Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Let Your Light Shine

 
My parents once told me of one of the toughest decisions they had taken concerning me, the choice of the school I was to attend. My mom was especially insistent on sending her daughters to a convent school. She said that convent girls had a way of their own. Of course, I never understood exactly what that meant till I graduated from school and joined IIT. Unsurprisingly, one of the people in this place I best connect with, is another convent girl (as we like to call ourselves). Be it the inculcated sense of ethics or the ingrained fearlessness, I have, for some time now, held this belief that convent girls are a class of their own. We were taught to stand up for what we believed in, no matter what the world said. So whether it was spreading awareness to eradicate parthenium or unleashing anti-cracker campaigns, the school stood in support as we chanted together we can, and we will, make a difference. We were encouraged to break the traditionally set boundaries for girls; we were told we did not need to live up to conventional expectations of being docile, quiet and passive. We were pushed to question the known along with the unknown. Simultaneously, we were also brought up to be compassionate and empathetic. The school's idea of a day trip included orphanages and old age homes on at least as many counts as parks and picnic spots. But most important of all, the school taught us to be secular in the real sense of the word. Even today, I feel the same sense of strength and tranquility inside a chapel as I do in a temple (and frankly, the number of instances I have sought the same in  a chapel might be more, given that it was the place we used to turn to right before exams in school). While I was in school, I used to assume that our generation being secular was kind of a given, at least among the educated ones. I was pretty surprised when I realized that wasn't true. Trust me, I have seen educated elite in my institute who laud the massacre in Gujrat despite having borne eyewitness to those gruesome acts. Nearly all of us face that time in life when we think we have hit rock bottom, only to be handed a shovel. In one such  lowest of lows, one of the things that helped me pull through, was my friend telling me, "Remember, you are a convent girl". Its not just about the compulsorily knee-length tunics and plaited hair and chins parallel to the ground signaling that the world is our oyster. It is about how we see ourselves when we look in a mirror; it is about knowing that the world is our oyster.
I will always remember this trip to San Callisto Catacombs on the outskirts of Rome. Nitin and I, both missionary school products, will always associate those twenty minutes, spent three storeys below the grounds, with that strong spiritual thread that made us both remember our school assemblies, the values imparted, and our silent promises to always live up to them.

13 comments:

  1. arey sorry aur bhi kuch comment karna hai kya???? arey my mom dad were to tensed whether or not I would get admission in Carmel Convent Sr. Sec. School, BHEL, Bhopal (bhaawnao me behake poora naam likh diya), coz I used to write ulta D and ulta C...But I suppose those ultas were the beginning of a new me-the avant-garde, choosing the non conventional....and it was my school, which taught me, that if done confidently, it's the avant garde which rocks the world...(ooooo....well said)....Cheers Carmelites(& a few Partheniums too), who are soon gonna rule the world....

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  2. Goes without saying Carmel was a major decision for all the parents of the carmelites. Remember the people sleeping on the pavement next to school so that they don't miss out on the admission form?
    This year on the school website I saw the online admission procedure and the results were also declared there. High Tech era. ;)

    Everything from walking without making noise and falling into line to the environment, social work and anti-cracker campaigns have had a far reaching effect, which, prolly we didnt realise then. :)

    The chapel will always be special, so would be the christmas carols, the hymns, the morning choir :)))

    But more than nething I can not simply acknowledge enough the terrific batch we had. Irrespective of how you classify the students - good in acads and/or good in co-currics/extra currics and/or simply the good samaritans....talk to ne carmelite, you'd find they have carved their way !:)

    The long pseudo-intellectual discussions we had, the ethics and convictions drilled in us, and more than nething the friendships that were forged, Carmel stands out. Now and forever.

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  3. "Its not just about the compulsorily knee-length tunics and plaited hair and chins parallel to the ground signaling that the world is our oyster. It is about how we see ourselves when we look in a mirror; it is about knowing that the world is our oyster."

    this would keep me buoyant for many days to come :) Thanks didi.

    p.s.: "Remember the people sleeping on the pavement next to school so that they don't miss out on the admission form?" :O really?!! That sounds like tougher than getting into iit!

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  4. Enough convent-girls blabber. Convent guys rock too! \m/

    Found some similarities with my school in the description above. :)

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  5. hey, i never lauded the gujarat riots!

    I have always only argued on what were its consequences and how it logically promoted the control of the government. Never said that it was awesome/required/nice or cool..

    that apart, little for me to comment on because my schools were pretty 'basic' compared to all of this and I definitely never had any real reason to participate in a psedo intellectual discussion in school :P

    the long wing session in iit are filling up that gap quite well though :D

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  6. @ Tarun: Arey chill, it didnt refer to you :). the iit discussion sessions are fun, agreed but we are no longer the innocent idealists we were in school, hence the nature of discussions is kinda different
    @ Aniket: I guess it was the whole missionary schools thing
    @ Sim: ;)
    @ Misha, Muzik Diva, Abhisaar: Some days those were, were they not :)
    Btw, try this movie Wild Child, a Brit teen movie set in a convent school. Its not hard to identify with the characters. Wont be surprised if you guys also start comparing our classmates to those in the movie :)

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  7. @the post: Touche.
    @Aniket: LOL. But strange even after studying 12years in a co-ed convent, the term convent boys sounds pretty unusual,funny in fact.
    And yeah, it's very similar to our school.

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  8. Hey nice read. remembered all the morning prayers and celebration of different festivals in school....
    btw between a campionite and carmelite , Does that fight still exist?

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  9. @ The-one: Thanks :). I'm not sure whats the equation with current Carmelites and Campionites, it definitely used to be war when we were kids. Btw, having trouble placing you, care to identify ;)

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  10. Remember, you are a convent girl". Its not just about the compulsorily knee-length tunics and plaited hair and chins parallel to the ground signaling that the world is our oyster. It is about how we see ourselves when we look in a mirror; it is about knowing that the world is our oyster. - I must have thought about this pot a 1000 times and must have reffered to people n1000 times, when I thought I shall leave a comment here. U were totally awesome Shruti !

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