<p>I was listening to the news on a TV channel during the elections in Tamil Nadu this year when I noticed a familiar photograph that I had in my album. I was puzzled how my childhood class photo got televised. The photograph was that of my class when I was studying in Bishop Cotton Girls’ School in the mid 50s. I was in class four then and my teacher was Ms Mortimer. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The photograph was being televised because it had Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha in it. It was then that I realised that she was in the same section as me. She is the girl sitting on the ground in the rightmost corner.<br /><br />I knew this girl well but only as Jaya and vaguely remember her as pretty, small-built, quiet, smart and confident. To realise that this girl Jaya is Jayalalitha is a totally different feeling now.<br /><br />I left the school at the end of that year as my father shifted me to Sophia High School. Jaya and Bishop Cotton School became a thing of the past. But it was a coincidence that the same Jaya was also a student at the Church Park Convent, Chennai and I was a high school student at St Ursula’s Convent — both schools came under the Presentation Schools Management and in the same campus. This was during 1962 to 64. Of course, during that time I knew her as Jayalalitha, the daughter of Sandhya, a film actor. <br /><br />I remember Jaya then as a healthy girl, in the green Church Park uniform, watching our school team playing either throwball or netball. She appeared very sure of what she was doing, not perturbed by the fact that she was standing alone to observe a sister school’s main team play.<br /><br />I have some memories of my other classmates at Bishop Cotton School as well. Jennifer Webb was an athlete and stood first in almost all field and track events. I would both envy and admire her. Later, I also played basketball for my school and college. In fact, I had visited her house on M G Road a couple of times. Probably, my father knew her father as he owned the automobile spare parts company ‘Eastern Agencies’ and Webbs were the prominent car dealers then. Alice was a first ranker and Dorothy probably retired as a principal of the same school. <br /><br />I was a shy child at that time because I was taken out of class two from a rural school in a Tamil Nadu village and coached over only a couple of months to enter class three in an English medium school in Bengaluru. But I do not remember a single incident in Bishop Cotton School when I received any unfriendly gesture or words from anyone. <br /><br />My house then was on Shankar Mutt Road, Chamrajpet. In those days, there was much less traffic and it was a peaceful commute from my residence to the school.<br /><br />‘Songs the Letters Sing’, a series of books mostly in yellow colour, which we read in our English class, is still fresh in my mind. I vaguely remember that the school’s principal, who had confirmed my admission to my father, had an unfortunate death a few days later and my father was very upset about this.<br /><br />Growing up was a wonderful period and then came marriage! My husband and I were in Jamshedpur from 1968 till 2000. Then we returned to Bengaluru after my husband’s retirement from Tata Steel. I became a teacher in an elite ICSE school in Jamshedpur, Dakshina Bharat Mahila Samajam (DBMS), and also managed a free school for underprivileged kids in my own campus. <br /><br />The school gave me full freedom to introduce a number of innovative changes, including the introduction of compulsory yoga in the 80s. In fact, mountaineer Bachendri Pal helped me start the very first adventure wing in the school in 1989. We had the first gym, maths lab, astronomy and ham radio clubs. Needless to say, the school produced a number of famous personalities of today.<br /><br />Today, in Bengaluru, I am trying to give back to society in my small way in the area of yoga as I am connected with SVYASA.<br /><br />It is a pity that I am not in touch with any of my schoolmates. Jaya was a successful actor and now a politician and chief minister. I wonder what my other classmates, seen in this photograph, are up to! I am sure that wherever they are, they would have lead a successful and active life and are now leading a contented retired life.<br /><br /><br />(The author can be contacted on asok.shantha@gmail.com)<br /></p>
<p>I was listening to the news on a TV channel during the elections in Tamil Nadu this year when I noticed a familiar photograph that I had in my album. I was puzzled how my childhood class photo got televised. The photograph was that of my class when I was studying in Bishop Cotton Girls’ School in the mid 50s. I was in class four then and my teacher was Ms Mortimer. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The photograph was being televised because it had Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha in it. It was then that I realised that she was in the same section as me. She is the girl sitting on the ground in the rightmost corner.<br /><br />I knew this girl well but only as Jaya and vaguely remember her as pretty, small-built, quiet, smart and confident. To realise that this girl Jaya is Jayalalitha is a totally different feeling now.<br /><br />I left the school at the end of that year as my father shifted me to Sophia High School. Jaya and Bishop Cotton School became a thing of the past. But it was a coincidence that the same Jaya was also a student at the Church Park Convent, Chennai and I was a high school student at St Ursula’s Convent — both schools came under the Presentation Schools Management and in the same campus. This was during 1962 to 64. Of course, during that time I knew her as Jayalalitha, the daughter of Sandhya, a film actor. <br /><br />I remember Jaya then as a healthy girl, in the green Church Park uniform, watching our school team playing either throwball or netball. She appeared very sure of what she was doing, not perturbed by the fact that she was standing alone to observe a sister school’s main team play.<br /><br />I have some memories of my other classmates at Bishop Cotton School as well. Jennifer Webb was an athlete and stood first in almost all field and track events. I would both envy and admire her. Later, I also played basketball for my school and college. In fact, I had visited her house on M G Road a couple of times. Probably, my father knew her father as he owned the automobile spare parts company ‘Eastern Agencies’ and Webbs were the prominent car dealers then. Alice was a first ranker and Dorothy probably retired as a principal of the same school. <br /><br />I was a shy child at that time because I was taken out of class two from a rural school in a Tamil Nadu village and coached over only a couple of months to enter class three in an English medium school in Bengaluru. But I do not remember a single incident in Bishop Cotton School when I received any unfriendly gesture or words from anyone. <br /><br />My house then was on Shankar Mutt Road, Chamrajpet. In those days, there was much less traffic and it was a peaceful commute from my residence to the school.<br /><br />‘Songs the Letters Sing’, a series of books mostly in yellow colour, which we read in our English class, is still fresh in my mind. I vaguely remember that the school’s principal, who had confirmed my admission to my father, had an unfortunate death a few days later and my father was very upset about this.<br /><br />Growing up was a wonderful period and then came marriage! My husband and I were in Jamshedpur from 1968 till 2000. Then we returned to Bengaluru after my husband’s retirement from Tata Steel. I became a teacher in an elite ICSE school in Jamshedpur, Dakshina Bharat Mahila Samajam (DBMS), and also managed a free school for underprivileged kids in my own campus. <br /><br />The school gave me full freedom to introduce a number of innovative changes, including the introduction of compulsory yoga in the 80s. In fact, mountaineer Bachendri Pal helped me start the very first adventure wing in the school in 1989. We had the first gym, maths lab, astronomy and ham radio clubs. Needless to say, the school produced a number of famous personalities of today.<br /><br />Today, in Bengaluru, I am trying to give back to society in my small way in the area of yoga as I am connected with SVYASA.<br /><br />It is a pity that I am not in touch with any of my schoolmates. Jaya was a successful actor and now a politician and chief minister. I wonder what my other classmates, seen in this photograph, are up to! I am sure that wherever they are, they would have lead a successful and active life and are now leading a contented retired life.<br /><br /><br />(The author can be contacted on asok.shantha@gmail.com)<br /></p>
