The paddy field and the little canal all through on th side of the road had thick leaves and plants and a combination of other little green plants the major portion of them being the 'Chembu or Taro' found in this part of the country.  Chembu plants have big oval or near round leaves like the lotus and can carry water drops on them and they really hinder the sight to the ground or the canal so that the depth or the underground condition of the canal can't be seen. Two feet up was the road and the road was tarred only in the centre for say about 45 feet or so in its 70 feet.  The rest of the 35 feet was equally falling on either side of the road.

I was going at ease having won the race half way and had a fair amount of confidence of completing the trip.   Then there appeared the big bus in front! I was suddenly taken aback.  Here in this part of the country the big vehicle drivers usually being kind to the other road users apply their horns.  The bus driver applied his horns and this panicked me.  I held my ground and moved straight ahead but kept more to the side and was about to move to the mud part of the road when there was another huge horn from the back side this time another vehicle which I could not see.  I presumed this to be a car.  I am not terrified much by the on coming vehicle as I can see it, but the vehicle coming on my own left side and hooting, I can't see!  This petrified me and I moved further to the left and almost on the edge of the fall where the chembu vegetation coupled with the green grass folliage was proliferating.  The trouble was there was a gentleman with an open umbrella walking in front of me.  He had a packet on his right hand and was holding the umbrella with his left.  It was slightly drizzling but the sun was out and bright.  I was manovuering to cross him and the vehicle behind passed me with a loud hoot in my ear "PePpeeeee" and that was it!

In the sudden pepeee I moved an inch more to the left and went under the hand of the gentleman,  slowly walking with his hand out with the packet and the umbrella on his left hand!  The hit was such that the packet in his hand went off in a shower and he lurched forward a bit, while I went down with the bi-cycle into the chembu plants (The taro plants in the side canal) and green folliage grass and further into the water in the canal!!   For a fleeting moment everything became dark and slowly the light came up.   There was not much water in the little side canal.   I slowly scrambled to my feet.

I was frozen with fear of the man whom I had just struck.  The strike was not severe as I had passed under his right hand only, hitting his right hand right through sending his packet into smithereens!  But that was good enough to make one angry.  What ever he was carrying has all gone!  Bought with hard earned money, I did not know what it was at that time. I was shaken, but could pull myself up and out of the water.  I came back dripping with water from head to toe, forgetting I had been on a bi-cycle and utterly not remembering there was a competition of riding on the main road etc.

Shivering I cam t the gentlemen and asked "Did anything happen to you, Sir?"

"Shall I do anything for you?"   I was very panicked as to what could be the reaction from such a huge man.  The man looked at me for a long while and then asked: "Let my happening wait, did anything happen to you?  Are you all right?"  "I have small children like you at home.  If they do something like this to somebody else, I only hope they are not harsh with them!"   "You should not come to the main road like this, these roads and the traffic are dangerous at times"   I was listening to his little speech, when my observer friends reached shouting "Our friend has fallen, our friend has fallen,  our friend has failed"

The strong and stout gentleman "Ssshhhed" them....with a finger to his lips and told them half scolding:  "Are you all not ashamed, that one of you get into trouble and instead of helping out, you shout?"

This gave me a little courage.   I moved to the man and asked him again, "Sir can you do something for you to retrieve the lost packet stuff?"  The packet stuff was sprinkled all over.   I found it was raw meat cut for curry, which he was carrying neatly packed.   I knew this stuff.   I was sad for the guys who were unlucky, not to have it today!   The man spoke up again "Don't worry about my packet.  I can get it again.   You wait here.  I will go down the canal and bring the bi-cycle for you."  With that, he turned his white dothi (white long cloth which people in Kerala wear and make a half bind at the waist when they have to wade through water) up, slowly made his way through the chempu plants and fished with his hands for the bi-cycle.  It was there embedded in the mud, and he brought it up in one hand and kept it on the side of the road where I was standing!

"Now don't ride.  Just push it home!  This road is not as safe as you boys think.  If your parents knew this, they will be worried"  I said a feeble "Yes, Sir" and slowly started pushing up and my friends walked with me this time very silent.  The gentleman looked around at the scattered pieces and made sure it is a futile exercise and turned around and walked in the opposite direction to the market to buy another packet.   Once he was out of sight, I told my friends that I was going to complete the ride and got on the bi-cycle.   Uneventfully, I bi-cycled maneuvering the oncoming and backside coming traffic and reached the school!!

When the matter of accident was reported by my friends, the Master ji came to my rescue again, saying "That is not a failure!  Look at the whole exercise!  Without doubt, he tried!  Accidents may occur!  Next time, he will not make any accident!  Accident is due to the bigger vehicles, and that too their heavy horns!  If one has more practice, there will be much less accidents! So all of you go along with your other chores!  We will honoring the winners later!"

With that he dismissed the teams and I went to look for my bruises...Brother Sebastian as earlier took the bicycle from us to be returned to the shop owner!

By now, bruises or not, I had become an expert with less practice.  Now I have to practice.  I waited my turn to get more practice!!  Never to give up bi-cycling!!!

I distribute the "Sathyadeepams"

Life started to move as usual from house-hold chores, at times cooking, at times cleaning, and generally washing our own clothes and mostly studying our portions and attending classes regularly.  Since this was a boarding school and we stayed there all there while, there was no absentees or defaulters at class.  If anybody was absent, he will not be in that School!  This was a stark contrast to the other schools I had attended.

In those schools, many students absented for various reasons, and the teachers never asked what happened to them.   In the Convent, the Sister and at times if the Sister was not there, a Teacher wrote us as "Pre 32 below the Stre: 37" like that.  The Stre - was the Strength and the Pre- was the students present.  That ends the matter.  The sister if she was there, used to be concerned and made enquiries about the welfare of the children and their family back grounds and at times offered further help too!

In the Class IV, the private school, it was paid masters, who never asked anything.  They had their red pen when they called out our names and if no voice or sound was heard as "Present Sir,   or   Haajar"  they your name column was given a small red signal with the red pen.  That was it.  But not in this school.   If a child or boy is not in class, the class stopped, the Master ji first enquired all of us about him, if the answer is satisfactory we were sent to fetch him with due help, or he went himself calling Brother Sebastian.

If the child was sick the Vaidya was called immediately, and  our Hindi Teacher was a  Vaidya (Village Ayurvedic Doctor) himself, he was summoned to treat him.  This saved us a lot of panic and difficulty about sickness.  Treatment and that too very cheap if not free was at hand.  The Hindi Teacher was a man of very good standing, an epitome of cleanliness and good at treating children.  

Apart from the classes, we had chores in the evening, before we sat down to our studies at Seven o' clock to study up to Nine o' clock when we had our supper.  After supper when we were mostly allowed to disburse for sleep or reading, I found there was a new gentleman related to Brother Sebastian coming with a huge bunch of new papers and will be settling accounts with the elders including the Master ji.  That day they were engrossed in a conversation of distribution of the paper and was concerned they are unable to catch all of them at one go at the Market place.  A solution was being suggested tht if someone can go from house to house distributing the papers that would be a good idea.   I was standing nearby and blurted out "Can I go and distribute?"

That shocked the group as I was not allowed to take part in the conversation of the elders.  As usual Brother Sebastian recovered from the shock first as he knew me and I was a bit close to him.   He said to the Master ji.  It is a good proposition.  He can try.  Even if he misses some houses that does not matter. 

That was it!  I was selected for distribution!  I was jubilant.   I was getting to suffocate by only the school chores, house hold chores, studies and the repetitions of the same all the time.  This will be an outlet to go out see the place, see the birds, see the rivulet and the canal, the roads and the traffic, the huge vehicles and small vehicles, the people and their mannerisms, the church and the different houses and the kind of people in them.

I was told that I have to be punctual with my classes and studies and then only I will be entrusted with the Satyadeepams.  I readily agreed.  Next morning, I was given a bundle of Satyadeepams and a list of names.  Here the names usually run with the family name, father's name and the name of the head of the family.  The families in our district, in those days, whenever they bought anything were purchased in the name of the head of the family.   I went through the names and looked at the bundle of the papers, freshly print, with the smell of new ink on them.   I liked that smell!!   Print stuff.  With photos and letters on the pages!!  I liked them.   I set out with the bundle to the street near the church which went east, house to house, at time asking the family names and head of the department names.

Walking and walking, I reached the end of the village where the dam canals carrying irrigation water.   On the return I took another route where there were more families to whom the paper had to be distributed.I walked street to street, village to village and gave the paper.  Most of the families took the paper indifferently.  No body ever said 'thank you' or any such near resembling words.  As all of them were paying the bare minimum cost of the paper they all thought, that itself was a great favour.  Since I did not expect anything I was happy to distribute the paper according to the list I had, and reached back by the evening, almost at the verge of night fall.

Once in a week thereafter, I used to distribute them and slowly it became a simple matter for me, where I could do it without much effort and this gave me a lot of good exercise of walking!

Most of the week ends the Master ji arranged a type of tour, always a walking tour, to any of nearby churches, site seeing places or hills or boating in the country boats etc.  While classes improved steadily with different subject teachers starting to come, especially for Hindi, Sanskrit, Mathematics and Social Studies.   English and Social Studies were handled by the Master ji himself.   A specialist master ji came for mathematics and I started to get beaten in class for not getting to solve the problem in arithmetic.   The arithmetic had a lesson in which the master ji started with, suppose one is equal to hundred.   I could never suppose it and got beaten.   I hated that Master ji.  How easily he supposed one is equal to hundred.   He should be a great guy.   Most of my friends understood how to suppose one is equal to hundred, but not I.  And invariably got beaten.   My bottom got a lot of thick skin due to those beatings.   Luckily there were no girls in the class and there were no lady teachers in the school.  That relieved me.   I never complained about it at home.

In my little class one tiger sister had chastened me not to tell school beatings at home, which I kept to my heart and practiced in later life.   But I kept on thinking of a way to get away from this beating, which happened on all arithmetic classes.   But a solution or way out did not come for a long while!

In the long run I started to think and imagine every one is equal to hundred!  I also thought, if one is always supposed to be hundred, a hundred is also or can also be supposed to be one!!  What a strange world!  We always had to suppose one is equal to hundred.  But in actual life, it never happened.   A one to be hundred!  A one can only be a one.  But one has to suppose, which I was finding difficult!

But other subjects did not have this kind of problem.  All of them had only one story to tell.  One way of usage. One history.  One chemistry.  One physics. etc. etc.  I studied and studied on.  We had all round progress in all kinds of teachings and trainings in the School.

Apart from the many simple tricks we were taught, the next item on line was swimming!!   We, as small children would never have thought of going out to water and swimming, but for the Master ji, who was a visionary.   We thanked him all through our lives, all of us who learned swimming with his great guidance and help.   He was a visionary Master ji.  Not like the bi-cycle treat, this did not involve money in those days.  In fact, had it been today, it would have been a few thousands.  But not then, when the Master ji did it for the love of teaching and making children able to stand on their own legs.

The first and foremost was locating a pond where we could swim or learn to swim away from the gaze of the public.   These were plenty in those days, as every paddy field or huge personal compounds had one or two ponds and some of them were pretty big with a lot of depth, some of them even having a very deep well in the centre.  Masterji located a large pond a kilometre away across the road to the end of a paddy field and took per mission from the owner, who was too happy to allow it as he knew Masterji and his pursuit.

We were jubilant.  Again, there was a selection and I saw to it that I was there in front with my hand up as soon as this was suggested.   We were all marched to the pond for the first time in an evening (early evening or late afternoon, when the sun was not yet set)  In the evening day light we reached the pond crossing the main road and walking into a by-lane and further to a house compound and through a 'padam varambu' (a padam varambu' is a small walk way in the centre of a paddy field. Only one person can walk on it at one time. That thin boundary cum set-walk-way, it will be). to reach the corner of the pond called the 'kulam' .  The 'kulam' (the pond) was very wide and deep in the centre, with blue water in it.  There was  green plants on the side of it and there were a lot of fish which of and on came near to us and looked at us and seeing us, suddenly dived into the water.

Unmindful of all that, the Master ji slowly walked into the water, dipped himself in the deeper side of the water, and stood up.   The way he stood, we knew, the water was not too deep for him.  He could stand there! But that would be deep for us, children of 10 and 11 years old who were not more than three or three and a half feet in height.  Otherwise, four feet water will be deep for us.  And more water meant sure death by drowning!  But Master ji was undaunted.  He stood there like a Colossus and said and motioned that one of us just come to the water slowly up to waist deep water facing him. 

Naturally, I could not wait!  I straight walked to half waist water and looked at him for further directions. "Now slowly lean forward and put your face in the water without breathing. Or better, take a deep breath, then slowly put your face into the water and keep the breath.  Do not breath in, then after 2 seconds come back to the original position!  I did not so with ease.  "That is fine, you can do it then" he said.  Now, go with your face down to touch the water and push with your legs forward and spread your hands and make a motion like you oar forward.

Slowly, I went or leaned forward with my hands spread to oar, and pushed with my legs with as much force, as I could.  In a matter of two or three strokes of my hand as the oars in a boat I was in the hands of the Master ji.   He turned me around, encouraged me saying, you have done it "Do not breath in when your face is down in water" "Now do it to the other side" and put me down with face down to oar to the original place in the corner of the pond.  I had not doubt and I oared with my hands with face down in water and in a jiffy I was caught by Bro. Sebastian on the other side.   I did not see Bro. Sebastian earlier.  But now he was there.   That was my first lesson in swimming!

All other children repeated the motions which I made under the strict instruction, supervision, and help of Master  ji except the ones who already knew swimming.  There were a few guys in with us in the school, which I was surprised to notice, who knew swimming as good as the Master ji and the Master ji was jubilant about them and they also were encouraged to swim along with us in the pond.  While we were learning to swim by slow calculated movements, these lads were swimming to the other side of the pond with great abandon, joyfully, beating the water rhythmically with their legs and oaring with their hands and at time sending water jets from their mouths, and turning their heads from side to side with the motions of their oaring hands and coming back when they reached the extreme other side!  Most of us were really surprised at their great ability on water!

We were learning to swim and slowly the rains started to become severe.  'Thulavarsham' became severe at times.  The months of September and October at times brought copious rains and it brought up water also in huge quantities in Kerala.  As the rains became more, the swimming classes stopped.  Master ji told us, 'now that the rains are getting severe and the ponds are becom ing overfull swimming is not very safe now.  So we will restart swimming when the rains recede'.  This was accepted by all very happily as nobody wanted to go for swimming in the rains.   Then the rains brought a lot ofwater and the near by wells started to get filled up.  The water level in the wells came up to almost five-six feet from the upper land.

Master ji was a man of courage and great ideas.  One day he said "now the rains have stopped, but not yet time to go to the swimming training.   But, we can go for a swim in the huge well in the nearby compound.  The compound owner is my friend.  He has no objection.   Only those who are very well in swimming and bold enough can come with me.  That will be so very refreshing" He continued:  "All others can come with us and watch".  That enthused all of us.  The students had two experts among them in swimming. They joined the Master ji in swimming.

All of us went with them to see the surprising act.  We had seen the well mentioned by the Master ji in the near by cashew nut grove.  It was a huge well with a one foot safety guard around it.  All of us reached the well and  looked in.   The water level had come up remarkably in the rains.  The water wsas about six-seven feet down only.  The well was some twenty five-thirty feet deep which meant it was holding that much water!  The crystal clear water was captivating, indeed!   There was a branch of the cashew nut tree slanting on the top of the well.  Master ji tied the long and big coir rope on the branch in double and put it into the well!  He said:  "This is for our climbing back".

"Now we go!" saying this the Master ji jumped into the crystal clear waters in the well.  He went down as we see in films with bubbles coming up and stopping our breath!   But, in a matter of seconds, he came up as he went down, and spat water like a jet and once the water jet was over, he said "now, those who are well versed in swimming can jump seeing the clear space.

Two of our friends, who were well versed in swimming jumped in one after the other. That was a real hilarious sight to all of us and all of us wanted to jump in too in the crystal clear waters of the well.  But alas!  We were only learners in the swimming!  None had a licence except the two who jumped in!  They came up as they went down after leaving and sending up a lot of bubbles!  We stood to see the sight which was really breath taking.   Now, we wanted to see their climbing back!

After a small while of half an hour, the Master ji told the other two to get back through the rope which was tied to the branch of the cashew nut tree branch.  One by one they got back simply holding the rope and stepping on the 'Pamperi' or the 'stepping assistance' on the inner wall of the well!  Seeing all that, we became very happy!  Our panic was over after that.  Before that, we were in panic whenever we heard about getting into a well etc.  All the same the tropical areas where wells are deep, one has to be well experienced and well versed in swimming etc. to get into a deep well in normal times when the water level is too deep.   When it comes up in rainy seasons, one has to be an expert to jump in and should also see the getting back up as the Masterji did!

Apart from the escapades, the studies went on in strict earnest.  The classes were from nine to four everyday.  Every day we had one hour manual labour which kept us all very fit.  One hour for playing, which was normally foot ball to those who could play well.  Others just walked among the big players.On holidays, we had library hours!  A new system arranged by the Master ji.  It was really a nice period of time.  We got two to three hours of time to read with great books, especially, I found books on Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi  and other personalities.  There was a good number of fictional books too.

We had small drama books and  simple novels among other books, some of which we could read according to the availability of time.  The every day curriculae and routine of class, studies and personal chores kept us busy.

In the classes the Master ji always told stories and if they were in English, he interpreted it and also made us to say the stories for the class.   That caught my attention.  I could relate the stories somewhat well and this came in handy shortly afterwards.

As I said the School was a newly started one and was to be recognized as one, yet.  One day we were told that the Education Inspector is coming to inspect!  The Master ji was undaunted.   He said, "there is nothing to worry as we are up to date in our lessons and classes.  but the inspector is free to ask questions to the class, to each children individually or collectively.  Just revise your lessons and be ready with the answers as much as you could.  that is all"  That was Master ji's advice.  Very simple one and we were up to date too with our lessons.

And the appointed day was near.  The Master ji told us that we re arrange our sitting order.  All those were were good at studies were given seats at the back and those who were not so good, were put in the front.   And the Inspector came.  He was a simple person.  Very clean, neat and tidy.   He went around the school along with Master ji and two three other teachers asking questions and recording the answers all the time.   Ultimately, we saw him along with all others coming towards our class!

All of us stood up and said "Good Morning, Sir" to which re replied with a Good Morning after a long while all the while watching the face of each individual child.  Then he asked us to sit down.  He asked us about the lessons and upto which lesson we have gone and asked a few questions from them to which fitting replies as already taught were given by my friends.   The Inspector was almost satisfied.  Now he put down the text book on the table and asked the surprising question : "Has any body read any lesson other than which are taken in class?"  The class fell silent!  I had read one lesson out of curiosity as the Master ji had told the story of the lesson in the Class.  So I stood up to say "Yes, Sir"

The Inspector's interest was aroused and he said "So, you have read a lesson which was not taken in the class?"  I replied candidly that the story was said in the class by Master ji and out of curiosity, I had gone through it. The Inspector allowed me to sit down and threw another googly at the class in general. "Can anybody relate the story of this lesson in English for the whole class?"   I could see everybody become tense.  I thought that I cannot allow this to pass as I was the one who replied earlier.   I stood up.  the Inspector was thrilled to see me stand up.  He smilingly told me:  "You are the one who had red it.  Can you relate the story?"  I said yes and started as Master ji had trained us telling a story for the public, with suiting body language by showing my hand to show far away and all.  I started saying: "Long long age, far far away, there lived a leap and a creep.  The creep lived under the King's pillow and the leap lived in the garden."   Inspector was impressed.  He said: "Good.  That is enough. Sit down."  He turned to the Master ji and asked him to come in.  The Master ji was so far standing outside the class watching the happenings in side the class.

Both the Inspector and the Master ji spoke to each other a little while and together they went out discussing various matters in a very happy mood.After a while the Master ji saw the Inspector off and came back very happy.  He said that there is a chance the School may be recognized soon. In a months time this came true.   The School was recognized by the Government!

When the School was recognized, the number of aspirants to the School suddenly increased by leaps and bounds.  Since this was a residential school, which catered to children, with food and stay, it was not possible to support all of them by the Master ji single handed and here came a reason to increase the monthly fees, which so far was nil.  The School was running solely on donations from do gooders and well wishers.   That was going to be negligible now as the strength of the School was going to go up by leaps and bounds.

Naturally a fees was being suggested and we got informed.  In turn our parents appeared and were at a loss as myself and brother was studying there.  Many parents could not meet the fees as they could otherwise continue in their local schools or nearby Government Schools at minimal fees. Eldest brother came for a second trip to the School and said that we are moving!

Class VII had been completed and I had passed out, and brother had passed Class VI to Class VI.  It was a moment of pain to leave such a nice School but we had to, as the fees hurdle has come up now.  We turned around and looked at the School for one last time and was overwhelmed!!

Three years had passed in a jiffy.  The Onam grass amongst which we used to play hide and seek was beginning to appear.  Now there will be no more playing among them.   The huge Alsatian dog won't have to be chained any more as we may not be there.   The getting up at 5 o' clock may not have to be stuck to here after.   At home there is no question of a bell or anybody calling us normally.   We had to get up ourselves and the sunlight decided the time.

All the thoughts of the happenings  in the School, came in a rush as we stood looking at the School, one last time.  The Alsatian was looking at me intently.  I had once narrowly escaped from its deadly bite.  Or rather, the Master ji saved me!  The place where the Alsatian was to be chained was just below the room verandah of the Master ji.  I was calling the dog to come near me so that I could chain him.   I was standing chain in hand.  The dog was almostmore than half of my height.  When I called out, he came running from somewhere.  But he had a grin on his face, which slowly turned out to be a growl.  He was standing a few feet away from me and not coming near.   The Master ji's verandah was at an elevation and Master ji was standing there watching me and the dog and he was brushing his teeth.

I called at the dog again without fully understanding the growl of the dog and his facial expression, even though I thought something was amiss.  My next call and the huge dog leapt across at me aiming my neck.  The Master ji somersaulted and landed between me and the Alsatian and caught hold of the dog in a grip!  Oh...that moment, I was saved by inches!   Thanks to the Master ji's alacrity, my life was saved that day!!

In fact before the chaining duty, I had the duty of feeding this very Alsatian!  He had a plate.  All children used to do various house works by turn.   And one such turn, my work was feeding this Alsatian.  He had golden hair with patches of black.  Some black and gold was at his mouth too, making his growl very vicious!  He had been brought in to tackle the cattle menace in the School compound.  I can't recall his name now.

I used to wash his plate every day and keep it at the corner of the verandah.  How-so-ever I washed it, it can't be too clean and all, as our plates.  With my little hands I washed it and kept it and went my way.  The brothers who used to serve, served the food and food was announced.  All of us came and settled for food.   I was sitting quite far away, by at least seven or eight children's distance for my food.  This was supper and we were all very relaxed.  Half the way through my food, I looked at the Alsatian's plate!  Lo.! It was not there!

My God!  Where could it go?  At times there will be a lot of left overs and children will look for it.  Today the food being very good, the left overs were less and no body was looking for it.  But this being my duty to keep the plate, I was at a loss to see where the plate had gone.  In fact, there was no place where ever it could go!

Suddenly I saw that sight!  The Master ji had the dog's plate.  What to do. He had almost finished the dinner!  For one thing, I was happy.  The plate had been washed very clean except for the bits which do not go from the bottom of the plate.  The present day washing materials were not there in those days and the only item available was ash and coconut fibres.   Now there was nothing further to be done.  Master ji while eating generally kept very silent and was mostly lost in thoughts.   His looks were always up or away and now too, he was not there, even though he was merrily finishing his dinner!

Once the dinner was finished, he moved to the well side and washed the plate for a long time and all the while looking far away into the skies!!  At last, I dissected the case when he put back his plate.   The boy who had the duty of putting his plate in place had mistaken the dog's plate for the Master ji's plate and had not put the Master ji's plate in place.  The serving brother had without a thought served and finished his duty.  Master ji had in his turn started off with dinner lost in thought as always!

When I saw the spectacle, Master ji was almost finishing his dinner.  Only one or two of the guys had something to put in the Alsatians plate and they thought that I had forgotten to put the dog's plate.  Master ji finished dinner and washed the plate and kept on thinking with his eyes in the skies.  I did not know, if he was thinking of the stars or the moon or any thing else at that time.  I was standing near him and he told me:  "Just keep this plate of mine.  The bottom of this plate has become very rough".  With bated breath, I tok the plate from his hands, as there was nothing else to be done at that point and once he passed to his room, I heaved a sigh of relief.

I did not lose any further time in getting the food for the Alsatian and giving it to the Alsatian which was impatient for his dinner.  My friend who was to put the Master ji's plate lated confessed that he had forgotten to put the plate.  I told my friend not to forget his part of putting the plate ever again which he readily agreed to.

The front side of the compound had a lot of pineapple plants some of which were having pine apples on them which was not yet ripe.  The sight of them brought in a couple of incidents connect to them.  One of the well wishers of the Master ji once brought a walnut seed and told Master ji of the goodness of greatness of walnuts and said he can get the seed planted and watered so that in a few months there could be a plant in the School.  Without much thought Master ji called me and asked me if I can plant it at the back side of the School near the pin apples.

I readily agreed and took the seed to the back side of the School and at a distance of two hundred yards away from the main building, at the end of the pine apple line I planted it.  There was a young jack fruit tree near it.  The earth was lose here which attracted me to the place. Every morning, after brushing of teeth, I took a cup of water to wet the seed of walnut planted there.

Day after day, I watered it but to no avail!  This taking of water to wet it became routine for me.  One day I was watering it absent mindedly and suddenly I heard a hiss from the side of the jack fruit tree and within no time I huge cobra with raised hood appeared hissing at me. I turned around and flew to the School just to be faced by the Master ji who was brushing himself.  

He quickly caught hold of me, squeezed my cheecks and shook me and asked bruskly, "What happened, have you seen a snake or so?"  I came to my sense then only.  Master ji ascertaining the facts, quickly started off with the huge cane  in search of the cobra which was never found even after a long search.

Many of the other children and the senior brothers joined the search.   Ultimately everybody agreed that finding the cobra is not that easy as a huge compound full of tapioca plants and pine apple plants provides a lot of places for a cobra to hide.  Somehow, we never were afraid of these all through our stay in the school.   Master ji was ever ready to face any eventuality in the School which made every body very confident in living there.

Once the confidence went up to the extent that we offered to keep guard for the stray animals which came at night to graze in the large compound.   All the children were very enthused and there was a draw of lots to select those who wanted to sleep in the bamboo and palm leaf out house made at the far far back in the pine apple and tapioca compound.  I also opted to go with the others for this escapade!  We started after dinner with hurricane lamps, a few large canes and the Alsatian.   It was a welcome change for me from the normal sleeping mode in the School.  We had agreed, if there is any stray animal groups coming we will ward off them and also shout for help on hearing which others in the School can join us.

As soon as we were in the palm leaf hut, I found it to be a wonderful place to sleep in.  The smell of fresh dry palm leaf braids and bamboo poles coupled with the dry leaf mats we carried was soothing and enchanting.  I only remember arranging my mat and blanket and I was fas asleep.  In the middle of the night I woke up to shouts and all my friends running with the canes helter skelter shouting!  A number of animals had strayed into the compund and one of the strong and alert friends had noted the stray animals coming in.  A few of our friends from the School joined us!  The Alsatian  was running in the lead and the animals fully frightened at the sudden commotion was running for dear life!  The run lead the animals to the extreme edge of the compound where the boundary joined the irrigation canal and the animals jumped the hedge.   They were all good jumpers! But not us!  But the Alsatian was different.   He went over the hedge like an arrow and was almost on one of the large animals which slipped by half an inch!  Next was a goat on which the dog jumped.   It was a neat landing of the Alsatian on the goat  and to ward of the dog the goat jumped into the irrigation canal.

Not to be undone at the fast run and marksmanship, the dog jumped too and bit the goat hard at the mouth and howsoever the goat tried, it could not disengage the bite of the dog.   Master ji came flying and beat the dog out of its catch and released the goat which was hurt by now.  So far this was one of the stray goats, but by the morning, owners for the goat appeared and there was a quarrel over the hurting of the animal.   After a while more of the neighbours came in and a truce was arrived that a small sum be paid to the owner and in turn the owner agreed not to allow his animals to stray into the School compund.

Every thing ended amicably, but a decision was taken that hereafter the Alsatian need not be used to shoo off the animals as controlling the Alsatian once it is in an attack mode, is really difficult.   I had once narrowly escaped his attack to which I am ever thankful to the Master ji!!  I had closely watched the Alsatian on various occasions when he was in the fore front of attacking stray animals or other dogs.  The other dogs just ran away on hearing the back of the Alsatian.   It was so powerful.  But when it came to attacking stray animals he was not a dog.  He was a fighter who took up a do or die mission, which made it difficult for all others who wanted to control him!

Once he was chasing a stud bull which had strayed in with many other animals.  The bull was strong and was leading the herd.  When the dog started barking all the animals started running and the dog started running after them.  In the run the Alsatian caught up with the strong bull and jumped and caught the bull at his mouth.  The bull was breathing hard and its tongue was out and the Alsatian caught it with the tongue and parts of the mouth.  The stud bull hit the dog with all its force on the ground several times which made us all feel in one of such hits the dog will leave the stud and be dead.  But, not the Alsatian.  Come what may the dog hang on the mouth of the bull and blood started to flow.  It was Master ji's heroism which saved both the animals that day.

Days and studies went by very avidly.  Hand in hand with that we had one or the other extra curricular activities.  One day, I had arrived back from my 'Satyadeepa' distribution and taken a bath in the evening.  Darkness had set in when I entered the School bulding that evening.  After the  bath, my right foot started itching on the upper side foot which was unusual.

Next morning there was pimples there.  I tied a white piece of old cotton cloth on it and went to play football.  That evening I played football with great spirits.  I could even score two three goals and I was always keen to beat the ball with the right foot so that I felt relief to the itching.   After the goals, my foot started swelling.  Next day, the pimples had broken and a sort of colourless liquid started caming out!  I knew this was something which was not very right.  I told Master ji and others about it.

Master ji called the Hindi Master who was a Vaidya too according to the Ayurvedic concept.  He had his own practice  and a Medicine shop dispensing ayurvedic medicines. He said he would bring a kashaaya and an oil.  Kashaaya was internal consumption and the oil was to be applied on the foot.  Examinations were fast approaching and we had a lot to study.   A foot was nothing in front of an examination in those days.  So I went along with the kashaaya consumption and oil application which I did with a hen's feather specially kept for it.  This soothed me a lot, but the wound (the pimples have by now become a large wound and there was a lot of puss and the flesh was slowly decaying out) did not heal, nor show any sign of healing!

Once the examinations were over, we were allowed to go home for vacation and we were at the main road, waiting for the Sreeramachandra.  The old bus scratched to a stop and we climbed in.   Once out of the bus we came out and were walking home when second eldest brother, who was a brave heart, came on a bi-cycle and saw me limping slightly.  His keen eyes spotted my foot quickly and he questioned me about it and remarked: "You should have come off immediately"  I countered him with the bogey of "Examinations!" which stalled him even though he was not satisfied.  He new father kept studies and exams at the highest esteem! 

"OK, OK, I shall take you to 'Thalorachan' tomorrow.  Today in any case, you relax!" the brother said.  Me and my immediate brother slowly walked home with our books and articles.  The 'Thalorachan' was a religious brother who was a stalwart in snake bite treatment!!  I was really relieved when I heard that I was to be taken to Thalorachan.  We always heard stories of Thalorachan in those days of saving the life of one person or another who had such and such kind of severe snake bite.  It was rumoured that the Thalorachan had great intuition of who will be coming with what kind of snake bite and ordered his assistants to keep the kind of medicines for one or the other particular kind of snake bite.

The next day, the brother brought his bi-cycle and put me on the front bar and took me to the Thalorachan.   The Thalorachan was a soft looking middle aged or elderly person in brown cassock almost resembling a Fransiscan!  He came and smiled at me and asked if I had pain.  My face was twitching alright with the severe pain.  I said yes.   He sympathised with me and said: "Oh..a lot of pain, indeed!  Don't worry, now that you have been brought here, we will make you well!"  With that he asked us to sit down on the bench.  He came near and knelt down near me and took my right foot in his hand and inspected it at length.

Then he got up, washed his hands in a near by wash basin and came back to his desk in front of us. He said he was writing he is writing a 'dhara' for me with alovera in 'arikaadi' and then a cream to be made with a number of ayurvedic herbs and egg white which was to be made in 'arikaadi' again and applied with a feather on the wood after the 'dhara' is over and cleaned and drying of the wound.   'Dhara' is a way of pouring a medicinated liquid over and over again on a wound to sooth it when the medicine in the liquid will do its work on the skin and flesh.

At home we made the 'dhaara' (of course, mother made it, she was in fact anxiously waiting for us to bring in the treatment recipe) and started with it!!

My Lord, I can't imagine the soothing feeling I got when the dhaara started and slowly I fell asleep!   I had a deep long sleep of a few hours.   When I woke up I was in the mat with my leg covered with the freshly made cream and the room filled with its aroma.   The pain had considerably lessened in a matter of a few hours.   I was given fresh boiled milk every morning and in a few days, I was well all over again!!   The Thalorachan's treatment had been extremely successful!  We went to thank him and brother gave him some money.   The Brother again smiled benignly and slowly suck at his cigar for a long moment.   He looked up and told brother in a very endearing tone.   'Keep the money, get milk and give it to the boy!  His health has still to improve and I do not need any money!"   That was awesome treatment.   We were indebted to him for life!

Among such surging memories we walked out of the great School to continue with our life's journey and the progress in education. The second eldest brother was knowledgeable of the timetable of Sreeramachandra.  He knew the driver and all others in the bus.   As soon as we reached the main road, the Sreeramachandra came and stopped in front of us and waited for us to enter.  Brother spoke to all the staff and further he spoke to most of the travellers who were all known as they all were regular travellers and were from the near by places where the brother moved around.  The local buses were really local in those days.Most of the travellers knew most of the other travellers and there will be a lot of small groups of two or threesomes talking among themselves.

Of and on, various incidents at the School I was parting with, came to mind.  Once such was our cooking food for each time. The cooking arrangement was by two three children and one or two elders teams selected every month.  Once I was in one such team who made the evening snacks and tea.   I rarely got the kitchen work and I did not have much mind for it.  All the same, I liked the cooking and fresh dishes and recipes coming up either in oil or in other preparations.

This time, my team was preparing 'Appams' called 'Velichennappams', which is a sweet delicacy with ingredients of wheat flour, bananas and jaggery in oil.  My work was to pick up the cooked appams from the hot boiling oil with a bamboo stick with a point at one side.  I had to just push the small stick into the appam which will be swimming in the boiling oil.  Once it is at the bottom, I had to press a little more, and the appam will be pierced on the stick, take it to the 'kotta' (sort of basket, made of bamboo again) and do it again and again until all the appams are done.

Almost the dough was about to finish.  The velichannappams were coming out sweet and smooth, each one swimming in the boiling in the special American oil, which I was collecting one by one with the bamboo stick. And there was that smooth appam which I was piercing when the bamboo stick broke and my hand went into the boiling oil straight through..!   I pulled out the hand straight away..but for a fleeting moment all around the frying pan looked at

 one another in astonishment, surprise and amazement as to what had happened!  I myself could not think what to do for a moment.   I was not feeling the pain.  But that moment did not last long.  After a second or two, the hand had started sending pain signals to the brain!!  I was whimpering with pain..My friends shouted for help, ran helter skelter to collect help.   One of the friends remembered the new large bottle of writing ink. I was finding it difficult to handle the pain and dipped the hand (it was my right hand) in the pot containing the left over water which has been used to loosen the dough.  Once it was dipped in that cold water, I felt a little relief, but the skin of the upper side of the palm started bloating up.  Pain increased and became imbearable! I was shifted to my bed and asked to rest.  By chance, it was only evening and Master ji was away to meet senior people in the City of Trichur.

Soon enough Master ji reached back and the news was given to him.  He came straight to me and sat near me inspecting the hand.   He was very compassionate and told me not to worry.   He said, these things can be alright with good treatment.   I was given a new ointment for application and after pouring cold water over the hand for a while, it was applied all over the hand which soothed me and I fell asleep.   Next day  I opened my eyes to see my mother standing near me inspecting my hand!!   It had become Ten  o' clock or so in the morning and I had missed the class as the class had started at nine o' clock. This relieved me quite a lot but I was surprised how mother could come from our house without any message as we had not informed anybody and if a post card is written it will take at least three or four days to reach.  Telephones were not that prevalent and there was no phone in the School.

Mother said she had a dream in which she saw me in great suffering and thought something is not ok with me in School.  She said she started early in the morning around mass time and walked all the way, the six seven kilometres.   In those days of old, it was always dreams which carried the messages.  So, whenever I had a dream of anyone closely related, I was really worried and tried to find out if they are ok in their place of stay.  Mother sat with me for a long while telling me of all the matters at home which soothed me through and through.  Mother left  after a while with the promise that she will come back gain the next day with Aasavams and other medicines as may be required after consulting the Vaidya.  After mother left, my pain started decreasing but  the bloats on the hand did not go away.  I slowly started with my homeworks and started holding the pen and writing.  I could attend the classes within a couple of days.   I was allowed a relief from writing of my home work, unless I felt good with the writing.

A few days later, father came to see me as he had learned the going on in the School and my accident.   He brought the Aasavams (ayurvedic tonics) and after giving them, he called me near and said he had brought a present for me.  I was really happy to learn about a present brought by him and was anxious to see what it was.   He brought out a brand new pen in coffee brown colour with the word "President" printed on it!  I was, as a child, overjoyed and forgot I had a burn accident.   The burn healed before long, as I got very good followed up treatment.   Even though, it was an accident, it brought out touching moments of parental love, a Guru's love for his student, all my friends affection for a colleague etc. which I still very fondly remember!

The school classes went with a rythm and everybody enjoyed the classes.   After the classes the usual works had been distributed.   As I had got the cooking as my part of the work, this times, since I had the accident of getting my hand burned and all, it was changed to a lighter one.  We needed salt for the food.  The way this was done was to dissolve the salt in water and keep it in an earthen pot.  A very good earthen pot, a brand new one at that, was issued to me and the salt.   I was to clean the pot, fill it with water and dissolve the salt in it.  The solution, a colourless liquid, too very salty, is to be arranged in a few bottles which went round during food time.  I refilled the bottles whenever a filling was needed.

It went on for a while!  Due to continuous filling  of the bottles, and refurbishing the  earthen vessel with fresh salt and cold water, I became very confident of this work that I could do it even absent mindedly.   I was very sure how to do it, until one day, I found out that the pot was getting wasted out.  A kind of scales, white scales will come over the pot and pieces of the earthen particles will fall off when the scales are cleaned by washing.   I was getting panicky of the thinning up of the pot and started thinking of a way how to get this job off my shoulder.  In my little head things started to get intermingled! If the pot is broken then I will be charged for it.  Even though, the pot was getting thin day by day by itself, my fear was, as I had been given a brand new pot, how can I explain to them that this was happening automatically?  We did not have chemistry classes in those days.

Had I had that kind of knowledge about the action of sodium chloride, I would have simply thrown away the pot and sat smug at the classes and one of the days all of them would have gone without salt at food.  Then I would have probably said, ah..the pot is no more.....as the salt has killed it!  But that was not the case with me.   I did not know the reason for the thinning and got frightened about the breakage of the pot.  Any day it can break.  Of and on I got other additional works too like taking newspapers like Satyadeepams etc. One of the times I got this additional work, I called my like friend, Scaria and told him to help me with the salt supply stuff until I am back after the additional work.

He was a close friend to me in those days, and was always ready to help.  He took it on straight away without the wind of an eye lid.  Naively I told him that the pot is delicate and have an eye while cleaning etc. and went off.  My friend was totally unmoved about the panic signal I was giving him.  He said without the wind of an eye lid:  "Alright..I will do it. You go and come".  I went off at the fastest speed I could!  Thinking and thinking it was becoming a night mare to me.  The next time my friend will wash the pot, it will dissolve in his hands!  My God, I could not think of it! What will my friend think of me!  I my self did not dare wash it.  In fact I had avoided washing it the last few times for fear of breaking it!  By the time, I came back the lunch was over and I knew my friend will be at the gate of the School waiting for me to break the awful news of the breakage of the pot!

But, when I entered the gate, there was no body and all were either at study or at siesta or each one at their personal work.  What did he not serve the salt liquid?  With heavy legs I walked to my friend.  From a distance I could see him at his desk writing something.  I could not see his face as he was sitting facing the wall and perhaps was not thinking I would be  back that soon.  I went to him and sat near him and showing our mutual closeness, put my hand on his shoulder and said : "How did the lunch go, I got late".  His reply was very pleasant, he said:  "Oh..it was good, in fact, marvellous!  We all missed you as you had the special assignment work! Of course, you can enjoy it now!"  Oh..not a mention of the salt pot. OK..Things may not be that bad.  The salt pot became smaller and smaller in my mind, as I slowly kept on eating my food with fried fish and all.  Still the pot lurked in the back of my mind.

After the food, we were together again at study.   I did not dare go to the salt pot.  What will my friend think.  So, I decided to face him with the question about the condition of the pot and how he handled it at lunch.   He again surprised me with his simple answer. He said: "Oh..the pot, you mean...that broke as soon as I

 took it in my hands.  That happens with salt water...I immediately told the senior brother, who got me another pot which I have used.  Hereafter you can use it".   I heaved a sigh of relief!   My long breath amused my friend.  He asked: "What..where you afraid of the pot breaking or anything?  I said "Yes".  He pacified me.  "Don't worry.  You come from not the sea side.  But I come from the sea side.  In our place, every often these pots break like that, it is because of the saltiness which affects the mud pot.  The senior brother changed the pot as soon as I mentioned it".   Oh..so that is that!  How much I had panicked unnecessarily.  That night, I slept peacefully!!

Once in the house, we were back to the old house style with its happiness and sorrow, the poverty and difficulties.  Uncertainties and anxieties from day to day expectations were a daily routine.  The only things permanent in the house was the evening prayer and the education.  The evening we came father brought in a huge fish and a lot of it was made into mouth watering curry and a good lot was fried which was again a wonderful delicacy. Father was always of the mind that we should eat well whenever we could!  So when his payments were at hand, he did not look back in getting great fish or meat and most of the members of the house hold except we, the  small children, were great cooks. We the little ones were always surprised at their expertise in cooking and frying and various other asortment of food making!!  We enjoyed the meal through and through.

The only difference between the boarding school and household was that whenever we had good food we had it plenty and enjoyed through and through but sometimes the next day went without food.  This was a point of anxiety at times.  We were used to not having food a time or two, but it became unbearable when it became one whole day, absenting all the three times!

Back to the old village Government School !

All the same, these did not prevent anybody from reading a newspaper which father used to bring when he came from the work and discussing matters of education.  Father took us to the old Government school with our TCs (Transfer Certificates) which had been issued from the Boarding School with my long big name in it!  On submission, the new master in the Government school did not like my long name and he looked at me with a twitch on his face and ordered: "I am shortening your name, a small child does not need a large name".  That was it.  My double name was shortened into a small name with two letters for initials.   He made me small and packed me into a large class.

The Class was VIII (The eighth class), which is considered to be the beginning of High School.  The Class teacher was a jovial and simple lady teacher who was a tall pious lady which relieved me to a great extent.   Her name was Bhargavi and she looked at me benignly and said " You had been here earlier in Class V, no?"  I replied with confidence "Yes Teacher, in Class V, English Medium"   She seemed to happy to hear it.   She said she will arrange to put me in the English Medium Class VIII.

That became a new beginning for me.By the evening I was in the English Medium Class of 15 students!  Normal medium was Malayalam and the classes had generally forty or more students.  But those who opted for English medium at class V had become less and less as from a class of twenty seven or so, only fifteen now remained as the rest had failed out of the class and joined back their respective Malayalam medium classes.   I was a survivor to have come back to join Class VIII, thanks to my boarding school, which packed me with some simple English, a great survival tool!!

The Teachers here were the best, all who worked for a salary, but some were really adorable Teachers, but some were just teachers.  Even though some of them were great teachers, they were not connected to the students and they merely read the lessons or asked one of the students to read the lessons.  That is all.  That teacher's work of teaching was over.  This was a great disservice to the students indeed at such young ages!  Since, I had a good rapo in the school I just left, I had taken it upon myself, to find out the exact meaning of what I was studying with the base which the Master ji at the boarding school had put in us.   I went into the dictionary for word meanings and reassessed the lessons and when in doubt checked up with my elder sisters who were too good at their studies and could reply me on any of the questions I had.


We had a very uninteresting Social Studies class in which a very learned Teacher came with paan (this is a mixture of betel leaves, areca nut pieces and calcium  which are slowly munched in the mouth at ease, somewhat like the present day chewing gum.  This was the Kerala of the seventies!)  in his mouth and sat down majestically and asked one of the students to read from the book.  The Social Studies was in English as this was an English medium class, but at times the Teacher interjected to explain in further English which he delivered in a much faster fashion which went way about my head.   In any case, I was all ears and caught some words here and there and sat gasping when he finished. Then the reading by the friend student restarted.  Then came the English class where there were lessons comprising of Shakespearian dramas and other Indian Plays which I was in a better position to grapple with and the Teacher was going at a much slower speed.

Since this was a mixed class with both students of the English medium and Malayalam medium classes, the explanations were coming easily both in
English and Malayalam.  The Teacher was also our Class teacher, Bhargavi, who was very compassionate towards any student and was there to carry us through the lessons.

Hindi classes we got as a separate class and the Teacher just took us through the language to make us proficient in the language.  There was grammer, practice of the language by making different kinds of sentences and stories taught of the various great authors of the northern part of India which moved every one with their compassionate tales of various sequences of the India where 'zemindari' was being practised.

Then came the most interesting part of all, namely Science and Mathematics! We were introduced to Archemedis, Isaac Newton, Thomas Alwa Eddison and Pithagorus and various other Scholars of yore who had brought more light to this world and we had our fill as far as High School in Kerala allowed.When we had left the boarding school, we were two people, me and my brother coming back to the Government school.   Me had passed out of class seven and my brother to class six where he could not pass out.   This made a difference of two classes between us and our joint studies were not possible now.  The lessons were different and the classes were different.

It was here the Government school at its best and its worst.   It was good to me as I was in a better class and was also able to grapple with the class work at home with an old dictionary which I borrowed from sister.  In a house where getting school text books were difficult, a dictionary was a thing unheard off and a luxury.  But the case with brother was not that lucky.  The class which he got was a large one and a Malayalam medium one.   When there are too many children in the classes, it is common practice for the teachers to compare children and tell them down.   They are at times humiliated in class and this affected the children very badly.

We were studying our lessons separately but going to school and coming were together and our life in school was together.  We met at intervals and lunch breaks which was a help and solace to each other.   God had given me a great support.  And brother was a support.  Morning and evening we walked to and from school, telling stories on all subjects we could think of at that age.  We went bare foot as foot wear were unheard of at that age for us.   The summer months were bad as it burned our feet and we had to walk fast to suffer the heat of the burning roads!  Walking at times through the paddy field short cut were better as they were not tarred.  At times the short cuts gave us a sting in the form of a bamboo thorn in the bare foot, which went straight in!  This is when a friend, a brother came handy.   When the thorn went in, one sank to the ground and sat on one leg to save the other foot.   It was my brother who pulled out the thorn each time and gave me solace by saying soothing words!!  Blood oozed out for a while but stopped by itself after some time.  Luckily we never developed tetanus out of such thorn hits.    Or when it was a walk through the paddy field walk way in the rainy season, when the whole place was overflowing with water and the difference between the paddy fields and the central ford had disappeared.

We walked holding each others hands and walked slowly on the edge of the paddy field which was overflowing with one foot or more of water.   We were on edge at times as there could be pits at places and we had to be very very careful in wading such places.  A wrong step, and we may fall into the ford which was overflowing and the water speed was too high.  Once it really happened and I hang on to the hand of my brother for life!!  I felt like crying and thought that life was almost at stake.  The only doubt was when was that cut off point!  I was good at studies but less understanding.  My brother was less at studies but good at understanding.  He was not perturbed.  The look on his face was that of a winner and without a word he walked in front holding my hand and slowly putting one step at a time and both of us covered a distance of ten minutes in a matter of almost one hour but definitely managed to climb on the other side of the paddy field expanse and into life!!

Walking through the tarred road was more interesting but we had to walk a longer distance that way.  This way we had to see a lot of houses and their inmates, sometimes the old anties or ammamas (They are the old ladies who are generally assigned to the houses because of age and at times it will be gents whom we called appappans) or old gents called or addressed by us as appappans.  Some of these Ammammas or Appappans were curious about the children passing by and they asked us about our details in a loving way but elicited all information as would be asked in a public application questionnaire.   A kind of unprinted aadhar card of old times.  This we did not feel much about, until it became too severe.

The road to the School started at the point where the by lane street joined the gravel road.  In hundred yards from it was the huge Madras eentha tree with its madirasi pazhams and under it people waited for the local bus called Sreeramachandra.  This was a bus without a nose or a bonnet.  Earlier buses had a bonnet or nose as we called it, which we watched happily to see people getting out and getting in and the driver pulling various strings and turning a wheel when the bus moved on with a roar and a lot of smoke and dust!



After a while the paddy fields ended near a pond and a steep hill took us to the upper level ground from where the village road started.  The pond had a few huge trees over shadowing the pond and spreading its shade over the deep waters making it cool all the time.  Some times we saw huge cobras slowly going up and down the branches of the trees.   At times they stood with their hoods open with a five 'V'  in white colour written on it.   In those days no body lived near around the paddy fields.  So, when we saw a snake, we made our steps faster and moved on.

The place looked like the amazon forests in those days.  There was a 'Pullani' tree which flowered with a strong scent among many other trees near the pond.   The Pullani flowers with their strong scent is said to attract cobras and one particular cobra called the 'Pullani Cobra' was many a time seen on the tree or around and we were always watchful if any of them are prowling around.  If they were around we went fast like arrows to escape the dangerous situation.  However, it was seen, many a time, even if we saw a snake, they moved on gracefully to the deeper grass around.  The danger is when they came out to the walk way.    With God's grace, we moved away always unhurt.

We passed the neighbourhood houses in huge plots of land as well as some small houses in very little plots of land.  All coexisted with harmony and camraderie without any ill feeling to any one.  The plots had greenery everywhere.  The large houses had connec ted cultivable land and cows, buffaloes, bullocks and oxen for paddy cultivation, and also bullock carts for transportation.  The poor houses did not have any thing, but the people themselves who had to do assorted kinds of work to earn their livelihood.

We walked on to reach our little home where after the elders work of making food and keeping uyp house, all the children and youngsters were engaged in studying only.  Elementary study, I mean.  Father used to say, the only way forward is to acquire knowledge, which cannot be taken away by anybody either near or far.   We took it on ourselves to do our best.   Ours was a house with solar light!  I mean the only light which came into the house was the sun light as there was no electricity in our neighbourhood.Night times we did the least of the works, but one stumbling block was there.  This was the difficulty to read or write when there is no light.  This was normally circumvented by the kerosene lamps we used with the kerosene oil we got from the ration shops nearby where subsidised kerosene were available in limited quantities.

Many houses who did not do any studies could economise on kerosene.  But here, we had a disadvantage of having to use more kerosene as we had the need to read or to write to complete our daily homework and study portions.  What we did was we purchase additional kerosene from our neighbours who did not usually need it as they did not have any one to read.

In those days, we used to read the maximum in the mornings as the morning sun light was very pleasant, especially in cold mornings.   We used to hold our text books or note books in hand and used to pace up and down the courtyard and read aloud the portions which we wanted to by-heart and this was very common at that time.  When we had to do mathematics and drawings on science we settled down somewhere.   While the morning readings or by-heartings were on,  our house seemed to be a tree full of crows.   Everyone used to read aloud looking to this side or that and it had a rythm of its own.


The studying poetry and songs were a joy as these we could recite with a tune and recite them whenever needed either in School or at home.  One of the days while walking to school an idea occurred to me.  Eldest brothers used to bring bi-cycles home on rent.  But we did not know who this is done.   There was a shop of bi-cycles on the way to school.   Since I thought my height was good enough to ask the shop keeper the conditions for taking a bi-cycle on rent, I entered the shop on way to school. The bicycles were neatly arranged in front of the shop and inside the shop was the owner manager and a few employees tinkering with various bi-cycle parts.    Once I was in, the owner manager, a very affable plump man, asked me my need, and I said I would like to know the rate for taking a bi-cycle on rent.  Hesaid it was ten paise for half an hour and twenty paise for one hour.

He had rightly assessed me and my need.   Maximum I would need the bi-cycle was for only half an hour. But not now.  I will come for it.  This should be taken advantage of whenever I need it in which I can take maximum distance travel out of it.  Yes.  Occasion will come.   I told the affable shop owner manager that I shall come for it later whenever needed.   He asked me whose son I was and on my replying, he shook his head from left to right and said "Ya..that is all right then" "Vareedettan, I know,  no problems"  "Do come whenever you need it"   So it is ten paise for half an hour.   There after, while walking to school, everything else disappeared from in front of me.  In fron of me was the best bi-cycle in that shop and between me and that bi-cycle was a huge Ten Paise coin.  Ok.  I took a decision.   Ten paise, is not much a too huge thing.  Time and again a ten paise used to cross my way, either in this transaction or that, I never used to catch hold of it. Thats all.  Now, I have to be careful to catch it when it comes next time. Then no body can prevent me from that bi-cycle.

I was determined to do the bi-cycle trip just to try the bi-cycle shop and do the first rental.  Occasion presented in the form of getting groceries for home.  Once the groceries are purchased, if there were any thing left I could keep it.  Having a ten paise from the whole purchase is not a sin.  So, at least my mind told me.   As a small child, but a grown up good enough to go to the rental, I knew it is not a very good un-sin.   But...I need the ten paise, badly and I had it.  Next day, during lunch time, I walked half the way to the bi-cycle shop and demanded the bicycle.   The gentleman, was affable again and gave me one of the best Raliegh bi-cycles.   I bi-cycled home, as if, I was driving an audi..Mother was really surprised to see me coming home for lunch.  And that too on a bi-cycle.   She asked abruptly "Where did you get the bi-cycle from?"

I told her of the rental and the rent rate and all that.   She was all ears.   After hearing all my story, she appreciated me.   Gave me lunch  and while I was having lunch, she told me "Next time you want to have the bi-cycle, you can ask me. I shall give you the ten paise you need"   I bi-cycled back reached school, all the while thinking whether mother would have known that I had rejigged the prices on the day before's groceries..!  By God..she very well knew.  In the evening, I questioned mother about it.   She said: "You are all small children..I can understand...I don't have to ask you all through...Any way (with a big grin and smile) you keep up the bi-cycling whenever you can.   It will come of use"!  That was a great certificate...which I still keep SACRED..with me!  I kept on going to school and time and again bi-cycling whenever occasion permitted me with the ten or twenty paise coins.

Such bi-cycling were but rare.  Mostly, me and my immediate brother walked to and fro school with our school books in an elastic band.  We held the punch of books either on our shoulder or held it by our side in a straight down hand.  If we had a few paise with us, we kept it safe to be used during lunch time.  A man used to sell ice bars whgich we called 'ice-fruits'.  They came in two three colours like white, orange, green and yellow.   Each colour had a different tase too, like orange, mango, simply sugary etc.  There was a costly item which was again a bar which we called milk fruit or 'milk-iced' which was ten paise.   An ice fruit cost only five paise.  This is    eaten taking enough time to suck at the cool, cool icy bar which dissolved slowly into our mouths almost numbing our tongues and chilling our teeth.  All the same, we enjoyed them through and through.   All the while we talked and talked about all the things in the world at times seriously at times jokingly and laughed about most of the things which made our days a joyful experience!!

The Class Room experiences!!

The Headmaster of the School was Mr. Vailopilly Sreedharamenon,  taking us General Science which included which actually was an elementary lessons in botany and zoology. (We understood that he was a celebrity only afterwards as he was a simple person full of humility and truthfullness beyond par) He was a sweet gentleman who was very compassionate to all of us and taught us only three fourth time of the period and afterwards said a story mostly.  After the tough parts of the class towards the end he went on to relate his experiences he had when he was studying in the Madras Christian College!   Many times, the children knew that he said a story of the Madras Christian College when he was in his best of spirits and that is the time he was very very kind, and that was taken advantage of.   Only at times, I would admit. 

Fourth period used to be the last period in the afternoon and the classes used to end at four in the afternoon.  The last class may start around three fifteen, or so.  So if the class before that is the Headmaster's class, the idea is to get his attention when he is the kindest and get him sanction one period free which he only can.  There were good children in our little class who could pull it.  Many a time we did not do it.  The Headmaster himself asked us if we are tired.   If somebody is drooping too much and yawning, that is when he can't stand it.  And at times, it so happened when one is yawning, another also will start yawning and it will be a continuous chain.  The Headmaster can't miss it, especially, this Sir.   He will ask:  "Are you all tired?"  We all reply, "Yes, Sir,  we are all very tired."  He will then give the command saying: "Oh... Then call Lazar.."

One of the children will run to call Lazar, locate him and give him the command that the Headmaster is calling him.  Lazar is the Peon of the School.  He lived near the school, ate a lot of betel leaves with the arecanut and calcium, which we call 'paan' or 'murukkan' (Murukkan is the malayalam for paan or the combination I mentioned here) so his mouth always had it and it was blood red and he wore a kind of womans shirt which we call rouka with a round neck and typical tailored pockets on both left and right.  Once he is near the Class, he will respectfully bend and ask the Headmaster:  "Enthaanaavo vilichadu?" (Why he has been called?) for which the Headmaster ordered:  "Please give the last bell, children are tired":  He was always very considerate to anyone whom he spoke to, which endeared us to him a lot.

The lessons he taught was General Science which had two parts with Zoology and Botany.   These words were not introduced as such, but the text book contained lessons in both.He always started the class with the subject and the text book and very simply proceeded with the lesson to the great clarity of everybody.  As the class reached three fourths time of the period which comprised around forty five minutes, the last few minutes he will slip into his experiences in the Madras Christian College where he studied.   I still remember the the story of the Exhibition they had in the Madras Christian College where he was in charge of the Snakes and the glass of the Cobra's cage broke accidentally and the Principal who was passing by suddenly closed the cage with another sheet of glass which was left over extra, when the cage was being fixed.   He said but for the Principal passing by that time, there would have been pandemonium in the hall and he added, with that he learned how to make use of the available resources in such circumstances for the advantage of all.

The Chemistry and Physics lessons were handled by a very able and masterly Gentleman called Ichara Warrier who was a wizard of what he taught.  He explained things off hand and towards the end of the class connected them to the corresponding lesson in the book.   He gave great notes too.   But always insisted that it is important to understand the underlying principle instead of mugging up the matter only to vomit it in the examination papers.   It was a great lesson in life to all the student who could take advantage of the lessons.He introduced Archemedis, Isaac Newton, Albert Eistein, and others to the students with comparative ease to the joy of the class.

Mathematics was handled by an able lady teacher called 'Mercy Teacher'  who was a stalwart in her field and guided the students with individual care.   She was very sure footed in her subject and that too was in our favour and we all took advantage of it.   In my case, this was a welcome change from my previous class of Class VII, where the great Maths Teacher never lost an occasion to beat me up on each and every class.  His method was to call me to the board to do a problem and write down the ways on the board, which I was sure to falter, and then beat me from behind with the large cane he always carried and kept on the table as a threat.  I will be in tears and will come back to my seat to weep out the rest of it when the Teacher will call another bright boy to to the problem and solve it on the board whom he knew will always came out with the correct answer.   I was too averse to look up and learn the problem for a long time as mostly I will be in tears and in no mood to further learn anything from that Teacher.

In the new class, the new Lady Teacher was a welcome change.  She caught my first mistake and corrected me at her desk.  She went through my solution step  by step and pointed out to me:  "All your steps are correct.  A good handwriting too.  But you missed at the last addition.   Just see.   Had you taken a minute to recheck you will come out successful!"  That advice which she gave at her table in such low voice which I only could hear was really mesmerising.   I came back to my desk with a new decision to study mathematics well.

Classes went by mostly uneventful.  The only commotion and some huff-huff in the school was during the youth festival when many children who had special abilities who took part in festivities and all other children including me went to witness it if our other house hold works permitted.   Next was the examination times.  Examinations we never missed.   Examinations were sacrosanct to us.  In fact, we were going to School only for the examinations and their results.  The other activities in the School were for, as we thought, rich children only.  Generally, the teachers also were of almost the same opinion.  Only children coming from rich houses and well to do families only were generally taken to extra curricular activities.    Sports were unheard of.    A sports master was there  but we seldom were taken for any special training or any such thing.  In fact, he could not do it too as he was only one teacher for the whole school of around three thousand children as I presumed.

All the same generally things went smoothly as the Teachers were affable and had a humane touch when they handled the children regardless of our financial status.   Their behaviour was only just behind the Christian Fathers in many of the ways in those days.  When we were thus going on and Class IX was on, transfer orders came for our General Science Teacher and Head Master Mr. Vailopilly Sreedharamenon.  All of us were very sad but the Master had a very jovial way of introducing the matter.   He said:  "There is good news, as all of you know the portions of Class VIII we are about to finish and we were about to start portions of Class IX., I am being transferred.  Along with it comes a new General Science Teacher called Mrs. Mariamma, who is very able and very good at the lessons.   I have told her about the unfinished portions and she may be continuing and finishing up the portions left unfinised by me"    With that he called in Mariamma Teacher, who was waiting at the door for him to make the brief news to us all.  He took leave thanked all of us to which we all stood up and thanked him and told him we will miss his classes and the endearing way he carried us as if we were all his children! He was a real loving Master, a great human being, indeed!


Mariamma Teacher was in impeccable white in old style Christian dress of 'mundu' and 'kuppayam' with a nice .memmundu'.  She had a less than wheatish complexion which was off set by the very very white dress! There was a no nonsense look on her face and she looked at children in a piercing way.   Once the Headmaster cum General Science Teacher left, she made her first introduction:  She said:   "As the Headmaster said, I am Mariamma who is your new General Science Teacher.   The HM has told me about the left over lessons.  Don't worry about that.  Now I shall be taking and completing those lessons as well as we will also be together for the next Class, namely, Class X too which is too very important for us to overlook"  "Hope all of you agree?"  She looked at us quizzicaly.    All of us agreed.

Then she surprised us by saying : "Now please bring out your General Science lesson and take page so and so...She started reading about roots and various kinds of roots and more of that kind and in a breath, half an hour was gone, she put the book on the table and said, 'now take down' "  She repeated the classes impeccably and completed all the unfinished portion of Class VIII and all the portions of Class IX (we were in Class IX then) in a matter of four months and said :  "Now, all your portions are over and we start revising....Understood?"   We all understood!  We got to revise the lessons twice before the 'Model Examinations'  and again the Final Examinations.  She was a great teacher indeed! In Class X, she simply walked over the whole text book in a matter of     five months and said "Now we will revise the lessons from Class VIII, Class IX, and Class X and be ready for the 'Model Examination of the School and Final Examination of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate Board!  Oh..boy..we did it!

The great teacher did not say any thing other than class lessons.   And she never joked on any thing at all.  Once, one of the colleague students asked her: "Teacher do you go for preaching on Sundays?"  We all thought she was trapped.  But no, she surprised all of us by her candid and simple reply: "That is not part of the curriculum.let us proceed with the lesson on hand!" and proceeded with the lesson.   That was the last inquisitive question anybody ever asked her.

GOING TO COLLEGE!

The classes came to an end with the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination and we were to take leave of the School and then was the sudden jump into 'College'.  As it is known now, it is only Class XI and XII.  But in those days, it was known as Pre-Degree and it was in college run as a pre course before being admitted to the degree classes.   This is a two year course, which was taken only in English, except the language, either Malayalam or Hindi and at times Sanskrit.

The great fall in this process of change from the local school to the college in the town is that the students mostly coming from the villages are not used to the style of functioning of the college in the town.  The teachers called Lecturers there at times take advantage of the situations that they are teaching in 'higher classes' and the students should learn if they want and many times do not give any personal attention to them.  Here, if the parents of the children are very well studied and are in higher employments or authorities, they looked after the studies of their children who came out as first or with high marks.   In the case of the general students who came from simple families or village households they suffered as they generally nobody to look after their studies, nobody to correct them or advise them if they are faltering and the 'Lecturers' did not care for them!

Then came the political parties.   There were students who had unwritten affiliations to political parties who made the college to close down on the pretext of one strike or the other over their special points !  The village students were at a loss and unable to prevent these guys from closing the college gates and not allowing the college to function and the colleges found itself unable to control them.   In this process everybody left for home after an hour or so in the morning without having any classes and this created the situation worse as the 'Lecturers' did not,  (some Lecturers were particular to be unsympathetic in this treatment to the students in their care) cover the portions.

The rich and educated parents children covered it with the help of their parents or special tutors whereas the poor students lost miserably!!  This made their results too low and they many a time went out of the study streams and ended their studies and went to fend for themselves!! 

The jump from the village school to the Town or City College, gave the children a lot of freedom and also sent them a little away from the immediate care of their parents, except for paying their fees and dress.  The poor parents many a time never got a chance to know what is going on in the College.   There were no parent teacher conversations, and there also slowly came in the unseen hand of the political parties, as college elections and such other activities by a few students which further led into strikes and closing of colleges which ultimately affected childrens or students studies. This had the corollary of the good and studious students losing their grades in the College and ultimately got thrown out of the study streams.

I was thrown into this scenario tothe St. Thomas College of the Town of Trichur (now Thrissur).   With a near 'First Class' I walked into the College.  I was alone!  A new experience!  Till now, I was always taken from School to School only and they were all in the village either to the north or to the east.  Apart from going upto a place called Kuriachira, which was three fourth of the distrance to the Town City of Trichur, this was a first time, going to Trichur, all by myself with my Certificate!  I approached the College office where the jovial Clerk asked me if I had seen the Principal after he had seen my marks!  When I replied in the negative, he asked me to see the Principal.  In the Principals old grand room, the Principal, a very kind Priest, by name, Father Thomas Moothedan sat majestically talking to someone when I entered.  He just signed me to come closer as the room was big.  In the mean time he disposed off his visitor.

Once I was near him, he asked : "Admission aano?"  (Are you here for admission?") I replied:  "Athe"  ("Yes")
He said: "Certificate nokkatte!" (Let me see your Certificate)

He took my certificate, looked at it intently and then looked at me and said:"Eathilaanu admission vendatu?" (In which stream you want admission?)
I said: "Science, Second Group"   He said: "OK" He added:  "Nallonam padikkanam OK?"  (You should study well, do you understand?).   He pulled out a writing sticker and wrote on it in a beautiful cursive hand: "Admitted to Second Group" and further added:  "Give this in the office, pay the fees and come on the day of opening of the College, OK?"  It was OK with me.   I revisited the office, saw the earlier Clerk who directed me to the Principal and gave the Chit.  He asked me:  "You brought the fees"  I said: "Yes". That was it.  My admission was over.  Now, I had to wait for the opening of the college.  I was generally elated. My marks had been good there which had helped me to go through smoothly as was explained to me by my elders.  That was true.  Many of my friends I had noticed had given the application and had been told by the office to come and check the notice board to see if they got admission.  I had been excused such an anxiety by the Principal who had given orders to direct Students with good marks to be sent to him.  Then started a two year course of study with the College Professors, who were called Lecturers in those days!

The things I studied in School had filled me with a kind of confidence.  Among them were the classes in General Science and the classes in Social Studies in which we were given little parts of the Constitution of India! etc.  I had studied that 'All people are equal'  which enthused me quite a lot in those days!  I thought, I have just got to know of my worth as everybody in India are equal!  This was a time when I had not seen any other city in Kerala other than Thrissur which was called Trichur in those days! My chest was filled with national love and pride and I set out to do college, the course called Pre-Degree which is a prelude to the Graduation course in any subject.  The St. Thomas College in Trichur was the pride of the place, but all students coming from different villages had to catch their local buses to come to   college.

Now the Sreeramachandra, the lane bus of my time, red in colour, without a nose, slowly pulled up to Trichur with me on a concession charge of Ten Naya Paise.  The conductors of those days did not much mind us, but did not refuse us.  The journey's end at the Municipal Bus Stand of Thrissur had to be continued with a health walk of fifteen minutes to reach the  College.  I was assigned to the Science Block as I had opted for the Botany Zoology group to become a doctor.  That was a wish.  Most of the eighty students in the class desired to be doctors.  We, or I for that matter, did not know that most of these students will fall down on the way, like the little coconut seeds which fall down before time, without becoming full grown coconuts.

The Science Block is on the northern side of the road and the Art part of the college on the southern side of the road . The road itself is the leading road to Palakkad from Thrissur which bifurcates the college buildings.  The place we liked most was the three laboratories  for Physics, Chemistry and Biology.  We learned many things in the subjects and cut and dissected insects and marked them with little beautiful flags fixed to little oil pins which we fixed on a wooden plate on which we had pinned the insect or cockroaches.  The largest in the group was the frog to show the sciatic plexus nerve .

The smell in the Chemistry laboratory endeared me to the place, its bunsen burner and the experiments in various chemicals which gave us the golden spankles and hydrogen sulphide and many other were all fascinating. Then came the next project of record writing, that is writing most of the experiments with their pictures and noting their various parts on a large record book which have to be shown to the Lecturer and got signed for getting five out of the One hundred marks in the final examinations.

There were no games or exercises, but to make up for it, as it would seem, there was a programme of National Cadet Corps (NCC) which assembled two days a week for two hours. This was led by some Army officials who were around the College.  The Cadets were given two bananas or a masaala dosa (a rice and potatoe receipe) after the parade and march when all would be tired.  Being boys coming from villages we liked the whole lot of look of it and the feeling of it.  We were given brass buckled belts and a piece of green soap to rub on the green belt.  We were told to buy a liquid called brasso to shine the brass buckles, which we did with great care!  Once in a while we were taken to the near by police camp in a military truck to practice firing with .22 rifles and a few times with 303s.  There were great experiences, even though it took up a lot of our time and we the village boys did not know the gravity of the time lost!

The guys from well to do families and those children of the well educated and the accomplished ones, simply skipped these and went to rub their lessons in the facility of their of parents to get on to higher college and professional courses where as the not so cared about students, slowly was losing on their studies and getting ready to lose the battle..!

The city of Trichur was  only a small town when one compared other great cities of the world..!  But to the new comer boysof the villages around Trichur it is a Big Town...as it had four film theatres, viz. Jos, Matha, Girija and Ramavarma  and two of the most important Churches both renowned The Lourdes Cathedral with a crypt church and the St. Mary's  Dolors Baslica which we called the Puthen Palli.  Apart from that the centre of the town was the great Vadakkumnatha Temple on the out skirts of which the Pooram festival was celebrated yearly.

Since college is a time of reformation and rethinking youth are naturally attracted to the movie theatres rather than other religious places, I mean comparatively, even though no body acknowledged this outwardly.  But when the need arose,everybody knew where the theaters were!  These are individual secrets of each young new student who kept it to themselves!  As an upcoming country and the smallest state of that, the Kerala of yesteryears was in its formative years.  The students were naturally, rich, modest and poor in their financial categories.  Generally only rich and moderately well off students were able to make it to the college.  The poor category who struggled for it came in because of their academic excellence only! But substantial number of students came in in this category too. As such there was nothing adverse about it.
 
I used to go to college by our local 'Sreeramachandra' which was a bus which was there for a long long time to cover my childhood and youthhood through college! I used to do some of the little marketing for house hold to buy groceries etc. and the rest of the time used to study my books, drew up a record of the science classes, or did other house hold jobs to help my mother.  Father did his work of selling wood logs to various companies.  The wood was normally brought from the hilly or mountainous areas by landed property owners in their bullock carts. Many a time these were rubber wood or mangoe wood! At times itwas loads of soft wood called 'podini or vatta' which was highly priced and used for match boxes manufacture.  The place of Ollur in Trichur was full of wooden packing case manufacturers who needed the wood as the raw material for their manufacture.

Father got Re.One for every cart load of wood sold from the seller bullock cart owner and Re. One from the buyer company owner. The wood was measured with measuring tape and converted into cubic feet using a ready reckoner and added up to see the total cubic feet and every cubic feet was priced at a meagre Rupees Two and fifty paise or Two rupees and twenty five paise.  The mediator had the difficult task of adjudicating or mediating between the seller and buyer in the measuring and calculating the total cubic feet ! 

The interesting and frightening fact in the mediation was that at times the buyer and seller came to near blows on the measuring or pricing! Father many a times 
adjudicated with force of tongue or by physique.  A fisticuff was mostly avoided at the last moment which as a soft little lad, frightened me !  I decided, 'This job is not for me'.  In vacations I used to help Father by riding my bicycle to check up with a factory owner if he could buy a load of wood at a particular price etc. as many of them were not available on telephone. That is when I used to witness these dramas of life!

At college mornings some times I reached the 'Angadi' (the market place) where Father was busy matching wood loads and company owners. I needed my bus fare (of course the concessional fare) for my eight kilometre ride to college and back.  This was twenty paise, ten paise up and ten paise down.  The non-concessional fare was Twenty paise one side only.  But father did not have it as no sale has taken place by then.  He invariably asked one of the wood load owners andthey readily gave part of their commission, that is Fifty paise, which was more than my fare for two days! 

Slowly the college exams approached. Our feelings changed, it was reading and writing and reading all the time!  I was allowed freedom from all house hold works  at home!  I breathed only my studies and saw only the college and my little box seat where I settled down to read and write for the day next with the kerosene oil lamp!  I read late into the night and at times reading through the night, it became morning and then after a quick bath I started off for the exams.
 
The open air bathrooms of yesteryears in simple house holds were of palm leaf braids and hot water is precariously provided by mother in most cases and in my case definitely so.  During the bath we cleaned our nostrils by blowing it and dark sute of the kerosene smoke came out. After a thorough cleaning the bath was done quickly and in fast forward we came out ready for the college.  Every exam had a day or two for studies in between.

The Chemistry of the Jack Fruit


 On day before the Chemistry examination, I was sitting below the jack fruit tree studying, reading various chemistry books and checking out the diagrams of experiments etc. when the sweet aroma of a ripened jack fruit came to my nostrils.  Any small disturbance on the sidelines is enough to distract me from my studies at that time.  I thought hard as to how can it be a ripened jack fruit sending me a message and my not noticing it!  I got up got the jack knise and climbed the tree in search of the ripened fruit and located it at a height of 12 to fifteen feet and settled to cut it.  It was on a long stalk and in my enthusiasm to cut it I held the long stalk and lifted the fruit a little and cut hard at the beginning of the stalk at the point where it joined the tree trunk.  The knife missed a little and it struck the stalk a little below than I thought and in the movement the whole stalk vibrated sending the jack knife down to my thumb and the thumb was cut with a deep gash and blood started oozing out..!

I looked at it for a while.  

 

The looking down and seeing the oozed blood trickling down made me slightly dizzy and I thought the jack fruit tree is going to fall. But instead of the earth receiving the tree, that too was moving. Thgought this is a dangerous sitution. I thought of shouting, but that was useless. The only person was mother who was fast with preparation of lunch in the kitchen using the old time kitchen fire.

From the local village knowledge I instantaneously put my cut finger in the mouth and threw the jack knife to a far off diistance so that it may not hurt me even if I have to fall down. I sat sucking my thumb for a while drinking down the blood as it oozed and after a while the blood stopped. The dizziness also lessened by now. Without a word, I took out my thumb and using both hands slowly clambered down the jack fruit tree. Once down, the dizziness returned. I collected the jack knife and my books and walked home and informed mother what had happened.

She stood looking at me surprised at the turn of events, as she was trying to strike up some good food for me as I was studying. This was a twist in the programme. She saw I was becoming weak as I stood there. She understood my tension and confusion in what has happened. She stepped in and said: “So, you have cut your finger, that too on the right hand. Now don't worry about examination and all. Come take some rest. Let me make some pepper tea for you, it will enliven you”! She unfurled the mat on the floor and asked me to lie down. Once I was settled down with pillow and all she reached back with warm epper tea which really soothed me. I slept.

In the evening my sister who returned from the hospital (she worked as a nurse in the hospital) dressed my wound and took a tts injection and said “You have to go up through your studies and not go up by climbing trees. Any way, the would is not deep. The bone is not hurt as there is no swelling. May be paining. Iit will go away. Take heart and take rest. Forget the exam tomorrow, but browse your books if you like”! As the exam thoughts went away I was more free to read even though the wound hurt.

The night sleep soothed me. Mother helped me with pepper tea time and again. It seemed she never slept The next moring when I woke up, she asked : “How do you feel?” I was feeling better . I said, “let me go to college and try. If possible I may write the exam.” She soothed me saying : “Go if you want, but don't be troubled by exam and all. But if you so feel, you can write it as well. But don't strain yourself” That was consolation again. This made my resolve to goo to college with the banded finger and my favourite pens.

In the exam hall, I was with the question paper for its first reading and found most of the questions are familiar. I picked up my pen and trained it in my hand with the dressing on the thumb. It was paining alright, but the known questions were a challenge. I set pen to put down the first answer and there after I went on and almost when I was ending the last answer, the warning bell rang ..! That was an exam which I shall remember always.