Flags of honour

School life has been one of the most memorable phases of my life and most of my beliefs and values are a result of what I learnt during those years. Looking back, I realise that life was simpler back then — filled with pranks, small moments of jealousy, and lots of carefree fun, frolic and enjoyment.

This picture was taken during the Annual Sports Meet of the academic year 1985-86 of Cluny Convent High School, Malleswaram. It is a glimpse of the opening march-past of the four contingent of houses followed by the march-past of the captains for the positioning of their respective flags. While Nirmala Govindan was the captain of St Lawrence House, Anitha Bhandarkar was the captain of St Xavier’s House.

   I headed the St Thomas House and Anamika Chakraborthy was the captain of St Josephs’s House. Geraldine D’Souza and Anuradha Kate were the head girl and sports captain respectively. On stage are the dignitaries — the then Principal of the school, Sister Geraldine, the chief guest and other guests of honour. The stone building of the school stands majestically in the background. Far behind at the back, the lady in the pink sari is Mrs Anasuya, our sports teacher.

You can see all of us dressed in neatly washed, starched and ironed uniforms, clean white socks and washed shoes with our hair tidily plaited with white ribbons.   The sashes were the bands of honour for each of us. Every student in the school was proud to belong to her respective house and would give their best to see her flag flying ahead of the rest. In fact, we identified each other from the house in which we belonged.
This house system brought in a sense of respect, patriotism and oneness. Many inter-house competitions were held in scholastic and co-scholastic areas which bonded students of the same house together like kin.

   We would go all out to be at the top. We also had a system in which students earned points or black marks for good or bad behaviour respectively. These would be calculated at the end of every month and the house with the maximum points would win the trophy for that month. It was as if for each of us our pride was at stake. Nothing else mattered more!

   All eyes were on that trophy. And while it was a day of celebration for the winning house, the rest of us eyed them with envy and dislike, with each student promising herself that the next month, her house would be the winning one. The students with more than five black marks were called on stage, which did seem a little too harsh and in today’s world, would be completely wrong as it surely affects the morale and psyche of the student. But if you look at it in a positive way, it helped bring in discipline and regulation.

Though all the houses shared a competitive spirit, the house captains were from the same batch and in fact, close friends with each other. Even today, we are all on a What’s App group. While I work as a high school coordinator, Anamika and Nirmala are in the IT field and Anitha is in the US. My best friend from school Shashikala, who is not in the picture, is also settled in the US.

Those 12 years in Cluny have left an impressionable mark on me and when I see today’s generation of school kids, with all due respect to their digital brain and self-confidence, I salute my alma mater for teaching me respect, humility and above all, to appreciate the value of everything around.   

(The author can be reached at [e-mail])