|
|
BVM
The school which formally came into being in July 1947 is the
dream child of Bharat Ratna Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant - the renowned
statesman and patriot. At the wake of the independence he was keen to
have a public school for the new generation of India, in which love
for the motherland and its heritage would constitute bedrock of
modern education imparted with the devotion and parental care of the
Gurukuls of ancient India.
The vision of Pt. G. B. Pant ultimately got materialised by the
timely and generous donation from Sri G D Birla - The renowned
philanthropist and industrial doyen. The then deserted estate of
Philander Smith, which during the war years had housed the Hallet War
School thus became the seat of BVM.
BVM, THROUGH THE CORRIDOR OF TIME
by- Rajshekhar Pant
The year was 1889. Those were the halcyon days of Nainital. One
Rev. FW Foote -who was then the Principal of a small school opened by
Dr JW Waugh on the premises in close proximity to where now stands
the GB Pant Hospital (Ramsay Hopital) -purchased from Mr Petman, a
prominent layman of the Methodist Church, the Oak Opening Estate.
Moving the school to this new location he rechristened it as Oak
Opening High School. “Situated just below the summit of
Sher-ka-danda, the most easterly of the peaks surrounding Nainital
and just above St Asaph Road” writes Martin Booth, “it
commanded a stunning panoramic view of the town, the tal and the drop
to the plains of India.” The much expanded Birla Vidya Mandir
stands in the hoary campus of the Oak Opening High School the
vestiges of which still survive in the guise of much renovated Gandhi
House and in all probability the Administrative Block and Library,
described by Martin Booth (Carprt Sahib, pp 55-56) as “Jims
original school surviving as a house close to the main
building.”
Yes, Jim Corbett, the famous naturalist and
story teller from Nainital had in Oak Openings his first school. Some
of the Jim’s biographers speak of the school being operated and
co-owned by a ruthless and cruel ex-Indian Army Officer who was known
to his seventy pupils as ‘Dead Eye Dick’ “for his
aim both with a rifle and a bamboo cane was exceedingly accurate.
…….” It became a favourite memory of Jim’s,
in his later years, to remark how Oak Openings was the site of the
shooting of the last mountain quail ( Ophrysia supercilosa) in 1876,
driving it into extinction. In the year 1905 the Philander Smith
Institute of Mussoorie, founded by a Mrs. Smith, widow of Mr.
Philander Smith of Illinois was moved to Nainital and “amalgamated”
with the Oak Opening Boys’ High School and the result was the
Philanders Smith College with Rev. FS Ditto as its first Principal.
Describing the development and expansion of Philander Smith College
JM Clay, the Deputy Commissioner of Nainital writes in his monograph
entitled Nainital, A Historical and Descriptive Account ( pp27, 1927)
“The extensive buildings which now exist have been built
gradually since then, and a large dormitory block has recently been
constructed. The site is over 7,500 feet above sea-level and is the
highest school site in India, probably in the world.” Here the
building being referred to is the imposing ‘Ashok Bhavan’
then called the ‘Hurricane House.’ Incidentally,
Brigadier Orde Wingate of ‘Chindit Circus’ fame (Defeat
into Victory, by Field Marshall William Slim, pp162) who was born on
26 Feb 1903 in a house called Montrose in Nainital had his early
schooling in all probability at Philanders Smith College. It is
further of interest to note that despite their birth place being
common Jim never met the “sword and Bible” general, as
Wingate was often called. However, as a Lieutenant Colonel and senior
instructor in jungle Craft he trained some of Orde Wingate’s
‘Chindits’ (pp 225, MB) at Chhindwara in the then Central
Province. An article by Rev AG Atkins -the pastor of the Union Church
for two Summers at Nainital and better known for his translation of
Ram Charit Manas- published in the Hindustan Times Sunday Magazine
dated 14 Aug 1956 reveals that Jim along with his spinster sister
Maggie happened to be the most awaited guests at the Philanders Smith
College and its sister institution the Wellesley (now the DSB College
of the Univ of Kumaon). Installing Maggie on the dais in the central
hall of what now is known as Gandhi House he would lecture on his
favourite subject -the Jungle Telegraph. “ A tiger is coming,
he would announce, and then mimic a series of bird calls- the jungle
babbler, drongo, peafowl…… (DC Kala, pp111).
Interestingly, One evening after Corbett had screened his first tiger
film and given his wildlife lecture at Philander Smith College, the
pastor walked Corbett half way home to the lake from the college.
After sometime the priest asked him what made a hunter a
photographer, and the response of Jim as records Rev AG Atkins, was
“. ….It required much more of my skill and gives me an
even greater thrill to get good pictures of my animals than when I
used to hunt just to kill.” ( HT Sunday Magazine 14 Aug 1956)
The Philander Smith College disappears from the scene in early
forties, probably at the wake of the 39-45 war. The deserted campus
of the college was now to be occupied by the short lived Hallet War
School of early forties named after the last Governor of the then
United Province. Till recently no record of this “once most
prestigious and more British than British in Britain School, opened
for the sons and daughters of the predominantly British and fairly
high army and civil service personnel who were in India because of
the second great war” was traceable save the fact that one
Ethel Fowle, aunt of John Fowle, was headmistress here in 1941-42.
Even our school, the Birla Vidyamandir functional in the same campus
since July 1947 did ever hear or have any thing of Hallet War School
since it was disbanded in Dec 1944 following the retreat of most of
its students to their respective Public Schools in England. “We
did not have a single photograph, a monogram, or any document for
that matter of that prestigious school though we inherited the same
campus after an interlude of three years” says one of our
senior faculty member. The reason of this otherwise well known campus
falling into sudden oblivion is generally attributed to, “the
hasty and ill thought of decision of the then distt officials to use
it for lodging the subordinate staff of the government secretariat
Lucknow, which in pursuance of an old practice was shifted to
Nainital in summers.”
The unpublished memoirs of Nigel
Heath, from West End, Surrey, UK however, have suddenly filled the
dark interlude of this heritage campus. This gentleman, an old
Hallatian as he was, happened to have a chance landing on our website
while searching for something related to Nainital. Besides sending
the relevant sections from his yet unpublished memoirs, “which
deal in details with Hallet War,” Nigel Heath has also made
available quite a few interesting pictures of colonial Nainital. “It
is really exciting for us to know that until fairly recently Hallet
Reunions were frequent in UK and Rev. Llewellyn, the nonagenarian
headmaster of the school attended the last one,” says the head
of the institution.
Following is the edited version of the
memoirs of Mr Nigel Heath.
NAINI TAL AND THE HALLETT WAR SCHOOL,
MARCH1941-DECEMBER1944
It was in March 1941 that I found myself as a boarder in the
Hallett War School. Certainly the school had a special prestige, for
unlike all the other schools, the Hallett’s students were
without exception predominantly British,. Among these were the son
and daughter of the Governor of Bengal, the Right Honourable Casey,
who later became the Governor General of Australia. We learnt to sing
Jerusalem, vow to thee my country, land of hope and glory, and all
the patriotic songs of the time. Given the background of the vast
majority of the pupils, a very cultured English accent was
prevalent.
It gave me the opportunity to identify with my
British roots, which may never have been the case otherwise. The
school was co-educational which had a negative effect on the
behaviour of some of us boys. I believe I had a wrong impression of
what boarding school was all about, and Bobby and myself shared the
two bottom places in the class, although I can’t remember who
was actually at the bottom.
|
|
|
|
Hallett War
from Beetle Hill
|
Nigel Heath
with his parents, shortly after entering Hallett
|
I will never forget my first school report, and more important my
father’s reaction to it. He was very successful in making me
ashamed of my obviously irresponsible attitude to learning, an
attitude I in particular could not afford to have, because of the
many disruptions suffered to my education thus far. I was resolved to
return to school and reverse the record.
It was quite common
to find a bloodsucking leech attached to your leg, and it was wise to
carry a small packet of salt to sprinkle on the creatures, which was
the most effective way to dislodge them. Wild Langoor monkeys with
their grey bodies and black faces were often seen in the trees in the
woods around the school
There were four other boarding schools
in Naini Tal. They were Sherwood College (boys, Protestant), St
Joseph’s (boys, Catholic). Wellesley (girls, Protestant) and
the convent (girls catholic}. So it was common in weekends to come
across hoards of these children, the vast majority of whom were
Anglo-Indians. Unfortunately, but understandably, the Hallett with
its upper crust British content had the reputation of being the “snob
school”.
Before mounting the long trek back up the 1000
feet to the school, I remember a favourite thing we enjoyed doing,
was to stop by at a small lemonade shop, and drink freshly made
lemonade made from a single hand operated machine. We use to harass
the young Indian minder, to double up on the lemonade syrup before
gassing the bottle.
Our headmaster was missionaries priest
the Reverend LLewelyn, who we nicknamed “chief”. And when
assigning punishment he would say. “ Well this is a serious
offence, and I am afraid I am going to have to beat you”. When
after having been beaten, it was the accepted tradition and
gentlemanly thing to say “thank you sir”. The Hallett was
coeducational, and because of our isolation, I believe this was an
advantage. For we learnt to accept the opposite sex on equal terms,
and by the time we were 14 or 15 years old some of us experienced our
childish or adolescent love affairs. Doreen Grant or “dreepy
Doreen” as she was nicknamed was one such sweetheart of mine I
can remember.
THE END FOR THE HALLETT.
It looked
very much like the Germans were being beaten in Europe and December
1944 saw the last term for the Hallett, because many of the students
began drifting back to England to their old public Schools. It wasn’t
viable any longer to continue with the school that had been founded
to cope with one of the war’s problems. I had spent three
memorable years in the Hallett, and came away from the experience
very much the better for it.
The estate of Philander Smith
was abandoned once again following the disbanding of the Hallet War
School. Footsteps of the approaching independence from the British
rule had become loud enough to be noticed by any one then and the
time was ripe for the American Mission authorities to offer the whole
of the Philander Smith Estate for sale. Pt Govind Ballabh Pant, the
great statesman and visionary, had for long been toying with the idea
of a public school imbued with the cultural traditions of India for
imparting education to Indian children with the zeal and dedication
of Christian missionaries working in institution cast in European
moulds. The infrastructure was ready, the entire paraphernalia was in
shape and the Vidyamandir, his brain child was struggling hard to be
born. He had the negotiations with American Mission authorities and a
deal was finalized for the transfer of title and rights of the
Philander Smith School.
To recall the words of Lt Com. SD
Pande whom Mr FG Pearce called the nurse of infant Vidyamandir and
who was the first Chairperson of the Executive Committee for the
management of the school, “-when the Philander Smith College
was put up for sale, Shri GD Birla taking keen interest in the
project and placed sufficient funds at the disposal of the Board of
Governors constituted by Premier Pant to buy the estate and to repair
extend and equip the college.” If Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant was
the spirit behind the inception of Birla Vidya Mandir, Shri Ghanshyam
Das Birla was all body, mind and the intellect of the school.The
Estate comprising 44.33 acres of land then, including Valehead, Oak
Opening Estate, St. Asif Estate, Silver Oak and Mackail’s site
along with the Philander Smith College and the boarding house
constructions, was bought off for Rs 2.5 lacs. The possession of the
estate was obtained in April 1947 and the Birla Vidyamandir had a
formal opening on July 17, 1947. And what followed is a history with
several unforgettable names like Pt Daya Krishna Pant, Mr HR
Kewalramani, Pt Amba Dutt Joshi, Shri Sukh Dev Pant, his wife
Shivani, the celebrated novelist and short story writer and her
foster sister Munna (Diddi- My mother’s voice, Ira Pande,
Penguin, pp 70-71) along with several others who rocked the cradle of
the infant BVM. Continuing the glorious tradition of the family, Shri
BK Birla and his daughter Mrs Jayshree Mohta, our Chairperson, have
been taking keen interest in the growth and development of the
school. For its current
growth and achievements the school owes quite a lot to their learned
guidance and planning.
Much of ice has melted in the sensuous
Nandadevi and the stately Trishul peaks since the BVM saw the light
of the day. The voluptuous Rhododendrons spotting the campus like
sporadic laughter of the young ones have seen a hundred blossoms and
the small Cypresses planted jointly by Lady Mountbatten and Pt Nehru
have grown into imposing clumps. Enough of time indeed has rolled by
for the Oak Opening of the erstwhile to get itself transformed into a
lush green cover that surrounds the campus now. Over three
generations of students have passed through the meandering
roofed-ways and hoary German arches of the Birla Vidyamandir in the
past sixty years and the journey still continues on wards and ever
onwards…..
And out again I curve and flow,
To join the
brimming river.
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on
for ever.
|
