'Tinkle, Tintin, Television, Hardy Boys, Satyajit Ray - in that order - were some of the many reasons you see!' 😇

07 Sept 1994 | Hostel Humour 😍

[27 years ago]

#memoriesfromdiaries 💕

Today was a Red-Letter Day for all of us hostelers.

For many reasons.

But first, let me start from the particular to the general! (the inductive method you see…) 😇

Morning jogging, followed by attendance and yes! Coffee! ☕😋

From my personal diary entry, 07 Sept 1994, Part 1

Cleaned up my cubicle, before going for our breakfast – bread & kurma on the menu today!

You see, we hostelers had no chance of bunking classes the way our day-scholar friends kanna pinna did! 😋

So whenever a hosteler wanted to bunk classes, we had just the hobson’s choice on us! 

And that was - 

to promptly feign sickness and ask permission from our Warden to stay in the hostel's sick room!

Why-o-why did we do that?

Well, yes! There was a lovely bubbly reason for that! 😋

You see, we had a sick room that was a literal paradise on earth! 😇🥳

With such comfy beds, a wall-mounted television, magazines [The Week, Gentleman, India Today], comics (Tintin, Tinkle, Asterix etc) and Newspapers all stacked up neat on their respective stacks in the sick room - with the sole aim of helping the hosteler recuperate as quick as possible - what else did a hosteler need? 😍

Yes! The attractions of the sick room were too good to resist! 

Once when I paid a visit to the sick room to see my friend Sunil who was ‘admitted’ there, to my sweet little shock and surprise, I saw at least half a dozen friends of ours, in the sick room, watching cricket match live on TV! 

Impily, some of them had had ice cream with us just last evening, and yes, furtively at that! 

This proved a great lure for pavapetta me! 😍

I asked Sunil if I could also join him on the sick room space! 😋

Tinkle, Tintin, Television, Hardy Boys, Satyajit Ray - in that order - were some of the many reasons you see! 😇

He said since the sick room was almost overflowing, I should ask the HM for permission to ‘join’ him on the fun!

So after summoning up enough courage on me, and after applying the ceremonial Vicks vaporub all over my face - for the intended effect -😋 I went up to the HM - poker faced at that - and asked him for his permission to stay in the sick room!

He looked me up from top to bottom, and turning sideways towards his trusted lieutenant Gopal, he asked him to take me to the doc! 🤭🙈

Gopal - with that totally inscrutable look on him 🙈- asked me to come with him in half an hour’s time! 😋

Ende deivameyyy!

Total damage! 🤭🙈

I hadn't in the least expected this reply from our HM!

So yes! This was my chance to escape! 🤣

And Escape…. I did! 🤣

So yes! with all my attempts at getting myself enrolled in the sick room having been thwarted thus, I quietly got back to my classes!

Part 2

Fifth period, took a nap in class, since the Master was absent! 

Today was an added red-letter day for us, because, 12^th boys were busy going around asking their juniors to join them on a strike!

Part 3

We were caught off guard!

But why on earth did they need a strike?

Well, they had their reasons you see!

For the past three months, the management had introduced a new strategy to ‘condition’ and ‘discipline’ the hostelers by means of levying high fines on them.

If you’re late for your roll call, you were fined five rupees! 🙈

If you’re late for your morning assembly, again five rupees! 🙈

Part 4

So our HSC boys were peeved beyond measure and that's hence they organized a sudden preemptive, massive strike!

All the coaxing and cajoling to withdraw the strike proved of no avail!

Added, all hostelers were locked inside the dormitories without food.

Not to be cowed down, they took to their guitars, and started strumming to the tune of ‘We shall overcome…’ 😎

The whole school was rocking! 

Rocking to the beat of their strumming! 🎸

We from the 11^th Class, we expressed solidarity with our seniors, by skipping our lunch!

But we didn’t abstain from our classes though!

Coming back, 

In the afternoon, Mr. Nedunchezhian, our Physics teacher, (having witnessed the hullaballoo first-hand, for himself) gave us a lot of advice.

First he asked us if any of the hostelers was absent.

We all chorused back, ‘No Sir. All of us are here!’ 😇

Then he narrated an incident that had happened eight years ago! (mentioned on the diary entry)

Coming back,

Since no amount of pacification proved successful, the Principal of MCC Prof. Gladstone came and had talks with all the seniors!

Finally, it was resolved that, there would be no more fines! Students would be caned instead, said the notice from the Headmaster! 🤗