Interview Series: Ms Louis

Thank you, guys, for the encouragement you have shown me with this blog. Many of you have asked me to update more frequently and I promise to honor your requests! Meanwhile, earlier this month my mom, Mrs K. Sanga along with Ms J. Louis and Ms Kaur retired from school after almost four decades of working there as teachers. At a personal level, it was a very emotional change in my life (and ofcourse, my family) as the Westcott campus was much more than school for me, it was a place I called home. I once read a book which read "What is the one spot in the planet to which your ankles are shackled and where you have to return, no matter how far and wide you wander?"  Westcott is my such spot.  However, I carry with me the most beautiful memories, which will stay with me for the rest of my life and which I hope to share with you as well. 

This post, however, is about my dearest Ms J Louis who was my (and probably yours too) very first teacher. I thought nothing more befitting to start this series of interviews with her, as she starts with her retirement life. When I think of Ms Louis , I always picture the knee length dress, wide rimmed spectacles and a tiny pony tail tied neatly at the back of her neck. I am eternally grateful to her for teaching me my alphabets and my numbers and helping me read my first book of "Kitty and Rover". Who remembers that book still?

So without much ado, here's the interview:

Tell me a little about your family and where you come from.

I come from a very large family. Although my father had only one brother, we were a lot of siblings and all of us along with my cousin sisters and brothers lived in a very big house in Goa. Then each one had to go to different places. I studied with the nuns, horrible they were(makes a cringed face and laughs). No, some of them were very nice and I am still friends with some of them. My Sister Jones is in Jodhpur now and my very, very close friend Sister Michelle is in Kota now. These are the memories of my Sisters. This is my life. And now it’s come to autumn years.

How did you come about teaching in Westcott?

As soon as I finished my teacher’s training, I had an offer letter for teaching from Jesus & Mary, Mussoorie but I didn’t go. My principal, Miss Surrey, was a friend of Miss Cooper who was in Westcott at that time. There was also my friend called Sister Ilona who was working here in Westcott and Miss Surrey asked me –“Why don’t you go to Ranchi,? Bishop Westcott is also a good school” and I applied.  Miss Harinarain who was the principal then, sent me three telegrams asking me to join. You know, in those days, there were no telephones and all. And so I got my appointment letter stating that my salary would be three hundred and forty rupees per month. I was to get a partly furnished room and would have to pay eighty rupees per month for the food. And so I agreed and came here.

How did you feel when you came here for the first time?

Oh, for the first few months I didn’t feel so nice. But then I saw the atmosphere here, it was a loving atmosphere, the teachers were nice and Ms Harinarain was very helpful. It was the year 1974, and I was only 27 years old.

What was the school like then?

The school?! Oh back then, only this first block was there. When I came here, I came in a tempo and got down in front of the principal’s office. Ms Harinarain welcomed me and took me up to my room. When I was unpacking my things, she was sitting was me and she could not get over my BIG trunk and BIG suitcase filled with my many clothes! (chuckles) Then, I had my first cup of tea here sitting in this very same room. I do remember that.

And you know, my first friend here was Mrs Monica Harinarain. Of course, she was Monica Miles then. And then I started teaching my little children until now (smiles softly).

So since you’ve been in Westcott, have you only taught kindergarten children?

Yes! I have been teaching KG children since the beginning. I have done no other classes but KG. You know, when I was in St Mary’s in my teachers training, I got first class distinction in teaching, and I have wanted to teach no other class than KG.

I think, it’s most difficult to teach young children.

Yes, it is difficult. It depends on you, how you handle them. You have to love children. If you love them, then it’s not difficult.

You told me once you love teaching little boys more than girls.

I LOVE little boys (laughs). We had boys in Westcott earlier. You know, you could scold them and they would never bear a grudge. But the girls, they keep in their hearts for one or two days and then they forget.  Not boys. Boys never hold grudges.

 And you want to know something about boys? In my class there was Randeep, Muhammad Ali, Rana and Sunil Tirkey and a boy named Satish Jha !.And another one called Anil who was from Allahabad or Lucknow. Oh, they were my pets. I loved teaching boys. They used to have boys in our school and then they made it only for girls.

Who was your most memorable student ?

Okay(smiles). His name was Raja Karen and he was an army brat! His father was a major or something in the army. One was Siddharth Chibb. I remember. They both had their own ways. Little naughty boys, especially Raja Karen. And there were two Singh boys from Calcutta. Little fat fellows. They were twins and I could never tell them apart. What was their names ??Rishi Raj!! Yes, and one of then had a spot behind his ear and whenever either one created a mischief , they would both stand up and I couldn’t figure out which one was who. Then I figured it out to find the spot to identify them.

Among the girls, okay, Meghna Raj! She is right now in class 12^th and she must have gone home. I was waiting for her to call but she hasn’t called me yet. She is my ‘dil ka tukda’. I love her. I am going to call her before I leave.

And there was another girl. Udita Sanga. When she concentrated during maths, she would tap her head with her fingers. Do you still do that? Write it down, you have to write it! And Shamita, never troubled me. Beautiful child.

And you want to know about more girls? Kavita Tirkey! Write all their names down. There was another girl, my memory isn’t as it used to be, she had the prettiest smile. And she would give me a small gift every Teacher’s Day and I would wait for her little gift every year.  

Tell me your funniest moment in class.

Funniest moment you want to know?(chuckles) Once a child just pulled down my skirt in class!! She wanted to go to the toilet or something and she just came and pulled my skirt down!

 I said “ What are you doing?” and she just said –“ Ma'am, toilet!” 

And she pulled my skirt and I kept laughing and laughing. I am trying to recall her name but I can’t remember!!

Jyoti!! Jyoti Kumari, it was.

Now the present lot of children, Oh! They are not like they used to be. It’s a pity.

I loved kids who argued with me. Like Vedayana Dubey, the girl in the last lot of mine.

What did she argue to you about?

Oh, everything! I must say, according to her level. She will become someone great someday. Vedayana.

How do you think the school has changed over the years?

Discipline… earlier, you’d never find children loitering about in the verandahs. Except during the breaks. And as soon as the bells would ring, the children would be inside the classrooms but now even if the bell rings ten times, the children are always roaming around.

What will you miss the most about Westcott?

It’s hard to say…. Children. I don’t know how I will live without them. Little children, my KG children.

Even the bigger children. Though I didn’t have a lot to do with them, they were a part of my life. I watched them grow.

If all the children you taught were listening to you, what would you tell them.

I will tell them that I love you. I still love you and I am sorry if at any time, I was rude or I hurt you.

Many students ask me about you. If a student wanted to contact you in your home in Goa, could they do that?

Yes ofcourse! I don’t know how to use the computers. I will learn now. Some of my students also send me letters, with photographs of their families. I like receiving letters. If they want it, you can share with them my address.

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(I would love to read your memories of Ms Louis in the comments section. Do share!)

Some things never change

Back in the days, I am told, the first students of Westcott were four orphan european girls. I imagine them as little girls with flaxen hair and soft eyes. I wonder if they were same age,  or different. I wonder what they felt when they first arrived at Namkum station tightly clutching their small suitcases and stepped off the train , still hissing with the smoky steam. Back then, Namkum was just a very tiny station with nothing much but a small shed for the station master amidst the thick forest. 

Our school was then just a small building with two rooms which were later called the old dining hall, the main office , the main corridor and the multipurpose hall. There were no extensive blocks of building as there are now, and also no electricity. The teachers quarters by the litchi trees by the hall (where incidentally now my family lives) used to be the hostel. 

Those girls must have spent their first night in one of the rooms in the hostel . It almost makes me shiver with excitement to know that one of those rooms could have been the same room where I have slept since my childhood. Were they curious of what future had in store for them, were they looking forward to a  life in a school which was as new to them as they were to the school? Did those four girls become life- long friends and did they find family within each other? 

Until 1976 , when my mother joined the school as a young girl about the same age as I am now, the first block was still being built and the jungles were still dense and wild. There was  wildly erratic electricity but most often that not , they had to depend on the paraffin lamps called petromax. Every night, the loud cry of jackals would reverberate through the clear night air along with the whistle of the train and the gatekeeper would escort people through the school campus carrying a long wooden stick and the paraffin lamp. The first floor for the hostel in the first block had then been built - and you could still hear the occasional giggles of little girls in the dormitories. 

As the school grew, the second and third blocks were built around the 1980s. And now they are also building a fourth block. Many changes have taken place so far. And yet,in the midst of changes, there some things which never change. Even now if you take a walk around the school campus at night ,you still can hear the whistle of the night train, the occasional giggles of little girls and the beat of the gatekeepers stick on the concrete ground as he takes his security round through the campus.

                                                       The main building of the school as in December 2010. 
                                                          The green lights are christmas celebration lights. 

The very beginning

I want to begin from the beginning. The beginning of Westcott not as we know it, but of how it came to be.    
You must have often walked down the corridors of the first block , either during the tiffin or the lunch breaks or even during the quiet class hours, and passed by the portrait of Bishop Foss Westcott looking down at you. I know I have. Countless times. And I have always stopped and looked at his picture for a few moments before I walked on, stared at his kind, smiling, bluish-grey eyes.I've wondered about his story , about what kind of person he might have been and what aspirations might have led him to build the school.


Historically, the journey dates back to about one and a half centuries ago in 1844, when four german Lutheran Christian missionaries set off from Europe to the mountains of Tibet. They traveled across the sea and were en route in Calcutta (now Kolkata) when they met a few ‘adivasis’ from Chota Nagpur (then, a combined name for Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa) and through a twist of fate decided to follow them to Ranchi instead. The story goes that it took them 15 days to cover the distance from Calcutta to Ranchi on a horse driven cart.

Later in 1868, these german missionaries were replaced by priests of the Church of England and a certain Rev.J. C. Whitley was made superintendent of the Church in Chota-nagpur area. Whitley worked until 1904 and then passed on his responsibilities to his nephew, Rev. Bishop Foss Westcott- the founder of our school. 

This is the period when our school was first built.With just 125 students enrolled in the first year of its inception, the schools also served as a make shift hospital in world war II.  In 1914 , when the German missionaries in Chota Nagpur stopped getting supplies from Germany and were in grave financial constraints, Bishop Westcott appealed to all the Missions in India and asked for help on their behalf. Due to his efforts, the missionaries got Rs 70 per month to cover their expenses. In 1919, Bishop Foss Wescott became the Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India and continued to work in India until his death in 1949 in Darjeeling. 

  While I was researching some of these information, I came across some interesting articles and notes written by him on when our school was being built .Can you imagine my thrill and excitement?

Hill schools in the Himalayas were not only filled, but had long waiting lists, and in many cases fees and railway fares were more than our people could meet. Except in Jamshedpur, where Rs. 75,000 are annually spent on education, there are few good schools on the plains, and in any case the climatic conditions are injurious to growing children. The Provincial Government was also alive to the need and offered a splendid site at Namkum, near Ranchi, and one-half the capital cost up to a limit of Rs. 175,000 if the S.P.G. would undertake to provide a similar sum to provide and manage two good boarding schools, one for girls and one for boys, with dormitory space for 125 pupils in each. This enterprise was undertaken in 1920, and, as a memorial of the great services of the Metropolitan in this diocese, the schools were called the 'Bishop Westcott Schools."

"The Girls' School, power-house, etc., has now been built, and two years ago the Community of St. Denys, Warminster, with splendid courage undertook to provide the teaching staff. Accordingly, under the management of Sister Barbara, as Principal of the School, the Bishop Westcott School for Girls was opened in March 1922, and the first part of the programme was finished. "

" The buildings of the Boys' School have been begun, but some £3000 required to complete the project has not yet been raised. It is impossible for the diocese to run into debt, so the undertaking must mark time until the money is found."

These notes left me with strange feeling, of connecting with Bishop Foss Westcott  in a way I never had before. It was almost as is he was speaking to me himself - and ofcourse, I was being quite fanciful in my imagination. 

But Westcott kind of does that to you, doesn't it?

PS: If you are interested in knowing more on the history of the Church of England where I drew most of my information from- you can visit this link.