My Reminiscenes
By Deepa Padmanabhan ('85 Batch)
The foundation of my education was laid strong by the primary teachers of MCC whom I will cherish throughout my life. Their footprints have left me mightier than words!!!!
Sr. Colette: I still remember her and her little umbrella. The sweet smile with which she taught us vowels, phonetics in kindergarten. I remember the green, red and white big beads of the Abacus that she used to teach us to count. She often requested us to bring used toothpaste tubes, powder boxes etc which were required for craftwork.
Sr. Victoria: used to address us as ‘pussycat’ every time she saw us. The ‘Praise the Lord’ we had to greet her with. It was fun when she was around.
Mrs Abraham: She wore her saree with the pallu neatly pinned at the shoulder, and walked with her head held high that commanded respect from us. She used to be strict with the English spellings and routine tables. (Sheroo you are indeed blessed with such a lovely auntie!!!!). For me it was a great start to the fabulous world of Maths.
Mrs Stella: She was strict at times, she pinched me on my arm for my awful Malayalam spellings. I still remember her when I slog at translating technical words for the Legislative Assembly.
Mrs Sabeena: She had a craze for jasmine flowers. I liked her innocent smile …….so much of love. I recollect she was present at my wedding.
Ms. Avril: She had her straight hair neatly parted at the centre and wore thick rimmed glasses. She rarely smiled in class. Her geometry classes were simply superb. It helped me with my Engineering drawings. She taught us simple things like how to sharpen a pencil, the angle at which one should hold it while joining two given points in order to draw a straight line—not bolder nor lighter; and even how to erase a line…….. simply note worthy!
Mrs Teresa: Her Algebra classes were similar to an express train …exuberant! She stressed on the importance of practicing our sums regularly. This helped me gain speed to tackle math problems at a later stage.
Indran: Our peon who used to ring the Chapatti shaped bell, one among the various duties assigned to him; not failing to render any of them though and fulfilled with total enthusiasm.
Looking out from the 2nd floor of the primary section, I remember once seeing a few whales which seemed to have had lost direction, funneling water like a fountain as they passed by. I saw big ships sailing by in the distant horizon, taking away with it the boredom of the afternoon sessions. Standing near the grotto, I could feel the chill breeze blow. I remember the games we played….’Sixteen stones’, ‘Help’ and the ‘rubber mittais’, ‘lovlolis’ from the Gujarati’s shop we looked forward to eat and not to forget the frozen sip-ups sold at Ms. Avril’s place were all simply delicious. Look out for me in the 'MCC Reunion - On a Trip Down Memory Lane' video link.
