[By Zelma K. De Souza | Abu Dhabi] Okay, guys and girls, I think you have managed to get me to the keys on my keyboard and start typing a few lines, especially now that Grace, my batchmate at Lourdes Convent, has written in.

When I saw Rico's email recently asking "who is next", I said "Me". But that was not to be, since I was a bit tied up, at work. But after having read the school stories from Grace, I must say she made me laugh.

As mentioned in one of the earlier emails, her words conjured up mental images as if it all happened just yesterday. This makes me think of that song, "Those were the best days of my life, yeah, yeah,.. Summer of 69...."

I can still picture the naughty Grace, but also the ever smiling and sporty girl, full of mischief too. You can see that from her stories of sitting in the rain, picking the wild-growing 'Kudduchi baji', not scared of snakes and picking guavas from Ramona's garden!

To continue the story of Lourdes Convent (I hope Sr. Lily is reading all this, from all her ex-students), I joined the school in Std III, with Sr. Adelaide as principal and Ms. Hazel Vaz, our class teacher.

It was also the year that Anju (now Shannon Ezdani's sis-in-law), and Tanya Butt joined the school. While Anju had come down from Jamshedpur, I think, Tanya and her family had come back from Kenya and, as for me, from Bombay after having lost my mother.

Dad was left with four daughters to look after. That was tough in a place like Bombay. So, he decided to call it quits. He gave up his Bharat Petroleum job to comeback to his roots in Saligao, where my sisters and me started with Lourdes Convent.

I can remember that I stood second in Ms Hazel's class but I have to say Anju was the one always ahead of us. Anju and me had something in common, we both did not have a mum and Saligao and Lourdes Convent was all a new place to both of us. So, for quite a bit of time, we stuck on together.

One thing that I do remember about that first year in LCHS, is Sr. Lily who used to teach us Religion, telling us the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus. In my mind's eye, I can still picture her explaining to the class with all her expressions, and the details. I ended up crying as soon as she left the classroom. Today, my daughter, Nyleptha, 9, does the same when she hears sad stories and I know where that comes from :-)

Back to Lourdes Convent, Std IV was Ms. Aires, always telling her students, "Don't dig your nose," and "I am not interested in your stories."

As for Class V, it was Miss Yvette. I just cannot forget the
high heel shoes that she always wore and still managed to walk with a straight stiff back and a stern look too, but her class, as Grace mentions, was the best. I think we hardly did any work that year. I used to meet Ms. Yvette in Panjim, as she lived down the road from our place. I was always amazed that she still remembered me.

Ms Lira in Class VI, was always praying when she was not speaking as I would always see her lips moving. And yes I think for half that year in school, Ms. Naik was our teacher, Oh dear! I can still think of the Konkani we had to study and my marks were always just over the borderline in that subject.

Ms Judth Pereira taught us guiding in later years and yes, Anju and myself did attend the Jamboree, on a national level, in Bangalore. (Grace, thanks for the compliment, that you guys relied on us.) I still remember Sr. Lily asking me to check everyone's knots at the guiding exam at the end of that year. I felt so good about it.

Mr. Sapre, I cannot forget, for all the training in elocution and debates. He made us good speakers. He would always encourage us to take part. You have to say that he was a well read man. He told my dad, when my youngest sister was passing out of LCHS, "I have had the pleasure of teaching all four of your daughters." What a lovely thing to say!

Mr Sontake, well I remember the "Just I want to tell you" but I think I was one of his quieter or manageable students. He often used to stand in his veranda, at the Padmanath Building and call me on my way to school to carry books to class on days that he was absent. But he never refused to explain to us anything that we had not understood.

Ms. Judith Lobo, I am grateful to her, for lending me her bicycle to get home for lunch and be back for extra classes, I still remember the blue cycle that I did my rounds on in the village, to Dilip's shop and back, to school, etc. Her Physics lessons were too good, she made them so interesting and gave us all the examination tips on how to score higher marks. I also remember, a very bad fall that I had when the convent road was just tarred.

My sister Griselda was riding her cycle to school but could not take me doubles. So I used to walk -- this was before I had Ms. Judith's cycle -- and that day the school bell rang, I tried to cross the road but instead got thrown over by Griselda's cycle, which had no breaks! I ended up with Tar pieces from the road into my wound on the knee and a sister (I cannot remember her name, who was in the admin office) pressed iodine into the wound. But it was not enough. That was followed by a good two weeks away from school as I ended up with high fever and infection of the wound.

Ms. Judith Pereira, I always admired her writing skills and formation of alphabets and Ms. Shirley telling us "Don't grin like an ass." I cannot forget the bubbly Ms. Patsy Barneto, with her three pretty daughters and their photographs that she showed us sometimes. Ms. Amita Salatry, how can I forget her? She taught us sports and was another very active teacher, I also remember the dance that she trained Christabel and myself for the annual day. I still have a picture.

Mrs. Mendonca gave us the best advice she could give as we were to finish school, and go out into the world, and I remember the apple pie she made and served us as a farewell treat from her in Class X.

Ms. Efrem (I was fortunate to have met her on my last visit, also met Ms. Judith Pereira and Ms. Judith Lobo) was such a brain at Algebra and Geometry. in fact I used to go to her place for extra help in the evenings, and she was more than willing to help her students. When I met Ms. Efrem, she said to me, "I still remember the Thank You note you gave me". I thought to myself, vow, after all these years, she still remembers. This shows that teachers do remember us too.

Sr. Eduarda, I still meet her when I go home to Panjim, and she always did half my needle work as I somehow never managed to finish my assignments and yes I remember the straight line A-O , Sr. Eduarda, you are going to give me a whack the next time I meet you. But you played a major part too in forming us, teaching us to stitch and hem, machine and do embroidery as well. I am sure it will be difficult to find someone with Sr. Eduarda's talent.

Sr. Adelaide often gave me hints of joining the convent; I eventually decided to go the other way. Yet, her guidance and love too made us what we are today. I can still hear her saying, "You all are young ladies, behave like young ladies."

And in the primary school years, I also remember her taking us to All India Radio for programmes that were recorded and put on air. She always made it a point to visit all her SSC students during the study holidays before the Board exams. I am sure that time permitting -- the school has grown -- Sr. Lily must be doing it now.

I was not much into sports but do remember the sporty ones like Grace, Philomena and Daya.... I wonder where she is now?

Some of the other things I remember was wishing Mr. Jack Sequeira (at the St Anthony Cottage), every morning on our way to school and buying Zomga from Nicholas Sequeira's mother. She always had them ready in her cloth bag and would count them individually while giving them out. I do remember the pao-bhaji at Vishwas's house, but was not too often a visitor there. I remember Tony Noronha, Rico's dad, who always had a cheerful hello to say to all the students on their way to school. Rico's mum, we would see often sitting in that rounded cane chair, with the white pomerian dog next to her or on her lap.

What I clearly remember was the school canteen which was the window of the classroom opposite the door that went out into the sister's garden. I remember eating Dudh Pedas, Jelebi's which were my favourite and yes, I remember the ice cream man, is he still around?

I remember our school peon, whom I nearly failed to recognise on my last visit to the school. He is such a dedicated guy, can still picture him, giving out the registers and question papers from class to class with his quick walk. I remember the sound of the school bell, the skeleton in the school laboratory, flowers in the sister's garden, the chapel upstairs, the library books and the sand pit on the playground. It is all there in my mind and I think it surely is the same for many ex-students of LCHS.

I think ours was one of the batches that saw the transition from the pink blouses and maroon pleated skirts to blue-check uniforms. I remember the smelly toilets and saw on my last visit how much the school has progressed from those years, the computers in the schools, the audio visual room is being set up, I think now. Not sure how far the progress is on that front.

To sum up, I would only say, 'Thank you Lourdes Convent' for all that you made us. It is the Principal and the team of teachers and non teaching staff that shape the character of the students of the school. But what is more important for those of us who were educated there is not to forget the love and the values of life that were instilled in us at Lourdes Convent.

I think it is important to give back whatever you can, no matter how small or big, no matter in cash or kind or a few words of appreciation to all those at Lourdes Convent who made us what we are today. Three cheers to Lourdes Convent!

-------------------------------------------------------- Zelma passed out in the the late 'eighties, and is currently working in the Gulf with her family. LCHSAlumni list regrets to inform of the death of school peon, Zoivont Naik, mentioned above, since this article was written.

Lourdes Convent Alumni list is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lourdesconventalumni
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