Class 1: The journey starts. Mrs. Medley , caning, duster makeup, monkey park, picnic to guvvies is what i remember from class 1. I remember my first swimming classes…running and jumping into the pool where mr palmer and mr gomes would be waiting. Lunch breaks used to spent playing footta or “hand cricket” on the basket ball court. Mrs Medley had quite a personality and i dont think there was a soul in Sem who didnt fear her.
Class 2: Mrs. D’Raunjo. Mostly uneventful except for the unusually high number of students from other classes who would come to borrow chalk or the captains who would jostle with each other to be able to come and make announcements. Didnt know then that she had a simpler name “Dingi”. Remember her as a nice lady and teacher. Wangchen Dorji, the first boarder of our batch joined.
Class 3: I was allotted section A. So it was Class 3 A. Mrs. Lata Sah. Again a very dedicated and caring teacher. That was the year in which the Uttarakhand agitation took place and school was closed for some time. Made many new life long friends as boarders had also joined us in class 3.
Class 4: This was a fun year all through, mostly because of Ms. N Rana. One of the most engaging teachers that I have ever come across. Great teacher. can never forget her. Also Br. Beddoe had started to bring discipline back to sem. He had joined a year back as principal. Mrs. Simpson’s daughter was our art teacher for sometime and she thought I was cheap. Why and how I dont know ? 😀 Also will be remembered as the year in which Manjot Tiwana joined us and th year in which Sumit Singh Bora gave Travis Sweeney a black eye :).
Class 5: Ms. Shikha Wheeler was our class teacher. She was new and some of us were very relieved that we had been saved from the strict Mrs. Palmer. Ms. Wheeler was quite young but she was good teacher. She also evoked widespread interest in the senior classes :).
Class 6: This time I knew who dingo was and the entire family tree and nomenclature :). Credit goes to him for raising the hand writing standards of many Semites. Its another matter that I am back to my old ways now :). Used to skip through “Australia” in geography real fast and avoided all references to Dingo. In fact he made write notes on the blackboard and the class made me repeat sentences that had references to Dingo. Flustered Mr. D’Raunjo intervened and made them underline the sentences in the text book. Also Himanshu Bhakuni did something in the Hindi class. Dont want to write what it was but guys I hope you remember. It was in the Hindi class.
Class 7: Mrs. Rathore made sure that we had fun all year. Wonderful teacher. Amongst the very best I have ever come across and a great lady. Highlights of the year:Elocution recital on “Dhoti” by Vikram Raj Singh and Gaurav Dangwal visiting Ramnee fete with one eye blacked out in the boxing finals. Mr. Bernard joined as the biology teacher and our science teacher.
Class 8: Mrs J .S Gill. If there was one teacher that our batch really troubled, it had to be her. Class 8 A was frequently seem standing in the quadrangle waiting for Br. Beddoe to come and try and fix us. Gaurav Singh and Harender Virk mastered the art of sliding both the blackboards high enough out of Mrs. Gill’s reach. This was the year in which we as a class were debarred from the fete but allowed at the last minute. Harshit Chawla was seen hiding behind the burger stall for reasons well known to all. It had something to do with a Ramnee student.
Class 9: Ms Deepa Sah and Mr. Menezes. The two finest teachers I have ever come across. Kargil war and attending Major Rajesh Adhikari’s funeral was an emotional experience. Ms Deepa Sah was named Portia after the central character from Merchant of Venice which she taught so very well. Highlights: Excursion to Ranikhet and being asked to leave the class by Mr. N L Sah aka Batman only to walk in from the other door with his permission. He had forgotten he had just asked us to leave the class :).
Class 10: Final and most memorable year at Sem. Will be remembered for Mr Ravi Shankar’s(Laadu) geography classes and his habit for asking for the latest news. News items delivered included ” Sir NASA scientists have discovered that if you change the electronic configuration of iron it changes to gold” and “Sir the police have have finally nabbed the notorious dacoit daaku Laadu singh in the ravines of Chambal” to which his response was such people should be hanged. It was believed that any news item that had the NASA tag on it drew appreciation from him until this was delivered-“Sir NASA scientists have discovered if hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in the ratio 2:1 water is formed!”. He knew some chemistry!!! Chemistry reminds me of Mrs Veena Rathore, a temp Chem teacher who had a tough time with our class and batch in general. Excursion to Agra and Jaipur and trip to COFAS Lucknow were memorable experiences.
This is an attempt to recount my experiences in Sem as they come to my mind. Events that I may have missed out on included cheering for Sem when they played on the flats or the many visits to Ramnee. Ramnee reminds me that Arun Bhatt did enter a classroom in Ramnee to wave a hi to one the girls during one of the visits. Please feel free to share your memories and experiences. Would love to hear about them.
yaar have lots of memories…they are just so many that everytime i read this post i remember something that i should have included. enough for a novel [:)].
wow u remember them all !!