My First School Memories

In the UK it is time for children to go back to school as the school reopens in September. My daughter in London is busy in getting uniforms and shoes for her children. Her both children appear to be not that interested in going back to school. Taking a child first time to school is a great milestone in the life of the child as well as of the mother. Once the child is left in the school by the mother, both feel the pang of separation. When I looked back, I too had the same experience when my mother left me first time in the St.Sebastian School, Chullikkal, Kochi, India. In spite of all technological advancement like game console, internet and television, our state of mind and sentiments remain the same throughout all generations. 

St.Sebastian primary school was a Malayalam medium school just opposite St.Philomena Church. Myself and my immediate elder sister Anne had home tuition for two years prior to the enrollment in the school by a tuition master, Mr. Shenoy. He was an affable person with enormous patience, dedicated in teaching us basic Malayalam and Arithmetic. St.Sebastian primary school, and st.Philomena church were under Latin church hierarchy.Those days there was a graveyard close to the church. After a decade or so later, the powerful clergy at Rome thought that there was no saint called Philomena and so they changed the name of the church. My parents employed a rickshaw puller, Pappachan to take and bring us back from school. I was close to Pappachan who was looking 35 years old, very lean and had an occasional cough. He used to crack jokes and talk about his young family. 

 After a year Pappachan stopped coming, and later my mother told that he had passed away due to tuberculosis. My mother took me to his funeral, the first one I had attended. It was a somber mood in their home where I caught a glimpse of his dead body in the coffin placed in the centre of the room, surrounded by mourning relatives. There were burning candles and a cross at the head part of the coffin. Since then I had been to many funerals, but one thing common every where was the characteristic incense, which is still fresh in my olfactory centre of the brain. While returning from Pappachan house, I asked my mother what would happen to Pappachan after his death. She coolly answered he would go to heaven, but she added bad people could land in purgatory or worse in burning hell forever. 

My school was having thatched roof and the long halls were partitioned into a number of classes with bamboo screens. Therefore, if a teacher talks loud or pupils making noise, it could disturb the neighbouring classes. Sometimes teachers asked pupils to sit outside under a tree and taught them. Usually one teacher was in charge of 30 pupils in the class, and I remember our teacher was Peter. Unlike other teachers those time, Peter sir was not a disciplinarian and never used cane. He was a stocky built fellow with a few grey hairs on the head and always wore a blue shirt and a dhoti. He was informal and used to share his family affairs with pupils.

Once during school time Peter sir took us to a beach at Fort Cochin, and that required us to walk one mile. We all played on the beach and watched the waves splashing on the sand for some time. Peter sir, then invited us to his house which was not far the beach. The house was a small one storey bungalow facing the sea, exposing to strong chilly wind and the sound of waves all the all time. There he introduced us to his wife and two children. His wife made some black coffee for pupils. When I returned home, I narrated the trip to my mother and cousin who was living with us. 

I remember, I had two accidents at home at Panayappilly due to my impulsive behaviour. The first was when I tried to reach the top of a seven feet tall wooden wardrobe. The wardrobe with clothes and books had a mirror on the door, tumbled on me. As the wardrobe was on me, the mirror got shattered and I felt intense pain and started screaming. My uncle who was living with us those days and my mother helped to lift the heavy wardrobe, and our house maid Padmakshy pulled me out of danger. I had lost consciousness, and when I recovered, I was unable to bear weight on my right hip. I was taken to Fort Hospital at Fort Cochin, and had Xray on the hip and femur. Except a few bruising and shallow cuts, I did not have much clinical symptoms, and as the X ray report was normal, I was sent home. After a year, I had another accident, when I touched the live aerial, of our Siemens radio. Electric shock caused fibrillation of heart and I briefly lost my consciousness. I fully recovered from it after sometime, however I had full medical check up later.

 When I was seven years old, it was time for receiving holy communion. For a couple of weeks I was going to St.Philomena church presbytery of the holy communion preparation. My father was a devout christian and a bit influential locally. He had arranged a party for all children receiving holy communion after the ceremony. Those days for holy communion, boys wore a white artificial flower crown on the head and girls wore the crown over a white veil covering the head. On the big day of receiving holy communion, I got up early and felt, my sleep was inadequate. In the church ,we were asked to line up with a lighted candle. I felt the long mass boring and I just dozed off, but aroused hearing a commotion. I was shocked to see that I accidentally set fire to the veil of the holy communion girl standing in front of me! Fortunately a person in the crowd of parishioners noticed the flame in time and extinguished it, so that the girl did not suffer any burn. Because of my father’s reputation, I was not manhandled! 

In 1950s, children enjoyed themselves by congregating with others, playing football, climbing on trees, collecting stamps, playing cards and so on. Mixing with all classes of children with different social background and religion helped me a lot in my formation years.The challenges of incidents and misadventures were a part of my growing up phase, and shaped my personality. Yes it is true that going to school is not just for learning academic subjects, but for the development of overall personality. However, I was not fond of going to school even though I was not dull at studying. I bid farewell to St.Sebastian Primary school, when our family moved away from Panayappilly.