My School Life
I had my schooling at Cossipore English School from lower kg to class 1. This school is in Dumdum Seven Tanks Estate. It is inside the campus of Gun and Shell Factory. Inside the campus there are tennis court, swimming pool, cossipore club. My life in Cossipore English School spent happily.
My best friends were Subhranshu Das who is now what I last heard is learning computer science in graduation. One of my friend Saumya shankar Ganguly is working now in Maharashtra at an engineering firm. This school had good discipline. I loved this school. A time came when I had to change from residence from Paikpara which is near Shyambazar in Kolkata, India to Santragachi. Santragachi is in Howrah. Saurav Gupta of Cossipore English school is doing drama and he is well established.
We stayed in the house of Manindra Chandra in Santragachi. The house had a big pond. I had fear in swimming, so I used the bathroom. The pond was also dirty. There are large number of coconut trees surrounding the house. Santragachi is not a developed area. There are large water bodies around our house. The area looked like a rural. During the election, when there is announcement addressing to villagers, my mother being a lover of cities cried telling “I am not going to live in this village!!” For 6 months, we stayed there. I had not gone to a school in that period. Then we changed our house.
We came to Dasnagar, Howrah. My father being a professor of Narasinha Dutt College, which is situated at Bellilious Road in Howrah. It is named after Bellilous, a Britisher at the time of independence. Now this road is named __________. We stayed in a house which I think has the largest residential number in the world!! The number was 62/11/1/2/1. It was in Ichapur Road. This house was also rented. I joined St. Thomas’ Church School, Howrah Maidan. This school is a missionary school with a lot of Anglo-Indian teachers.
St. Thomas’ Church school was a well-disciplined school. In studies, I was an average student. I used to show flair in different subjects at different times. For example, in history, I scored 99 out of 100 in class 5. Well that was the happiest moment of my life!! My parents became happy. I was consistently good at spelling. I used to score 90% above marks in spelling and dictation. I used that skill later in my life. I studied stenography while doing graduation. In the recent past, I did a course in medical transcription and I am successfully employed in Infovision Software Private Limited in Kolkata. Anyway along with my schooling in Cossipore English School, I learnt swimming for 6 months. I got my training at Howrah Rifle Club.
The swimming pool was nice one. It was raised at higher level. The waters are clean. We had to clean our legs in potassium permanganate water. There were many trainers but I remembered and respected the trainer named Shakti who taught me how to overcome the fear of water!! He was really a good trainer.
In my St. Thomas Church School, I was admitted through an admission test. I got admission and joined there in class II. In this school, I had a music teacher named Kevin David. He was an Anglo-Indian. He selected me in the school choir. We used to sing church songs. There was a church inside the campus. The church was small but beautiful. With the school choir, I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral of Kolkata. It is in Park Street. It was during Christmas a program was held and the choir gave its first performance.
In my school life, when I was in class II, I started learning to play synthesizer. First I started with Casiotone PT 20 which is a 2-1/2 octave music keyboard. An octave consists of 7 keys from C to C ie C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. In Ichapur, Tarak Ray who had experience working in Sudhin Dasgupta’s band used to teach me. He had knowledge of playing piano, synthesizer, Spanish and Hawaiian guitar, tabla, mandolin, piano accordion, etc. He worked in Mahindra and Mahindra. He was a retired person. He used to teach me patiently. I also learnt to play harmonica from him.
Music was my great past time as writing is to me now!! I learnt to play some lessons fairly well. He used to teach me western staff notations. After learning them for quite some time, he gave me lessons on Indian Rabindra Sangeet (songs of the reputed Nobel Prize Winner Rabindra Nath Tagore). The tunes have great melody. I could play them fairly well.
In my school, my music teacher Kevin David punished us for being disobedient. He made us kneel down and walk through the corridor. My father being the head of school managing committee complained it. He apologized his mistake.
In my school, I gave my first public show. I played my favorite tune called Charade. It is a nice piece of 5 minutes duration. I played in the auditorium in the synthesizer of Mr. Kevin David. One day I invited Kevin David to my house and he also invited me and my father at his Behala residence. He had 2 keyboards. I bought the Casiotone CT 670 after seeing it in his house. It is a wonderful instrument with 5 octaves. There are 220 tone banks and 110 beats. Casio synthesizer is made in Japan. So far I had no problems.
I was a mediocre student at school. Sometimes I used to score 80% up in different subjects. Consistency is not seen in my academics. Once I scored 99 in history in class V, another time I scored 84 in geography, once my drawing teacher gave me A++ for my drawing. But I was consistently good in spelling and dictation. I am consistently good in English language.
During my school days, I helped my father in his research!! I helped him in copying the lines from the book in his little diary. Sometimes when I see my handwriting. I get surprised at its difference! Later I came to know graphology, scientific study of handwriting, which tells us a lot of human character.
To tell something about my parents I must add my father is a reader in English, he did his research in Feminism in Modern Drama. He has some international publications. My mother being a housewife, used to support me in my effort in studies and my hobbies. My grandmother also motivates me to go further in life.