Mrs Cherian summarizes
A Teacher Remembers...
September 5th - Teachers' Day - is an annual event for every school in India, where some form of celebration takes place. One or two years ago, we were in church as usual on Sunday, when suddenly in the midst of the service, the pastor announced, "Will all the teachers, past and present, please stand."
It was indeed nice to see so many teachers, both young and old in the congregation. He then announced that the church would like to honour all of us, and we were presented with a nicely-wrapped single rose. To receive this simple memento gave me a great feeling of pride and achievement, even though not a single old student of mine was present there. We now reside in Bangalore, where there are many ex-Cathedralites and we have had a couple of get- togethers earlier. I remember one at which eight ex-Cathedral teachers were present.
On that day, the Sermon was rather long and covered many aspects of life in general as well. I must confess that my mind wandered a bit, and went back to my teaching days in Cathedral, where I taught French for a while, and then started the Department of Sociology, for the ISC stream. When I came home, I thought I would put down some of my thoughts on paper, and believe it or not, all the names mentioned in this article, and many others, came streaming back to me without reference to any book or register.
One of my first students was Soumindra Hazari. He always had an excuse for not doing his work on time. However, he would readily admit to having looked into his neighbour's book during a Vocabulary test. After his 12th, he sent me a photograph of a few of us taken in class with a note in broken, erratic French to say - "Thank you for the trouble taken to make me study!"
Then there was the polite and ladylike Meera Agarwal who went on to become Head Girl and then on to UWC. From there she wrote me a note to say that on one occasion she was the only one who knew her verbs and their tenses and that she felt like a . "champion". She later married Vikram Gandhi who was also Head Boy and lately they have been in the news as they bought some house that belonged to the Roosevelts in New York city. Petite Sujata Birla and Leena Mahindra were great friends and after Sujata left school, she once came charging out of a shop on Colaba Causeway and greeted me so effusively that my husband was quite taken aback at her warmth. It was while we were posted in Kochi that I learnt of her tragic death in an air crash. Both she and her brother were in Wilson House, to which I too was attached as a teacher and now the same brother heads the Birla empire. Arshad and Fareed Zakaria were both my students, and in those days everyone used to compare Fareed's work to Arshad's. Now I see that Fareed, who was Managing Editor of the American publication 'Foreign Affairs', has moved on to greener pastures and is the editor of the Asian edition of Newsweek. Deven and Ravi Khote were the two other brothers whom, should I Say, I had the pleasure of having in my class. Both now seem to be doing very well in the media world. Rhea Pillai, now Mrs Sanjay Dutt, was in my sociology class and when I checked her for chewing gum, she said she could concentrate only if she chewed gum or bit her nails!
Kavita Daftary, now Mrs Vinod Khanna, was Palmer House Captain and another of my students. A very capable and good student, she was also quite a holy terror as Captain. Once, I remember, a mother calling up the vice- principal's office. and since neither he nor Mrs Kumar was in their seats, I took the call. She said that her daughter could not stay for house games, and that she had been given a note to that effect. However, she was so scared of her House Captain, that the mother had to call up to inform the school authorities! Quiet and soft-spoken Kamal Sawhney was another student who was Savage House Captain and both she and Kavita went on to UWC. The Talwarkar sisters too were excellent students and involved in so many extracurricular activities, but never at the expense of their work.
Anita ldiculla, a budding actor in the US, wrote to me at her graduation and sent me an invitation to the function, saying she wished I were there, as I was a part of her growing up days! These incidents stay etched in one's memory forever!
Then there was, of course, Ramesh Menon, who always thought He got an appropriate answer from me, which he had least expected. The whole class burst out laughing and so he just sat down quietly. Another time, after I had pulled up Neville Moos for some misbehaviour in class, I noticed him several times in the corridor. I was a bit worried at that time, till suddenly, one day he came up, around, to say he was sorry. I remember Kalpana Rao who Palmer House Captain was crying away when Sudeep Ghosh, the Barham House Captain, was beaten in the boxing finals!
Anahita Doongaji was injured badly just before her ISC exams. She was a very pretty Head Girl, so there was always a long line of gallant, young Cathedral stalwarts waiting to carry her up the stairs, as the exam centre was on the top floor! How can I forget NDTV's famous Rajdeep Sardesai - who always had his work done, but rumour had it that he could sleep in any class with his eyes open! Gyan Correa, son of architect Charles Correa, had his mother come to school to face all his teachers because he refused to work, as he should. His contention was that there was too much interference in his style of operating, that is, in his love for music and his eternal telephone calls! Rajit Kapur was always a star debater while in school. I met his some time ago when he had come to Bangalore with, a theatre group. He was genuinely happy to see me. Today, he has risen to greater heights and one feels proud of him. Once when I wanted to return some notebooks to the 12th Std after the bell had rung for lunch break, I found that Miss Hallegua was still in class. I left the books outside the door trying to attract the attention of Hiten Desai, who was sitting closest to the door. He looked absolutely blank and later when I asked him why, he said, "in Miss Hallegua's class my eyeballs do not move!" Here, however I must mention that I have come across many senior Cathedralites in my sojourns here and there. Very often their first queries have been about Miss Hallegua.
Siddharth Singh was a student who came from the US, and had to catch up with the class. l took special classes for him and twice he kept me waiting and did not turn up! Later he told me that the second time, he had gone to lunch at Raj Bhavan. I replied that he could have gone to the "White House" but that he should have told me and not made me wait! He said, 'sorry' - nothing more. His mother too called and apologised on his behalf. Much later, he said he was going to Ahmedabad to meet his grandfather. Even then he said nothing till in the course of conversation, he casualty said that his grandfather was the Governor of Gujarat! When I was leaving Mumbai, he brought me a cake with "Thanks Mrs C" written on it. Then he sat down and ate quite a bit of it and said "Mrs C, I am helping you not to put on weight." I was very amused, but his mother was not.
Athiya and Ivy were two other students for whom I took special classes in French to help them catch up with their 12th Std classmates. I always marvelled at how hard they worked in spite of all the other subjects they had to cope with and finally managed to do better than the others.
Ayesha Bulchandani who was Savage House Captain and Mukeeta Kataria who was Head Girl, were scolded by two or three teachers for having, on one occasion, asked me to take the class register up to the vice principal's office, as is normally done at the end of the day. They sulked in my class the next day, thinking I had complained about them but Later they realised I hadn't. After that they were soon back to their cheery selves! Ashutosh Mankad is another of my students whom I met in Bangalore outside the famous K C Das sweet shop. He was surprised that I did not recognise him at first sight, but then, boys change so much when they become young men! He then told me he was married to another Cathedralite - Nandini, and Later when I met both of them and their kids it was such an indescribably good feeling! I also met Udai Mathan and George Abraham, who is no longer his skinny self. I attended his wedding too!
I met a whole lot of them when I went to visit my daughter Anilla, like Judah Gubbay, Monish Sahni, Kamalakshi Lal, Ramesh Menon and a few others. They all came from all over to see a visiting ex- Cathedral teacher and we had great fun talking about the old days in school!
How can I forget to mention the inimitable Banoo Dubash, who did so well in her "Structure of Modern Government" paper, that she shocked the late Mr Elisha, who had at one time said he would eat his shoe if she got above 40 per cent. Then there were Vijaylakshmi Pastala, Amrita Zaveri and Amrik Singh, daughter of Dr Manmohan Singh, and a host of others.
There are so many other faces and incidents that come to mind my daughter's friends, Shivani, Tanya, Radhikha, Dipti and Kayoko the first Japanese girl to be House Captain of Barham House. Colin Saldhana, Vivek Jacob, Amit Mohindra, and Vivek Goel. Deepika Bulchandani who told Mr Patki she would set him right if he talked any more nonsense! Diba and Kaleem Siddique were twins and great friends of Anilla's. They were instrumental in getting her and many others to apply to US universities.
These and a myriad other faces come to mind. Sometimes I wonder where they are and what many of them are doing. Whether they remember those school days that were both cheerful and depressing, and remember them with the same amount of nostalgia as a teacher does.
Elizabeth Cherian.
See http://www.catalumni.com
September 5th - Teachers' Day - is an annual event for every school in India, where some form of celebration takes place. One or two years ago, we were in church as usual on Sunday, when suddenly in the midst of the service, the pastor announced, "Will all the teachers, past and present, please stand."
It was indeed nice to see so many teachers, both young and old in the congregation. He then announced that the church would like to honour all of us, and we were presented with a nicely-wrapped single rose. To receive this simple memento gave me a great feeling of pride and achievement, even though not a single old student of mine was present there. We now reside in Bangalore, where there are many ex-Cathedralites and we have had a couple of get- togethers earlier. I remember one at which eight ex-Cathedral teachers were present.
On that day, the Sermon was rather long and covered many aspects of life in general as well. I must confess that my mind wandered a bit, and went back to my teaching days in Cathedral, where I taught French for a while, and then started the Department of Sociology, for the ISC stream. When I came home, I thought I would put down some of my thoughts on paper, and believe it or not, all the names mentioned in this article, and many others, came streaming back to me without reference to any book or register.
One of my first students was Soumindra Hazari. He always had an excuse for not doing his work on time. However, he would readily admit to having looked into his neighbour's book during a Vocabulary test. After his 12th, he sent me a photograph of a few of us taken in class with a note in broken, erratic French to say - "Thank you for the trouble taken to make me study!"
Then there was the polite and ladylike Meera Agarwal who went on to become Head Girl and then on to UWC. From there she wrote me a note to say that on one occasion she was the only one who knew her verbs and their tenses and that she felt like a . "champion". She later married Vikram Gandhi who was also Head Boy and lately they have been in the news as they bought some house that belonged to the Roosevelts in New York city. Petite Sujata Birla and Leena Mahindra were great friends and after Sujata left school, she once came charging out of a shop on Colaba Causeway and greeted me so effusively that my husband was quite taken aback at her warmth. It was while we were posted in Kochi that I learnt of her tragic death in an air crash. Both she and her brother were in Wilson House, to which I too was attached as a teacher and now the same brother heads the Birla empire. Arshad and Fareed Zakaria were both my students, and in those days everyone used to compare Fareed's work to Arshad's. Now I see that Fareed, who was Managing Editor of the American publication 'Foreign Affairs', has moved on to greener pastures and is the editor of the Asian edition of Newsweek. Deven and Ravi Khote were the two other brothers whom, should I Say, I had the pleasure of having in my class. Both now seem to be doing very well in the media world. Rhea Pillai, now Mrs Sanjay Dutt, was in my sociology class and when I checked her for chewing gum, she said she could concentrate only if she chewed gum or bit her nails!
Kavita Daftary, now Mrs Vinod Khanna, was Palmer House Captain and another of my students. A very capable and good student, she was also quite a holy terror as Captain. Once, I remember, a mother calling up the vice- principal's office. and since neither he nor Mrs Kumar was in their seats, I took the call. She said that her daughter could not stay for house games, and that she had been given a note to that effect. However, she was so scared of her House Captain, that the mother had to call up to inform the school authorities! Quiet and soft-spoken Kamal Sawhney was another student who was Savage House Captain and both she and Kavita went on to UWC. The Talwarkar sisters too were excellent students and involved in so many extracurricular activities, but never at the expense of their work.
Anita ldiculla, a budding actor in the US, wrote to me at her graduation and sent me an invitation to the function, saying she wished I were there, as I was a part of her growing up days! These incidents stay etched in one's memory forever!
Then there was, of course, Ramesh Menon, who always thought He got an appropriate answer from me, which he had least expected. The whole class burst out laughing and so he just sat down quietly. Another time, after I had pulled up Neville Moos for some misbehaviour in class, I noticed him several times in the corridor. I was a bit worried at that time, till suddenly, one day he came up, around, to say he was sorry. I remember Kalpana Rao who Palmer House Captain was crying away when Sudeep Ghosh, the Barham House Captain, was beaten in the boxing finals!
Anahita Doongaji was injured badly just before her ISC exams. She was a very pretty Head Girl, so there was always a long line of gallant, young Cathedral stalwarts waiting to carry her up the stairs, as the exam centre was on the top floor! How can I forget NDTV's famous Rajdeep Sardesai - who always had his work done, but rumour had it that he could sleep in any class with his eyes open! Gyan Correa, son of architect Charles Correa, had his mother come to school to face all his teachers because he refused to work, as he should. His contention was that there was too much interference in his style of operating, that is, in his love for music and his eternal telephone calls! Rajit Kapur was always a star debater while in school. I met his some time ago when he had come to Bangalore with, a theatre group. He was genuinely happy to see me. Today, he has risen to greater heights and one feels proud of him. Once when I wanted to return some notebooks to the 12th Std after the bell had rung for lunch break, I found that Miss Hallegua was still in class. I left the books outside the door trying to attract the attention of Hiten Desai, who was sitting closest to the door. He looked absolutely blank and later when I asked him why, he said, "in Miss Hallegua's class my eyeballs do not move!" Here, however I must mention that I have come across many senior Cathedralites in my sojourns here and there. Very often their first queries have been about Miss Hallegua.
Siddharth Singh was a student who came from the US, and had to catch up with the class. l took special classes for him and twice he kept me waiting and did not turn up! Later he told me that the second time, he had gone to lunch at Raj Bhavan. I replied that he could have gone to the "White House" but that he should have told me and not made me wait! He said, 'sorry' - nothing more. His mother too called and apologised on his behalf. Much later, he said he was going to Ahmedabad to meet his grandfather. Even then he said nothing till in the course of conversation, he casualty said that his grandfather was the Governor of Gujarat! When I was leaving Mumbai, he brought me a cake with "Thanks Mrs C" written on it. Then he sat down and ate quite a bit of it and said "Mrs C, I am helping you not to put on weight." I was very amused, but his mother was not.
Athiya and Ivy were two other students for whom I took special classes in French to help them catch up with their 12th Std classmates. I always marvelled at how hard they worked in spite of all the other subjects they had to cope with and finally managed to do better than the others.
Ayesha Bulchandani who was Savage House Captain and Mukeeta Kataria who was Head Girl, were scolded by two or three teachers for having, on one occasion, asked me to take the class register up to the vice principal's office, as is normally done at the end of the day. They sulked in my class the next day, thinking I had complained about them but Later they realised I hadn't. After that they were soon back to their cheery selves! Ashutosh Mankad is another of my students whom I met in Bangalore outside the famous K C Das sweet shop. He was surprised that I did not recognise him at first sight, but then, boys change so much when they become young men! He then told me he was married to another Cathedralite - Nandini, and Later when I met both of them and their kids it was such an indescribably good feeling! I also met Udai Mathan and George Abraham, who is no longer his skinny self. I attended his wedding too!
I met a whole lot of them when I went to visit my daughter Anilla, like Judah Gubbay, Monish Sahni, Kamalakshi Lal, Ramesh Menon and a few others. They all came from all over to see a visiting ex- Cathedral teacher and we had great fun talking about the old days in school!
How can I forget to mention the inimitable Banoo Dubash, who did so well in her "Structure of Modern Government" paper, that she shocked the late Mr Elisha, who had at one time said he would eat his shoe if she got above 40 per cent. Then there were Vijaylakshmi Pastala, Amrita Zaveri and Amrik Singh, daughter of Dr Manmohan Singh, and a host of others.
There are so many other faces and incidents that come to mind my daughter's friends, Shivani, Tanya, Radhikha, Dipti and Kayoko the first Japanese girl to be House Captain of Barham House. Colin Saldhana, Vivek Jacob, Amit Mohindra, and Vivek Goel. Deepika Bulchandani who told Mr Patki she would set him right if he talked any more nonsense! Diba and Kaleem Siddique were twins and great friends of Anilla's. They were instrumental in getting her and many others to apply to US universities.
These and a myriad other faces come to mind. Sometimes I wonder where they are and what many of them are doing. Whether they remember those school days that were both cheerful and depressing, and remember them with the same amount of nostalgia as a teacher does.
Elizabeth Cherian.
See http://www.catalumni.com
posted by Bombay @ 8:32 PM
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