Those were the Best Days of My Life


Some years ago, when these alumni networks on the Net were gaining popularity, one guy from San Francisco contacted me. Apparently, he was my class mate in kindergarten in St Joseph’s Convent, Coonoor and quite overjoyed to connect. He remembered Shirley, Jhansi and Mypal Reddy too.
The Convent, those days, ran a smaller primary section called the Private School, just below the main school.  This section was tucked away from the rest of the school.  So it was only after the third standard, I joined the regular school.



St Joseph’s Convent was and still is run by the Sisters of St Joseph of Tarbes; a French order of hospitallers and teachers with their mother house in Cantaous in the Tarbes diocese, in France. The school was established in 1900 in a building called Dublin Castle, rented to the good sisters by a rich Irish planter called Sir Lawrence O’Reilly. The story goes that the need for a Catholic school for girls in Coonoor had become a critical issue, especially since, “the Protestants were already well established in the Nilgiris, and Mr. Stanes had opened the 'Stanes School'. The Catholic Church was refusing the sacraments to Catholic parents who were sending their children to that school.”*
The six Sisters who founded the Convent came to Coonoor via Bangalore all the way from France. The journey up the hills from the northern side (Mysore ) of the mountain range in those early days must have been very strenuous and must have taken days. These young French girls would have had to face not just the danger of the journey through dense forests and wild animals but also bandits.    
Of course, I did not know all this on that first day in the big school. All I could take in was the imposing buildings, the paved drive and all those fashionable looking girls with their bouffant hair-dos and blue serge uniforms. 
My parents and grandfather had accompanied me on this momentous day. Before I was sent away to class, my grandfather had a small chat with Mother Marie Therese, the Mother Superior. I was suitably impressed by the tall, elegant French nun in her black habit, starched wimple and bonnet. She patted me kindly on my head while she reassured my parents and grandfather that I would come to no harm!
The junior school was in the same building as the St Gabriel dorms. Though it was with trepidation that I entered the new classroom, my fears were soon set to rest. The classroom smelled familiar; of flowers, ferns and chalk. All my friends from the Private School were already ensconced in the class.
Lunch time found us exploring the new surroundings: and there was quite a lot to explore.  The Convent, like most hill schools was built into the hill side and on many levels. A steep, long paved drive led one to a square which had the low roofed Dublin Castle (where the nuns lived)on one side and the chapel on the other; these building were totally dwarfed by the white washed double storied building with arched doorways and St Joseph’s statue in the foreground.
There were steps leading down to the chapel which was built over the assembly hall with a steep staircase on the outside.  The next big find was the grotto - the artificial cave which had a marble altar in the centre and was picturesquely covered with ivy.  In a nave at the top right hand was a statue of Our Lady. We quickly plugged into the school lore, which had it that there was a secret passage behind the altar which would take one into the bowels of the mountain and eventually into the foothills of the Nilgiris.  
Countless lunch hours were spent in searching for the secret passage, not just in the grotto but in the ghost passage at the side of the Hall. We pressed so many granite blocks, hoping one of them would open. I am sure many before us and many after us have done the same.      
Another lunch time ritual, though a rare one, was the walk through dark passage between the large, cavernous kitchen and the scullery to the tuck shop to buy stick-jaws, that amazing jaggery and peanut toffee. Sometimes as we darted across, we would get a glimpse of Appu the baker putting large trays of buns or was it bread, into a wood-fired oven.  At other times, we would smell the mouth-watering aroma of freshly-baked bread.
We quickly picked up all the new slang. You didn't go to the bathroom anymore. You went to the bogs. You didn't copy homework, you fudged.You asked people to "shut their gob" and "stop guffing"! 
You addressed your friends by their surnames.You called everyone ‘man’ or sometimes even ‘chile’. The latter was not tolerated at home. My father ragged me merciless till I stopped this usage.
We learnt new games like “Batch”, Seven Tiles and Four Corners and skipping rope songs such as “Ice cream soda, sugar on the top; tell me the name of your sweetheart”.  
St Joseph’s Convent in those days was a school straight out of June and Schoolfriend; with secret passages, hidden stairways, friendly ghosts and an orchard. Then there were all the eccentrics who are part and parcel of a hill school, like Halwa kaka, Rosie the fruit seller and Mrs. P’s lechie driver. Fatty man was a bogey, we day scholars, had to deal with. The rumour was that he would kiss you as you passed by. (And, of course, you would immediately get pregnant!!!) 
Ah! The innocence of those days!


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* http://sjtbangalore.org/COMMUNITY_COONOOR.pdf

Comments

  1. nice reading,ho! how much I love my Nilgiris!

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  2. Lovely Nina - brought back all those school memories. Still remember Mother Maria Therese and those beautiful white holy sweets!! We bought some when we went to Lourdes! Oh and Appu and his amazing bakery delights - hot crusty bread, jaggery toffee...we were so lucky to have such an amazing, happy, carefree school life. Thank you Nina for the memories. Lotsa LovexxxxxPeggy

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  3. Thanks Peggy and Prem Nath Paliath. Peggy what are white holy sweets? I dont seem to remember that.

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  4. Felt highly nostalgic reading this Nina. I am a proud Josephite too, of the 1967 batch. The sticky jaggery toffees and the ice cream -4 annas, a cup.The grotto, the chapel ,the hall, the net ball matches,seven tiles, four corners!! Lovely, fond memories. Good old Joseph's and good old Providence! If you have pictures of Providence, please do share Thank you Nina.
    Warm regards
    Kokila

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  5. Thanks Kokila.. those were some of my best memories too

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  6. Wow .. to read about my dear school from old days.. we all love our building sooooo much. I left the school in 1991....thank you so much for this blog.

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  7. http://joyinme-always.blogspot.in/2014/12/it-was-decided-to-happen-after-20-years.html
    The blog I wrote about my school days in our dear school

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  8. Hello Nina

    As usual, on a Friday afternoon, spare time in hand, google too, the pensive moments, the Coonoor days; and i land on this blog; WOW and ye, me the San Francisco guy (Rammohan Subbaram), once again. But this time a full circle, having met you, your husband and my Law Firm Partner George Cheriyan at Chennai, for my brother in laws wedding and then at George's house at Pycroft Garden road.
    This article, well documents the school, Coonoor et al.
    My daughter got married at Maui, Hi and my son is getting to his college. Would love to invite you and your husband for a wedding reception at Chennai this Nov'16!!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ram, wow, after all these years.. great to connect.. would love to meet you again

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  9. Interesting to read your blogs on Nilgiris.....brings back fond memories of my childhood days, and St. Joseph's Convent where I studied till Std. 3 before being shifted to St. Joseph's College for the rest of my education till High School which was Std.X. Sad that Coonoor is now degraded and overcrowded with an assortment of problems too. Yet, I hope to go there next month.

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  10. Lovely to read your blog, Nina. Brought back fond memories. I studied at St. Joseph's convent from 1975 to 1983 and my elder sisters Jean and Shirley before me were boarders here. Was truly a school out of an Enid Blyton book- full of adventures, mysteries and more!

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  11. Hey all, Coonoor Scholars, St. Joseph's Convent and Stanes! Hope all you guys are keeping safe, all masked up and staying away from the unnecessary crowds and travels. This Covid WFH (work from home) has made us all kick back a little and that has made us, think about our school times! Wife and I are stuck in the wildfire ravaged California and everlasting fire season that gets severe every year; and we have a guy who cares a hoot for science and in climate change denial. Can't venture even for walks for the past 10 + days. Reading the above articles/posts I well remember Ms Peggy, she was an avid athlete, right? I remember 'the pink tasty ice cream sold in small aluminum cups', walking thru a passage way by the boarding kitchen where 'the baker sometimes gave us fresh cookies'. Then the 'Carnival day' when there was a fair by the large open space, where we got to eat goodies, get to buy toys and food! Buy guys! Keep posting!

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  12. Can't tell you how i was reading about my old beloved school,been trying to get some news of SJC coonoor. glad i found your blog, indeed, those carefree, happy days.Memories came flooding back, and seeing our Mother Superior was a treat, not sure if you guys knew about the small palour, where we meet Mother face to face to face,when we did something that needed correction,that usef to scary, dhe was a real formidable person.Thanks for the memories🙏

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