My love for cricket
As a young boy I was very much interested in playing different games. I was not a very good athlete and I was more in to games like cricket and football. Cricket was more easy for me as I was not the fastest of the movers around. Those days we didn’t play cricket near our quarters.I think I learned playing cricket by watching TV and playing with my cousins.
My friends who were staying in another part of colony had started playing cricket and they used to discuss cricket in school. So I felt I was left out of the group and I wanted to be part of them soon. I was waiting for an opportunity so that I could also join them and play cricket. One day we went to school only to know that there won’t be any classes for the day. I heard my friends saying that they will play cricket. I decided to join them.
Problem was, during those day we didn’t have any mobile phones to call and tell folks at home about our plan and I didn’t want to miss out the opportunity to make a name for myself among cricket playing students group. So I got down from the school bus at their place and started playing with them. I knew that I will be in trouble once I reach home but I still wanted to play. Another reason why I wanted to play was they were playing with good cricket bat and I have never used them till then.
I really liked playing with that bat and it was good fun when we were playing. I think Achan took me home when he went home for lunch. No prizes for guessing what followed.:-) Since I had never expected a hero’s welcome at home, I think it was OK. Now I can imagine the tension that my mother must have gone through when she didn’t see me along with others. She would have asked Kingini but then she also didn’t know where I was. But then it was all the problem with technology. Why didn’t they invent mobile phones those days?? Am I to blame for that?? No way.
Seriously speaking, I should not have done that. It was my love for cricket and chance to play with new cricket bat that urged me to do it. But that’s not a justification for what I did that day. My love for cricket is still intact and these days I fight for TV remote with Anju when ever there is match on TV.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-3
Events in School
We used to have assembly in the school most of the days before the classes started. If there was any message in general that need to be communicated to the students the formal announcements were made in the school assembly. In our school, there used to be ranking systems in the classes and not the grading system. So the students who got first three ranks in the class were given badges of different colors according to the ranks they secured for the exams. In some cases, PTA president of our school came to school and use give prizes to the students.
Dr. M.G. Menon (Our Dr. Uncle) was the PTA (Parent Teachers Association) president of our school during those days. He was practicing in Bishop Vayalil hospital at Moolamattom during those days. They were also part of our family get-together and we became family friends soon. Dr. Uncle and Kalyani Aunty had two kids. Arvind, who was my class mate, and Amrithachechi who was 2 years elder to me. Amrithachechi was her class topper and she was very good in other activities for school as well. Arvind later became one of my good friends. But things were not the same in the beginning.
We as kids always used to wait for drill in the school. It was the name given for the period in which we were allowed to play in school. Those days we used to play football in school. Cricket was also getting popular but it was not possible to get results in I hour and 45 min. That was the duration of our each period. And also there will be more participation for students if we are play football. So we preferred football. In our class there used to be few 10-12 students who were good in football. I was also one among them and so was Arvind. Mostly we used to play in opposite sides. Since there was no referee for our matches, fight between teams were imminent.
I don’t remember why we had a small flight that day but he was running behind me in the school ground. There were concrete walls around the school ground. It was not that tall, might be around 3 feet tall. I was running as fast as I could but I was sure that he was going to catch me pretty soon. He was taller and faster than me.:-) I tried to jump past the concrete wall to escape from him but my feet got locked somewhere and I feel down. My face hit the concrete wall. I got injured in multiple places on my face and blood was rushing through my face.
Few seniors took me to staff room and they tried to apply some medicines on my wounds. But bleeding was not going to stop that way. So they had to rush me to the hospital. It was really painful for me during that time and I was crying aloud during that time. Dr. Uncle was there in the hospital and he came to meet me in the hospital. There were 2-3 stitches on my face during that day. But when I met Dr. Uncle I told him that Arvind had pulled me down. There were many other doctors also in the same room and I was shouting at that time. Now I know I shouldn’t have done that. But then at that age and when you yourself are in pain, you won’t think of all these things right.
Arvind later become one of my good friends and since we are family friends we still have not lost touch of each other. At least we know where we are and our families meet each other once in a year or so.
We used to have assembly in the school most of the days before the classes started. If there was any message in general that need to be communicated to the students the formal announcements were made in the school assembly. In our school, there used to be ranking systems in the classes and not the grading system. So the students who got first three ranks in the class were given badges of different colors according to the ranks they secured for the exams. In some cases, PTA president of our school came to school and use give prizes to the students.
Dr. M.G. Menon (Our Dr. Uncle) was the PTA (Parent Teachers Association) president of our school during those days. He was practicing in Bishop Vayalil hospital at Moolamattom during those days. They were also part of our family get-together and we became family friends soon. Dr. Uncle and Kalyani Aunty had two kids. Arvind, who was my class mate, and Amrithachechi who was 2 years elder to me. Amrithachechi was her class topper and she was very good in other activities for school as well. Arvind later became one of my good friends. But things were not the same in the beginning.
We as kids always used to wait for drill in the school. It was the name given for the period in which we were allowed to play in school. Those days we used to play football in school. Cricket was also getting popular but it was not possible to get results in I hour and 45 min. That was the duration of our each period. And also there will be more participation for students if we are play football. So we preferred football. In our class there used to be few 10-12 students who were good in football. I was also one among them and so was Arvind. Mostly we used to play in opposite sides. Since there was no referee for our matches, fight between teams were imminent.
I don’t remember why we had a small flight that day but he was running behind me in the school ground. There were concrete walls around the school ground. It was not that tall, might be around 3 feet tall. I was running as fast as I could but I was sure that he was going to catch me pretty soon. He was taller and faster than me.:-) I tried to jump past the concrete wall to escape from him but my feet got locked somewhere and I feel down. My face hit the concrete wall. I got injured in multiple places on my face and blood was rushing through my face.
Few seniors took me to staff room and they tried to apply some medicines on my wounds. But bleeding was not going to stop that way. So they had to rush me to the hospital. It was really painful for me during that time and I was crying aloud during that time. Dr. Uncle was there in the hospital and he came to meet me in the hospital. There were 2-3 stitches on my face during that day. But when I met Dr. Uncle I told him that Arvind had pulled me down. There were many other doctors also in the same room and I was shouting at that time. Now I know I shouldn’t have done that. But then at that age and when you yourself are in pain, you won’t think of all these things right.
Arvind later become one of my good friends and since we are family friends we still have not lost touch of each other. At least we know where we are and our families meet each other once in a year or so.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-2
Small Incident in school
I think this happened one day in school in the month of June/July. School re-opened in the month of June and I was a new comer at that time. As I told, I was basically a very shy student. And since all of them were new to come, I took even more time to open up.
I don’t remember in which bench I was sitting at that time, anyway not in the front seat. It has to be in 3rd or 4th bench from the front. I think it was in seventh period (In total we had 8 periods/subjects) and someone sitting close to me whistled in the class. Teacher was taking the class and she somehow noted it. The sound might have come from the direction in which I was sitting and she thought it was me. At that time I didn’t even knew how to blow a whistle. So she asked me, if it was me who did, I told no. She didn’t believe me and I think she asked few others in the class. They also told that they heard sound from my side. Oh God, I was in trouble.
Teacher told me to go and meet headmistress immediately. Our headmistress Sr. Cyril was a terror at that time. So I was really afraid to go to her room. Somehow I went to the room and told the whole story. She was in no mood to believe what I told her and I got scolding from her. Did she beat me? I think so. But that was OK. Worse was about to come.
In our school we used to have prayers the before and after the classes every day. There was a mike set in Sr. Cyril’s room and there used to be a team in school who used to recite the prayers every day. The punishment that I got that day was to whistle in the mike after the prayer for the day. Imagine my situation when I didn’t know how to whistle at that age. She told me that I will be able to leave home only if whistle in front of the mike. Was I able to make some sort of noise in front of the mike? I’m not sure,but I think I was able to make some noise and leave for the day.
I told about this thing to Achan and Amma that day itself. I was very sad that nobody in the school was ready to believe me. But things were much better at home. You can imagine the happiness that it brought to me. I was really happy when Achan told that he will check the matter with headmistress. He came down to school in couple of day’s time and I was also called to the room of headmistress. This time they believed me and I was really happy.
Couple of years later, one of my friends told that he had lied that day to teacher. He knew the person who whistled that day and that was his best friend. So to save his best friend from punishment, he lied to the teachers. What was there in my mind when I heard that? I really don't know. Anyway I always believe delayed justice is denied justice.
I think this happened one day in school in the month of June/July. School re-opened in the month of June and I was a new comer at that time. As I told, I was basically a very shy student. And since all of them were new to come, I took even more time to open up.
I don’t remember in which bench I was sitting at that time, anyway not in the front seat. It has to be in 3rd or 4th bench from the front. I think it was in seventh period (In total we had 8 periods/subjects) and someone sitting close to me whistled in the class. Teacher was taking the class and she somehow noted it. The sound might have come from the direction in which I was sitting and she thought it was me. At that time I didn’t even knew how to blow a whistle. So she asked me, if it was me who did, I told no. She didn’t believe me and I think she asked few others in the class. They also told that they heard sound from my side. Oh God, I was in trouble.
Teacher told me to go and meet headmistress immediately. Our headmistress Sr. Cyril was a terror at that time. So I was really afraid to go to her room. Somehow I went to the room and told the whole story. She was in no mood to believe what I told her and I got scolding from her. Did she beat me? I think so. But that was OK. Worse was about to come.
In our school we used to have prayers the before and after the classes every day. There was a mike set in Sr. Cyril’s room and there used to be a team in school who used to recite the prayers every day. The punishment that I got that day was to whistle in the mike after the prayer for the day. Imagine my situation when I didn’t know how to whistle at that age. She told me that I will be able to leave home only if whistle in front of the mike. Was I able to make some sort of noise in front of the mike? I’m not sure,but I think I was able to make some noise and leave for the day.
I told about this thing to Achan and Amma that day itself. I was very sad that nobody in the school was ready to believe me. But things were much better at home. You can imagine the happiness that it brought to me. I was really happy when Achan told that he will check the matter with headmistress. He came down to school in couple of day’s time and I was also called to the room of headmistress. This time they believed me and I was really happy.
Couple of years later, one of my friends told that he had lied that day to teacher. He knew the person who whistled that day and that was his best friend. So to save his best friend from punishment, he lied to the teachers. What was there in my mind when I heard that? I really don't know. Anyway I always believe delayed justice is denied justice.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-1
Life at KSEB Colony was really special one. Last year, I had been to KSEB colony at Moolamattom with Anju and I was really sad to see the state of colony. When we were kids, the KSEB colony was a very happening place. There was families staying in most of the quarters and it was really fun with all the kids around. I don’t know why most of the people are staying alone in the colonies leaving their family at home town.
There were three good schools around Moolamattom. The quality of education during those days were also quite good as most of the schools were run by Christian missionaries. There was a good college also around the same place again run by Christian missionaries. These were managed in a very good manner.
I was an above average student in school during those days. But like most of the kids who were at that age group (7-8yrs), I was more interested in playing more than studying. We were waiting for the evenings so that we could go and play outside. I don’t remember what we used to play those days but it was not games like cricket or football. I think we really liked going for a walk to Inspection Bungalow (IB), Circuit House and water tank etc.
Circuit House was very big guest house of KSEB. There was a helipad also in circuit house. It was told that Late Mrs.Indira Gandhi stayed there in Circuit House when she came down for the inauguration of Moolamattom Power Station. She was the Prime Minister of India then. She came there in a helicopter but I have not seen much of helicopters landing in that helipad. We used to play in the helipad. I still remember Paatti (Grandma of Vijay) used to take us for a walk in the evening after the school time. There was very small pond and beautiful garden in circuit house. I was very happy to see that they have maintained garden and the pond in a good way even now.
Another thing that I remember now is the monthly parties that we used to have near IB. Almost all the families staying in the C quarters used to the attend the party. It was dinner party with small games for kids and family. There also used to be some cultural programs in which mainly kids used to sing songs and dance. Kingini used to sing in almost all the parties. Remember she was in LKG/UKG during those days. Pens/pencils were given to all who used to sing/dance. So she used to get a lot every time. After all those cultural programs, we used to have dinner. I think there were Porattas, Chicken/Egg/Vegetable curries served to us. We kids used to enjoy those small parties and it was time when we used to gel together and make friends. In few weeks time, we all knew each other and we kids were waiting for those parties.
We never had tuitions those days and Amma used to teach me in the initial days. One rule that she wanted us to follow was to finish home works before going to play. Though the schools finished at 4.00pm, we were traveling to quarters in the second trip which took us from school around 4.45pm. It was good in one way. We were able to play in school till 4.45pm till the bus came. I will just try to say why we were in second trip. In the morning, we used to go to school in first trip, which used to come around 8.30 or so. We were staying in the top of the hill and in the morning they first used to come to our place to pick us. That was not welcome for us as we were not able to play in the school in the morning even if we reach there early. Also we need to get ready early in the morning. People who used to stay in the bottom part of the hill were lucky in the morning. I used to have many friends there like Renjith, Prasanth, Prabhakumar etc.
Headmistress of the school was Sr. Cyril. She was a very strict person. In our class, there were around 40-45 students. I don’t remember the name of most of students but I remember few faces. Coming first in the class was very special those days. In the school assembly, first three students were given badges which they could wear on their dress till the results were out for the next exam. Since I was not the best student of the class I was never in the run for those badges. I think first three ranks in my class went for girls. Sreeja was the first rank holder in my class. Reason why I remember the name is because she had first rank in my class till she left the school. Another reason was that she was also from my colony and our parents were good friends. All the teachers were ladies in school and only one male staff in the school was PT sir. I don’t remember his name.
Those days, school was giving very much importance to Arts festival and all. But I don’t think it was in my blood those days. Not that its in my blood now.:-) But Kingini was exactly opposite to me, she was always one among the toppers in the class and she was very much in to art festivals also. When ever there was any competition in school she used to give her for it. I remember how Amma used to get tensed during those days when Kingini used to tell her about those competitions. Anyway I didn’t give that kind of tensions but gave her tension in some other ways!!
There were three good schools around Moolamattom. The quality of education during those days were also quite good as most of the schools were run by Christian missionaries. There was a good college also around the same place again run by Christian missionaries. These were managed in a very good manner.
I was an above average student in school during those days. But like most of the kids who were at that age group (7-8yrs), I was more interested in playing more than studying. We were waiting for the evenings so that we could go and play outside. I don’t remember what we used to play those days but it was not games like cricket or football. I think we really liked going for a walk to Inspection Bungalow (IB), Circuit House and water tank etc.
Circuit House was very big guest house of KSEB. There was a helipad also in circuit house. It was told that Late Mrs.Indira Gandhi stayed there in Circuit House when she came down for the inauguration of Moolamattom Power Station. She was the Prime Minister of India then. She came there in a helicopter but I have not seen much of helicopters landing in that helipad. We used to play in the helipad. I still remember Paatti (Grandma of Vijay) used to take us for a walk in the evening after the school time. There was very small pond and beautiful garden in circuit house. I was very happy to see that they have maintained garden and the pond in a good way even now.
Another thing that I remember now is the monthly parties that we used to have near IB. Almost all the families staying in the C quarters used to the attend the party. It was dinner party with small games for kids and family. There also used to be some cultural programs in which mainly kids used to sing songs and dance. Kingini used to sing in almost all the parties. Remember she was in LKG/UKG during those days. Pens/pencils were given to all who used to sing/dance. So she used to get a lot every time. After all those cultural programs, we used to have dinner. I think there were Porattas, Chicken/Egg/Vegetable curries served to us. We kids used to enjoy those small parties and it was time when we used to gel together and make friends. In few weeks time, we all knew each other and we kids were waiting for those parties.
We never had tuitions those days and Amma used to teach me in the initial days. One rule that she wanted us to follow was to finish home works before going to play. Though the schools finished at 4.00pm, we were traveling to quarters in the second trip which took us from school around 4.45pm. It was good in one way. We were able to play in school till 4.45pm till the bus came. I will just try to say why we were in second trip. In the morning, we used to go to school in first trip, which used to come around 8.30 or so. We were staying in the top of the hill and in the morning they first used to come to our place to pick us. That was not welcome for us as we were not able to play in the school in the morning even if we reach there early. Also we need to get ready early in the morning. People who used to stay in the bottom part of the hill were lucky in the morning. I used to have many friends there like Renjith, Prasanth, Prabhakumar etc.
Headmistress of the school was Sr. Cyril. She was a very strict person. In our class, there were around 40-45 students. I don’t remember the name of most of students but I remember few faces. Coming first in the class was very special those days. In the school assembly, first three students were given badges which they could wear on their dress till the results were out for the next exam. Since I was not the best student of the class I was never in the run for those badges. I think first three ranks in my class went for girls. Sreeja was the first rank holder in my class. Reason why I remember the name is because she had first rank in my class till she left the school. Another reason was that she was also from my colony and our parents were good friends. All the teachers were ladies in school and only one male staff in the school was PT sir. I don’t remember his name.
Those days, school was giving very much importance to Arts festival and all. But I don’t think it was in my blood those days. Not that its in my blood now.:-) But Kingini was exactly opposite to me, she was always one among the toppers in the class and she was very much in to art festivals also. When ever there was any competition in school she used to give her for it. I remember how Amma used to get tensed during those days when Kingini used to tell her about those competitions. Anyway I didn’t give that kind of tensions but gave her tension in some other ways!!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
C-4-Our old quarter at Moolamattom..
We started from Koyilandy in train to Ernakulam. Distance was around 250kms (which is quite a distance in this part of world). Train took around 5-6 hours to reach Ernakulam. From Ernakulam we had lunch and took bus to Moolamattom. By the time we reached Moolamattom, it was already quite dark out there. Might have been around 7-8pm. We took auto from Bus Stand to our quarters. It was around 5kms around the hill to reach our quarters.
We were in for a shock when we reached our quarters. The quarters in itself was very beautiful with very big rooms. It had couple of bed rooms, living room, dining room, study, kitchen, work area, room for servant etc. There were big in-build wardrobes and glass shelves in all the rooms. It was built long ago during the commissioning of Idukki Hydro Electric project developed with the support of Canada. Every room had tube lights and big fans. Now that was good part about the quarters. About the shocking part now- We were opening the wardrobes that we had in room and check cloths kept inside the bags. We were able to see any bags or cloths but instead we could only see termites in all the wardrobes. Now that was something that we never expected there. It might be because of the climate out there. It was quite chilling there at that time. One of the major reasons why I prefer such climate as compared warm days might be because of getting used to such climate at Moolamattom. We had some cloths in the suitcases and which Achan didn’t keep inside any of the wardrobes. So that saved day for us. It might have quite difficult for Achan and Amma to manage all the things there with two of us running around in the new house.
It was closing days of the vacation time for the kids and most of kids in the neighborhood were not around. As I told earlier, everyone was going to their hometown during the vacations. So I could not see much of them at that time. There were 6 quarters in our place. Our quarter no was C-4.
Let me take you through the others who are staying from C-1 to C-6.
C-1
Balakrishnan Uncle and Jayasree Aunty. They had a daughter- Sreebala(Mithu). She was one year younger to me. We were family friends even before moving to Moolamattom. So it was to nice have them there. They were from Calicut itself.
C-2
Venkiti Uncle and Booma Aunty. They had a boy Vijay who was 3 years younger to me. They were from Chennai.
C-3
Gopi Uncle and Usha Aunty. They had two kids- Anitha Chechi and Anoop. Anoop was of my age and Anitha chechi was 5 years elder to me. They were from Perumbavoor.
C-5
That was vacant when we moved in.
C-6
Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They have two kids. Priya Chechi and Lakshmi. Priyachechi was 4 years elder to me and Lakshmi was of Kingini’s age. They were from Kottayam.
Since there were only six quarters in the locality, all the families were very close to each other. We used to have family get together at any of the quarters once in a month.
After C-6, there were another 12 quarters belong to C class itself. C quarters belonged to Asst. Exe. Engineers of KSEB. C-7 to C-18 were in another part little far from our quarters. There were many kids staying in those quarters also. I still remember many of those faces even now. Rajish, Manu, Ashokan, Deepak, Eldhose, Darshan, Abhilash, Anish, Sajith and many older chettans. I don’t remember all of them now. I’m getting old.
Oh yes, there was one more C class quarters situated away from rest. That belonged to the doctor who was working in the hospital of KSEB. Yes, we had a hospital over there to look after all the people staying over there. In total there should be around 150 quarters and with almost 500 people residing there.
In addition to hospital, there was also an school and club facility available there. But I'm not sure if it was the best school available around. School was called IHEP (Idukki Hydro Electric Project) Upper Primary School. One thing I remember was there was big football ground for that school which was always filled with people in every day evening. Same can be told about club also.
I was asked to take a test before joining the school. School re-opened on first week of June as always. It was time for heavy rain during that time in Moolamattom. School bus used to come to our place around 8.30-8.45. I was sad that Anoop was studying in a different school. By the time school re-opened we had about 2-3 days to play with each other it was a good time. Anoop was a very good boy and we all kids played together. So I had started to enjoy the new place.
It is a totally different world when we join a new school, right? I was a stranger in the class and there were few like that who joined the new school. There were many people from KSEB colony and they all went to school in a green school bus. I still remember Ramachandran Chettan who used to drive our school bus. So in few days time, I was able to make few friends. But it takes some time to get in to any new group and that was the case with me also. Also me being a shy person at that time didn’t help me in anyway.
Kingini joined the same school in LKG and she was very interested in going to school. Almost opposite to how I was when I was a kid. I don’t think she ever cried while going to school. Though it is around 23 years ago, I still remember how I used to take Kingini to LKG class room. LKG and UKG were in a different building as compared to other classes.
As the school was run Christian management, there were lots of nuns who were taking the classes. It was the first time in my life I met a nun in my life. For me they resembled Muslim ladies whom we see in plenty in Calicut. But the only resemblance between them was that both were wearing Parda (scarf of their head). It was told to me that school was a very strict one and they won’t give you breathing space and all. On joining the school, I also understood that what ever I heard was true.:-)
More about Moolamattom and my school days in the coming posts….
We were in for a shock when we reached our quarters. The quarters in itself was very beautiful with very big rooms. It had couple of bed rooms, living room, dining room, study, kitchen, work area, room for servant etc. There were big in-build wardrobes and glass shelves in all the rooms. It was built long ago during the commissioning of Idukki Hydro Electric project developed with the support of Canada. Every room had tube lights and big fans. Now that was good part about the quarters. About the shocking part now- We were opening the wardrobes that we had in room and check cloths kept inside the bags. We were able to see any bags or cloths but instead we could only see termites in all the wardrobes. Now that was something that we never expected there. It might be because of the climate out there. It was quite chilling there at that time. One of the major reasons why I prefer such climate as compared warm days might be because of getting used to such climate at Moolamattom. We had some cloths in the suitcases and which Achan didn’t keep inside any of the wardrobes. So that saved day for us. It might have quite difficult for Achan and Amma to manage all the things there with two of us running around in the new house.
It was closing days of the vacation time for the kids and most of kids in the neighborhood were not around. As I told earlier, everyone was going to their hometown during the vacations. So I could not see much of them at that time. There were 6 quarters in our place. Our quarter no was C-4.
Let me take you through the others who are staying from C-1 to C-6.
C-1
Balakrishnan Uncle and Jayasree Aunty. They had a daughter- Sreebala(Mithu). She was one year younger to me. We were family friends even before moving to Moolamattom. So it was to nice have them there. They were from Calicut itself.
C-2
Venkiti Uncle and Booma Aunty. They had a boy Vijay who was 3 years younger to me. They were from Chennai.
C-3
Gopi Uncle and Usha Aunty. They had two kids- Anitha Chechi and Anoop. Anoop was of my age and Anitha chechi was 5 years elder to me. They were from Perumbavoor.
C-5
That was vacant when we moved in.
C-6
Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They have two kids. Priya Chechi and Lakshmi. Priyachechi was 4 years elder to me and Lakshmi was of Kingini’s age. They were from Kottayam.
Since there were only six quarters in the locality, all the families were very close to each other. We used to have family get together at any of the quarters once in a month.
After C-6, there were another 12 quarters belong to C class itself. C quarters belonged to Asst. Exe. Engineers of KSEB. C-7 to C-18 were in another part little far from our quarters. There were many kids staying in those quarters also. I still remember many of those faces even now. Rajish, Manu, Ashokan, Deepak, Eldhose, Darshan, Abhilash, Anish, Sajith and many older chettans. I don’t remember all of them now. I’m getting old.
Oh yes, there was one more C class quarters situated away from rest. That belonged to the doctor who was working in the hospital of KSEB. Yes, we had a hospital over there to look after all the people staying over there. In total there should be around 150 quarters and with almost 500 people residing there.
In addition to hospital, there was also an school and club facility available there. But I'm not sure if it was the best school available around. School was called IHEP (Idukki Hydro Electric Project) Upper Primary School. One thing I remember was there was big football ground for that school which was always filled with people in every day evening. Same can be told about club also.
I was asked to take a test before joining the school. School re-opened on first week of June as always. It was time for heavy rain during that time in Moolamattom. School bus used to come to our place around 8.30-8.45. I was sad that Anoop was studying in a different school. By the time school re-opened we had about 2-3 days to play with each other it was a good time. Anoop was a very good boy and we all kids played together. So I had started to enjoy the new place.
It is a totally different world when we join a new school, right? I was a stranger in the class and there were few like that who joined the new school. There were many people from KSEB colony and they all went to school in a green school bus. I still remember Ramachandran Chettan who used to drive our school bus. So in few days time, I was able to make few friends. But it takes some time to get in to any new group and that was the case with me also. Also me being a shy person at that time didn’t help me in anyway.
Kingini joined the same school in LKG and she was very interested in going to school. Almost opposite to how I was when I was a kid. I don’t think she ever cried while going to school. Though it is around 23 years ago, I still remember how I used to take Kingini to LKG class room. LKG and UKG were in a different building as compared to other classes.
As the school was run Christian management, there were lots of nuns who were taking the classes. It was the first time in my life I met a nun in my life. For me they resembled Muslim ladies whom we see in plenty in Calicut. But the only resemblance between them was that both were wearing Parda (scarf of their head). It was told to me that school was a very strict one and they won’t give you breathing space and all. On joining the school, I also understood that what ever I heard was true.:-)
More about Moolamattom and my school days in the coming posts….
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