I
had my entire schooling at Government High School, Panayappilly, Kochi. Since it was a government school, we only had
limited facilities. Majority of the
students came from lower middle class and poor families. The school used to provide mid-day meal for
the students. But there were no facilities
for preparing the food. It was being
prepared in a temporary thatched shed. The
school didn’t have a flag mast either. On
Independence Day and Republic Day, the national flag used to be hoisted on a
tall bamboo kept for this purpose.
In 1987, when I was studying in the tenth standard, the Rotary Club of Kochi adopted my school and decided to provide basic infrastructure. As the first step, a permanent flag mast was erected. They also constructed a small kitchen for preparing the meal and donated utensils, stove etc. for cooking. When the kitchen was ready, they decided to organise a function to get it inaugurated. The Governor was supposed to be the chief guest in the function. The entire school got into a celebration mode. The premises were cleaned and decorated with flowers. We the children were excited that the Governor was visiting our school.
On the day of the function, we all reached the school well in advance. Many guests, mostly from the Rotary Club, had come to the school. We were expecting the Governor in a state car escorted by the police. Finally, when the chief guest’s vehicle was seen at a distance, we were surprised that there were no police. Yes, it was indeed a high-end car, but not a state car. The doors of the car were opened and a tall man in a black suit got down. Probably in my ten years in that school, it was the first time someone was seen in a suit. We looked carefully, no he was not the Governor of Kerala!
When the function started, we realised that the chief guest was the Governor of Rotary Club. Till then I had never known that there was a position called ‘Governor’ in Rotary Club. At the end of the function, we got a packet full of sweets and snacks. Whatever little disappointment we had that we couldn’t meet the Governor of Kerala, melted away in the taste of the sweets!
Decades later, when my friend and an active Rotarian, Dr. Nagendra, became the Governor of Rotary Bangalore, I remembered this incident. I am very happy that Rotary Club continues to support my school even today by providing school bags, uniforms, books etc. to children belonging to poor families. The flag mast and the kitchen constructed by them in 1987, continue to serve the purpose.
Few years ago, when I was at Kochi, I was invited for the Independence Day celebrations. With all its limitations, GHS Panayappilly gave me a bunch of lifetime memories and a small group of good friends!
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