Memories

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Gerard Lobo's Trip, 2000

This November during the Diwali vacations I took my wife Rosita ,and  daughter Fleur(11) and son Robin (9) to see my old school . We flew to Udaipur as train tickets weren't available and then took a cab to Abu.

For the second year in a row Rajasthan has received deficient rainfall and the foothills on the way up to school have a very little vegetation. Camel rock ,the first  familiar landmark we used to see from the bus on the way up to school is still there.

However after Monkey temple there is a lot more greenery to be seen. Plummy , Sergeant Plummie ,  alancing rock , Spongie , Flaggie all these names came racing back into my head as we drove through toll bar and ooked around.

The weather in Abu too has been affectedby global warming and though it was early November there nobody wore pull-oversor warm clothing! The temperature was a pleasant 20 or so.

Today the tourist bungalow which was the in place to stay has become rundown and hardly anybody stays there . Just opp it , across the road is Abu's poshest hotel - The Hillock  a three *** hotel with even a small swimming pool. Here room rates are 3000 a night for a double room in peak season (read Diwali ). Another good place popular with rich Gujuratis is the Hiltone a little further down the road . Palace hotel still exists and is managed by the son in law of the Maharaja of Bikaner. A single meal for a person here sets you back by the amount a suite used to cost per night including meals ,way back in 1975 !

After checking into our hotel we were rearing to go and visit school. As was the favorite mode of transport for all Abuites we decided to walk down to school.  The old black roadstarting from the Toll bar now has quite a few hostels & boarding places right upto the Trivedis cottage, but after that the road down to Paddys bridge and from there upto the school is pretty much the same.  Mrs Trivedi sold off her place several years ago after her children finished schooling and the cottage is rented out to tourists with an eye on privacy (read honeymooners)

The stream under paddys bridge is a small trickle, but the Khodra dam had a lot of water in it. In 1988 2 more school boys drowned, one in the dam and the other at a pool which is at the base of Plummy. Swimming in the Dam is now banned.

Just above Alibababas grave St Mary's has built its swimming pool and I was happy to learn that it had been just commissioned on the 20th of October .  So finally after all these years St Mary's has its own swimming pool , no more swimming in shallow bay or the school lake or the dam!

When we reached uptothe brothers cottage it was 10 am and the entire place was silent and empty ,except for some activity that we could make out at the other end in the classrooms . Suddenly the pipe rang out loud and clear across the field and there was a change in the period .

The first person we met was good old Br Judge , looking plump as ever but fully grey . He recognized me as the Optician from Chembur , and I introduced him to my family . We has a long chat before it was time for him to go for his next class .

Br Judge is currently the only Irish brother in school , he used to be my Principal from 71to 73 before Br Mulligan took over . Mully is no more , God rest his soul , and Br Kelly (Mad Kelly) my Physics teacher and Br Deasy my class teacher in ISC had returned to Ireland.

We visited the small dorm ,big dorm ,hospi, chapel , drank water from the taps . The old boffs are now being used by the servants ,while the students now have toilets recently constructed , in the dorms , with plenty of running water and plenty of tins !!

Food in the ref was surprisingly good ,as one of the brothers is an ex student and is in charge of the ref . We sat on the table after the boys had eaten and ate a lunch of  Potatobhaji , chappatis , rice , the mandatory dal and fruit salad ! I was told that some time ago another exstudent VIctor Nazareth had comewith his family and sat on the same table to taste the food . I even recognized a couple of  'bearers ' Heera & Panna who were there when I was in school .

The old Gym has now become the Dhobis workroom and he has a huge washing machine which can wash 80 clothes at one time ! He alsohas a huge drier and uses the rest of the Gym to iron the clothes .

Fr Bonaventures original cottage overlooking the dam still exists but in a inhabitable condition .

Cup rock still exists though the spoon has been truncated ! The old mango tree is very much there above cup rock .

Two of Schools famous fruit trees , the Mulberry tree near the brothers cottage , and the Peach tree in Eddo's cottage are no more t !

However there are quite a few majestic Silver Oak trees dotting the school enviorens including three huge ones in front of small dorm .

The highlight of my visit was when Br Anish the principal asked me whether I would like to join the boys for a walk that evening .

So Robin & I stayed back while my wife and daughter went back to the hotel . To kill time before 4 pm when the boysstart their walks we went out behind school in the direction of A division . The entire place is covered with water and there are no land marks visible ,but we went along the banks right upto Easter caves , which I could recognise because of the long sloping rock at its bottom.

Shortly after tea the boys lined up outside the big dorm to be assigned their destination for walks . We joined Class 9 , along Tiger path , passing past the Old Fig tree (which looks quite well) , and then towards Lime Orchard . (All these names bring back fond memories??!!)

The karvanda bushes have not been ableto adapt to the drier enviorment,and there are very few of them around .

Then we started climbing up , the young chaps almost running while a fat me panting  , and Robin clutching my hand tightly till we were on the top of Spongie !

My son Robin could not believe that we had scaled such a big mountain . We enjoyed a panoramic view from the top ,of Golden Horn (still out of bounds), Lime Orchard (no limes), Sambhar Valley , Plummie & Guru Sekhar . School looked majestic in the distance with the waters of the dam forming a arch on its side . Chatting with the boys , not a care in the world and on top of  Spongie , the mountain breeze whistling in our ears , really made me feel like I had journeyed back into time !!

The next day while in town wevisited old favourites ,Madras Cafe , where a Masala Dosa costs 25 bucks , Rajendra hotel for Unlimited Jain Thali with hot chappatis with melted ghee (25 bucks), & the Punjab hotel now famous for its tandoori chicken & paneer Tikkas !(50 bucks a plate!).There are also alot of panipuri wallas , freshly sliced kakadis (cucumbers) , and the prams for pushing around the elderly  or lazy!

I also visited POP (Mr Goyal) who retired in 88 and  now now spends his sparetime sitting in his son Piyush's electronic shop ,where I met him . Though his memory is failing he remembered Thapa and Mahipal Singh ,my classmates but I must have been too quiet to have occupied a place in his long term memory ! He told me that he joined school in 53 and used to cycle upto 1980 .

There was alot of tourist activity centered around Nakkhi lake , and the crowds going to Sunset point are unbeleivable !

Well there were a lot more things I did during my visit , but I found school very much the same , and my family also enjoyed the trip very much . Good old St Marys , a wonderful place of which I have fond memories .