Oh...my old School!! Now going to be a Memory!!

Oh...my old School!!  Now going to be a Memory!!

My old school is being demolished.  That is why I am writing.  The school is now going tyo be memory only.  For those who are owning the School, this was a necessity of the time.   

But for those who revere memories, this may be a bit painful.  Such pains are to be taken in good spirits.  I have suffered many such demolitions and dismantlings.  

I am now talking about the Sisters' Convent School Buildiing in with the Carmelite Sisters used to run their school, all schools, like Priimary, Upper Primary and High School.  There was no college.  Villages did not have Colleges then   Only Schools.  

The Sisters' School had a huge large structure, a yellow coloured buiilding on the road side with its imposing three storeys.  The wooden first and second floors which I was mentioning in other postsw are in this school.  I would wish to climb those stairs once again.  Now one seldom sees such first floors, or second floors in wood.  The outside portion of the building had yellow wash with slight yellow coloured kummayam (chunnambu-calcium) and its large chocolate windows.  When we looked up at the third floor windows seen from the opposite side of the road, it seemed to be in heaven.  So high it was! The fround floor wall had a slanting cemented support of 2 feet which directly set its foot in the sewage canal, which carried rain water in olden days.  The canal never harmed the building as the building was very strong.  The entry of the School was on  one side and the other side was the large Chapel (which is a small Church used by the Nuns and a portion dedicated to the public.).  Once we entered, after a few yards there was a Blue Board mentioning the name of the 'St Mary's Convent High School, Ollur' etc.

While we reach the Board and the accompanying gate, on the right hand side is a single tenement whose windows are visible to us.  We, curious and inquisitive, as we are looked through the windows and say some sisters or ladies doing sewing works, thread making by thakli and using charkha etc. (These are my vague memories..) Once we entered the gate, the direction of progress turned to the right which passed through a building structure on the left and the beautiful rose garden on the right which always sent out the sweet fragrance of roses!  

Straight up, was the stairs to the verandah of the school building, and once in the verandah, the corridors split to the left and the second to straight up, which led to my Class II room.  This verandah turned to the right and the next adjacent room was my Class I, where my angelic Sister Khabrini (she is a Carmelite nun, so very motherly, with a sweet smell on her dress!) taught me to write Aa (The first letter of Malayalam language).  Thereafter in the last 58 years, I have written a lot!  When we climbed the verandah steps and when the corridor turned left the first room was the "Headmistress" room!  The room had its entrance in the left turned verandah, but it had a window on the straight up verandah through which we passed.  We were afraid of this window, as sometime, if we looked, we may be straight looking into the eyes of the Sister Principal, who was said to be a Tiger, in sister's uniform).

If we took the left turn verandah corridor and continued we went straight up and after crossing about 8 to 10 class rooms the corridor ended opening up to the backside ground and further far far up the Toilet and Lavatories, which could be used when necessitated or when we were allowed recess!  After a while in the school on a portion of the ground a swing set was set up and we were allowed to swing a few times by our Sports cum Play Teacher!  That was wonderful to swing!  On high high swings you thought you touched the heavens.  After the extreme height, there is nothing, but further skies only!  We were thrilled by those swings.  One child pushed, when one child sat in the swing by holding onto the chains on either side and swang up and up!  

On the left hand side of this ground was a building the verandah of which was used for the distribution and consumption of 'Kanji" (the rice porridge) given to the needy children.  I was one among them and cherished the 1 o' clock Kanji very much with its accompaniement of kadala curry or any other kind of curry, especially the lentil curry etc.   None of the children had any problem with the food served, ever  In those days we thought only of eating, eating and eating.   That was the only animal feeling we had!

However, we did not have much time to linger on food, as the class curriculum kept us pretty engaged.  Apart from the studies we had a play period and a crafts period. In the crafts period, a sweet looking sister came with a scissors tide to her side along with a huge rosary.  From time to time, she picked up the scissors and cut the colour papers and made flowers out of them.  At times she made a kind of paper swing and got us to make like wise.!  These were some of the unforgettable experiences we had in that little classes.  All the while we avoided the Head Mistress' window!

The chapel at the entry had a verandah followed by the entry proper to the chapel, which was a small cute church!  The statue of St. Mary who had a heart pierced with daggers and Jesus Christ 

brought down from the cross is laid down on her lap is a first entry sight as I remember it.  There was the big statue of St.Mary at the centre on top of the altar.  This was a Mother's statue with a very benign look with her gaze up, towards the Heavens, and she had a crown on her head.  There was two glass panes in colour at the top on either side of the statue through which morning light came in according to the colour of the glass.


There were several altars which were used on the days of the 40 hours adoration, which was an annual feature, in which people all around and those who could travel and reach by other means attended.  Mass continued from morning till noon on all altars as there would be so many priests visiting at this very important occasion in those days, and there after those priests will sit for confessions for which people turned out in great numbers!  All through, holy adoration continued for 40 hours non-stop.

The floor of the chapel were furnished with red furnaced clay tiles!  Most of the interiors have changed in the interiors of the chapel due to renovations in recent years.  But the School and the garden and its roses  were untouched. Now, that is going to change.  When I last saw the side walls of the huge yellow building was standing without its large windows, ready to fall any time.  Lurking in the vicinity was yellow coloured machine monsters called JCBs with their ugly teeth out!  I am sure the walls will crumble under their touch and then, perhaps, new architectural marvels may come up!

However, the old grandeur may be gone for ever!  These are the changes of he times which can't be helped!  Next generation will never know, such a building existed or such a rose garden, beautifully tended year round was there!!