Happy memories, old friends and a super holiday

Earlier this month we took a road-trip up to Ooty, in the Nilgiris mountains.

It was not just to be a holiday but to fulfil my husband’s long-felt wish to attend his school’s annual Founders Day after decades (The Lawrence School, Lovedale, or LSL).  We planned the trip with old friends who go up to Ooty quite regularly, who this time had rooms to spare in their friend’s holiday home. We lost no time in grabbing the opportunity, and a few days later set out by car, just the two of us.

The road was surprisingly good all the way from Chennai to Mettupalayam (via Ulundurpet), and the drive upto Ooty quite scenic (via Kotagiri).

The Guest house (Bela Nilayam) where we stayed was away from the hustle and bustle of Ooty town, which seemed much more crowded than on our last visit in ‘94. This lovely place was down towards Masinagudi on the 1^st hairpin bend (of 36)! With lots of space, an award-winning garden and a lovely view.

Of course the fact that this time we were in Ooty during the 1^st week of May, when it’s also the best time of year also had something to do with the population density.  Not only do you have parents of  LSL students and Old Lawrencians (OLs) all up for Founders, Ooty bursts at the seams with tourists as well.

Obviously the town’d changed tremendously in 19 years.  The greenery was clearly less than remembered, and instead numerous small dwellings now reached to near the golf course.  Not to say there aren’t large properties left, the Ooty Saits (“Egg-House” Saits, by virtue of the shape of their guard-booth) stubbornly hold out in their large compound cheek-by-jowl with new multi-storey hotel monstrosities, car dealerships and what-have-yous, when in the old days they were quite out of town.

Ooty old-timers can’t get over the new situation of extreme water-shortage, bound to affect the hill-station’s reputation for healthy vegetables, fruit and flowers, or (despite the impressively efficient traffic police), the daily traffic jams.  Not to mention the air and noise pollutions.

The first 2 days we relaxed and drove around Ooty, seeing some areas for the first time (like near Good Shepherd School, Sterling Resorts, emerging near Fern Hill Palace, etc.).

Evenings were well-spent in lively repartee in the guest-house’s large drawing room. Joined by more Old Lawrencians, the conversations always seemed to converge to talk of school. Being the only non-OL I promised to bear this no matter how silly it got sometimes.

Then the school celebrations began.  Till recently the LSL Founders was a 3-day affair, this seems the first time the program was crammed into 2.  If you don’t count the previous eve’s 155^th Founder’s Memorial church Service, with prayer and benediction for the Founder and forthcoming celebrations.

For IS the 1^st day’s events of interest began with the OL lunch (which I joined as well), followed by the OLA General Body meeting, and then the School Play (Night of January 16^th by Ayn Rand, very well done).  He decided to forego the Exhibitions (student projects), the Book Reading session (which we regretted missing, the authors this year were Ms. Aruna Gill and Ms. Saaz Aggarwal, both OLs), the Past vs. Present matches and PT Display.

The 2^nd day we both attended the “Trooping the Colour” parade in the morning, and “Beating Retreat” that evening, missing the intervening events like the Equestrian Display and Variety Entertainment.  As well as that night’s OLA Dinner Dance at the Fern Hill Palace hotel.

As for IS’s visit to school, certainly it a great thrill and very nostalgic for him to go back after so many years, more so for a Founders when friends from his batch (or a year or two up/down) were there, specially if from his houses Kailash or Aravalli.

Left to right : Sait, Elizabeth, Johny, Suri, Jojo, Murugu (batch of 1970)

Perhaps a quarter of the boarders are children of former pupils, and as with most boarding schools, the LSL Alumni have very strong loyalty to their school.  In fact, after some years of seeing the school decline, a few OLs are now directly involved with its management as Board of Governors office-bearers.

We took a round of “cem”, the old cemetery associated with juicy horror stories (and some scary ragging).  Though the junior school has been completely rebuilt, IS well remembers the old dormitories and being put in by his parents in ‘66, the initial hours moping around before the train-batches and other students arrived, the “interview” by ‘Woody ‘Vyas (Senior Master); it must be one of the saddest ever feelings, being wrenched away from one’s family at a young age.  Specially for an only child.

Founded by Major General Sir Henry Lawrence to provide education to children of serving/deceased soldiers/officers of the then British Army in India, initially there were totally four “Lawrence Military Asylums”, at Sanawar (established 1847), Mount Abu (1856), Lovedale, Ootacamund (1858) and Ghora Gali (1860, near Murree).  The younger two were established after Sir Henry died early in the 1857 Indian Mutiny.  The schools underwent several name changes, being known variously as The Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School (L), Lawrence Royal Military School (S), Lawrence Memorial School (L), Abu Lawrence School (MA), Lawrence College (GG).  The Mount Abu school no longer exists (the campus now houses the Internal Security Academy), while Ghora Ghali is in present-day Pakistan.

As a result the sense of history, and tradition of military training at Lovedale (as well as its sister schools) has always been strong, and these schools are possibly the only educational institutions in India to continue “Trooping the Colour” and “Beating Retreat” as part of their Founders' Celebration.

Other strong associations include the school song and hymns, the nicknames (Mrs. Bhalla was Ma Balls!) and of course the special Lovedale slang.  Fall in after chhota for a skinning-up if you can’t figure out what this means: stop fudging piza, croak for your junk!

For me it was a great experience to see these school-mates of all ages bonding (regardless of whether they were in school during the same years or not) through their close ties to their school, something I had not encountered before with alumni of other schools, including my own.  This was the big bonus from our wonderful holiday, the nostalgia of all the OL fraternity that stays with you like the fresh green of the tea slopes and the heady scent of eucalyptus.