Thought for the day

Across the country in all the Kendriya Vidyalayas, the morning assembly is much the same. You have the drill called out by the School Captain. Then the prayer

ॐ असतो माँ, सद्गमय
तमसो माँ, ज्योतीरगमय
दया कर दान विद्या का
हमें परमात्मा देना
दया कर दान वीद्या का
............................
........................
....................
ॐ शांती शांती शांती

That's how the prayer ended. The students were divided into four houses. In most of the schools the houses were named - Ashoka, Shivaji, Tagore and depending on that particular KV there was one more which may or may not be common with the other KVs. For example, in my school in Chennai, K.V.CLRI, the fourth house was Bharati after the great Tamil poet Bharatiyar but in my school in Cochin, K.V. Port Trust, we had Raman after the great scientist and Nobel laureate Sir C.V.Raman. Every week each house would be assigned the task of carrying out the assembly programme which included the pledge, the thought for the day, the news, announcements and the National Anthem. There would be a slight variations in the theme if it were a special occasion or we had a special guest (more likely the Assistant Commissioner or the Education Officer of that particular region).

Now the assembly programme would be in English, thrice a week, in Hindi - twice a week and in Sanskrit, once a week. This meant that the pledge would be taken according to the language of the day and the thought for the day and the news too would be read in the same language. The pledge - All Indians are my brothers and sisters......... - led to a profusion of PJs (potta/poor jokes) with, "Why did Rajiv Gandhi marry Sonia Gandhi?" taking pride of place. The answer was because she is Italian and all Indians are his brothers and sisters. Truly juvenile!!!

The, Thought for the day, depended on the school. In some KVs the student assigned the job would just read a line like, "Pride comes before a fall" and be done with it. At times which were few and far between, a student may seek something more profound and read it to the assembly but again it would be just a line or two. But some schools insisted on a three minute speech as a means to ensure that students were trained in public speaking. The news consisted mainly of the newspaper headlines of the day. Announcements would include the results of various competitions or the exam dates or some new rule or whatever........ My school in Mangalore, K.V.Panambur used to set aside one day of the week for quiz during assembly. Unlike in other schools, here we used to stand according to the house we were in and not in single file along with our classmates. More like Hogwarts (surely you know the school that Harry Potter went to). So there were four questions asked; one for each house.

I must mention K.V.Vasco-da-Gama here. It was the first KV, I went to, after a brief stint in the world of convent/private school education. I was in Class IV and I do have many memories of how naughty I was and also my first serious crush (after my dad of course).

When we had a special guest for the assembly, he/she would give a speech and we would have to sing a few extra songs of the patriotic type; read Vande mataram, Sare Jahan se acha, Ekla chalo re, Hey Muhinjo watan etc. Or put up a little skit or dance, in short a little programme showcasing our talents!!!!

Assembly times could be tough, especially with the sun beating down on us and we would become very fidgety (we would make marks on the ground with our shoes, whisper to the friend ahead or behind, pull the skirt of the girl in front or if one got really bold her braid, some really naughty boys would manage to sprinkle ink on our shirts and so on). Those who had a class test would bring out little sheets of paper and try furtive rote learning; we got quite good at that and were rarely ever caught. A few lucky ones would faint in the heat and be carried away into the shade. We would also be envious of the mate who was on class duty (this came according to roll number) or who had prior permission to stay away from the assembly owing to ill-health or some such reason. The really sneaky ones would somehow manage to be let off only to sit behind and complete the unfinished home work or project. But hey it would be their turn to envy us if we had a games period on that particular day. The ordeal would come to an end with the singing of the National Anthem which we would sing full throated and with gusto.

I must confess that I am severely musically challenged and would often get kicked in my shins for singing the prayer and the anthem (and of course the special occasion songs) off key. My best friend, please note, my best friend - Indira Krishnan - would actually turn around and gnashing her teeth, whisper loudly, "Muthamma, just shut up", or "Shut up ya, stop braying like a donkey"!! Can you beat that? The other person who quite vocally blew away my musical aspirations was my sister Tulsi (my father's favourite niece....grrrr) and the man himself, B.A.Devaya (my father) but we shall talk about it some other day.

Well, I have no idea, for what joy I have written all this. But I was going through my diary in which I had written some lines, each of which would have made a good, 'Though for the day' and memories of school came flooding back. In case any of you reading this are in KV currently, please feel free to use these lines for your morning assembly.

"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our reciprocal gift to God".

"It does no good for sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, when the wolves think otherwise".

"A good teacher's influence affects eternity".
(you will surely score brownie points for this particular one. Better still use it on teacher's day and by jove, all thy "sins" shall be forgiven)

"There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music".
(Now use this with care. If you have a Princey who is not in favour of extra-curricular activities or CCA periods, you will be a marked person and hence I will advice caution. For the uninitiated, CCA or co-curricular activity periods is time set aside for inter-house competitions or various school club - like nature club, scouts & guides or drama club etc. - activities. These are usually the last two periods on Saturdays in about 99% of the KVs)".

"One who brags that he is a self-made man relieves God of an awful responsibility".
(Again caution kid, don't say I didn't warn you; your Princey/class teacher/house master or mistress may believe he/she is self made and will haul your arse for a good kick)