Loyola! Loyola! Loyola!

Loyola School, somewhere in South India, India.
My alma-mater. UKG to Class XII.
Made me what I am.
(PS: But please don't hold the school entirely responsible for any of my..... ummmmm "anomalies", like being two chappatis short of a full Thaali as one of my friends described it so succinctly. Wokay?)

Run by the Jesuit Order as you might be aware.... perhaps the best organisation that can handle a difficult task like teaching little devils. Centuries as the Catholic Church's vanguard in exorcisms and demon-busting and paranormal phenomena have made the Jesuit Order the best educationists in the whole universe...... Yeah, they'll really need all that experience. :)

Now, this place is boys only.
Pros: Male Bonding. Lifelong friendships..... nee, brotherhood! Industrial strength "skin" and Untamed tounges. First names basis with the local cops and crooks alike.
Cons: Ask the girls of St. Thomas, Sarvodaya, KV and Holy Angels.

That would do for a short intro..... for now. I guess I'll be telling you a lot more on life in Loyola soon. But first, I need you to familiarise yourself with the terrain.
How about a photo tour into the greatest school in the world? Hold on Totos, we're leaving Kansas now..........
-----------------------------------------------------------------


Enter, stranger!
These gates you see below were made with the very bones of the hills...... Vulcan himself spent eons fashioning the irons that hold the demons within, sparing the world of the horrors that lie beyond the runes. MUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

Errrrrr.........on second thoughts, no! I'll save the Bela Lugosi voiceover and the Gothic horror ishtyle for something else. ;)



OK, let's start again.
Here's the main gate to our little heaven.... If I remember correctly, the gate has been around for a long time. But that globe's new.... a bit corny, eh? Now the grills you see in the centre of the pic enclose the tennis court. Nobody played tennis in my time..... but since the advent of Ms. Mirza, I hear a lot of besotted, hopefull "suitors" are now really sweating it out there. Good luck to you, boys! Beyond the tennis court lies our dear football ground. They call it the football ground..... but you can see people playing cricket, track and field, no rules combat and dodgeball, simultaneously. Yeah, you have guessed right, we have therefore deviced strict (and violent) policies against run-out batsmen and clumsy fielders who claim they were distracted by the football (or the flying shoe, glasses, lunchboxes and undies from the friendly Muay-Thai melee nearby) out of the blue. There's a better view of this ground down the post....


Moving on, this pic right below shows the main block. The offices, computer labs, Audio-Video rooms, the SBT branch, most of the senior school classes, the library, are located in this block. The pic following this one shows the view from the second entrance, i.e via the Jesuit residence, chapel-auditorium and College road. In my case Classes IX to XII were held here. The well stocked library at the top floor provides a Zen like experience. There's the cool breeze from the hills, the view, the very gentle and pleasant Susheela Ma'am who runs the library and her assistant, the one and only Lazar Uncle. (The non-teaching staff were really kind Uncles to us...... we didn't address them so for nothing. All of them were good men... the Jesuit management really knows how to pick their staff. I can't even imagine a life in Loyola without colorful characters like Joseph Uncle, Lazar Uncle and D'Cruz Uncle, the speed demon bus-driver. Here's looking at you, folks!) The Library was personally my favorite place in the whole school.... gave me this love for libraries I carried over into college and life after college.



See the building partially hidden by the tree and with the words Loyola School in the pic above? Well, that is the annexure to the main block and holds the enoromous exam halls, arts practice rooms at lower levels, some senior school classes etc. Classes V to VIII was held here in those days..... and there was always the cool wind from the hills and the lake of the resort nearby. Lovely view too.


The main block, the annexure and a third, older building (not shown in this post) forms the quadrangle. Here's the quadrangle, as seen from the old building. The stairs lead to the main block...... we hold our weekly assemblies here. A sea of boys in black and white (no ties or tuck-in shirts or polished shoes or walking in files-holding hands or such stupid rules here, BTW) throng the stairs, the Principal sits alone on a chair at the edge of the main basketball court and there's that 7 foot adjustable mic connected to the Public Address System. Every assembly, one kid (out of 45 per division, two divisions per class = 1170 boys totally in my time) per division from the senior school HAS to give a speech/song/poetry recitation. Like the Fight Club, everyone HAS to make a go. Let me tell you this thingie cured me of my stage fright..... and helped me face the world. And thousands of other kids like me.
No public caning, report-card reading or apology in the assembly or any of that shit...... and we never had corporal punishment here! Except for late Fr. Mathew Pulickal descending on the rioting masses of naughty kids, waving his cane and hectoring them to behave like gentlemen should. I bet my immortal soul he's up there at the right side of God's throne, winking at us and promising us another thrashing with that bamboo cane when he sees us up there. (See, that ad with Big B as a priest, tagging school kids who don't have clean uniforms? That's a much watered-down version of the loving, incorrigible and impossible Fr Pulickal...... I owe him a whole post. Soon!)



Coming back to the school terrain, the pic below shows the view from the main block. What you see is the football court I told you about. That red brick structure is the so-called "Pavillion", another multipurpose edifice. Sports day fest organising, PT for kids, close-quarters football with stones, review of the latest D.B.Nair(Debonair) magazine..... this is the place. That door you see leads to the sports locker..... ahhhhh, a kids dream! We luvved to raid the place for that sweet, musty smell of old football and basketball bladders, willows, nets, tug-of-war ropes and that abdomen-groin pad. This object has never been touched since a wonderous humanoid lifeform named Bijoy (one yr senior to me) used it the very day they purchased it. AFAIK, it is an object of shamanistic awe now and legends have grown around it's etheral photoluminscense and aroma. It now occupies a place of honor at a corner of the sports room, respected, worshipped and undisturbed by all.
Right next to this room, hidden by the portico is our snack canteen. Gawwwwd...... the moments of absolute Nirvana and KaivalyaJnana I have attained here munching those snacks. Especially if I convinced someone else to pay for it! They don't make that kind of "butter-buns", "jam-cakes" and "sip-ups" anymore, sighhhhh.....What? Why are you cackling? They ARE suggestive names, but I assure you they are nothing more than snacks. Ohhh grow up, for fcuk's sake! :)




Hmmm..... now we have a view of the Junior school playplace(see that big boat thingie and the building to the left of the pic, behind the grill?) and a portion of the renovated Junior School. As you probably realise, this flatland is the football ground, as seen from the Pavillion.




The Chapel and Auditorium complex is the coolest structure in the campus. Designed by Laurie Baker, this exhibits his style of affordable and enviornment friendly architecture. The auditorium is huuuuge, accoustics are excellent and there's a large balcony section for the "criminally" inclined. Visit the backenches of the balcony during festival time to know what a Pepsi, spittle and popcorn shower is like! Been in sooo many auditoriums, but nothing ever measures upto this one. The cheers, catcalls, whistles and the curses still ring in my mind..... so clearly. After class hours, Karate classes were held in the auditorium. I used to be a little Bruce Lee for a couple of years you know, though you wouldn't tell if you saw my "chiselled" body now. ;) We had to clear the chairs off first to make the Dojo.... and arrange them back after the 90 minute class. Our sinews, fists, knuckles, shins and knees hurt like a million hells, but still we had to do it in 5 minutes sharp...... lest Sensei's thick Black Belt descended on our butts or thighs to "encourage" us.
The chapel is quite an experience, even for an "idolatorous heathen" like me. ;) The design is such that the light enters through some strategically placed windows and converges at the altar.... giving it an out-of-world glow. Trust me, it's some light-show! Add to it the rich, booming voice of Fr Thayyil or the so-sensible and paternal voice of Fr Thomas or the earnest and pointed voice of Fr Pulickal or even the metallic, no-nonsense voice of Fr Manimala, this chapel provides a very mystical experience. I have spent so many hours sitting here, praying to every God that came to my mind, before exams or for my house to win the cup (while the festival was going in the auditorium, seperated from the chapel by a wall).... or simply to be at peace. Life was so simple then, we were rather innocent, the Gods were simpler, theology more black and white and we weren't yet exposed to the shenanigans and spin-off effects of religion-politics or caste-politics. Anyway......
The grottos and the 12 passions, staple features of every catholic church, are quite unique. The passions are represented by simple outlines wrought in iron. No grand mosaic glass panel, icons and Biblical verses in huge Gothic scripts..... simple outlines. My favorite one is the passion showing Jesus carrying the cross, it's a simple metal outline..... says so much, with so little. Just like that famous three swoosh pencil-sketch representing Gandhiji.
Here's Apu (Peri) and Mathew(Ichaayan) at the spiral stairs leading to the balcony of the auditorium. We were just finished with a game of basketball..... One door to the auditorium can be seen at extreme left of the pic. That was my least favorite door, you land right into the midst of the teachers and judges who occupy the front rows. Definitely no place for exhibiting your true self!


Wowww! The "Hockey Ground"! But Hockey was last played here during the time of Dhyan Chand..... this has long been taken over by the warlords of cricket. See the trees lining up on the side, they were the "wickets". The first gang to reach the ground possessed the middle tree, the prized location for obvious reasons. We made bats out of coconut leaf stems (till we were "old enough" to ask for proper bats from the sports-room) and played with tennis balls.... took turns in buying the ball you know. Sometimes, we pooled resources from "sip-up" money for buying a ball. God help the wretch who loses it before it wears away into an amorphous piece of pulp! Even worse fate awaits those who hit the ball into the thick bushes beyond the ground.
BTW, the number of times I've scraped my knees and elbows in the hard, unforgiving ground! Something abou the place..... the ground is so unnaturally hard.



Here's another view from the main block..... this one shows the second basketball court. Can you make it out from this pic? Whenever they had exams for other classes in the quad buildings, or during free periods or when the school team was practicing, this is where we little scamps headed off to. I've been to the Thar and Mojhave deserts..... but I've never seen so much fr1ggin dust as this piece of Mother Earth. It was lovely though..... all that dust just adds to the feel and the thrill of the battle. Until Apu charges from the Khamsin and rams his knee into your family jewels before proceeding to score while you writhe on the ground and eat the dust. Ouch!




Another view of the Junior school down here.... the buses were just filing in as I took the pics. They tore down my old junior school... the brick-red, single story, horse-shoe shaped Laurie Baker style structure and built this green monstrosity in its place. Damn! And I have no pics of that beautiful old place...... the central quad, the "port-holes" we shot passers-by with paper pellets, Rajappan uncle's lair, Fr Thomas's room, the comfy infirmary.
Sighhhh. Nothing lasts forever......



Ok..... some of my greatest memories in school was the jolly little forest and that deep "trench" which once existed right where they are building the new stadium. See that in the background of the pic below? We were so pissed when they erased those woods ...... we had so much fun there. The terrain was so much like the alpine and semi-forest terrain of Fauji serial. Had loads of fun playing commandos and Pakistanis out there, imaginations fired to max till that shrill bell at 12:40 sharp. The parents were glad though.... they always thought the "enchanted woods" were dangerous. After all, our school "muscot" and showpiece Python (passed away a few years ago) was captured there. I used to spend hours staring at the Python, waiting for it to sit up and hiss and scare me like those nasty Nagas in those Prem Nazir movies. No dice...... it rarely moved. I guess he was too lonely, bored and sad. He spent almost his entire life in that little improvised cage beneath the stairs you see. NOW I feel so ashamed for not letting him out back then.



All thats left of our original terrain are the slides you see in the following pic. They seemed so menacing and steep back then. The ultimate test of "manhood" was sliding down these wearing those nylon socks for added mobility and danger..... or better, during the rains when it gets slippery! There used to be a shicking red merry-go-round, two see-saws and two pairs of swings in the empty space you see. I wasn't scared of the merry-g-round and the swings..... used to cling on even when the merry-go-round was spun at maximum speeds and my friends had jumped out screaming. I just loved that feeling in my stomach and the wind in my hair. I could swing to the maximum heights and jump off too...... somehow managed to land on my feet all the time. The see-saw was another matter though. I was scared to death of Vinay or Kiran jumping off the other end at my maximum ascent, sending my ass crashing into the ground at terminal speeds........ along with my end of the see-saw. How my spine and rib-cage jangled after impact! These two used to do that all the time....... the thrill was in the mind-game and guessing when he's going to jump off. However, I could never muster up enough courage to return the favor...... jumping off a see-saw when I was on maximum ascent seemed so suicidal. The fulcrum thingie messed up my calculations in statics, projecticle theory, aerodynamics, wind velocity and thrust to weight rations..... for all I know, I could end up with my chin mashed into my mouth . So I sat there and took it like the pu$$y I was. :P


--------------------------------
I guess that will do for today.............. already this is a loooooong-ass post. I doubt if the page would ever load for all ye mere mortals with slow connections. All the pics are approx 150KB each! Resized from their original 1 MB High-Quality versions onlee. I only hope the blog software doesn't distort the pics too much.

Lots of things I haven't included..... partly its b'coz of space considerations, partly because I don't have the pics. Perhaps I SHOULD make more posts on my school, the people and all the anecdotes..... I feel I haven't done enoigh justice to Loyola. Lots of things still clanging inside my head, waiting to be put down on black and white before time erases them. Thank God I have a rather good memory..... and I am a compulsive record-keeper (personal diaries, mementos, catalogues, pics etc). Ever fear about a time when you start forgetting things you never should? Ooops, here I go on tangent again..... (Note to self: never read short stories like Orma or see movies like Thanmatra or even Bubba-Ho-Tep!)

Better get outta here. Till next time, Bye!