My School

This one is dedicated to The Principal and few good teachers of my school.

Bishop Johnson School was the only school I studied in right from kindergarten to senior secondary. Initially it was only a Primary then it became secondary and later on in the 1992 senior secondary was introduced and now it’s a college offering grad courses affiliated to a century old Agriculture university of Allahabad. It kept on growing with us. We have seen every bit of the development and we have learnt how to manage the change…how to improve and how to take care of the improvement.
Oh what a great school!!!...during the starting years I remember we could hear bomb explosions inside the campus…guys of secondary riding bikes inside the corridor…they taught us how to cross roads! Students carrying pistols and knives and pointing them to the teachers if by mistake they showed any bit of anger. But all through this I had the company of people who had the fear of doing such things so I also never attempted. Till then the new building of the school had been constructed and it was the best time to start senior secondary but Mr. N.L. Singh our princi waited for one more year so that he can get rid of the worst batch the school had ever had. Intelligent. That was the turning point because thereafter the graph has always grown.
Discipline was introduced for the first time…reduced bunking, regular classes, proper uniform, prayers, attendance…and Education. Everything was getting better. They had started fixing grills around the centre field which later on became the first garden of the school. Then we had the Basket-ball courts inside it. I wonder from where did they manufacture those good players…and that’s not it…even one of the guard was a national player of basket-ball. The construction of the top floor of the new building had started and a new feature was introduced…rumor. Everybody had their own imagination about it. Some said its going to be a swimming pool…while according to some it was the hostel…some had the feeling it would be an audi while some had gone far enough to imagine it as a degree college. Who knew that the princi had everything in mind but it was none of the above.
Our field had a new boundary and stadium now…we were very thrilled and were looking forward to participate in sports that year…what motivation does an addition in the infrastructure brings. The student teacher relation had shaped up so well that we suggested for student v/s staff football and cricket tournaments that year for the first time in the history. That was 1998…it took 6 years for that and much more…we had badminton courts, our uniform was changed, cultural events, NCC, computer Lab. , coaching for sports like cricket, football, basket-ball, boxing etc and guess what, the top floor had now…science labs, bigger classrooms for senior secondary, a much bigger and better library and a fully equipped auditorium.
It was 1999 and the summer vacations were just over…I was excited. Entered school after a long time…same old friends, same teachers, same guards, same princi… same family. Same walls but no…there was some thing more…a condude running all through the walls going inside every classroom with a strange hole at the top rear corner covered with glass and a speaker…and there were rumours again…the most strange one being…”it’s the camera that bloddy princi has installed in every class to monitor us so that we don’t steal anything from his property as though we belong to a family of thieves”…and we laughed at it. We were stupid…it was the camera to monitor the activities of every class and the speaker to keep things in control from a remote place…no points for guessing that one…princi’s cabin of course.
Our princi had a vision…he transformed a war field to a temple of education. He transformed our present which was our future back then which could have been much worse…it could have been guns and knives but it’s a pen and a guitar…it could have been rage and anger but its wisdom and happiness, it could have been a jail buts it’s the Delhi airport and I am a responsible citizen of the country.
There are some teachers also who have their own priceless contribution in making me the person I am. Starting with Mrs. Dutt…she taught us in Upper KG and never forgot our names…she remembered each one of us…bigger memory than google…and she is a loving soul…she always had the warmth we used to get from her when we were kids. Mrs. Halsey was also very loving but she left school, Mr. Ghosh and Mr. Lartius were our entertainment duo…then the revision and canes of Mr. Hanvey and the class room training and games period of Mr. Dutt…our sports in charge. Mrs. Yafat ki aafat aur Mrs. Washington ka confusion…they were cute. Mrs Rawate ke physics ke funde aur Mr. Tiwari ke BASIC logic building lectures. Mr. Peter ki dinge aur Mr. Sharma ki fizool bakwaas. Mr. Areal of course…he didn’t teach us that much but he was a good teacher. Mrs. Srivastava ki beautiful smile aur Mrs. Singh ka perfect attitude. Ek taraf the aalsi langdu Mishra aur ek taraf Mrs. Harold aur Mr. Das jaise hard working teachers. Mrs. Mall who taught us history civics and some English as well…I remember making a file that she had asked all of us to prepare…which she found the best an encouraged me a lot and I got some recognition for my work in the class…and Sushant who happened to be a very good friend of mine was humiliated in front of the whole class because his work was being compared with mine…why he???...his full name is Sushant Mall and he is still my one of the best buddies and will always be. Last but not at all the least in fact the most important of all Mrs. David who taught us many things of life…how to love…how to be polite…how to volunteer…how to take a responsibility…how to think creative, I remember that bulletin board competition of class 9th when Rohit showed all his enthu and creativity and helped me open my eyes and taught me to think beyond boundaries. I will fall short of words to describe my feelings for her because she is the creator of my creativity…she gave us such opportunities that we are blessed with such memories.
Then there were two picnics both to Siddhanath ki Dari…one in 9th and one in 11th and both were ultimate experiences.
I don’t want to elaborate much on friends because it will become too long…just mentioning the names…Sushant, Rohit, Abhishek, Nishith, Garima,Vandana, Megha, Nami, Nisha, Utsav, Ravish, Shalini, Shilpi, Parul, Mansi, Shailendra, Gaurav, Mohd. Mauz, Sharath,Shera, Nadeem, Varun Kumar, Varun Lalwani, Anurag, Vibhakar, Ankit, Rajiv, Saurabh, Ashutosh, Shailja, Ashwin and the list is unending. Only a few of us are still together…we were always together right from ground zero and will always be…I can’t tell you what these guys mean to me because they are parts of me…I could not have survived without them and now I can’t live without them.