The "Art" of A Rewarding Day | The Secret in the Routine❤️

Hostel Life in the early 1990s

4th July 1994

#MCCSchool #HostelYears

On this particular day, we had our first Assembly in the grand Dr. Clement J. Felix Auditorium – the Pride of MCC School.

On an aside, I would like to give out some interesting facts about this great auditorium. Giving us all snippets with due acknowledgements to the MCC School’s Official Website –

The auditorium has an interesting history. An old building already existed when Mr. Kuruvilla Jacob purchased the land in 1946. This building housed the junior hostel and also the Headmaster’s residence. This historic building was brought down and an auditorium was built to commemorate the 150th year celebration. The foundation stone was laid by the former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi on 5th October 1985 and was inaugurated by the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu Dr. M. Karunanidhi on 31st October 1990.

Coming back –

After having washed “a whole lot” of clothes and doing “Botany” classwork, (I had joined the Maths Bio group you see!) 😊 we had an 8:00 pm break where we literally devoured six bajjies, two coffees etc. (the famed South Indian bajjis).

“With great freedom comes great responsibility”, goes the good-old adage. I should admit that my hostel life has taught me how to make use of this great freedom with alacrity - how to fit into a routine, how to plan my day, how to schedule my agendas for the day, and how to act with a sense of responsibility! As a first baby step towards taking up responsibility, I learnt to wash my clothes, using washing powder, for the very first time in my life! 😉

A whole lot of things seem to have happened on this day for us newbie hostelers.

From 5.40 am when the warden (Mr. Parthiban Sir) was quite busy waking us all up with a loud clinking bell on him, to 9.40 pm when we went to bed, it was an exciting day filled with new routines and new responsibilities. (the exact phrasing I used today to wish one of our sweetest kids on her new programme!)

Be it our early morning jogging and chores, or attending our regular classes, or doing own laundry, or studying, or doing “Hostel drama practice in the Miller Hall” it really was a rewarding day by all means!

And yes! in all my life, it was the year that life in the hostel had taught us for the very first time - how to live a life of routines and responsibilities! 😊

Whenever students wish me a ‘good day’, I cheerfully respond to them with an optative expression, ‘Have a rewarding day’.

Yes! A rewarding day doesn’t happen by accident! It means to move away from passive consumption to active creation!

It could be learning a new skill, or dedicating time each day to write a new post for a blog, taking time to write a research paper, taking up a new hobby, cultivating a new habit for life, etc.

In this regard, I would like to end this blogpost in the words of eminent critic Scupin Richards –

The secret of a rewarding life is hidden in our daily routine!

How true!