A Peep Into My High School Premise

I was passing by Sarada Vilas High School on Dec.2, 2009.  [It is also spelled as Sharada]. I had a camera in my pocket and took a few shots of the place where I had spent 3 years between 1970-73 [for my 8th, 9th and 10th]. There were a few changes in the quadrangle. The Head Master's room was shifted. In the old place there were some new rooms. Classes were in progress.  Except for the peon (seen in the picture below) in front of the HM's room none was out.  Some boys near the windows tried to see what I was doing there!  The classrooms appeared cloc-a-bloc as teachers were doing their duties. I did not walk through everywhere lest that distracted the window-side students too much, but just took a few pictures, reminisced those times and moved out quickly.  The school was just a ten minute walk from home and so went home for the lunch break to quickly gobble and return. None can forget Jogaiah [Jogi], the peon from our time used to bring the hand bell from the HM's room and using both hands he would take up up and down from his thigh and above his head. Short duration rings to mark each period and a long  one to end the session or day!  It was a sight! And the most sought after sound in school.

This is the quadrangle where morning assembly was held with each class making a line and stood in rows. Cricket was played in the evenings and it was excellent for running around chasing other boys and for playing many other games like tops, marbles before school.

Another view of the quadrangle.


Old building.  I was standing and looking at the school from where the entry gate was in our time. Now they made that passage into a room!   That high gate was locked after assembly.

What was the backdoor entry to the field in our days is now the main entry to the school premise. Note the college structure standing right in front of it!!

We used to have our 10th class sections here. Some of us used to bring our bicycles occasionally and they were parked here in this corridor in front of our classrooms! There was no cycle stand in those days! Since most of us came by walk there were just a few bicycles in total and putting them there was not a hindrance for our playful running in this corridor.

Classrooms had ventilators below the windows and now they are all closed up. But the little pipe that is provided to take out any water from the rooms are still there. It is through these pipes mischievous boys used to put their mouths and make a sound that would amplify inside the class that took everyone aback. The teacher would then rush up to the window shouting "yaavano avanu muTTaaLa" [Who is that fool?] only to find nobody there - obviously the rascal would have gone close to the wall unseen and "vanished"!  They never found it out. 

This is the vast playground from where we tried to escape home for lunch as the 'games' slot was just before luncheon. Later in the evenings during my college days in the same institution I used to come for tennis ball cricket here in the same field. A few years later I played one of my earliest cricket matches with the cricket ball here on this ground - there is no regular cricket pitch now because the institution has grown up with new facilities. The one in the background is/was the Girls High School.

The stone protection is a new addition. Earlier there was only soil. Erosion might have prompted them to come up with this. Tree roots were then not visible then.

As it now looks from the far field. The right side building that has come up is of the college. Ealier there was an open space with a nice gap between the college and the school buildings.

At this high school, which was a very reputed one in the 1930s and 40s, both my father and uncle also studied.  Some documents here:

Above is my uncle's Progress Card, below is father's certificate for birth proof. It was actually 1922, but records show 1924. 

Click on images.  See the signature of K.V.Narayan.  He was a very respected teacher which the old timers rememered.

If you were wondering who our teachers were, you will have to go to my link here - I have listed out their nicknames: [Click here and enjoy]