LIFE IN A SCHOOL HOSTEL
‘Catch them young’ says an American proverb. As is the twig so is the tree. The first few years of man’s life are the most crucial years. He is either made or married for ever. The child is the father of the man’s said by Wordsworth.
Regularity, punctuality and discipline have been the watch-words of my life. My teachers are immensely pleased with me because of my methodical habits. I measure time by seconds and their fractions and would not waste them. All this is the result of the training that I had to undergo in my school hostel. I have learnt to be regular in the hard way.
My father had to move from place. I was therefore placed in a residential school.
The warden was a kind hearted and affectionate gentle man. But a strict disciplinarian
Work was a passion with him. Early at five the hostel sounded the waking hour. No lethargy was tolerated. Once or twice l tried to stick on to my bed and pleaded in disposition. The perfects were an unsparing lot. They virtually dragged me out of the bed. I got a thrashing from the warden. Pain and indignity taught me the lesson of my life. I swore alacrity, with the result that the moment the bell rang. I jumped out of my bed and was the first report myself. The morning ablutions over, we assembled for morning drill. There were eighty boarders and two instructors. Half-an-hour P.T(Physical education teacher) gave a good shake up to our laziness and we were quite fresh. The morning bath followed. Here again shirkers had a difficult time. I never missed the bath and to strengthen my resolve to the regular. I followed up the bath with a recitation of hanuman challis. It added a note of piety to my sense of regularity.
By eight o’clock we were all set for morning breakfast. Eighty boarders took our meals together and there was hardly and sound except that of knives and forks. When we returned from school in the afternoon a glass of milk with a half-boiled egg was waiting for us. Fortified with this nutritious diet we sat down at five for studies. For three hours we worked quietly and whole heartedly. At eight we were taken to the common room for indoor games and general entertainments. Once in a while the warden addressed us on the events of the day. At nine we dined. For on hour afterwards we did a little light-reading and then retired to our beds. Thus our time was well-divided into useful bits and every bit added to our training and discipline
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