Reminiscences – Part 1
Raghavan hailed from a big family. Big families were very common in those days. His father was in govt. service and hence, they had to relocate every now and then.As far as he could remember, he was in Muvathupuzha of kerala for 2 years and stayed in kizhakkencherry, Palghat dist. of Kerala for one year. Afterwards,he joined Lower primary school in Nurani village Palghat. Even if it was a Govt. school, discipline and punctuality was of top priority. Teachers were very good. They taught that time is life and the importance of time management in life. Some of teachers were harsh and strict towards pupil and some were very polite in their approach and were liked by one and all. His first standard division A class teacher (teaching Maths) was an old lady, about to retire and she was very cruel towards pupil and used to beat students like anything. Raghavan could not bear this and he was very averse to go to school. But, his sister brought him to school by force and he was crying all the time as he had apprehensions about beatings of the class teacher. He felt like being tortured. He used to shift to division B where Radha teacher was the class teacher. Radha teacher was very polite towards students. Afterwards, he was brought back to division A and was warned of dare consequences if he repeats such naughty things.
After studying in four years in L P govt. school, he joined Nurani Hindu High School (NHHS) , Palghat where he finished his 10 th standard. NHHS was a situated in the east end of Nurani Village and it was one of the land marks of Palghat district. Most of the teachers of NHHS were very excellent in their performance. They never used to bring books for teaching as they knew contents of the syllabus by heart and were giving extempore.
In 10 Std., Science teacher somany, was the class teacher. Her style of teaching was excellent. But, sometimes she was bit partial. But, that is only human nature.
Maths teacher Rukmani was also a talented teacher. Her husband was also teacher in the same school. They were very geneous. They were expert in design drawings on walls using geometrical cubes, cuboids etc.
A Teacher namely Ramachandran was teaching English. He was nicknamed as professor.
But, he taught social studies for 10 th standard. As his classes were after the lunch, most of the students used to knap. He used to beat about the bush and never come to the point and naturally the lecture delivery was bit boring. He used to punish students for not listening.
Social studies teacher Thangamani was asked to teach English. What a contradiction? Students felt and grudged and irritated. But,their complaints were turned down. They had no option but to bear with it.
Raghavan was sitting in the second bench in X th calss facing the black board. There was also a bench placed facing the entrance of the class where girls were sitting, They were chatting and laughing while the class was going on. By looking at them Raghavan also laughed. Social teacher Ramachanndran got angry and slapped Raghavan thinking that he was not listening to his class. Raghavan again punished despite being innocent. But, he took it as part of life.
After half yearly exams, they used to give proficiency certificate to students who score top marks for every class.
Sanskrit teacher was a priest and will not turn up to school every now and then on the pretext of full moon or moon less day or any other festivals in temple. He never realized that school is also a temple of learning. As nobody could pick up grammar in Sanskrit, everybody used to fail in Sanskrit.
But, to save his face he used to give moderation and let the pupil pass and cheer up.
Raghavan had scored more than 60 % in every subject but had failed in Sanskrit in half yearly exams. Otherwise, he was the topper in the school. Unlike in the present, even scoring 60 % was really a herculean task in schools of Kerala. Now, pupil easily score 90 % on an average because of lavish and inflated marks being awarded to students.
Class X A students wanted their division to stand first and hence approached Sanskrit teacher and requested him to award Raghavan minimum pass mark in Sanskrit. The teacher also agreed to save his face and Raghavan got the first prize.
In those days, passing the Xth standard (SSLC) was not so easy. Minimum marks required for passing in languages was 40 and 35 for subjects. Many students used to appear for exams in March, September March and struggled like anything to pass Xth Std. Syllabus of the Xth standard was very heavy as questions could come from VIII to X th class and hence they had to study Physics, Chemistry, Biology , three books of each class VIII to X th std.and Maths, two books each of VIII to X th as also of social studies. Only 13 students could pass the X th exam in Rahavan’s batch. Nobody got first class, that is 60% over all. Raghavan had scored 328 out of 600 and he was the topper of the school. Still, students who stood first, second and third were awarded cash prize by a sponsor from Nurani Village.
Raghavan could have scored 60 %, had he gone for tuition for Sanskrit in which he was very weak.
But, destiny could not be ruled over.
Raghavan wished to study in Mission High school (English medium) located in Palghat town near KSRTC. But, his parents discouraged him as there was heavy traffic and he had to cross the road.
NHHS students used attend Knowledge enrichment programs of Mission High School and other inter school programs. Raghavan also participated in such programs. Only those students who pass the exams were sent to such programs
Even if some students resort to tuitions. Raghavan could not find time for tuitions. In those days school timing was 10 AM to 4 PM and he had a lot of home work to be finished by next day.
An old tuition master popularly known as “Thatha master “ (Thatha means grandfather in Tamil ) was available for Maths subject. But, Raghavan neither believed in tuitions nor he had time for going for tuitions.
In those days, wheat flour was not available and hence wheat had to be got grinded from machine shops. There used to be very long queue in the shops. Raghavan used to refuse to go to the shop as he had to study a lot.
One day, class leader was asked to write the names of students who talk in the class. The leader wrote some names including that of Raghavan who in fact had not spoken at all and he gave the list to the principal who invited all of them to him room. But, Raghavan did not go. All those who obeyed the order were asked to do sit and stand many times with hands cross folded along ears. Principal got angry and canned Raghavan like anything. Raghavan was crying all the day for he was punished despite being innocent. He later realized the importance of moving with the mob. Had he obeyed principal’s order, he would also have got tiny punishment like others.
Today, nobody talks to anybody and hence asking the leader of the class to write the names pupil who talk in the class does not make any sense at all.
It was the rule of the school to tell pupil to stand outside the class or on the bench, run around the school for being disobedient and for not doing homework, for non-performance and all that.
Raghavan still reminisces those old golden days.
Cultural programs and sports and all sorts of extra- co- curricular activities like craft, embroidery were conspicuous by their presence. Development of all-round personality of the students was given top priority.
Service Week was being celebrated with effect from 2nd of October to 8 th of October every year to give tribute to father of the nation and to build awareness about cleaning of schools and surrounding environments. Planting and grooming of trees was also encouraged. Students were asked to clean and decorate classes with colorful trace paper cuttings and were awarded prizes for excellent decorations to motivate them.
Now that, NHHS has been demolished and many multi- storied flats have come over there. It was one of the most popular private management schools in Palghat. Managers were ageing and there was nobody to take over responsibility for running the school and hence, the school had to be closed.
Even if the multi-storied building took place of the school, still, the place is known as NHHS school which reiterates that a temple of learning cannot be demolished.
The end.
Author : C.P.Hariharan
Email id.: cphari_04@yahoo.co.in
