Feature

Reminiscences of a Gregorian

Jamilur Reza Choudhury

About three years back, I was the host of the launching of the "South Asia Foundation Learning Initiative." In the inaugural meeting around 15 Vice Chancellors of different universities in South Asia and other distinguished guests were present and Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen was the Chief Guest. When the founder of SAF moved to the lectern to address the large gathering, there were three of us sitting on the dais - pointed out to Dr Amartya Sen that all three of us (the other person was Dr Kamal Hossain) had been students of St. Gregory's (although at different periods). In fact, there are very few schools in the region (may be in the world!) which has produced so many alumni who have made their mark both nationally and internationally in diverse fields e.g. in politics (including President and Prime Ministers), academia, civil service, engineering and medical professions, commerce and industry as well as in the cultural arena.

Gaining Entry: It was the 28th of January, 1952, the day after we arrived in Dhaka. I had passed the annual examination of Class V in Mymensingh Zilla School, where I had started my schooling in 1950. With my father's transfer to Dhaka, he was looking for a good school where I could be admitted to Class VI: the obvious first choice was St. Gregory's. I remember my father taking my elder brother Hasinur (who was one year senior to me and seeking admission to Class VII) and me to the office of Brother James, the Headmaster. Unfortunately, I was told that there were no seats in Class VI, but my brother could be admitted to Class VII. The Headmaster advised my father that I could try next January.

I was luckier in January, 1953, when I was admitted to Class VII. I still remember the brief admission test I had to face-brother James brought out a book titled "New Study Reader" from his bookshelf and asked me to read the poem "The Beggar Maid." Thus began my days at St. Gregory's - perhaps the most enjoyable and fruitful phase of my educational career.

The best teachers of our lives: A few months back, I was asked by one of the newspapers to name the best teacher in my school life. I had no hesitation in naming Mr. PC Sarkar, who taught us Mathematics in Class VIII, IX and X. The foundation in Mathematics that he helped me build, and the interest he generated in the subject among his students, have helped me throughout my later life when I studied engineering.

We were very fortunate in having some of the best teachers of English who taught us, viz. Brother Peter, Brother Martin and Brother Neville. Brother Neville returned to USA when we were in Class X and we continued to correspond. I still possess a letter which he had written from Ohio and I show it to many people as example of the best penmanship I have ever seen. Each of the letters in his flowing handwriting is so consistent and uniformed and the lines so straight that they appear to have been written by a machine.

Sporting traditions: Although handicapped by the absence of a large playing field, the St. Gregory's teams in most sports and games were considered among the best school teams in Dhaka. In cricket, the boundary on the off-side (the batsman always stood near the wickets on the eastern side) was very close-so instead of 4 runs, two runs were scored for a boundary and 4 runs (instead of 6) for an over boundary. Some of the batsmen developed special shots (lofty cuts) to take advantage of this. We were happy to find some of our players getting into the provincial and national School teams (viz. Khaja Amirullah Munni, Latif and Ali Zafar).

I used to take part in cricket, football, athletics and handball. The particular type of handball was unique in Dhaka (played with a tennis ball in a court resembling a squash court, with one side wall but not having the back wall). In fact, as soon as the bell announcing tiffin break was rung, some of us used to rush towards the handball courts where there was always a queue of players waiting for their turn to play.

Brother Thomas was in charge of sports and used to supervise our practice sessions rehearsing for the callisthenic display by students of various schools in Ramna Race Course (now Suhrawardy Udyan) on the mornings of 14th August (the Independence Day of Pakistan) every year. After practicing in the schools, combined rehearsals used to be held in other schools (Collegiate School and Armanitola School) where our team used to be taunted as the team from "ghorar gari" (a distortion of Gregory!). It was quite exciting to report near the Dhaka Gate in Ramna early in the morning on 14th August, put on new white sleeveless vests and white shorts and participate in the rhythmic exercises.

Social work: When we were in class VIII, our teacher Mr RB Saha motivated us to get involved in social work. An organization named Palli Mongol Samity was formed and meetings used to be held in his Tanti Bazar residence. During the devastating flood of 1954, we decided to collect donation for carrying out flood relief and a charity show was organized at Gulistan cinema hall.

Dhonai: A memorable feature of St. Gregory's during the 1950s was Dhonai who had a number of responsibilities, viz posting notices in the notice board on the outside of the headmasters' office, carrying the important notices to class rooms and ringing the bells. He also acted as messenger delivering notices to the homes of guardians.

Mia, phuchka and missile training: Some of our friends used to carry their home-made lunch in tiffin boxes, but we preferred to have the light snacks from Mia's shop located inside the school premises. The daily allocation of 2 annas per day (i.e. one eighth of a rupee) for lunch was adequate for buying the delicious biscuits (salty or sweet) and other delicacies. However, the summer delicacy of a glass of 'lassi' with sweet yogurt would have required the full allocation and we had to save for the rare occasions.

Sher-e-Bangla's visit: One of the most memorable occasions in my school life was the visit of the Education and Interior Minister of Pakistan Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq in early 1956. I remember him coming to our class looking very elegant in his black sherwani and white pajama and enquiring from Sarkar Sir what topic he was teaching. When told that we were being taught Algebra, Sher-e-Bangla took a piece of chalk and in his beautiful handwriting wrote on the blackboard a problem in Algebra for us to solve. He then moved to the next class, but he appeared to be very impressed when I almost followed him to the class with the correct solution of the problem in my exercise book.

Parting with sadness: In late 1956, we attended our last classes and appeared in our Test Examination for the Matriculation Examination. After that, we got busy in preparing for the Matriculation Examination, one of the most important and difficult examinations one had to face in life. We were saddened by the thought that we would have to leave the beautiful environment of St. Gregory's.

The seeds which were sown by the Brothers of Holy Cross in establishing the school in 1882 fully blossomed in the 1950s and 1960s and the school can be proud of having produced many of the national leaders in different fields. Over the years, St Gregory's appears to have lost some of its earlier excellence in all round performance. However, the bonds of friendship that we Gregorians (Class of 1957) formed fifty years back still remains very strong. We meet regularly and reminisce about our teachers, events and good old days at St. Gregory's. We hope that in the not too distant future, St. Gregory's would be able to regain its lost glory and emerge as the leading school in the region.

(First published in 'The Gregorian 2004')