"Aain yaar, abi tak so rah hai.. PT whistle maar raha hai aur yeh bachhe abi so rah hai.. Get up.. Get up fast yaar" - Those were the thundering wake up calls along with the bashings with NCC sticks by our Mathai Sir.
Hurriedly I woke up from the bed only to realise that I was away from my home and parents, and the time was 5 in the morning. I had just 10 minutes to get ready and stand in the queue. Few boys were already standing, and the House Prefect was there too. The mosquito net was dumped into the small cubicle under the cupboard, dressed myself for the PT with a pair of white shorts, baniyan and a pair of white jogging shoes, ran to the toilet.. Oops! Too much rush! Somehow managed to brush and answer the nature calls, and there I am.. Late by 3 minutes! The Prefect was kind enough to allow me to stand in the queue. I felt relieved.
After the necessary roll call, we started running to the PT field. There used to be two separate divisions in each house - Junior Division (Class VI to IX) and Senior Division (Class X to XII). Every single activity was similar to that of any Military Troop led by a Commander - in our case it used to be the House Captain. At the PT field, the attendance had to be communicated to the School Captain who in turn reported the same to the House Masters, who again reported it to the Head Master (A Military Officer in the rank of a Major). Given the hierarchy that was being followed, we were used to the similar ranking systems within the student communities. Some of those specific rules were:
i) Seniors were addressed as 'Sir'. However, once boys completed an year at the School, they were allowed to call their 'immediate' seniors by their names. Every Class VI boy used to be eager to call their immediate seniors by their names.
ii) Juniors were not allowed to peep / see through the windows / doors of any room occupied by seniors.
iii) Juniors should bend their heads down when they see their seniors getting punished.
iv) Junior Division guys should always 'March' their way to school and back, while the Senior Division guys were allowed to take the short-cut. A slight deviation invited punishment either in the form of Haunching, Vaulting, Running, or Parades on the road.
A typical PT would comprise of a run around the PT field or upto the nearby Lotus Pond and back covering around 3-4 kms, free hand exercises, followed by games provided the PT teacher was keen to issue the balls. After an hour of PT, the PT teacher would blow the whistle whereby every student was supposed to stand still at the spot where he was standing. The teacher would then seek permission from the seniormost person in the field to end the session, and if allowed, he would again blow the whistle which marked the end of PT for the day.
We would come back, take bath and again get ready for the school at 7.30 am. The school dress from Monday to Friday was Khaki shirt and shorts, a Black broad leather Belt with a shining Buckle with a SSP logo on it. The flaps on the shoulder would have coloured leafs - Maroon reflected my house. Navy blue stocking replaced the normal socks, while shoes were mainly from the Bata. On Saturdays, it was pure white uniform like that of a Naval Officer.
At school, each of the seven periods were of 40 minute duration. We used to have break for breakfast after the second period, and a tea break after fourth period. After breakfast, the students gathered at the Quadrangle within the school premises for a Prayer, News Reading, Elocution and Quizzes by every house, finally to end with the National Anthem.
After school, we used to 'march' again to the Dining Hall for Lunch. Every student had a designated seat for having food which was designed to have a mix of students from every class in a table.
Food at SSP, well, if I look back was really not bad! We used to have French Toasts, Boiled Egg, Bread, Butter, Jam, Maltova/Tea/Coffee/Milk, Omlettes, Fries for breakfast; Mutton, Chicken, Egg, wonderful Curries, Dal and Rice for Lunch and Dinner. Saturday was special with the 'English Dinner' served with Custard, Bread, Boiled Vegetables, Chicken and Vegetable Chops.
After the lunch, there used to be some freetime before Games at 4.30 pm. There were wider choice of games available like Basketball, Football, Tennis, Squash, Volleyball, Hockey, Cricket, Table Tennis etc etc. Formal and informal competitions between houses, classes were very regular, though I was never too much involved in games.
On Thurdays, we used to have NCC Parades in place of Games.
The evening 'Prep' started at 6 pm for the next 2 hours. The dress code was again like an Air Force Officer with Steel Grey trouser and Sky Blue shirt, with a School Tie.
Aftef the Prep, we used to come back to the Dining Hall for Dinner followed by some private studies and sleep to end the day.
There have been innumerable occasions during my stay at SSP which I can only keep in my memories and cherish the moments. I will be writing about them slowly as and when I recapitulate.
Hurriedly I woke up from the bed only to realise that I was away from my home and parents, and the time was 5 in the morning. I had just 10 minutes to get ready and stand in the queue. Few boys were already standing, and the House Prefect was there too. The mosquito net was dumped into the small cubicle under the cupboard, dressed myself for the PT with a pair of white shorts, baniyan and a pair of white jogging shoes, ran to the toilet.. Oops! Too much rush! Somehow managed to brush and answer the nature calls, and there I am.. Late by 3 minutes! The Prefect was kind enough to allow me to stand in the queue. I felt relieved.
After the necessary roll call, we started running to the PT field. There used to be two separate divisions in each house - Junior Division (Class VI to IX) and Senior Division (Class X to XII). Every single activity was similar to that of any Military Troop led by a Commander - in our case it used to be the House Captain. At the PT field, the attendance had to be communicated to the School Captain who in turn reported the same to the House Masters, who again reported it to the Head Master (A Military Officer in the rank of a Major). Given the hierarchy that was being followed, we were used to the similar ranking systems within the student communities. Some of those specific rules were:
i) Seniors were addressed as 'Sir'. However, once boys completed an year at the School, they were allowed to call their 'immediate' seniors by their names. Every Class VI boy used to be eager to call their immediate seniors by their names.
ii) Juniors were not allowed to peep / see through the windows / doors of any room occupied by seniors.
iii) Juniors should bend their heads down when they see their seniors getting punished.
iv) Junior Division guys should always 'March' their way to school and back, while the Senior Division guys were allowed to take the short-cut. A slight deviation invited punishment either in the form of Haunching, Vaulting, Running, or Parades on the road.
A typical PT would comprise of a run around the PT field or upto the nearby Lotus Pond and back covering around 3-4 kms, free hand exercises, followed by games provided the PT teacher was keen to issue the balls. After an hour of PT, the PT teacher would blow the whistle whereby every student was supposed to stand still at the spot where he was standing. The teacher would then seek permission from the seniormost person in the field to end the session, and if allowed, he would again blow the whistle which marked the end of PT for the day.
We would come back, take bath and again get ready for the school at 7.30 am. The school dress from Monday to Friday was Khaki shirt and shorts, a Black broad leather Belt with a shining Buckle with a SSP logo on it. The flaps on the shoulder would have coloured leafs - Maroon reflected my house. Navy blue stocking replaced the normal socks, while shoes were mainly from the Bata. On Saturdays, it was pure white uniform like that of a Naval Officer.
At school, each of the seven periods were of 40 minute duration. We used to have break for breakfast after the second period, and a tea break after fourth period. After breakfast, the students gathered at the Quadrangle within the school premises for a Prayer, News Reading, Elocution and Quizzes by every house, finally to end with the National Anthem.
After school, we used to 'march' again to the Dining Hall for Lunch. Every student had a designated seat for having food which was designed to have a mix of students from every class in a table.
Food at SSP, well, if I look back was really not bad! We used to have French Toasts, Boiled Egg, Bread, Butter, Jam, Maltova/Tea/Coffee/Milk, Omlettes, Fries for breakfast; Mutton, Chicken, Egg, wonderful Curries, Dal and Rice for Lunch and Dinner. Saturday was special with the 'English Dinner' served with Custard, Bread, Boiled Vegetables, Chicken and Vegetable Chops.
After the lunch, there used to be some freetime before Games at 4.30 pm. There were wider choice of games available like Basketball, Football, Tennis, Squash, Volleyball, Hockey, Cricket, Table Tennis etc etc. Formal and informal competitions between houses, classes were very regular, though I was never too much involved in games.
On Thurdays, we used to have NCC Parades in place of Games.
The evening 'Prep' started at 6 pm for the next 2 hours. The dress code was again like an Air Force Officer with Steel Grey trouser and Sky Blue shirt, with a School Tie.
Aftef the Prep, we used to come back to the Dining Hall for Dinner followed by some private studies and sleep to end the day.
There have been innumerable occasions during my stay at SSP which I can only keep in my memories and cherish the moments. I will be writing about them slowly as and when I recapitulate.
2 comments:
Saturday was special with the 'English Dinner' served with Custard, Bread, Boiled Vegetables, Chicken and Vegetable Chops.
- If you have some friends at school, can you get the recipe of the "boiled vegetables" of your "English Dinner" from school and post it here? I tried to make the stuff at home but could never get the same taste. There has to be some secret ingredient which I'm missing.
Well, from your name, guess you are also an eSSPean from the Tagore House :) I do not have any friends currently, but if you ask me, the boiled vegetable was a mix of Alu, Carrots, Beets, and some Drum-Sticks as well if I can remember correctly which I used to abhor during those days, but I truely miss them now :) My style was to pick the boiled potatoes and have the bread with them :)
Cheers!
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