Learning with the Mother

THE EARLY YEARS (1944—1950)

I came to Pondicherry with my parents and siblings at the tender age of eight on August 1, 1944. The Ashram school had started only nine months earlier and there were barely 20 to 25 students of all ages, ranging right from four to young adults of sixteen. Sisir Da was our headmaster and the school started every morning when he lined us up in the Playground which was then situated in the middle of the school. He invited a different child everyday to lead the daily prayer. Although I was younger than most, he would often call me out to lead the prayer. The leader would recite a line, and the rest would repeat it after him/her. We recited the same four-line prayer every day, after which our regular classes began:

“Sweet mother,

Grant that we may be

From now and forever more

Simply thy little children”

“Douce Mere,

Permets que nous soyons

Des maintenant et pour toujours

Simplement tes petits enfants.”

The minute the four-line prayer ended we would break our formation and run to the classrooms.

The classes were loosely formed of different age groups. The kindergarten had three classes, with Manu Bhai taking the youngest, Pran Bhai the next batch, and Pavitra, the children of seven to ten years old. These classes were held in the classrooms where now we have the body building gymnasium.

The older children were divided into three Groups, and their classes were held in rooms where the Playground storeroom stands today. The older students, mostly sixteen years and above, had their classes with Pavitra Da either in the Ashram building or in one of the classrooms upstairs in the school^2
2: Present day Playground was referred to as ‘school’ in those days. which is now converted into the Playground.

In the beginning, classes were held only in the mornings, probably from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. We would all then go home for lunch and return in the evening to the school to play. There was quite a lot of free play in those days and all age Groups made their own batches and played in different corners of the Playground. Sometime, I believe in late 1944 or early 1945, the Mother wanted to keep the children occupied in the late afternoons as well so Nirmal Da started engaging us, the little children, in some minor games which we enjoyed thoroughly in one corner of the Playground while the rest of the ground was occupied by the young ashramites who played Volleyball.

Also in the beginning of 1945, Biren Da came and joined the Ashram. He had been running a club for young boys in Kolkata and knew many games and exercises which he then started teaching the young boys in the school Playground.

Mid May 1945, Pranab Da came and joined the Ashram. He had been a member of Biren Da’s Gym club and had learnt Boxing, body building and games from him. Biren Da put him in charge of teaching us, the younger children. He taught us some games and exercises. Things were just growing spontaneously and there was tremendous enthusiasm for sports on the part of the teachers as well as the children. In addition, sometime, probably in 1946, Purani Ji and Vishnu Ji joined the physical education activities and started teaching grown up girls and boys, skills like Lathi, Lakadi patta, Lezium, and other Indian sports in which they were experts. They had started many youth clubs (akhadas) in Gujarat. In fact, our Ambubhai Purani Ji and his elder brother, Chhotu Bhai Purani, are still recognised as the pioneers of physical education in Gujarat of the 20th century. Everyone enjoyed themselves, no matter what kind of physical activity was being taught, whether it was games, drills, Boxing, Lathi or free play.

Gradually things started taking an organised shape and we were divided into different age Groups. The youngest, Group A consisted of children up to ten years of age; then we had Group B, for boys and girls probably between ten to twelve years of age; then there was Group C, for boys between thirteen and sixteen years of age. The older boys were in Group D and finally the older girls were in Group E. This nomenclature changed in 1958 to the present system.

In the early years, Group A and Group B were totally supervised by Pranab Da. I was placed in Group B. Every month, Pranab Da would appoint one girl and one boy as monitors for Group B, who would be responsible for marking the attendance of the Group and maintaining discipline. They would also be responsible for the apparatus: to fetch whatever apparatus was required for that day and at the end of the physical education lesson, put everything back exactly where it belonged. This leadership training was part of our physical education activity right from the beginning. By 1948, we were probably about 20 to 25 children in Group B, and a slightly lesser number in Group A.

Pranab Da himself would take Group A (Green Group) from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.; and then from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., he would take Group B, simultaneously training the young monitors.