himalayan boarding school
She was 15, scared and nervous, her whole life was going upside down and topsy turvy. She sat with her favorite t-shirt on and ate scrambled eggs in Kasauli. Her life was going to change and she was terrified. Aditi was starting boarding school this morning after breakfast.
She was with her mother, father and brother today, tomorrow, she was going to be alone around no one she knew. She had cried through the 5 hour car journey, her parents were sad they didn’t know what it was going to be like for their precious child.
She had packed her stuff in a holdall which contained her sleeping bag, her blanket, her sweaters and her coats. She was also allowed 1 metal case with her name painted on Aditi Singh, H.G.D. standing for Himalaya house girls dormitory. It contained some of her home clothes and toiletries.
Her father had been to the same school, many years ago and was also in Himalaya house. She had heard horror stories from him about how if they spoke Hindi they were punished with a edge of the compass poking their fingers. Their was a lot of bullying, where the senior students persecuted the juniors by making them run errands in the middle of the night, or punished them for the fun of it, cursed them and often beat them for no reason. She had also read a Enid Blyton’s “Mallory Towers” and the English girls were having so much fun playing pranks, at boarding school each semester.
She reached around breakfast time and was lead into a huge hall called C.D.H or Central Dinning hall. A bell was rung, leading to a prayer, after the prayer their was another bell and that allowed one to sit down, and the third bell you could start eating. 10 minutes later their was another bell, and that was to stop eating and had to get out and leave in a line, based on your house.
Aditi was in Himalaya. The other houses were Vindhya, Shivalik and Nilgiri, each house was separated in to the boys dormitory and the girl dormitory, each dormitory was further subdivided into each class. So the same class ate, slept and studied together. The classes started from lower four and went up to upper six. The more junior, the worst your living conditions were, you were in the main dorm, with no privacy, the senior students got a cubicle or a bunk bed. The only furniture was a bed, a small closet, and a desk and chair, in a 3'x5'space.
The earlier you got into the dorms, after the holidays, the better your chances of securing a bed were, you could throw your possessions on the bed that you wanted.
Water was always short, the earlier you woke up in the morning, you started bagging at 6am. This was the routine bags 1- which mean that was the first person going to get a shower..bags 2 and so on, by bags 5 you could forget it. By then the water would be icy cold and probably finish in the middle of your head wash.
Rouser was at 6am, by 6:20 you had to be lined up at peacestead, the P.T. grounds (physical training).
Starting around 6:07am we started to change while sitting up, it started first with putting on your bra, under your nightshirt, and then in one movement you could take off the shirt and put the bra straps up at the same time. One then replaced the nightshirt with a sports kit which was a white shirt with blue paneled tennis skirts. While still being covered by the blanket, we put on underwear and the skirt. Socks were slipped on and freshly white polished PT shoes were worn.
A quick trip to the bathroom, before the 2nd bell rung at 6:20, when you had to be on the field lined up according to your house, class and height. The taller girls were at the back, while shorter ones were in front.
The ground had white chalk crosses at equidistant, that was where we would stand, one cross per girl. We had a PT leader, who we had to follow.
Their was a much feared and loved teacher, called mucho (big mustache) who would come everyday to inspect the PT. We had arm exercises, leg exercises, stretches, bending, hunches and the finale was a head stand. We also had to do a dance called the “highland fling”, it consisted of our hands twirling and we had to keep skipping from one cross to another.
Straight after the 45 minute PT, two of the junior students had to go get tea, cups and biscuits, that were either salty or sweetie depending on its taste. The Tea and biscuits was distributed to all the students after P.T.
By 8 we were back at the dormitory changing our clothes, the first few bags 1-5 were taking baths, and then we had to be at prep by 8:30. We had to march in our school kit, which was a blue shirt, gray skirt and black polished brogues, along with our study books to a classroom, where we were to study before breakfast which was at 9:30.
After marching to and from breakfast, we could breakup and go to our classes. Our books were not in bags, but were left, in piles, all over the floor, and found in time to take to classes.
Our only interaction with the boys was during class, but even then we often sat separately. The idea of being friends with the boys was unheard of, you either went out with them or didn’t speak to them.
We had lunch from 1 to 1:30 by 2:20 we had to go back to the dorms, change into our sports kit and go for hobbies, we could chose from batik painting, art, photography, ceramic, wood working or poultry farming.
By 3:30 we were done and could go back to the dorm, to rest or snack. Our favorite snacks were uncooked Maggi noodles, chocolate biscuits and condensed milk. By 5:30 we had to change back into our school kit and go to prep again, before supper. Supper was at 7:30 it was a terrible meal usually, a chapati that was so hard that our teeth couldn’t go through it and some dal and some insipid tasteless vegetable.
By 9:00 we had to study in the dorms until 10 and then by 11:00 it was lights out. Some girls had torches and turned them on to read some more, mills and boons romances.
Aditi soon got used to this regmentalized life, the discipline, time obsession, the bells and the cast of characters that this life created.
She was with her mother, father and brother today, tomorrow, she was going to be alone around no one she knew. She had cried through the 5 hour car journey, her parents were sad they didn’t know what it was going to be like for their precious child.
She had packed her stuff in a holdall which contained her sleeping bag, her blanket, her sweaters and her coats. She was also allowed 1 metal case with her name painted on Aditi Singh, H.G.D. standing for Himalaya house girls dormitory. It contained some of her home clothes and toiletries.
Her father had been to the same school, many years ago and was also in Himalaya house. She had heard horror stories from him about how if they spoke Hindi they were punished with a edge of the compass poking their fingers. Their was a lot of bullying, where the senior students persecuted the juniors by making them run errands in the middle of the night, or punished them for the fun of it, cursed them and often beat them for no reason. She had also read a Enid Blyton’s “Mallory Towers” and the English girls were having so much fun playing pranks, at boarding school each semester.
She reached around breakfast time and was lead into a huge hall called C.D.H or Central Dinning hall. A bell was rung, leading to a prayer, after the prayer their was another bell and that allowed one to sit down, and the third bell you could start eating. 10 minutes later their was another bell, and that was to stop eating and had to get out and leave in a line, based on your house.
Aditi was in Himalaya. The other houses were Vindhya, Shivalik and Nilgiri, each house was separated in to the boys dormitory and the girl dormitory, each dormitory was further subdivided into each class. So the same class ate, slept and studied together. The classes started from lower four and went up to upper six. The more junior, the worst your living conditions were, you were in the main dorm, with no privacy, the senior students got a cubicle or a bunk bed. The only furniture was a bed, a small closet, and a desk and chair, in a 3'x5'space.
The earlier you got into the dorms, after the holidays, the better your chances of securing a bed were, you could throw your possessions on the bed that you wanted.
Water was always short, the earlier you woke up in the morning, you started bagging at 6am. This was the routine bags 1- which mean that was the first person going to get a shower..bags 2 and so on, by bags 5 you could forget it. By then the water would be icy cold and probably finish in the middle of your head wash.
Rouser was at 6am, by 6:20 you had to be lined up at peacestead, the P.T. grounds (physical training).
Starting around 6:07am we started to change while sitting up, it started first with putting on your bra, under your nightshirt, and then in one movement you could take off the shirt and put the bra straps up at the same time. One then replaced the nightshirt with a sports kit which was a white shirt with blue paneled tennis skirts. While still being covered by the blanket, we put on underwear and the skirt. Socks were slipped on and freshly white polished PT shoes were worn.
A quick trip to the bathroom, before the 2nd bell rung at 6:20, when you had to be on the field lined up according to your house, class and height. The taller girls were at the back, while shorter ones were in front.
The ground had white chalk crosses at equidistant, that was where we would stand, one cross per girl. We had a PT leader, who we had to follow.
Their was a much feared and loved teacher, called mucho (big mustache) who would come everyday to inspect the PT. We had arm exercises, leg exercises, stretches, bending, hunches and the finale was a head stand. We also had to do a dance called the “highland fling”, it consisted of our hands twirling and we had to keep skipping from one cross to another.
Straight after the 45 minute PT, two of the junior students had to go get tea, cups and biscuits, that were either salty or sweetie depending on its taste. The Tea and biscuits was distributed to all the students after P.T.
By 8 we were back at the dormitory changing our clothes, the first few bags 1-5 were taking baths, and then we had to be at prep by 8:30. We had to march in our school kit, which was a blue shirt, gray skirt and black polished brogues, along with our study books to a classroom, where we were to study before breakfast which was at 9:30.
After marching to and from breakfast, we could breakup and go to our classes. Our books were not in bags, but were left, in piles, all over the floor, and found in time to take to classes.
Our only interaction with the boys was during class, but even then we often sat separately. The idea of being friends with the boys was unheard of, you either went out with them or didn’t speak to them.
We had lunch from 1 to 1:30 by 2:20 we had to go back to the dorms, change into our sports kit and go for hobbies, we could chose from batik painting, art, photography, ceramic, wood working or poultry farming.
By 3:30 we were done and could go back to the dorm, to rest or snack. Our favorite snacks were uncooked Maggi noodles, chocolate biscuits and condensed milk. By 5:30 we had to change back into our school kit and go to prep again, before supper. Supper was at 7:30 it was a terrible meal usually, a chapati that was so hard that our teeth couldn’t go through it and some dal and some insipid tasteless vegetable.
By 9:00 we had to study in the dorms until 10 and then by 11:00 it was lights out. Some girls had torches and turned them on to read some more, mills and boons romances.
Aditi soon got used to this regmentalized life, the discipline, time obsession, the bells and the cast of characters that this life created.
Comments
I hope you continue this series. Will wait for more.