Education
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Introduction
By the very
nature of their age group many of our contributors still remember their
schooldays in the 1940s. Even at the most settled times there would have been
vast differences in the way people experienced their schooldays. Many did not go
to school at all while others went to boarding schools in the
The special
political situation of the 1940s further added to the complications.
Some schools
were evacuated up country, to avoid the bombing and to free up much needed
space to billet soldiers. Other pupils had to unexpectedly stay on in
Many Indian
students were also getting deeply involved in the political events, attending
protest marches or running soup kitchens for the destitute or falling victim to
communal violence.
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
Education in British
India
In 1931 eight people only in one hundred could
read and write in
According to recent census figures the number of
primary schools in
There are nearly 4,000 High Schools for
boys with a student roll of 1,108,509, while there are not more than 500 High
Schools for girls with 147,379 pupils on their rolls. Three hundred and four
colleges have 109,921 students, of whom girl scholars number a little over
10,000.
Increasing facilities for professional and
technical training in all the provinces of
The foundation of University Education was laid
in this country with the establishment of the
Education generally in
(source: “A Guide Book to
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
_____Memories of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
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Pre
School
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
_____Memories of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
High School Kindergarten
I was at the High School Kindergarten which was
a 15-minute walk from home... a large top floor flat in a fairly substantial
building on
I could watch the trams and other traffic and
chat with the roadside traders. I did well and was happy there and I must have
been a bit of a success because I was handed a real baton and instructed to
conduct the kindergarten choir. My shorts were on the loose side so I received
a tremendous ovation following my encore before we'd even managed to finish the
final song in the concert.
Ron M. Walker, 7 year old
boy, Calcutta,
1942-3
(source: A2780534 My Wartime Childhood in
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
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Private Tutors
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
_____Memories of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
My private tutor, Mrs D'Silva
My private tutor, Mrs
D'Silva took in a few pupils as a genteel occupation,
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Ranchi
(source:
page 29 Elizabeth
James: An Anglo Indian Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
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In School
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: B & N Railway Indian High School, K018, Scenes in and around Kharagpur's B & N Railway Indian High School. Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: B & N Railway Indian High School, K019, Scenes in and around Kharagpur's B & N Railway Indian High School. The front gate. Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: B & N Railway Indian High School, K020, Scenes in and around Kharagpur's B & N Railway Indian High School. Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: B & N Railway Indian High School, K021, Scenes in and around Kharagpur's B & N Railway Indian High School. A classroom scene Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: B & N Railway Indian High School, K022, Scenes in and around Kharagpur's B & N Railway Indian High School. Shows activity in a manual training shop. Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: B & N Railway Indian High School, K023, Scenes in and around Kharagpur's B & N Railway Indian High School. Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K024, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K025, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K026, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K027, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K028, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K029, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K030, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K031, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
Scene in and around a "grade school" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945
Glenn Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Grade school, K032, "Scenes in and around a ""grade school"" located near the BN Railway Indian High School." Kharagpur, 1945. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
Primary Education
The cities of the East cannot generally compare with those of the West in matters
of education, and in
It would be an utter impossibility in this brief
sketch to enlarge upon the abundant private and public facilities for higher
education up to the
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
page 4 of John Barry: “Calcutta
1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
LA MARTINIERE
La
Martiniere for Boys, situated at 11 Loudon Street in a fashionable quarter of
the city, was founded from funds left by General
Claude Martin on September 13th 1800 and opened on March 1st
1836.
General
Claude Martin was born at Lyons (France) in 1735 and came out to
The
building, surmounted by a dome, and set in grounds covering over seven acres,
was constructed by J. P. Parker from the design of ]. H. Rattray, and completed
on the 31st December 1835 at a cost of £ 23,000/-. It contains a Chemical and
Physical Laboratory and Lecture Theatre, a Geography Room, a room for Manual
Instruction, a dining hall capable of accommodating 190 boys, four dormitories,
a hospital with general and infectious wards, a dispensary, and a library. An
additional block, containing an Assembly Hall with galleries, eight spacious
airy class-rooms and a large
La
Martiniere is a higher secondary school ; its upper forms which are constituted
as an affiliated college of the Calcutta University, prepares candidates for
the Intermediate Arts and Science Examinations.
The
boys participate in all kinds of sports : Swedish drill and boxing classes are
held by a qualified instructor. There is a Swimming Bath, Cadet Corps, Wolf Cub
Pack and a Boy Scout Troop which has held the King's flag since 1919.
To the
north of the Boy's College at
John Barry,
journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source pages 128 of John Barry: “Calcutta
1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT
NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with
John Barry 1940)
ST.
XAVIER'S COLLEGE
Centrally situated at
The earlier St. Xavier's College was founded on
June 1st 1835, in
In 1843, at the insistence of Babu Motilal Seal,
a wealthy Indian merchant, the Jesuit Fathers took over the management of the
After the departure of the Jesuits, St. John's College
at Entally, which was founded by Archbishop Carew in 1844, became the centre of
Catholic education, and in about
1849, this College was removed to No. 10 Park Street, the erstwhile premises of
the Sans Souci Theatre, purchased for the purpose. The College, however, was
not a success and, on the death of Archbishop Carew, closed its doors in 1855.
Archbishop Olliffe, the successor of Archbishop Carew, anxious to save Catholic
education from an untimely death, tried his utmost to persuade the English Jesuits
to return to
In 1862 the College was affiliated to the
In February 1868,
The Crohan building, to house the school
classes, was completed in 1915 at a cost of Rs. 1,06,000 and the Hindu Hostel
at
The College maintains a platoon of cadets
attached to the Calcutta
University Training Corps.
Several scholarships are awarded, the chief
among them being the Power, Lafont and O'Neill Scholarships and the Gold and
Silver medals for Physical Science, English Essay and Religious Knowledge.
The very capable staff of the College, comprised
mostly of Jesuit Fathers, are responsible for the high percentage of successes
in the University Examinations, while in games, aquatic and athletic pursuits
the Institution has an enviable reputation.
The ever-increasing popularity of the College is
evidenced by the fact that, from a mere 83 pupils in 1860, the roll has now
risen to well over 2,000.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 95-97 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
ST. JOSEPH'S
COLLEGE
Another well-known Catholic educational
institution for boys is ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE. This Institution, situated at
In 1871 the name of the school was changed to
St. Joseph's Boarding and Day School; later, however, Dr. Paul Count Goethals, the first Archbishop of Calcutta, finding that the
Calcutta Christian Brothers were not recruiting enough members to keep pace
with the increasing educational wants of the period, brought about their
amalgamation with the Irish Christian Brothers, the first batch of whom arrived
in Calcutta on the 5th January 1890.
The Irish Christian Brothers are a body of
teachers entirely devoted to education. On taking charge of the Institution,
they re-opened the Entrance Class, had the school affiliated to the
The College has a well furnished Art Hall,
up-to-date laboratories, a well-equipped Geographical Hall, an efficient Manual
Hall, for wood and metal work, a large Library and a Hall for Debating Club
Meetings.
Excellent as
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 97-98 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
LORETO HOUSE
( AT NO. 7 MIDDLETON ROW )
This is another Catholic educational
Institution. It was
founded in 1842 under the direction of the Loreto Sisters, with the primary
object of imparting to Catholic girls a religious and moral training, in
addition to all branches of secular knowledge. (Children of other denominations
are also admitted.)
The building, a commodious three-storeyed
structure, set in spacious grounds, is erected on the site of the Garden House
of Henry Vansittart, Governor
of Bengal, 1760-1764, which house was occupied by Sir Elijah Impey, the first Chief Justice of Calcutta, 1774-1782.
There are four departments in the Institution,
namely, a College Department, a Teachers' Training Department, a School
Department and a Kindergarten Department, which is conducted along the lines of
the National Froebel Union for Kindergarten teachers.
The College Department has been associated with
the
The Institution has a well-stocked Library,
social and sports clubs, tennis courts, and basketball grounds.
The College is staffed with religious and
secular professors, holding British and Indian degrees, and the examination
results are very satisfactory.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source page
98 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
THE ARMENIAN COLLEGE
This Institution was founded in 1821, under the
name of the
In 1825, the
Bazar Street to
The College boys participate in all athletic
game and pursuits, including boxing, and have earned a good reputation for
themselves in the field of sport.
A marble tablet at the College main gate in
At the south-east corner of the compound stands
the College swimming bath. A marble tablet inside bear the inscription :—
"Erected and Presented to his Alma Mater by
P. H. Crete, esq. For the use of the students of the
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source page
133 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
ISLAMIA COLLEGE
Location :—
Trams
:—Dalhousie Square-Park
Circus.
Buses :—8, 8A.
To meet
the educational needs of the Moslem Community, the Government of Bengal in 1881
had under consideration a scheme for the establishment of a second grade
college. It was not until 1884, however, that the First Arts (now called the
Intermediate in Arts) class was started in the Calcutta Madrassah. In July 1888
an amalgamation was effected with the
Efforts
to establish independent Arts Classes were not successful till 1923, when the
proposal was placed before the Legislative Council and funds sanctioned for the
building of the
The
structure, typically Islamic, consists of a main block facing east, with two
wings at right angles to the north and south extremities. A wrought/iron gate,
railings, balconies, domes, and grilles to the windows, serve to emphasize its
Oriental design.
The
College is under the control of the Director of Public Instruction and is
affiliated to the
The
College has well-equipped laboratories, and a library containing over 7000
volumes, including a collection of rare Arabic, Persian, and Urdu manuscripts.
The
College Union conducts a variety of activities, including weekly lectures, a
college magazine and an annual
In
addition, several scholarships are awarded to deserving students, the chief
being the Lytton Scholarship of £170 per annum for study in the
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 135-136 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
CALCUTTA MADRASSAH
A short distance from the College, at No. 21A
The present Madrassah, a massive structure built
on the four sides of a quadrangle, was erected on the 15th July
1824. It consists of the following :—
The Arabic Department, with about 600 students.
The Anglo-Persian Department, with about 650
students.
The Woodburn Middle English School, with
approximately 150 pupils.
The Elliot Hostel (facing the Madrassah) with
accommodation for 134 boarders, and
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
page 136 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
THE MUSLIM INSTITUTE
A handsome three-storeyed building, the
foundation stone of which was laid by Sir Stanley Jackson, then Governor of
Bengal, on the 26th February 1931. The Institute is equipped with a large
reading room, a wellstocked library, an up-to-date gymnasium, and a spacious
hall used for lectures and civic and social gatherings. The primary object of
the Institute is to promote friendly relations among the Muslim Community, to
encourage the study of religious, social, literary, and scientific subjects,
and to develop mental and physical culture among its many members. Various
privileges are offered to members, including debates, games, socials and
excursions.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
page136 of John Barry: “Calcutta
1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
SCOTTISH CHURCH
COLLEGE
Trams
:—Esplanade/Dalhousie to
Shambazar.
Buses :—2, 2A.
Situated
at
In 1830
the Rev. Alexander Duff, the first missionairy to
and
religious on Western principles, with English as the medium of instruction in
the higher classes. The College was then known as the General Assembly's
Institution. In 1843, on Rev. Duff and his colleagues joining the Free Church
of Scotland, a second similar institution was founded and named the Free Church
of Scotland Institution, which was renamed Duff College on the death of its
founder.
In 1908,
the General Assembly's Institution and the Duff College were united under the
name of the Scottish Churches' College, and in 1929, on the reunion of the -
Churches of Scotland, the distinctive plural "Churches was singularized
and the Institution since then has been known as the Scottish Church College.
The
College is affiliated to the
Attached
to the College is a Welfare Guild, which has established a free Night School
for the poor boys of the the
neighbourhood.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
page137 of John Barry: “Calcutta
1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Davidian Girls' Day School
Entering
This Institution was founded in 1922, by the
late Mr. David Aviet David, an Armenian philanthropist, where for some time
children of all denominations were admitted and educated free of charge.
Recently, however, the name was changed to the Davidian Girls' Day School and
its pupils restricted to those of the Armenian community. At present a large
number of Armenian girls and young boys are being educated, in English and
Armenian, entirely free of charge. It is understood that the Institution will
be made into the Davidian Girls' Boarding School from 1940.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 163 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
United Missionary Girls' High School
At No. 3 is the United Missionary Girls' High
School, originally established by the London Missionary Society; the Baptist
Missionary Society and the Methodist Missionary Society co-operate in classes
VII to X. The School exists to provide, from the Kindergarten to the
Matriculation, a good all-round education for the daughters of Indian
gentlemen.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 163 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Addresses of Schools
in 1940
Adarsha Vidalaya—
Arya Mission Institution—
Ballygunge Girls' High School—
Ballygunge Institution—
Ballygunge Jagabandhu Institution—
Bangabasi Collegiate School—
Baptist
Beltala Girls' High School—
Bharati Vidyalaya—125A
Bharat Stri Siksha Sadan—
Brahmo Balika Shikihalaya Girls' School—
Brahmo Boys' Day & Boarding School—
Central Collegiate School—71/2A
Chetla Boys'
City Collegiate School—
City Girls' High School—
Davidian Girls' School—1A
Deshbandbu Vidyalaya (
Diocesan Collegiate School for
Girls—
E. B. Rly.
Eliat Meyer Free School and Talmud Torah—
Entally Academy—
Gokhale Memorial Higher Secondary School for
Girls—
Jewish Girls' and Boys' Secondary School—8A
& 8B
Kailash Chandra Ghose Institute for Girls—
Kamala Girls'
Khetal Chandra
Loreto House—Middleton Row. Phone, P.K.
240
Metropolitan Institution for Girls—
Nivedita Girl's
North Calcutta Girls'
Oriental Seminary—
Oriental Seminary for Girls—
Peaty Charan Girls' High School—149A
Prasanna Kumar Institution—27B
Ramrik Institution—
Ripon Collegiate School—
Sakhawath Memorial H. School—
Satyabhama Institution for Boys—30A
Sir Romesh Ch. Mitter Memorial High
English School for Girls,
Sri Vishudhananda Saraswati Vidyalaya
Marwari Boys' School—
St. Agnes' School—2 King's Road,
St. Andrew's Girls' School (Church of
Scotland
St. Anthony's High School—
St. Barnabas' High School—
St Cecilia's High School—
St. James' School—
St. Lawrence High School—
St. Margaret's High School for Girls—
St. Teresa's High School—
Tallolla Boys' High School—
United
Welland-Gouldsmith European Boarding &
Day School—
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 214-218 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
!!NEW!!
Convent of Our Lady Queen of the Missions
– Park Circus,
(Source:
Contributors)
The missionary’s opinions
October 14, 1945
[...]
This morning was busy, but I took time out to
hear Rev. MacFarland, a Methodist educational advisor, talk. He did such a poor
job that I doodled the hour away. (His 20 minutes!) Tonight I had dinner with
Chaplain Colburn (Major) and heard about MacFarland's work. According to the
Chaplain, the only good colleges in
[...]
Richard Beard ,
US Army Lieutenant
Psychologist with 142 US Calcutta
(Source: page 217 of Elaine Pinkerton (ed.): “From
Calcutta With Love: The World War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard”
Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2002 / Reproduced by courtesy of Texas
Tech University Press)
_____Memories
of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
I already thought of
myself as a young woman
Privately
educated, I had taken and passed my Matric at 14, I was now 16, wearing a sari
and at College and already thought of myself as a young woman.
Nandita Sen, Schoolgirl, Calcutta
(Source:
Nandita's story at: http://timewitnesses.org/english/%7Enandita.html,
Nandita Sen Hyderabad - January 2005, seen 18th November 2005)
(COPYRIGHT
NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Nandita
Sen)
They
were mostly quite fluent in English
That photo of young folks in school was made at
Kharagpur, out west of
Kharagpur was a major railway junction of some
kind, so that
I was to help air crews learn how to better
photograph radar scopes in order to use the images as guides on future bombing
missions over the targeted area.
On off-duty time, a hike into Kharagpur took me
right past the school, so one day, when it was in session, I just went in and
introduced myself, asked the authorities if I could photograph some of the
classes. You see, back in the States, my wife at the time, was teaching
youngsters of about the same age as those I was picturing. I shot the images
primarily so I could send to her and her students photos of some of their
counterparts in
Glenn
Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: a series of E-Mail interviews with
Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August
2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of
Glenn Hensley)
My little friend,
Mukta
It was on one of those hikes into town (less
than a mile) that I was privileged to meet and photograph my little friend,
Mukta. (Look that name up on the website, too, for a little charmer of the
first degree.) Mukta spoke English, was a bubbly 8 or 9 year-old charmer. I
understood that she lived with her family not far from where I photographed her
on an old log.
A friend of mine and I bought her a new saree
and photographed her opening the package, then flinging it around herself like
a movie actress. She combed out her long, black hair and "she was as
pretty as any movie actress anywhere." Take a look at our coverage of that
event and meet our little friend.
Right now, for instance, I find myself wondering
just what life dealt her. Did she have a happy life, did she get a good
husband, how about children. When I think about it, she could well have grown
up, had a family and grown old by now. It's hard to imagine, but it's true.
Glenn
Hensley, Photography Technician with US Army Airforce, Summer 1944
(source: a series of E-Mail interviews with
Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August
2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of
Glenn Hensley)
The memories of Mrs Althea Holborn
I was a young girl
living in
Althea Holborn,schoolgirl , Calcutta
(source: A7761134 Peterborough Adult Learning
Service and East Community Centre VE Day Event - Memories Book Chapter 1 at BBC
WW2 People's War' on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/
Oct 2006)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
A Return
to School
Ten years after I left school, I had to return
there on one occasion, possibly to attend an old students' reunion. When I
entered the hall, I wan amazed. Was this the same hall that had once seemed so
large? Why, my head was touching the top of the door! And it was not just the
door- The veranda, the classrooms, even the benches meant for the
students—everything appeared much smaller than I remembered.
It took me a while to figure out why. When I
left the school, my height was five feet three inches. Now, ten years later, it
was nearly six feet five inches. Naturally, the school had not shrunk, I had.
I never went back to my old school. I know now
that if one had memories of a place, going back there can seldom bring back old
joys. It is far better to simply dip into one's fund of memories, and relive
precious moments.
Satyajit
Ray, Artist working for an advertising
agency. Calcutta
(source:
page 78, Satyajit RAY: Childhood days.)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with Satyajit Ray)
New friend during the trouble
This is the time when K.G. Morshed, ICS, our next-door
neighbour, came to our rescue. He suggested that his two sons who were also at
St. Xavier’s should accompany us in the car taking us to school. The Muslims
wouldn’t dare intimidate us with the Morshed brothers acting as protectors. We
went to school regularly through the raging riots without ever being harmed.
The Morsheds became lifelong friends and we were
in constant touch with each other till we left for
Another Muslim boy who joined us at this period
from the neighbourhood was Abdul Khaleque. His uncle, Maulvi Mohammad Ameen,
lived in a red brick house with a character of its own, where we once had
kebabs sitting on the roof. Today the same building houses the
At this time, Hitty Banerjee from my brother’s
class added to our numbers. Another recruit to our group was Butu Das, also
from St. Xavier’s and capable of remarkable feats on the badminton court. All
of us used to assemble in the downstairs office room where we talked our heads
off and discussed plans for the future as if we were imbued with tremendous
foresight.
The Bilkul Bekaar Society came into existence
like this, reflecting our feelings and subdued aspirations. Our regular
sittings now acquired a respectable name. This was a time for day-dreaming and
building castles in the air. It was Kaiser Morshed whose eloquence made our
deliberations that much more exciting.
Ever so often we used to treat each other to
home-made delicacies. If the Morshed brothers and Khaleque brought biryani and
kebabs, we produced payesh or ice-cream and a variety of Bengali sweets
prepared with great care by my grandmother. All of us wore bow-ties and had
ourselves photographed in the garden before gorging ourselves on the succulent
fare.
How
self-sufficient our own world seemed, insulated from the wiles and cacophony of
the adult world, where children could be excited by the sound of their own
voices and express their feelings with gay abandon.
Samir
Mukerjee. Schoolboy. Calcutta
(source:
Samir Mukerjee: Keep the faith & the friends. The Telegraph: 31Oct2003)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Samir Mukerjee)
Mr Fritchley an epitome of Mr. Churchill
The earliest things I remember about school, was
when I was admitted by principal Fritchley whose strict discipline won appreciation
from one and all. We found him to be very amicable when he took our classes in
ethics. During the last years of school, World War II broke out with all its
uncertainties and Mr Fritchley struck as an epitome of Mr. Churchill, the
British Prime Minister, when he asked us to concentrate on our studies and to
be against all sorts of totalitarianism and rumour mongering.
S.V.
Mazumder, Pupil of Calcutta Boys
School , Calcutta
(source:
“Schooldays” Leaflet provenance currently
unknown)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with S.V. Mazumder)
There was complete amity between the
various communities
Those were the times when there was complete
amity between the various communities amongst whom we counted our friends. We
eagerly looked forward to sports, debates and year ending functions. Though many of us were not of the religion
of Christianity we eagerly looked forward to the chapel talks and tales of
distant lands given often by many foreign personages. The year ending functions gave an opportunity to bid farewell to
teachers, old and new, as well as to enjoy lime water and chocolate served by
the school.
S.V.
Mazumder, Pupil of Calcutta Boys
School , Calcutta
(source:
“Schooldays” Leaflet provenance currently
unknown)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with S.V. Mazumder)
We were trained to have a modest outlook to
life
Our motto was not to have prizes for our
performance in class and ports but rather to strive for the sanctity of study
and the glory of sports: so we were trained to have a modest outlook to life from
our early days.
S.V.
Mazumder, Pupil of Calcutta Boys
School , Calcutta
(source:
“Schooldays” Leaflet provenance currently
unknown)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with S.V. Mazumder)
Education was not so strenuous or expensive as today
Education was not so strenuous or expensive as
today. For study, we did not have to buy a single book, and the stress of
homework was not there as most of our lessons were accomplished in school by
class teachers.
S.V.
Mazumder, Pupil of Calcutta Boys
School , Calcutta
(source:
“Schooldays” Leaflet provenance currently
unknown)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with S.V. Mazumder)
The teachers I recollect
Amongst the teachers I recollect, was the aged
but elegant Mrs. Briant who gave our first lessons in Urdu, Miss Houseden our class
teacher in the final year, Mr. Nestor our teacher in Science and Mr. Sumption
our mathematic teacher. The latter two
were eminent hockey players and stewarded a team which made a mark at the
Calcutta Hockey League. Mr Newton
Fritchley and Mr. Hicks, who later was to be principal were our teachers who
left a marked impression on us by their novel; methods of teaching.
S.V.
Mazumder, Pupil of Calcutta Boys
School , Calcutta
(source:
“Schooldays” Leaflet provenance currently
unknown)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with S.V. Mazumder)
Beethoven’s sonatas and Sherlock Holmes I
associate in the staircases and alleys of the old building
Strangely, or perhaps not so, whenever I visit
the Alma Mater, along her paths I recollect the atomic theory whose first
inklings were received here. “The Door in the Wall” appears to have been just
behind the wall encircling the football field and Keats’ and Shelley’s poems
appear to relive in the garden where the new building stands. Beethoven’s
sonatas and Sherlock Holmes I associate in the staircases and alleys of the old
building. Those were the days which fill my mind with warmth and happiness and
the high moral values accrued are always a solace and guide in troubled times.
S.V.
Mazumder, Pupil of Calcutta Boys
School , Calcutta
(source:
“Schooldays” Leaflet provenance currently
unknown)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with S.V. Mazumder)
La Martiniere
The next school was
called La Martiniere. It was founded by a Major General Claude Martin who was a
soldier of fortune and had achieved many things and built many houses, living
under the colonial system. The story we were told was that he was crossed in
love and so never married, had no children and left all his money to found
three schools - one in France, one in Calcutta and one in Lucknow. However,
there have been many writings about him since which give more details of his
exceptional achievements by fair means or foul. The school was a large,
colonial type mansion and there were two schools, the boys on Loudon Street and
the girls on Rawdon Street, occupying the entire space between London Street
and what was Lower Circular Road - a distance of something like a mile if not a
hit more. The reason for this choice was that my Aunt herself had been to this
school and it boasted many famous people, Merle Oberon being not the least of
these.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Calcutta
(source:
page 41 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
I had been penalised throughout my career
at La Martiniere for being half and half
My vindication came when the results of the
Cambridge Exams proved that, I had been penalised throughout my career at La
Martiniere for being half and half because never did they let me come first on
occasions when it appeared that I would come first, marks used to be cut from
my papers for the most ridiculous things.
I was such a quiet girl that I never opened my
mouth, being too timid to say anything to anyone. The
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 48 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
I was I something
different because of my mixed blood
I was very subdued in
this school for many reasons. I had become very introverted and shy partly
because I found it very hard to cope with life outside my family. Within my
family I had been treated like a little princess. Once outside the family
circle I was I something different because of my mixed blood and the first
experiences which brought this home to me were pretty traumatic. It was not
simply that I was Anglo-Indian because there were many Anglo-Indians. It was
the peculiar nature of my circumstances because the usual Anglo-Indians lived
entirely in the style of the English. We were something in between because of
my Aunt's husband being a full-blooded Indian and a Muslim. Whilst she did not
ever change her religion and still went to Church, she insisted that she did not
want me to be known as Anglo-Indian.
Now with hindsight I realise what she meant but then, her method of denying
that I was Anglo-Indian only made the problem worse.
For example, in La
Martiniere my Aunt entered me under her surname rather than my own and her
surname being Indian and my Christian name being English and Christian this
posed a problem. Therefore any name was
put in a separate entry on the register. There were the Anglo-Indian girls who
all had Christian and English names at the top of the register, then a space,
then my name, then a space and then the Indian girls. I was also treated by the
girls themselves as neither fish nor fowl. The Anglo-Indians regarded me as
Indian and the Indians as Anglo-Indian and since neither side really mixed I found
myself in no man's land. To try to explain how this affected me would be
impossible in to-day's liberal world. One must remember that we were living
during the British Raj and immediately after when the same standards were still
prevalent. It is very hard for my children who have grown up in
It was very hard to
talk to anybody because nobody else had the sort of life that I had. My Aunt
being so devoted to her husband brought me in a sort of mixture of Victoriana
and Islamic strictures - like the fact that being female; I could not go out
alone unattended. I was not even allowed to wait at the bus stop without one of
my brothers standing beside me and it was only when they were completely
unavailable that I stood there on my own and then she stood there and watched
me from the balcony so that if anybody spoke to me it was quite obvious.
[…]
Whilst being conscious
of an innate desire to please her, I was also the victim of my dreadful shyness
and the my terrible insecurity in being different from everybody else.
In her defence perhaps
it can be argued that since she had never experienced an identity crisis, she
was unaware ofwhat this did to me. She was white - there was no doubt as to the nationality of her parents, her
upbringing had been entirely English and upper class.
Laving flouted the
conventions by marrying out of her community she plunged herself into being his wife and learning his customs and
probably had no inkling that the world was not a very charitable place for
children of such unions.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La Martiniere, Calcutta
(source:
page 41-42 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
The school year ran from January to
December
The school year ran from January to December and
our ages were put down as at 31 December. This was a little unfair to somebody
like me, born just 2 weeks before the end of the year. In actual fact I was
just 12 years and 3 weeks in January 1949 when my age was put as 13 years
although I did not complete 13 until after the school terms were over for the
year.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 48 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
"Anne Gidney's gone to Sydney."
I was so shy and introverted that I had been in
the school for six months before I even spoke to anybody apart from saying
"Good Morning" or answering when somebody spoke to me. The first
person to break through this shyness was a girl called Anne Gidney who must
have been the loudest girl in the school. She came up to me at break time one
day and said, "Everybody thinks you are stuck up because you do not speak
to anybody but I've decided I am going to speak to you." She became a
friend but unfortunately she left at the end of that school year and went to
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 48 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Cleopatra
On the first day of schooling 1949 - there were several
new girls, two of whom, Rosalind Griffiths and Rosemary Cleopatra Robinson
stand out in my mind.
Whilst we were waiting for our new form teacher
to appear and write out the register, the girls were all babbling excitedly about the holidays and what they were
doing, etc. Rosemary, her hair cut in straight
bangs like Claudette Colbert - started a trend by saying "I bet nobody can
guess my middle name." A chorus of "What does it start with?"
elicited the reply "C". I-trying to think of the most outrageous
thing and with a flash of the clairvoyance with which I have been blessed -
whispered "Cleopatra". There was a stunned silence and she said
"How on earth did you know?" I was overcome by shyness because
everybody was looking at me and wished I'd kept my mouth shut. I stammered
something like "It just came to me."
Rosemary said, "Well - aren't you the
clever one?" Then she said, "I think school is excessively boring and
I bags the last place in class." A murmur of shocked admiration rippled
through the girls who thought she was very brave and sophisticated to talk like
that in an age when one had to appear to do one's best and passing one's exams
was all important, Especially for us - the colonials created by the British Raj
who had to somehow prove ourselves to both sides.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 49 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
She was the reason I did not come first in
class that year
Rosalind I remember for an entirely different
reason. She was the reason I did not come first in class that year. When -
after the exams we were being handed our papers to see the corrections - whilst
we were awaiting our turns, she (her seat was in front of mine) turned to me
and whispered, "Do you want to see frog's skin?
I did not answer and she turned her arm with her
palm facing upwards and with her other hand formed a circle with her thumb and
forefinger on the skin other lower arm, so that it puckered. I still said
nothing but looked down and did the same on my arm and was amazed to hear Mrs
Clarke - the teacher giving out the papers bellowing - Five marks off your paper young lady" and even more amazed
to realise it was my paper she took the marks off-I had not spoken at all-
Rosalind was not penalised. She was fair skinned and blue eyed with blonde hair
and too stupid to pass anything but not a word was said to her.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 49 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
her older sister had been widowed at 23
Also in our class were two Bengali sisters,
Anita and Sabita- who lived just outside the school gates. One day Sabita told
the girls that her older sister had been widowed at 23 and that she had three
children. In Hindu society a widow cannot remarry but many used to commit
Suttee (burning themselves on their band's funeral pyre). Those who lived had
to shave their heads Wear white cotton saris for the rest of their lives and
live like a servant in the house of their husband's family. I, being the
innocent that I was, when I heard that this girl had three children, murmured
"Yes, and she can have more."
There was a shocked silence among the girls. I
did not know what I had said wrong. I thought one got married and then children
just happened. I did not realise there had to be both parties to the marriage
to achieve this. Sahita, looking at my face, realised that I had said it in all
innocence and patted my hand and said, "Yes dear, of course she can."
The rest of the girls started to laugh and I
blushed and withdrew into myself again.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 49 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Mrs Simpson, a very Scottish lady with a
pronounced Scottish accent
Our form teacher that year was Mrs Simpson, a
very Scottish lady with a pronounced Scottish accent. We had a girl called
Merryl and one called Merle and when she said the names they sounded exactly
die same, "Merrryl". Out of devilment they would both stand up and
she'd say, "Not you Merrryl, Merrryl" and they's play a little
pantomime of not knowing whom she meant.
The funniest thing that year was when we were
given homework for the holidays. We had to learn any two verses of The Lady of
Shallot. Merle, who could not be bothered with school work and was more
interested in boys, said "Well, I will leam the first two verses because
then I don't have to bother with the rest."
She used to sit on the window sill rearing these
two verses in a caricature of Mrs Simpson's accent, "On either side the
rriverrrr lie, long fields of barrrrley and of rrrrye—"and she got into
such a habit that it was like a trigger switch. Mention the Lady of Shallot!
and Merle would launch into her Scottish version. The first day after the
holidays, her name being at the top of the register since her surname began
with A, Mrs Simpson said, "Merrryl A-Repeat: the two verses you have
learrrned and give me the rrreason for your choice."
Without hesitation, Merle launched into "On
eitherrr side the rrriver lie..." and the look on Mrs Simpson's face was
priceless! It was as if she had been petrified. Merle had us ail choking with
suppressed laughter until she suddenly realised what she had done and stopped
in mid flow, her voice tailing off and her mouth remaining open.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La
Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 50 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
"I am going to take you under my
wing"
Rosemary, as I said, was very extrovert and was
completely the opposite of me. She did the same thing as Anne Gidney and said,
"I am going to take you under my wing". She used to bully me awfully,
but I thought she was wonderful. She was so brave and would say things to the
teacher and answerback, which I never would do. She gained my friend until she
left
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La
Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 50-51 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Maths teachers
Mrs Simpson left in the middle of that year and
so did Mrs Stevens who had been our Maths teacher and who was as tall as she
was broad. I had a habit of working through all my textbooks at the beginning
of the year and then storing it in my memory and did not need to do much
swatting. I therefore was far ahead of the class in Maths having worked through
the entire hooks. As soon as Mrs Stevens discovered this, she used to tell me
to explain the lessons to the class and she sat quietly in the chair whilst I
went through the lessons. I suppose really, she did me a favour because there
is no surer way of remembering methods than having to explain them to other
people. She too left and then our Maths teacher was Mrs Fitzgerald who had been
working in the boy's school with her husband. She was young and good looking.
We used to call her Esther Williams because she looked like her and she was a
wonderful Maths teacher. She was the one lady - apart from the head mistress
who was always so kind to me. After I left school she met a friend of mine and
he told me she had been singing my praises, I met her - quite by chance, many,
many years later - in MFI in
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La
Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 51 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
"Let's have the Maharanee of
Bong"
Mrs Clarke replaced Mrs Simpson as the English
Teacher and also taught us Geography when the geography teacher also left.
Whilst I think she was a good teacher - she terrorised us – me especially. She
was - at least she seemed to me to be enormous but I don't think she was that
tall. She was just a large lady all round and she had the most enormous buck
teeth I had ever seen (Shades of my Aunty Kathleen perhaps). She had very cold
blue eyes and she would fix you with a steely stare. She had a terrible habit
of reducing me to an absolute pulp by saying things like "Now we will have
Mama's little darling." Or"Let's have the Maharanee of Bong" and
the whole class would laugh at my blushes and it was absolutely awful and so 1
don't think my results were as good as they would have been had I ' not had to
cope with this sort of goading - if you like - or perhaps you would call it
discrimination.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La
Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 51 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
He stopped paying my school bills
He stopped paying my school bills and I was then
in the Remove Form. Prior to being called the 0 Levels, we had a Junior School
Certificate and then Senior School Certificate. Letters came saying I would
have to leave if the bills were not paid but the Headmistress also said it
would be a shame to cut off a promising academic career so she arranged for
part of my bills to be paid on what was called the Foundation Scheme whereby
pupils availed themselves of the Foundationers Fund to pay their bills and then
when they made good, helped some other child to complete their education. I
also won two scholarships and did knitting orders to make up the money.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La
Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 45 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Well I want everybody to hear"
Then in 1951 - the night before my Cambridge
Exams Wahid started to get very stroppy with me and when I answered him back he
started to slap me across the face. He wouldn't stop slapping me and every time
he slapped me I screamed and he said; "Shut up. We don't want the whole
mansion to hear."
And I said, "Well I want everybody to
hear" and kept screaming until he left me alone. Maybe he thought I'd fail
my exams but that didn’t happen.
When he attacked me, I was terrified. In my
innocence, 1 did not really understand what a Harem meant except that it was a
collection of women dominated by one man. I felt if I let him see I was afraid,
I would be lost and have to live like my two older sisters. So I braved out -
something which taught me a lesson for the rest of my life. If one stands up to
bullies, they generally back down.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. La
Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta
(source:
page 45 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
I had what was called then a nervous
breakdown
I stayed on another year for the HSC (Higher
School Certificate) which is now called A Levels and we did five subjects. There
were four girls in the class. There were five actually but one hardly ever
turned up so there was just the four of us and we did have a lot of fun. We did
a lot of study on our own and we had a lot of free time and it was a happy year
but at the end of that year, I had what was called then a nervous breakdown.
One day in class the; teacher (a new lady called Mrs Bob) was shouting at me.
Her lips were moving but I could not hear a word she said and could not for the
life of me answer. I was sent. up to the headmistress - a very English lady
called Miss King (MA Oxon) - who always dressed in tweed skirts and twin sets
with a single strand of pearls and brown brogues and thick stockings. She said,
"Well
1 answered, "I don't know. I just couldn't
hear anything she said. I could see her tips moving and she thought I was being
rude and offering what she called 'dumb insolence' but I honestly couldn't
answer her."
So the school doctor - Miss Calvert-Brown - had
a look at me and decided I'd done too many public examinations much too quickly
because there had been the Junior Cambridge in one year and the Senior
Cambridge (normally a two year course) in one year and now I was attempting the
HSC in one year. I was three years below the average age of the class, and
whilst quite capable of passing the exam - this combined with the sort of
pressure under which I was living at home was just too much.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian secretary. Calcutta
(source:
page 51-52 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Occupational Education
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
Government Commercial Institute
Lower down is Old Post Office Street, almost
wholly occupied by lawyers' offices; facing Old Post Office Street is Church Lane
and at No, 11, Hastings Street the Government Commercial Institute.
This Institute is controlled by a Board
of Management on which the influential section of the mercantile community is
fairly represented. It conducts Day and
Evening classes and there are special arrangements for classes in connection
with the training of students for the examinations of the London Institute of
Bankers, and those held for the recruitment to the Railway Accounts
Service. The institute follows courses
of study carefully prepared under the guidance of the Board, affiliates other
commercial institutions in the province, holds its own examinations and grants
its own Diplomas.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
page 24 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
U.S. ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE
Take A Look Ahead.
One of these days, you are going to be "Joe
Civilian" instead of "G.I. Joe." (Is that bad? Ha!) Seriously
though, how about taking a gander at that future of yours? It will pay. The
purpose of the institute is to provide educational opportunities for personnel
of the United States Armed Forces. Information and assistance in planning
off-duty education can be secured by writing, or visiting, the CBI Branch,
which is located at 6 Draper Lane, directly in back of 12 Government Place East
(the British-American Club), and within two blocks of the Great Eastern Hotel.
(source: “The Calcutta Key” Services of Supply
Base Section Two Division, Information and education Branch, United States Army
Forces in India - Burma, 1945: at:
http://cbi-theater-12.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-12/calcuttakey/calcutta_key.html)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
_____Memories
of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
The Army Ordnance Training Corps
Meanwhile, the war meant that his boys were
learning useful jobs. 'One good thing,' Father D. wrote, 'has come out of the
war. It has been possible to get no less than eight big fellows, who have been
wholly dependent on us since their babyhood, into the Army Ordnance Training
Corps. Centres for enrolment have been opened in various places, from which
accepted candidates are sent to technical schools under Government control all
over
And then he adds something of the intensest
import when we remember divided, caste-ridden
'The powers that be' held on to Behala, and the
'profiteering' continued. 'Orphans who have been at the Army Training Schools
and are now with units turn up from time to time on leave for a few days.' The
eight had now risen to twenty-one. 'They come back looking so fit and well, men
instead of boys, and happy, smart, and. well mannered. They are getting
magnificent pay and most of them are saving.'
Friends
of Father Douglass, Missionaries and Charity workers in Behala, Calcutta
(Source:
Father Douglas of Behala. London , 1952 /
Reproduced by courtesy of Oxford
University
The compound after the war
While Behala was still commandeered, Douglass himself
was put in charge, but the Forces reserved the right to return at any moment.
Happily they did not return, and eventually Behala was handed, back to the
Oxford Mission, and the R.A.F. huts were gathered together in a neighbouring
field and put to a very different use for the training of another kind of
'sky-pilot'. They became a training school for Indian clergy.
Friends
of Father Douglass, Missionaries and Charity workers in Behala, Calcutta
(Source:
Father Douglas of Behala. London , 1952 / Reproduced
by courtesy of Oxford
University
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In
Boarding School up-country
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
_____Memories
of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
All exams in duplicate
I was 9 years old when WW2 started. Born and
brought up in
As children, we were not affected by the
European war. We spent nine months in schools (3 March - 3 December) then
returned to our homes in the plains for three months. I sat the Junior
Cambridge Examination in 1944. Our papers were shipped to
Edith Rosemary
Ingels (nee La Rivierre),schoolgirl, Calcutta
(source: A4390283 The Incident of the Bird's
Survival at BBC WW2 People's
War' on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/ Oct 2006)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
The school year
in the hill stations
The school year in the
hill stations ran from early March until mid November with a three month break
during the worst of the winter when the snow made roads impassible and the
danger of avalanches was something very real.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 39 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
St Francis de
Sales in Nagpur
Dominic and Barney were
sent to a boarding school, St Francis de Sales in
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Ranchi
(source:
page 25 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
… tea and cakes with Jim Corbett
As regards meeting famous people during that
time ; while schooling at
Kenneth
Miln, son of a ‘jute wallah’. Jagatdal/Calcutta, 1945-49
(source: Letter sent to us by Mr Kenneth Miln himself, July 2006/
Reproduced by courtesy of Kenneth Miln)
I went to boarding school in Shillong &
Simla
Being of school age, in March 1941 I went to
boarding school in
In the meantime, my mother had been evacuated
from
We were six days and five nights altogether on
the train. Troops were travelling eastwards towards the front line and our
train kept being put into sidings to let their trains move on - hence the
length of the journey. Trains in
I hated the school in Simla. Since we were all
caught up in the emergency, we had to sleep on camp cots in a large dormitory
and the sanitation was very basic. It was wonderful when December came along
and we left Simla. On our way we stopped off in
Mary Anderson
(nee Hezmalhalch), schoolgirl, Shilong, Calcutta
(source: A2640601 A Schoolgirl’s War in the
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
St. Michael's
Diocesan School for girls in Darjeeling
Accordingly, in
keeping with all my Aunt's actions, prospects were obtained from the best
boarding schools for girls - in the Hills of course, where all the upper class
people sent their children. The eventual choice was St. Michael's
Unfortunately for me
this was 1947 and the year of
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 29-30 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Settling into
School
I was homesick for the
first week and then settled in and enjoyed my time there. At first I was
subjected to bullying as most new pupils in Boarding Schools are. There was a
girl, two years my senior - Pamela Ridquist. She was a great ugly thing and did
things like swapping my new school tie for her tatty old one, locking me in the
dressing room in the morning so that I missed breakfast (my appetite was
legendary) and eventually one Saturday in the playground she pulled my plaits.
I had very long hair - down to my hips and it was in two braids as was the
custom. I have always hated anybody pulling my hair and I went beserk. I caught
her by one arm and one leg and swung her round and round like a rag doll
although she was much bigger than me. She left me alone after that!
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 29-30 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Of the girls in
my form, IIIa I remember a few.
Of the girls in my
form, IIIa I remember a few. There was Barbara Smith who was one of the best
dancers in the school and starred in our production of Alice Blue Gown for
which she was rather well suited since her very blue eyes were enhanced by the
blue gown. Then there was Annette Apcar
who was also a wonderful ballet dancer and loved horses. Although only a very
tiny girl she could control the largest mounts with the greatest of ease. There
was Doreen Leong, Anglo-Chinese who was a particular friend of mine along with
Doreen and Jean Woodhouse (sisters) and Cynthia Marshall whose angelic blue
eyes and curly golden hair made her look like a cherub. There was also my
special friend, Christine Coxhead from Hertfordshire who had only been in
I kept in touch with a
lot of them for some years after we all dispersed because of the closure of the
school. My last link was with Cynthia Marshall but then in about 1951. 1 lost
touch with her when she emigrated from
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 29-30 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
On the way to
school
I was due to start
school on March 6 (my father's birthday) and the school party caught the train
on March 5. Aunty Dolly went with me to
On the fifth March
they saw me off at Howrah Station. While we were waiting for the train. Sister Margaret
Monica who was the Head Mistress came and introduced me to Christine Coxhead
who was very new to India and feeling a little lost and homesick. Sister asked
me to look after her since I knew
Aunty Dolly was very
tearful when the train started to move away. I was her little ewe lamb and she
hated parting with me but felt she was doing it for my own good as indeed it
was and I have great memories of my year at St. Michaels, there was no way of
knowing that it would be the last time I laid eyes on Uncle Hamid until 1976
which was almost thirty years later.
We travelled up to
Ghoom on the big train and my packed lunch of lamb chops lay uneaten in my lap.
I was a little bewildered by my first taste of the open world without any of my
family around. I sat watching all the girls busy chatting. At Ghoom we had to
leave the big train and get on what we called the "Toy Train" since
it was so much smaller. We then went on to
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 31-32 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
The toy train
At Ghoom we had to
leave the big train and get on what we called the "Toy Train" since
it was so much smaller. We then went on to
The
The windows on the
train were rather like sash windows and could be slid down so that one could
lean out and look down the mountainside. The railwayline was like a thin ribbon
running round the mountain and the drop when I looked out of the window was
sheer and seemed bottomless. We looped the loop all the way up and the sheer
size of the mountains dominated the landscape making everything else seem
insignificant in comparison.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 32 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Food in School
I found myself sitting
on my bed in my dormitory - listening to all the chatter around. My form was
IIIA and the only other girl in the school with hair as long as mine was Nancy
Breeze who was in form IVA. The funny thing was that we had the biggest
appetites in the school. My appetite had not even been normal until I went to
Aunty Dolly made special
arrangements for me to have an egg every morning as well as extra milk. I,
never having been too fond of those, used to swap my egg for bread with the
other girls and somehow used to end up with a pile of bread and butter on my
plate. Since we only had fifteen minutes for breakfast this had the effect of
making me the fastest eater in the school since I was determined not to leave
any. The girls did not like the school butter because it was unsalted but since
I was used to home-made butter which was unsalted I have always liked unsalted
butter and so this did not bother me.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 32-33 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Scripture lessons
Sister Angela Felicity
- the deputy Head Mistress was our scripture teacher and taught me a great deal
about the Bible. I had of course, already read it from one cover to the other since,
as I said, I was a voracious reader but she used to make us learn passages by
heart and give us exhaustive comprehension lessons. Since my memory was
photographic - something I did not realise but just took for granted - learning
by heart was a doddle for me and I could repeat whole passages word perfect,
with fullstops, commas, the lot.
This made me Sister
Angela's pet and so I served at the Sunday services and was sometimes
candlebearer, sometimes boatboy. It was very high church and I have always loved
that form of service. It seems to hold so much more mysticism and I find it
uplifting and very soothing in times of trouble as well as enjoyable in times
of happiness.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 33 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian Tale:
The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Our school was
closed down
Unfortunately for me
this was 1947 and the year of
[…]
I loved my school and
would have been happy to have stayed there for the rest of my school career but
the Indian Government had other ideas- In the wake of Independence there was
the Quit India movement and a wave of hatred for all things which symbolised
the British Empire. Our school being one of these, it was closed down at the
end of 1947 and that was the end of that.
Elizabeth
James (nee Shah), AngloIndian schoolgirl. Darjeeling
(source:
page 30 & 33 Elizabeth James: An Anglo Indian
Tale: The Betrayal of Innocence. Delhi
Settling into School
My father was in the Army in
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Collecting cards
At the end
of that first year at school, Miss Simmons gave all of us a book with spaces to
stick coloured cards of animals that came with bars of Cadbury chocolate. At the
start of my second year, I brought back a dozen bars, and then found that the
picture cards had been discontinued. Nice chocolate, though!
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The Commercial Block
The
Commercial block was its own entity. Two class rooms, and a small dining space
at the foot of the stairs, and a dormitory above. We had our own playing flat
behind and slightly up the hill.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
We were much in awe of The Big School
We were much
in awe of The Big School at the other end of the Top Flat. The only time we saw
anything of it was when
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Left with a “traitor’s knife”
Well into
that first year we were told that “we” were at war. “Who with?” was our response. “
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Most of this group were big city smoothies
And so my
first year at
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Mrs. Clarke, who took all the classes in
Art lessons
Our class
teacher in Standard Three was Mrs. Clarke, who took all the classes in Art
lessons. A talented artist in her own right, she tried hard to get us to
persuade parents to send extra art materials. We wrote letters home every
Saturday, and the format was displayed on the blackboard. “Dear Dad and Mum…
Thanks…Ask”. I knew that my parents couldn’t afford these luxuries, so I used
to leave the requests out. Later in
the war, Mrs. Clarke made pastel portraits of soldiers from different regions
of
John Gardiner,
boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The building was struck by lightning
All the school
buildings faced west across the wide valley. Our classroom was at the extreme
south end of the main block, a rather dark area, as it was shadowed by the
block that included the armoury and the flat allocated to Padre Elliot. In the long wet months of the monsoon, our
usual play area was the concrete floor of the verandah at that end of the
building. The start of the monsoon was usually announced by spectacular
electrical storms. On a particular
stormy day, the wall of the building was struck by lightning, and this knocked
everyone off their feet. There was a strong smell of sulphur, and for many
years later, the outer wall was stained a dark yellow.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
“Gooli Dunda”
Weekday
evenings were taken up by official team games, and the pattern followed the
climate. Cricket at the beginning of the year, football as soon as the monsoon
arrived and hockey towards the end of the year. In addition there were the games we played to amuse ourselves at
the weekends. These included marbles, tops and more energetic pastimes like
“Seven Tiles”, “French Cricket” and “Gooli Dunda”. This one was declared
dangerous every year, but a year later, it would be back. We never discovered
who decided when it was time to switch to a new craze. But continuing with
marbles when the rest of the school had switched to Seven Tiles risked being
labelled “Non Trendy”.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
"Toady" Nugent
For most
of the time I was there, the school was led by "Toady" Nugent. He was
Irish, and when he got excited (which was often), he was very hard to
understand. The year I took the Senior Cambridge examination, Mr. Nugent
decided that he would do the reading for our Dictation test. The text included
a phrase that went "the cows were chewing the cud"… most of us wrote
"khud", we were sure that's what he said, and that spelling was the
more familiar.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Any body, caught spreading rumours about
Japanese planes over Calcutta, will be severely flogged in public."
In 1942,
most of
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
A public flogging
A public flogging,
administered on the stage at the north end of the assembly hall was the
ultimate threat. On the few occasions that the punishment was carried out, the
victim was marched up by the master on duty, then Toady would appear from his
office and the charge was read to the whole school.
A chair
would be positioned and Toady set about the task with enthusiasm. Legend had it
that most of the recipients were not too distressed. At the end, Toady would
reel back, struggling for breath, gasping, “There! Let that be a lesson to
you.”
In one of
our trips to the Plaza cinema, we saw the Charles Laughton version of “The
Mutiny on the Bounty”. The scene that impressed the entire school was the
flogging of a crew member. Half way through the number of lashes, the ship’s
doctor stepped forward and after a brief inspection, announced “Captain, this
man is dead”.
“Continue
the punishment!” roared Captain Bligh. We were impressed. Now that was the way
a flogging should be carried out!
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Some of our Teachers
I remember
Rev. Elliot and Rev. Solomon, both of whom made the front room of the padre’s
accommodation above the Armoury available to anyone who wanted to play
Draughts, Ludo, Caroms. There was a selection of magazine to read.. My
understanding of campaigns of World War 2 is still based on "Picture
Post" of those days..
Mr. Prins taught
us History, and a selected few were allowed to study Latin. The dunderheads had
to do Hindi. His favourite response to our answers to his questions was
"full of sound and fury, signifying nothing".
Mr. Doyle
was a great storyteller, and we soon found we could easily divert him from the
lesson plan. "Please Sir, what can you tell us about ..."
Mr. Ferris
taught us Geography, and brightened up the lessons by telling us about his
relatives, and there was always one in the particular corner of the globe under
discussion. "My cousin in Manaos…".
But he could play the bugle, and had kept goal for the
Mr. Oliver
was a brilliant teacher in Mathematics and Science, and owned a range of
chalk-striped suits, and was shorter than everyone in the class. He also taught
us the rudiments of
Dinner
always started with Grace being said, and any announcements were made by the
teacher in charge before we were told to sit. The whole school waited with
bated breath for the reaction, but after a whole minute of silence, Mr. Oliver
told us to be seated. As far as I know, he never mentioned the incident to the
perpetrator.
After
finding some photographs on the VADHA web site, I found I was able to recall
Mr. Price, who taught us Mathematics. On the day our class was introduced to
the mysteries of Logarithms, Mr. Price handed out the tables, and then launched
into the explanation of characteristics and mantissa. Fifteen minutes later,
someone at the back of the class was brave enough to put a hand up.
"Excuse me, Sir, do we have to learn these tables by heart?" Mr.
Price was a great believer in questions from previous exam papers. He would cover
blackboard after blackboard with that neat hand of his, and as he was
ambidextrous, he never stopped writing!
Although
"Toady" Nugent was Headmaster for most of my time, I can recall a Mr.
Clarke, married to the very talented Art teacher. They used to invite pairs of
boys to tea on Sunday, I presume it was an early chance for us to hone our
conversational skills, but as soon as the lucky pair got back, the rest of us
wanted to know which kind of cakes had been served. The Clarke's had two
daughters; the younger could climb trees better than all of us. To a small boy,
that is a positive attribute.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Mr. Hill and his short plank
Mr. Hill
taught Carpentry, we all called it "Manual". Every lesson ended with
us arranged around him in a circle. Armed with a 12 inch length of wood, he
would fire questions at us (in Spanish Inquisition style), "What’s the
half of one and seven eighths"? The slightest delay brought a crack on the
head with the piece of wood. Later he went off to war, and we sympathized with
any Japanese soldier that came within range of his short plank.
Mr. Hill looked
after the Scout troop at one stage, and mundane skills like knot tying and
bandaging imaginary wounds with your scarf were forgotten. Each Wednesday
evening, the troop would be divided into two sections, to play "Capture
the Standard". The team captains would decide on the numbers of attackers
and defenders, and we spend the next two hours locked in mortal combat, trying
to capture their flag while protecting our own. Scout troop members were easily
identified by their black eyes and fat lips. For light relief, there was always
"British Bulldog", and "Bokbok", two other blood sports.
Surely some of us must have breezed through selection for the SAS? I can
remember Mr. Hill's method of improving the fielding ability of the school cricket
team. They would be spread out on the Bottom Flat, while he stood near the Top
Flat wall with a bat and a box full of old cricket balls. Each ball would be
driven high into the air, any successful catches brought a small money prize.
The injured would be led away quietly.
Another of
his responsibilities was the organizing of the mob sent out to re-capture
anyone silly enough to run away from school. Once an absentee was noticed, they
would set off in hot pursuit towards Kurseong Railway station. They were known
as "Hill's Bloodhounds". I
could never see the point of running away, I was sure that neither of my
parents would approve, then send me back, to face the public canning,
administered by the Headmaster on the stage of the Assembly Hall.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Training with the Cadets
On one
occasion after day-dreaming in class, Verny ordered me to join the Cadets,
which delighted me. As an Army brat, I knew all the correct moves in foot and
arms drill years before that day .We used to practice platoon attacks on the
Upper Flat, later this was polished in the woods around the school. I can recall afternoons on range, waiting
for the mist to clear and reveal the targets. The highlight of my time in the
Cadets was a camp in
Green Plain
at the South end of Top Flat was in bounds, in the centre there were 3 heavy
wooden posts, used to support straw filled sacks for the Cadets’ bayonet
practice. We once left a prisoner tied to a post, so he missed supper.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Dealing with runaways
Another of
his [Mr. Hills] responsibilities was the organizing of the mob sent out to re-capture
anyone silly enough to run away from school. Once an absentee was noticed, they
would set off in hot pursuit towards Kurseong Railway station. They were known
as "Hill's Bloodhounds". I
could never see the point of running away, I was sure that neither of my
parents would approve, then send me back, to face the public canning,
administered by the Headmaster on the stage of the Assembly Hall.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Hindi Exams
The only
language options for the Senior Cambridge examinations were Latin and Hindi.
Selection was simple, Mr. Prins decided which ones were clever enough to tackle
Latin, and then all the remaining dunderheads had to do Hindi. I was well aware
that my parents and I would be leaving
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow hill
Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The small man who had the unenvied task of
teaching us Hindi
For many
years, a small man who lived in fear of the Headmaster took our Hindi lessons.
We soon discovered that he prepared his own medicine, and it was easy to
convince him that we were in need of his help. The cure to whatever exotic
complaint we could think up was always the same, tiny pills made from sugar.
Our class thug, P……, had pockets full, which he used to stir into his tea.
There is
still a feeling of guilt over the way we… and I am sure our class were not the
only ones guilty… treated the small man who had the unenvied task of teaching
us Hindi. When we were in the Junior Cambridge class, our room was directly
opposite the office of the Head Master, the infamous Toady Nugent.
Our Hindi
tutor was petrified of the Head, and had obviously been told of the importance
of keeping discipline during the lessons. As soon as the lesson was under way,
the teacher would be lured to a desk at the front of the class and that was the
signal for the shortest boy in the class to disappear through an opening that
led to the space under the stepped platform. He would worm his way to the
front, and then drum his toes on the boards.
This was the signal for the class to go into
their routine.
“Rats! Rats, sir, under the floor! If we
don’t kill them, we will get bitten and all die of plague.”
The poor man’s face would go grey with
worry. “Please boys, don’t make mischief. Otherwise Head Master will come and
shout at me, again.”
Our Hindi – English reader contained a
series of stories to be translated, and one followed a strange tale that
concerned an elephant and a mouse. The teacher tried desperately to avoid the
story, but we pointed out that if we didn’t learn to translate all the stories
we would have little chance of getting through our
And so the poor man, knowing very well the
ambush that awaited him, would start into the story.
“One day an elephant was asleep in the
forest. A mouse ran out of his hole.”
Total bedlam. “Please, Sir, didn’t the
elephant know the mouse was in there? How long had he been in there, Sir? So were these two very close friends, Sir?”
More pleas from the poor man, his eyes
locked on the door that faced Toady’s office.
John Gardiner,
boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The altitude of the Head Master's tennis
court
Another fragment
of useless information… the altitude of the Head Master's tennis court was
exactly 6000 feet.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Some Classmates
The class
that I moved through the school with included Bul Bul and Puss Puss Carapiet,
both hockey stars and difficult to tackle because they were left handed. […]
Stanley Prins was one of two chosen to take Latin, but as a dayboy, he was
considered different to the rest of us.
Bisset was the class budding artist; the margins of every exercise book
he owned were crammed with detailed sketches of German soldiers, trucks and
tanks. Guzda came from
The class
included a Burmese boy, James Htaw, and for a brief while, two Chinese
brothers. They seemed to carry large sums of Chinese National currency and came
equipped with Parker fountain pens and wore very smart jackets.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
"Go back to your desk, you dance-hall
tick!"
Mordecai Cowen,
added two phrases to our language.. "He hit the hammer right on the
head" and "Don’t take my comic to church, the padre will confirm it
(I think he meant confiscate)". Mordecai was very keen on the music of the
day, and he wrote the words of all the current songs into a spare exercise
book. This meant long hours by the radio or wind-up gramophone, scribbling the
words onto scrap paper. During one of Mr. Oliver's classes, Mordecai was
transposing his latest song into his fair songbook, when "Oly" realized
that he had lost the attention of at least one of the class. He called Mordecai
out to the front and studied the carefully written contents. I forget the
punishment, but his final order is still clear. "Go back to your desk, you
dance-hall tick!"
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Irvine Clarke
Irvine
Clarke, whose sister had the distinction of being Dow Hill’s tallest girl […]
came from Jubulpur, and at one stage I lived only 6 miles away at Monghyr. His
father was on the committee of the Railway Institute, and looked after the
selection of the films to be shown on Saturday evenings. This meant that
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
a lot of people were nervous about air
raids
In early
1942, with
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Tobogganing
That same
year, the school and district was hit by a violent storm. Many of the huge
cryptomaria trees that lined both Top and Bottom Flats came crashing down. Our
compensation was the discovery that long sections of their thick bark could be
used as toboggans on the steep grass slope down to Bottom Flat.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Standard 6 provided the bell ringers
It was a school
tradition that Standard 6 provided the bell ringers to mark the important
moments in the day; "Start of Period One", "End of Games",
"Prep" and "Dinner". As the bell was on the veranda of the
dining hall, dinner was the shortest bell signal, allowing the official could
get to his table first and switch plates with someone else.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
King Solomon and hungry boarders
At least
once a week, dinner was meat and veg. under a pastry lid, and although the
topping was sliced to an accuracy of a millimetre, that didn't prevent the
criminals undermining with their spoon, so that the last to get the dish found
very little under his pastry. Finally a system developed where the server
divided the pie on to the ten plates, and he was the last to choose. King
Solomon and hungry boarders were equally wise.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The prefects’ perks
In the
dining hall we were arranged by classes, the Senior Cambridge nearest the top
end, then two lines of tables of ten, all the way down to Standard Three, near
the doors to the kitchen. The Prefects (aka The Oppressors) had their own table
on a raised platform, and among their perks was toast instead of bread at
breakfast, and newspapers to read. It was a constant criticism from the masses
that our un-elected leaders always read the sports pages before the headlines
on page one. Our point was that we were in he middle of World War Two, and we
felt the happenings in
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
"Egg OK!"
At Easter,
we had boiled eggs, dyed a pale purple. I think we had an egg for breakfast
most days, and the freshness was occasionally suspect. If you were not happy,
it was in order to take your egg to the kitchen where you would hold up the
plate for inspection by the head bearer. Silas would reel back, steady him
against a table, then declare "Egg OK!" If you were insistent, you
returned to your place and minutes later, he would deliver a scrambled egg. The
same one, of course. To this day, I will never order scrambled eggs in
restaurants and hotels.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The Run to "Jesus Rock"
It was a
school tradition that the classes staying on after the end of term to do Junior
and Senior Cambridge examinations would see the rest of the school off from
Kurseong station. The fit ones would run with the Toy Train as far as they
could, the minimum acceptable distance was as far as "Jesus Rock".
This was a huge monolith on the outer edge of the road where it turned away
behind the ridge, out of sight from Kurseong. The rock appeared to show a line
of text on a vertical face from some 20 metres away. Walk closer and the
letters disappeared. Soon after Jesus Rock there was a near vertical path down
the "khud", a chance to catch the train up as it traversed the same
ridge lower down. It took hours to get back to school again.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
“out of bounds”
In my day,
there were parts of the school that were “out of bounds”, and this was
explained to all of us very soon after our arrival. I suppose some of it made
sense… as soon as we were dressed for the day, the dormitories became “no go”
areas.
The area behind the Assembly Hall was
totally out of bounds, why I have no idea, even after the Roman Catholic chapel
was built and put into use.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Our dormitory matron
In my second year, I was allocated a bed in
one of the dormitories at the south end of the school. Our dormitory matron was a Mrs. Heywood,
who insisted that every boy passed her inspection before being allowed down the
stairs. Those with uncombed hair and un-polished shoes were sent back to
smarten themselves up. I found a way past this formality by climbing out the
window, slide down the roof of the verandah, and then use a drainpipe to reach
the ground. This worked until a Monday
morning, when she noticed me collecting clothes from the locker room, when I
was questioned as to why I was in her dormitory area. She couldn’t recollect
seeing me before. More cross examination!
The lady’s husband used to take our morning
Physical Training sessions on the Bottom Flat. Very occasionally he would
demonstrate the next exercise… and to our delight, we discovered that he wore
his trousers over his pyjamas.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The accident in the gym
The school gymnasium came into its own as soon
as the monsoon arrived. When not in use, the doors were locked. But those in
the know had their own way in… through a narrow gap between wall and eaves of
the roof. This allowed those proud owners of roller skates to play our version
of Ice Hockey… the puck was a Cherry Blossom shoe polish tin filled with sand.
On one occasion four of us made a swing from
a broom handle slid through the Roman Rings that hung from a roof member. The
one enjoying the ride changed his mind as we pushed him higher on each swing,
and dismounted. There was an ominous crack, followed by a scream of agony… one
of his gumboots took on a frightening shape.
The rest of us went out over the wall in
seconds and fled to the other end of the school. After thinking the situation over,
we agreed that the victim could not be left until the next formal use of the
gym, so a junior was that he was wanted in the “Day Bogs”. He heard the
clamour, told a teacher and the wounded one was rescued.
To his eternal fame, and our relief, he told
the master that found him that he had broken into the gym on his own. After
several weeks in the hospital and a leg cast, he returned in triumph. It was
agreed that the three who abandoned him to his fate would hand over some of our
four annas worth of goodies from the tuck shop for several weeks.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The Head Master actually obliterating VSK
history
The wall
at the south end of the gym had hundreds of names scratched into the green moss
that covered the grey stones. Then suddenly this became illegal, and all the
names were cleaned off. Some of these were dated as far back as the 20’s, to us
this was a terrible crime, the Head Master actually obliterating VSK history.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Schoolboys and the Animal Kingdom
The
covered walk past the gym towards the Day Bogs was supported by heavy timber
uprights and horizontal rails and for some reason these spaces were favourite
sites for large spiders to spin their webs. This allowed us two diversions. One
was to bend the top of a supple twig into a loop, then collect webs over the
loop, until it became a miniature tennis racquet that could be used to bounce a
small pebble. In the second one, moving a spider to the next web left both
creatures believing their patch had been invaded by the other.
Beetles were also collected, and tradition
demanded that anyone brave enough to take a bite on a finger became the new
owner of that particular beast. Stag beetles bites were considered “easy”… one
from a rhino was a more serious undertaking, especially when the present owner
enraged the prize by stroking its head just before the challenger’s finger was
offered up.
A proven
way of preventing the dormitory matron from inspecting your locker was to keep
at least one harmless yet impressive grass snake in there. This meant
collecting ladybirds each day for the snake’s supper.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Mercury
Official
lessons in the Science Laboratory had one advantage… the chance to hunt for
droplets of mercury, trapped for years in the grooves of the tables. This meant
pushing the end of your 12-inch ruler into the recess and moving the mercury to
the end of the table. Later this offered some amusement, rolling the mercury
around the palm of your hand. Eventually it would spill, disappearing in a
silver flash as it hit the floor.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Himalayan Swimming lessons
Occasionally
a group of boys would visit a tea estate further down the hill, equipped with
shorts rolled up in their towels. This
was to give us swimming lessons in the rectangular tank that stored water for
the estate. The contents were drawn from a nearby jhora, so diving in risked a
heart attack from the temperature. Obviously the concrete structure had never
been intended to teach people to swim….. it was a uniform depth, sufficient to
drown even the tallest Victorian.
Memory tells me that a few of us could swim;
the rest lined the edge, shivering in the wind, awaiting their personal
swimming lesson. This meant being attached to a lasso of rope, tied to the end
of a bamboo pole. You then were persuaded to release your iron-like grip on the
lip of the tank, and you were then towed along one side, under the surface most
of the time. Meanwhile the teacher shouted instructions, none of which you
could hear in the foam your thrashing arms and legs were creating.
Needless
to say I was still a total non-swimmer when I left school in December 1946. I
graduated to dog- paddle level in my last weeks in India, while waiting with my
parents at the Transit Camp at Deolali .. the Army in India’s first and last
call.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Bathing Rituals
I am sure
that the two senior dormitories had showers, but the same area beside the two
dormitories in the south block offered a strange white tiled trough, that
contained about a foot of water. Bathing entailed standing beside the trough,
splashing water over yourself, apply soap, then more splashed water to finish
off.
When all were considered clean, we were
allowed to lower the level to about an inch, then stand at one end of the
trough, and launch ourselves down to the other end. Apart from the risk to
one’s future in the marriage stakes, it was necessary to put your arms above
your head to save your skull from colliding with the wall at the far end.
The original tile fitter had not achieved
perfect alignment, so the edges of raised tiles removed a layer of skin from
the rib cage. This meant that the plungers of the junior dormitories could
always be identified by the tribal markings on their chests.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Meeting the Girls
Half a
mile along the same ridge was Dow Hill, the sister school to
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
This mad
social whirl came to a halt if either school was struck by one of the ailments
that growing children are prone to.
The school would be placed in quarantine
As soon as
measles, German measles, chicken pox or mumps was confirmed, the school would
be placed in quarantine. This meant that Socials with the other school were
cancelled, as well as outings to Kurseong’s own flea pit. To most of us this
was the more serious implication of the quarantine, especially if the latest
Errol Flynn epic was due. Those afflicted
were sent to the hospital that served both schools. If numbers exceeded the
numbers of beds there, then the overflow stayed in the dormitories. Gradually the numbers of patients would
dwindle, this was followed by a nervous two-week wait in case there were
further cases. And woe betide the
unfortunate boy who prolonged the ban on Socials and cinema trips. One year it was mumps that was the scourge.
Five of us sufferers were locked away in an upstairs ward of the hospital. We were lucky to have a generous supply of
comics, but these could not be passed to non-mumpers. We discovered that a
classmate had been admitted with a broken leg, and we were warned that we were
not allowed to visit him under any circumstances. The unfortunate had no reading matter, and he shouted up a
request for something to be passed to him.
It was common practice for the hospital to issue squares of cotton as
handkerchiefs, so we unravelled some, made up a long chord and lowered some
comics to the broken legged one. A few
days later we were attacked by the irate nurse. The downstairs patient had
developed a spectacular case of mumps, so much so that his head and neck now
tapered the wrong way. We were all able to swear with total conviction that we
hadn’t been down to see the victim. So the charge of lying was added to our
dossiers.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
School Entertainments
There were
occasional school concerts. Under the
leadership of Mrs. Clarke, our entire class had to draw, paint and then cut out
cardboard masks, representing different animals. I must have drawn the short
straw, as mine was the elephant. I have no memory of the song, and this was
years before the “Doctor Doolittle” movie came along. On another occasion I played Henry the Eighth, and my pal Basset
had the part of one of his many queens. The scene was set at breakfast, and for
as few happy hours we were under the impression that we would get to eat
something pleasant on stage. The
producer supplied already emptied eggshells, which when turned upside down in
the eggcups looked normal. My allusions of the theatre were shattered at an early
age. Some of the senior classes were
given a fascinating lecture by an American Air Force officer on “Skip Bombing”,
where light bombers dropped their weapons just feet above the surface of the
sea, so that the bomb bounced several times before slamming into the side of
the target ship. There was a visit
from a magician in the Assembly Hall. The cleverness with playing cards was too
far away from those at the back of the hall, but his finale involved a saucer
that was handed to a victim. Then on stage, the man lit a candle and waved his
hands over the flame. There was a yelp from the saucer-holder, as the object in
his hands became too hot to handle.
This impressed us immensely, until some know-all in a senior class
explained that the saucer was covered in something that stung… the distant
candle was merely a stage prop. The
school was often visited by Father Prior, an impressive old gentleman wearing
white with a beard to match. One of his favourite stories was that the purpose
of the steep roaring mountain streams was to move sand and rocks down towards
the sea, thus making “King George’s empire ever bigger”. His other party trick was to tell us “The
Monkey’s Paw”, and this always soon before bed-time. I don’t think we really
understood the play, but most were scared witless.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Our homes were scattered over a large area
of India
Our homes
were scattered over a large area of
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Cream cakes!
I suppose
that all people at boarding schools are perpetually hungry. It certainly
applied at
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Foraging for food
The forest
near the school included small clearings where the locals grew their own
foodstuffs, the time of the year decided if the crop was maize or mooli (a
large horseradish). Walks over
weekends often took us past these patches, and I confess that we used to help
ourselves, and smuggle the maize back to the school, not particularly well
hidden under our sweaters. On one day
we were carrying our booty back and blundered into a man carrying a kukri in
one hand, a heavy branch on his other shoulder. He gave a roar that showed his
displeasure, dropped his firewood and charged, kukri held aloft. We were not
sure if this was a string of abuse or a Nepalese war cry. But this was not the
time to enquire; we fled into the forest, crashing through the undergrowth,
leaving a trail of maize underfoot. We
heard a strange noise behind us and the one of the braver thieves looked over
his shoulder. The man was rolling on the ground, crippled with laughter at the
look of terror on our faces. The maize fields were safe for weeks.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT
NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John
Gardiner)
”Ever Lasters”
Among the
things that happened towards the end of the school year was the construction of
”Ever Lasters”. This needed an empty shoe polish tin, a stick of classroom
chalk, and some candle wax. The piece if chalk had to be short enough to fit,
when standing upright, in the tin with the lid on. Then a hole had to be bored
down the centre of the chalk and some grooves cut across the base of the
chalk. A short piece of string as a
wick helped the device to work more efficiently.
The term “Ever Laster” implied that as the
melting wax was collected in the tin, this all-essential piece of equipment
would last for… well, several days. Why did we need these? Apart from
increasing the chance of a bedding fire in the dormitory, I haven’t the
slightest idea!
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Heating the Assembly Hall
The
Assembly Hall was fitted with a few stoves, which bought comfort to those at
desks a few feet away while the rest of us froze. The solution was to find a
tin, the ones that came with Polson’s Butter were acknowledged as the best. Cut
out top and bottom, drill holes around the curved side, then make a grid out of
wire to support the charcoal made from twigs earlier in the day, and behold!
Your private heating system for those long Prep sessions in the Hall.
All right, there was a risk of carbon
monoxide poisoning, but it prevented frostbite!
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The plane tree at the south end of the
Bottom flat
And finally, the plane tree at the south end
of the Bottom flat, behind the pavilion. Do Victorians still believe that they
will not be allowed to leave school at the end of term if a single leaf is
still attached to the tree? We took it very seriously, so much so that
volunteers could always be found to hurl stones up at the surviving leaves in
the last weeks of November. No wonder the corrugated roof of that pavilion
looked so battered.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Smoking was forbidden throughout the school
The only use of that pavilion [at the south
end of the Bottom flat] seemed to be to provide a place to store the long coir
matting for the cricket pitch, and the building reeked of the damp mat. And
mysteriously, as smoking was forbidden throughout the school, the faint
suggestion of tobacco smoke.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Special Memories
[I
remember] The sound of the wind in the cryptomaria trees that surrounded both
Top and Bottom Flat.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The walk through the forest to Goethal’s
[I
remember] The very damp walk through the forest to Goethal’s to watch one of
our teams play the "enemy", and removing leeches from your legs when
we got back to school.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The sun’s first rays
[I
remember] Watching the sun’s first rays strike the white face of
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Roller skate races
[I
remember] Roller skate races around the verandas and corridors of the main
block. The brave ones cut the corner by leaping across the outside of the
vertical drainpipe.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Twig races
[I
remember] Twig races along the deep monsoon ditch in front of the main
building, a raging torrent in the rainy season.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow hill
Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Buns at teatime on Sundays
[I
remember] Buns at teatime on Sundays, the dreaded smell of brinjal
"jackies" at least once a week, "pish pash", a personal
favourite. Saving chillies from lunchtime (they were hidden in the flower vase
on the table) to make Aloo sandwiches to eat after evening prayers in the
Assembly Hall..
"Thank you, Nurse"
[I
remember] The school nurse issuing a spoonful of Mag. Sulph. to every boy in
the school. We had to say "Thank you, Nurse" to prove we had
swallowed the disgusting stuff, thus preventing us from spitting it out later..
The chaos in the Bogs two hours later…..
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The Old Boys Race
[I
remember] the excitement of Sports Day, having numbers sewn onto your vest. The
Head Prefect (Bowen?) breaking the school high jump record that had stood at 5
feet 7.5 inches for years.
The Old
Boys Race over 100 yards. It was run on a handicap system, a yard start for
every year since the entry left school. It was won every year by some sprightly
old gentleman that left the school in the 19th.th century.
Looking through Stanley Prins’ “Summoned by
the
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Queuing at the Tuck Shop
[I
remember] queuing at the Tuck Shop, clutching 4 annas, deciding whether you
wanted a curry puff, sticky cake or coconut ice. Buying illegal jalebes in the
school servant’s lines.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Trips on the Toy Train to Darjeeling
[I remember]
Trips on the Toy Train to Darjeeling to watch our hockey team. One year the
final at St. Pauls went to extra time. When we got to Ghoom, the train had
gone, so we walked most of the way back until we thumbed a lift on a goods
train.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
To the Plaza for a rare cinema trip
[I
remember] The race down the terraced tea estate to get to the Plaza for a rare
cinema trip. The noise of some two hundred boys breaking open the husks of
monkey nuts in the cinema, while the prefects on the balcony shouted "Stop
eating cheenas!"
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Exeats
[I
remember] Exeats at weekends to walk to The Tank and Duke’s Nose.
John Gardiner,
boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The selected storytellers
[I
remember] Lying in bed at night as the monsoon rain hammered on the corrugated
tin roof. Each dormitory had selected storytellers, and the subject matter came
from the films seen in the last holidays.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
"Going..Going.. Gone!"
[I
remember] Lining the wall along Top Flat to watch the sun go down, chanting
"Going..Going.. Gone!" One day closer to Going Home Day.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
… the school badge was hung on the front of
the engine
[I
remember] Making elaborate labels for ourselves and Dow Hill favourites on
graph paper. These were glued to our tin trunks for the journey home. Making
huge signs to hang on the front of the Big Train engine as we pulled into
Sealdah. These were made from up to 40 layers of exercise book pages and home
made glue, topped with glossy art paper to form the school badge or the
entwined letters VSK. At least one of these became the roof of a shunter’s shed
in the railway yards north of Sealdah.
Legend had
it that one year, before I arrived, the railways made the serious mistake of
booking both Victoria and Goethals to travel home on the same day. There was an
armed truce at the start of the journey and this lasted until the train reached
Jalpaiguri, the station where the school badge was hung on the front of the
engine. A riot ensued, and parents waiting at Sealdah watched their dear
off-springs being led away under a police escort.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
Some sadist gave February only 28 days
[I remember]
Counting off the days to the end of term on home made charts glued to the
underside of desk lids.
[I remember] the dread at the end of the
holidays, some sadist gave February only 28 days. Being handed over to the
teacher in charge at Sealdah, by parents trying to be cheerful, with 275 days
to the end of term.
[I
remember] How good supper was at Siliguri station on the way home, and the
horrible breakfast in the same room three months later.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
The sobs of new boys
[I
remember] trying to ignore the sobs of new boys suffering their first night in
a "dorm".
John Gardiner,
boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
"Jug Night"
[I
remember] "Jug Night" a huge bonfire on Top Flat, around which the
teachers were obliged to sing a song each. Later sleeping on the floor under
our beds, to avoid the barrage of tennis shoes that went on most of the night.
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria School. Kurseong 1939-1946
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
This section of my life ended in December
1946
This
section of my life ended in December 1946, when our batch of JC and SC
candidates finished the last exam and we woke up to the fact that our sheltered
life in the cocoon that was
John
Gardiner, boarding school pupil at Victoria
School
(source:
John Gardiner: Memories of VSK (1939 – 1946) on website of Victoria & Dow
hill Schools Kurseong at
http://www.orbonline.net/~auballan/J_Gardners_VSK.htm)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational
research project. The copyright remains with John Gardiner)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At University
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
THE CALCUTTA
UNIVERSITY
Trams
:—Dalhousie/Esplanade-Shambazar.
Buses :—Nos. 2, 2A.
The
The
Governing Body of the University—the Senate—consists of the Chancellor, who (Vide
Act VII of 1921), is always the Governor of the Province, a nominated
Vice-Chancellor, who is the Chairman, and the ex-officio Fellows and the Ordinary Fellows.
The
University in its early years was housed in rented premises. In 1864 a site was
acquired in
The Senate
House, an imposing structure, is flanked on either side by spacious verandahs,
and fronted by a handsome portico supported by Ionic columns. In the centre of
the portico is a marble statue of the late Hon'ble Prosunno Coomar Tagore,
C.S.I., (1803-1868), founder of the Tagore Law Professorship. The Hall,
supported by Corinthian pillars, is about 60 feet in width and 200 feet in
length, with a lofty roof painted in service grey. It is used as an examination
hall, a lecture hall, and for the annual convocation of the University.
The
entrance to the Senate Hall is adorned with the" busts of Raja Rajendralal
Mitra (1824-1891), Doctor of Law; Charles Henry Fawney, Fellow of the
University;
Nawab
Bahadur Abdul Latiff (1828-1893), Member of the Senate; Henry Woodrow
(1823-1876), Fellow of the University and Director of Public Instruction,
James
Sutcliffe (1824-1878), Registrar of the University and Director of Public
Instruction; Sir Gooroo Dass Bannerjee (1844-1918), First Indian
Vice-chancellor; Sir Cecil Beadon (1816-1880), Fellow of the University and
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal; Maharajah Bahadur Sir Jatindra Mohan Tagore; Sir
Alfred Woodley Croft, Vice-Chancellor and Director of Public Instruction; an
oil painting of Queen Victoria; a bronze plaque of Sir Ramesh Chandra Mitter
(1840-1899); and a memorial tablet to Caulfield Aylmer Martin, Fellow of the
University and Director of Public Instruction.
The
walls are lined with large oil paintings of notabilities closely associated
with the University, including those of Muhammad Mohsin; Sir Ashutosh
Mookerjee, Vice-Chancellor; Sir Taraknath Palit (1841-1914); and Sir Rashbehary
Ghose (1845-1921).
To the
west of the Senate Hall is the
The
Library is stocked with numerous books on English Literature ; works of the
chief authorities on Indian antiquities ; sets of Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic,
Persian, Latin, French and German classics ; a good collection of Mathematical,
Philosophical, Religious, Historical (including Biographical, Geographical,
Philological and Anthropological) books ; a large number of recent editions by
well-known writers on Economics, Politics and Sociology ; Reports of Blue Books
; and some very valuable sets of Bengali and Tibetan manuscripts.
The
Hardinge Hindu Hostel, with accommodation for 150 students, is situated to the
south of the
The land
south of the Senate House was acquired out of a Government grant of Rs. 8,00,000
for the erection of some of the more important departments of Post-Graduate
teaching in Arts. The building, originally a two-storeyed structure named after
Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee, Kt., C. S. I., was opened by the Governor of Bengal in
1926 ; a third storey was added in 1927 and in the following year, yet another
floor was constructed.
The
A
generous gift from the late Raja of Khaira has enabled the University to
establish a chair for Agriculture, and steps have been taken to build an
Agricultural laboratory and acquire a plot of land for experimental farming.
The
Universities of
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 185-187 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Across
The Sanskrit
College
Founded in 1824 for the primary purpose of
encouraging the Study of the Sanskrit language and literature, in addition to
Philosophy, English and History. The College is affiliated to the
The classes in the Oriental Department of the
College prepare pupils for the first, second and title examinations of the
The College offers many scholarships and
privileges and has an instructive staff composed of able professors and
lecturers.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 212 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
ASHUTOSH COLLEGE
Trams
:—Kalighat, Ballygunge,
Tollygunge.
Buses :—2, 2A, 3, 4, 4A, 5, 5A.
On the
London Missionary Society's Institution and the Bishop's College abolishing
their college classes (Arts and Science Departments), the General Committee of
the South Suburban School, at the instance of its President, the late Sir
Ashutosh Mukerjee, started this College in 1916 at 26 Lansdowne Road with a
view to affording facilities for a college education in south Calcutta. A year
later it was removed to
In June
1924, at a public meeting presided over by the late Mr. C. R. Das, then Mayor
of Calcutta, it was decided that a memorial in the shape of a Public Hall and
Library be erected to perpetuate the memory of Sir Ashutosh Mukerjee.
Incidentally, the library which was founded in 1895 by the citizens of south
The
College, since its affiliation with the Calcutta University in 1916, has grown
steadily and has now more than 1,500 students of both sexes; a Women's
Department with a Lady Professor in charge being added in 1932. Several
scholarships, prizes and some free studentships are awarded, including special
awards to lady students. The College possesses well-equipped laboratories, a
library, a gymnasium and a large Common Room. It publishes a monthly magazine
and has an Athletic Club, a College Union, a Debating Club, and provides a
platoon for the University Training Corps. The College holds a unique
reputation for physical training, and its Bratachari Class was the first of its
kind to be instituted in a College.
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 168-169 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta: Central Press, 1940.)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Addresses of Colleges in 1940
All-India institute of Hygiene and Public Health. Page 192.
Armenian College—4 Kyd Street- Phone, Cal. 1511. Page
133.
Ashutosh College—9 Russa Road. Phone, South 917. Page 168.
Bangabasi College—25/1 Scott Lane. Phone, B.B. 1368. Founded 1886- affiliated*
1887.
Bengal Engineering College—P.O. Botanic
Garden, Sibpur.
Phone, West 36. Founded and affiliated, 1880. B.E.
Degree. Civil, Mining, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
Bishop's College—224 Lower Circular Road. Phone, P.K.
812.
Calcutta Engineering College—18 Ekdalia Road.
Phone, P.K. 1753.
Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine—Chittaranjan
Avenue. Phone, Regent 691. Page 190.
Carrmichael
Medical College—1 Belgatchia Road. Phone, B.B. 975. Founded and affiliated, 1916.
M.B. Degree.
City College—102/1 Amherst Street. Phone, B.B. 1565.
Founded 1879 : affiliated 1881.
College of Engineering and Technology, Bengal—Jadabpur.
Phone, P.K. 1910.
David Hare Training College—25/3 Ballygunge
Circular Road. Phone Alipore 306. Founded and affiliated, 1908. Opened
by the Government of Bengal to train teachers of Secondary Schools. The College
is affiliated to the Calcutta University up to the B.T. standard.
Dioceian College for Indian Girls—47 Elgin Road.
Affiliated 1907.
Howrah Narasinha Dutt College—129 Belilios Road. Founded
in 1923 by Babu Suranjan Dutt. Affiliated 1924.
lslamia College—8 Wellesley Street Phone, Reg. 240. Page
135.
La Martiniere for Boys—11 Loudon Street. Phone, P.K.
603. P. 128.
La Martiniere for Girls—14 Rawdon Street. Phone, P. K.
1065.
Loreto House—7 Middleton Row. Phone, P.K. 240- Page
98.
Medical College—88 College Street. Phone, B.B. 1230.
Founded 1835 : affiliated 1857. M.B. Degree.
Moti Lal Seal's Free College—127 Chittaranjan
Avenue. Founded 1842.
Ripon College—24 Harrison Road. Phone, B.B. 29. Founded
1880 : affiliated 1884. Has a Law Department.
Scottish Church College—4 Cornwallis Square. Phone, B.B.
151. Affiliated 1857. Page 137.
St. Joseph's College—69 Bow Bazar Street. Phone, B.B. 4259.
P. 97.
St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College—33 Amherst
Street. Phone, B.B. 2600. Founded in 1865 as the Cathedral Mission College and
refounded in 1899 as the Church Missionary Society's College. Raised to B.A.
standard and the present name adopted, 1914.
St. Xavier's College—30 Park Street. Phone, P.K. 995.
Page 95.
United Missionary Training College—1 Ballygunge Circular
Road. .Phone. P.K- 1470. Page 92.
University College of Science—92 Upper
Circular Road. Phone, Regent 159.
University Law College—Darbhanga Buildings, Calcutta
University. Phone, Regent 761. Founded and affiliated, 1909.
Vidyasagar College—39 Sankar Ghose Lane (Beadon Street P.
0.). Phone, B.B. 2085- Founded 1859 : affiliated 1872. Originally the Calcutta
Training School: named Metropolitan Institute in 1864 and Vidyasagar College in
1917 after Pundit Iswaichandia Vidyasagar.
* All affiliations refer to the Calcutta University
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source pages
213-214 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta: Central Press, 1940.)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
!!NEW!!
Armenian College—Free School Street.
(Source:
Contributors)
_____Memories
of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Presidency
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
The Presidency
College
This Institution, situated at
The College came into being in 1855 and was
affiliated to the
The College has a well-stocked library, first
class laboratories, a College
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 212 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
_____Memories
of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bethune
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
Bethune Girls'
College
This Institution, now at 181 Cornwallis Street,
was founded in 1848 by the Hon'ble John Elliott Drinkwater Bethune, Law Member of
the Governor-General's Council and President of the Council of Education. It
provided for the education of Indian girls of the upper class, and was the
first of its kind in
the College building. The foundation stone of
the present College was laid in 1850 by Sir John. Little, then Deputy-Governor
of
The Institution, after passing through many
vicissitudes, came into prominence through its amalgamation in 1878 with the
Banga Mahila Vidyalaya of the Brahmo Sanlai, and by the outstanding achievement
of Miss K. Bose, one of its pupils, at the University Entrance Examination. The
opening of the University classes was furthered by the sympathy and interest
shown by Sir Alfred Croft.
From a modest beginning of a principal and two
professors, the College now has sixteen professors and lecturers. It was
affiliated to the
John Barry, journalist, Calcutta, 1939/40
(source
pages 211-212 of John Barry: “Calcutta 1940” Calcutta
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
_____Memories
of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
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Shantinitketan
_____Pictures of 1940s
Calcutta_________________________
_____Contemporary
Records of or about 1940s Calcutta___
_____Memories
of 1940s Calcutta_________________________
Then Nehru sent me to Shantineketan
“They wrote to my father and said your son has come
over here and is irritating the villagers. So he sent for me from Hazari Bagh
jail, and he took my return ticket and put it into his pocket and he said go to
Jawaharlal, and he sent me to Jawaharlal. Jawaharlal had just come out of
prison [ May 1941]. He told him that I had become Americanized and please teach
him the simple life and everything. So Jawaharlal looked at me and said, you
look simple enough, damn you. I was about 22.
I went there and he had only Indira, who later
became Prime Minister. She was about 14. So I lived with them. He did not have
any sons. So I sort of became his son. I lived there for nine months. Then he
sent me and Indira to
Khan
Abdul Ghani Khan, Student at Shantiniketan, 1941/42
(Source
Omar Khan’s Interview with Khan Abdul Ghani Khan reproduced at
http://www.harappa.com/sounds/ghani031.html)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with Omar Khan)
The horse, the frog, Nandalal Bose and me
“We had the same tutor,
I joined this journalism class in the English
Department. They used to give me a subject and I used to write on it and then I
had nothing to do. So I went to my tutor and asked what should I do, sir. He
said anything you like. So I went round for another day, and asked him again.
He said anything you like. He did not know a word of English or Urdu, he was
Bengali speaking.
So I got fed up, imagine being 22, strong and
healthy and everything, you want to do something. The third day I went to him I
said what shall I do? He said anything you like.
I said I like to get a horse. He said get a horse.
I said what about a stable. He said there is a plot next to the hostel, make a
stable there. Anyhow I made the stable, I got my friends to help. But I did not
get the horse, for when the time came to get the horse I had run out of money.
I made friends with a Professor of sculpture. I
did not know he was Professor of sculpture. He used to sing and dance about the
hostel, a very jolly fellow. So I went with him to this studio and I saw these
boys working with mud. I also took a piece of mud and I think I made a frog or
a lizard or something.”
Khan
Abdul Ghani Khan, Student at Shantiniketan, 1941/42
(Source
Omar Khan’s Interview with Khan Abdul Ghani Khan reproduced at
http://www.harappa.com/sounds/ghani031.html)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with Omar Khan)
Painting
“So the next day I went again with him; when I
finished my essay or whatever the teacher had given me, I went again to him. I became
more ambitious, I did a self- portrait, then I did Adam and Eve. Then
When we went on picnics, some of the teachers
used to take along these crayon boxes and worked in crayons and I found it very
convenient. So I bought myself a box of crayons too and began to work on sort
of art things. And they used to say they are good. I thought they were rubbish
and that they are mad. I mean imagine getting enthusiastic about this childish
stuff. That is how I started.
[To begin with] I just made faces. From
childhood, from the very beginning I have only drawn faces. I do not draw
anything else, I think it is all a waste of time. I mean, when I did sculptures
of grown up people, I did a big one of a Prophet, it is so big it is in the
Shantineketan museum. That one, of course, I did the whole body and everything.
But the other things I did were only faces.”
Khan
Abdul Ghani Khan, Student at Shantiniketan, 1941/42
(Source
Omar Khan’s Interview with Khan Abdul Ghani Khan reproduced at
http://www.harappa.com/sounds/ghani031.html)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with Omar Khan)
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