drens corner bounded by Bras Basah Road , Queen Street , Stam £ ord Canal and Wa terloo Street and protected by Saintjoseph at one end and Saint Andrew at the other . A timber multiple-tier stand covered with attap roof was built around the edge of the combined field and when the Prince of Wales paid his visi t , this temporary wooden stadium was packed with atleast30 , Ooo school children , each of them waving a tiny Union Jack Flag and allied by the Choir Master , stationed on a platform in the middle of the field , singing " God Bless the Prince of Wales ". The might of the British Raj was such that there were no protests or demonstrations and all the show of loyalty seemed to be quite spontaneous and even natural . As one of the multitude of youngsters present , I recalled that the Prince , then in his twenties , walked round the entire children ' s corner and he appeared to have a slight limp . The occasion was well remembered for the treat awaiting every SJI pupil in the school for everyone was given one full bottle of aerated water plus cakes and other confectionery .
' The year was not to pass without another notable event . One day when we were about to be dismissed from the class at 3.00 p . m . the teacher informed us that we were to proceed from the class to the school hall to listen to a very famous visitor . After we had taken our places in the hall , a tall old man with a long grey beard and wearing a long white gown ( not unlike that worn by the School Brothers ) was introduced tous . If only he were carrying two stone tablets in his left hand , he could have been mistaken for Moses . He was Or . Rabindranath Tagore , the renowned Indian poet , and he immediately sat down and droned on for nearly one hour in a voice hardly audible . We were dismissed from the hall as soon as the great man retired from the platform and , while we noticed that Master Naigam was in his element beaming with pride , we left the hall without having understood a word of what the learned poet had been saying .
' 1923 - Standard V .
' There was a change of Director during this year . The Rev . Brother Stephen was replaced by a new Director , the Rev . Brother Marcian . It was also a year when I had a Muslim teacher in my class called Mr . Surattee . He had the misfortune of having to cope with one lesson in the Royal Crown Reader with the title of ' The Siege of Vienna " . The lesson described how the Turks were defeated and at the end of it there was an adverse comparison between the founders of two great religions . We were all asked to end this lesson without the last sentence and we willingly obliged .
' There was another teacher , Mr . Pillay , in charge of another Standard V Class who sometimes took over our class from Mr . Surattee . He was a thin , tall ascetic-looking gentleman whose severe countenance used to cast a spell on the children in the class . Somehow or other , he did not have to raise his voice or scold the children . He had a certain charisma and his presence immediately demanded and obtained complete silence from the pupils . Nevertheless , he was a kindly gentleman and he never had to administer any corporal punishment . ' 1924 - Standard VI . ' Our form teacher was a Master Iyer of whom I retain very fond memories . He was a very kind and soft spoken person , but at the same time very effective in his teaching . Somehow he had the knack of being able to impart to the boys a very clear understanding of the subjects taught by him . He used to keep in touch with some of the pu pils in his class long after he had retired to India . He passed away a few years ago and his sonMr . Haricharan is now the Chief Executive of a giant corporation , ICl of India . In 1924 we had the exciting experience of having our classroom on the 3rd floor of the Anderson Building , way above street level . It was also the first year when the teaching of the French language was offered to pupils in Standard
VI and above . These lessons were held in a special class commencing at 8 o ' clock in the morning and presided over by Brother Lawrence . ' 1925 - Standard VII . ' No more Royal Crown Readers were prescribed above Standard VI and we had for our text book a very interesting religious novel called " Fabiola " written by Cardinal Wiseman . It was a fascinating story based on the lives of Saint Sebastian , Saint Pancratius , Saint Agnes and Saint Caecelia in Rome during the time of the Emperor Maximian . The book also contained a good description of the catacombs outside Rome and also described how the blind Caecelia knew her way around the maze of underground passages and how in truders like the persecutor Torquatus could be lost forever in the labyrinth .
' These catacombs can still be visited now-adays outside the walls of ancient Rome except , of course , you will only be allowed in with a guide lest you should suffer the fate of Torquatus . ' 1926 - Junior Cambridge Class . ' Though I had been in the Brothers ' School for 8 years , I had not till 1926 had the privilege of having a La Salle Brother as my form teacher . The Rev . Brother Anselm , a Frenchman , was in charge of my class which was situated on the second floor of the main SJI Building very near the Statue of the Founder .
' The text book for the year was either Sir Walter Scott ' s " Kenilworth " or Shakespeare ' s " As You Like It ". The school made the choice for us namely , " Kenilworth ". It was my first introduction to the lives of the people in England during the Elizabethan Era . It is strange that knowledge gathered in one ' s tender years remains in one ' s memory even fifty-nine years later . Names and characters spring to mind , like the tavern-keeper Giles Gosling , the Cornishman Tresillian , the plotter Richard Vamey and the itinerant hawker Wayland Smith , not to mention Amy Robsart and
Memories of Teachers and Pupils , 1900 -1939 25