LORETO & MY FIRST TEACHERS

Loreto & My first Teachers !

Being a May born and since the sessions in the Convents in those good old days started in January,I had to spend six months at Christ Church College(about which I hardly remeber anything),before I was admitted in Loreto Convent in Jan 65 in KG.For many ,it may be news,that Loreto had a boys section too,earlier,till 1967 to be precise.The boys section of Loreto Convent,Lucknow was called St Annes and was run in the building of Avadh Ladies Club,on Kalidas Marg,just a road away from the backside of Loreto's main building,which now houses the Avadh Degree College.Though the administration of the boys section was from the main school,there was no intermingling with the girls, :( ,except during fates,sports days and annual functions or Christmas programmes.

The small school.with just three classes had three teachers,Mrs Fig,Mrs Springett and Mrs Jordan,the first three teachers of my life ( Though my mother was actually my first teacher,who taught me,alpahbets and numbers,before I got into formal schooling)Mother Carmel,was the Mother Superior(Prinipal) at our times,of the complete Loreto Convent and would visit us,once a week,for a very casual but a vigilant round.

Mrs Fig,was an Anglo-Indian,in her late 50s or early 60s,who had spent nearly four decades as a teacher in the school,and had pracatically taught most of the youngsters of Lucknow.Fair,prim and slim she looked really british in her dress with bright floral prints, prematurely silvered hair,brisk gate and the typical Queen's English accent.She always used the same powder or perfume,by which we could identify her ,appraoching the class,much before she reached.She lived in the interiors on Lalbagh and was famous as being the mother of five young sons,who bullied everyone around taking the advantage of the fact that most boys were their moms students.She was the Mother hen of the school almost like a grand mom figure to each one of us.Besides being the class teacher of KG,she was the Story Time and Recreation Break,teacher for the whole school.She would not only read out stories,but make us read too,and would encourage us to tell stories that we could remember and create stories from a sentence started by her.She was also our music teacher ,and played the piano,really well,and gave us our first lessons of do,re me,fa and the Christmas Carols,specially Jingle bells. She was the first lady whom I saw eating indian food,with a fork.She would role the chappati,dip it in gravy and take a bite,and then with the fork would eat a peice of vegetable or meat.

Mrs Springett was actually a british lady,settled in India,and was in school for only a decade,since her husband joined La Martineer Boys and she lived with him in the staff quarters of Lamarts.She was class teacher of the class one,and with her plump physique and grumpy voice,she always reminded us of Mother Hubbord ! She was very loving and caring too,but would never spare the rod! For every mistake we did,which almost always used to be,making noice in her abscence,we would be spanked.She would actually make us bend on her lap,and give two spanks with her palms,one on each bum,and then a stern smile.One never minded that spanking,thanks to the warmth of the soft motherly feel of her lap.

Mrs Jorden,was the youngest,in her late forties,and probably a converted christian.Living in Lalbagh,and always dressed in a saree she was more Indian than the others. She was sweet too,when she wanted to be,but usually she maintained her distance with the students.Being the class teacher of class 2 ,she teached maths to other two classes too.She knew her tricks of numbers so well that she tought us,tables,addition,substraction,missing numbers and dodging,very easily.

None of these three could teach Hindi,and for that we had Mrs D'Souza,the hindi teacher of Girls section.In her late twenties,she was approachable,and friendly.She lived in Narhi and was infact my neighbour,but i never dared to take advantage of that,even though I met her often in the evenings in the locality.She never bothered us much to mug the Hindi Varnmala,as long as we identified the alphabet and could use them to write,jal,tub,aam,bus etc.( I still cant speak out the hindi alphabets on order)She had a tragic fatal stove fire acccident at home,even while we were in school,and that was probably my first encounter with death of someone I knew,and loved.

My tribute to these teachers of Loreto,would be incomplete,without the mention of Mrs Cordigal(Hope I got the spelling correct) Wife of an IAS officer,she was probably a konkan or kurgi,as I presume, retrospectivly, keeping in mind her fair shining skin and beautiful eyes..Emmaculately dressed in pure cotton or silk sarees( La Fab-India and Sanskrti style ) she was jovial,funny and unlike the teachers of those days very friendly.She would come to teach us as a subsitute teacher from the main Block,when anyone was on leave or ill.

Mrs Springett left India in late 60s,Mrs Cordigal moved out of lucknow ,when her husband got posted out,but I kept seeing Mrs Jorden as late as late 70s once in a while in Gunj and .would often see Mrs Fig,knitting,on a winter afternoon,on her rocking chair,in the varendah of her hose,facing the road behind Noor Manjil,in Lalbagh.Whenever I stopped to wave at her and wished her,she would strain her eyes,and then give a knowingly smile with brightened eyes,seen through thick glasses,as if she recognized.Wonder if she really did?

Those memories are so fresh,even after over four decades,and I can actually still hear their voice and feel the warmth of their hugs even today.May thier soul rest in peace,and may my humble tribute and loads of love reach them as a thanks for all they taught us,which I could teach my children,and may be,will teach my grand children too.

Sanjay Kapoor Lucknow

THE DIVINE TUSSLE

The divine tussle

Besides the numerous religions and sects that we had, in the world, especially in India, more and more religious groups are mushrooming everyday. The last decade has seen am alarming rise in the number of GURUS, and their pravachan sessions cost a fortunes, at times the Math or Organization charging in crores for a week session, at any city.

What is strange and at times even disappointing is the fact, that many of them lead lives full of luxury, contrary to what they preach. Some have more than one wife, some involved in criminal charges, some in faulty accounts and few have their children involved in all kinds of nefarious activities, while the ashrams of others are accused of murder of children in the name of Bali

These activities are common not only in India but abroad too, where besides Indians, foreigners are active participants. Latest to be added in the glamour of Pravachan Sessions, this season is a week long, so called spiritual holiday, pravachan on a luxury Cruise by the Oxford educated, Kirit Bhai, and costing 3.5 lacs per person. Religious and spiritual discourses too seem to be getting out, from the reach of the common and poor man.

But what was most shocking and infact amusing was when, one of the Gurus, dragged his deputy to London court for misusing (Read using) his Guru mantra, for making his own personal disciples, after splitting from the parent body. The Guru, not only won the case, but the Shishyas made and Guru Mantra given, by the deputy were declared illegal and nullified, and the original gurumantra was patented

Its shocking and shameful, how even the religious teachers are fighting for power
Be it Hinduism, Christianity or any religion or sect, the struggle and aim in each ends in power, money and numbers
In the blind race to outshine the other, one doesn’t hesitate in using any means
The very object of spreading gyan or knowledge is soon lost to the expansion and rise of the mission
The wood is lost to the trees and the goal to the survival battle

Many of these spiritual teachers today are more of well acclaimed kathakaars, amongst the Hindus in India and abroad, and few have a fan following that could put any pop Bollywood or even Hollywood star to shame. But it seems that what they preaches is just a katha, a story, and nothing more
How can these religious teachers preach selflessness, harmony and non violence, when they leave no stone unturned to gain all the worldly powers?
I think the common man would be better-off, left alone, than following those who cant practice what they preach

Dr S Kapoor Lucknow