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Vignettes from a Boarding School

 by Suresh Subrahmanyan

Suresh Subrahmanyan delves into his boarding school experiences and finds considerable merit in a way of life and learning which is all but lost now.

During the 1950s my banker father was serving in the Far East. When he was transferred to the Head Office in Calcutta he decided that my brother and I should be ensconced in a good boarding school. Bangalore was a popular choice for its salubrious climate and spread of boarding houses. That some of our family’s close relatives lived in Bangalore lent weight to this decision.

We were admitted to Bishop Cottons, boasting a hoary and proud history, beautifully designed heritage architecture nestling amongst acres of lung space. The Tower Block alone is worth the price of admission. The British pastors who envisioned the school’s ambience doubtless took inspiration from their ‘green and pleasant land’. We are talking about the early ‘60s when Bangalore was Bangalore, a Cantonment town just a wee bit bigger than a hill station. Not the bustling, impossibly congested Bengaluru of today.

Starting academia as a boarder at Cottons, however wonderful the surroundings, was a nerve-wracking experience. My brother and I were 8 and 10 years old respectively, and to be uprooted from your parents and thrust into an environment that was completely strange and minatory, took some getting used to. You were part of a dormitory with your own bed, a locker in which to keep your toiletries and personal effects, a mosquito net and a canvas soiled linen bag to stuff your dirty clothes for washing. That was your private space. The dormitory master, an authority figure, had his own room as an adjunct, and he it was who looked after our requirements and ensured discipline was maintained. This did not preclude the boys from getting up to pranks after lights out at night. Pillow fights, ‘contraband’ home-made snacks quietly consumed, and the odd attempt to bunk, or leave the school premises under cover of darkness, were not uncommon. If you were caught in the act, retribution was swift and harsh.

Classrooms were situated below the dormitories. The school had its own gymnasium and an elegant chapel, which played a twin contrarian role of being a place of worship and conflict resolution. The copse behind the hallowed dwelling was used by the boys to steal a forbidden smoke, and to settle personal scores with fisticuffs. “I’ll see you behind chapel” was a familiar refrain when matters spiralled out of control. As for piety, we boarders enjoyed chapel service at dusk, joining fervidly in singing hymns and reading the lesson. The school followed the Church of England dispensation. Sundays were grim. The afternoons were reserved for writing to our parents. “How are you? I am fine. Grub’s lousy. John Kennedy was shot dead. Love.”

A caveat. At no time did any of us who were not Christians, ever feel that the school was forcing theology down our throats. We treated chapel service like any other activity in school. To relieve the tedium, the headmaster or Warden, as he was properly addressed, would invite the senior boarders to his warm home of a Sunday evening, and treat us to cake and lemonade, and a choice selection of The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard records! His wife would ‘play mother’, busying herself with the refreshments, and their Siamese cat was a pleasant diversion. The Reverend I.L. Thomas, our Warden, was a Welshman possessed of a stentorian voice, and would break into traditional Ye Olde English songs for our benefit.

Sports played a major role in our lives. Hockey, Cricket, Football, Boxing, Tennis, Table tennis and Athletics were all on offer. Cubs and Scouts were voluntary activities, encouraged for the values they instilled. To inculcate a healthy sense of competition, the school had instituted a ‘house system’. We had four houses all named after former Wardens – Pope, Pettigrew, Packenham Walsh and Elphick. Boys were assigned to one of these houses, and for the rest of our school lives, we were identified by our house colours.

Music was always in the air. According to our singing potential, we were inducted into the school choir and taught the basic principles of harmony. As we grew and voices broke, we moved from soprano to alto to tenor and finally, just a few, got to singing bass. The school band gave an opportunity to those who had a penchant for playing instruments.  Participating in elocution contests and plays was encouraged to rid us of our inhibitions and foster self-confidence.

Once a month, the boarders would be taken to English movies. What a thrill! The sight of a 100 boys in whites, green blazers, ties and caps snaking through Brigade Road or South Parade (now M.G. Road) in double file to the theatre is now an indelible, nostalgic frieze.

Boarders followed a strict regimen. Barring weekends, the rising bell would chime at 6 am, courtesy Mali, the school gardener. We had to be up, washed and changed and be down at the dining hall by 6:40 am for what was quaintly called ‘Chota Hazri’, consisting of a largish tumbler of coffee (we only had the Pantry Sergeant’s word for it!) and two rock hard biscuits. An hour for studies followed by breakfast, school assembly and off to classes. Between the two segments of classes was lunch break, as we trooped into the musty Dining Hall, redolent of a hundred years of lamb stew and porridge. Grace was said before and after each meal, to give thanks to the Almighty. Given that we complained bitterly about the quality of the menu, one wondered what the supplication was for!

Senior students were appointed Prefects to maintain discipline amongst the boys. They in turn were led by the Captain of School and the Heads of Boarders and Day Scholars. These were positions of responsibility and prestige, with powers to stop bad language and bullying, and generally to set an example to the students. Only the house masters had the inalienable right to administer, with great velocity, the Malacca cane to our tender bottoms if we had been very naughty. Nevertheless, these were great avenues for leadership building, and many of our Prefects and Captains distinguished themselves later in life.

Bishop Cottons also had a girls’ school, located just a few kilometers from the boys’, on St. Mark’s Road. Senior boys and girls were allowed to meet ‘socially’ once every few months, strictly supervised by the teachers from both schools. The idea was to ensure that boys and girls grew more comfortable in each other’s company. Music and dancing were encouraged, and this usually led to some interesting situations, when some of the boys were ‘fixed’ to some of the girls, and woe betide the boy who attempted to ‘tag’ one of the fixed girls. A surefire recipe for a ‘behind the chapel’ rumble! Autograph books were freely exchanged between the sexes with a list of boys or girls requested to scribble their twee messages. Brothers of girls would act as couriers. There was an element of the clandestine here but, mercifully, the teachers looked the other way.

Summer and winter holidays saw the boarders gleefully travel home to enjoy the food, camaraderie and freedom with their families and friends. The Calcutta group, to which I belonged, would take the overnight Mail to Chennai, thence the long journey by the Howrah Mail to Calcutta. Holiday homework included reading recommended books, essay writing and tuning into the BBC World Service Radio. The return journey, predictably, was joyless and sombre.

Exam time was full of fear and loathing for most of us. As a general rule the boarders, barring some notable exceptions, were not academically brilliant. It was as much as they could do to scrape through. My final year report card had this elliptical remark by the Warden, “His marks are not a true reflection of his abilities”. The shame of failure would have been unendurable. That apart, most of us boarders would not, with the benefit of hindsight, have given up hostel life for all the tea in China. Speaking as a Cottonian, I can freely say that it was hugely instrumental in character building and personality development. If I am able to control my stage fright and collywobbles, if I can string together a series of sentences and not botch up my apostrophes, I have my school and boarding life in particular, to thank.

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that when our final day at school arrived and Warden made a stirring speech to all of us ‘going out into the brave new world’, there was not a dry eye in the audience. By today’s fiercely competitive standards, our education decades ago may be considered less than adequate, but to quote the Bard of Avon non-contextually, “Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve”.

We were well served by our quintessential school of hard knocks.

Suresh Subrahmanyan is a Bangalore based brand communications consultant, deeply interested in a variety of musical genres. As a columnist he contributes on a regular basis to some of the leading dailies and periodicals in India. An avowed P.G. Wodehouse fan, many of his columns are in satirical and humorous vein.

 

  1. Thanks a bunch guys, for all the kind words. Suresh Modak and Mathulla Issac, I particularly remember both of you. Mathulla, we also met briefly at the reunion two years ago in Bangalore. I must thank Spark for providing me with a subject that prodded me to go on this nostalgia trip. Else, it might never have occured to me to write on this subject. Do visit Spark every month, as you might see more contributions on different subjects from me. Cheers.

  2. Hi Suresh, like you and your bro, my younger brother and I were there from 1968 to 1973, bro to 1975, and we were from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Rev ILT left and Mr ATB took over but its was similar. We did have 5-10 Senior bullies and yes there were many fights over girl school students, some with venom. All in all, the majority of the teachers were honorable and hard working. They did a good job on you and I can say they did a terrific job on me! Thank you for taking the time to pen this nostalgic commentary.

  3. GREAT MASTERY OF LANGUAGE. EVIDENTLY THE ERA OF 60’s INCULCATED A STRONG DOSE OF ENGLISH WORDS & PROSE WHICH LEFT AN INDELIBLE STAMP OF BEING A PROUD COTTONIAN PRODUCT GREAT GOING

  4. Dear Mr.Subrahmanyan,
    Your article really hit home. My brother and I were boarders in Cottons, roughly the same age as you (and the same age gap between us as you and your brother) when we joined, albeit close to two and a half decades later. The experiences that you relate are similar to the ones that I experienced – the morning beverage was called “chota” (not sure how the “hazri” word got dropped), good ol’ (atleast by our time) Mali was still around, and “I’ll see you behind the chapel” was still an oft used phrase.
    The only difference I see is that our monthly English flick was screened on a TV set in the pantry hall instead of us having to walk to a cinema. I guess there had to be atleast some change in 25 years.
    The similarities in our experiences would also be a fair reflection of how technology had changed in that time – by not much, that is.
    But what about the next 30 years. A present day boarder in Cottons would have trouble relating to this story, also a fair reflection of how much the world has changed in the last 30 years. Truly it is a “way of life and learning which is all but lost now.”

  5. dear suresh,
    great writing, congrats from one suresh to another. your article sent me back to those years and got me heavily nostalgic.
    suresh modak(pettigrew house, 1965)

  6. Wonderful insight. Even though I was a day scholar from ’62 to ’69 none of my classmates discussed the details listed in this article, such as their personal experiences with Revd. Thomas.
    Thank you.

  7. Very nicely written. Captures the essence life at Cotton’s in the ’60s and ’70s. Sadly a lot of high points of experience are no longer part of the Cotton’s experience today!!!

  8. Awesome!! Brings back wonderful memories of Warden Rev. I. L. Thomas. I would help him come out of the St. Marks Cathedral on Sunday morning services. I was also part of the school and church choir. I represented our school a few times at the inter school singing competition. I was part of the Cubs, Scouts & NCC. My older brother Anil won the state shooting championship for BCBS and before I left school I held the position of Regimental Sargent Major in NCC (the highest position for a student). School day crushes on teachers – Mrs. James, Ms. Rukmanee & Mrs, Sebastian LOL! those were the days! First girl friend – Naseem Bushari, 2nd crush Pamela Upot! – So much more to tell if anyone wants to know LOL! Hero worshiped Suresh (star cricketer), Rajesh Patel (younger brother of Brijesh Patel – national cricket player from BCBC).
    Some friends I have met many years ago after leaving Bangalore – Best friend Butch Christopher. Friends I would love to get in touch. Favel, Makheeja, Mahil, Scully, (PT master Mr. Winston’s son). And so many other.
    Naresh Santram (Early 60s to late 60s) – email MarinOfficerLRIT@yahoo.com
    My location: Gainesville, Virginia – 20155 (USA) – Cell: +1 703-489-2700

  9. Great writing Suresh…..you wrote from your heart…we shared it also………Issac Mathulla

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