15 November 2013/ 12 January 2014
Remembering Vilakkumadom ( Written in connection with the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations
of my school, St.Joseph's High School, Vilakkumadom )
Today is a nice day in Delareyville due to light rains reducing the scorching heat of the past two
weeks. Yesterday's 37 degree C has been drastically lowered to a comfortable 27 degree C, thanks to the rains, and much more is expected in the coming days.
Abundant rainfall is crucial to this region
and also for the country because this is a maize-producing area, where the farmers produce enough
maize for local consumption and for export.
I was very delighted to hear that my former school , St. Joseph's High School, Vilakkumadom,is
celebrating its platinum Jubilee in January, 2014.My memories flew back to 1963-64,when I was in
Standard 10, and had the opportunity to take part in the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the school.
For me, the name Vilakkumadom is synonymous with the school. The name Vilakkumadom means
a lamp post, perhaps derived from the days of Travancore, when such facilities as shady trees,
'chumadu thangis' ( where a heavy bag could be laid ), and lamp posts were progressive measures
implemented by Diwans.
In our area names of places have a musical twist, as in the names like Poovarany, Vilakkummaruthu,
Mallikassery, Paika, kuruvikkoodu, Urulikunnam , Kochukottaram, Valiyakottaram,Kavunkal etc
In my opinion, the name Vilakkumadom symbolises the culture and aesthetic sense of the
people in the area.
I joined Vilakkumadom school in 1959, in Standard 6, and passed SSLC in 1964.
It would be interesting to know the social set up of that period.
Our area was inhabited 90% Catholics. Every family had 6-10 acres of land and an equal number
of children. For instance, I'm the last -born of 8 children. Despite having many acres of land, the
income was very little. But there was no hunger because we had enough kappa, chakka, mangoes etc
to sustain a large family.
In those days, the children were not pampered because the parents were preoccupied with very
pressing household matters. The elder children looked after the younger ones.
From every family, some children were sent for priesthood or convent. Some children became farmers, and the brighter ones were sent to school and college.
The founding of St.Thomas College, Pala was a catalyst for the people's enthusiasm for education.
Schools like Vilakkumadom served as stepping stones for further education.
The people weren't bored despite lack of radio and TV. They liked the art of conversation,and had
abundant leisure time to talk about a variety of subjects.
There was a reading culture among the people. Many people bought books, with the little money
they had. my father had an Almara full of books, and subscribed to many magazines. He had a copy
of Muttathu Varkey's ' Padatha Painkili'. Many people came to borrow it. Changampuzha's 'Ramanan' was widely read, and those who were illiterate, eg the head-load workers , begged others to read for them. There was a library at Paika, called " Kairali Grandhasala'. I used to see Paul Zacharia frequently visiting the library.
I grew up reading newspapers, and also listening to my father and others discussing state, national and international politics. At the state level, they discussed E.M.S, P.T.Chacko, Pattom, Mannathu
Padbhanabhan, M.N, Joseph Chazhikadan, R.Shankar etc. At the national level, they discussed
Nehru, V.K. Krishna Menon, Y.B.Chavan, Rajaji, A.K.G, Lal Bahadur Shastri etc. At the international level, the names of Kennedy, Krushchev, Ambassador Galbreith, Nasser,Mao, Chou
en Lai etc were familiar.
Hindi and Tamil films were more popular in those days because Malayalam films were few and
far between. People discussed Dilip Kumar, Vaijayanti Mala, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand,Sunil Dutt
Sivaji Ganeshan, MGR, Gemini Ganeshan etc.They also discussed wrestling; and the names of
Gama, Dhara Singh and King Kong were frequently mentioned.They also talked about Milkha
Singh, the 'flying Sikh', who made a sensation in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
At Paika, there was a private teacher called Kuriakose Sar. He was an expert in all subjects, and
offered private coaching to those who wanted to write various exams as private candidates,for eg
Malayalam, Hindi Vidwan. During the summer vacation, he offered English Grammar classes,
on the top floor of Pampalniyil Bunglow. I also joined , attending the lessons together with very
senior students. His teaching was based on Wren and Martin, which was a hard nut to crack.Later,
he compiled all his notes into a book of English grammar explained in Malayalam. Kuriakose was
a mysterious bachelor who helped many young people to get teaching jobs with their Vidwan
qualification, but had no permanent job for himself.
My class teacher in Standard 6 was Sri.Ramapuram Mathai Sar. He taught Mathematics and
Malayalam. His teaching was perfect, but sometimes we didn't reciprocate his energy and enthusiasm. Instead of concentrating on home work, some of us spent too much time playing
'kuttiyum kolum' and ' vattukali' on our way to school and back. One day, Mathai Sar gave a
test in mathematics. Our performance was very poor, and he was very furious. He did a search
of our pockets and collected a lot of 'goli'.He seized three of them from my pocket!I was a loyal
student and monitor. He knit his brows and looked harshly at me, meaning, '' et tu, Kurian.''
Thereafter he imposed a total ban on 'vattukali'.
The most exciting days of the academic year were the days of the school Youth Festival .For about
one week it was real fun, with all sorts of competitions. There was an item called' nizhal nadakam'
or ' Shadow Play'. Some students cut a whole vazha and used it on stage to present Changampuzha's
' Vazhakkula', a popular poem of that period.
When I was in Standard 6, I won prizes for short story and drawing. My prize for the short story
was a collection of short stories entitled ' Nooru pazhamchol Kathakal'. They showed the origins
of some idioms like 'pulivalu pidikkuka'. The cover page of the book showed the picture of a man
going round a tree, holding the tail of a leopard. I read the stories at random, several times.
All our teachers were dedicated, committed experts in their respective subjects , but my favourite
teacher was Sri A.S. Antony Sar. He was our N.C.C Officer. He was very strict,and his coomanders were stricter. Chandykkunju, Mathewkutty and Jacob imposed discipline and punctuality with
an iron hand. The sight of them sent shock waves through our spines. We had to 'fall in' for
parade 5 minutes after school. The shoes and the brass of the belt needed to shine perfectly,the
shoelaces had to be tied properly, otherwise we had to run around the field holding a 303 rifle!
I attended two NCC camps with Antony Sar, at Kottayam Baselius High Scool and at St Thomas
High School, Pala. The camps were attended by about 2000 cadets, for 10 days. We stayed in tents
erected on the school grounds. We received tough training in punctuality, endurance and cooperation.
The impact of the NCC training has lasted to this day. I never arrive late anywhere, thanks to
the lessons learnt at Vilakkumadom. Another good quality I acquired from there is the willingness
to do any work given by superiors.
Bullying was not uncommon in those days, but very few students approached the school
authorities with complaints. In standard 8, there was a boy who was a nightmare to others
because he used to stab others with a sharpened pencil. He was slightly lame, and that was the
reason for his aggressive nature. He hurt one or two boys, and the matter was reported to the
headmaster. I kept a distance from him, but I too was scared. But I made my own battle plans
in case of an attack. Luckily, that was not needed because the boy was given a TC before
anything could happen.
I remember the day fifty years ago, when the news of the assassination of President John
F Kennedy sent shockwaves throughout the world, including Paika. Kennedy was very
popular in Paika, and he and his family were widely talked about, one of the many factors
that fascinated us was his Catholic background. In those days, radio was not common.People
relied on newspapers for information. The newspapers gave wide coverage for world
affairs, most probably due to the relative lack of political controversies at the state and
central level.
It was through the NCC that I realised I had some talent in sports. The first ever price I won in
sports was a second price I won in Discuss throw in sports conducted under the auspices of the NCC.
Thereafter I represented the school and Pala Educational District at the State Schools meet held at
St.Joseph's High School, Thalasserry in 1963.
Often, Antony Sar would set aside the normal lesson, and would show us photos in 'Life '
magazine and explain world events to us. This motivated me to read about current affairs to this
day.
Since my school days, I have had the opportunity to be taught by eminent teachers and to share
a bench with very brilliant students. K.A. Joseph was such a brilliant student. In Standard 10,we
were taught Maths by Francis Sar. KA Joseph would be ready with the answer to a problem before
Francis Sar finished writing the problem on the Chalk board !At the same time, there were some
naughty boys too. There was one who sometimes tried to lead me into a conversation about one
or two beautiful girls in the school,but I was too shy to pay attention to him. K.A.Joseph passed
SSLC with flying colours scoring 478 marks out of 600. I was 4th ,with 428 marks. It was enough
to secure me a National Loan Scholarship of Rs 720 per annum. At that time, it was a big amount.
In The Silver Jubilee year, I won the Junior Athletics Championship, winning Shot Put, 100 metres
and pole vault. Previously, I had only one item-Shot Put. The ambition to win the individual Championship motivated me to try pole vault and I secretly practised at home. My rival, Joppen,
didn't have a clue about my secret practice, and was very complacent. My secrecy had a funny
twist to it. I needed a bamboo pole, but in our 'puraidam' we didn't have it. At the corner of our
neighbour Thannikkal Kunjappan Chettan's ' purayidam',there was a cluster of trees,including
bamboo ( illi) giving a forest-like to that area. It was a place of poisonous snakes. Kunjappan
Chettan was like a brother to my mother, and he would always tell my mother,
" Kunju Mariam, remember that both of grew up sucking the breasts of Eattathottu Amma."
So solid was the love and friendship with our two families that Kunjappan Chettan would have
given me a bamboo pole wholeheartedly if I had asked for it . But I chose the crazy way ,true to the craziness of teenagers. One day, at about 5 a.m, I went to the cluster of trees. The time was ideal to start cutting. There was a festival ( perunnal) starting at Paika Church. The church bell was rung
three times, with an interval of 10 minutes. After each session of ringing, there would be a series of
'kathina ( fireworks) explosions. My cutting coincided with the bell-ringing and the fireworks.
Before the end of the third session of expolsions, I was out of the woods, with the bamboo. Nobody
asked me where I had got the pole, because they had other preoccupations.
Even though I'm not present at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations on 12th and 13th January, I'm
well represented. My eldest brother,Dr.N.K.Joseph ( author of Hindi-Malayalam-English Dictionary)
is a speaker at the meeting. Binoy Tom, who is my nephew and a teacher at Vilakkumadom, is the
Convenor of the Programme Committee.
Remembering Vilakkumadom ( Written in connection with the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations
of my school, St.Joseph's High School, Vilakkumadom )
Today is a nice day in Delareyville due to light rains reducing the scorching heat of the past two
weeks. Yesterday's 37 degree C has been drastically lowered to a comfortable 27 degree C, thanks to the rains, and much more is expected in the coming days.
Abundant rainfall is crucial to this region
and also for the country because this is a maize-producing area, where the farmers produce enough
maize for local consumption and for export.
I was very delighted to hear that my former school , St. Joseph's High School, Vilakkumadom,is
celebrating its platinum Jubilee in January, 2014.My memories flew back to 1963-64,when I was in
Standard 10, and had the opportunity to take part in the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the school.
For me, the name Vilakkumadom is synonymous with the school. The name Vilakkumadom means
a lamp post, perhaps derived from the days of Travancore, when such facilities as shady trees,
'chumadu thangis' ( where a heavy bag could be laid ), and lamp posts were progressive measures
implemented by Diwans.
In our area names of places have a musical twist, as in the names like Poovarany, Vilakkummaruthu,
Mallikassery, Paika, kuruvikkoodu, Urulikunnam , Kochukottaram, Valiyakottaram,Kavunkal etc
In my opinion, the name Vilakkumadom symbolises the culture and aesthetic sense of the
people in the area.
I joined Vilakkumadom school in 1959, in Standard 6, and passed SSLC in 1964.
It would be interesting to know the social set up of that period.
Our area was inhabited 90% Catholics. Every family had 6-10 acres of land and an equal number
of children. For instance, I'm the last -born of 8 children. Despite having many acres of land, the
income was very little. But there was no hunger because we had enough kappa, chakka, mangoes etc
to sustain a large family.
In those days, the children were not pampered because the parents were preoccupied with very
pressing household matters. The elder children looked after the younger ones.
From every family, some children were sent for priesthood or convent. Some children became farmers, and the brighter ones were sent to school and college.
The founding of St.Thomas College, Pala was a catalyst for the people's enthusiasm for education.
Schools like Vilakkumadom served as stepping stones for further education.
The people weren't bored despite lack of radio and TV. They liked the art of conversation,and had
abundant leisure time to talk about a variety of subjects.
There was a reading culture among the people. Many people bought books, with the little money
they had. my father had an Almara full of books, and subscribed to many magazines. He had a copy
of Muttathu Varkey's ' Padatha Painkili'. Many people came to borrow it. Changampuzha's 'Ramanan' was widely read, and those who were illiterate, eg the head-load workers , begged others to read for them. There was a library at Paika, called " Kairali Grandhasala'. I used to see Paul Zacharia frequently visiting the library.
I grew up reading newspapers, and also listening to my father and others discussing state, national and international politics. At the state level, they discussed E.M.S, P.T.Chacko, Pattom, Mannathu
Padbhanabhan, M.N, Joseph Chazhikadan, R.Shankar etc. At the national level, they discussed
Nehru, V.K. Krishna Menon, Y.B.Chavan, Rajaji, A.K.G, Lal Bahadur Shastri etc. At the international level, the names of Kennedy, Krushchev, Ambassador Galbreith, Nasser,Mao, Chou
en Lai etc were familiar.
Hindi and Tamil films were more popular in those days because Malayalam films were few and
far between. People discussed Dilip Kumar, Vaijayanti Mala, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand,Sunil Dutt
Sivaji Ganeshan, MGR, Gemini Ganeshan etc.They also discussed wrestling; and the names of
Gama, Dhara Singh and King Kong were frequently mentioned.They also talked about Milkha
Singh, the 'flying Sikh', who made a sensation in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
At Paika, there was a private teacher called Kuriakose Sar. He was an expert in all subjects, and
offered private coaching to those who wanted to write various exams as private candidates,for eg
Malayalam, Hindi Vidwan. During the summer vacation, he offered English Grammar classes,
on the top floor of Pampalniyil Bunglow. I also joined , attending the lessons together with very
senior students. His teaching was based on Wren and Martin, which was a hard nut to crack.Later,
he compiled all his notes into a book of English grammar explained in Malayalam. Kuriakose was
a mysterious bachelor who helped many young people to get teaching jobs with their Vidwan
qualification, but had no permanent job for himself.
My class teacher in Standard 6 was Sri.Ramapuram Mathai Sar. He taught Mathematics and
Malayalam. His teaching was perfect, but sometimes we didn't reciprocate his energy and enthusiasm. Instead of concentrating on home work, some of us spent too much time playing
'kuttiyum kolum' and ' vattukali' on our way to school and back. One day, Mathai Sar gave a
test in mathematics. Our performance was very poor, and he was very furious. He did a search
of our pockets and collected a lot of 'goli'.He seized three of them from my pocket!I was a loyal
student and monitor. He knit his brows and looked harshly at me, meaning, '' et tu, Kurian.''
Thereafter he imposed a total ban on 'vattukali'.
The most exciting days of the academic year were the days of the school Youth Festival .For about
one week it was real fun, with all sorts of competitions. There was an item called' nizhal nadakam'
or ' Shadow Play'. Some students cut a whole vazha and used it on stage to present Changampuzha's
' Vazhakkula', a popular poem of that period.
When I was in Standard 6, I won prizes for short story and drawing. My prize for the short story
was a collection of short stories entitled ' Nooru pazhamchol Kathakal'. They showed the origins
of some idioms like 'pulivalu pidikkuka'. The cover page of the book showed the picture of a man
going round a tree, holding the tail of a leopard. I read the stories at random, several times.
All our teachers were dedicated, committed experts in their respective subjects , but my favourite
teacher was Sri A.S. Antony Sar. He was our N.C.C Officer. He was very strict,and his coomanders were stricter. Chandykkunju, Mathewkutty and Jacob imposed discipline and punctuality with
an iron hand. The sight of them sent shock waves through our spines. We had to 'fall in' for
parade 5 minutes after school. The shoes and the brass of the belt needed to shine perfectly,the
shoelaces had to be tied properly, otherwise we had to run around the field holding a 303 rifle!
I attended two NCC camps with Antony Sar, at Kottayam Baselius High Scool and at St Thomas
High School, Pala. The camps were attended by about 2000 cadets, for 10 days. We stayed in tents
erected on the school grounds. We received tough training in punctuality, endurance and cooperation.
The impact of the NCC training has lasted to this day. I never arrive late anywhere, thanks to
the lessons learnt at Vilakkumadom. Another good quality I acquired from there is the willingness
to do any work given by superiors.
Bullying was not uncommon in those days, but very few students approached the school
authorities with complaints. In standard 8, there was a boy who was a nightmare to others
because he used to stab others with a sharpened pencil. He was slightly lame, and that was the
reason for his aggressive nature. He hurt one or two boys, and the matter was reported to the
headmaster. I kept a distance from him, but I too was scared. But I made my own battle plans
in case of an attack. Luckily, that was not needed because the boy was given a TC before
anything could happen.
I remember the day fifty years ago, when the news of the assassination of President John
F Kennedy sent shockwaves throughout the world, including Paika. Kennedy was very
popular in Paika, and he and his family were widely talked about, one of the many factors
that fascinated us was his Catholic background. In those days, radio was not common.People
relied on newspapers for information. The newspapers gave wide coverage for world
affairs, most probably due to the relative lack of political controversies at the state and
central level.
It was through the NCC that I realised I had some talent in sports. The first ever price I won in
sports was a second price I won in Discuss throw in sports conducted under the auspices of the NCC.
Thereafter I represented the school and Pala Educational District at the State Schools meet held at
St.Joseph's High School, Thalasserry in 1963.
Often, Antony Sar would set aside the normal lesson, and would show us photos in 'Life '
magazine and explain world events to us. This motivated me to read about current affairs to this
day.
Since my school days, I have had the opportunity to be taught by eminent teachers and to share
a bench with very brilliant students. K.A. Joseph was such a brilliant student. In Standard 10,we
were taught Maths by Francis Sar. KA Joseph would be ready with the answer to a problem before
Francis Sar finished writing the problem on the Chalk board !At the same time, there were some
naughty boys too. There was one who sometimes tried to lead me into a conversation about one
or two beautiful girls in the school,but I was too shy to pay attention to him. K.A.Joseph passed
SSLC with flying colours scoring 478 marks out of 600. I was 4th ,with 428 marks. It was enough
to secure me a National Loan Scholarship of Rs 720 per annum. At that time, it was a big amount.
In The Silver Jubilee year, I won the Junior Athletics Championship, winning Shot Put, 100 metres
and pole vault. Previously, I had only one item-Shot Put. The ambition to win the individual Championship motivated me to try pole vault and I secretly practised at home. My rival, Joppen,
didn't have a clue about my secret practice, and was very complacent. My secrecy had a funny
twist to it. I needed a bamboo pole, but in our 'puraidam' we didn't have it. At the corner of our
neighbour Thannikkal Kunjappan Chettan's ' purayidam',there was a cluster of trees,including
bamboo ( illi) giving a forest-like to that area. It was a place of poisonous snakes. Kunjappan
Chettan was like a brother to my mother, and he would always tell my mother,
" Kunju Mariam, remember that both of grew up sucking the breasts of Eattathottu Amma."
So solid was the love and friendship with our two families that Kunjappan Chettan would have
given me a bamboo pole wholeheartedly if I had asked for it . But I chose the crazy way ,true to the craziness of teenagers. One day, at about 5 a.m, I went to the cluster of trees. The time was ideal to start cutting. There was a festival ( perunnal) starting at Paika Church. The church bell was rung
three times, with an interval of 10 minutes. After each session of ringing, there would be a series of
'kathina ( fireworks) explosions. My cutting coincided with the bell-ringing and the fireworks.
Before the end of the third session of expolsions, I was out of the woods, with the bamboo. Nobody
asked me where I had got the pole, because they had other preoccupations.
Even though I'm not present at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations on 12th and 13th January, I'm
well represented. My eldest brother,Dr.N.K.Joseph ( author of Hindi-Malayalam-English Dictionary)
is a speaker at the meeting. Binoy Tom, who is my nephew and a teacher at Vilakkumadom, is the
Convenor of the Programme Committee.
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