Hey fellas! This blog has remained dormant for almost five months since I was in Kolkata. Now that I’m back and Kalimpong is as awesome as ever, I can’t wait to share its awesomeness with you. :D This post is a product of a good amount of nostalgia and a hell lot of excitement that took me over on my second day here and ushered me to my alma mater – St. Joseph’s Convent.
St. Joseph’s Convent or S.J.C is an Anglo Indian educational institute established in 1926 by the Cluny Sisters. The +2 section of the school and the new 'Kenny' hall was later added in the year 2011. Apart from being a very prestigious all-girls school in the region, S.J.C also boasts of having a beautiful campus. The chapel, the long pavilion, the bridge – all chip in to the grandeur of this place.
Visiting my old school after a long time was bound to be a pretty good kick-start to my vacation. Most of my school friends weren’t in town so I made a solo trip, met with the teachers, frantically ran around on the greens like old days, and reminisced its tiny details and rituals and customs that had been a part of me for eleven long years.
Every morning, we had an assembly prayer complete with catholic hymns and necessary announcements. The class prefects (or monitors, as we called them) took care that we stood in a straight line, holding diaries and maintaining an arm’s length distance with the students in front of us. ‘Take distance, girls!’ was what we kept hearing when we stood in such lines. By the time we reached the higher classes, we’d kinda developed a reflex to those words which made our arms automatically stretch out straight in front of us to be placed on the shoulders of the person standing in front (unless told put it down). It was usually followed by an inspection of the fingernails, shoes, and hairstyle (criteria being neatly parted, braided, and properly pinned with long ribbons done in a bow). 10:00 am brought the ‘break time’, 11:30am brought the ‘lunch time’ and 3:00 brought the ‘home time’.
We didn’t have a canteen in school and our ultimate savior was the hawker.We had to take quite a huge risk to sneak through the basketball court and buy from him. I say huge risk because buying food from the hawkers was banned; still is. Also, some students sold tasty local chips, icecreams, etc to raise funds for different clubs. Speaking of basketball court, I am reminded of the annual inter-school basketball matches which resounded with different customized cheers and slogans being screamed by every student who witnessed it. From ‘We are the blue, we are the white; we are the Josephites Dynamite!’ and ‘We will, we will rock you. The Josephites will Rock you’ to ‘I scream, you scream everybody scream for the Josephites’ team’ – we chanted it with utmost dedication. Now, again, customization reminds me of something that has been associated with the students of this school for a very, very long time – the usage of the word ‘meh’. I wonder if anybody has ever figured out what it actually means, but to my knowledge, it is just a word that slips out of every Josephite’s mouth involuntarily....like, “this place is so nice, meh” or “ Chyaa meh, I got really low marks this time (Damn! I got really low marks this time)”. Sure, the word makes no sense, but it somehow sounds really wrong when placed incorrectly in a sentence. Over the years, we turn into ‘meh nazis’ ;) I can really go on and on but here’s what the others have to say :
“We had a thing in SJC – whenever there was a group elocution, group song, or anything of that sort, everybody walked in a straight line with the hands behind their back and set themselves in a formation on the stairs leading up to the stage. Somebody said ‘one two’, everybody bowed their heads; she said ‘one two’ again, everybody raised their heads; she said ‘one two’ again, everybody began singing/ reciting. Once it got over, ‘one two’ heads down, ‘one two’ raise heads, and ‘one two’ turn sideways and walk out in a line with hands behind the back.” - I.C.S.E 2013 “When we were in the Junior section, we always compared our things with the seniors’. The juniors had morning assembly out in the open, the seniors frequented the hall. The seniors had a cool dormitory, juniors didn’t. The seniors’ loo had flush tanks, the juniors' loo had a mysterious ghost in the last compartment that the girls talked about” -I.C.S.E 2009 “The best part is the house feast day and the treat we get on our respective house’s feast day. I am in the Claire house, and wearing the blue house tie in a full uniform that day feels great. We all stand on the stage, and girls belonging to other houses sing ‘It’s a hap, hap, happy feast day; a hap, happy feast day to you.” - Present VII student. “I hadn’t done my homework this particular day, so I feigned sickness and escaped to the infirmary. Two of my friends were already in the infirmary so I was quite entertained for one period. And then a funny thing happened. One of them was genuinely unwell and had an aching body, or an injured leg, I don’t quite remember..but we were trying to help soothe her pain by offering a massage. The window was open and a very old nun happened to walk by; she looked inside and probably mistook it for something else. Then, she rushed away with a horrified expression, completely scandalized. It was hilarious!” - I.C.S.E 2011
"We were in the fifth standard and our class had a small room attached to it. Girls in my class called it the 'store room' and played this self invented game called 'monkey kingdom' in it and created a lot of nuisance and ruckus. I don't remember what that game was about but it did get us into a lot of trouble many times." - I.C.S.E 2011 "Why did we call it the 'water tap'? I mean, wasn't calling it just a tap enough? I wonder if we were unaware of a 'juice tap' that existed somewhere in the campus." *laughs* - I.C.S.E 2007
“Which house do you want to be in when you reach the senior section?” “Marians.” “Why Marians?” “Because I like the colour red and I like winning.” “What about you?” “Me too. Marians.” ~~~
“Your assembly is over; why are you sitting here, don’t you want to go home?” “I am waiting for my sister.” “Which class is your sister in?” “VII. It's her turn to sweep her classroom.”
~~~
“So, are you best friends?” “No, we are sisters.” ~~~
St. Joseph's Convent has been an epitome of success, excellence, and achievements for decades. I took an elaborate tour of the campus and fondly recalled my school days. The memories are as fresh as the morning dew in my mind. By the time my little circuit was over, I was very hungry; so,with an elated mood, I strolled my way out and went to Cafe Refuel- an amazing cafe just round the corner about which I will be writing in my next post.
'Till then, happy summers everybody! :)
