This is the recollections of a man who was from the batch of 1965.
A man whose stories of the school ring in days and years of the 50s and 60s.
This story has been shared by Mani Kadirvel who now lives in Singapore with his daughter who also studied for some years in our school.
Mani keeps visiting Madras often and during one recent visit we caught up with him for his school story -
Mani's family has roots that run across four / five generations in Pudupet. His great grand father (Agatheeswarar Mudaliar) was said to have been a famous and well off vaithiyar ( native medicine expert) who was seen traveling in a coach in his times. Perhaps in the 1900s.
The family owned houses across the 3 famed streets of the colony around the church. So mani as a toddler has virtually seen the walls and people who made St Anthony's.
As was the case with families in the area, Mani was admitted to Nagle Preparatory School. St Anthony's also existed then but the latter was primarily meant for Anglo indians, Christians and kids of well-educated families. Nagle was for people who still had not mastered English.
So clearly, the student community in the two streams were different.
One man who seemed to dominate the campus then was one Krishna Iyer, who was a manager of all things of sorts. People said that Mani had a say in matters that also included admission!
Nagle classrooms were simple ones located at the rear of the campus, closer to the Harris Road wall side. Away from the main school classrooms. Ms Kirk is the only teacher at Nagle that Mani recalls well.
Recalls Mani," The school used to get milk powder in cans and we had to join queues to drink the hot milk served every day. Till a point we began to take it and later didn't like it."
From Std.5 in Nagle students joined the main school. But there was a screening and if students were found not 'qualified' they would have to repeat Std.5 in the main school. Mani had to do just that.
He recalls Ms Dubier as the Std 5 class teacher and Ms Dharmabal as his Tamil teacher.
Ms Leela (Kalyanaraman) was the teacher for Std. 6 and 7, Ms Neaves for Std. 8, Ms Sambandam for Std.9, Ms Chandra Babu for Std.10 and Ms Surendra for Std.11. Surendra was also then the Headmistress.
The main gate of the school faced Marshalls Road. If you came in from the Pudupet 1st Street side, there was a small wicket gate, then the main gate of metal sheets and then a garden gate which led to a grotto and the convent of the Presentation nuns.
Mani recalls one Ms Stevens who used to come from Vepery and came in a small car and was also a manager of sorts. She was a "terror" and would chase away all the carts that sold sweetmeats and ice creams.
As you entered the school campus, there was a wired compound divider where cars could be parked. On the right side of the ground were small rooms, then the stage, a office room and the HM's room, from one end to the other. It ended with the typewriting and shorthand classroom - this was offered as an elective to students. Master Krishan was the teacher here then.
On the far end, from north south was a tiled section of the school, with long sections using dividers to create senior classrooms and then the Teachers' Room, to rest and relax and have lunch.
Behind this was a no go zone, a central kitchen, a space for fowl and birds. In that central bungalow like space is where teachers Ms Leela and Ms Theodore lived.
There was also a bungalow behind the main block on the north side, where Std 1 and 2 of the main stream were run. A gate opened to Harris Road. Off that bungalow was the dining space for students. On the first floor of the bungalow lived the Pereira family. A daughter was in Mani's batch and she migrated to Australia very early.
Mani says there were only 30 students in Std.XI in 1965 batch. He recalls 17 plus were girls.
"The Anglo Indians, especially the boys used to drop out since they didn't study much…so we really did not have Anglos in the final batch," recalls Mani.
Sports and extra curricular activities were a minimum on campus. For many students exposure to the Anglo Indians was new and the use of a new form of language which used Tamil words in a different style got into everybody's vocabulary!
Mani recalls among students who made a mark one Jyothi Raman who was a good mid and long distance runner who won medals at city meets.
St Augustine House in school was always the House that had the best sportspeople and bright ones, says Mani. He says it became a tradition to join St Augustine's and excel on and off the field.
Mani recalls that Ms Neaves was always planning activities and events. He recalls times when she hosted a Christmas Dance and Dinner at a campus in Vepery to raise funds for St Anthony's school.
" She would take us senior boys to cut candles up and throw the wax on the dance floor to waxen it and decorate the place. Then only a few boys were asked to come back and thatsbwhen we watched the dances. People had good fun and there would be some scrapes too when guys eyed other girls!".
The 1965 batch took the public exams at Christ Church on Mount Road in December 1965. All the 27 who took that exam passed. 9 in First Class, 9 in Second Class and 9 in Third Class.
But there were hard lessons that the students who went to college got to learn. That the Anglo Indian stream educational level was low and that students who studied in places like St Anthony's were just not fit to compete with the rest. They had to work hard, struggle and make it.
Mani Kadirvel is on FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/mani.kadirvel
--
Note/ If you know of students of the school who studied here in the 1950s/60s please share leads of their names and contacts. Please mail to - vincentsjottings@gmail.com.
A man whose stories of the school ring in days and years of the 50s and 60s.
This story has been shared by Mani Kadirvel who now lives in Singapore with his daughter who also studied for some years in our school.
Mani keeps visiting Madras often and during one recent visit we caught up with him for his school story -
Mani's family has roots that run across four / five generations in Pudupet. His great grand father (Agatheeswarar Mudaliar) was said to have been a famous and well off vaithiyar ( native medicine expert) who was seen traveling in a coach in his times. Perhaps in the 1900s.
The family owned houses across the 3 famed streets of the colony around the church. So mani as a toddler has virtually seen the walls and people who made St Anthony's.
As was the case with families in the area, Mani was admitted to Nagle Preparatory School. St Anthony's also existed then but the latter was primarily meant for Anglo indians, Christians and kids of well-educated families. Nagle was for people who still had not mastered English.
So clearly, the student community in the two streams were different.
One man who seemed to dominate the campus then was one Krishna Iyer, who was a manager of all things of sorts. People said that Mani had a say in matters that also included admission!
Nagle classrooms were simple ones located at the rear of the campus, closer to the Harris Road wall side. Away from the main school classrooms. Ms Kirk is the only teacher at Nagle that Mani recalls well.
Recalls Mani," The school used to get milk powder in cans and we had to join queues to drink the hot milk served every day. Till a point we began to take it and later didn't like it."
From Std.5 in Nagle students joined the main school. But there was a screening and if students were found not 'qualified' they would have to repeat Std.5 in the main school. Mani had to do just that.
He recalls Ms Dubier as the Std 5 class teacher and Ms Dharmabal as his Tamil teacher.
Ms Leela (Kalyanaraman) was the teacher for Std. 6 and 7, Ms Neaves for Std. 8, Ms Sambandam for Std.9, Ms Chandra Babu for Std.10 and Ms Surendra for Std.11. Surendra was also then the Headmistress.
The main gate of the school faced Marshalls Road. If you came in from the Pudupet 1st Street side, there was a small wicket gate, then the main gate of metal sheets and then a garden gate which led to a grotto and the convent of the Presentation nuns.
Mani recalls one Ms Stevens who used to come from Vepery and came in a small car and was also a manager of sorts. She was a "terror" and would chase away all the carts that sold sweetmeats and ice creams.
As you entered the school campus, there was a wired compound divider where cars could be parked. On the right side of the ground were small rooms, then the stage, a office room and the HM's room, from one end to the other. It ended with the typewriting and shorthand classroom - this was offered as an elective to students. Master Krishan was the teacher here then.
On the far end, from north south was a tiled section of the school, with long sections using dividers to create senior classrooms and then the Teachers' Room, to rest and relax and have lunch.
Behind this was a no go zone, a central kitchen, a space for fowl and birds. In that central bungalow like space is where teachers Ms Leela and Ms Theodore lived.
There was also a bungalow behind the main block on the north side, where Std 1 and 2 of the main stream were run. A gate opened to Harris Road. Off that bungalow was the dining space for students. On the first floor of the bungalow lived the Pereira family. A daughter was in Mani's batch and she migrated to Australia very early.
Mani says there were only 30 students in Std.XI in 1965 batch. He recalls 17 plus were girls.
"The Anglo Indians, especially the boys used to drop out since they didn't study much…so we really did not have Anglos in the final batch," recalls Mani.
Sports and extra curricular activities were a minimum on campus. For many students exposure to the Anglo Indians was new and the use of a new form of language which used Tamil words in a different style got into everybody's vocabulary!
Mani recalls among students who made a mark one Jyothi Raman who was a good mid and long distance runner who won medals at city meets.
St Augustine House in school was always the House that had the best sportspeople and bright ones, says Mani. He says it became a tradition to join St Augustine's and excel on and off the field.
Mani recalls that Ms Neaves was always planning activities and events. He recalls times when she hosted a Christmas Dance and Dinner at a campus in Vepery to raise funds for St Anthony's school.
" She would take us senior boys to cut candles up and throw the wax on the dance floor to waxen it and decorate the place. Then only a few boys were asked to come back and thatsbwhen we watched the dances. People had good fun and there would be some scrapes too when guys eyed other girls!".
The 1965 batch took the public exams at Christ Church on Mount Road in December 1965. All the 27 who took that exam passed. 9 in First Class, 9 in Second Class and 9 in Third Class.
But there were hard lessons that the students who went to college got to learn. That the Anglo Indian stream educational level was low and that students who studied in places like St Anthony's were just not fit to compete with the rest. They had to work hard, struggle and make it.
Mani Kadirvel is on FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/mani.kadirvel
--
Note/ If you know of students of the school who studied here in the 1950s/60s please share leads of their names and contacts. Please mail to - vincentsjottings@gmail.com.
