Blog # 12 Dated: 29 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear,..........,

Hello. Yesterday, I narrated my becoming a science graduate. No jobs on the horizon. And with nobody rooting for me,  I was just wasting away my time. That was the time when the general population felt that educating their children would ensure that they would have a better future. The condition of schools continued to be bad. We still had the "Jabri Zeth" type schools in each locality. Translating "Jabri Zeth" it meant "Forcibly admitting children in run down school"  (A child would normally not like to go to school. He would be forcibly taken to the school. While going, he would be weeping. This would happen with most children.) So there would be openings for educated unemployed persons to be home tutors. It would start with teaching the children of our relatives. One of our close relatives had two young school going children. I was sent for coaching them. I would go everyday and at the end of the month I would be paid Rs. 5/-. The mother of the children would be nearby working in the kitchen. If she would hear me telling the child that she had not done her homework or not done the sum correctly, the mother would come out of the kitchen and shout at the child. On occasions she would thrash the child too. She gave me a stick too to discipline the children if necessary. I would sparingly use the stick. 

In addition to these two children, I coached two more children from two separate households at Rs. 20/- each, per month. Life was moving on without any direction. One of my close friends living nearby, and also a graduate (Arts stream) got a job in Mission School located at Fateh Kadal - about a kilometer away from our house. After he had been working there for about two months, he learnt that there was a vacancy for a science teacher in the school. I went there and was appointed a teacher on a monthly salary of Rs. 58/-. I was assigned to teaching in lower primary classes. Occasionally, I was asked to teach in higher classes when the senior science teacher would be absent for any reason. My performance was nothing spectacular. I have three main remembrances about this school. One, the school was probably the first school in the valley started by Englishmen. The school was housed in two or three buildings constructed around a compound on the banks of the river. There were verandahs on the first floor and second floor level. When the whistle for assembly of children in the compound was blown, all the children were expected to reach the compound in a minutes. There were a number of vertical wooden poles available for children to slide down from first and second floor. This was a sight to remember. In the twinkling of an eye, the children would swarm in the compound. The second was that I met Pandit Samsar Chand in this school. He was a geography teacher. Only two persons from India have ever been awarded National Geographical Award. He was one of them. He knew all the birds, their migration timing, their plume particulars, their sounds and the type of nests, etc. etc. In his class room, he had several dozens of different nest of birds on the ceiling. He was very much sought after by European visitors who would take him with them on their visits to the countryside, lakes and swamps to identify the birds for them. He was a very simple person always wearing a turban, pyjama, shirt and coat. He was a resident of Rainawari about three kilometers away from the school and would everyday walk up and down the school. Aditya Raj Koul who is a Kashmiri Pandit activist very active on the social media today, happens to be his great grandson. My next remembrance is meeting a Teacher by the name: Mr. Mohan Lal. He was probably a Matric Pass. He became my friend. My brother in law Mr. Jawahar Lal Sultan, (my wife's brother) had also been a teacher in this school before I had joined there. Mr. Mohan Lal was his friend. Through Mohan Lal, I met Mr. Sultan.                   

One day after I had been employed in the mission school, very early in the morning, I found someone calling for me by shouting my name outside our house. We were all sleeping. I got up and looked through the window. There were two boys, one of them was my class fellow when I was in F.Sc, and his elder brother. The elder brother was working as a science teacher in S.P.School - the same school from which I had passed my matric. He had got a higher post (demonstrator in S.P.College) He was not being  relieved by the school Principal unless he would provide a substitute. He requested me to be a substitute. I agreed because, it was a government job with a time scale salary 70-6-130. That meant that I would start with a salary of Rs. 70/- per month. Every year, I would get an increment of Rs. 6/- till such time I would reach Rs. 130/-. I had worked in Mission School for two months only.    

There were six science teachers already in S.P.School when I joined as the seventh teacher. The six teachers were veterans. They were well educated and impressive looking personality. I, in contrast looked a boy. Lot of boys in the school looked more aged than me. I started teaching better than what I was doing in the previous school. The children would not get scared of me because I lacked the overbearing presence of the other teachers. The boys felt more relaxed with me. They would seek clearance of their doubts. They were happy with me. The children in other sections felt that they were unlucky not to be in my section. This feedback reached the Principal too. He (Gulam Rasool Dar) called me to his chamber and took me in the evening with him to his sister's house. His sister had a son in Grade 9. I was to teach him science and maths. The boy's father was the Chief Fire Officer in Fire Brigade in Kashmir valley. My father who was a station officer in Fire Brigade then was very pleased learning it. The Chief would give him respect and most staff in the Fire headquarter knew that fact too. I am happy that I was a reason for my father to be proud of me and getting lot of respect in the headquarter. 

Bye for now. I will continue with my narration about my performance as teacher in school in my next blog. I would like to add here that I did not get paid for my home teaching the Chief's son. (The Principal would have got insulted if I had asked for money. He did not offer and I did not ask.)           

Blog # 11 Dated: 28 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear,............,

Hello. I digressed from my personal journey of life narration to apprise you of the situation existing in those days. I will come back to that subject at a later stage. For the time being, I will now progress with my personal story. 

Till now, I have informed you that I passed the Matric exams. It was decided for me to take studies in Non Medical stream. In this stream the subjects were, English, Physics, Chemistry and Maths. There were two more streames, Medical, and Arts. Medical stream was similar to Non Medical except that Math was substituted with Botany and Zoology. The Arts was the third stream where a number of subject combinations were possible except of course science subjects. Non Medical subject study would prepare the student for Engineering related training. The Medical stream would mean preparation for studies in Medicine related professional studies. Arts would be basis for rest of all professions, law, administration, education, civil services etc. We needed to have at least a first division to get admitted in Non-Medical and Medical studies. Since I had missed First division by one mark, I was given admission on the very first day when the process started in S.P.College.

College and School studies were poles apart. In school, the teachers were called, master jee while in the college, the teachers would be called Lecturers. The school teachers would be poorly dressed whereas the Lecturers would be in suit boot (polished) and tie. There was no concept similar to a class teacher who would take roll call of the students as in schools. We would go, attend a Lecture and then move on to another class to attend the lecture. In school, we would remain in one room while the teachers teaching different subjected would come to the class. Here in the college, the teacher had a dedicated room for teaching. Here we would go from room to room to listen to different Lecturers. In school, we would get home work and the same would be checked next day in the class. Here in the college, there would be no homework, no assignments. Lecturers would not bother whether we would attend a class or not. Complete independence for the students and best recipe for their downfall and getting spoiled. We were expected to be studying ourselves too on our own. 

While I was admitted in the college (first year), there was an advertisement for recruitment for training of young boys and girls in the medical department of the state. The posts advertised were, X-Ray Technicians, Laboratory Assistants, Theater Assistants etc. I applied for three posts on the directions of my uncle jee. I was called for an interview, and within a minute, my interview was over. There was not even a chair for the interviewee in the room. They asked the name and how may marks had been secured in the Matric as soon as I entered the room.   Nothing more because it appeared that they intended to recruit only those ones who had a recommendation. I had none and therefore got rejected.  This was a sham interview. Most interviews would be like this only. I was looking into a bleak future. 

I did not do well in the college.  I was shy in the class. The Lecturers were not that good too. I would not dare ask a question to get clarified on my doubts. The Lecturers were not too enthusiastic to encourage us to cross question them. And then I picked up a very bad habit. I got addicted to Hindu novels usually by Prem Chand. I would get them from the library and read them late into the night. I remember some names too, "Nirmala" "Godaan" etc. My parents thought I was studying but I was not. My performance slipped. The course was for two years to clear FSc (Faculty of Science)  And at the end of two years I cleared the exams. I passed  with low 50% marks. After the result was out, I realised that I could have done better by studying my course books than the novels. 

Getting admission to the next course was almost automatic. Here also I was not able to cope up. I was ashamed to seek help. It was a sad situation. This time, I did not read any more novels. In fact I took a vow not to read novels ever in my life as I understood that this habit had undermined my life. I am happy to say that I have been able to keep this vow. In fact I would ensure in later years that my children would not pick up this bad habit too. After two years study, I passed my graduation. I became a BSc pass. Of course with high third division. After the results were out, I informed every one that I had secured a low second division but actually I had missed the second division by a few marks. It was only my younger brother who confronted me later and declared to everyone that I had passed in third division. Whatever, in April 1961, I had a Bachelor of Science degree in my hand.

Bye, tomorrow the science graduate in me will apprise you about how I became a responsible person and shaped my life for a better future.    

   

Blog # 10 Dated: 27 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear....

Hello. I did not write "Dear Follower" because no one seems to be following. But I will continue to write for posterity. Some day some one may find it interesting. 

These stories have been inside me for years aching to get out. Thoughts circle my mind, begging to be told and written. I worried; what if the stories are not interesting? What if no one read these? What if no one cares? I realised that telling the stories is for me, a satisfaction and will keep me away from wasting time on useless issues and intruding into other people's lives. If someone else benefits, that is wonderful. If no one reads it, that is fine too. 

The time period when I was born, the winters in Kashmir used to be very harsh. It used to snow a lot. Almost all houses used to have mud roofs where the accumulated snow would mean a high load on the house. The houses were mainly built with mud/burnt bricks joined together with mud or lime. Only few houses used to be built with cement. If the snow would not get removed quickly, there would be a danger of the house collapsing. I have seen people removing snow from the roofs with long wooden showels even during night in continuing snowfall. There used to be travelling workmen who would be visiting the habitated areas to offer to remove the snow from the roofs - of course against hefty payments. We have used their services a number of times.

There would be lot of snow already accumulated on the ground. With added snow downed from the roofs, the snow on the roads would be considerable. It would not be levelled on the roads adjacent to the houses. There would be mounds and valleys. Walking on them would be a nightmare. There would be lot of falls even after walking very cautiously on these roads. The snow would be removed only in March. It would be deposited into a water body - river or lake tributary nearby 

You must have heard about "kangri's". It used to be a burned clay pot insulated and provided with a handle by weaving of lean tree branches around it. Charcoal would be put inside the clay pot and then allowed to burn in a controlled manner. Everyone used to have a personal kangri and he would warm himself against cold by keeping it under the pheran. If we had to go to the market, we would carry the kangri under the pheran. With no special shoes and with our hands inside the pheran, it would be very slippery and tough to maintain balance walking on the snow mounds. The falls would be frequent. The live coal from the kangri would fall on us. Nearby people would come to rescue and help us stand on our feet. This used to be a common occurrence. There would hardly be a day when we would not see two or three people fall down in this manner. 

Kashmir winter would be very severe for two months. It had three phases for severity. The first phase would start from around 24th December.  This would last 40 days. This phase would be called "chilai kallan." The second phase would start immediately after the first phase. The second phase would be called "chilai khurud." This phase would last for twenty days. The last one was called chilay "bachha" The last one would have ten days duration. The last one was feared to be coldest and toughest part of the winter. Additionally, there would be no electricity. Electrical current was there but the voltage used to be so low that the filament of the lamp would light up very very low. Even when the electrical lamp would be on, we would have another light source to provide some illumination. 1% houses used to have a "bukhari" - a metal container with a metal pipe connection, the other end of the pipe open to the outside.  Wood would be burnt inside the container. This would provide heat in the room. The smoke would get routed outside the room through the pipe. Usually people would settle down in the ground floor area during winter and upper floor area during summer. Some people used to have a basement type room for the winter. 

I spoke about kangri in the para above. The kangri was also a weapon during street brawls. Kashmiri muslims always used to have a temper on short fuse. Even after a short argument between two persons, they would take out their kangri and hit it on the head of his rival. The rival would retaliate. Two to three blows with the kangri would cause both weapons useless. Then they would have weapon less fight with the head to head strikes (This would be called "thol" in the local language.) Head to head hitting used to be very common. This must be the only place in the world to have this type of combat.

Having touched the fight episode, I am reminded of the frequent fights on river banks involving two young ladies. The ladies would usually be sister in laws. Those days, transportation by boats was happening more than transportation by road transport. Rice for ration would be transported by large sized boats. The boats would park at earmarked place on the river bank in every mohalla. Every morning, people would come and take ration from the boats. I do not understand why, but almost every evening there would be a fight on the bank of the river. Two ladies would be fighting. Boats would change, ladies would change but the fight would continue. They would shout at each other and use very rude, un parliamentary, uncivilized and rough language. They would also sometimes have a physical combat also, resulting in tearing of clothes. Some times anticipating the damage to their pheran, they would take off the pheran and engage in physical combat. Only after the male members would come, they would disengage and stop the fight. The spectators would be watching and hearing, looking down from the bridge. I have watched some fights too, a great local culture among the muslim population.   

Bye for today.         

    

Blog # 9 Dated: 26 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear Follower,

Hello. Yesterday, I wrote that about a hundred years ago, most Hindu men would marry twice or thrice as the wife would mostly during childbirth die due to non-existent medical care. Then there would be lot of deaths too due to the existence of TB disease. But the social customs were such that the remarriage of young widow was not allowed. I remember there was a lady in my matamaal, who had become a widow when she was ten years old. And she lived to old age. It is difficult to imagine how such ladies could live and provide means for themselves. I have known one social activist. He was named Sat Lal. He was a professional sitar player and worked as an instrumentalist in the local radio station in Kashmir. He was called "Sata setear" He revolted against the social norms and married a widow. He was the first Hindu to do it in Kashmir. Four daughters were born to him and each one of those were trend setters in the valley in later years. His actions helped dent the rigidity of the society towards such unfortunate woman folk.   

Kashmiri Pandits were a close knit society then. There were three main occasions in a family when the near and dear ones would congregate and interact socially. One was the Yagneopavit of children. Near and dear ones were invited to the ceremony. The ceremony would initiate the child (usually by the age 7 years) into a hindu order. He would start wearing a sacred thread from this day. He would collect dakshina called "abeed" from all the elders present during the ceremony and all the money would then be given to the pandit jee performing the havan and puja. To accommodate all the guests, a tent (called sahibana in local language) would be erected in an open ground as near as possible to the residence. To cover the sides to give some sort of privacy, we used to have what we used to call tajeera and kanath in local language. The floor would be covered with flooring fabric and all the guests would sit on the covered floor. Food would be served with everyone seated. Then there would be stalls with refreshments. These stalls would be maintained with supplies provided by massi (boy's mother's sister) and pofees (boy's father's sister). If the boy had more than one massi, and one pofee, each one of them would have a stall. On one stall, we would have milk, on another stall fried loochi, yet another nadir monji, mithai sweets and so on. There would also be cases where there would be no massi and no pofee. In this case a near relative would come up to provide the stalls.

Marriages would always be day marriages. The bridegroom would arrive early accompanied by a large baraat. The bridegroom would be wearing a turban, long coat (called achkan) and skin tight trousers (called churidaar pyjama) Marigold flower maallas would be around his neck. He and elders in the family accompanying with the baraat would be received and garlanded on arrival. Immediately food would be served. All in seated position on the floor under the tent described above. Most of the guests accompanying the baraat would leave after taking the meals. Only a few close relatives of the bridegroom would stay behind to be present during the lagan ceremony. One very interesting custom in those days, the bridegroom party would carry their own arrangements for tea etc. (tea leaves, sugar, snacks etc.) with them. They would loan a samavaar and cups from the bride side and prepare the tea and serve it to their part of the guests during the day. The bridegroom party would leave along with the bride before dusk. There would be farewell singing at that time. Muslim neighbourhood ladies would come and do the farewell singing too.  Gifts for the bridegroom, his parents and close women relatives would be sent with the bride. 

There were no marriage halls then. All the guests would get accomodated in the houses of the marriage party or their close relation living nearby. Bedding and utensils would be collected in advance of the functions from relatives. Each of these would get marked so that after the function would be over, it would get returned to the rightful owner. The food for the guests would be made by cooks in properly enclosed open ground. Bricks would be used and stacked in a special manner to provide support for the utensils during cooking. Firewood would be used to provide heat for the cooking.  The food used to be served in disposable baked earthenware plates called "taku in the local language". These would get discarded after the meals were taken.              

There used to be essentially lot of singing with local instruments like "tumbaknaari" during these celebrations. All lady folk would participate. The singing would start in the evening and go right right up to midnight.  Marriages and Yagneopavit functions would give the people a reason to send a little money on dresses and new clothes. 

Enough for today. Bye.

Blog # 8 Dated: 25 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear Follower,

Hello. I will take off from where I stopped my narration yesterday. I was writing of the period preceding my birth in Kashmir. As I mentioned in my previous post, the money supply was very low and the jobs were sparse. Somehow people were making their ends meet. In such a scenario, parents of very young girls would be always on the lookout for boys from families which would be more prosperous than them. When the boy and the girl would be very young,  marriages were fixed, and solemnized. The boy and the girl would play with each other. There would be frequent occasions that the boy groom and the girl bride would be sitting on the laps of their parents and the marriage vows be spoken by the pandit jee. After the marriage would be over, the bride would go to her parents home. Years later, the bride would be sent to her in law's place. 

The modern medical facilities were non existent that time. Thus there would be lot of death of women during childbirth. Also almost 30 percent of new born children would not survive beyond the first year of their lives. These facts defined the life that time. There would be many many cases when young man would become widowers. The widowers would go for a second and third marriage. I remember my grandfather would observe shradh of three mothers. This used to be common occurrence that time. The age of the second or third wife of the man would be lower than the age of his daughter or son born to his first wife. This was normal and accepted in the society. Being a second wife would mean lesser dowry and being a third wife even mean money for the parents of the girl - reverse dowry. And then there would be unlimited children because a man would never be sure about how many of them would survive.  For parents, the son was insurance for their old age. Daughters were always considered liabilities. Also it was commonly held that a son lighting the pyre of his parents would ensure that the dead person would go to heaven. There were many cases that a person would get daughter on daughter waiting for a son to take birth. He would reach a dozen and would even remarry a second wife just to get a son.   

When evaluating a person for marriage, the land holding of the boy's family would be a major factor. The number of walnut trees on the land would also be counted as a favourable item to determine the worth of the boy's family. There would be a norm for some girls also to be given a piece of land as dowry.

My grandfather on my mother's side had married twice. He had two children - my mother and her elder brother by first marriage. My mother's mother had inherited  a piece of farming land. Upon her death, this land rights were taken over by her son (my mamajee) - my mother's brother. (Those days the inheritance would only be a son's right) Now unfortunately,  my mama jee did not have a child of his own. This caused him worries. So that the land rights remain with the family, my mother gave me in adoption to her brother. This adoption was not looked at kindly by my father and the big joint family. If there would have been a mean streak in our family, we could have got ownership of land in my name because, on the records, I was his son. By the way, I remember having gone to the village once with my Mama Jee. I must have been five or six years old then.  It was located in Ganderbal Tehsil.  The land was non irrigated and the farmers (tillers called Kashtikaar in local language) would grow maize on the land. As per arrangement, the farmers would till the land, we would pay the government taxes for the land and also the cost of seeds and fertilizers. In exchange, we would be given half the produce. The tillers would be mean. They would hide around three fourth of the produce and show only one fourth to the owners. Then they would give half of that. Thus the owners would get one eighth of the total produce. In most cases, the input cost for the owner would far exceed the cost of the produce received. In short it would be a scam through and through for all the Hindu landlords. The case of Hindu landlords living in villages and adjacent to the land owned by them,would be different. They would be doing the tilling , sowing and harvesting by themselves. They would need helping hands which they would hire on daily basis. All their ladyfolk would also be working actively in the fields. 

The arrangement about land as described above got a drastic change in 1950's when the government of the day introduced land reform. Most of the land of absentee landlords was taken over and distributed among the tillers without compensation. I would be writing a separate blog on this in coming days.  

All Hindu ladies would get two "dejhors" on marriage. The two dejhors would be hanging from the two ears. The dejhors were made of gold. In earlier times these would be supported by a thread called "aath". In later days, the "aath" which was a cotton thread initially got replaced by golden chains. All married women would use it in Kashmir. (Much later the practice was discarded by the working ladies in Kashmir and rest of the country because there would be ruffians who would snatch it on lonely roads and crowded market place.) The snatching would cause bleeding and damage to the ear lobes of the lady wearing the dejhor. The dejhor would be used by poor families to be deposited with money lenders for money in difficult times.                         

Bye for  today. Tomorrow I will cover the social gatherings and marriage functions and so on.

Blog # 7 Dated: 24 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

Dear Follower,

Hello. I took a break yesterday. Although for me personally there is no difference between a weekday and weekend, yet in deference to the wishes of family members around, I decided to skip and enjoy the break. The days are warming up and I would be spending some time outside to tend to the garden. As of now, I have occupied a lot of space in our living room with dozens of pots ready with early growth of dahlia, other flower, cucumber, knol khol, tomatoes and chilli plants It is the graciousness of the family members that they are tolerating my activities. In another four weeks all plants would be either gifted or sown outside. Hopefully I may not take a break from blogging due to my gardening activities. 

I waded into the political scene in the last blog. As we go on, you will see me going deeper on that. In fact all bhattas are the greatest politicians on the face of the world. It is another thing that that we have political analysis and solution for the entire world but not any meaningful ones for ourselves and our community. It would be interesting to know what the chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang thought about us in  the year 631 AD when he visited the Kashmir valley. He is reported to have remarked, " They are volatile and timid; they are good looking but deceitful. They are fond of learning and follow both Buddhism and Hinduism"  Not much seems to have changed all these centuries. 

Today I would however touch the social aspect. Kashmiri pandit men folk would formally dress with a turban on the head, pheran worn over a shirt and waist coat, and skin tight pajamas. The shoe would be called a "peazaar". The pheran fabric would usually be pashmina cloth, turban called "saafa" would be muslin and the pajamas of cotton fabric. In winter, a Pashmina or Raffal blanket called "dussa" would be worn over the pheran. The pyjama fabric would be some thick cloth. We children would wear a woolen fabric pheran. There would be a white cloth pheran (called "posch" in the local language ) worn under the woolen fabric pheran to provide proper antidote and protection against cold. However poorer among the Hindu population would wear a "Falalan cloth" pheran in place of the woolen pheran. (Myself and my brothers always wore a "Falalan Cloth Pheran") No saafa for the children. As time moved on, around 1940, most menfolk had started discarding pheran and would wear a coat for going to work. Saafa also slowly gave way to a cap and then no cap at all. Our father wore upto his last days. Muslims also would wear pheran, saafa etc. Only difference would be that Hindu saafa would be saffron, pink coloured, those of muslims would be white.   

All ladies also used to wear pheran, head dress called taranga, and a loongi tied over the pheran around waist. I will post a picture in the near future to give you an idea. I have seen my mother in this dress when I was a child. Later this got changed to saree of the present day. There was a Kashmiri Pandit leader name Kashaf Bandu, who impressed on the community to change from pheran to saree for the ladies to bring them on the same dress code as other Hindu ladies in the rest of the country. Muslim ladies continued to wear pheran much longer than the Hindu ladies. There was a big difference between the Pheran worn by the Hindus and Muslims. For Hindu men, the pheran would be long - about three inches above the ankles, while for Muslim men it would be about six inches above the ankles. Also in Hindu pheran, there would be a stitched fold (called "laadh" in local language) in the pheran. (When a person would grow in height, the stitching would get removed to make the pheran longer) However the muslim pheran would not have a "laadh" . The Hindu ladies pheran would be long enough to touch a little lower than the ankles. There would be "laadh" too as in men's pheran. The muslim ladies pheran would be higher up to cover upto knees. There would be no "laadh" for them. On very formal occasions and marriage functions,  the elder muslim ladies would wear an elaborate headdress called "Kasaab"  The younger ones would tie a cloth over their head and this would be called "poosch.

The use of Burqa among ladies was not widespread for day to day living for muslim ladies. The shalwar kameez fashion was not there in 1940's and 1950's. It got introduced with the introduction of education among ladies.

It is now time to say bye.   

Blog # 6 Dated: 22 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear Follower,

Hello. I will take you to the social and political scenario that existed around the year I was born. Life was very tough. There was overall poverty. Money supply was very poor. There were no jobs. There were no factories also except silk factory. Hindu community members would mainly be in government departments doing minor clerical duties on a hand to mouth subsistence. There were money lenders in the community. Loans at exorbitant rates were available.  There were a very few who were in business. Muslims would have shawl, handicraft business, and were also in farming. They were in construction. There was hardly any Hindu in these professions. Muslims were boatment, traders, wood cutters, cleaners, dhobis, Transport, both road and river was another activity that the muslims were engaged in. 

The Government was basically running on collection of excise duty realized from people for a variety of goods. There was some sort of balance between the two main communities - Hindu and Muslim. We Hindus were completely dependant on the Muslims. Muslims would engage Hindus as teachers for their children and also engage them as accountants to keep a record of their finances. There used to be lot of borrowings and it would be necessary to keep a record. The communities would normally remain and live peacefully with each other. I was born when Kashmir was under the control of Dogra regime. Muslim leadership had developed to confront the Dogras. First it was Maulvi Farooq family.  (I think it was Maulvi Yosuf Shah) ,There would be demonstrations but common Hindus were not affected much. Then Sheikh Abdullah after getting educated in Aligarh and obtaining a post graduate degree in Chemistry, came back to Kashmir started working as a teacher. In no time he assumed leadership of the Muslim community. He formed Muslim Conference party. The frequency of demonstrations against Dogra rulers got increased. But the two groups,  one under Maulvi and the other under Abdullah were acting parallely. Maulvi's were from Shia sect of Islam whereas Abdullah's were mainly from Sunni sect of Islam.  The shia sect group would be called Bakra and the Sunni group as Sher. There would be frequent fights between the two groups to gain supremacy and establish themselves as the sole leader to negotiate with  the rulers. It is said that one Mr. Daya Krishen Koul or Hari Krishen Koul (He was a Kashmiri Pandit from Lahore) who was the Prime Minister of Kashmir on behalf of the Dogra ruler in around 1930, brought relief for the ruler from the menace of the muslim leadership. It is said that on one occasion he invited both the muslim leaders from the two groups for a meeting. First he called one group to his chamber. He told him that the Ruler wants to hand over a big estate to the leader of the muslim community. He told the leader to prove to him that he was stronger and had better following than the other one. He gave him  a time frame. Next he called the other leader and repeated the same to him too. This caused daily fights between the two groups in the valley. Some areas of the valley were inhabited by Shia people and the other areas by Sunni people. Few areas included both the groups.        

The Sher- Bakra conflict continued for quite some time. On a normal day, if people in any area found an unfamiliar face, they would ask him whether he was a sher or bakra. If he would say sher and the area residents were bakras, he would get a good thrashing. Same would be the treatment given to a bakra in sher area. It was interesting to observe that on one side of a bridge, bakras would live and sher on the other side. This would cause harm to lot of innocent people. A bakra or a sher might get beaten on one side of the bridge. He would cross the bridge not knowing that the area belonged to the other side. So he would change and not repeat his identity that he had disclosed earlier on the other side of the bridge. He would get thrashed again. That time there would be lot of stone throwing between bakras and shers across the bridges. Hindus called Bhattas were spared the thrashing. I have myself faced this crossing the fifth bridge (Ali Kadal) while going to  my matamaal.  Bhattas were called daali bhatta. We would never retaliate. We considered this as normal. 

So this is for today. I will be there continuing with more of the same tomorrow. Till then byre.        

Blog # 5 Dated: 21 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear Follower,

Hello Jee. Have you noticed that I am calling you a Follower now instead of Reader. It is so because you are reading me and following me. My blog has caused some of you to contact me to offer your valuable comments. No suggestions yet to improve my blog. But one or two of you made remarks similar to myself being called racist because they felt that I was mean to teachers in my blog. I maintain that I have truly reflected the state of teachers and methods of teaching as it existed in government schools in 1950's and 1960's. there in Srinagar Kashmir those days. ( there is no reason to believe that in earlier years the situation must have been  different.) I did not tell you how they would discipline us. Now read about that.

I had forgotten to say that there used to be an accessory - call it a teaching aid or discipline gadget. It was a stick which would be used frequently in the class. I am listing down the other discipline methods adopted by these teachers.

1. We were made to become a "murga". In this the child was asked to squat with no part of the body touching the ground. The the two arms had to be routed under the legs/knee and to hold our two ears with our fingers. We had to remain in this pose for average of ten to fifteen minutes. Since this was painful, we would try straightening up. One gaze from the teacher with the stick in the hand in a threatening posture would cause us to resume becoming a murga. (I wonder whether this was similar to Mayur pose in Yoga?) If a child would repeat trying to escape the ordeal, the teacher would put his bag of books on his back while he would be in the "murga" posture. This punishment was usually carried out if the homework was not done or some other serious reason. On occasions, we would find as many as ten or more children in this pose in a classroom simultaneously.

2.  Then there was "utha bethi" punishment. It was less harsh. In this we were to stand up, hold up our ears with two hands/fingers, then do sit ups counting to fifty or hundred or more depending upon the severity of the crime committed. One boy, the monitor of the class would do the counting in case we would count slowly.    

3. Facing the wall after standing up on the bench at the back end of the classroom. The punishment would last almost half an hour. This punishment would get awarded for repeated mischief in the class and disturbing the  teacher.

4. Then there would be punishment by striking / lashing on both the hands by the teacher using the stick. In some cases, the teacher would make some sturdy boy stand up. Then he would make the errant boy to hang on the back of the first boy. the errant boy would hold with his hands the neck of the first boy. The feet would be in the air. The teacher would then come and repeatedly lash his bum hard. The errant boy would shout  "maajei, maajei" every time the stick would fall on him. Then he would surrender and tell the teacher in a very pathetic tone and speech that he would never do the wrong thing again. (I have watched this so many times but I do not remember myself ever been one at the receiving end.)

5. Some teachers would make us put our fingers together for each hand and make us point them upwards. Then he would use a flat wooden piece to hit at the fingers tips. A painful punishment. Have tasted it. Sometimes they would lash the soles of the errant student. (Here some other boy would be asked to hold the feet of the boy into the position)

6. A time came when there was pressure on the teachers to abandon the stick. The teachers found another method of torture. They would keep three pencils or small sticks in between the fingers. Then they would press the tender hand of the child. The child would cry and seek forgiveness. Yes I have tasted this punishment also.   

Will you still feel that I am a type of Racist???

Hope the above is not giving ideas to any follower to try these methods on their children at home. Times have changed. If you try them that there is a chance that your child would report it to the police and you would be in jail. I am reminded here about a story I read. There was a pakistani family living in USA. They had a teenage son. He would do lot of mischief. His father would get angry and would threaten to beat him. On each occasion the boy would threaten back and say that he would call 911 and report the matter to police. This went on for some time, each not carrying out the threat. But one day the boy did something and the father thrashed him. The boy called police who came immediately. The father was reprimanded. He promised never to repeat his behaviour towards his son. He kept his promise. The son continued his wayward attitude. About a year after that the family had to return to Pakistan to attend a family marriage function. As soon as they arrived at the Pakistan airport, the father give a hard slap on the face of his son and chided him to call police. A crowd gathered around the family and questioned the father. The father replied that his son had made his life miserable and recounted USA stories. Everyone sympathized with him there.  As it was time to return, the father took an undertaking from his son that he would behave better otherwise, he would have to stay back in Pakistan. The boy weighed the two options and agreed to return back and behave.  

Ok, that is enough for today. Follow me again tomorrow. You must have noticed that I have been posting a new blog every day and hopefully, I shall continue for quite some time. I have lot of stories to unload from my memory.  

Blog # 4 Dated: 20 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear Reader,

I am here again. In the last post, I detailed my becoming Middle Pass. Now the next mile stone to pass was to become Matric Pass. The School from which I passed Middle was called Rugh Nath Mandir School. This school was supposed to be teaching only upto grade 8. Our elders at home decided that Sri Pratap High School should be a good school for me to continue my studies. The school was situated about two to three kilometers from our residence. That distance was a normal walking distance for school those days. No school buses. The school was a big one. There were six sections in Grade 9. I was allotted Grade 9F. There were about 40 students in each section. There was a dedicated room for each section. All Grade 9 sections were on ground floor whereas Grade 10 Sections on First Floor. The benches and seats for the students were fixed to the ground and there would be sufficient natural light through the windows. Here we had electrical light connection but no fans and no lights in the classrooms. The school was properly staffed and the teachers were better educated than my previous schools. All teachers there were at least graduates. About 10 percent staff had post graduate degrees. About 75% staff had Bachelor of Education degrees. 

I studied in this school with more seriousness. The math teacher luckily happened to be better than what I had faced in grade 8. The Science teacher though good, would always be dozing off in the class. (He was reported to be giving lot of home tuitions before and after school hours. He was basically coming to school to rest.) The medium of instruction for Math and Science got changed to English. For rest of the studies it continued to be Urdu. We had a science laboratory. We would have a Science Practical class - one per week. On this day, all the students would cramp inside the laboratory and the teacher would set up an experiment. We would just watch. If it was an experiment on Light, we would file past his table, bend down, close one eye and look through where the teacher would ask us to look at. Even if we would not see what he would say what we would observe, we would shake our head to pass on without pausing. In all these two years (Grade 9 & 10) not even one student handled the laboratory gear for the experimentation with his own hands. Here is the explanation. The government sanction for grants for purchase of equipment and consumables would be issued around 15 March every year. The purchase had to be made before April 1 failing which the grants would lapse. Suddenly the half a dozen shopkeepers in the city would get crowded and in no time and all the available supply would get sold out. This would leave about 80% schools unable to make purchase. Now there would be two routes to show the expenditure and avoid getting the funds to lapse. One was to obtain an Invoice from the shopkeeper with an arrangement to get the supplies later in the month of May/June. The other was to get a false Invoice from a shopkeeper and draw Government funds without ever receiving the supplies. Here the money would be split between the headmaster/principal, science teacher and the accountant. The shopkeeper would also get a cut. For this reason, our school did not have the supplies for us to experiment as we should have but did not have it. Sad and bad. In a subsequent blog, I will tell you that I became a science teacher in this school for a year after my graduation and during this time also same situation in the laboratory. 

I passed my Matric with 509 marks out of 850. This was second division. (The first division started from 510 marks). I was happy and satisfied with my result. Our elders were happy too. First division pass out used to be appreciated. I was almost a first divisional.

S.P. Degree College was adjacent to our School. The college had a huge ground in front of impressive buildings. This ground had areas for Soccer, Hockey, Cricket Volleyball and Lawn Tennis. Every day there would be some game being played there. During recess and after school hours, we would cross from our school area to college area through the breach in the stone wall, just to watch the games. I have watched Pratha Bomber playing as Fullback in Soccer for the Police team on this ground. Pratha Bomber was a Kashmiri Pandit Mr. Prihvi Nath from Rainawari, a police man by profession. He was the only Kashmiri Pandit playing Soccer for a team in the tournament. He was known for kicking the soccer ball from one end to the other end as a normal kick. He was later promoted to a higher post only for his talent. He was very popular in the crowd and his kicks were loudly applauded. 

There is another person whom we would watch. He was known as Krishna Hookh. He was a sports guy. He would live sports, eat sports, dress sports, and sleep sports. He would be there on the field as a hockey player. Then he became a hockey referee. He had a handicap. One of his eyes would blink without control. He would be nicknamed as "vozamala" (Lightening). If there would be a foul and his eye would blink at that time resulting in him not giving a signal to stop for a free shot, the disadvantaged team players would attack him with the hockey sticks. The other team players and the second referee would rush to save him. This would happen in all the games. All of us in the crowd would shout "vozamala". He would be a referee for Volleyball games too. He would be sitting on the high stool with the whistle held by his lips. Someone in the crowd would just shout "vozamalla" and then run away. Hooku sahib would dismantle from his high stool and run after the one who had uttered the word. This would happen a number of times during a match. Even when he would be walking on a street, some one would be uttering this word and he would utter profanities all around for everyone to hear. This person later became vice president of the Indian Hockey Federation at national level.         

My next blog would detail history of events, social customs and the political situation in the 1940's and 1950's as I remember. Hopefully wait for that one to follow tomorrow.           

Blog # 3 Dated: 19 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear Reader,

Hello. Picking up the thread from where I let it off yesterday, I will dwell on the period when I was in Grade 6 to Grade 8. As I have said in my last posts, the quality of teachers, teaching methods and quality of schools on the whole was poor. The main purpose was for parents to have some relief from taking care of children during the day that they were sent to schools. And for educated parents, the purpose was to get their children educated. In our case, the purpose was definitely getting educated so that we would also not get trapped in poverty like most of the community. Remember I am referring to education in early 1950's in Srinagar, Kashmir, which was then the best education standard in the valley. 

There were some private schools too but the fees for studies and extra curricular activities would be beyond the means for parents with limited resources. I was very poor at sports and extra curricular activities too. This was in sharp contrast to my brothers and sister. My eldest brother was cricket captain, my younger one was excellent in table tennis, the next one excelled in Badminton. Our sister won the top award in college debate. My elder brother would lead the school squad during parade on National Festivals. The school squad under his leadership would always be adjusted first among a dozen or so participants.  I would play low quality soccer, cricket and hockey in our home compound. I was a very poor fielder. I would miss even dolly catches. On one occasion, while fielding, a ball was hit in air in my direction. I was almost in the position to catch the ball when for no reason, I panicked and let the ball go through hitting me on the forehead. It caused some swelling at the spot it hit me. The forehead was normal in a few days. No one would get scared those days and fear of concussion was unknown. The other players had nicknamed me "hoof-hander" on the field. I may add here that other players would scare me with cries and caution every time the ball would be coming over to me that I would miss to catch it. My ground fielding was no better too. I would compensate with playing rough with them during soccer and hockey. I would aim more at the opponents legs than the ball. This in the local language would be called "nalla taas".

Meanwhile the education aspect in the school would roll on. Six months after the start of the term, there would be tests in all subjects. There would be question papers and we were to put our answers on answer sheets. We had to bring our own paper for this purpose. There would be a small fees charged as exams fees to cover the cost of printing of question papers. Same process would be repeated at the end of the yearly term. Passing the term would promote us to the next class. the pass marks percentage was 33%. I remember that there was a question in the history paper as follows. "Sher Shah Suri key daure hukumat mey kya kya kaam huea" I wrote in answer, "Bahut Hua" Then I passed on to the next question. Only after I had returned home and one of elder cousins took a look at my question paper and asked me what I had replied against each question. For this particular question, when I said that I had replied "Bahut Hua" Then he asked what did I write after that, I said nothing because my answer was complete. He made fun of me and this story got circulated in our large family for years. It took me many years to understand that my answer was not correct or appropriate. All the same, I had passed this subject and I was in the next grade. This incident made me a smarter guy in following exams. After answering the questions and comparing with others after the exams would be over, I would find that I had done some questions wrong. I would learn from them the correct answers. After the return to home, when we would get checked about our performance, we would do the cheating. Only when the results would get declared, the cheating would get exposed. In short, the system was creating crooks in us.    

Some teachers would take monthly tests for some subjects. Usually they would prescribe one or two question and write them on the board. We would work out the answers on a sheet of paper and return the same to him. The teacher would handover the complete bunch to one of his trusted students and instruct him to take it to a loose tabaco seller. The shopkeeper would retain the papers and give a portion of tobacco placed on a folded paper in exchange. The teacher would take it home. Not even one child would ever ask the teacher about the test results. We were happy because we had fears that we would have failed the test. I have done this job a number of times for my maths teacher.  (The tobacco seller would use the answer sheets to pack loose tabaco for his customers.)  

There was one aspect in education which would escape every one's attention. Only half the syllabus would be covered by the time of Final promotion exams. Thus if there would be twenty chapters in a subject book, only ten would be covered. The questions were set only from the first ten chapters. This was happening in all subjects. So this would cause learning problems for the students in their next grade. It took the system many many years to correct. The system made a centralized Grade 8 exams board, which would set the paper and mark the answer sheets. But this happened much after I had cleared Middle Exams. 

We used to have one annual picnic called "excursion" in the school. Excursion fees would be collected from each student. The excursion would mean hiring a bus or boat and all the children would be taken to a local park or a national garden. We would carry our own home cooked lunch with delicacies. Our parents would give us some pocket money to spend on anything that we would like at the picnic spot. I have noticed that a number of children would start their first smoke at the picnic spot. Most felt that taking a smoke was a enjoyable activity. On one occasion, I was almost ready to smoke. The cigarette was in my mouth and was ready to get lit. Then I felt that it is not normal for children to do it. I discarded the idea. I am very pleased to say that I have never ever smoked in all my life.

So we come to the end of Blog three. Tomorrow, I shall move to events beyond my passing "Middle".             

Blog # 2 Dated: 18 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

Dear Reader,

Hello, I have received very nice and positive response to my first blog. I will not disappoint you in days to come. Thank you every one. Some of you have made observations and suggested incorporation of additional information related to my Blog and Profile. I have started taking action and you will notice some changes. More are on the way. Mr. Neelesh Jee, my grandson studying at Waterloo University, Ontario, Canada is assisting me with all this refining of the site. If you like the changes, please give him the credit. Meanwhile please check and click the right boxes so that you may be able to get the notifications as soon as a blog has been posted. 

Here I am with the second blog. In the first blog, I opened the window a bit and wrote about my birth and birth date plus my first five years of school. You may be curious about my name. In my early years, I was called Bala. As would be usual with most people in the place of my birth, everyone had also a  nickname to be called in anger and another name to be called with affection. So in addition to my normal name - Bala, my siblings would call me Gopi Nath during angry episodes. When the anger intensity would not get mellowed with calling me by that name, it would get changed to "Gopa Gus." This one would be called to retaliate against anything bad that the caller would perceive about me or my attitude during any episode or incident. With the increase in age and maturity level of nickname callers, this name-calling subsided.  As I was approaching manhood, my mother impressed upon everyone to call me Baijana.  The literal meaning of Baijana is a brother who is as dear as life. This name stayed on and I would be called "Baijana" by everyone in place of Bala. Then I married and I got children. They call me Papa. Some children of my siblings call me Baijan Papa too.  I have grandchildren too. Some call me Nana, some more call me Chota nana, yet some more Big Papa. To cap it, the two youngest ones call me Bada. 

There was a problem with my pet name, Baijana in my "matamaal " (A mother's home before she got married is called matamaal by her children) There in my matamaal, they already had this as a pet name for my maternal uncle. So to distinguish me from their own Baijana, they would refer to me as Baijana of Khazanchi's. (Khazanchi was the family name of my father)  

In my previous blog, I had mentioned that the Date of Birth record was not being maintained in Kashmir in those days. However, in the Hindu community, this was done meticulously. As a routine, the record of birth correct, to the nearest minute, and also the place of birth would be maintained in each and every case.  There were two classes of the Hindu community. One was called "Karkun" and the other "Non-Karkun". Karkun was the normal community whereas the Non-Karkun was the priestly class of the community.   Every Karkun family had a dedicated Non-Karkun family member as assistance for the performance of all priestly duties. This Non-Karkun member would be called Gurujee. At the time of birth of a child, he would make a document called Tekni wherein, he would record the birth date, time, and place of birth. Then he would relate this data with the planetary position of stars and make a birth chart. He would then make a detailed document with predictions for each person. This would be called "Jatuk" . Some day in future, I shall provide more information on this subject. Now I shall move on with my narrative.

Having passed Grade 5, I became a primary pass. Next step was to clear Grade 8. Passing Grade 8 would make me Middle Pass. Then I could attach my Middle degree to my name as we do it with BA, MA, MBBS etc. these days. We had one Shiv Jee a teacher in school. He had passed Middle exams and then discontinued his studies. He would be called Shava Middle by every one in the city. If I had not continued my studies beyond Grade 8, I could also have been called Bala Middle. 

Promotion to Grade 6, meant change of school. Here it was a bigger one with different teachers for different subjects. All teachers were bad. In fact those days, if a person could not get any job, a teacher's job was assured to any one who had passed grade 10. So the teacher lot would be worst of the job seekers. They would join the profession only after trying for other jobs and fail to get any. 

We started English Alphabet learning first time in Grade 6. For all other subjects, Urdu was the medium of study. Hindi was an optional subject, whereas Urdu was a compulsory subject. I remember one teacher Mr. Sham Lal. He would teach us math and geometry. He would solve all the questions on the blackboard and we would copy on our notebooks. He would never give us any home work. So when preparing for the exams, I would read my notes the same way one would remember history by rote. The result was that during exams time, I was able to solve only one question correctly out of a total of twenty questions. (Any twelve questions had to be picked up for solving to obtain 100% marks) I got seven out of hundred. The saving grace was that I got 60 out of hundred in the Geometry paper. The combined marks (7+60 = 67) out of 200 was just enough to declare me a pass in the exams. (33% was the passing mark) I was happy that I had passed. But a great humiliation was waiting for me. There would be a report card for Middle Pass post exams. The teacher did not give it to me. He gave it to one of my class mates living near our house. He was asked to get it signed by my father and return the same to the school next day. I did not know all that. Next day early in the morning, I saw this boy entering the room of my uncle and showed him my performance card and got it signed. On the way out, he let me know that he had shown my performance card to my uncle. All this was too much of a humiliation to me and all day, I did not show my face to anyone. One good thing resulted from this episode. I took my Math studies more seriously and started solving than remembering the math questions. The result - Next exams in Grade 9, I got 99 out of hundred.

I stop here. It may be getting too long. Tomorrow, I shall march further ahead and probably end up as Matric Pass. I would request feedback about the length of the blog post. Should I maintain it like yesterday / today? It is probably 1200-1500 words long.    

Blog # 1 Dated: 17 April 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

Dear Reader,

Thanks for looking at my blog. You may be curious to know why I decided to start a blog. I have seen eighty-one winters and eighty summers as of today.  I became an Engineer by accident and that profession helped me to put food on the table and help me to provide for my family. After my retirement from the job and with children starting to live their lives without needing my active participation help and guidance, I found a lot of free time at my disposal. I utilized my free time to improve my gardening skills and read books on religion, real-life stories, and current affairs. In the process, I have acquired an experience of life that I thought I should share the same with all of you. Maybe it helps you. There is one more reason. I have always been eager to know how people used to live in the past. None of our ancestors have left a record of their lives and events around during their time. I feel sad about that. Rajtarangini has been written but to me, it is a general one and I needed one which could be read from a reader's individual perspective.  I for myself am doing exactly the same thing here in the blog for the benefit of future generations.

The next question could be " Who I am?" The answer to this is not that easy. I would be opening my life window to you bit by bit so that you get the answer in due time. I was born in Srinagar Kashmir. My parents told me that. They also said that it was a day in October in the year 1941. The birth did not take place in a hospital. At that time almost all births used to happen in the home and were aided by midwives.  There was no procedure to record the births and deaths in Government documents. This in fact created some issues in my life. Once in my adult life, I was required to submit a birth certificate to a foreign government. It was mentioned that failure to produce the same would cause my case with the Government to be rejected. Resigning to the fact of my case rejection, I, however, wrote a letter to that Government wherein I detailed the life and procedures that were in vogue in my place of birth during the period of my birth. I emphasized that there would be no record of birth and death and therefore no birth certificates existed at that time. I mentioned in the letter that the date given by the parents at the time of admission to the school would get accepted without any cross-questions. The administration clerk would look at the child and then take a look at the birth date conveyed by the parent. In most cases, there would be no issues. This date conveyed casually could then get recorded on all school, college diplomas, Government documents all life. A few days after I had sent the letter to the Foreign Government, I received a letter in response, thanking me for the explanation about the birth certificate issue as relating to me. They accepted my date of birth as per my statement and I was accepted into the program.

We are four brothers and a sister who happens to be the youngest of the lot. I was second in the line. We lived in a house with cousins all presided by grandparents. I do not remember the first few years of my life but I am told that I looked very cute and I was a very disciplined child and would be very cooperative. My parents had delayed cutting my hair probably till the fourth year of my life. I looked like a girl. I have heard my mother wish frequently that I was a daughter and not a son to her. 

When I was around five years old, I was taken to a school that was about five minutes' walk from our house. No interviews, no admission fees, no Aadhar/PAN cards of my parents. (Those days none of these existed.) All that I was expected to bring to the school was a wooden slate called "mashak" in the local language, a pen made out of a plant similar to bamboo (called "narkel" kalam in the local language), and a small inkpot. The ink was grey-colored soil (called "seff" in the local language) suspended in water. The school was housed in a two-floor domestic use building having about seven rooms. The ventilation was poor. No electricity, therefore no fans or heaters. The natural light through the open windows would be barely sufficient for us. All children would sit on floor grass mats (called "vaguv" in the local language). One rickety chair for the teacher and a wooden blackboard supported on an easel would be the furniture in the classroom. Of course, no curtains or glass in the window panes.  One tap in premises for all the school children and staff to quench our thirst. There was no compound/ or lawn. We would be playing (shouting a lot) in the classrooms only. When we needed to play outside the school during a recess break, it would be on the road outside. Only one teacher (only male as there would be no female teachers) was assigned to one grade who would be teaching the Urdu language alphabet and numerical. In fact, it would be like a flock of sheep herded by a shepherd. Just to control the children from doing mischief. The children would be sent to school by their parents so that they could have some peaceful time for themselves. The school would be closed for winter vacations for about three months. In March it was time for annual exams which were all oral. The teacher would call each child one by one (with the rest of the children watching in the same class) and ask a question or two to test their knowledge. In less than half an hour the oral exams of 30 children would be over. The result would be declared in the last week of March. The school headmaster would come to the classroom with some loose sheets in hand. All children would silently and eagerly await the announcement of the results. The headmaster would declare " Sare bachey pass" Immediately the children would react with a huge roar (similar to the one when Appolo landed on the moon) and run away from the classroom (with some even slipping on the stairs during the rush). The children would be shouting and running all the way to their homes. The parents could hear that the children have passed the grade. No report cards our time.           

Before the new class would start, the next grade room would need to be cleaned. The teacher would select two to three boys out of the lot. I was one of them in my fourth grade. I was asked to go to my home to get the broom. The second boy was asked to get a bucket. The third boy was asked to get a four-foot rod.  I considered it an honor to be selected for the cleaning unit. I ran to my home to get the broom. My mother told me to make sure that I get back the broom after the job was done. I reached the class. By that time, the other two children duly supervised by the teacher had removed the grass mats. Now it was time first to clean the dust on the floor. The boy with the bucket had already, filled it with water and was waiting for me. I reached the classroom but would not let off the broom. The water from the bucket was sprinkled on the room floor (to help settle the dust). I started the brooming operation and it resulted in huge clouds of dust (not inferior to the dust clouds after the atomic explosion in world war 2). The teacher wanted me to pass on the broom to the other boy but I refused. (I had promised my mother that I would take care of the broom and get it back) Ultimately I was able to collect all the dust in a heap. The bucket was used to carry it off the room and deposit it on the road outside. Now it was time to clean the mats. Two of us held the mat in a vertical position. The third boy would beat it with the rod. The dust would leave the mat and dissipate into the surrounding air. The process would be continued for a considerable time till the teacher felt that further dusting may result in the mats getting torn off. The mats were put into position just before sundown. All of us returned to our homes. I was a proud boy back home for returning with the broom and being a selected one at the school. (Selection is an honor always whether for a prestigious program or a cleaning job)  

Signing off. Follow me tomorrow. I will be here again with more.