(Part two of  the two-part article on the author’s school days atNavabharath Elementary School, Kurady, and  the transformation of the education  system)

(KC Kalkura)

The British had promoted their own mill products and discouraged our handicrafts. After independence due to industrialization, the remnants were lost forever. The main plank of the National Movement was Swadeshi. After decades the nation regrets the loss of our past.  One simple example: Undivided Vizianagaram and Srikakulam Districts in Andhra Pradesh are the only two districts in the country wherein the Cotton farmers do not commit suicide. It is because of the world-famous Ponduru Khadi. No cotton remains unsold there. It was patronized by the Mahatma himself. Former freedom fighter Choudary Sathyanarayana gifted a dhoti made of Ponduru khadi to Mahatma Gandhi when he stopped at Dusi Railway Station in Srikakulam Dist in 1942 and Gandhiji was impressed with the finesse of the khadi produced there. The texture of handspun and handwoven khadi of this place is 125 counts on account of its quality.  Later Gandhiji sent his son Devdas Gandhi to Ponduru to study the process followed in making khadi textiles in this place. Had Rajaji been accepted in 1953, perhaps today we would have been far ahead of Korea, Japan, and China in preparing the modern consumer durables and equipment.

Reverting to ‘my school’, as I was born on 20 June 1940, as per the eligibility, I joined the NES, Kurady in June 1946. I was a reluctant school bird. Daily my first elder sister Kaveramma used to chase me with a cane. I had grown my hair. Around our house in the bushes, trees, and plants many varieties of wildflowers were grown. Every day till I completed the fifth standard my sister used to comb my hair and decorate it with flowers, and different fashions every day and send me to school.

For some days the school was being run in a big hall of my uncle’s home. My aunt Smt Chandravali Kalkura was the headmistress. Apart from her, there were a couple of untrained teachers. One of them, Narasimha Bhatta, hailing from a nearby hamlet, Nairbettu taught us Kannada alphabets. He was also the postmaster of the newly started Hanehalli Branch Post Office. He hailed from an orthodox family. Later he was managing the cloth shop owned by my uncle, Keshava Kalkura. More about Bhatta in the next chapter on Higher Elementary School. We were taught to write the alphabet through seeds, a sort of game. My elder brothers Sadashiva Kalkura and Narasimha Kalkura were three and two years senior to me. Sadashiva passed his fifth standard in 1948 and joined the Board Higher Elementary School, Barkur. In December 1946 my second elder sister Kamalakhsi got married to Kodandarama Madhyastha of Konandur, Teerthahalli Taluk, neighboring Shimoga Dist, Mysore state. Narasimha went to Konandoor and joined the school there.

Probably by the end of 1946, the school was shifted to a makeshift hut in vacant land in the midst of bushes and Ant hills or Termitary or Termitarium or Termite mound. It was owned by one Kunturu Mahabala Shetty. His son Bhoja Shetty was my classmate from 1st standard till the SSLC. He completed graduation and joined Canara Bank Ltd, in pre-nationalized days. I attended his marriage in May or June 1969. He retired as a Scale-IV or V Officer and settled in Bengaluru. On a couple of occasions, I talked to him over the telephone. I am told that he died sometime in 2020. Another classmate of mine from Kurady till SSLC was Bandimatha Pujari, a retired forest ranger. I did not meet him for a long time, nor talked to him. In October 2021 along with Principal B.Seetharama Shetty of National Junior College, another classmate of mine from 8th Standard to SSLC, I met Ganapa at his house near Ranganakere. He was suffering from cancer and was unconscious. He could not recognize us. However, his sons and daughters-in-law felt very happy.  I was told on the third day after our visit that Ganapa breathed his last. What a coincidence. Bandimat ha Bhujanga Shetty was my classmate from 1st to 5th standard. He married the daughter of Metkalmane Tejappa Shetty and resides in Kurady. His only son is an industrialist in Bengaluru. Now and then I speak to him over the phone and met him in Oct.2021. One year junior to me Vishweswara Bhatta lives with his wife and son in Kurady. His father Krishnayya Bhatta was a social worker and humourist. More about the Bhattas’ family in the relevant chapters.

Around the NES rodents and reptiles were moving freely. There were a few small ponds also, full of water during the rainy season. So plenty of fish and frogs made them their living habitat. At times neighbors were fishing.  It was a joke in the village: “When it rained outside, knee-deep water inside the Kurady school.” As a result, we enjoyed many holidays. As almost all the students were from middle-class families, they assisted their parents in agricultural operations, particularly in paddy fields. About three decades back bushes and Ant hills were cleared and buildings were raised in the land. Reasonably good RCC, tiled building on the roadside shelters the branch of the Syndicate Bank.

By the beginning of the 1947-’48 academic year, the school was shifted to a spacious tiled building. Apart from the headmistress, two more trained teachers, Ramanna Shetty and Vishnumurhty Bairi @ Shyam Bairi joined the school. They were wearing Mundu or Addapancha and shirts. It was the common dress of almost all the teachers up to the High schools. The majority of the lecturers in Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, Udupi, (then the only one college in the present Udupi District) including the Principal, Prof.H.Sundra Rao. an authority on Shakespeare were wearing Mndu or Dhoti.  Student-teacher ratio, up to the high school was 20:1. Bairi Master was teaching to the first and second standards, Ramanna Sheety third and fourth and the Head Mistress the fifth standard. Hailing from a traditional family, Bairi Master had tufts and used to sport sacred ash on his forehead. Bairi left a lasting impression on me. Until his death, whenever I went to Kurady, I used to meet him at his home and pay my respects. All the teachers were impressive. Years after the students left the school, they used to remember them by name and the years of their studies. Students might have scaled heights in their careers. Yet they humbly and reverentially knelt before the teachers. They used to enquire from the family members about the whereabouts and welfare of their students. We had only one textbook till the fifth standard. We had to write the homework on the slate; only copying. We were not expected to purchase exercise books throughout elementary school.

I distinctly remember 15th August 1947. I was in the second standard. All the students were supplied with a Gandhi Cap to wear and take home. The Tricolour was hoisted by the Headmistress. She narrated the gist of the Indian Freedom struggle. Sung by the Headmistress, we were asked to repeat Vandemaataram. All of us were given a sweet, Laddu. Janagana Mana was yet to be adopted as the National Anthem. The school was dispersed and a holiday was declared for the day.  To be noted: Republic Day’s flag is tied on the top of the pole to mark the nation’s freedom. Whereas on Independence Day the national flag is tied at the bottom and then the Prime Minister pulls it up, this is done to mark the historic event of Independence of the country from British rule. So on 15th August Tricolour is hosted and on 26th January it is unfurled. I was in the IV Standard on 26th January 26th 1950. The Headmistress unfurled the National Flag. Janagana Mana was sung in chorus before and after the unfurling. We saluted the Tricolour with a Gandhi cap. The Headmistress told the importance of the Day. Sweet Laddu was dispersed and the school dispersed for a holiday.

My aunt and Headmistress Chandravali Kalkura was an F.A. (Fellow of Arts) from St Agnes College, Mangaluru, then affiliated to the Madras University.  Had she left Kurady, she would have been a teacher in any high school. She was feared and obeyed. Her teaching had few parallels. In teaching multiplications, she was at her best. For further studies, Kurady students invariably joined the Board Higher Elementary School, Barkur. The long-standing headmaster H.Subbanna Shetty used to interview the students before admitting them to the 6th standard. For the Kurady Students, it was a mere formality. We were sure of admission. That was the reputation she enjoyed. One HB Narayanan Shetty of Bandhimatha became an IAS Officer and was Special Chief Secretary of Govt of Tamilnadu. He was a student of Navabharath Elementary School. He obediently used to say: “Chandravali teacher shaped my character and career.”  Since she was my aunt, I will have the opportunity to say more about her when I write about my family.

There used to be seven periods of 45 minutes for the whole day; four from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm. and three from 2.00 pm to 4.15 pm.  We were taught some easy words, in Kannada, small rhyme poems, arithmetics, and multiplications in the first and second classes. We were told at least one story, from the epics and history every day. We were jubilant the day the Chandamama and Balamitra two monthly journals arrived in the school. Until the fourth standard, the teachers read the stories by rotation and the students heard with rapt attention. In the fifth standard, the students by rotation were asked to read and other students heard them.  We were made to enact dramas without costumes. Every day last period was play time for the whole school. That was the most interesting part of the curriculum. We were playing Khu-Khu, Kabadi, and other rustic games. Field and track games were unheard of. Gardening, including watering and some other physical exercises, was routine. We swept our classes and kept them clean. Whoever stood first in the class during the month was the money for the next month.

In 1951 June, I passed my 5th Standard examination and joined the 6th Standard in Board Higher Elementary School, Barkur.

“The only educated person is the one who learned how to  learn.”  Carl Rogers, American Psychologist. (concluded)

K.C.Kalkura, Advocate and Social Activist,

Kurnool. 518004. Mob: 9440292979

Mail: kalkurakurnool@gmail.com

Read Part -II here 

How Rajaji’s School Reforms backfired?