Reviews
Praveen Vashisht
Headmaster, The Lawrence School, Sanawar
A carefully crafted piece of prose, this book highlights the sheer essence of boarding school life. Whilst it touches on the pluses of a dormitory life that moulds your character to be who you are later in life, at the same time it poignantly reflects upon the emotional trauma faced by the student and the parents both, upon separation.
It makes strong the bonds that the students form with their teachers and house-staff.
As an Old Sanawarian and now OS Headmaster, I say it with great pride that you may not necessarily have taught each and every student in the school but the students never forget you. This collection of memories also encourages parents to consider a boarding school education for their wards without fear in their hearts.
The reference to ‘Gene-o-mischief’ is an interesting one that makes one evaluate that although children are naughty they need to be treated with sensitivity and positive reinforcement that does not mar their development in any manner.
Camps, hobbies and boys reactions to them lend an old fashioned charm to the words on paper. This book also recycles the thought that boarding schools are affordable for all and just for rich, Mr. Mann, carefully points to how a parent reacted when they discovered that it was cheaper for the student to study in his school than at home with them.
The reference to The Lawerence School and its resident ghosts brought a smile as these, stories continue to haunt one generation after the other. I did find myself laughing out aloud at instances touching, funny and witty at the same time. A great work.
B.S. Bhatnagar
Ex - Headmaster, St Paul's School, Darjeeling;
Former - Principal, The Daly College, Indore;
Ex - Headmaster, The Lawrence School, Lovedale, Ooty;
Founder-Principal, the Indian School, Al Ghubra, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
Joginder Mann and I were together at Birla Public School, Pilani, in the late 1960s - he as a pupil and I as a young teacher, a little wet behind the ears, starting my career from this dear old school of ours.
It was great going through the manuscript of this book which Joginder kindly sent me. It was a soul stirring and fascinating experience for it made me walk down memory lane and live those wonderful days once again. He is perhaps the first Indian public school boy to write about his life and experiences at his alma mater so it makes the book unique.
"A public school is a private school and amongst the best reasons advanced for the extra human good spirits of the public school boy is the fact that he has put public school behind him. Once the ordeal is over, nothing in his future life can seem really irritating. Being caught in a cloudburst, having a bucket of paint fall on him from a scaffold, walking into a manhole - these strike him as but the normal contretemps of a perfectly ripping day." Joginder's book proves this beyond doubt. It also re-establishes the truism of Mark Twain's statement, "I never let my school interfere with my education."
Birla Public School, which is now popularly known as Vidya Niketan, has always believed in teaching its pupils how to work, to have good attitudes, take responsibility for their own ideas, to communicate and to think a problem through, no matter what it uses in order to get those basic skills of mind and intellect across and so it gives them something they can use for a very long time. These skills will never change.
This book has made my thoughts fly back to the BPS teachers of yesteryears, dedicated ones and martinets with a unique touch - Joginder has mentioned many of them in it.
Gripped by nostalgia, my reminiscences grow with the patina of time. A time when exams were not nightmares, when teachers worked extra hours, sometimes for no reward other than the satisfaction of a job well done, when teaching was a vocation and teachers stood out in a crowd because they were worthy of emulation, when dedication and not just a B.Ed degree was the prime requisite.
Everett Koop once said, "Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation." Joginder does believe in Koop's words and with what he has learned as a student of Birla Public School he is doing exactly this at his own school. He has a commitment to the belief that education must be relevant to the immediate needs and interests of children; that the teaching of knowledge must be less important than the development of core skills; and that the adjective 'didactic' must necessarily have pejorative commotations.
His is a book which the reader would, I do think, open with expectation and close with satisfaction.
General V K Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC
Chief of Army Staff
I am happy that Joginder Singh Mann has brought out an interesting and well laid out book on “Life in a hostel”. I am sanguine that it will contribute immensely to understanding how young boys adapt to changed circumstances, form lifelong bonds and blossom into well groomed adults and good leaders. I can vouch from personal experience that life in hostel changes you from a boy to a man and moulds your character. The incidents narrated by the writer in his inimitable style will kindle nostalgia in any one who has been to a residential school. These will also bring out the agony and ecstasy of being a ‘boarder’ and will inspire many to sample for themselves the rich life of a hostel. I am sure this book will be very well received.
Dev Lahiri, Principal
Welham Boys School
I have thoroughly enjoyed “Lets Pray before Our Meal”. It is extremely evocative in nature and will surely touch all those who have been fortunate enough to attend a boarding school.
Dr. D.R. Saini
Principal, DPS, R.K. Puram
Finally, this book is a silver lining to the dark cloud of misconceptions on boarding schools. At the same time it is one of the most comprehensive and mirthful books on boarding school that I have read.
From the very first handshake between friends to that knot of attachment between a teacher and a student and finally ending with tearful reunions every year, this book strikes hard at that chord of emotion within us. Besides stoking up nostalgia, this book is also 'the must read book' for any parent who wishes to introduce their child to a boarding school. Moreover, this book is also a self help guide to all those students in boarding schools who do not wish to get caught 'while chasing dogs on a hot a Sunday afternoon'.
Truly, from the very first chapter to the last, this book continues to enthrall and entertain us. When it ended, my only wish was that it continued.
I wish Mr. Joginder Singh Mann and his team all the very best and congratulate him for this noble endeavour in bringing out this extra ordinary book in hostel administration. This book will prove very beneficial in the field of school education and promote all-round harmonious development.
B.K. Sood
Ex-Principal, Birla Public School,Pilani.
Former Director, Birla Education Trust.
Former Chairman, Indian Public Schools' Confernce(IPSC).
“Let's pray before our meal" is class apart. Only those who have experienced boarding life will know what it means to live, struggle and enjoy ones formative years away from their parents. Long live the Boarding School.”
