Take a bow!
I have always liked the sound of the phrase Alma mater but never really went behind the depth of what it meant till now. A little bit of research helped me understand that the phrase has had its origin from Latin and that it roughly translates in to ‘Nourishing mother’ in English! Someone who nurtures and thus moulds you! This piece is about my alma mater who played a big role in shaping me up as a person.
Down memory lane… way back in 1982. With roots firmly placed in Kerala our doctor parents working in Germany made sure that we received an upbringing which went along with theirs. So here we were, my little sister and I, away from hearth and home and in a completely foreign land with an even more alien language. As we walked in to the gates of Little Flower LP School Chengaroor, all the way from far away Germany we were engulfed in to the folds of warmth and security of our alma mater, from the first day on. In place of our mom our alma mater stood by us in our early years of growing up and gave us our first lessons in discipline, the first values as Catholics, our first friends and teachers.
Life in the lower primary and eventually in the upper primary was filled with adventure. The transition from Little Flower LP School to St. Therese High School was a journey with tough lessons to learn; right from getting used to eating rice with curries as against potatoes and tomato sauce to washing oneself with one’s hands as against relying on the foreign toilet paper. There were teachers and boarding mistresses who left quite an impression and this space would just be the right one to make a mention of some of them. Sr.Julia, our first boarding mistress at Little Flower LP School, had a heart of gold. All that remains with me after all these years is her smile which she kept for all her wards all the time. Pennamma Chechi; a woman with an amazing sense of humour and a sense of graceful control which helped her manage us kids without being a task mistress. I reverently remember Mother Rose, our LP school headmistress who held the reins of the school and steered us ahead in our paths.
The move to the next section was literally and figuratively a move up. We climbed up the single flight of stone stairs which led us to the bigger world of St. Therese High School. More children, more teachers, more subjects, more activities… I was all eager to grow up fast. My class teacher Mrs. Kunjoojamma, an extremely warm human and a most efficient teacher who taught me never to give up on anything in life no matter how discouraged you feel, is someone who I remember very fondly at this moment. My social studies teacher who incidentally happened to be my own aunt was one of my favourite teachers. The streak of teaching runs in the family as I can see in all her sisters (one of them being my mother). An excellent teacher who went beyond the text book she made history come alive in her classes. I gained a lot of inspiration from her when I became a teacher much later in my life.
My memoir would not be complete without the names of the first friends I made in school: Pretty Jacob (who was called my look-alike), Reena Jacob (naughty and bold, I looked up to her for a lot of mischief), Annie Deena (the timid little girl who I vied with every month for a first rank in every class), Shaji Mathew (the sweet and soft spoken golden boy of LP school)and Binoy Mathew ( who wed me on stage in event of a fancy dress competition which got us the first place too). There are a lot of memories from my alma mater in Chengaroor which go in to the first few chapters of my life. I can convincingly say that after all these years the lessons that I learnt from here are the ones which have stood me well in life despite plenty of trials and difficult times. This was my first play ground where I learnt to play hard and fair. And when my aunt asked me to write something for the school magazine on the occasion of its 60th anniversary I felt honoured and wanted to dedicate this as a small gift for the big lessons that I gained from my alma mater!
May you continue instilling valuable lessons in all of your children in many more years to come! Happy 60th Birthday!
Down memory lane… way back in 1982. With roots firmly placed in Kerala our doctor parents working in Germany made sure that we received an upbringing which went along with theirs. So here we were, my little sister and I, away from hearth and home and in a completely foreign land with an even more alien language. As we walked in to the gates of Little Flower LP School Chengaroor, all the way from far away Germany we were engulfed in to the folds of warmth and security of our alma mater, from the first day on. In place of our mom our alma mater stood by us in our early years of growing up and gave us our first lessons in discipline, the first values as Catholics, our first friends and teachers.
Life in the lower primary and eventually in the upper primary was filled with adventure. The transition from Little Flower LP School to St. Therese High School was a journey with tough lessons to learn; right from getting used to eating rice with curries as against potatoes and tomato sauce to washing oneself with one’s hands as against relying on the foreign toilet paper. There were teachers and boarding mistresses who left quite an impression and this space would just be the right one to make a mention of some of them. Sr.Julia, our first boarding mistress at Little Flower LP School, had a heart of gold. All that remains with me after all these years is her smile which she kept for all her wards all the time. Pennamma Chechi; a woman with an amazing sense of humour and a sense of graceful control which helped her manage us kids without being a task mistress. I reverently remember Mother Rose, our LP school headmistress who held the reins of the school and steered us ahead in our paths.
The move to the next section was literally and figuratively a move up. We climbed up the single flight of stone stairs which led us to the bigger world of St. Therese High School. More children, more teachers, more subjects, more activities… I was all eager to grow up fast. My class teacher Mrs. Kunjoojamma, an extremely warm human and a most efficient teacher who taught me never to give up on anything in life no matter how discouraged you feel, is someone who I remember very fondly at this moment. My social studies teacher who incidentally happened to be my own aunt was one of my favourite teachers. The streak of teaching runs in the family as I can see in all her sisters (one of them being my mother). An excellent teacher who went beyond the text book she made history come alive in her classes. I gained a lot of inspiration from her when I became a teacher much later in my life.
My memoir would not be complete without the names of the first friends I made in school: Pretty Jacob (who was called my look-alike), Reena Jacob (naughty and bold, I looked up to her for a lot of mischief), Annie Deena (the timid little girl who I vied with every month for a first rank in every class), Shaji Mathew (the sweet and soft spoken golden boy of LP school)and Binoy Mathew ( who wed me on stage in event of a fancy dress competition which got us the first place too). There are a lot of memories from my alma mater in Chengaroor which go in to the first few chapters of my life. I can convincingly say that after all these years the lessons that I learnt from here are the ones which have stood me well in life despite plenty of trials and difficult times. This was my first play ground where I learnt to play hard and fair. And when my aunt asked me to write something for the school magazine on the occasion of its 60th anniversary I felt honoured and wanted to dedicate this as a small gift for the big lessons that I gained from my alma mater!
May you continue instilling valuable lessons in all of your children in many more years to come! Happy 60th Birthday!
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