I learn bi-cycling at School!!

 I learn bi-cycling at School!!

 This is a part of my School experience, in which I learned bi-cycling at School in the olden days when bi-cycle was a note worthy instrument which everybody thought honourable to possess!  Is was in my Boarding School. I should have been in Class V or VI.

Every now and then, sympathetic Scholars, and affluent people visited the School and met the Master ji 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 practicing 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 shoud 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 consequenses,  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 borthers 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 or taro  vegetation coupled with the green grass foliage 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 maneuvering 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 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.

The first day after the morning mass, Brother Sebastian and myself distributed the Satyadeepams at the church itself which got a huge number of the papers being given by hand to those attended and I took down their numbers.  After that we tallied the names from the regulart list and found out the households who have not got the paper.  Then I set out in the evening or say, afternoon to distribute the paper from house to house.   I went from street to street distributing the paper to various housholds.  Many of the recipients were happy to receive it on time and see a new face giving it.