Haute Potato's School Days - Class V
Coming to class 5 meant saying good bye to teachers who taught us in grade 4. Ms. Kapoor taught us Science in 4A. One day in class 4, Ms. Kapoor asked for Atul’s diary to write a remark of appreciation. That was the first time I realized that school diaries could be used for writing comments other than – ‘Homework not done!’
Mrs. Padma taught us Social Studies. There was a question in our social studies book, “why are Himalayas so called?” Although the book had explanation in terms of ‘Him’ (meaning Ice) and ‘alaya’ (meaning home), Mrs. Padma thought that there was a typographical error and that the question should have read ‘why are Himalayas so cold?’ This modified question featured in our final exams too. I met Mrs. Padma after a number of years at a school reunion and was fascinated to find that she remembered me as one of her students.
Some of the class buddies of 4A were Chandershekhar Chaudhary, Anjan Ghosh, Ajoy Dasgupta, Lalit, Rachna Kohli and Amul Gabrani. Amul was very fair and had hair darker than usual. Smartly dressed, he always looked well groomed. I don’t recall Amul ever getting angry or fighting with anyone. One day when we were coming back from the sports field Amul told me that his little cousin had joined the KG wing - a single storied building inbetween the junior and the senior wings. He pointed out his cousin from the window of the class. As we were looking at the young girl when she tuned around and saw Amul peeping through the window. There was a flash of recognition in her face which immediately gave way to loud weeping. Poor Amul did not know what to do. We beat a hasty retreat.
Chandershekhar Chaudhary used to stay near the school. He left the school in class 6 or 7 and I again met him at Hindu College where he was pursuing B Com. Never into sports in Salwan he had taken to tennis in his new school. He showed me how to spot a tennis player by displaying his two arms. One could clearly see that a few years of tennis develops the playing forearm significantly compared to the non playing arm.
Neelam Mahajan left the school in class 5. We learnt that she had joined Salwan girls school in a class ahead of us. It was a big surprise when she came back to Salwan Public in class 9 (I think). Not only did she gain in terms of being a year ahead, but also in confidence and spoken English, which was amazing considering that Salwan girls school was Hindi medium.
Arun Ohri also left the school after class 4 and I never met him again.
Neera Garg’s house was opposite school. She was a relatively short, smartly dressed and just short of being stout. That is how she remained throughout the school - short, well dressed and just short of being plump. Inspired by Ashish’s ‘Mote Lala’, she had her own version of a funny poem ‘Mere Chachaji’.
View From the Top Floor
Class 5 was on the top floor of the junior wing, from where we tested the flight of our differently designed paper airplanes as they made journey to the ground floor below in different trajectories.
After the initial lull a big change took place in class 5A too. One day we had a senior teacher coming to the class who told us that new section ‘C’ was being created. He read out names of the students who were to go to class 5B and class 5C. Bhatta, Rajeev Bagai et al joined class 5B. Poonam, Shashank, Rajkumar Ahuja, Renu Dhamija, Anjan Ghosh and I were allotted class 5C.
I resented leaving my friends of 5A. Smarter amongst us like Parimal (called Tadimal by classmates) quickly brought a letter from parent and reversed the transfer. By the time I became alert to this possibility it was too late. I continued to be in class 5C where I made new friends.
Mrs. Mathai was our new class teacher, and taught us general science. Mrs. Bhan taught us English, and was later replaced by Mrs. Kapoor, who went on to become headmistress of the junior wing. Ms. Rita Verma was the new arts teacher who replaced Mr. K L Sharma our drawing teacher in class 4.
My new classmates included Rajinder Khazanchi, Yograj, Sunil Khurana, Rajeev Kathuria, Srinder Singh Bilkhu, Vinod Popli, B Sujata, Yashoda Chitre, Rita and Sarita Gaind amongst others.
Amongst the many incidents that remain etched in the memory pertaining to class 5C, the one which stands out is Rita asking Mrs. Mathai why she said ‘YUM’ for ‘M’. Mrs. Mathati hailing from Kerala had pink complexion. If it was possible to become pinker then that was what happened to her. She blushed and stared at Rita without saying a word.
In Persuit of total Development
Salwan Public in those days aimed at total development of students. In this pursuit one used to have long hours in winter extending up to 4:30 PM in the evening. To keep us engaged for these long hours we used to have hobby or PT /sports period in the last hour. The only problem was that the school was totally ill equipped to impart the skills / arts it sought to promote.
I had chosen music as my preference in the junior school. This hobby class was to be overseen by Mr. Chaddha who was teaching social studies to the middle school. Always dressed in suit in winters Mr. Chaddha later joined Salwan College as a lecturer. The initial sessions in the music hobby class had us singing some of the then hit movie songs. But our mentors very soon ran out of ideas and it became a waste of time.
The sports / PT session also did not improve our skills in any sporting activity. Its only output was to prepare us for the mass PT which used to be performed on our annual sports day. I had chosen hockey as my preferred sports. Mr. Bhardwaj our sports teachers had little knowledge of hockey. He would make us stand in a row and each person was given a chance to hit the ball with the hockey stick. I was standing next to Charna in one of the hockey sessions. Charna took an aim at the ball and swung the hockey stick with all his might. The stick missed the ball, and after huge swing hit me smack on my left ear. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense.
A year later Mr. Bhardwaj took to teaching social studies and Mr. Dube the other PT teacher left the school. We had new sports teacher - Mr. Harish and Mr. Inder Singh, who were knowledgeable about hockey, football and basketball. I did pick up hockey under them, and represented the school in a tournament in class 9.
Our House meetings were much more fun. There were Junior Houses up to class 6, after which one moved to Senior Houses. I was in Azad house up to class 6. Mrs. Sharma (our maths teacher of class 4) and Mrs. Padma were in charge of Azad House. In our first house meeting we were confided that the name of the house was after Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and not Chandrashekhar Azad.
The high point of the houses was the annual sports day when houses used to compete with each other and the house getting maximum points used to get the sports trophy for the year. Rajinder House (actually Rajendra House - it was named after Dr. Rajendra Prasad - but courtesy Mr. Walia the House Master and Punj influence was always called Rajinder) won the trophy that year on the athletic excellence of Vikesh Sharma who was a year senior to us.
Class V C
Class 5 was also the last year that we had books from UK – English by Stages - as our English text books. From class 6 we had ‘English Today’ the indigenous English language book (I believe that we still have along way to go to catch up to the standards set by UK text books).
English by Stages had wonderful stories. One of them was about a boy in the hostel who was afraid of heights. He was helped by the school prefect to overcome his fear. Later having become the school prefect himself he rescued the younger brother of his mentor when the hostel building was on fire. Another wonderful story dealt with a dog called Cram Bam Bulle and his indecisiveness in choosing between the former and the new master.
One day we were going through a story in ‘English by Stages’ about a Japanese village where no one had seen a mirror. Each character in the story – the merchant, his wife, and the judge drew different inferences by looking at their own image.
We were in the middle of the story when in walked Mr. P C Chaudhary our Principal. Silence engulfed the class and one could have heard a feather fall. Mr. Chaudhary browsed through the story and asked us the meaning of ‘image’. Amongst us all in the class it was B Sujata who mustered the courage to reply. The principal was appreciative, and asked before leaving the class if she had seen the movie Sujata, to which she responded in affirmative. This is the only time Mr. Chaudhary ever came to our class during all my years in Salwan.
The book that I really loved in class 5 was ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. We had an abridged edition with a different ending, still the book made a huge impact on me. It was only a year later that I read the voluminous novel in original.
An even more abridged version of great novels came in the form of Classic comics . How can one ever forget the beautifully drawn picture of the novel ‘The last of the Mohicans’ on the back cover of all classic comics. Rajeev Bagai had brought ‘Count of Monte Cristo’, as published by classic comics, to the school. It was being circulated amongst us, as each one of us took turns to go through the comic. But then disaster struck. An overzealous teacher confiscated it and was sufficiently enraged to tear it. Our protestation that was it was a part of our curriculum was totally lost on her.
Classmates of VC
For a year in class 5C I had the company of Sunil Khurana. He was with us only for a year and the left the school in class 6. Sunil had light coloured eyes and a very pleasing temperament. One day in the class I was hit by something on my cheek. I would not have been able to solve the mystery but for the teacher catching Sunil Khurana in the act. Sunil had brought a small glass tube and a packet of moong dal. He would put a moong dal grain in the glass tube, aim at the target person, and blow the tube from the other end. The grain would shoot through the air like a projectile and hit the target with a great accuracy.
Another part of his repertoire was his imitation of a girl’s walk. He used to come wearing a pullover of a larger than required size, which he would stretch to cover his shorts fully. Then he would walk swinging his hips with each step. I imitated his walk at home and it became a big hit.
Yashoda Chitre also left the school after class 5. She and Sujata always spoke in English. Yashoda was very delicately built. Surinder Singh Bilkhu once narrated how in the shot put event where Yashoda was competing, she threw the ball backwards as her wrist buckled under the weight of the ball .
Class 5 ended with Khazanchi topping the class, a feat he accomplished in all the classes up to 10th grade. It was still a year to go by when Khazanchi and I would become close friends.
Mrs. Padma taught us Social Studies. There was a question in our social studies book, “why are Himalayas so called?” Although the book had explanation in terms of ‘Him’ (meaning Ice) and ‘alaya’ (meaning home), Mrs. Padma thought that there was a typographical error and that the question should have read ‘why are Himalayas so cold?’ This modified question featured in our final exams too. I met Mrs. Padma after a number of years at a school reunion and was fascinated to find that she remembered me as one of her students.
Some of the class buddies of 4A were Chandershekhar Chaudhary, Anjan Ghosh, Ajoy Dasgupta, Lalit, Rachna Kohli and Amul Gabrani. Amul was very fair and had hair darker than usual. Smartly dressed, he always looked well groomed. I don’t recall Amul ever getting angry or fighting with anyone. One day when we were coming back from the sports field Amul told me that his little cousin had joined the KG wing - a single storied building inbetween the junior and the senior wings. He pointed out his cousin from the window of the class. As we were looking at the young girl when she tuned around and saw Amul peeping through the window. There was a flash of recognition in her face which immediately gave way to loud weeping. Poor Amul did not know what to do. We beat a hasty retreat.
Chandershekhar Chaudhary used to stay near the school. He left the school in class 6 or 7 and I again met him at Hindu College where he was pursuing B Com. Never into sports in Salwan he had taken to tennis in his new school. He showed me how to spot a tennis player by displaying his two arms. One could clearly see that a few years of tennis develops the playing forearm significantly compared to the non playing arm.
Neelam Mahajan left the school in class 5. We learnt that she had joined Salwan girls school in a class ahead of us. It was a big surprise when she came back to Salwan Public in class 9 (I think). Not only did she gain in terms of being a year ahead, but also in confidence and spoken English, which was amazing considering that Salwan girls school was Hindi medium.
Arun Ohri also left the school after class 4 and I never met him again.
Neera Garg’s house was opposite school. She was a relatively short, smartly dressed and just short of being stout. That is how she remained throughout the school - short, well dressed and just short of being plump. Inspired by Ashish’s ‘Mote Lala’, she had her own version of a funny poem ‘Mere Chachaji’.
View From the Top Floor
Class 5 was on the top floor of the junior wing, from where we tested the flight of our differently designed paper airplanes as they made journey to the ground floor below in different trajectories.
After the initial lull a big change took place in class 5A too. One day we had a senior teacher coming to the class who told us that new section ‘C’ was being created. He read out names of the students who were to go to class 5B and class 5C. Bhatta, Rajeev Bagai et al joined class 5B. Poonam, Shashank, Rajkumar Ahuja, Renu Dhamija, Anjan Ghosh and I were allotted class 5C.
I resented leaving my friends of 5A. Smarter amongst us like Parimal (called Tadimal by classmates) quickly brought a letter from parent and reversed the transfer. By the time I became alert to this possibility it was too late. I continued to be in class 5C where I made new friends.
Mrs. Mathai was our new class teacher, and taught us general science. Mrs. Bhan taught us English, and was later replaced by Mrs. Kapoor, who went on to become headmistress of the junior wing. Ms. Rita Verma was the new arts teacher who replaced Mr. K L Sharma our drawing teacher in class 4.
My new classmates included Rajinder Khazanchi, Yograj, Sunil Khurana, Rajeev Kathuria, Srinder Singh Bilkhu, Vinod Popli, B Sujata, Yashoda Chitre, Rita and Sarita Gaind amongst others.
Amongst the many incidents that remain etched in the memory pertaining to class 5C, the one which stands out is Rita asking Mrs. Mathai why she said ‘YUM’ for ‘M’. Mrs. Mathati hailing from Kerala had pink complexion. If it was possible to become pinker then that was what happened to her. She blushed and stared at Rita without saying a word.
In Persuit of total Development
Salwan Public in those days aimed at total development of students. In this pursuit one used to have long hours in winter extending up to 4:30 PM in the evening. To keep us engaged for these long hours we used to have hobby or PT /sports period in the last hour. The only problem was that the school was totally ill equipped to impart the skills / arts it sought to promote.
I had chosen music as my preference in the junior school. This hobby class was to be overseen by Mr. Chaddha who was teaching social studies to the middle school. Always dressed in suit in winters Mr. Chaddha later joined Salwan College as a lecturer. The initial sessions in the music hobby class had us singing some of the then hit movie songs. But our mentors very soon ran out of ideas and it became a waste of time.
The sports / PT session also did not improve our skills in any sporting activity. Its only output was to prepare us for the mass PT which used to be performed on our annual sports day. I had chosen hockey as my preferred sports. Mr. Bhardwaj our sports teachers had little knowledge of hockey. He would make us stand in a row and each person was given a chance to hit the ball with the hockey stick. I was standing next to Charna in one of the hockey sessions. Charna took an aim at the ball and swung the hockey stick with all his might. The stick missed the ball, and after huge swing hit me smack on my left ear. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense.
A year later Mr. Bhardwaj took to teaching social studies and Mr. Dube the other PT teacher left the school. We had new sports teacher - Mr. Harish and Mr. Inder Singh, who were knowledgeable about hockey, football and basketball. I did pick up hockey under them, and represented the school in a tournament in class 9.
Our House meetings were much more fun. There were Junior Houses up to class 6, after which one moved to Senior Houses. I was in Azad house up to class 6. Mrs. Sharma (our maths teacher of class 4) and Mrs. Padma were in charge of Azad House. In our first house meeting we were confided that the name of the house was after Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and not Chandrashekhar Azad.
The high point of the houses was the annual sports day when houses used to compete with each other and the house getting maximum points used to get the sports trophy for the year. Rajinder House (actually Rajendra House - it was named after Dr. Rajendra Prasad - but courtesy Mr. Walia the House Master and Punj influence was always called Rajinder) won the trophy that year on the athletic excellence of Vikesh Sharma who was a year senior to us.
Class V C
Class 5 was also the last year that we had books from UK – English by Stages - as our English text books. From class 6 we had ‘English Today’ the indigenous English language book (I believe that we still have along way to go to catch up to the standards set by UK text books).
English by Stages had wonderful stories. One of them was about a boy in the hostel who was afraid of heights. He was helped by the school prefect to overcome his fear. Later having become the school prefect himself he rescued the younger brother of his mentor when the hostel building was on fire. Another wonderful story dealt with a dog called Cram Bam Bulle and his indecisiveness in choosing between the former and the new master.
One day we were going through a story in ‘English by Stages’ about a Japanese village where no one had seen a mirror. Each character in the story – the merchant, his wife, and the judge drew different inferences by looking at their own image.
We were in the middle of the story when in walked Mr. P C Chaudhary our Principal. Silence engulfed the class and one could have heard a feather fall. Mr. Chaudhary browsed through the story and asked us the meaning of ‘image’. Amongst us all in the class it was B Sujata who mustered the courage to reply. The principal was appreciative, and asked before leaving the class if she had seen the movie Sujata, to which she responded in affirmative. This is the only time Mr. Chaudhary ever came to our class during all my years in Salwan.
The book that I really loved in class 5 was ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. We had an abridged edition with a different ending, still the book made a huge impact on me. It was only a year later that I read the voluminous novel in original.
An even more abridged version of great novels came in the form of Classic comics . How can one ever forget the beautifully drawn picture of the novel ‘The last of the Mohicans’ on the back cover of all classic comics. Rajeev Bagai had brought ‘Count of Monte Cristo’, as published by classic comics, to the school. It was being circulated amongst us, as each one of us took turns to go through the comic. But then disaster struck. An overzealous teacher confiscated it and was sufficiently enraged to tear it. Our protestation that was it was a part of our curriculum was totally lost on her.
Classmates of VC
For a year in class 5C I had the company of Sunil Khurana. He was with us only for a year and the left the school in class 6. Sunil had light coloured eyes and a very pleasing temperament. One day in the class I was hit by something on my cheek. I would not have been able to solve the mystery but for the teacher catching Sunil Khurana in the act. Sunil had brought a small glass tube and a packet of moong dal. He would put a moong dal grain in the glass tube, aim at the target person, and blow the tube from the other end. The grain would shoot through the air like a projectile and hit the target with a great accuracy.
Another part of his repertoire was his imitation of a girl’s walk. He used to come wearing a pullover of a larger than required size, which he would stretch to cover his shorts fully. Then he would walk swinging his hips with each step. I imitated his walk at home and it became a big hit.
Yashoda Chitre also left the school after class 5. She and Sujata always spoke in English. Yashoda was very delicately built. Surinder Singh Bilkhu once narrated how in the shot put event where Yashoda was competing, she threw the ball backwards as her wrist buckled under the weight of the ball .
Class 5 ended with Khazanchi topping the class, a feat he accomplished in all the classes up to 10th grade. It was still a year to go by when Khazanchi and I would become close friends.
posted by haute potato at 2:36 AM
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