National High School - Revisited

 National High School - Revisited 

I happened to be in the vicinity of National High School this morning and went into the building on an impulse. I have moved around the building hundreds of times even after I left Bengaluru but never went in even once. Today’s was a revisit after nearly half a century. It was a nostalgic visit. As I stood in the quadrangle of the NHS, I could almost hear HSM (our head master) clearing his throat prior to his customary post prayer sermon from the stage ! 

It is unfortunate that the beautiful edifice with the clock tower is blocked by a very run of the mill new building but most of the interiors are as they were. The space at the back of the quadrangle where we used to eat our afternoon lunch is covered and utilised for some purpose, the library has come to the ground floor, the audio visual room is converted into a class room, and new toilet blocks are built. One of the class rooms overlooking the college auditorium is in a dilapidated condition and shut down. The cycle park has become an additional building and the school is now Co-ed making me wish I was born decades later !! 

The college section has not changed much except for an entrance opening onto the Pampa MahaKavi road at the place where the Principal’s office used to be and there are additional floors built. An attempt has been made to make the auditorium walls soundproof and they now look as if cardboard has been pasted onto the walls.

I was walking around the school premises aimlessly, lost in memories when a lady who was sweeping the corridor addressed me “ಓಲ್ಡ್ ಸ್ಟೂಡೆಂಟಾ ಸಾರ್?”.(are you an old student?) I nodded my head. “ಚನ್ನಾಗಿ ನೋಡ್ಕೊಂಡ್ ಹೋಗಿ ನಿಮ್ ಸ್ಕೂಲ್ನ”, ( Take a good look at your old school) she continued with her work and I came out of my school. I am sure that she has seen many visitors like me !

I took some pictures and they are here. The ones with a dash of colour are the college open air stage, auditorium and new opening. The bright classroom at the end of the corridor (seen in one of the pictures) was our 8th E section. I will end with an anecdote connected with the room.  

It was 1969 in the era of running commentaries of test matches. India was playing against Australia at Kanpur and it was the test debut of G R Vishwanath, a boy from Basavanagudi where our school was located. He was from a very humble background and a student of Fort high school which is about a kilometer from NHS. There might have been a few from our school who knew him personally. Even though most of the minds that morning were in Kanpur, we had no access to commentary and only had to listen to the description of the coast of South America from our geography teacher SN. Half the class was half dozing. 

Suddenly and unusually, the intercom speaker which had been fitted in every classroom sprang to life and crackled. Our attention was drawn to the speaker and our headmaster was speaking. He informed us that GRV was batting and has reached the nineties and said that it was a wonderful performance. He requested the teachers to suspend the teaching activity and said that the running commentary would be brought to all classrooms through the intercom till GRV completed his century ! 

And that, GRV did with a flourishing square cut to the boundary, which later came to be known as his trademark stroke. The school premises erupted in a joyous applause and the moment remained etched in my mind forever.