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Andrew Ward: Our Bones Are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacres and The Indian Mutiny Of 1857
Picture courtesy: OL Rohan Shetty.
This wasn't taken at Lovedale, but the picture was taken in, and is, classic Nilgiris. The mist, the sunshine, the flowers (see the foxgloves?).
All together now: close your eyes and take a deep breath of that refreshing air...
...while I wait to get pictures from Founders 2009, I came across this one.
A fairly innocuous picture of a Singer sewing machine.
And yet, when I look at it - I see the Kit Room at Girls School on a warm day.
It's an oddly soporific memory - the windows wide open; a warm breeze blowing in; the constant whir and steady cadence of the sewing machine's wheel; the smell of freshly mown grass wafting through the air; our ayah's: Ammani and Harriet sitting on their blankets below the window - sewing buttons and mending uniforms...
A timeless scene.
...Yohan Chacko remembers Lovedale in song. Enjoy the clip!
...and 'round.
Singing for what seemed like several hours, actually. Lovedale's location meant we took our school bus - everywhere. To Ooty for 'outings'; to various schools for Inter-School competitions; to camp...
We also took Cheran buses to and from our various rail heads at the start and end of each school term. Do you remember the journey? Winding through hairpin bends...enjoying the views and getting gloriously sick... hmmm....that last bit may have just been me!
Here's one fo the songs we used to sing along the way. It's Surangini and I wasn't aware it was a Sri Lankan song? We apparently adapted the verses and sang lines like these:
If you want to marry me darling/you'd better not come at four/Papa will be waiting with a shotgun at the door...
No wonder I'm still single.
...more musical nostalgia for some of us OL's. Actually - thank Karan for this one! :)
Remember - Sunday Morning....up With the Lark...?
...well, no thanks to the person who reminded me of Boney M. :-)
I can't get this memory out of my head...seem to remember their songs playing at our school dances at Large Hall. What an ear worm! :-)
...Sunlight streaming through large windows at Assembly, dappling tousled heads of hair bent reverentially over hymn books...
That wasn't us, was it? :-)
Here are the words to this hymn:
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
The bed looked just the way I had left it that morning.
Counterpane pulled tight. Envelope corners pulled just right. Towel neatly draped across the headboard. Yawning, I pulled back the counterpane and snuggled under the covers.
Before promptly disappearing from view in a tangle of blankets and a chorus of giggles from the rest of the dorm.
I'd just been apple-pied.
As I gingerly picked myself up off the floor...I had just one question. Why did we call them apple-pie beds anyway?
There was nothing even remotely related to the culinary arts about this classic dorm-room prank. There were variations on a theme; one version involved removing all the slats from a bed and making the bed back up again. An unsuspecting victim (me) would then climb in and suddenly find...well...that there was no support, before crashing unceremoniously to the ground. This was apple-pie a la mode.
The regular version involved removing the top sheet and folding the lower sheet back on itself. Predictably, the sleeper could only get their legs so far. Regular apple-pie beds could be tweaked with the careful addition of hairbrushes tucked into the folded-back sheet for a wonderfully ouch-filled experience.
Apple-pie beds reached their zenith during Halloween, but that is a story for another day!
Image: Wikipedia. No copyright.
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