My little muffet and her Greenwood High years
Veda Patnaik is my little Muffet and we stumbled upon Greenwood High on a summer’s day as we were driving back home to Whitefield via Koramangala. We saw the board in front of the bungalow on the main road and I said to Debu, my husband and miss Muffet’s dad, that we should walk in and see what this school is all about. We met Ms. Lubna and Mr. Ivan and the decision was made and Greenwood High opened its gates for Veda and us. Its been quite a journey and a wondrous journey at that!
Year 1 and Miss Muffet’s teacher was Mrs. Pam fondly known as Pam Ma’am. An angel in disguise, she spoke with Debu and I and put our fears to rest and took her class of about 15 students, all little shrimps, including miss Muffet under her wing. The children had a whale of a time and they all flourished under her gentle care. We heard tales from miss Muffet of the storeies she learnt, the art they did, the games they played. What they learnt was proudly displayed by Pam Ma’am during the PTM and she know each child and each child’s likes, dislikes and their strengths. Pam Ma’am had miss Muffet on stage, next to the principal, Mr. Pradeep Das, giving a small speech and she did it without missing a word and with full confidence with Pam Ma’am standing on one side and Mr. Das on the other. We, her proud parents and grandmother had tears of joy and pride, all of 6 years miss Muffet! Pam Ma’am left Greenwood High soon after miss Muffet moved on from grade 1 and years later she sent miss Muffet’s class work with a letter thanking her for lending her, her class work and that it was used for teaching many more children.
Year 2 it was Ms. Preeti it was and miss Muffet was very excited that she had the same name as her mother’s. Preeti Ma’am, tall and stately taught her grade the difference between right and wrong and she walked her talk. PTM with her would give a very clear picture of what miss Muffet was upto, what she did well and what she could do better. There was so much of interest in the children and keenness in her feedback that we could see miss Muffet in front of us when she spoke about her. She was a no nonsense person and today I think miss Muffet’s no nonsense atttitude was learnt from Ms. Preeti. Miss Muffet would regale us with lunch time notes, of what she ate, the beetroot ‘sabji’ being her favourite and how the 5 children on the table with Ms. Preeti had to finish what was on their plates. Today miss Muffet does not waste food and takes only what she wants.
Chess is what came Miss Muffet’s way this year and she received a second prize in a school competition and after that her chess teacher decided that Miss Muffet would go for the national level competition in Goa. She played a few games during which she saw the immense pressure on other children with parents standing at the door waiting to ask them if they won or lost. Miss Muffet became anxious and we decided that we would enjoy our time in Goa and that she will play all the games and win or loss we would go around Goa and see the town!
Year 3 was under the guidance of Ms. Irene, a sophisticated and glamorous lady. Miss Muffet told us on day 1, how beautiful Irene Ma’am was and we had to wait for our first PTM to see her! She was a task master and the class did their work efficiently, promptly and diligently. We started with the synonyms and antonyms and lessons in the ernest. handwriting was important to Irene Ma’am and she would tell these children about the virtues of a good handwriting. She also ensured the class participated in extra curricular activities and miss Muffet showed a passion for swimming and running. This is the year when the class was taken for an interaction with the children of an orphanage and they had played games and had a lot of fun. Miss Muffet came back impressed with the chidlren’s expertise in climbing trees and running fast. At the end of year 3 miss Muffet was nominated and selected as the prefect for the coming year. This was announced in the first annual day that Greenwood hosted. Another occassion when miss Muffet made us proud.
Year 4 and there came Ms. Priscilla. With her warm smile and her glasses and her crisp starched sarees. Priscilla Ma’am loved her class of children and they loved her back. By this time the children were all about 10 years old and so thay were starting to focus on studies and games. Priscilla Ma’am was quite a disciplinarian but she managed all this with a soft and loving manner. Miss Muffet bloomed under her since she felt cherished by her class teacher. She learnt how to be organised, prepare her bag for the next day and she started swimming in competitions. This was the first step in her passion for sports and since sports and I are poles apart, I was surprised and delighted. Debu, Miss Muffet’s father, a national level basketball player and her amumma, who played throwball championships in school and college were thrilled and encouraged her on. The team did very well and they came back loaded with medals in some competitions. Priscilla Ma’am loved to have Miss Muffet and her friends sit on her lap and give them hugs, except on the days she wore a saree!! I remember Miss Muffet’s excitement, when in the later years, when the 10 year olds because 13-14 year olds, she would go for a hug and there was a lot of running away and laughter. I think the girls still would be more amiable to the hugs but certainly not 14 year old boys. We heard detailed narrations of such happneings in the evening at home.
Year 5 and 6 it was Vinaya Ma’am, Miss Muffet’s calssteacher and also her English teacher with an absolute no nonsense approach to the children and teaching. Miss Muffet struggeled to keep up with what was being taught and it took the good old grammar book by Wren and Martin at home to rescue the situation. Miss Muffet and I sat with my old edition of the same which was used by me and then my sister, 10 years after me, and the chatty notes by my sister on the book (read as today’s SMS messages) fascinated her. After a few sessions we had Miss Muffet started getting a hang of things and started warming up to Vinaya Ma’am. Despite her strict demeanour Vinaya Ma’am began to endear herself to her class, they saw the love behind the focus and the strive for perfection. Miss Muffet’s writing skills certainly went up nothces after her lessons with Vinaya Ma’am in Year 5 and also in Year 6. Today I think her communication skills are good because of Vinaya Ma’am.
Year 7 and 8 Shanta Ma’am came like a cool breeze, the studies were stepping up, sports was more focussed as the children were encouraged to make choices of what sport or activity excited them. Miss Muffet’s choice was Football and that love continues today. Shanta Ma’am during the first meeting with me gently goaded me into allowing Miss Muffet to study on her own and urged that she should be independent now in her studies. She also said that her grades may fall for a term and that it will become alright as she gets a grasp on how to study independently. That was the best advice that I received in a long time and I also very grateful for the same. It brought on the realizaton that the goal of parenting Miss Muffet was to make her independent and make her able to slowly take ownership of her work and later her decisions in life on what courses to take and what to drop. Again with Shanta Ma’am the children were a happy and hard working lot. She kept them at it till they shone and worked to their full capacity.
These were also the years that under Sudhakar Sir’s guidance and his attention to the football team came together and with attention to the team’s performance on the field and their academic performance he made sure they studied hard and played hard. Miss Muffet’s day started at 5:30 a.m. when she got up to an alarm that had a football song’s ring (a ring so loud that our neighbour would tell her later to get up the moment the alarm goes else he too hears the same!!). The team would pile into one car and get to school for practice every day after which they showered and had breakfast and went to class for the rest of the day. Miss Muffet went on to be chosen to play under 18 for the Karnataka State football team and for that she has Mr. Sudhakar’s rigorous training to thank for.
Year 9 and 10, and oh! so close to the dreaded board exams was Premila Ma’am. A lady despite being small and having a gentle demure, took charge of these children preparing for their first major exams in their life. She was all smiles always and made the class along with Miss Muffet, start preparing to wokr hard, focus on learning and knowing. She had a kind word for every child, she spent time with the class once their work was done. Miss Muffet dropped science as a subject since she was very sure that she would not pursue that field and with Mr. D’Mello’s blessings Miss Muffet confidently strode on. Mr D’Mello’s only insistence was that she retain Math as a subject which she did. Not only did D’mello sir ensure that Veda kept Math as a subject he also encouraged and helped not only her but a lot of children in their classes understand the concepts. Miss Muffet did rather well in the board exams with a 92% which she herself could not believe as she opened the website for her results with her amumma standing by and had to ask her to check again. Well done, Miss Muffet not so much for your marks but more for becoming responsible and independently keeping a goal and achieving it.
Not to forget, Miss Muffet was the Sports Vice Captain in year 9 and the Cultural Secretary for the school in Year 10. I am told that she held her position standing tall and performed her resposibilities well.
Over these years, a special mention for Kavita Gupta Ma’am (social sciences), Namrata Ma’am (Hindi), Vijayalaxmi Ma’am (Economics). These are teachers who put the children before them and their convenience, who brought love and fairness to their classes, who gave the children frank and open feedback as individuals and for the lessons they do. Miss Muffet is what she is today in large parts because of them.
Year 11 and 12 was at the IB program and by then Miss Muffet was a grown up person, setting her own targets and time table for studying. She did very well in adapting to the change in style of learning and taking the exams. She had some tough lessons and new subjects but other than the regular “O, I have so many assignments and work to do”, she coped brilliantly.
Miss Muffet received excellent counseling for her courses in Australia from Aditi Ma’am and we feel it was the best course for Miss Muffet to take. Her excellence in the program of her choice today is witness to that. Miss Muffet was the Sports Captain in year 12, she was so happy that I was certain that the path she chose to take, an undergraduate program in Business and Sport Management is just what she would excel in.
I have to and I must mention that the decade plus that Miss Muffet spent at Greenwood High, she made some friends for life, Ruhi, Kapil, Madhvik, Pranav, Rishab, Tanisha, Sanjana B and Sanjana R, AB, Anurag. I came to know them closely and I am so proud of all of them because I know they will all venture out to make this world a more loving and a more sane place for everyone.
At Greenwood High, Miss Muffet felt loved, had a lot of fun (the trips to Wonderla, the excitement and the stories of the trips regaled us for days on end), the experiences (the trips to the orphanage, the theatre production “The Lion King) were par excellence and will hold her good for life. There friend and boy friends and there were also some Miss Muffet did not get along with so well but they all came together as a class looking out for each other. Never have we used an external resource to get Miss Muffet to do any extra curricular activity or for any help in her studies, except for Bharatanatyam and a few classes in math. There was never any comparison amongst children nor did any teacher talk of it. Each child was encouraged in what they liked best. There was pressure to do your best but never any stress. Those have been some wonderful years for Miss Muffet.
Little Drops of Memories 