The School Song - Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai
The School Song - Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai
Prima in Indis, Gateway of India
Door of the East with its face to the West
Here in Bombay we are living and learning
India, our country, to give you our best.
Out on the maidan at hockey or cricket,
Or now in the classroom a’driving the pen,
We will try ever to fit us, equip us,
So that in life we may serve you as men.
School School! Play up, School!
Wherever your lot may be cast,
School first, House next, Self last,
School! School! Play up, School
Himalayan mountains and plains of the Deccan,
Wide sweeping spaces with winds blowing clean,
These are our birthright – ours to defend them,
Ours now to follow where heroes have been.
Out on the maidan our thews and our sinews,
We’ll train and will strengthen a’playing the game.
Then when we leave and go forth to our lifework,
Win for our race and our School a fair name.
School School! Play up, School!
Wherever your lot may be cast,
School first, House next, Self last,
School! School! Play up, School
Years will roll on, and the palms still be swaying,
Out on the maidan that’s down by the sea,
Pens will be driven by new boys in classrooms
Where we are dreaming what soon we shall be.
Out on the maidan while palm shadows lengthen,
Still will re-echo the old stirring cry –
“Play up school! Let it rip! Let it thunder!
Let it resound to our Orient Sky!”
School School! Play up, School!
Wherever your lot may be cast,
School first, House next, Self last,
School! School! Play up, School
Prima in Indis, Gateway of India
Door of the East with its face to the West
Here in Bombay we are living and learning
India, our country, to give you our best.
Out on the maidan at hockey or cricket,
Or now in the classroom a’driving the pen,
We will try ever to fit us, equip us,
So that in life we may serve you as men.
School School! Play up, School!
Wherever your lot may be cast,
School first, House next, Self last,
School! School! Play up, School
Himalayan mountains and plains of the Deccan,
Wide sweeping spaces with winds blowing clean,
These are our birthright – ours to defend them,
Ours now to follow where heroes have been.
Out on the maidan our thews and our sinews,
We’ll train and will strengthen a’playing the game.
Then when we leave and go forth to our lifework,
Win for our race and our School a fair name.
School School! Play up, School!
Wherever your lot may be cast,
School first, House next, Self last,
School! School! Play up, School
Years will roll on, and the palms still be swaying,
Out on the maidan that’s down by the sea,
Pens will be driven by new boys in classrooms
Where we are dreaming what soon we shall be.
Out on the maidan while palm shadows lengthen,
Still will re-echo the old stirring cry –
“Play up school! Let it rip! Let it thunder!
Let it resound to our Orient Sky!”
School School! Play up, School!
Wherever your lot may be cast,
School first, House next, Self last,
School! School! Play up, School
posted by Bombay @ 8:32 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:00 PM,
CD said…
The School Song always vaguely bothered me, and looking back at it now I am amazed by how desperately it clings to long-outdated colonial ideas and images. I wonder when this was written, whether it was before or after independence. It has a very pre-independence ring to it. If it is pre-independence, it means that it was written at a time when the school was essentially meant for British children, who apparently felt that India was their "birthright", and that they had to win a "fair" name for their race. If on the other hand it is post-independence, surely phrases like "Door of the East with its face to the West" and "our Orient sky" are out of place. Nostalgia aside, I think the School Song only adds to the image of Cathedral being the last surviving outpost of foreign rule in India, and needs to be put to rest. At the very least it should be updated (forty years too late) to include female students.
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