Series 'Nostalgia': 1 School Time

My primary school was IDEAL! A child's fantasy coming true![ though I never fantasized about a school as a child!]

I was admitted to the school after an interview with the principal. She was an elderly lady by the name Mrs. Srinivasan and asked me a few questions in english. I remember eyeing the small ,intricately carved glass dish with ravalgaon candies in sliver and pink wrappings,on her table.
It has a HUGE red iron gate, and as soon as u enter through the gates, a BIG square play- ground greets you.
At one side of the playground is a big badminton hall block.
[ where we were scared to go because it was kinda dark there, and every small sound you made echoed like anything! It had pegions flocked inside, and even their flights and cooing used to echo! ].
This block is huge, with 2 indoor badminton nets, and a hall with horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, rings and vault. We were shown documentaries/ movies/ cartoon films/magic shows / presentations here.
The 2nd floor is just an empty dark hall, where ladies used to do yoga and aerobics on saturday and sunday mornings.Above that is terrace, where our principal used to hoist the flag on 26th Jan and 15th Aug.
At right angles to the badminton hall , is the block for KG classes on ground floor, and 1st and 2nd std classes on the 1st and 2nd floors. [ each class has Div A and B ]. Next to this block is the sports storeroom , and then the small room, where we never were allowed, but we assumed one of our peons stayed there and locked children who didn't return to their classes after the big recess was over!
Then the main office, where we used to go with paper slips distributed in envelopes on sports days or annual gatherings, to collect our cash prizes! That corner of the sqaure was open , and we had the back entrance of our school there. There was also a small gym there with huge nylon nets [like those in circus] hanging from the roof.
The 3rd side of the playground had a well equipped gym [ we used to hear the rhythmic "haiyya huppa"s from there in the lunch break , as people in there did their exercises]
And staircases on either sides leading to the 1st and 2nd floors, which had the head mistress's office, and 3rd std and 4th std classes.
This corner of the square too was open, and there was a shed [ as we called it] with a rusty slide [ where everyone from my class had had his/her uniform ripped by the nail-heads protruding on the slide ].
It also had another small palyground there, which was always very shady due to the huge trees lining it.[ but we often treated this as the step-playground, [ like step-mom] because it was smaller, and we thot having shade on the playground was gloomy, unlike the big one which was always very sunny ( read "scorching" ..cause the lunch break used to be around noon time) . ]
Lunch used to be a hurried affair so that one could block the better part of the big playground for their team]
There were also 1 or 2 offices for the swimming tank / playgrounds that were conducted every evening from 5.00 to 6.00 and weren't a part of the school activites.
One had to sign-up for these separately with a monthly fee of 30 Rs or 45 Rs.

There were these wooden tapering vertical poles hoisted in the ground called "mallakhambs" where guys in red/orange underwares / langots used to do various acrobatic exercises.

Opposite to the KG block is the enclosed swimming pool, and a stone well.
There they taught swimming by tying empty tin cans [called dabba] to the learners.
[ I remember being choosey about the color of the tin can I would get, most fo them used to be yellow "dalda" cans and very few were red or blue ]
Later one would graduate to a rope [ they tied 1 end arnd your waist and the other your trainer would hold in his hand and walk the shores, while you splashed frantically in the water along the lenght of the tank.
Post graduation [ which was held ceremoniously at the end of the monthly coaching batch] meant jumping into the well, with a crowd of seniors, and parents as spectators.
[ My parents still cherish the proud memory of how their 10 yr old daughter "jumped the well" without being pushed by her trainer! ]
The school is small, and was walkable from my then house.Most of my playmates were my classmates. We all stayed in the same lane, and either someone's grandpa or grandma, and in case of the more affluent ones, their ayahs would escort the bunch to and fro from school. After we moved from the KG block to the gym block, we were allowed to be on our own.

We all use to register for the evening playgrounds [ called mandals] and used to rush to school by 5.00 in black shorts and white t-shirts.
The 1 hr that followed used to be exercise,a few amature gymnastic tricks like cartwheeling, arching your back, struting on the balance beam; taught by the people who practiced there, 2-3 rounds to the ground, a super charged game of dodge-ball or kho-kho or langadi [ dunno wotz it called in english.. hopping on one leg and chasing others in a confined space.]
Summer vactions would see us in the tank during the afternoons, and at the mandals in the evenings. Getting vaccinated against typhoid / cholera before the swimming classes started was a group activity.
We used to line up in front of the gym, where the doctor used to put up a table, a stove with boiling water to sterelize [ spell-check .. 1.2.3..failed!] the needles , and the vaccine. One by one we used to face the doctor and get the job done. Screaming in pain was cowardly, especially when you were with your friends. Wincing [spell check..] was fine, and smiling was heroic!
I still remember the knot in my stomach as I used to await my turn. After the injection, within 3-4 hrs your hand would swell up and become heavy. We were allowed to skip the evening plagrounds that day! By night time, the pain would become unbearable and we used to hate the swimming classes like anything. The chlorine smell of the tank still reminds me of the swimming classes and the injections....

Outside the school gate, the roadside was lined by small stationary shops and bakeries.
Saturdays were half day schools and we were allowed to skip our lunch boxes and carry 10 Rs to school so that we can treat ourselves with slice cakes, cream-rolls or samosa and patties. There was an automobile-repair shop too , just next to the school. The owner was a huge man with bushy moustaches and used to wear a metal kada in his hand. His hands used to be blackened with all the grease and grime, so much that we used to think he never would be able to clean his hands. He used to pinch our noses with those hands and scare us saying that the black of his hand has rested on our noses forever!

Our old house [ better know as panse wada] is no longer there. We too have moved from the heart of the city to the outskirts now.Most of the playmates have scattered here n there.My beloved Mrs Srinivasan has left for the heavenly abode. The bakery owners have grown old, and some of the bakeries are now "snack centers" and "juice bars". The kada-wala uncle too is nowhere to be seen in the repair shop now..
But my school still stands tall, with all its glory. The blocks are repainted, and the jungle gym is removed , but the school appears as dear as it used to be....