Fatehpur Galli

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We had four houses in our school Jyothi, Preethi, Shanti and Neethi. This started in senior school which was when you moved to third standard. Jyothi was light with a yellow lamp, Shanti was peace with a forest green bird, Neethi was purple with a weighing scale and stood for justice. Preethi was love with the symbol of a red rose. By tenth standard we really understood the value of these priciples. One actually moved to a new building away from the junior school separated by two ponds and a boys school.Now the playgrounds were bigger more teachers and many more students. Senior school was huge and scary. We went out in groups. There was a toilets near the forest and a pond where vultures used to be seen. Never much cared for that greenery which I crave for now. The assembly was a polished affair with Bach and Beethoven playing when we walked to the grounds. The songbooks were a must and we sang too. I could never understand what was being said in terms of current affairs. I did not know what was current affairs. I did not know it was daily news and those days I did not read newspapers. General knowledge for me was who lives where, who is getting married and who is good in studies. We had three wedding venues in our lane so we knew about all weddings. Our house was the pitstop to keep bags, feed children and use the toilet. Houses in our lane did not have any names or numbers. One had to just write the name of the person and Fatehpur Lane and the letter would reach. Fatehpur Sikri near Agra built by the Mughal emperor had nothing in common with Fatehpur Galli. Fatehpur galli was full of Gujaratis, marwaris, one Bengali and a few marwaris. The Bengalis family had given me my tuition teacher Mira Miss. She was the only one who knew English and could teach a child.I liked her quite a lot. I believe now the lane has become a Food Bazaar with all kinds of hot snacks and restaurants. So many fond memories of Fatehpur.

Comments

  1. bahjatFebruary 4, 2012 at 3:15 AM

    Will there be a part 2 to this ?
    i felt there was much more to be said ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Parul KanseFebruary 5, 2012 at 10:14 AM

    Yes, Bahjat. Unsaid memories. will write.

    ReplyDelete

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