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.