Newbold Church and Others

Spicer Auditorium (Spicer High on the left side) Life at Spicer High (Sabbath Day) There is a buzz of activities before the sun goes down of Friday. My task is usually to make the young men look prim and proper. And I have a few customers all line up ready for a haircut behind the Men's Hostel. Winston Jacob, better known as Winston Churchill, is my ardent fan, and he meekly subjects himself to my not too sharp scissors. Someone starts singing Click Here for the song. and others join in, On Sabbath days, after breakfast, we have time to get ready for church. At 9 am we go to the Auditorium and sit in our assigned places and the person in charge takes our attendance. For my group it is Pramode Shivajirao Gaikwad. He sits next to me. I like the song service. There seems to be a perfect blend of harmony as the ladies sing the soprano and alto while the men sing the bass and tenor. Here are some of the sermons I remember and the speakers. Pr G J Christo ...

Life at Spicer High (Classes) English Classes Mr M Thomas is our teacher. Apart from the usual jokes about him, he, as we all know him, is an excellent English teacher.  Mr M Thomas sitting on the left side of Mrs Rice. Mrs and Mr D P David sitting on the extreme right We are introduced to Precis writing which  must always be shorter than the original. It should express only the main theme that too as briefly as possible. and Declension which  indicates number, grammatical case, and gender in a sentence. etc. Maths Mrs D P David teaches maths for us. Actually during my elementary school in Rangoon, I do not like maths at all. We have a poor classmate who do not have maths text book. I give him my maths text book and my note book together and the next morning he returns the book with the answer written in my notebook. One day our teacher sees this and gives me a spanking. After that I study hard and I do well in the subject. Click here for the ...

Life at Spicer High (Part 4) Valentine Day Special (true story but cast in Valentine ethos) Long long ago in the far away mythical land of India at Poona is a kingdom called Spicer High, ruled by a mighty king called Dr M E Cherian. Dr M E Cherian  He kept his subjects in tight control with many of his secert agents (staff) looking for anyone who might be a potential troublemaker. Anyone who  breaks the law of the land is severely punished including banishment from his kingdom (sent home), Burma (Myanmar) One day in 1959, a Prince from Burma,, son of the Treasurer, U Pein Gyi, comes flying in his golden chariot, UBA, (Union of Burma Airways) and lands in Calcutta (Kolkata) and travels in a convey for three days and three nights to Poona via Kalyan. By the time he reaches Spicer, the fair prince was black, covered with soot from the coal engine train.                       ...

Life at Spicer High (Part 3) Playtime After School We have many options Play of the ground on the left side of the above photo. Play on the right side of the above photo Play in the Mens Hostel recreation room. Study at the library and browse through the books. We play cricket and pole vault in the playground (now basketball court) Just remember a few of us playing cricket. I make a century and in the next innings get a duck.Good players like Archie plays in the football ground opposite the Elementary School. My friend Archie Maxwell, ace cricketer (late) Pole vault: I watch how the professionals plant the pole swing the leg up, turn around, and push the pole while clearing the bar. I cannot copy their style and the highest I clear was 6 feet. Play on the right side: We discover in a store room of the high school a tennis net and a few wooden racquets. There are two tennis poles on the ground and we clear the place, marked the court as per the guidl...

Life at Spicer High  A Typical Day (Recap) . The first period of our study is on the book "Princples of Life" Mrs Fernando teaches the subject. The table of contents are as follows Our Headmisstress is Mrs N Rice. Pr R E Rice is the Principal of Spicer Memorial College. My classmates are  Rajan Thomas  Edwin Alexander                                                                                                                                Benoy Pandit   George Samuel            Michael Israel     ...

Life at Spicer High. Weekdays Activities On the days that I got a good nights sleep, I  wake up early before the rising bell and quietly climb up to the attic. There in the "Quiet Room" lit by a zero watt bulb, I read the morning watch commentary. With a quiet prayer, I  walked to the door where the water tanks are and welcome the day with the noise of the water filling the tank and a few twin fuselage Indian Air Force planes flying above leaving their jet vapour trails in the sky like chalk board drawings.  The the hostel buzzes with activities as the rising bell rings and students rush to the toilets and bathrooms. If one takes a long time in the toilets, he is awaken by a knock on the door. I use to watch David Green grimices his face to get a good shave. At 14 years old I had no such hirsuite problem.   Mens Hostel We then rushed to the worship hall of the Mens Hostel. On the keyboard of the old piano was Sunderan Moses. He pla...