Memories of my early days in Vanitha Sadana are mixed-some vivid some murky. Let me see how much I remember.
I studied up to 7th standard in VS, starting from my infancy. Reason being my mother Smt. B.R. Kapila bai was a teacher in the nursery section of the school. She served for about 7 years . My late father Sri B.N. Ramasesha Rao was also associated with the school. He was an active member of the Children’s Book Council (CBC). I am told he campaigned for CBC, moved from place to place, village to village with audio visual aids to propagate literacy among the rural people. His enthusiasm about CBC’s activities did reverberate in our home as well..
My schooling at VS was quite interesting. There was a personal touch in whatever the Teachers did. Perhaps they had taken a leaf out of the founders- Sri Nagesha Rao and Smt.Susheela Bai. Susheela Bai used to affectionately call me Ravi Kutty and I liked it After all who does not like pampering. In fact all the members of the first family were known to me..
My class had a strength of about 18 to 20. Most of them hailing from K.M Puram with similar back ground. Every month we had tests on all the subjects which kept us on toes. I always stood third and could never make it to the 1st position. S.M. Venkatesh was 1st and B.N. Satyanarayan was always 2nd. I distinctly remember Satyu always scoring 2 marks more than me and registering the second rank. In one particular year may be in the 7th Satyu scored 357 / 400 and I got 355 and Venkatesh was 10-15 marks ahead. This defeat went on to haunt me till I left the school. But I took solace, in getting ahead of them in sports. I loved sports and still do. Among my seniors I remember Sundru, Suri and Vasu in particular. In Sundru’s house we used to play hide and seek in the evenings.
VS encouraged us to participate in drama and other extra curricular activities. I remember having taken part in “ Nanna Gopala and Vishwamitra.” Of course my roles were secondary, the heroes were invariably the ‘chosen’ ones. Every year VS used to hold sports competitions in which teams from other localities would participate. Kho kho, Kabbaddi and athletics were part of the competition. Vanitha Sadana invariably did well. Events like Republic day, Independence day , Founders day were our annual features.. There used to be a early morning walkathlon (Prabhat-pheri) on Independence day which was always exciting.
Some teachers in particular impressed me a lot. They were dedicated and sincere to the core. We had a personal relationship with them. In effect they were part of our family by extension. Some names which immediately come to my mind are.- Smt. Susheela Bharati our H.M., Sarojamma, Nagamani, Tulsibai, and Papu..
We had what was known as ‘Varadi Pustaka’(Report Book) . This book had to be carried to the school daily in which the teachers would give marks for our cleanliness , behaviour , and activities on a scale of 5. We always aspired to get 5/ 5 in all the three segments. The teacher would inspect our dress, teeth, shoes, nails for cleniness before allotting the marks. This system instilled a sense of cleanliness and good healthy habits in our young minds . I feel it is not a bad idea to introduce to the students of VS today. VS also taught us ‘Takli’, Tailoring/ stitching which were unique to our school. Habits die hard I can still produce a needle and thread if someone is in need. Thinking of my classmates I recall the names of Satyu , Venkatesh, Prasanna, Uppi, Murali , Sujendra, Jairam and T. Purushottam (TP) . TP was slightly older to us. while not very good at studies he was exceptional in extra curricular activities. I recollect having met TP in Delhi after about 10-15 years when he was “cycling India on Bike” I have lost track of him. Chandrika and Vijaya are two female classmates I remember. Hopefully with Vanitha Sadana going internet I should be able to reconnect with my classmates.
Its not an exaggeration if I say the education imparted in VS was near total- be it academics, sports, extra curricular activities and discipline - it was all there.
Perhaps it is pay back time for all of us who were greatly benefited from this great institution.
More in next.
BRRavi
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