Shimla Musings

 I have written earlier that when I was admitted to Class V in S.D.Higher Secondary School,Shimla , I was awestruck with the presence of all male teachers, who I was given to understand were famous or infamous for thrashing students.I had no worry regarding the studies part as I was confident of pulling on well but my  Waterloo came in the shape of  compulsory writing in ink with a Kalam or a bamboo Reed. I did get punished a few times for this lapse on my part but within a month or so , I took to Kalam and Holder rather easily . It's another matter that my hands, bag and uniform sometimes got smeared with ink.Taking the stick blows on palm or a slap on the face were the most common types of  thrashing one would get but there were some teachers with idiosyncrasies in this respect also. There was one Mr. P.C.Sood who would slap the face with the sweep of full arm and was the most dreaded and feared teacher of all. There were some who took a lenient view with regard to studies but would not brook indiscipline and punished the students for that only.

There was one Mr. Jindal who would get peeved whenever a student in some context said हम. The student would get beaten badly with the retort from  the said teacher " तुम कोई  राजे महाराजे हो जो खुद को हम कहते हो !". Otherwise he was an excellent teacher quite liberal with giving ' Very Good'  for neatly done homework. Another teacher Sh. Amarnath Shastri, who taught Sanskrit and Dharam Shiksha did not carry a stick but would strike the back of the hand with the blunt side of the pencil , which was no less painful. Another teacher Vijay Rana or Raina , a science teacher would pinch hard on the sides of the underarms. There came a rash and brash PTI who would slap and thrash students in the morning Assembly itself on small pretexts but once had tables turned upon him when a student held rightly and strongly his raised arm from the wrist. I need not go into further details but the PTI got mellowed after the incident .

Over all they were  good teachers always giving their 100% to the job at hand.

My respects and regards to all my teachers !