Memoir of My School Days

MEMOIR OF MY SCHOOL DAYS

Geevarghese Mar Theodosius
Episcopa, Mar Thoma Church

Memories are life giving. It is not simply a record of facts. It is a narrative where once own life finds life giving experiences. It is not only recalling mind the past events but also expressing thanks to God for what those events meant in the very life which has grown to the present position. When such things are recorded with a personal note, it strengthens the service of the institution and inspires the present and future generations.

Mar Thoma Seminary High School, Kottayam is my alma mater. One will wonder why a child born in Ashtamudy near Quilon in 1949 came all the way to Kottayam to have his High School Education. There are several reasons. One of the dominant reasons is loyalty of my parents to the Mar Thoma Church. Though I had my primary education at the Govt. Primary school in Ashtamudy, my parents made it a point to send all the four boys in the family to a Mar Thoma School where the Children can have a Christian atmosphere and better education. The Mar Thoma School, or MT, as it was known popularly, grew in to fame as an institution where Late Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan was a teacher and a warden of the Hostel. That was the time when my father Late Dr. K.J. Chacko also had his high school education. No wonder my father took interest in sending me and my younger brother later for college education at the Mar Thoma College Thiruvalla. The school is also known as seminary High School. The fact that ‘seminary’ is a school of religious study indicates the vision of our Church Fathers who started schools like MT Seminary Kottayam and SC Seminary Thiruvalla. Not only to impart secular education but also to realize school as an extension of a Christian home where advance study of religious matters could be given to growing children in the Church and the society. MT School is also unique that its premises is an extension of the premises of the Mar Thoma Theological Seminary Kottayam. When one remembers that it is the place where great persons like M/s. C.P. Mathew, K.K.Kuruvilla and DR. T. John gave their spiritual presence in moulding persons as clergy of the Church, the significance of having a school with growing children in the vicinity can be understood. It was also place where clergies like Revs. T.C Thomas, C.V.John,V.E. Varghese taught the seminarians. Our Philipose Mar Chrysostom Valiya Metropolitan was the then resident bishop and the Diocesan Bishop when I joined the school in 1958. The present quarter of the principal of the Seminary was the Aramana then where both Chrysostom Thirumeni and the Late Thomas Mar Athanasius Thirumeni resided. On those days there was only one gate for all the institutions, the seminary chapel was a chapel for the school as well and there was no restriction for the school children to mingle with the bishop, staff and students of the theological Seminary. It was one wider family.

When I joined the school in 1958, I was staying with my mother’s (Simoni Chacko) parents. Kudilil Varkey Vakil, as my grandfather was popularly known, stayed at Karippuram near the Kottayam collectorate on the Vedippuralane (now Children’s Park) and took me to Elia Cathedral of the Orthodox Church on Sundays. On Sunday afternoons, I was sent to Ascension CSI Church for my Sunday school classes. My grandmother was from the Pulimood Family and my granduncle the Late Mr. P.M. Joseph used to tease me when I said some of the prayers of the Orthodox Church. All these gave me a wider experience of ecumenism right from my childhood onwards, while keeping the loyalty to the Mar Thoma Church. This has helped me all through my life to celebrate unity in diversity. I always wonder, while my parents had their marriage solemnized at the Orthodox Church and Mar Thoma children are baptized in either churches, why is it that there is no ‘Table Fellowship’ in the form of inter-communion between the two Christian denominations.

The Late Mr. K. I. Ipe (Sir) was the headmaster of this school for a number of years. I remember him taking classes on William Shakespeare, whenever any class teacher was absent. That was his fond subject. Carpentry was his hobby. He with his family, stayed on the campus. Teachers like M/s. C.J. Cherian, V.I. Joseph, P.J. Joseph, A. Muthalali, V.P. Pathros, C.D. Abraham worked as a team and their presence was always there on the campus. Mr. & Mrs. C.D. Abraham, both teachers at the school, were from my family on the maternal side and Ms. Kunjamma Abraham was my class teacher in the first year of my school in Kottayam. My conduct in the school was observed and there was always an easy flow of communication when my class teacher met my grandmother. The school campus had good greenery with flower trees and the children plucked the leaves and flowers to decorate the classrooms on special occasions, particularly on the School day.

There was First Form in 1958 when I joined M.T. School from the Primary School. It was a class before going to the Standard 6 from 5 to teach English and get oriented to higher classes, a system which got discontinued from 1959. The school education in our native tongue helped me to take Malayalam in my college studies as my second language and to get exempted from studying a language related to my research when I did my doctoral studies.

When I was in the 8th standard, the Kerala government started English medium schools and M.T. School was given permission to start a batch in the high school section. I was privileged to be in the first batch in the school. The teachers who taught me in those days included M/s V.M. Thomas (History), K.T. Chacko (Science), J. Philip (Math), and M.I. Issac (English). We also had non Christian teachers like Gopi Sir (Hindi) and lady teachers like Kunjamma, Molly, Ponnamma and Ammini.

The co-curricular activities included N.C.C. led by Zachariah Sir (Manganam) and sports and games by P.O. Thomas Sir (Puthupally). My elder brother Mr. John Jacob who was employed in Kottayam with Shaw Wallace used to come to the school campus for football and teachers like Abraham Varghese and K.I. Jacob (Joy) used to come and train us in having a football team for the school. I had the privilege of playing for the school and the teachers like C.J. Cherian and P.O. Thomas used to accompany us when we go for tournaments. The interest generated in the school level helped me to maintain the spirit in all these until I graduated from Kerala. Hockey was an added game of interest for me in the college days.

When I joined the English Medium Class and when my grandparents were aged, I moved to the School Boarding Home and stayed on the school campus. There was no separate hostel at that time, but only box-rooms where we could keep our boxes, according to the age and make use of the school benches or wooden platforms for sleeping on thin mats using pillows. We had to roll up the mats with pillow and keep them in the box room every morning to get the classrooms ready for the school classes. It was real fun counting the stars at night and listening to the conversations and stories of the friends as we slept at night. It was also fun running all the way down as a group to the well for the morning wash, after the morning prayers, as part of the morning exercise and refreshing oneself. Morning hours and evening hours after sunset are for doing ‘homework lessons’ and to revise the lessons taught in the class. Daytime was for the school and both boys and girls as day-scholars from the neighborhood would come and fill the classrooms and the school premises. We had only one classroom set apart as the Library and a bigger room as the laboratory for the entire school. M/s Kuruvila Samuel, T.A. Alex, K.N. Alexander, V.L. Nagavelu, P.C. Mathen, Sajan Kalarikal, Rachel, Rugmani ‘Devi, are some of the students who studied with me in the school. They are all in ‘good positions’ in different places now.

Life within the boarding home brought the boys in greater friendship and I had the privilege of growing under the supervision of Kuriakose Sir (Pampady) and M. Issac (Mavelikkara). These teachers were also staying with us, leading the morning and evening worship, supervising our conduct, helping us in our studies and maintaining our monthly accounts. K.I. Jacob (Joy) Sir, being the son of the Headmaster staying on the campus, used to come on Friday evenings to tell us stories of Sherlock Holmes. Though he taught us science in those days, he became a professor in English and later the Principal of the Mar Thoma College, Perumbavoor. Saturday evenings were for memorizing Bible portions. On Sundays we were taken to Jerusalem Mar Thoma Church, Kottayam for Morning worship by the hostel wardens. Sunday school classes were in the afternoon at the Seminary Chapel on Sundays, taught by the wardens and seminary students. Looking back to the six years of my growth in the Mar Thoma Seminary High School, I feel proud of my school and the teachers who taught me. The vision of the Church in starting and administering the school is with a vision and that is to be kept and respected as it grows and renders education to the number of children who study there year after year. The school teachers and the hostel wardens have been committed persons and they were living examples while molding the personalities of the children both in the classrooms and on the campus. The presence of the Diocesan Bishop, Achans in the seminary and the theological students on the campus influenced by my life and I grew with interest to go for ordained ministry. The Seminary Chapel, which was kept open during the day time, attracted children to go there for prayer and group Bible study. The values of life and a sense of vocation developed during the years of life in the Seminary School. I conclude these lines with gratitude to God for the opportunity and expressing my love and respect to all the teachers who taught and guided me in the school. I cannot forget

my parents who loved to send me to the Mar Thoma Seminary High School, Kottayam and am mindful of the fact that a large number of people are watching me, both young and old, to find the way of the Lord who is ‘The Way, The Truth & The Life.’

Sinai Mar Thoma Center
March 23, 2011