Remembering Yasmin

A little angel flew by HA,
Stopped by to stay;
Playful and charming she spent her day,
When disaster struck his sway!
Her essence squelched by flames
She battled to live or not.
As our prayers met silence
Death won the day,
Not without etching little hearts forever.
Here is an eulogy for a girl who would have conquered worlds
If only fate had smiled on hers’;
For those God loves die young
Thus we consoled
As we bid our farewell to our beloved brown eyed dove!

As I tried to recollect old school days, I suddenly remembered a very painful incident during the mid nineties. This is about a girl who walked the grounds of HA as a beautiful angel and was taken away from all of us too soon.

Yasmin a couple of years my school senior was a bubbly ever smiling beautiful girl. She was always noticed very frequently in the school campus as a house leader and also as one of the school monitors to oversee punctuality and cleanliness among junior schoolmates. I had noticed her many times standing by the side and observing us for any disorderliness as we marched back, after the morning prayers to classrooms. She was prompt in picking out girls with ‘extra long’ skirts, dirty socks and shoes, uncombed hair, dirty ribbons - anything deviating from the orderliness that was imposed on us by the convent.

Many times she was noticed sitting among her class group during the group study period trying to voice her thoughts, explaining stuff to people. Her demeanor was very noticeable. May be because of her bubbly attitude or may be because of her charm or may be fate wanted us to notice her charm before she was to be taken away from us: Whatever may be the reason she haunted us all after her death with her fascinating smiling face and big brown eyes.

Though she was my senoir, I had little acquaintance with Yasmin as she was part of our cycling group. The cycle group comprised students who cycled to school. Everyone in the cycle group knew everyone else. There was a friendly air about us as we discussed about our cycles and routes. Just wishing adieus once in a while helped us in getting to know each other. Yasmin cycled north with her friends and my group went south.

It was just another casual day at school and the school corridors were soon empty after the evening school bell. Anticipating the evening loaded with assignments we departed on our cycles never knowing how each one of us would change forever after that poignant evening.

Later that evening, news leaked out in the small town of ours about a fire accident of a girl from HA and that she was admitted in hospital with burns. No one suspected anything severe. Next morning, it was out in the local papers. Yasmin after reaching home had run into her mother’s kitchen and surprised her with a hug from behind. That very act of love turned disastrous, as the can her mom was holding toppled over. And it all happened within seconds. The combustible liquid in the can burst into flames along with the lit stove destroying everything it came in contact with. It was quite some time before the fire was put out by friends and neighbors. But by then both of them had severe third and fourth degree burns.

News reached us that they were admitted in hospital and were battling for life. Sr Angela, who always maintained a straight face, was in a horrible state of shock when she broke the news on stage. She arranged for prayer meetings for the mom and daughter's recovery and called for donations for their treatment. She also strictly warned the students from visiting her in the hospital due to seclusion of the burn victims to prevent further infection.

Everyone who had the heart and ability donated. The school management rushed in with aid. Progress of their health was out in the papers every morning. Prayer meetings were held almost every day. We all prayed for the quick recovery of Yasmin and her mother. Some teachers paid a visit to the hospital and came back with heavy hearts. Many wept in the classrooms unable to control their painful emotions as they reminisced about her playful antics and her lovely character.

The pain the school went through during those days was enormous. The air was heavy with sadness and expectation. Girls, who were usually bubbly and playing around, remained subdued. All the talk was about Yasmin and her mother - If only she had restrained or her mom had been a little more careful. If only she had gone late from school. If only the clock could be turned back and that disastrous incident was averted! if only....

One more institution shared our agony - The Sharada College for Women. Yasmin's mother was a lecturer in that college. Both the managements did their very best to save the lives of their beloved lecturer and student. The Sisters of the Convent gave emotional and financial support for the family. Yasmin's dad joined us sometimes during the daily prayers. Yasmin being the only child and with both wife and child in unfathomable conditions, the man was indeed a sad sight to behold. People who knew him whispered that he had aged years in a couple of days.

As time flew by, fate conjured different plans. News reached us that her mother succumbed to the injuries. We prayed and hoped that with one death, the other person will be revived. But the little girl's heart stopped a day after her mom's. The school plunged in sorrow. Her funeral was attended by the Convent Sisters, teachers, schoolmates and friends.

Soon after that a Yasmin trust was started by her Dad and by Sister Angela. Money was donated for students who did well in class programs. Her dad addressed us one day during the morning prayers thanking us all for the support and help that was offered during the painful times.

Yasmin’s death created a strange and eerie feeling among all of us. Many, who had not yet understood death were stunned and confused. Her classmates and friends, especially were never the same again. They asked for change of classrooms to help them come out of the loss. During the farewell party many of them paid a tribute to their lost friend. All the old folks of school remember that incident but I am not sure what happened to the trust and her dad later on. If any one reading this could throw some light on it, it would be greatly appreciated!

Crazy Sister Angela and her pet projects!

With much ado for the female empowerment, Sr brought in a sudden change by employing some men (May be she wanted to break the monotony of just seeing skirts and sarees around ??) This was the time when there were no men in the school campus: the only men being 'Perianna - the gardener' and 'Ramu anna - the driver'. Sr explained her action that the girls were becoming too soft with all women around and would need to have some male teachers also to cope along. She also added that she was experimenting to see how male staffs would fit in!!

Dadthi
Her first experiment was with a physics and chemistry lab assistant. He had a weird name. He was called "Dadthi". We girls found it delightfully funny to have the man around and that too with such a silly name. A Tamil word 'Dhathi' (meaning: dull headed) which was so very much similar to this guy's name in pronunciation, elicited much fun. The poor guy was mocked and teased. Girls used to break out into laughing spree from merely calling out his name, much to his irritation.
"Hello Dathi sir .. giggle giggle"
Sometimes even when the girl addressing him would not giggle there would be a sharp squeal from the backbenchers. All this mocking irritated the man to the core that one day he decided to retaliate. In the chemistry lab, he would give the girl who laughed the most the hardest of all salts to test. In the physics lab, even the slightest movement of hand or mouth was promptly reported to the faculty. Especially Mrs Janete, the physics teacher, took to heart and unleashed terror in the classroom.

He must have enjoyed each and every moment of the torture we experienced as a result of his spying. Soon all the giggles vanished and girls started taking him seriously. No one wanted to end up with a hard to find salt during the exams! But the laughing and teasing went on behind his back (Ofcourse!)

Pughazh
Another of Sr's experiments was the employment of a computer science faculty. She had appointed a freshie right out of an engineering college. Our school had just started off with std 11 and 12 and it had this new subject - computer science. Having forgotten the name of such a dynamo of a guy(!?), I had to call an old friend to recollect the same. "Pugazhendhi". And Sr rejoiced in shortening his name to Pughazh. She would scream down the corridor this name and he would come running from where ever he was with his hair bouncing like that of a puppy.

Well this guy knew how to impress the young and the old. He did have a good rapport with the female staff, making all their presentations and showing off his computer skills and capturing their computer illeterate minds. His strategy for the young was quiet different though. He was not able to conceal his excitement to teach a group of teenage girls and that showed in the way he dressed. He was always in the best of his clothes, wore rayban and drove a Yamaha - all with utmost style to have the poor doves weep and worship his foot steps. And hmmm.....he wore a musky perfume that emanated along the corridors threatening to make a female heart ache for the unknown. To say the least the senior girls went crazy. There was always a crowd behind him asking doubts and clarifications. Distractions were running high. Certain straight lipped, prissy old teachers who had been observing all this, one day blew the whistle. Someone had spotted this hunk with a group of girls who were his students in an ice cream parlor. When news reached the princi's ears, he was immediately fired. News came later on that firing only gave him more freedom to hang around in the Santham complex with a group of infatuated fans of his!

But Sister never stopped taking risks. She kept on experimenting with the male gender with the hire and fire policy. Some really stubborn cases stuck. Some had a very moronic look on their face, unable to comprehend the all-female atmosphere, that Sr herself unable to stand them, threw them out in a couple of days!

Charles
There was this Charles who joined sometime in the late nineties. Having attended Miss Sacchu's, Mrs. Jasons , Mrs.Jeeva's class, we found his class very unenthusiastic and boring. He simply read out, each and every line from the reader and laughed to himself at all the funny areas in the lesson, as we sat gloomily with a blank expressions on our faces. Soon after class, Sr came over for feedback and oh my, didnt she regret that? She was bombarded with the most negative feedback and with requests to change the subject teacher. A petition was put forward to bring back Mrs Jason to teach english again. Though Sr was reluctant, she granted us our wish much to our delight and to the irritation of Charles. He never did like our batch after that.
I later came to know that Charles improved on his lectures, but I cannot think of him ever replacing the mighty thrones of Miss. Sacchu or Mrs. Jason.

Vincent
Last but not the least, Sister had a favourite PA. My flaky memory refused yet again, to recollect his name.... Another call to the same friend reaped results. Vincent worked in the office and was a real nice guy who helped us all in any way he could. But even his nice character did not protect him from the evil female minds and their wicked mockery. He had a very peculiar way of walking. He seemed to be always in a hurry with his head jutting forward and taking quick strides across the grounds. His very lean figure moved with such quickness that it resembled a man on the run to catch a hen. If one imagined a hen clucking and running ahead of him the whole scene would hit them downright funny. He was thus christened "Koli" sometimes "Koli pudikravan". The name was coined by one of my seniors who had a really good head for making names for every teacher in the block.

Thus in the female fiefdom a few good men and a few odd men crossed by. But I always had this doubt - was it absolutely necessary for men to work in our convent? An all girls convent mainly catered to the needs of a girl to let her be as free as possible. Many a shy girl during the teens would later grow up into a more confident woman dealing with men and work as a result having her own time and space to grow initially. Such girls had to be nurtured and encouraged. I felt Sr was actually ignoring this very fact. By forcefully recruiting male faculty members she wanted to bring a change among girls. She explained that it was good for their future. But she failed to notice the tension and uneasiness among the girls around these men. The natural affinity in the relationship between a female teacher and a girl student could never be developed with these men. This topic may raise a lot of criticism and debate but I stand by my thoughts - A girl school need not have male teachers.

Well later we came to know Sr also had plans to make the school a co-ed. That really frightened the living day lights out of us. What was she thinking? (or was she thinking?) But am really glad that it didnt materialise till now. Hail the angels of HA.