Thursday, December 8, 2011

Aitchison Days - Junior School (vi)

I have been tied up with ‘other’ activities of life. That is why I wasn’t able to add another one of my gems on my blog. However, I ‘think’ that I am back now and I would try to keep scribbling down my blogs in routine. So here goes the continuation of Aitchison Days…

In 1988, I was in K-3-A. The boys in this section along with K-3-B and C are sent upstairs in Green Wing. Green Wing was mostly for K-4 boys. But the first three sections of K-3 resided with K-4 boys. I think one of the positives of moving our sections with the upper classmen taught us a few good things from them. We learned how to maintain our composures with them and the things which we would have learned in K-4 the next year, we learned them a year earlier just by living with those guys. On the other hand, there were a few negatives in this too. One of them was that we somehow lost touch with our class fellows of K-3 in normal routine. It has been a while I have been back in Gwyn House. So I am not sure that practice is still in place or has been changed for any reason. 

Our class mistress in K-3-A was pretty laid back. However, she was stickler as far as discipline is concerned. She did not tolerate any of the loose talk or careless attitude in the classroom. She demanded the best from her students. 

K-4-A was also pretty exciting. It was a good feeling to be getting to the second highest upper classman in Junior School. It made us feel much more matured, learned and experienced as I moved along in these classes. As we moved along, the competition in all areas got stiff. Athletics was most favored by boarders. And competitions like recitations (English and Urdu), readings (English and Urdu), writing (English and Urdu) etc were excelled by day boys. They also received top academic positions in the classrooms. Boarders competed with them in these areas but were quite outnumbered. 

Riding, the trade mark of Aitchison College, also started in K-4. Many of us signed up for riding. There is a certain uniform for riding the horses. There were britches, a riding hard hat, riding shoes accompanied by a blue blazer. So this sport was quite suitably looked very English. I also signed up for this sport and learned how to mount, dismount, jump and few other tricks of the trade. 

There was also a singing club present there. Ms. Abid conducted this club. This club had introduced many upcoming and talented students in the public. Students learned to recite Naats, Qawwalis, individual and group performances and many other aspects of singing here.

There was also a Scouting group. We learned how the scouts live off the land and live in tents. These were pretty exciting outdoor activities for us in those earlier years of our lives. All of these activities seemed pretty novel to us. At the end of the scouting year, we had a ‘Fire Camp’ where we performed our scouting activities and also showed our singing talent here. 
To Be Continued....