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After surviving as the only boy in the Kasturi Bai Girls Elementary School for all of 3 years, I got my reprieve when Father was posted as Headmaster in the village of Kurichedu far far away from civilization as I knew it then. Rather, I didn't know it then till we reached this remote village traveling in a coal-fired bus...petrol was dear in the post-war years.
Kurichedu on the other hand didn't grow rice at all...there were no paddy fields. It was and perhaps remains a semi-arid zone. Instead of rice, folks there ate rotis made of maize, ragi, and millets which I found most trying on my tender teeth and delicate digestion:
And there were no household wells in each backyard into which you throw a bucket attached to a rope and pull it up by a pulley (ah...that's why it is called a pulley...one lives and learns):
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To Father it was a punishment posting...a veritable blooding as a new HM...till then he was an Assistant HM. The policy then was to post such aspiring and ambitious teachers to a remote village school and see if they can survive, or would like to revert back to civilization on what was called Reversion...an insult and a black-mark in their career.
Father took up the challenge...he was mulish like his son.
For me it was heartbreaking. Our Nellore was on the fertile Coromandel Coast where all you had to do was throw a few grains of rice in the field and forget about it...and come after 4 months with a sickle and harvest the crop. Green all over:
Kurichedu on the other hand didn't grow rice at all...there were no paddy fields. It was and perhaps remains a semi-arid zone. Instead of rice, folks there ate rotis made of maize, ragi, and millets which I found most trying on my tender teeth and delicate digestion:
And there were no household wells in each backyard into which you throw a bucket attached to a rope and pull it up by a pulley (ah...that's why it is called a pulley...one lives and learns):
Instead, we had to walk to the edge of the village where there was a single deep and broad and frightening pool of water which we had to walk down to and descend via slippery steps. And carry the water home in brass vessels.
And the houses there had no sloping roofs paved with Mangalore tiles, and cemented walls...all of them had mud walls and stone floors and thatched roofs.
But, for me, Kurichedu was a haven though not a heaven. It became my sanctuary. For, there were no girls schools there.
The only Elementary School was co-ed with very few girls. And I escaped the vice grip of my didi. And made friends and playmates and soon became a ring leader of sorts...I was appointed its 'Monitor'...a post coveted by many, but my Class Teacher (a lady though) was charmed by my profound knowledge of English...I could spell words like 'rabbit' with all of 2 'b's in it, and 'habit' with but one 'b'.
It made all the difference.
And I forgave Father all his sins...
...Posted by Ishani
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