Remembering Joy

Remembering Joy! 

Joy, so appropriate to a person who was so joyous, always spread joy and lit up our faces with a smile.  She was my Principal and she gave so much of love and affection that she was more than a Principal to me for the 8 years that were impressionable for me.

I first saw her when i was in standard four, her having taken over from Mrs. Jacob.  The second floor in our junior school was completed and the Archbishop blessed the school.  I was in the choir singing hymns as the Archbishop went from classroom to classroom with the fragrance of incense floating around.  We were behind Mrs. and Mr. Michael and I was first attracted to the lovely saree she was wearing, a navy blue saree with a mustard border.  She turned once and met my eyes and smiled and I still hold it in my heart.  

After passing standard five, under the loving care of Mrs. Enid Bass, my class teacher, we were a class frighted to go into the senior school at Mandir Marg and sad to be leaving Mrs. Bass behind.  The fears were of course unfounded, there was Mrs. Mongia who was strict yet could have tears in her eyes if we so much as scratched our knees and would hold us and comfort us.  She always had a band aid for us, however insignificant the wound.  It was just to tell us that our hurt was important.

Mrs. Michael walked presided over the assembly everyday and looking back it was a time for the school to gather around, be together, pray together.  We started with a hymn of her choice from our hymn book and then she said a prayer and then she updated us on news about the school.  One of us then read a news item from the newspaper.  However mundane it seemed then, imagine the power of this morning meeting and sharing of news and singing together for God’s blessings.  Festivals were special days and we celebrated each festival with a special prayer from The Quran, The Gurugranth Sahib, The Bhagawat Geeta.  During the years that I was in school it was my friend Arjumand Bano who read the Quran and Muneet Sehgal or our teacher Mrs. Avinash Kaur who read the Gurugranth Sahib.  I do not remember who read the Bhagawat Geeta.  Mrs. Michael was there in kanjeevaram silks in the winters with a matching sweater and shawl on her shoulders and coimbatore cottons and kota sarees in the summer with simple kolhapuri chappals.  Her hair was cut short in a bob. 

She also made a mark in my life by helping me when I was struggling with Math in standard 11.  The first term I was miserable because I could not just grasp any part of math that was being taught.  My math teacher was Mrs. Shringi and for all these years I found her just very nice and she was a teacher who used to be in my school bus route.  However when she started teaching me and I was just not up to the mark in the same I viewed her as a person who I was afraid of.  Post term 1 where I just managed to pass in math, Mrs. Michael called me aside as we were going for assembly and took me to her room.  She made me sit on a chair next to her and started talking to me and asked me why  I was not able to do well in math.  I told her that I did not understand anything and that I was so scared of the subject and the teacher, upon which she asked me what was a solution that I saw.  I told her I wanted to move to Humanities and she immediately asked if I liked Biology, Physics and Chemistry and when I said yes, she asked me if I changed just math as a subject if I will be fine. When I said yes she smiled and told me to bringin my parents to school and she said she will help me talk to them and she did.  I then took Home Science as a subject instead of math.  What a relief it was.

I am also very indebted to Mrs. Michael for the opportunity she gave us through running the leadership camps in the school guest house in Landour, Mussoorie where along with learning from father Wirth, we also had evenings with Tom Alter and his wife and children and staff of the Woodstock school.  Mrs. Michael once took me into the kitchen and made me her team member to make “uppumavu” knowing fully well that I had n clue about cooking.

When I was in standard 12, I was nominated as the head girl in school.  During this year  Mrs. and Mr. Michael went for a long trip to Canada and the US visiting family.  She would write letters describing her travel and I would read them out in the assembly.  I also remember her guiding and mentoring some of my seniors like Vasanti, Jyotsna, Elizabeth, Sanchita and Nivedita, who were twins.  I remember Mrs. Michael hugging the twins for a long long time when the twins lost their father and their mother looking on amazed at the love she was passing on to them.

She would spend time with us after school when we children in the second trip of the school bus waited for our bus.  We often went to her home in the school compound to mix the cake mixture or she would come out to the tennis field and play a few shots wth our coach.  She was the person who pushed me to pay some sport and made me play lawn tennis and kho-kho.  She also came with us to our dear Lala selling churn and chips and not only buy them for herself but also buy some for us once in a while. Years later when I was working at American Express I interviewed a young lady who asked me if I remembered her. When I shook my head in the negative, she said she was Lala’s daughter and that Mrs. Michael had all of Lala’s daughters study in St. Thomas’ and gave them the opportunities they deserved.  Not only did my heart swell at pride at this young lady but my heart also lit up with Joy

Now as I  look back I think that she has influenced me a lot, in the way I think, of being involved in social work, my hobby of reading, my interest in theatre and classical dance and music and even my dress sense so much that I love traditional sarees and wear most ethnic salwar kameez.  My hair is now cut short almost similar to her style.  Many will say coincidence but I would like to think its her hand over me!!  Joy’s joyful hand over me!!  Its hard to say goodbye to you but then you will always be cherished by all the batches of girls who studied at St. Thomas’ under your guidance.